Share of the Week: Assassin’s Creed Origins

Last week, we asked you to use your photographic eagle vision while playing Assassin’s Creed Origins. While you helped Bayek seek justice and create the first order of Assassins, you shared your best shots with us using the hashtags #PS4Share and #PSBlog. After sifting through your impressive submissions, here are this week’s highlights.

@The_Don7684 captured Bayek and his loyal eagle Senu basking in the Egyptian sunlight.

@Philt43_Yewone brilliantly framed Bayek entering an ancient tomb.

The detail on this up-close shot of Senu by @videogame_photographer is stunning.

@Son_of_Sekhmet, stayed true to his username, submitting this firey mid-battle shot during the Trial of the Gods fight with the goddess Sekhmet.

Search #PS4Share and #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entrancing entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? This week’s theme will put you in the driver’s seat:

Theme: Gran Turismo Sport
Share by: 9am Pacific on Wednesday, March 7

While you’re behind the wheel in Gran Turismo Sport, share your best shots using #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured next week.

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That Time a Wolverine Attacked Us in Far Cry 5

While playing Far Cry 5 at a preview event in Livermore, California, the Ubisoft team stormed an enemy-held radar station at the crest of a hill. This coordinated attack between two members of the studio involved sticks of dynamite, powerful firearms, and a complete lack of stealth.

As the resistance fighters surged against the dangerous cultists within, a wild wolverine hurdled out from the underbrush in a surprise attack. This wolverine was not part of the station’s natural defense system. It was not a trained wolverine being used by the cult. It was, simply, a wolverine. An angry one, at that. Even Creative Director Dan Hay laughed in surprise at the torpedo of fur flying across the screen.

This wolverine embodies the emergent gameplay of Far Cry 5. It is a quality that the Ubisoft Montreal team means to emphasize at every turn, rocketing the franchise’s staple player freedom to new heights.

The setting of Far Cry 5 contains a number of series touchstones: the sprawling open world, the outlandish action setpieces, the iconic villain. In Far Cry 5 players control a rookie law enforcement officer who winds up in Hope County, Montana — a gorgeous, remote locale under the control of Joseph Seed and his cult the Project at Eden’s Gate. After a failed attempt at arresting Joseph Seed, players must fight to build a resistance in Hope County and push the cult out.

How players do that, however, is up to them.

There are countless systems in Far Cry 5 in constant collision with one another. Moments of intense action quiet into nail-biting stealth. Resistance members react to nearby Project soldiers if they drive too close. Animals skitter across dirt highways. AI companions (called Guns For Hire) provide additional firepower while an actual bear (Fangs For Hire) does lots of bear things. The interactions between these systems result in the emergent gameplay that makes Far Cry 5 so interesting.

The possibilities feel endless. Even the story itself reacts to player input. Once the opening tutorial section of Far Cry 5 is complete, players can go virtually anywhere without the need to unlock towers and open the map in a linear order. Characters and plot points will adjust dynamically based on how players go about the fight against the Project. Ubisoft Montreal does acknowledge, however, that some folks may wander off and fish for hours on end. That may not advance the narrative forward, but who cares when there are so many fish to catch?

When the developers step in to direct the action the results are enormous. The opening of Far Cry 5 introduces players to cult leader Joseph Seed. Greg Bryk is tremendous as Joseph, delivering soul-piercing stares and haunting whispers in equal measure, and further fueling the player’s drive to liberate a besieged community. When the dialogue comes to a close and Ubisoft Montreal hands control back to players, the beautiful chaos resumes.

No matter how players decide to battle the Seed family and save the people of Hope County, one thing is certain: beware the wolverine.

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PlayStation Blogcast 283: Fast-Forward

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Email us at blogcast@sony.com!

Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here

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This week, the gang listens in on part two of Justin’s Moss interview, recorded on location at Polyarc HQ in Seattle, WA. Plus, Kristen gives us an update on her journey through Final Fantasy VII, and we reflect on things games have taught us about ourselves. Yeah, this is a deep one.

Stuff We Talked About

• Moss on PS VR
• Monster Hunter: World
• Detroit: Become Human
• Xenogears
• The Last of Us
• Final Fantasy IV and VII

Recent Episodes

• 282: Blogcast and Quill
• 281: To Bee, or Not to Bee
• 280: The Return of Nick Suttner

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The Cast

Justin Massongill – Social Media Manager, SIEA
Ryan Clements – Sr. Social Media Specialist, SIEA
Kristen Titus – Social Media Specialist, SIEA

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Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

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How Bridge Constructor Portal Became the Best Installment of the Construction Game Series

Hello everyone, I’m Matthias Hilke from ClockStone Software, we are the creators of the Bridge Constructor puzzle games. Together with our publisher Headup Games, we’re very excited to expand the franchise next week by releasing Bridge Constructor Portal on PS4. It’s a mash-up of two universes, the famous Portal universe (full of fun but dangerous Aperture Science technology) and the rather relaxing universe of Bridge Constructor.

After the collaboration with Valve was confirmed, it was pretty clear that bridge construction combined with the setting and mechanics of the Portal universe would become as unconventional as it could get. Thanks to the indoor scenario and the possibility to use numerous pairs of portals, vehicles could now be traveling through a level in all sorts of directions – back and forth from left to right, in a diagonal crisscross and even shooting up and down vertically. This alone leads to an exciting number of extravagant new level layouts, including spider web-style intersections or multi-storeyed bridges.

But this was only the beginning, as we were just about to open the fun box of Aperture Science test chamber technologies: Which mechanics would work in our game? What combinations would bring the most fun to the players? To find out, we prototyped almost all of them into some test levels and played around – it was just hilarious! So we found many exciting assortments and finally ended with 60 challenging levels which will be played under the demanding gaze of GLaDOS.

For example, by introducing Portal’s Aerial Faith Plates (catapults) and the Repulsion Gel, players can send vehicles and cubes through the level flying and bouncing. Companion Cubes, High Energy Pellets and Propulsion Gel allowed us to furnish the game with an extra portion of Portal-style puzzle solving. Finally, our levels would not be real Aperture science test chambers without some serious hazards, so we added Laser Fields, Emancipation Grills, Acid Goo, and of course some lovely Sentry Turrets (“There you are.”) to make sure that there was enough potential for an extra portion of entertaining destruction and mayhem.

The evolution from Bridge Constructor to Bridge Constructor Portal

After the success of the initial Bridge Constructor title in 2012, Headup Games and we always thought about possibilities to improve the series. First we created Bridge Constructor Playground, offering an easier sandbox-style approach with optional challenges like building with specific materials or with a limited budget. Bridge Constructor Medieval featured a little background story for the first time as well as roofs for protection against enemy fire and trap bridges that collapsed just in time, with the enemies on it.

With the “Slopemania” DLC for the original Bridge Constructor we managed to get away from just flat bridges, bringing more variety to the level design with sloped roads and much more complex and dynamic simulations. That DLC resulted in lots of great community videos, with jumping (and exploding) gas trucks and many hilarious attempts.

When we saw those videos, we wanted a game with considerably more action than the predecessors, so Bridge Constructor Stunts was conceived, featuring stunt parkour-style constructions and fast vehicles to perform daredevil jumps and loops. And, for the first time in the series, you were able to steer the vehicles yourself.

Eventually, during playtests with BC Stunts, where velocity and angle had become important game factors, the guys of Headup Games got the idea of combining Bridge Constructor with the Portal universe. As we all are huge Portal fans, we immediately felt it would be a great thing to combine the puzzle elements of both worlds into a fresh new construction game. So they approached Valve with the idea. They really liked it and helped us with great support – thanks again!

Bridge Constructor Portal launches today at PlayStation Store.

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Gran Turismo Sport Patch 1.13 Now Live

Today, we’re very excited to announce that Gran Turismo Sport’s Patch 1.13 is now live, featuring 12 brand new cars, two new tracks and three all new GT League events for drivers to enjoy.

New Vehicles

Whether you’re an old-school F1 fan or modern supercar connoisseur, we’re sure you’ll enjoy the 12 new additions to Brand Central this month. Take a look at the full line-up:

• Alpine A110 1600S
• Alpine A110 Première Édition
• Audi R8 4.2 FSI R tronic
• De Tomaso Pantera
• Dodge Challenger R/T
• Ford Mustang Mach 1
• Gran Turismo F1500T-A
• Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4
• Subaru WRX STI Isle of Man Time Attack Car
• Subaru Falken Tire / Turn 14 Distribution BRZ
• Toyota Supra 3.0GT Turbo A
• Toyota MR2 GT-S

New Tracks

Next, we’ve expanded the fan-favorite Blue Moon Bay Speedway by creating two brand new hybrid circuits: Blue Moon Bay Speedway Infield A and B – each adding tight turns and hairpins to the original course’s oval for a unique challenge.

GT League Events

Finally, we’ve added three exciting new GT League events geared towards drivers of all experience levels, including:

• Stars & Stripes – Beginner League
• Vision Gran Turismo Trophy – Amateur League
• F1500 Championship – Professional League

Don’t forget: you can find all the latest info on upcoming GT Sport content right here at PlayStation.Blog or over at the official Gran Turismo website. Until next time, drivers, we’ll see you out on the track.

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City of the Shroud Fuses Tactical RPGs with Fighting Games

When we set out to design City of the Shroud‘s combat, we knew we wanted to make 1) a tactical RPG and 2) combine it with the strategic thinking and a sense of split-second action found in fighting games. Simple, right? The end result is a tactical RPG / fighting game-inspired combat system that rewards both patience and think-on-your-feet strategy, allowing for rapid-fire battles in a story-rich world.

So how did we end up with this system? After a lot of iterating (you should see some of the prototypes), we came up with the “Combo Wheel” — a circle of inputs used to activate and chain together special abilities, similar to a fighting game. Think down-right-down to shoot a fireball and you’ve got it; if any of you ever played Legend of Legaia, it’s a similar approach, but in real-time.

Since abilities require specific input sequences to activate them, you can equip abilities that share a starting and ending point for easy combos. For example, if you set a Duelist up with both Dash (up-left) and Roundhouse (left-down-right-up), you can push up-left-down-right-up to activate both skills using only five inputs. This results in the Duelist dashing to her target to slash them with her sword (Dash), then following up with a powerful spinning kick to knock them backwards (Roundhouse).
 

One reason we settled on putting a big wheel up on screen for these combos is that there are so many abilities and potential combos in the game that remembering them all in real time battles would be a tremendous burden. To make it so you can focus on combat and not have to recall a specific ability’s path, we set up the Combo Wheel to show each equipped ability’s starting input, with the following inputs appearing once you start the sequence. With everything laid out visually, there’s always guidance on how to activate a character’s abilities, so you can think about which ones to use, not how to use them.

So now you have a bunch of abilities and several angry opponents to use them on. Great! Or not, depending on your perspective! How do we manage real-time combat with all these characters and combos on a controller?
 

Two elements come into play here: the first is that the game rewards patience and strategy. Wait for the opportune moment to strike and victory will surely be yours. Mash buttons and, well, victory will probably not be yours. Finding the right moment to execute a powerful combo is key, and the pacing in combat reflects that.

The other is that we’ve put a lot of time and thought into getting combat to feel good with a controller. You can easily swap between characters, quickly navigate the battlefield, and pop open the Combo Wheel — all with just four buttons.

The Combo Wheel is currently controlled with the left stick: rotating the stick around in a circle is like moving around the wheel and letting it return to center resets your combo inputs. It’s a lot of fun to enter combos this way, and it’s really fast. We’re still iterating, though! We’re thinking about additional options — for example, using the face buttons or directional pad to represent the four inputs on the wheel.
 

What we’ve created for City of the Shroud: Definitive Edition is a rapid-fire tactical RPG that’s chock-full of action and strategy. Throw in the combo mechanics we’ve adapted, and it’s quite the shift! We’ve worked hard to make the experience as awesome as possible on a controller, and we hope you enjoy the results when City of the Shroud: Definitive Edition launches in 2019 on PS4!

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Detroit: Become Human Launches May 25

We are proud to announce that Detroit: Become Human now has an official release date: on May 25th, you will finally have the chance to get your hands on Quantic Dream’s most ambitious title to date.

In a dystopian vision of our near future, Detroit is the story of three androids, three machines designed to obey, who start to feel emotions. Confronted with persecution and the violence of society, they will all have to decide who they want to be.

Connor is a prototype designed to help human investigators on cases involving androids; Kara becomes a fugitive by empathizing with a little girl, united in their dream of freedom; Markus will become the leader of the android revolution.

The player will control all three in turn, taking control of their destinies, and telling not only their individual stories, but also the story of their people and of their world.

Detroit is by far the most ambitious title ever created by Quantic Dream; with this game, we wanted to push our limits by creating the most bending game we have ever made. Your actions have real and spectacular consequences: there are entire scenes that you can see or miss based on your actions, your closest allies may help you until the end or die just after you meet them, your destiny itself can be totally different depending on your choices. You must also be very careful with your three main characters, because any of them may die at any time.

Each story is almost as unique as your DNA: it is the result of the choices you made, the minor ones and the important ones, because in Detroit, all choices matter. You will need to observe, think, decide, feel, follow your intuition or your heart, to tell the unique stories of each character, and their stories will become your personal story.

Detroit explores many complex themes that resonate with today’s world. Of course, it is about AI and the role of technology, but it is also more than anything about us, about our society, our dreams, our mistakes, our hopes. It is about what it means to be human: is it just about having flesh and bones, or does it mean more than that? We hope that it sparks some meaningful conversations and we’re looking forward to hearing what you think about it.

In order to depict the world of Detroit, we have also developed the most spectacular 3D engine we have ever created. We tried to push the limits of the PS4 as far as we could, with hundreds of highly realistic characters, full performance capture, scenes featuring crowds, all with a level of quality that we had never reached before. We have also imagined a new way of playing a story where you are in direct control of a complex story where any of your choices may have consequences.

With Detroit, Quantic Dream presents its most accomplished experience, a spectacular and unexpected journey full of emotions, twists and turns, dangers and hope, in the most bending story we have ever created – where every choice matters.

We hope you see Detroit as a unique experience that echoes some of the challenges our world faces, and maybe it even resonates with your own personal life. More than anything, we hope that Detroit will leave an impression on you, and that you will remember for a long time the story of these three androids who wanted to be free…

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