There's a new Tribes FPS in development, eight years since the last Tribes game, Tribes: Ascend, went skeeting off into the no-further-updates hereafter. It's the work of former Hi-Rez subsidiary and nowadays independent studio Prophecy Games, and going by SteamDB listings, it's called Tribes 3: Rivals.
New to the Tribes series? It once went by the unofficial title of "the world's fastest shooter". On the one hand, I'm not sure that claim holds as true in the era of Titanfall 2 or DOOM Eternal or Hyper Demon or heck, even latter-day Fortnite with its rocket-powered rams. On the other hand, and to pick up the tune from Matt Cox's (RPS in peace) 2019 retrospective - WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Here's a compilation of footage from a recent playtest.
]]>Welcome to the latest edition of The RPS Time Capsule, where members of the RPS Treehouse each pick one game from a given year to save from extinction while all other games fizzle and die on the big digital griddle in the sky before blinking out of existence. This time, we're turning our preservation mitts on the year 2012, a year absolutely stacked with some pretty stellar releases. But which ones will make the cut and be safely ensconced inside our cosy capsule for future generations? Come on down to find out.
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]]>Eleven months after Tribes: Ascend [official site] unexpectedly received the 'Out of the Blue' update, reviving development on the superfast multiplayer FPS, here comes 'Parting Gifts'. Update 1.4 is now out and seems to be the end for this fleeting reinvigoration. 1.4 is less flashy than some of the recent patches, mostly bringing one last set of balance tweaks and bug fixes. You're a big boy now, Tribes: Ascend.
]]>Hi-Rez Studios stopped updating Tribes: Ascend [official site] in 2013 as they shifted focus to their MOBA Smite, but they have recently returned to the free-to-play jetpacking FPS. Following December's 'Out of the Blue' update and another patch in January, last night Hi-Rez released version 1.3. This latest update has brought more balance tweaks and a new map named Hellfire.
]]>Tribes: Ascend [official site] is receiving another update this evening. Patch 1.2 will bring sweeping balance changes to the gotta-go-fast jetpack FPS, increasing heavy armour there, reducing blast radii here, making it so pressing 'Q' selects your previously held weapon, that sort of thing. There's a full list of changes in this Google Doc and a chart of new weapon values in this here spreadsheet.
]]>Hi-Rez Studios gave up on Tribes Ascend [official site] for a couple of years, but a few months back made the unexpected announcement that they we working on a big ole update for their F2P jetpacking FPS. And they did release it! The 'Out of the Blue' update (or version 1.1, if you have no romance in your heart - if you wouldn't pash with a plasma rifle) arrived last week, with new maps, new weapons, exploit fixes, and a whole hovershedload of balance tweaks.
]]>Say, reader dear, do you like the future? Do you like jetpacks? Do you like mechs? Do you like first-person shooters? Do you like multiplayer with vehicles and bases? Do you like classic series which folks grumble go forgotten too often? Do you like skill-based movement exploiting weird physics tricks? Do you like free video games?
If you answered yes to at least three of those, hie thee to this website, where Tribes Ascend folks Hi-Rez Studios are offering (almost) the full Tribes world o'games for free, from 1994's Earthsiege through to 2004's Tribes Vengeance (their own Ascend, of course, being free-to-play anyway).
]]>Hi-Rez Studios stepped away from Tribes: Ascend [official site], their free-to-play revival of the classic FPS series, in 2013 to focus on their MOBA Smite. When they recently announced a new F2P FPS, the MOBA-tinged Paladins, well, they chances of them returning to Tribes seemed even slimmer. And yet!
Over the weekend, Hi-Rez announced 'Out of the Blue', the first patch for Tribes since March 12, 2013. Emerging from between green and violet onto a public test server later this month, it'll bring a new map, balance changes, and more.
]]>As long as this planet continues to spin, there will be a new Intriguing Kickstarter From Folks Who Used To Work On Major Triple-A Franchise X Of The Day. In this case, that Kickstarter is one for Epoch: Return, and the games that once - at least, in pieces, like so many tinker toys scattering from a bucket - emerged from developer Innate's collective brain are Mass Effect and Dragon Age. But to be perfectly honest, Epoch doesn't really bear much family resemblance to its distant BioWarian cousins. It takes place on a colossal, open planet that's ripe for exploring, and you traverse it by way of high-flying momentum-based leaps that strike me as a midpoint between Mirror's Edge and Tribes 2. It still looks rather floaty, insubstantial, and, well, early, but I definitely like the idea. Watch below.
]]>Oh Tribes Ascend, say it ain't so. Sure, we had our ups and downs, but you know you were loved, right? Right?! Just hold on a little bit longer and then-- oh, you're not dying. Just ceasing updates for the foreseeable future, maybe forever. Well, that's still a shame, but I guess I can stop frantically shaking you and screaming spittle into your face. But you know you've left quite a few loose ends, don't you? What about balance concerns, your decision to prioritize buyable items over game-changing updates, the lack of a strong tutorial, support for player-made maps, and the possibility of Tribes Ascend 2? Oh right, I asked Hi-Rez COO Todd Harris about all of that stuff. Handy!
]]>Tribes Ascend isn't quite riding its sound-barrier-breaking coffin to Jetpack Valhalla just yet, but its future is looking rather desolate. Last week, Hi-Rez announced that major updates are out of the question for at least the next six months - and probably long after that due to SMITE's company-devouring need for attention. However, in an interview with RPS, COO Todd Harris explained that the high-flying shooter isn't entirely six feet under. Oft-requested map-making tools are finally on the way, and they could mean the difference between cement shoes and a second lease on life.
]]>OK, I usually hate misleading question mark headlines, but look at that one. It rhymes!
That is probably the most positive thing you're going to read in this entire post.
It sounds like Tribes Ascend is - for all intents and purposes - a done deal. Its servers will continue to run (and jump and jetpack) of course, but there hasn't been a major update since March, and Hi-Rez is making no bones about the reason why. Games like SMITE and inferior high-flying manshoot Global Agenda 2 have taken priority, and that won't be changing any time soon.
]]>Huh. Wow. I'll be honest: I'm a bit surprised. Hi-Rez has tied information about Tribes Ascend's single-purchase option to a searing ball of plasma and hurled it through our window, and it comes out to a measly $29.99/£20.99. For everything. VIPs, meanwhile, can instantly unlock all weapons, perks, and classes for $19.99/£13.99. That's... um. I mean, I still had a wonderful time for roughly the same amount Back In The Day, but I certainly wouldn't have minded an arsenal large enough to blot out the sun for the same price. Hm. Well, I suppose there's no better time than the present. But, believe it or not, that's far from all there is to this update. After a fairly worrisome dormant period, Tribes appears to be back with a vengeance. But not, er, Tribes Vengeance, because that wouldn't be very good news.
]]>For being the developer of a game all about lightning-quick reaction times, Hi-Rez could be accused of reacting rather, um, glacially. More or less since day one, Tribes Ascend's free-to-play pricing model's taken flack for making new items prohibitively hard to come by, but recent months have finally seen the reigning king of Jetpack Mountain come down and deal with it. First, Hi-Rez halved XP costs for all unlocks last month, and now it's focusing its Fixification Beam on the other side of the fence. The one that pays for things. In short, those people will soon be able to pay less for the same amount of things - and all at once, no less. Which is much appreciated, but I can't imagine long-time players are enjoying the stinging red outline of a hand that's now plastered across their faces.
]]>No doubt there are big things yet to come from the last quarter of 2012, but even by October it feels like it's been an uncommonly important, even vital, year for games. The hit rate of great things, expected and unexpected, has been pretty steady, but on top of that there have been major emerging trends as gaming starts to move out of the awkward transitional phase between olde worlde boxed sales and anything-goes online existence.
I'm really just ruminating on a truly fascinating 10-ish months to myself here, but see if you agree with - or better still can add to - any of these arguably defining aspects of the year nearly gone.
]]>The Tribes: Ascend updates keep on rolling out, and so too does evidence of Hi-Rez's continued commitment to filling this game with strange stuff. Sure, they've already added disco, but now there are costumes. And elaborate backdrops. And German. But anyway, as long as the game keeps being good, we should not question the nature of these updates. And there are some pretty intriguing new toys in this update, so here we are.
]]>I have something to confess to you all: I've been living a withered up husk of an existence. I honestly haven't played Tribes in weeks, and every other aspect of my life has suffered immeasurably for it. I'm a mess. A devastatingly attractive mess. But no more. Hi-Rez has revealed Ascend's latest giant update, and I have turned the most vibrant of all colors: interested. See, in Blitz mode, the flag moves.
]]>Can you remember when the last Tribes: Ascend update came out? I can't - at least, not well. I mean, I recall a few hazy images of youthful innocence, but it's as though they're being beamed in from another lifetime or a place with an overabundance of haze. In reality, however, I just have vaguely worrisome memory problems probably stemming from the fact that I fell out of many trees as a child. Even so, it has been a while in Tribes time, but Hi-Rez has definitely made the Twinfusor update worth the (relatively) lengthy wait. In addition to the titular double-firing death-dealer, you're also looking at two new CTF maps, a party system (finally!), improved matchmaking, and a billowing list of largely great balance tweaks.
]]>I was asked to write about why Tribes: Ascend is great. I want to tell you why Tribes: Ascend is beautiful.
]]>It seems like only yesterday that Nathan wrote these words in regards to unlocking gear in Tribes: Ascend: "item unlocks still present a rather intimidating series of (often literally) uphill battles." The Accelerate Update flattens out those hills, or perhaps raises players to the top and allows them to roll down the other side. Well, sort of. The update addresses some frustrations by having gear upgrades unlock through use, although new weapons themselves will still cost XP or gold. There are 27 weapon variants coming as well, providing a place to spend all that surplus XP. The video below explains all.
]]>By most accounts, Tribes: Ascend's existence is quantifiably a Good Thing. It is, after all, a PC-exclusive (!) high-quality free-to-play first-person shooter (!!) that's in no way spit-shining Call of Duty's combat boots or leaping just high enough when it barks an order (!!!). Almost paradoxically, it's managed to be both slavishly devoted to the series' jetpack-jousting legacy while also paving the way for a new breed of F2P FPS. So much gloriously gleaming new, however, makes any lingering flecks of dust and mold stand out all the more. So sure, Tribes may be better than ever, but try telling that to a spinfusor-less Soldier whose already glacial XP gain has basically flatlined because the teams he joins keep refusing to work together. That in mind, I spoke with Hi-Rez about how - if at all - it plans to fix its capture-the-flag flagship's most fundamental flaws.
]]>You may have noticed something amiss in the above image. No? Are you sure? Then you might have Synesthesia: Disco Edition. And though that image and its accompanying video seem silly, they're actually quite touching - given recent incredibly unfortunate events. It is, then, extremely awkward for me to now transition into discussing Cool Guns in a Rad Videogame, but, uh, here I go. Tribes: Ascend's "Staying Alive" update - whose name is all at once right and wrong in so very many ways - focuses on the Brute with two guns, a new pack, and more (!).
]]>Hmmm. Hrrrm. Ahhhh. Mmhmm. Huh? Oh, didn't notice you there. I was busy pondering Tribes Ascend's new Tartarus update, you see - because it's caused my brain to pulsate and fire lightning down my spine, as is its custom. First, though, let's get the basics out of the way: for zero of your pitiful gravity-obeying, jetpack-less dollars, you now have access to two new maps: the hilly, heavily forested Tartarus for CTF and the flatter, more enclosed Hinterlands for arena. You can also customize up to four loadouts that you can switch between on respawn mid-match.
Quick switch, meanwhile, allows you to map classes and loadouts to your keyboard's number pad, so choosing what you'll spawn as is literally as easy as 1, 2, 3 - unless you're prone to mapping things in incredibly arbitrary fashions and then immediately forgetting, like me. Oh, and there's a trailer. I've mapped it to the "read the rest of this entry" link... I think. Or maybe I put it in a single pixel on the image. Or, wait. Does RPS have any sacrificial podiums that summon spectral wolves? Actually, that one sounds most likely, now that I think about it.
]]>Yes, they're all at it. There's a whole bunch of them playing Tribes Ascend, and they even have their own server. The same is true of the Arma corps, who get up to regular shenanigans, which now even includes shooting zombies. Then there's the surprisingly popular Mass Effect 3 shootery, which is taking place over here. If you prefer things a little more persistent then the Eve and Perpetuum corps are both recruiting, while the unstoppable Blood Bowl league persists in quite a different way. Long may it continue. Finally, it's worth pointing a wizened finger at the Wargame: European Escalation gang, because that game is certainly worthy of your attention. There's plenty more, of course, over here...
]]>Ah, raiding and pillaging - two activities that, like adorable kittens and cuddling, go hand-in-hand. Tribes: Ascend's Raider is, of course, extremely proficient in both of the former areas (and possibly kitten cuddling as well, though there's a perplexing lack of discussion surrounding the topic), but he's now cruising toward handing out even more bruisings. In tomorrow's update, the Raider will gain the Plasma Gun, the heavy hitting NJ5-B SMG variant, and base-clearing Cluster Grenades. Also en route: a new "Griever" skin that makes him look like an incredibly disgruntled space biker. Sure, he'll bust some generators and play a crucial role in a flag capture, but will it finally bring him peace?
]]>Tribes: Ascend is finally out of beta and ready to welcome all-comers in free-to-play jetpack combat. Is it enough to be the series' true successor though, or just another casualty of its own reputation? We sent Richard screaming through the air to find out.
]]>Well, OK, a diary - largely of the development variety. Surely, though, it's full-to-bursting its heart-shaped lock with celebratory guns and glory - or at least some juicy gossip about how Tribes is totally gonna ask that dreamboat from the football team to prom, right? Not exactly. But hey, here's something to get excited about: servers! No, seriously.
]]>If you're already part of the Tribes: Ascend open beta, you might not realise that it's not already out. That 3.8Gb on your hard-drive is nothing more than a game that is pretending to be out. The duplicitous, lying beast will soon be much more moral, though: following a successful beta, that's had 400'000 players, Hi-Rez are launching, or at least de-betafying, their lovely online free-to-play FPS. Come April 12th, it'll no longer be able to say "but I'm only a beta" when people point out the code holes the developers have left.
]]>I've been waiting for a large-scale sci-fi MMO shooter ever since the original Planetside, and it looks like 2012 will do it's best to provide. Before I fuel up Firefall's jetpacks, or scrawl penises over Planetside 2's map, it looks like I'll be dropping into Line of Defense: of all those games, it's the first with a release date, end of June, so I'd imagine the beta form that I just signed up to will deliver me from orbit to the action a tad sooner than the others. You know what? I've just noticed all those are free-to-play*. I mean, I knew that all were, but lumping them all together makes it quite the thing. As is the not-at-all-MMO-but -rather-shooty Tribes: Ascend. I wonder if I'll ever need to pay for a shooter ever again? Line of Defense trailer is herein, btw.
]]>"What do we want?" "More people to get access to the upcoming free-to-play shooter Tribes: Ascend, new maps, gametypes, weapons, and bug-fixes!" "When do we want it?" "Sometime on Friday, maybe. It's really up to you! We're just keen to get involved!" Well, good news. Tribes: Ascend developers Hi-Rez Studios have crumbled to the pressure I exerted with my catchy protest chant and will be opening the beta of their online shooter on Friday Feb 24th, at exactly 5pm. So far over 300,0000 players have skied the slopes and spammed their spinfusors, and if you missed out then you're being welcomed with open arms. The current client will be receiving a major content drop as well, details of which are below.
]]>Hi-Rez have announced some significant changes to their beta of Tribes: Ascend. The next patch will overhaul the UI and change the class options, making the focus more on customisation and less on existing class-based loutouts. They explain: "We will be collapsing the total number of playable classes from 12 to 9, but adding the ability for players to unlock new weapons for each class and further customize their loadout. Three of the nine classes will be available right away so a new player will have access to a Light, Medium, and Heavy class in his or her first match." These are some big changes to the ongoing testing of the game, and a sign that the devs are as responsive to feedback as they have been claiming. The full patch notes are here.
]]>EDIT: Boo, posted this before. Ignore me!
Gosh, I still haven't got around to playing on the Tribes Ascend beta, but I really must get on with it because things like this trailer (which I missed earlier in the week and post now for the sake of Saturday) make it look fairly promising. It's been a while since I've been taken with a game like this, but between this and Firefall it seems inevitable for 2012. Anyone playing it?
]]>Tribes: Ascend is a game about leaping off a cliff, hitting your jetpack at exactly the right moment to build momentum, then skiing across the whole map while hurling explosive discs at equally zippy pursuers. Backwards. It's also one of Those franchises. You know the ones I mean. The ones with an army of fans fueled by nostalgia and high-explosives, ready to set fire to anything that dares even think about taking the name of their beloved game in vain.
But is Ascend a brave new start for the series, or just so much free-to-play kindling? I pulled my jetpack out of storage and ventured into the Not-Quite-Closed Beta to find out...
]]>Are you playing Tribes: Ascend? There's a surefire method of entering the beta but it involves parting with cash: anyone who pays for a preorder receives automatic access, but simply registering at the site also provides a chance to receive a code. Along with Firefall, Tribes is one of the few upcoming online man-shooters I have a real interest in and it’s not entirely because of my unhealthy jetpack fetish. Ascend, in particular, appears to reward good old-fashioned weapon skills, as highlighted by this new trailer.
]]>Jim told you all about the beginning of the signup period for the Tribes Ascend beta back when the news was fresh, but now that it's stale I'm here with a friendly reminder that you only have one day left to apply/pay if you want in. One piece of potentially pertinent information is that no beta wipes will be performed between now and the game's launch, so you can progress straight through the closed and open betas racking up unlockables. Jetpack antics await. Sign up here and leave fate to decide, or purchase the Tribes: Ascend VIP Starter Bundle for guaranteed access and a heap of in-game currency.
]]>Tis the season to launch your closed beta, it seems. Joining in with the flurry of secretive practise goes is Hi-Rez Studios, who have today announced their closed beta is to begin on the 4th November. Those who buy the "VIP Starter Bundle" are guaranteed a way in, and it's pot luck for the rest. Oh, and there are two new screenshots.
]]>The jetpack-powered online shooter everybody's not calling Tribes Not-Four is, of course, now in the hands of Global Agenda devs HiRez. The vast-levelled reboot/remake was at one point theoretically due for a beta in September, but now we have a minor delay but a hard date: November 4 (according to this interview between Cyberlink and HiRez bigwig Todd Harris). That's when we'll get our first solid hint as to whether Tribes: Ascend lives up to its forefather's great land and sky legacy.
]]>Roving reporter Dan Griliopoulos has left Alec in Cologne and is heading deeper into Europe, writing up what the best of GamesCom as he goes. Next up is Hi-Rez Studios' Tribes reboot, Ascend.
Switzerland may have been condemned memorably by Orson Welles as having “five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock”, but (aside from the cuckoo clock actually being a German invention – Pedant Ed) these days the most vertical of European countries is better know for its winter sports. As we rattle through its tunnels and stare up at its mountains, though, I'm thinking of a very different kind of skiing; I look at the 80 degree slopes of the Stelvio pass and think “you'd pick up so much speed on that and then you could jetpack off that glacier and...”
]]>What we already know about Hi Rez's Tribes: Ascend is that a) it's going to be pretty, and b) it's going to be free. I can't prove b to you, short of ripping open the heads of the Hi Rez staff, tearing out handfuls of their brains, and searching, frantically searching for the intent. But I can prove a with a new screenshot, which if you'll click on it will expand in every direction. Plus there's a few others we've not posted below.
]]>Now I thought we had already posted about Tribes: Ascend being free-to-play. Perhaps it was simply in one of my prophetic game-news dreams, because I can't find it. BUT ANYWAY, it is going to be free-to-play, and to celebrate that Hi-Rez have revealed the game in action. You can check it out below. It certainly looks like a new Tribes game to me, which is promising! Looking forward to playing this. I will be the dude at 0:26. (Although the wider picture makes Firefall look a lot more interesting.)
Tribes: Ascend is apparently out later this year at some point.
]]>Holy smokes. PC Gamer reports that Global Agenda developers Hi-Rez Studios have released the first two screenshots of Tribes Ascend on the game's Facebook page, and they look plenty promising (especially so if that giant ship you can see above is accessible and a part of the level). Hi-Rez would hardly be my first choice to develop a new Tribes game, but fingers crossed they'll blow this out of the water and prove me for a fool. Full images after the jump.
]]>Global Agenda creators Hi-Rez studios have announced Tribes: Ascend. Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios COO says: "The community has been waiting for a multi-player shooter that is the modern successor to T2. Tribes: Ascend is that game." And it's certainly fascinating to see people aiming to take the jetpack crown. Firefall is looking for it, Global Agenda didn't quite manage it, but will Tribes: Ascend hit that sweet-spot of rocket-propelled combat and vehicular deployment in the vertical? Hi-Rez seem pretty determined.
Excruciatingly footage-free trailer below.
]]>
![קודי רכבת סטאר של Honkai [דצמבר 2024]](https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/honkai-star-rail-bronya-fu-xuan.jpg?width=1200&height=630&fit=crop&enable=upscale&auto=webp "קודי רכבת סטאר של Honkai [דצמבר 2024]")
