Here’s your gaming news roundup for August 2017

After multiple reconnaissance missions, back-alley bribes, and a string of other unmentionable activities, we’ve managed to acquire all gaming intelligence that took place within the month of August 2017. The list that follows contains all information our Lord Editor has deemed fit for public consumption.

If you feel there is something that needs to be addressed or lacking from this list, please let us know in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to deal with you… I mean, your issues.

The Long Dark gets film adaptation

Hinterland studios, the developers behind The Long Dark, and Jeremy Bolt, the producer behind the Resident Evil film series, are teaming up to create a film adaptation of the game.

The Long Dark is a gruelling but stunningly beautiful single player survival title that pits you against the Canadian wild (frostbite, wolves, bears, etc.). The sandbox survival experience was originally released in September 2014, with the first two episodes of the story mode, titled ‘Wintermute’, released on 1 Aug, 2017.

“I was immediately taken by the game’s stunningly immersive landscapes, eerily solitary and realistic nature,” Bolt said in a press release.

“It is an existential tale of moral, emotional and physical endurance with strong characters to build on; it is also a mystery. It is an honour to try to do justice to it on film.”

The video above, titled Elegy, serves as both a trailer for the game and teaser for the film, and is narrated by none other than Academy Award-winner, Christopher Plummer.

“I describe Elegy as a visual poem,” says Raphael van Lierop, the game’s creative director. “I think Elegy stands as an example of the level of quality and the overall tone I’d like to deliver in The Long Dark film.”

No Man’s Sky receives new update, ‘Atlas Rises’

With the latest update to No Man’s Sky, developer HelloGames is well on its way to redeeming its previously bitter reputation. Where some might have run off with their tales between their legs, the devs have stuck with their baby and are working hard to create the game we always dreamed it would be. Good on you, HelloGames!

The new update, titled ‘Atlas Rises’, adds a ton of exciting new content and improvements (take a look at the video above). We are now able to experience an extra 30 hours of story, take part in interstellar missions, are finally able to do joint multiplayer exploration (although it’s still not exactly what you’d imagine), and the game received a massive graphics overhaul with new biomes to
explore, high fidelity textures, and high-res props.

Gamescom 2017

If you’re not familiar with Gamescom, it is an annual video game trade fair held in Cologne, Germany. It is the second largest event of its kind in the world, just behind the Asia Game Show,
hosting more than 345 000 visitors, 6000 journalists, and 700 exhibitors from 88 countries. To put it simply, it’s unfathomably massive.

What makes it such an exciting event, beyond the wonderland of games on show, is the fact that many of the large video game publishers use this event as a space to unveil and promote their
upcoming titles. This year was no different, with publishers providing us with a colossal amount of info and content to process.

We got an in-depth look at the wonderfully realised ancient Egyptian landscapes of Assassin’s Creed: Origins. Our local Johannesburg studio, Nyamakop, won the ‘Underdog Award’ for their innovative puzzle platformer, Semblance. We finally got some clarity on THQ’s Biomutant, in the form of an 11-minute gameplay demo. But, personally, the biggest news of all was that for the first time in more than a decade, we will see a new entry in the Age of Empires series.

Mass Effect Andromeda single-player support comes to an end

Only five weeks after the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, developers Bioware have announced that all single-player support for the game will be halted, meaning there are no further updates or DLC waiting for us on the horizon.

According to Bioware there “are no planned future patches for single-player or in-game story content”. They also added that “we will continue to tell stories in the Andromeda Galaxy through
our upcoming comics and novels”.

This follows the title’s largely negative reception and will be the first game in the franchise to not receive any post-release content. Things are looking a bit brighter on the multiplayer side of things
though: “In the coming weeks, our multiplayer team will provide details of their ongoing support and upcoming content, including new multiplayer missions, character kits, and what’s in store for N7 Day,” Bioware stated.