WoW's new Undermine(d) patch had a live jazz ensemble recording its big-band bangers, and they got to improvise: 'Usually those were the takes that ended up in the final version' - Related to bangers,, got, massive, names, is

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@ecurb7 “…don't let some meaningless average dictate your opinions for you” Of course. There’s absolutely going to be personal preferences with anything. There’s probably a few people who loved Lord of the Rings: Gollum and Skull Island: Rise of Kong. In fact, I think it goes both ways. As in, don’t let a 6 /10 review score dissuade you if the game appeals to you. And also, if you really don’t have interest to play a highly rated 10/10 low budget indie darling, you shouldn’t feel guilted into playing it.

The mixed reception (although I would say it’s still leans positive rather than negative. Metacritic notwithstanding) of DA:V shouldn’t be enough to push someone away from trying it if it’s a game that interests them. There’s been similar online backlash, bordering on bullying, against other large AAA games where for some reason people have a weird crusade against the game (of course The Last of Us 2 comes to mind but. Certainly others). So I would propose just like people shouldn’t think a high metacritic score is the end-all of gospel truth on a game’s quality. One also shouldn’t let a vocal minority’s campaign to sully a game deter them. Either approach concedes independent thought and “dictates your opinions for you”.

In the case of DA:V, other than the Push Square review. The first impressions I heard were from a couple mates of mine who played it at launch and were very complimentary. To be fair, one of them dampened in his praise toward the mid-game, but the other who made it to completion was quite adulatory as apparently the game has a strong third act.

But I agree with you that there’s often a preconception of fans (on these polls anyway. Which I predict will be heavily positive this month) that the measure of the PS+ offerings is proportional to the cost of the games on offer. And so I do agree with you that a $70 game that you’ll never play is worth less than a $20 game that you’ll play and. Enjoy. Sometimes people fail to recognize that. I just think for a lot of people this month that’s not necessarily the case and DA:V is not only an expensive AAA new game, but. It’s also one they had their eye on.

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The Steam Next Fest demo for Nidhogg creator's beautiful, new open-world biking game is slight, but I'm geared up for more

Bikes. Pelt them down a hill faster than the speed of sound, brake late, then skid the back wheel round to take a corner and. Narrowly avoid a poodle out doing its morning ablutions. Weave in and out of the wheelie bins round the back of the garages because you thought it looked cool on Ski Sunday. This is what I hoped for in Wheel World, Messhof's new open-world bike riding adventure/racing game that also happens to be about a ghost bike (Ghost Bike being its original, and. Probably enhanced, name). The Steam Next Fest demo delivers on bike-feel (that's a term people use, OK!) but I'm left wondering how the supernatural flavour will shine through.

Messhof Publisher: Annapurna Interactive.

Annapurna Interactive Release: Summer 2025.

Building on these developments, the end of Wheel World's demo left me a little deflated. If I'm being honest. I love the look of the game and have done since its reveal trailer back in 2023. But 20 minutes in a small part of the map with only a few tasks to complete perhaps doesn't sell this quirky effort that convincingly. I quit back to desktop and immediately took to the Eurogamer Slack to declare something along the lines of: "Hmm… Wheel World… not sure I'm feeling it. It's like a budget Forza Horizon without cars but with added chip tunes." It's not that I don't like it. I'm just not sold on it yet.

Part of my uncertainty is directly tied to the supernatural element of the setup here. At the very start, you meet Skully, a self-described immortal bike daemon. His bike, now your bike, is tatty and in need of new parts. So you set off to build a more effective bike that can tackle the terrain in different areas. You'll also need Rep, which as in almost every racing game ever, is earned by being cool and winning things. So, you take part in races and do cool jumps from ramps. But why exactly does this have a bike daemon in it? At this point, I really can't say. There's some cursory exposition about couriers who ride between the world of the living and the world of the dead, but the demo doesn't build on this concept in any meaningful way in this short sample.

This is just a demo. After all, so perhaps I'm being a little harsh. But imagine this for a moment: you've sat down to watch the brilliant and Oscar-winning movie Coda. It's a thoroughly grounded film, but right at the start you are told that main character Ruby is actually a music witch. There's no mention of this again, but at one point you see a building that's shaped like a piano. You might get to the end of Coda and wonder why they bothered with the whole witch thing. That's where I am with Wheel World. I enjoyed the demo, but I don't get the game yet. But yes, there are buildings shaped like bike bells.

The biking around is great, with the feel of the wheels as they grip and. Skid being just right. It's not simulation-level or anything, but it does have a tactile connection to the ground. The world also looks wonderful, the little I've seen being the kind of thing you'd see on a postcard if you went to visit an indie game village for a little holiday: "Having a lovely time. The views are spectacular, the colours are warm. Objects lack detail and there are a lot of hills, but we might stay here forever. Don't forget to feed the fish!"

Wheel World, then… It looks great, feels lovely, and sounds all right (not sure I personally love the chip tunes. But they fit well enough with its overall vibe). But I want to see what the point of it all is. As a straight-up biking game, it will undoubtedly be cool enough as a kind of mini cycling version of Forza Horizon, but. I feel there's a lot here waiting to be revealed. Or at least I hope there is.

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WoW's new Undermine(d) patch had a live jazz ensemble recording its big-band bangers, and they got to improvise: 'Usually those were the takes that ended up in the final version'

WoW's Undermine(d) patch is out, and it's downright groovy—having done a few laps around the goblin city of Undermine myself, I've been pleasantly surprised by how the game's soundtrack, usually pretty ambient. Has been front and center. I've been cranking that stuff up while stubbornly grabbing gold in my clunky car.

Turns out, as per a recent dev diary, that the game's composers worked on it with a live jazz ensemble—and while they definitely came out swinging with a template, a lot of what you're hearing while you and your mates are beating Gallywix up was improvised during the recording session.

Building Azeroth: The Liberation of Undermine | World of Warcraft - YouTube Watch On.

As lead composer Leo Kaliski explains, typically when recording with actual musicians, "you have to. With your limited time in the session, decide: Do you like their version of it, or do you want to ask them to do it again to get closer to what you have in mind? With this patch, we kinda wanted their version. We would be like 'yeah, this is the melody, but feel free to embellish it'. Usually those were the takes that ended up in the final version over what we originally wrote."

It's something that's concurred by music director Derek Duke, who adds: "We [explained] the character of the goblins. When the soloist improvises, they interpret it. By giving descriptors and helping the players understand the characters of the goblins more, they can get into character. It helped eke out so much more feeling and vibe from the performances."

I'm not entirely sure what playing jazz like a goblin entails, but. I'm pretty sure the music of this patch gets damn close. The soundtrack itself (collected below by YouTuber Yodragon) takes more of a centre stage than I'm used to from the big bads of Azeroth.

Liberation of Undermine - Music of WoW The War Within: Undermine(d) - YouTube Watch On.

It's genuinely downright exciting to see, especially as someone with a background in Final Fantasy 14. Too—a game that's almost as famous for its soundtrack as it is its catboys. While I'm not sure WoW's quite ready for absolute bops like "Bee My Honey" or "Metal: Brute Justice", the idea that we'll be getting more audio experimentation in the future is a welcome one.

That's not to say WoW doesn't have its own iconic music—but it's usually more ambient and subtle, and. When it does get kicking, it rarely deviates from the same 'we want you to feel epic' blaring of trumpets and strings. Why not get a jazz ensemble together and let them go gob wild?

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