‘Mighty No. 9’ trailer sparks fan outrage weeks away from launch

By Danny Cowan Published May 25, 2016

Following up on a series of delays and development setbacks, Kickstarter-funded platformer Mighty No. 9 suffered another wave of fan backlash today with the launch of a poorly received trailer that was broadly interpreted as painting the game in a negative light.

Citing “cringeworthy” narration that pokes fun at the game’s target audience, fans have bombarded today’s trailer with comments expressing disappointment. As of this writing, the trailer has earned thousands of dislikes compared to a few hundred “thumbs up” votes.

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Seemingly aping the in-your-face style of ’90s console game advertisements, the latest Mighty No. 9 trailer features a voiceover that summarizes the game’s mechanics via cliches and faux chumminess.

“You kill an enemy, and you can absorb their power-ups,” the trailer states. “Stuff that’ll make you faster and stronger, and make the bad guys cry like an anime fan on prom night.”

Anime fans and gamers alike took to the video’s comments section to point out that Mighty No. 9 developer Comcept previously sought funding for the Studio Ghibli-inspired Red Ash and a related animated feature, giving today’s trailer a hypocritical edge.

Mighty No. 9 initially met with widespread enthusiasm from the gaming community, earning nearly $4 million in crowdsourced funding via Kickstarter. As development continued, however, developer Comcept faced scrutiny that intensified as the project was delayed past its planned September 2015 launch.

The game’s release date was subsequently pushed back to “February 2016,” which later became “spring 2016” following yet another delay. Today’s trailer claims that Mighty No. 9 will finally hit retail and digital channels on June 21, provided that the project doesn’t suffer from any additional setbacks.

Reception to today’s Mighty No. 9 trailer recalls Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare‘s fumbled debut, which earned a record number of dislikes on YouTube from disappointed fans. Currently, Infinite Warfare‘s debut trailer ranks as the second most-disliked YouTube video of all time.

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Gaming

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga isn’t just for kids

Promotional art of Lego Star Wars The Skywalker Saga.

Before Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, I had fallen out of love with TT Games and WB Games' Lego titles. The Lego Star Wars, Batman, and Indiana Jones series helped make me passionate about video games as a kid as I spent endless fun (and sometimes frustrating) hours playing them with my brother.
Over time though, I aged out of the series and grew more disappointed with the basic open-world formula the series settled on after great games like Lego City Undercover. I was no longer smitten with one of the series that helped cement my love of video games. That’s why The Skywalker Saga’s bold new direction excites me.
It not only revisits the films behind some of my favorite Lego games, but builds on top of them with more expansive hub worlds, mission variety, and deeper gameplay than previous Lego action games. While The Skywalker Saga’s multiple delays and development issues concerned me, my hands-on with an early build of the game managed to engross me just like the original Lego Star Wars did 17 years ago.
A New Hope for the series
My demo took me through the first 90 minutes of A New Hope, one of the nine Star Wars films represented within The Skywalker Saga. Like every Lego game before it, this segment of the game followed the events of the film it was based on. It features full voice acting (from soundalikes, not the film cast), though I appreciated the inclusion of a “mumble mode” that makes the characters grunt and pantomime as they did in early Lego games.
LEGO® Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga - Gameplay Overview
TT Games also experiments with the iconic opening of A New Hope. Many jokes are present to keep kids entertained, but it also intertwines with the end of Rogue One. The first character I played as was actually Princess Leia, who has the Death Star plans and is trying to escape Darth Vader as he boards the Tantive IV. Somehow, this Lego game made this oft-adapted and parodied plot beat feel fresh.
This mission also served as a tutorial and a demonstration of how The Skywalker Saga differs from previous Lego games. Yes, there are still combat, exploration, and puzzles, but those are deeper than before. A cover-based system has been implemented to make shootouts more involving. Meanwhile, players can now string together melee combos with different moves and counter enemies' attacks, making melee battles more enjoyable than before. Character classes and abilities also ensure fights in this game are more than simple button-mashing affairs.
Missions often give players multiple options to complete objectives, whether that’s because of a specific Lego build players can create or the abilities of their playable character. It’s no Devil May Cry, but these deeper gameplay systems made sure my eyes didn’t gloss over out of boredom within the first hour, something I can’t say for the last couple of Lego games I played.
The Skywalker Saga made a strong first impression on me and excited me to see how the rest of A New Hope would unfold. I was able to play as Luke Skywalker on Tatooine, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi, recruit Han and Chewbacca, and explore the Death Star before my demo ended. While this is the second time TT Games is adapting this material, it feels completely new because of the revamped approach to storytelling, level design, and gameplay design.
All grown up
During my demo, I only scratched the surface of what the game had to offer. The Skywalker Saga seems to be the most densely packed Lego game yet, as all nine mainline Star Wars films have been recreated here. Not only are there linear levels based on the main plot points and set pieces of each film, but there are large hubs on planets and areas in space that players can explore and complete side missions within.
As players complete the stories of more films and gain access to more characters, ships, and planets, the amount of options players will have at their disposal will only continue to grow. The Skywalker Saga also has a progression system to back that amount of content up ,as missions reward players with Kyber Bricks that players use to unlock and enhance abilities on skill trees.

Yes, this game has skill trees to complement the aforementioned classes -- which include Jedi, Smugglers, and Protocol Droids -- and their abilities, which is useful during and outside of combat. Systems like this bring TT Games’ Lego series more up to par with its action game peers and make it feel like the franchise has finally grown up. As The Skywalker Saga will be the first Lego game in years to appeal to those with nostalgia for the series' earliest game, it's a relief to see that it won't disappoint.
Of course, The Skywalker Saga still will be approachable enough for kids thanks to its visuals, humor, and approachable gameplay basics, but it finally doesn’t seem like that’s coming at the sacrifice of engaging gameplay for older players. While I thought I had aged out of ever liking a Lego game again, this demo of The Skywalker Saga revealed that I could still love these games -- they just had to catch up to me first.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch on April 5, 2022.

Gaming

Hogwarts Legacy set for a holiday 2022 release window

A wizard wearing the sorting hat.

After over a year of silence surrounding a new RPG set in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Avalanche Software and WB Games finally revealed more about Hogwarts Legacy in a State of Play presentation. Most importantly, we learned that the game would finally be released this holiday season, though the game doesn't have an exact date yet.
Hogwarts Legacy | State of Play | March 17, 2022 [ENGLISH]
Players control a fully customizable character who's coming to Hogwarts for the first time as a fifth-year student in the late 1800s. After getting assigned to a house, players will have to attend various classes and explore the giant campus that is Hogwarts. They will then have to use the skills they learned to explore the wider Wizarding World and work with Professor Figg to deal with a Goblin rebellion and uncover the mysteries of ancient magic.
Obviously, the game features a robust spellcasting system for combat. The player will be able to upgrade their talents and other skills with experience gained while completing games and augment their abilities with potions. There's also magical gear that can be bought, crafted, and upgraded, as well as companions that can accompany the player on their journey.
While the idea of a big-budget Harry Potter game seems like a slam dunk on paper, enthusiasm for the title is mixed. That's due to the series' controversial creator J.K. Rowling, who has repeatedly been called out in recent years for transphobic comments. That's putting a damper on the game's pending release, as the controversy has closely followed the game's hype cycle.
For those still planning to pick the game up, it's clear that Avalanche went all out in making the most thorough and detailed Harry Potter game ever. And while Hogwarts Legacy got its own Sony State of Play stream, it isn't a PlayStation exclusive. Harry Potter fans can expect the game to launch on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sometime during the holiday 2022 season.

Gaming

The Wolf Among Us 2 will launch in five parts next year

Bibgy smokes a cigarette in front of a full moon.

More than two years after its reveal at The Game Awards 2019, Telltale Games re-revealed The Wolf Among Us 2 on The Game Awards' YouTube channel today. A new trailer was released and a 2023 launch was confirmed.
The trailer follows Bigby as he discusses his tactics as a private investigator to a support group and confronts some magical criminals, including the Scarecrow and Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz. His opponents get the upper hand, but Bigby becomes a werewolf to fight back.
The Wolf Among Us 2 - OFFICIAL Full Trailer (2022)
In an interview after the trailer, the developers explained that this game takes place six months after the first game. It will follow Snow White and Bigby as they try to rebuild Fabletown in a less corrupt way. The presentation also confirmed that Adam Harrington and Erin Yvette will reprise their roles as Bigby and Snow White, respectively. The actors teased increased tensions between the two characters as Bigby is a loose cannon and Snow White doesn't want to pick favorites while she's mayor.
The whole season will last five episodes, though Telltale and developer AdHoc teased that episodes won't come out until all of them are done and can be released in quick succession. As such, it seems like all episodes will be out in 2023, and we won't have to wait several months between each piece of the story like we did with season 1.
The Wolf Among Us 2 will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023. The PC version will be an Epic Games Store exclusive at launch.