Happy Sunday, gang! The weekend’s half-gone (or half-full, depending on how much you’re dreading Monday). We’ve got our Sunday mental workout ready for you, and then you can head off and get your gaming grind on. (We’ve got the new Assassin’s Creed teed up this weekend.)
Yes, your daily sweet 16 words are back and ready for your best grouping efforts. The popular Connections brainbuster from The New York Times has four groups of words with a shared theme or commonality, but they’re shuffled into random order for you to figure out. Remember to take your time—many words have multiple meanings, so think twice before you click.
Crab Pot Pie is one of the uncommon meals in Palia that players can consume to gain a decent amount of Focus or give it to the characters who love/need it. This guide will walk you through how to unlock the Crab Pot Pie recipe and make it in Palia.
How to Unlock the Crab Pot Pie Recipe in Palia
Like every cooking recipe in Palia, players must first learn its recipe and it is the same for Crab Pot Pie. Before players get to make the Crab Pot Pie, they will have to unlock it. To unlock the recipe for Crab Pot Pie, you have to purchase it from the Cooking Guild Store after reaching Cooking Level 5 and it will cost 1,000 Gold.
How to Make the Crab Pot Pie in Palia
Once you have the Crab Pot Pie recipe, you will be able to make it using your cooking appliances. As each recipe requires certain cooking appliances and ingredients, it is the same for the Crab Pot Pie. You need 1 Standard Stove and 1 Prep Station to make the Crab Pot Pie using the following ingredients.
1x Butter
1x Corn
1x Wheat
1x Onion
1x Any Vegetable
1x Any Crab
Follow the following steps to make the Crab Pot Pie.
Step 1: Interact with the Standard Stove and select the Crab Pot Pie recipe to start making it.
Step 2: Go to the Prep Station and interact with it to make Chopped Crab by chopping any crab.
Step 3: Interact with the Prep Station again to make Chopped Vegetable by chopping any vegetable.
Step 4: Interact with the Prep Station again to make Chopped Onion by chopping the Onion.
Step 5: Interact with the Prep Station again to make Basic Dough by rolling the Wheat.
Step 6: Go to the Standard Stove and add Butter, Corn, Chopped Crab, Chopped Vegetable, Chopped Onion, and Basic Dough to finish making Crab Pot Pie.
Make sure to complete all of the above steps in under 1min 40sec otherwise, you will get Spoiled Food.
Use of Crab Pot Pie in Palia
The Crab Pot Pie meal is mainly used in the Another Way quest for Tish. Moreover, consuming Crab Pot Pie generates 225 Focus (Basic) or 337 Focus (Star Quality). You can sell it for 79 Gold (Basic) or 102 Gold (Star Quality) at the Shipping Bin. Additionally, you can give it to the villagers who like it or who need it as a weekly want.
No Villager needs Crab Pot Pie until October 6, 2024, so if you have prepared some, save them so that you can give them to villagers later.
Nostalgia is a powerful tool. The gaming industry has been going through some changes in the last couple of years and games have been very hit or miss. So when a game like The Plucky Squire comes along, which showcases gameplay that plays to old school platforming and mechanics with a modern twist, it can be incredibly enticing.
Right off the bat, The Plucky Squire is a visually beautiful game. The unique format of a story book to tell the narrative, is well done. The art style is captivating, with smooth animations and transitions that make the game feel like a story book come to life. The characters don’t talk, with the exception of the occasional cheer, but the overarching plot is conveyed by a fantastic narrator that does a great job from start to finish.
The characters are fun and quirky, and while the plot isn’t going to blow your mind, the presentation makes it an enjoyable experience from start to finish.
The Plucky Squire – a storybook adventure
As a game, The Plucky Squire blends 2D platforming and combat with 3D through “meta magic”. Meta magic allows Jot, the plucky squire, to literally break the fourth wall. The evil doer Humpgrump unleashes a spell that forces Jot out of the story book, which unintentionally gives Jot the ability to jump in and out of the book whenever magic swirls are present.
There are abilities that allow Jot to manipulate the pages of the book, mess around with words to change the reality of the book, and fight Humpgrump’s minions to restore order.
While an overall enjoyable experience, The Plucky Squire suffers from pacing issues and a lack of depth of gameplay mechanics, which become more apparent as the game goes on.
Every boss encounter in the game plays to a specific gimmick; typically nods to old school games. For example, Jot’s first boss fight early on is an homage to Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. In it, Jot becomes a jacked boxer who needs to fight a badger. It’s something that older gamers will notice and appreciate.
However, the tedious pacing of the game, along with the incredibly low difficulty make it feel out of place. Way too often, control is taken away from the player to pan over the scene or to provide exposition that makes the game way too easy. As a result, it feels more like it would be ideal for younger players. This is why the inclusion of references to a game like Punch Out feel so out of place. After all, the first one came out in 1987.
Punching out
The other boss fights are incredibly similar. One involves shooting colored balls at an approaching wall, matching colors to clear them before they hit the bottom of the screen. This is a game that I’ve seen recreated in mobile games and old computer games with a million different names.
It’s fun, and while I can appreciate the references, it takes away from the gameplay identity of The Plucky Squire. Boss fights are often defining segments of the games, and every single one in The Plucky Squire is an homage more than an original idea.
Granted, each one is done well and plays cleanly. But why is there a random rhythm game sequence near the end of the game? It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the offering and it doesn’t add anything new.
It’s weird because the platforming elements are done very well. The world is unique, and while the book sequences focus on platforming in a fantasy world, the desk segments are unique and offer a lot of variety. On the desk there are sheets of paper that allow Jot to switch between 3D space and 2D space to navigate. As the plot progresses the desk gets reorganised and the set pieces change. Jot can go from climbing around a doll house to running from dinosaurs in a prehistoric jungle, without it being jarring. It feels like running and jumping around the play sets like everyone wishes they could’ve done when playing growing up.
Visually stunning
The platforming is the strongest aspect of The Plucky Squire, and I wish there would’ve been a bigger focus on the mechanics that make The Plucky Squire standout.
Again, everything the developers do in the game is done well. It never felt unfair or mechanically broken, so it is definitely a success as a game when it comes to paying homage to gaming classics. But again, The Plucky Squire is not hard and the people who are going to fully appreciate those references are going to be the people who find the game incredibly easy.
The pacing issues do get better as things progress, but these could be easily fixed by allowing player movement while the narrator speaks, instead of locking the camera and making you sit and listen.
Performance wise, The Plucky Squire plays well for the most part. There is some stuttering in the 3D sections, but this seems to be more of an issue when transitioning from 2D to 3D more than anything else. There does appear to be an issue with memory leak during extended sequences, because some puzzles stopped functioning properly during my playtime, only to be fixed when I restarted the game. Thankfully, auto saves are frequent, and I lost at most a minute or two of playtime.
Overall, if you know what you’re getting when you boot up The Plucky Squire, you’ll be in for a very enjoyable experience. The plot in the second half is very engaging, the visuals are stunning, and the mechanics introduced are all done well. They may not have the mechanical depth that I was hoping for when I booted things up, but they were fun.
The Plucky Squire – a cute platformer
The Plucky Squire doesn’t overstay its welcome either, and it took about six and a half hours for me to play through. Going for collectibles and playing around with some of the mechanics can pad that time out if you want it to, but it’s a game that can be finished in a weekend.
Despite its flaws, this is a game that achieves what it wants to in a fun and accessible format. If you’re looking for a cute platformer, then The Plucky Squire is worth playing through at least once.
From Page to Play: The Plucky Squire’s 2D-to-3D Adventure – https://www.thexboxhub.com/from-page-to-play-the-plucky-squires-2d-to-3d-adventure/
Buy The Plucky Squire on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/the-plucky-squire/9nc3fhgqrs88
It’s time to grab another sweet free game courtesy of GOG.com during their big Autumn Sale that’s ongoing until October 8th, 7 AM UTC.
For this giveaway GOG are letting you claim a free to keeps copy of Whispering Willows, an indie adventure-horror game that also has a Linux version. When you’re logged in on GOG just scroll down a bit and you’ll see the giveaway banner allowing you to quickly claim it.
A reminder on some great discounts currently live in the sale:
Check out the full sale for all the discounts.
Check out the Heroic Games Launcher if you need an easy app for managing GOG games on Linux / Steam Deck.
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The First Descendant has quickly become a must-play free-to-play title, with awesome looter shooter gameplay and formidable Vulgus and Colossi to fight. In an upcoming update, a new deadly foe is set to arrive as the Death Stalker has made its presence known.
Early patch notes for Season 2 already have fans excited, with a new story set to showcase fan-favorite character Freyna. Some great Halloween skins were also shown off to kick off the spooky season, but this new fearsome foe adds a terrifying new addition to the game.
Watch out for The Death Stalker
According to The First Descendant’s official Twitter account, The Death Stalker is a foe that’s far “more formidable” than any Colossus players have encountered thus far. Beyond fighting this new Colossus, players will also be able to fight more of these gigantic foes in the game’s final Intercept Battle, Gluttony, which has its difficulty adjusted for the newer content.
“With the introduction of the most powerful Colossus, Death Stalker, the difficulty of the final Intercept Battle, Gluttony, will also be readjusted. Join for the opportunity to intercept more Colossi,” reads the announcement Twitter post.
Since The Death Stalker is introduced in this new season, fans should be able to take it down with the various new weapons introduced in the patch. Naturally, players will need to grind to get the best gear in this free-to-play shooter, especially with some of the buffs given in the last patch. Only time will tell if this new Colossus will live up to the hype, but this should make fans of The Last Descendant very happy.
Get ready for The Death Stalker
Now that fans know The First Descendant Season 2 is coming out on October 10, fans should have enough time to prepare for this massive boss fight. Because this is a live-service game, enemies stronger than The Death Stalker will eventually come, but seeing threats like this added in real-time is still pretty exciting.
Players need to head back into The Void to encounter The Death Stalker, so expect to struggle quite a bit before heading into this massive fight. With Ultimate Freyna joining the ranks, players might stand a chance as they stare death in the face. At the least, fans will experience this massacre in a pretty epic way.
For more on The First Descendant, check out the PS5 Pro support this game will receive when the console upgrade is released. Also, check out this new feature that will make characters look even better.
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There’s no way to talk about Survival Float Simulator – Crocodile Waters Craft, Raft, Build, without talking about Survive & Craft. You should go read that review before continuing… read? Good. SFS is a ripoff of that game which itself was a ripoff of Raft. But while S&C managed to hold its own and was strangely good, SFS is a straight up scam. Let me start by showing you what happens when you go off your raft into the water:
The opening logo lasted longer than the actual footage did.
Yes, when you fall in the water in Survival Float Simulator, you die. Why? Don’t know. But wait, there’s more! You construct a hook to grab resources floating about. There’s one problem, there are no resources to grab. This is in stark contrast to S&C, where resources where everywhere, too many in fact. Because you can’t grab any resources, you can’t construct the hammer to use the planks you have. So you are stuck on the the tiny platform you start on. Furthermore, when you drop the planks in the water, they stay still. Despite the little water animation, you are actually sitting still. Yes, Survival Float Simulator is completely broken.
When you make a photocopy of a photocopy, the image quality degrades. When you rip off a ripoff, similarly, the quality degrades. Survival Float Simulator is a scam. All of the images shown on the eShop page were faked because the game is broken. There are no resources to get, so there’s nothing to do in the game. Just go in the water and die over and over again. Play Survive and Craft and thank me later. This gets a Garbage with a one back-end score. May the crocodile end your misery quickly!
Overall: Survival Float Simulator is a ripoff of a ripoff, and is therefore complete garbage and a scam.
Another Commodore 64 game released this week ( no it’s not Amiga :p ) , as we’ve been told that Drmortalwombat has made available the super speedy bi-directional shooter of ‘ Portal Buster ‘. A game in which the developer was noted as saying “this game is perhaps too fast for some of the armchair scroller fans, but what do I care, I need speed”. To coincide with this news, we’ve got some extra info about the game as well as a gameplay video from Saberman.
And here’s the extra info! “To sweeten the deal, you get infinite continues, nine levels of weapon power-up, built-in trainer modes, portals and respawn points. So battle your way through a gigantic 32k pixel-wide level to find and destroy the end boss. You need to pick up fuel barrels to keep your spaceship afloat. If you activate both sides of a colour-coded portal, you can reap the benefits of hyperspace and travel instantaneously. Doors require buttons to be pressed”.
Nuketown is confirmed to return in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, but with Treyarch keeping quiet about what it will look like, fans hope it’ll live up to expectations.
There are some Call of Duty maps that live in our memories long after their release – and there are others that Activision simply won’t let us forget.
Originally arriving with the original Black Ops, and having made its return on countless occasions, it’s safe to say that Nuketown falls under both those categories.
Is Nuketown Coming to Black Ops 6?
Yes, Nuketown is confirmed to arrive in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, although it won’t be present on release day.
Activision has already confirmed all 16 maps coming to Black Ops 6 at launch, and Nuketown isn’t one of them.
However, the map Warhead appears to be a version of Nuketown from after the nuclear warhead has detonated, and that Strike Map will be available on day one.
Warhead map in Black Ops 6
A Nuketown variant has been present in every Black Ops title to date, and we’re happy to report that it’s set to return in Black Ops 6 too!
After all, all the way back in Black Ops 6’s initial showcase, we saw the map’s name appear in the matchmaking lobby, giving us confirmation that Nuketown will be back again.
In the case of Black Ops Cold War, Treyarch’s most recent title, Nuketown arrived in a post-launch update on November 24, 2020, eleven days after the game’s release.
We expect that the map will arrive shortly after Black Ops 6’s launch, though this is yet to be confirmed.
What Should Nuketown Look Like?
Over on the Black Ops 6 subreddit, fans are sharing their hot takes as to what Nuketown should look like this time around.
One popular post shares the opinion that Treyarch should cease making new variants of Nuketown with each new instalment and simply return to the map’s classic appearance from Black Ops 1:
On the other hand, several fans are hoping that the opposite is true!
A new rumor suggests that Black Ops 6 will feature multiple Nuketown variants to play on, similar to MW3’s new assortment of Shipment variants. For some players, it seems that would be the ideal situation.
Other Black Ops fans suggest that they’re tired of Nuketown altogether, which is fair enough given that players are already complaining about Black Ops 6 having too many small maps.
Personally, we think it’s quite unlikely that the OG Nuketown will come back, seeing as Treyarch always likes to offer a new take on the beloved map every time it returns.
However, with only a few in-game years having passed since Cold War’s Nuketown ’84, we don’t expect Black Ops 6’s 1990s version of the map to be too wild.
The air is crisp, the pumpkins are waiting to be carved, and GFN Thursday is ready to deliver some gaming thrills.
GeForce NOW is unleashing a monster mash of gaming goodness this October with 22 titles joining the cloud, with five available for members to stream this week. From pulse-pounding action to immersive role-playing games, members’ cloud gaming cauldrons are about to bubble over with excitement. Plus, a new account portal update lets members take a look at their playtime details and history on GeForce NOW.
October Treats in Store
GeForce NOW is offering plenty of treats for members this month, starting with the launch of THRONE AND LIBERTY this week.
Unite the realms across devices.
THRONE AND LIBERTY is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game that takes place in the vast open world of Solisium. Scale expansive mountain ranges for new vantage points, scan open skies, traverse sprawling plains and explore a land full of depth and opportunity.
Adapt to survive and thrive through strategic decisions in player vs. player or player vs. environment combat modes while navigating evolving battlefields impacted by weather, time of day and other players. There’s no single path to victory to defeat Kazar and claim the throne while keeping rival guilds at bay.
Look for the following games available to stream in the cloud this week:
THRONE AND LIBERTY (New release on Steam, Oct. 1)
Sifu (Available on PC Game Pass, Oct. 2)
Bear and Breakfast (Free on Epic Games Store, Oct. 3)
Monster Jam Showdown (Steam)
TerraTech Worlds (Steam)
Here’s what members can expect for the rest of October:
Europa (New release on Steam, Oct. 11)
Neva (New release on Steam, Oct. 15)
MechWarrior 5: Clans (New release on Steam and Xbox, Oct. 16)
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead (New release on Steam, Oct. 17)
Worshippers of Cthulhu (New release on Steam, Oct. 21)
No More Room in Hell 2 (New release on Steam, Oct. 22)
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (New release on Steam, Oct. 24)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (New release on Steam and Battle.net, Oct. 25)
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure (New release on Steam and Xbox, available in the Microsoft store, Oct. 29)
Artisan TD (Steam)
ASKA (Steam)
DUCKSIDE (Steam)
Dwarven Realms (Steam)
Selaco (Steam)
Spirit City: Lofi Sessions (Steam)
Starcom: Unknown Space (Steam)
Star Trek Timelines (Steam)
Surprises in September
In addition to the 18 games announced last month, 12 more joined the GeForce NOW library:
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (New release on Steam, Sept. 9)
Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (New release on Steam, Sept. 18)
Witchfire (New release on Steam, Sept. 23)
Monopoly (New release on Ubisoft Connect, Sept. 26)
Dawn of Defiance (Steam)
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn (Xbox, available on PC Game Pass)
Fort Solis (Epic Games Store)
King Arthur: Legion IX (Steam)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak (Steam)
Squirrel With a Gun (Steam)
Tyranny – Gold Edition (Xbox, available on Microsoft Store)
XIII (Xbox, available on Microsoft Store)
Blacksmith Simulator didn’t make it in September as the game’s launch was moved to next year.
What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.
What’s your favorite horror game? 👻
— 🌩️ NVIDIA GeForce NOW (@NVIDIAGFN) October 2, 2024
Star Citizen devs endure 18-day crunch for CitizenCon 2024. Cloud Imperium demands weekend work, provides TOIL for extra hours. Devs has left the company during a weakened job market within the gaming industry.
The perpetual development cycle of Star Citizen somehow keeps finding ways to get sillier, courtesy of the leadership at Cloud Imperium Games.
An anonymous Star Citizen developer has leaked an internal memo that details a grueling 18-day crunch to avoid a potential PR disaster at Citizencon 2024.
CitizenCon 2024 is a fan event by Cloud Imperium Games and was created to celebrate Star Citizen. The first convention happened in 2013 when the game entered early access. Back then, developers promised Star Citizen would come out in 2014.
Ten years later, the game is still in early access, albeit in better shape, but the scope of improvements hardly matches the time and money invested (north of $700 million thus far).
The hellish October crunch aims to push out patch 3.24.2 and assemble a playable demo of the Squadron 42 campaign, a star-studded disaster that has been in development since 2012.
Wake Me Up When October Ends
The specifics of the CitizenCon crunch seem inspired by the worst of AAA studio practices, a testament to their commitment to making Cloud Imperium match big names like EA at every step.
Fridays, traditionally a work-from-home day, now have mandatory office presence, but that is nothing compared to the requirement of full workdays on Saturday and Sunday. These are officially flexible, but it is highly ‘encouraged’ to be physically present.
Cloud Imperium will “compensate” workers by giving them breakfast, lunch, and TOIL (time off in lieu) to use later.
The poor management and treatment of developers is made more sinister when you tie in an earlier leak from July. Employees have had to work 12 extra weekly hours to ship a demo for CitizenCon, again in exchange for TOIL, but there is a catch. Any TOIL earned between then and the convention can only be cashed in when Squadron 42 releases, which at this point will occur sometime before the heat death of the universe. Additionally, this will only be available if the employee in question is still employed with Cloud Imperium Games at the time of release.
The company was careful not to infringe on UK labor laws, reminding its developers based in the islands that they need to have 11 hours outside of work per every 24-hour cycle.
Charitably, Cloud Imperium is gifting one (1) day off for free after CitizenCon is over.
These demands from management are a systemic issue within the company and, unsurprisingly, have caused talented workers to quit the Star Citizen team despite the hostile job market in game development and tech today.
In Space, Nobody Can Hear a Release
Star Citizen players are right when they say the game is broadly enjoyable now, but critics frequently retort that this sentiment is the bastard child of Stockholm Syndrome and a sunken cost fallacy.
It is easy to be deeply invested in a game you have spent thousands of dollars on. “At this point, why not stick around until it is released?” And thus the Star Citizen cycle continues, for another year… or ten.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology are two transformative innovations reshaping industries and inspiring a new era of technological growth. AI has revolutionized...
