Weekly Digest: The Latest in Mobile Gaming

Under the microscope: Here’s what’s wrong with Silent Hill: Ascension

It’s easy to point a finger, shake your head and say “here’s what you should have done” but the ongoing shambolic ramble of the Silent Hill story genuinely deserves the pile-on of scorn that Konami have – once again – invited needlessly upon one of its most loved franchises.

Silent Hill is one of those games – like Metroid or Kingdom Hearts – where showing an appreciation or suggesting that ‘you were there at the start’ is a badge of honour that puts you just that little bit further up the gaming pecking order.

“So you don’t think Silent Hill was ‘all that’? Can’t see what all the foggy fuss is about? My dear, ill-informed peasant… How little you know of the video games…”

And so to ‘gift’ these passionate, long-suffering Silent Hill accolytes an interactive movie hidden (often literally) behind a veil of in-game purchases and opportunities to spoil everything for everyone feels like the cruellest, most horrific Silent Hill alternative ending of all. 

Genvid know their onions. Their Walking Dead: Last Mile was an inovative triumph that – despite all the odds – actually worked. Teaming them with Silent Hill made perfect sense, but the additional layers and monetisation heaped upon their smart ideas by the franchise’s owners has quite literally created a monster that no-one can love.

We hope and pray that some major tweaks are currently afoot. Otherwise this series – scheduled to last six months – won’t see another dawn.

Bungie axes staff throwing rumoured Destiny Mobile into uncertainty

In a year that many are dubbing one of the best gaming has seen, it’s incredibly sad to see that behind the scenes, numerous studios have conducted mass layoffs. Bungie being the latest.

Redundancies are tough enough as it is, but when it was previously stated that no major restructuring would happen after Sony acquired Bungie – in fact, $1.2 billion had been allocated for staff retention – it sure does make it a very bitter pill to swallow and understandably leaves many scratching their heads asking what went wrong.

Bungie claims these layoffs were due to Destiny 2 underperforming, and the upcoming DLC for the game had lower than expected pre-orders. Bungie’s latest statement also notes that “we know we have lost a lot of your trust.” Let’s hope they can regain it, and those who lost their places at Bungie find their next adventure.

Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link’s closed beta confirms geolocation gameplay

Geolocation games aren’t new, but lately, it feels like they’re on the upswing. More and more games are using geolocation to bring established IPs into the real world through AR technology thanks to geolocation, with Kingdom Hearts being just the latest of them – and it could prove to be a big success.

Kingdom Hearts has become a major name in gaming through the combination of two very different IPs – Final Fantasy and Disney – into a unique blend. Not only does this offer a vast universe with plenty to explore, but it translates well into a variety of different genres. Outside of the action RPG core of the franchise, its games have incorporated card-based mechanics and the latest game in the franchise, Melody of Memories, is a full-blown rhythm game. As such, while a geolocation game might be new for the franchise, it’s still in keeping with it as a whole. It’s a series that isn’t afraid to try something new, and this represents just the latest experiment.