Month: May 2023

After about 20 hours of guiding hundreds of thousands of these weird little dudes through more imaginative puzzles than I can count, I’m left with childlike joy and at least a little bit more confidence in my problem-solving skills than I had when I started playing Humanity. Each of its maps is simple enough to be solved in about 10 to 20 minutes, yet they never stop toying with elements of platformers, dipping into real-time strategy, stealth-action, and even arcade shooting at times.

New World developer Amazon Games has partnered with Embracer Group’s Middle-earth Enterprises to create a brand new MMO based on The Lord of the Rings.

The massively multiplayer online game, which is completely separate from 2007’s The Lord of the Rings Online and from Amazon’s previously cancelled Lord of the Rings MMO, is currently in the early stages of development and as of yet has no official title.

Amazon Games Orange County, the team behind New World, is leading development on the new MMO, which will come to PC and consoles. No release window was given, though Amazon Games did say it would feature the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings book trilogy.

The last four years have been a long road for Christoph Hartmann. Since becoming Amazon Games CEO in late 2018, he has been witness to cancellations, layoffs, and rumors of internal clashes. In late 2021, the publisher was forced to cancel its Lord of the Rings MMO due to rights issues with Tencent.

Fast-forward to 2023, and Amazon Games mostly seems to be on the upswing. Lost Ark enjoyed a successful launch in 2022, a new Tomb Raider game is in development, and Amazon Games has struck publishing deals with numerous developers based primarily in Asia.

Players have taken to social media to showcase the weird and horrifying ways they are tormenting Koroks in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The latest instalment in The Legend of Zelda franchise brought with it a range of exciting new abilities including Ultrahand, the godlike power that allows players to build all manner of creations.

No doubt Eiji Aonuma felt a sense of excited optimism when directing his team to implement the new gameplay mechanics. After all, Breath of the Wild had shown that the Zelda community was incredibly inventive when it came to bending the game to their will.