If you were worried about the follow up to Dennation Games super-hit, Hotline Miami wouldn't be awesomely violent, this preview video should set your mind at ease. Featuring the first two levels of the game, this mini review/story recap really shows off the new rad Hotline Miami brings to bear.

I consider Hotline Miami to be a nearly perfect game in terms of tone, story, music and game length. If Hotline Miami 2 just brings more of the awesome, it should be amazing.

Hotline Miami 2 will ship on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS3, and Vita sometime later this year.

Desctructoid interviewed Tommy Refenes, the other half of Team Meat, about his upcoming game Mew-Genics. Mew-Genics is a cat breeding simulator with pretty dark style. The interview covers a few aspects of the game and as the interview happens you can see some of the game play in the back. They discuss a few of things you can do with your cats after you breed them such as beauty pageants and cat fighting.

How can this game be bad?

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls is coming to next gen consoles and Blizzard provided a pretty lengthy Q&A at PAX about what it will be. Not only will the game contain the base Diablo III experience but also all of the Reaper of Souls content as well as some console exclusive features. Some of these features make a ton of sense for consoles but would also be kind of neat to see ported back to PC. One feature in particular is auto-leveling your friends to scale with you and the game you are currently playing.

The current Diablo III loot 2.0 first started on the console version and was such a hit it was ported back to PC, so hopefully some of this comes back.

"In Chroma Squad you will manage an indie Sentai television studio, casting actors, purchasing equipment, crafting weapons and giant Mechas out of cardboard and glue to create your own Sentai TV show. Once the cameras are rolling, you will control your cast of five colored-jumpsuit-clad warriors in dramatic, turn-based battles."

Behold Studios, the creators of Knights of Pen and Paper have released an awesome new video showing off their new game, Chroma Squad. Even though the game is still in development what they are showing looks really fun. Chroma Squad blends awesome elements of turn based tactical games with some really unique TV show simulator bits.

Chroma Squad will drop this year on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux.

http://www.chromasquad.com/

I watched this game video today that is both awesome and confusing. It's a bit confusing because I have no idea what the game is because the video is entirely in what I think is Japanese. That said, the game seems to be of a little girl with antlers in a style similar to Limbo. The art and music are pretty unique and I hope this eventually makes it's way to the states.

Does anyone know anything about this game or know someone that can read the text in the trailer?

It's a common tale. Collect teeth to progress. Head over to kill the things to get the teeth...

Like many I have been enjoying the trailers for Capybara Games, Below. Featuring a really moody art style as well as the music of Jim Guthrie, what's not to love? How about it only being released on XBox? Originally, it was, but it seems Capybara Games have remedied that and dropped the hint in their latest trailer.

Will Below come out on the Steam Machines too? Not entirely sure but Below will come out on "Steam on XBox One" some time this year.

After enjoying Sean Hogan and Jon Kittaka's first game Anodyne, I have been watching the development of "Even the Ocean" with anticipation. Recently they gave me access to "motion demo #1" and I am pretty impressed with it.

Sean and Jon's style is very present in "Even the Ocean" and from the first time you open the game, the unique score brings something very different to the table. Whereas Anodyne was a top down Zelda-esque game, Even the Ocean is a side scrolling platformer. The platforming mechanics of Even the Ocean are pretty simple to understand. You have an energy bar that contains two kinds of energy. If you have much more white energy you can jump higher BUT you move a bit slower. If you have much more purple energy you move much faster but don't jump as high. If you get all white or all purple energy you die and must start over. I found this mechanic to be fairly unique and I often wasn't aware of which energy was best for each situation. That said, after a bit of experimentation I was able to get everywhere I wanted to go.

Even the Ocean will be a two part game:

"The Ocean"

In this longform platforming adventure, explore and learn the nature, boundaries and future of an fantasy world with diverse landscapes. Balance your energy bar to modify your horizontal and vertical movement speed as you travel through the world of The Ocean, carving your own style of travelling through The Ocean's many areas. Our intent is to make moving through The Ocean feel similar to combat, in the variety of ways different players decide to make it through a room.

The Ocean takes place mainly in "Nature" and "Gauntlet" areas, Gauntlet areas are linear levels with rising and falling tension in the level design, Nature areas are more nonlinear, wider-open areas populated with NPCs. We hope that the combination of these areas with the NPCs, aesthetics and overarching narrative provide a rich framework for players to interpret the themes and ideas behind The Ocean.

"Even"

Even is a woman in her 20s in a fictional present-day seaside town: meet and learn about people around her town, as well as explore Even's thoughts through this slice-of-life walk-and-interact + daydream-exploration-platforming hybrid game that also looks at mechanics developed in The Ocean, but in a shorter manner."

I really like how Analgesic Games builds unique games with a very distinct style. Looking forward to playing the final game to see how the story, music, art and gameplay all come together.

Even the Ocean will release some time on PC, Mac and Linux and when an official date is set, i'll let you know.

http://www.eventheocean.com/

Make sure to read the interview we had with the guys when Even the Ocean was first announced:

http://cheerfulghost.com/jdodson/posts/1557

I'm not gonna lie... I pre-ordered the new Wolfenstein game because this game looks totally sick. That said, the few trailers that have dropped contain some really violent and shocking imagery. Don't get me wrong, I am no slouch to violent stuff. I loved the film Inglorious Basterds so much it sit's on my movie shelf. That said, it seems Wolfenstein: The New Order even ratchets things up quite a bit. To it's credit, to be sure.

I played Wolfenstein: The New Order at PAX prime this last summer and from what I played it was a really polished shooter. Can't wait to get my hands on the game and take down them Nazi's one more time...

Microsoft has released more information about Age of Mythology: Extended Edition in the form of a pretty awesome new trailer. The trailer shows the old version and new version side by side. The trailer goes over the new updated HD visuals, water effects, global lighting, day and night cycles, Twitch.tv streaming & Steam multi-player and workshop integration.

Age of Mythology is a really great game that deserves the HD re-release treatment. I really enjoyed the multi-player of Age of Empires and Age of Empires II but didn't like the single player game. Age of Mythology not only has great multi-player but the single player is well worth the price of admission alone. Taking into account that they are putting in the original Age of Mythology content plus the Wrath of the Titans expansion, this is a pretty great deal.

I wonder if Age of Mythology will get more post-release content expansions like Age of Empires: HD?