This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Metroid Dread, Ghostrunner, and the soundtrack for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. We also discussed the Internet Archive turning 25, the release of Windows 11, and new Windows 11 machines from Acer.

My segment begins at 43:14.

The debate over game difficulty sparks up with the release of Metroid Dread. Also, Ghostrunner comes to and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’s soundtrack is revealed.

Engaging Metroid Dread provides challenging exploration

Metroid Dread, the latest chapter in the story of bounty hunter Samus Aran, is clever, challenging, and thrlling. It’s also perfectly demonstrates why “metroid” became more than a video game; it’s a genre.

The sidescrolling action platformer, a Nintendo Switch exclusive, is old school in many ways. There’s very little explanation or voice over and no formal tutorial. This is a game you figure out how to play by playing it.

Because the game is so tightly designed, though, you can figure it out pretty easily. When you need a new power, you get it, and you have to use it immediately after acquiring it. It’s how Metroid trains us as players, and teaches us how things work.

Metroid Dread is similar to other games in the franchise in that Samus starts the game by being stripped of her powers. Those abilities are added back to her power suit as you explore the map and discover the secrets. Each ability or weapon upgrade opens up new possibilities and routes through the map.

The maps – there are eight sections in the game – get a little confusing after you’ve exposed much of the area, and I got lost a few times, trying to figure out where I was supposed to go next. But I always figured it out im the end.

What’s different about Metroid Dread is the addition of a deadly antagonist, EMMI robots. Standard Metroid enemies are restricted to the screen they are on, but the EMMI robots can navigate through the map, and if they detect Samus they go on the hunt.

And if Samus is captured by an EMMI, the game is over and you pick things up from the last save point.

There’s only ever one EMMI to deal with at a time, and there is a way to defeat them, but while you figure out how to get that power, you’re going to have to run and you’re going to end up dying. At least a few times.

The tension that is so perfectly evoked by the game’s music and sound design ratchets up when you’re being hunted. This Metroid certainly creates a sensation of Dread.

There are eight areas to explore and seven EMMI robots to overcome, not to mention the game’s bosses, which are also difficult and require unique battle strategies.

Metroid Dread is challenging, to be sure, but for those players who can deal with experimenting with the combat and trying different things to see what works, it’s a blast.

Futuristic aesthetic flows through Ghostrunner

Ghostrunner has been released for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. If you’ve already got the game for PS4 or Xbox One you can upgrade for free.

The game combines parkour with sword fighting – you’re equipped with a katana – in a frenzied, quick-twitch experience that barely ever slows down.

In first-person perspective you navigate through a futuristic city, finding paths through the environment and slicing up the enemies trying to shoot you. You can make quick lateral moves to dodge some bullets while using your sword to deflect others, and you’ll be repeating sections over and over trying to find the right sequence of moves, because if you get hit once, you’re dead.

With a bass-heavy synthesizer soundtrack that befits the setting, Ghostrunner puts you into the future.

Here are the songs in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game

Director James Gunn is the reason that music has become strongly associated with Guardians of the Galaxy, and the upcoming video game is no exception.

To be released on October 26, Square Enix has published the track list on Spotify

It includes classics from Motley Crue (Kickstart My Heart), Loverboy (Turn Me Loose), Billy Idol (White Wedding), Soft Cell (Tainted Love), Blondie (Call Me), and Pat Benatar (Hit Me With Your Best Shot).

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is releasing on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

The Internet Archive turns 25, Windows 11 is rolling out to computers now, and Acer’s got new laptops running Windows 11 including a new line made from recycled products.

Internet Archive celebrates 25 with online anniversary party

If you’ve ever needed (or wanted) to see what a website used to look like, you’ve visited the Wayback Machine, which grabs snapshots of billions of web pages and stores them.

This is a project of the Internet Archive, which also includes archives of books, software, videos, and more.

The Internet Archive was founded by Brewster Kahle in 1996, and he’s going to take us back to those days on October 21 as part of an online anniversary celebration, From Wayback to way forward: The Internet Archive turns 25.

He’ll be followed by Cory Doctorow who will imagine what things will be like 25 years from now in 2046.

You can get a glimpse now at the future Doctorow imagines with the Wayforward Machine. Spolier alert: it’s dystopian.

Register for From Wayback to Way Forward: The Internet Archive turns 25

Windows 11 is now available

The latest update to Microsoft’s operating system, Windows 11, is now available.

The upgrade, which is free for many Windows 10 users, will not necessarily work on any computer. You can check to see whether yours meets the minimum system requirements, which include:

• 64-bit processor, 1 GHz or faster
• 4 GB RAM
• 64 GB hard drive storage

You can also download and run the “PC Health Check app” that will tell you if your computer is capable of running Windows 11.

Among the things that come with the new Windows are:

• more and better accessibility features to support people with disabilities
• better support for gaming
• Microsoft Teams Chat in the taskbar
• general performance enhancements

If you’ve got a qualifying Windows 10 computer, you’ll get Windows 11 delivered to your device sometime in the next few months.

Acer’s got new Windows 11 laptops including one made from recyclables

Timed with the release of Windows 11 are new notebook computers from Acer, including the Nitro 5 gaming machine, the Swift 5 ultralight, and the green Aspire Vero.

The Aspire Vero is part of Acer’s new line of Vero products that are constructed with post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics.

In addition to the general purpose Aspire Vero is the business laptop the TravelMate Vero (coming in January), the desktop Veriton Vero Mini, and the 27-inch monitor, the Vero BR277 (available in March).

This week on The Shift, Shane Hewitt and I talked about Far Cry 6, Diablo II Resurrected, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We also discuss the Wendy’s phone and Microsoft’s new Surface devices, including the Surface Laptop Studio, the Surface Pro 8, and the Surface Duo 2.

My segment begins at 43:11.

Far Cry 6 gets political if you want to see it, final fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Diablo II Resurrected is a perfect warm up for what’s to come.

Become a reluctant revolutionary in Far Cry 6

Like the Far Cry Games that have preceded it, Far Cry 6 takes place in a fictional geography. There’s a central antagonist who is powerful and controlling. Possibly insane. And there are motifs of fascism, violence against innocents, and social collapse.

These themes aren’t always fully or elegantly explored, and that’s somewhat true here. But Ubisoft Toronto deserves to be recognized for overtly attempting to do so. The game’s narrative director, Navid Khavari, admitted the game is political and there is plenty of nuance for those who want to look for it.

In Far Cry 6, the dictator is Anton Castillo, played with vigour by Giancarlo Esposito. Castillo wants to return his island nation of Yara to the glory days of old. A product of violence and trauma, Castillo believes the ends justify the means, and he’s grooming his son, the hesitant Diego, to be just like him.

You come up against this family of power as Dani Rojas, who you can play as female or male. Dani wants to escape the chaos of her home for the promise of America. Along the way, Dani falls in with Libertad, a revolutionary force rising up against the tyranny of Castillo. Despite having military training and a knack for guerrilla warfare, Dani is reluctant to join the rebels.

But join them Dani does, which immerses you in this world of danger and possibility.

Khavari revealed that Yara was based on Cuba, and the Caribbean geography of the game ranges from the metropolis of Esperanza to tobacco fields and swamps.

Where Far Cry 6 differs from recent instalments is that you don’t customize and improve your character by selecting and improving skills and abilities. Instead, as Dani becomes more powerful as you play through the game you get access to better gear and weapons. The idea is you customize Dani for the task at hand by equipping the weapons and gear that are best suited for the job.

So instead of spending time working through skill trees, you spend time changing up your loadout before a big mission.

And there are lots of missions available in this open world, including those that drive the narrative as well as all the side missions you’d expect, telling smaller stories, providing access to collectibles, and giving you reasons to explore the entire available space.

You can modify your weapons and gear at workbenches, which are widely available along secret guerrilla paths that provide you with safe navigation through the environment.

There’s lots going on in Far Cry 6. While the obvious narrative is about a despot trying to maintain control through violence, the story also circles around topics like immigration and forced labour, industrial farm economies, and the international biochemical and drug complex.

There’s also the sense of how the clear-headed ideology of the young can transform into the murk of consequence and symbiosis as you get older.

I’m not convinced all players will appreciate the subtle distinctions that the actors bring to these characters – it’s difficult at times to notice through the bombast of the shooter game it’s all set in – but for those gamers who are open to taking a step back and a deep breath, Far Cry 6 can deliver not only a satisfying open world adventure, but also a prompt to think about the messiness of geopolitics.

Far Cry 6 is available now for PS4, PS5, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S. Rated mature.

Sora from Kingdom Hearts is the final character in Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

In a highly anticipated video presentation yesterday (October 5), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate director Masahiro Sakurai revealed Sora is the final addition to the fighting game.

Sora, who joins the fray on October 18, is the protagonist in the Kingdom Hearts games, which blends together traditional Japanese role-playing game characters with characters from Disney universe, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, and Pixar characters.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was first released in March 2018, and has been steadily adding new fighters to the game since that time, many from other studios and companies including Steve and Alex from Minecraft, Kazuya from Tekken, Banjo and Kazooie, Snake from Metal Gear, and Pac-Man.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available now for Nintendo Switch. Rated everyone 10+.

Diablo II Resurrected a welcome diversion during goth month

Originally released in 2000 for computers, Diablo II is an isometric action role playing game set in a fantasy world where demons are a plague and adventurers need to overcome them.

You become one of seven character types: amazon, assassin, barbarian, druid, necromancer, paladin, or sorceress. And like the best dungeon games, you’ll have a blast exploring the maps, killing the evil creatures, and uncovering the story of what’s really going on.

Resurrected is a remaster, not a remake, so there are all the throwbacks you’d expect in a game that is twenty years old. The dialogue, while wonderfully acted, is stilted. The inventory management is excruciating. And there’s little explanation of how the game works.

But once you figure out how to improve your character, and map your new skills and abilities to your controller buttons, you’ll settle in to this fun game. Don’t be surprised at how difficult it becomes as you progress through the five chapters of the game, though.

Remaster means nicely updated graphics, of course, and in particular the cut scenes in which much of the major story is delivered are divine.

The online world means you can easily play with friends, too, which gives you the chance to partner up with complementary classes to really take on the devils.

The opportunity to play Diablo II on console is a perfect appetizer to the pending release of Diablo IV. Let’s hope we don’t go too hungry in the meantime.

Diablo II: Resurrected is available now for PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Rated mature.