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How Aardman made a WWI game look like an oil painting
Most video games set in the First or Second World War shoot for gritty realism. In Battlefield 1, for instance, there's an extraordinary amount of detail in every uniform, firearm and mud-filled trench. It's the visual fidelity, paired with addictive combat, that draws players in.
The 'Wallace and Gromit' studio is creating an emotional WWI game
Games set in real-world conflicts don't necessarily glorify war, but it's rare that they fully address the horrors of war. For every poignant story like Valiant Hearts, there's many more titles that might only offer token commentary. Wallace & Gromit's Aardman Animation Studios, Bandai Namco and DigixArt want to change that. They've unveiled 11-11: Memories Retold, a narrative adventure about two World War I soldiers who meet under the "most unlikely of circumstances."
'Battlefield 1' DLC adds aerial-only battles and more next month
DICE and EA have shared much more of what Battlefield 1's new "Apocalypse" DLC entails, and it's good news if you prefer to be a fighter ace than fight in the trenches. The expansion arrives in February, and its highlight is a new Air Assault mode where dogfights and airships rule. Appropriately, there are two air-only maps (London Calling and Razor's Edge). Think of it as you would the Starfighter Assault mode in Battlefront II -- it's about scratching the itch for players who jump into vehicles at every given opportunity.
'Vampyr' and the gender politics of 1918 London
Vampyr, the next game from Dontnod Entertainment features a white, male protagonist. For any other studio, this is de rigueur, something dictated by the gaming industry's presumed demographic. But for the team behind Life is Strange and Remember Me, it's the first time they've delved into the male mindset. And it wasn't the result of market research either: It's because Vampyr's story wouldn't have worked any other way.
'Battlefield 1' breakdown reveals a close attention to history
Video games play fast and loose with realism by definition, but authenticity still matters to some degree After all, it's hard to enjoy a history-focused game if there are obvious factual errors. So how does Battlefield 1 stack up, then? So far so good, if you ask the World War I history buffs at The Great War. They've conducted a shot-by-shot breakdown of the cinematic trailer and revealed that EA DICE is largely faithful to the technology of the conflict -- including in ways you wouldn't expect. That shovel-wielding German soldier you see above makes sense, for example, as the infantry learned that bayonets got stuck in victims. Early tanks behave as they should, and things like gas masks or pickaxes (for Italian soldiers scaling mountains) are true to form.
'Vampyr' casts you as a creature of the night with a conscience
Since we last heard about developer Dontnod's vampire role-playing game, Vampyr, set against the first World War, the studio released and wrapped the excellent episodic Life is Strange. But seeing as how that project has wrapped for now it's time to focus on the post-World-War-I tale of the macabre once more. Turns out that it's an action role-playing game focusing on makeshift weapons and the protagonist's newfound vampiric ways.
