Netflixâs movie conclusion lets Kit Connor and Joe Locke shine, but sidelines most of the showâs beloved ensemble The post âHeartstopper Foreverâ Review: Finale Film Plays the Hits While Flirting With Profound Questions appeared first on TheWrap .
Perched on its favourite rock, this agama scans every direction, watching for insects, rivals and anything else that catches its attention....
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Paris to play three hours of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse , and while there, I had the chance to speak with some of the developers who worked on the game. The project is an indie developer's dream come true, since developer Evil Empire originally worked on Dead Cells, a game heavily inspired by Castlevania, and now it's getting a chance to make the first new Castlevania entry in years. I asked Konami producer Tsutomu Taniguchi, Evil Empire marketing director BeÌrenger DupreÌ, and Evil Empire creative director Emmanuel Nouaille how Evil Empire's initial pitch to Konami went. According to them, there wasn't one; Konami was the one that asked them, not the other way around. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse "They actually approach us with a DLC for Dead Cells," Taniguchi told us via a translator. "And it kind of [became] a little negotiation, because they pitched us DLC, and then we said, 'Well, you can do that, but can we create a new Castlevania game with you?' And so, it was our suggestion. And then we started collaborating and discussing and creating the game together, which is what made Castlevania: Belmont's Curse." The Evil Empire developers supported this series of events. "It's actually a more tricky question than it sounds, because it's like there was no pitching stage, and it was more discussion," DupreÌ said. "We felt like we could be a good fit together to make this game, because we have this experience with 2D combat, and so we just discussed together. I think we didn't officially pitch it. It was more like a common brainstorm." Nouaille added that the studios both went through with it because the Castlevania DLC was such a hit . "It was logical to discuss together to find the right project to continue to work," Nouaille said. He then adds, with a touch of sarcasm, "It was very difficult to refuse a proposition." Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania From the information I gathered from past interviews with Evil Empire, this must have come as an even bigger shock than this duo lets on. In a 2022 interview about Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania ( featured on page 16 of Game Informer issue 354, which you can read for free ), Evil Empire co-founder Benjamin Laulan told me about how he approached Konami at BitSummit, a Japanese game conference, to ask them to create a retail version of Dead Cells in Japan. Laulan said, "I had this crazy idea that if we worked with Konami, maybe they would let us make an Alucard skin or a weapon that we could include in the game as a bonus for Japanese players." Konami was so receptive, Evil Empire decided to shoot for the moon and mocked up a whole Castlevania-themed expansion. "[Konami] said yes, straight away, without even looking at the presentation," Laulan told me in 2022. "They said, 'Yeah, we've been waiting for you guys to ask us.' They were actually Dead Cells fans." To extend the timeline of events to today, this means the simple request for Alucard's sword became a years-long collaboration, resulting in the first new Castlevania game in years. Pretty wild! For more on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, you can check exclusive art and our hands-on impressions in the next issue of Game Informer , which launches on Tuesday, July 21. To see what the developers had to say regarding generative AI in the game's development process, click here .
Kamloops is in for three days of top-notch free entertainment, July 24-26, in Riverside Park. The Kamloops International Buskers Festival will return for its seventh year, showcasing the talents of top street performers from around the world. âThis is a one-of-a-kind festival in Kamloops...
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One of the most terrifying aspects of being a teen is the continuous change. Young people are expected to navigate high school, friendships, romance and mental wellness before making major decisions about the future trajectory of their lives. Since its debut four years ago, Netflixâs âHeartstopper,â based on Alice Osemanâs novel and comic of the [...]
The film-length finale to the teen LGBTQ+ show has poignant moments but feels like fan service by numbers If it were up to Kit Connor , Heartstopper would have ended quite differently. âIf Iâd had my way, I would have had Nick and Charlie cheating on each other and doing all those stupid things,â he recently told the Guardian. âBecause young people do that and donât necessarily need to be villainized for it.â Midway through Heartstopper Forever , the film-length finale of Netflixâs series, I started to see his point. The central star-crossed lovebirds of Alice Ocemanâs megahit are now 18 and 17, and like most teenagers they have sex, get drunk and fight with their annoying siblings. Unlike most people their age, they donât vape, donât use sex apps and they definitely donât cheat. Continue reading...
Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.
Fans of side-scrolling metroidvania games have been eating pretty well for the last few years. Games such as Hollow Knight: Silksong and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have provided solid entries in the genre, each offering fascinating worlds, expansive maps, and deep combat. What's more, the rising tide of good metroidvania games is raising all boats, as developers draw on one another's good ideas to enhance their work and find new ways to push the envelope. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse is another in that recent lineage of search action titles, taking the solid foundation of Konami's storied vampire-hunting, monster-killing franchise, and enhancing it with some of the smart elements like parries, dodges, and Estus flask-like healing abilities, that have become common in recent genre entries, as well as new ideas of its own. I recently played about three hours of Belmont's Curse, which included taking on its first three bosses, and came away with a strong sense of how Konami and developer Evil Empire are giving Castlevania a new lease on life. In Belmont's Curse, which is a canonical story in the Castlevania series, you play as Rose Belmont, daughter of the legendary vampire hunter Trevor. It's been 23 years since 1989's Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, when Trevor killed the Prince of Darkness. But the Belmonts return to action when monstrous forces descend on Paris, with Rose taking the lead in trying to find out what's going on and who is behind it. I played from the start of the game, when Rose and her aging father arrive in a burning city overwhelmed by horrors. They split up, with Rose heading into the city while Trevor searches for the bishop who summoned them. What follows is classic Castlevania, as zombies, living gargoyles, medusa heads, and other creatures surge forward to attack her. At first blush, Belmont's Curse feels pretty similar to other side-scrolling action games. Rose starts by wielding a sword, and in combat, you'll mostly use a sliding dodge and back step to avoid incoming attacks, so you can reposition to get behind enemies and start wailing on them. You carry three potions that you can use if you're hurt in battle, and while it's possible to find additional potions or health-restoring cooked chickens, your main three potions are restored when you save at a magic mirror, which also respawns enemies. In addition to melee attacks with your weapons, Rose also carries a deck of arcane tarot cards that allow her to cast magic spells, starting with a fireball you can whip at enemies mid-fight. The cards are what sets Rose apart from other Belmonts, and gives Belmont's Curse its own flavor. Each card you unlock lists three Acts of Mercy, which are particular goals to fulfill with the spell--for the fireball, an early goal is to use the spell to kill 20 different enemies. Once you've done that, you earn a point you can spend to unlock one of a few Blessings that upgrades the spell in particular ways, like extending its range, enhancing its damage, or providing other unique effects. The tarot system incentivizes you to use the spells you like to make them more interesting, while also rewarding you for learning to use the ones you aren't a fan of in order to transform them in a way to better fit your loadout. It's a cool addition to the traditional variety of weapons and charms you can add to Rose's repertoire, allowing you to slowly alter how she plays. But what makes the tarot system even cooler is the way you unlock new spells as you play: by defeating bosses. Not long from the start of Belmont's Curse, I ran into a ghost that told me the area was being terrorized by some hulking monster that was claiming the souls of Parisians for some unknown purpose. You can find a few of these ghosts in every new area of Paris as you explore it, but they're often tucked away in tough-to-reach places that will force you to explore and test your platforming skills to reach. The ghosts are a cool addition to your normal metroidvania exploration, though, because they provide clues about where you can find local bosses, what you can expect from them, and what alternate paths you can take to reach them. Those clues get stored in your menu, giving you a chance to prepare for the fight. I ran across the monster the ghost warned about, called the Fallen, soon after, guarding a huge gate leading into the Parisian catacombs. It was a tough fight, with the boss leaping around, throwing Castlevania's boomerang-like cross, and swinging across the arena using a whip. Bosses in Belmont's Curse hit hard, and while they're not quite as difficult as more soulslike-inspired opponents in games like The Lost Crown or Silksong, they'll still put up quite a fight. Defeating a boss allows Rose to absorb the creature into her tarot cards to unlock new spells and abilities. With the Fallen absorbed, you gain a spell that lets you throw his powerful cross, giving you an alternative to the fireball, with its own set of Blessings to unlock. It's similar to the Tactical Soul system of previous Castlevania games, but the emphasis on gaining powerful boss abilities makes them feel specific and important. With the Fallen absorbed, you also gain access to the Arcana Whip it used during the fight. This isn't your classic Castlevania whip, but instead a traversal item that allows you to grapple onto holds that are scattered all over the world. The whip is another great idea in the toolbelt for Belmont's Curse and helps give the game its own identity, because you can use the whip to pull yourself toward enemies. That effectively turns any enemy you encounter into a grapple point, giving you the ability to zip around in combat by using enemies to move yourself around, or to reach locations that would otherwise be impossible. Hit the attack button as you're speeding toward an enemy, and you'll automatically do a high-powered whip attack when you arrive that's specific to the weapon you have equipped. The last cool addition with the tarot cards comes from the fact that they're essential to the story Belmont's Curse is telling. When Rose absorbs a boss into the cards, she's able to speak with them, and they become characters in the story from then on. The Fallen tells Rose that some outside force was controlling his mind and driving him to gather souls for it, but with the creature defeated and absorbed, that spell is broken. I spent the rest of the preview searching through the streets of Paris to find two more bosses, each of which holds a key to the Catacombs. The second boss can be found atop a huge tower, and accessing it requires finding alternative paths around and under it in order to reach mechanisms to lower drawbridges and create platforming paths to climb it. At the top, I fought the game's second boss, a fiery, corrupted Joan of Arc who wields a powerful sword. Where the Fallen was a fast enemy that leapt around the arena, fighting Joan is more of a duel, forcing you to dodge her huge broadsword as she stabs, slices, and swings it toward you. Hitting the boss also kicks fireballs out into the air near her, and when enough of them spread across the area, they produce columns of flame you need to dodge. Defeating Joan earns you her powerful fire column spell, as well as her broadsword. That sword is much slower than the one you start with, but also much more powerful. Through the course of the preview, scouring Paris for secrets and side paths, I found several different weapons to use that totally changed how Rose plays, like a pair of gloves for close-range punches, and a spear you can use as a melee weapon or throw from across the screen. Each of those weapons also comes with its own dedicated whip attack, too--in the case of the gloves, for instance, using the whip attack caused Rose to uppercut enemies into the air so she could juggle them. Joan also provides you with a new traversal ability that's useful both outside of and in combat. Once she's absorbed, you can generate a halo of holy light around Rose that cuts through certain walls and floors so you can pass through them. When you're fighting, you can use the holy light as a parry move, bouncing back projectiles or strikes if you hit it just before an attack lands. The final portion of the demo took me to a cemetery, and eventually, I followed the clues given by ghosts into a hole beneath a tree in search of a creature hidden beneath the cemetery's giant fountain. Hidden underground were ancient Roman baths filled with Medusa heads--giving me a pretty good idea of what I'd find at the end. Sure enough, Medusa was the third boss waiting for me in Belmont's Curse, and she provided a very different experience from the other fights I'd faced. She's huge, but with the throwable spear, I was able to hang back on a distant platform, out of the range of her clawed arms and thrashing tail. Of course, Medusa also has the ability to use her gaze to turn you to stone, but thanks to a clue from a ghost, I knew to turn my back when she used the ability, causing it to pass over Rose harmlessly. After dodging a bunch of dirty looks, lasers shot out of the heads of Medusa's snake-hair, and massive claws, she too was defeated and joined the others in Rose's tarot deck. But while the Fallen seems amiable and Joan of Arc is outright helpful once they join your team, Medusa stays antagonistic. Having those characters around and dealing with their different personalities and agendas makes for an interesting story in Belmont's Curse, and I'm excited to see how the idea of lugging around a mean snake woman who claims she can see the future and wants you to fail plays out over the course of the game. The preview ended when I returned to the Catacombs' door, having picked up a new spell and weapon from Medusa--her powerful gaze that can turn enemies to stone, and a sword and shield reminiscent of what would have been wielded by Perseus in the Greek myth. After three hours, I'd gathered a host of different items and weapons, and building different combinations of them greatly changes how you'll face down any threat you might run across. That flexibility is what I found most impressive in Belmont's Curse, with the game providing you a huge number of build options, while rewarding you with Blessings as you find your favorite ones. Together with a story that has you recruiting your enemies to your side--or just forcing them to accompany you--as you work to figure out what's going on in Paris, Belmont's Curse looks to add a lot of good ideas to a familiar, updated, and well-realized take on the Castlevania series' formula.
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We were recently invited out to Paris, France to play three hours of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, and while we were there, we got to speak to the development team about how the game was made. In addition to behind-the-scenes details on the relationship between developers Evil Empire and Konami ( which you can read more about here ), we specifically wanted to know whether the game was made with any generative AI tools and whether the developers had any hard stances about its use. In short, it sounds like neither studio used it. In Paris, I was able to interview three developers at once: producer Tsutomu Taniguchi from Konami as well as Evil Empire marketing director BeÌrenger DupreÌ and Evil Empire creative director Emmanuel Nouaille. After asking whether developers on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse used AI, the question was translated for Taniguchi, who responded first. "From Konami's point, you know, we haven't used AI. And we don't know what's going to happen next, but we don't really have a stance on it," Taniguchi told us through a translator. Then, marketing director DupreÌ (who is French, for context) followed up with a joke, saying, "I must confess, I do use AI to correct my sentences in English." After some laughter from the room, Nouaille gave the most in-depth response. "To answer the question of the game, no AI," Nouaille said. "It was very important to respect this direction for the team, for the fans, for the industry. For the moment, what is important is to have a real creation. To have our soul in the game. So, I don't have any problem with AI, but in our job, in this game, there is no AI." We'll have more details about Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, including exclusive art and hands-on impressions from three hours of gameplay, in the next issue of Game Informer , which is set to launch Tuesday, July 21. Castlevania: Belmont's Curse comes to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC on October 15.
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IMPERIAL â The brand new state-of-the-art Automotive Technology Facilities Complex at Imperial Valley College was inaugurated on Wednesday, July 15, during a soft opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The Makerfield MP enters No 10 as prime minister on Monday. But who will he choose to join him at the table? Keir Starmer is expected formally to resign as prime minister on Monday morning at Buckingham Palace, with Andy Burnham being invited to take on the role shortly afterwards. Once back in Downing Street mid-morning, Burnham will begin assembling his cabinet. Continue reading...
Argentina booked its spot in the FIFA World Cup final against Spain with a dramatic victory over England, but the celebration might have turned somber as the team faces potential disciplinary action for displaying a banner that read âLas Malvinas son Argentinasâ translating to âThe Falklands are Argentine.â The move has sparked controversy, as the [...] The post âLas Malvinas Son Argentinasâ: Why UK Claims Falkland / Malvinas Islands Despite Being 13,000 KMs Away? appeared first on EURASIAN TIMES .