Divvy 110m seriesann azevedotechcrunch12/2/2023 ![]() ![]() “Mortgages were harder to get yet we were seeing this mad rush of people who wanted to move out of multifamily and downtown areas,” Hefets recalls. So while lenders were busier than ever, much of that volume was driven by people who already owned homes refinancing with the lower rates. Instead of making it easier to buy a home, many banks actually tightened underwriting requirements for approvals, said Divvy CEO Hefets. Mortgage rates dropped to historic lows in 2020, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Divvy - which was co-founded by Adena Hefets, Nick Clark and Alex Klarfeld - was incubated in Levchin's startup studio HVF. The startup last raised $43 million in Series B funding from the likes of Affirm CEO Max Levchin and homebuilder Lennar (via its venture arm), among others. The latest financing brings Divvy’s total debt and equity raised since its 2017 inception to over $500 million, with about one-third of that raised in equity and two-thirds in debt. Tiger Global Management led the round, which also saw participation from a slew of other investors, including GGV Capital, Moore Specialty Credit, JAWS Ventures and existing backers such as a16z. ![]() “Nowports has created industry-leading technology to help its customers know when to turn starboard or port side,” he added.Ĭhris Gottschalk, senior adviser of Mouro Capital, said the Nowports platform brings both “transparency and technology” to a global client base.Despite all the headaches that come with it, homeownership is still the American dream for many.ĭivvy Homes - a startup that is out to help more people realize that dream by buying a house and renting it back to them while they build equity - has just closed on $110 million in Series C funding. The need to track and digitize the supply chain process was never more apparent than with the recent blockage of the Suez Canal by the Ever Given, which became a meme that represented the impacts of inefficiencies in the supply chain, Sidgmore said. Michael Sidgmore, co-founder and partner of seed round lead investor Broadhaven Ventures, described the team as “visionaries in the freight forwarding industry who see the ability to build the operating system for the shipping industry, much like Carta has done for equity ownership.” To familiarize himself with the market for which he’d be developing a technology, Casal worked with a freight forwarder in Kansas City that had been operating for more than 30 years. He and Casal linked up and the two began plotting a way to make the deeply inefficient industry more modern and transparent. The two co-founders of Nowports met at a program at Stanford University, with de los Rios hailing from a family with deep ties to the shipping industry. “Customers are looking for solutions that can improve their logistics processes adapted to current challenges of international trade.” “Slow, inefficient and manual processes in international logistics are disassociated from today’s technological world,” said Nowports co-founder and COO Maximiliano Casal. And, Nowports pledges to shippers that its digital management software will keep track of each container. ![]() And, an estimated 50% of shipping containers suffer delays due to disorganized processes or errors during transport, which ends up costing companies billions per year. Tens of millions of containers are imported and exported from Latin America each year, and nearly half of them are either delayed or lost due to mismanagement. “Our goal with the series A is to position ourselves as the biggest digital freight forwarder in the region and expand our venture financing solution.” “With platforms, algorithms with AI and integrations, our platform allows companies to take control of their shipments and plan and predict the best timing to move the freight based on the needs of their own company,” he said at the time of the company’s seed raise. Image Credits: CEO and co-founder Alfonso de los Rios / Nowports ![]()
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Zankou chicken keto12/2/2023 ![]() ![]() But we are taking it to the next level to fulfill our Zankou fantasies. It's thick but pourable, and super garlicky. This is essentially a thinner version of toum (Lebanese garlic sauce). You can technically enjoy the sauce at this stage. When all the oil is in, turn off the blender and scrape down the sides (PHOTO 2). ![]() With the blender running on the highest setting, slowly pour in ½ cup vegetable oil. Use a paper towel to cover the hole a bit so it doesn't splatter everywhere. Scrape down the sides and replace the lid, opening the small hole on top. Cover with the lid and puree on the highest setting. Err on the side of more garlic! If your head of garlic is on the smaller side, just throw in a few extra cloves from another head of garlic.Īdd ¼ cup fresh lemon juice and 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (PHOTO 1). In the jar of a blender add garlic cloves from a large head of garlic (aim for about 14 large cloves or 3 to 3 ¼ ounces garlic cloves if you weigh them). My copycat Zankou Chicken garlic sauce turned out smooth, and the flavor is spot on! And as a bonus, it uses a lot less oil than traditional toum recipes. I had avoided adding my potato to the blender because I was worried the starch would make it gummy. The solution! Blend it in the blender on the highest setting. It had a texture to it like fine grains of rice throughout the sauce. Next, I used a food mill to basically rice my cooked potato and then stir it in, thinking this would dissolve the potato more. Not the smoother texture you get at Zankou. The first time I mashed the potato with a potato masher and whisked it in. I decided to cook the potato and then measure out how much goes into the sauce, rather than saying a certain number of potatoes.īut how exactly do you use the potato? I tested out the recipe a few times. We'll stick with the humble russet potato for our version. Other recipes use instant mashed potatoes, but I never buy that for my personal use so it doesn't make sense to buy it just for this. I want everyone who tries this recipe to yield the same exact result, one that matches the garlic paste at Zankou as best as possible. But potatoes come in all shapes and sizes, so this isn't a great way to gauge how much you need for a successful recipe that can be replicated. ![]() Some recipes call for a specific number of russet potatoes. From this you can deduce that it contains a type of starch, and the likely culprit is potato. I haven't tried this test since I now live 3,000+ miles away, but I will take their word for it. How do we know? Well, supposedly if you take some Zankou Chicken garlic paste and cook it in a pan, it will make a pancake. My garlic sauce-loving forefathers at Chowhound already did some of the hard work figuring it out. This Armenian garlic paste is based on traditional toum, but it has a secret ingredient. But what makes Zankou so special? Unlocking Zankou's secrets You can find a version of it on Halal carts in NYC, and in various Middle Eastern restaurants. It also typically contains a lot of oil to help it get so thick. It's like an eggless garlic mayo but with brightness and complexity from the addition of lemon juice. It's basically a super intense garlic mayonnaise made with garlic, lemon juice, oil, and salt. Toum is actually a Lebanese garlic sauce found in many Middle Eastern restaurants, often accompanying shawarma. Yes, their chicken, shawarma, and other Middle Eastern delights are wonderful, but it's the garlic sauce people crave. You're probably wondering how spit-roasted chicken can be so exciting, but let me tell you it's not the chicken but the Armenian garlic sauce that put Zankou on the map. I had to resort to smuggling garlic sauce in my luggage after visits to LA. The best chicken experience of my life was at my fingertips any time I wanted!Īnd then I moved back east again and my Zankou Chicken dreams went down the drain. Years later I moved to Los Angeles and took advantage of the proximity to so many Zankou locations. Chicken would never taste the same to me without that incredibly pungent Zankou Chicken garlic sauce. I remember it well because it basically changed my life. My first Zankou Chicken meal was in July 1999 during a visit to Los Angeles to see some family friends. Musician Beck even sang about Zankou Chicken in his song "Debra." The well-known chain also has a tragic history, but through it all they serve up some of the best quick Middle Eastern fare around. It's a landmark chain in Los Angeles with outstanding Middle Eastern cuisine to back up its reputation. The recipe is a guarded secret, but this easy copycat recipe is the next best thing! ![]() Most notably they're famous for their epic Zankou Chicken garlic sauce. Zankou Chicken is an extremely popular Armenian-owned fast casual restaurant chain in the greater Los Angeles area. ![]() Neptune pictures james webb12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Hammel tweeted that she wept when she saw the rings, yelling and making "my kids, my mom, even my cats look. So it's been three decades since astronomers last saw these rings with such detail and clarity, said the Space Science Institute's Heidi Hammel, a planetary astronomer working with Webb. No other spacecraft have visited the icy, blue planet. Stunning NASA James Webb Telescope Image Reveals Neptune's Delicate Rings The trailblazing machine delivers once again, offering us the best view of Neptune since 1989. NASA's Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to see Neptune in all its gaseous glory, during a 1989 flyby. Astronomers hope to see back to almost the beginning of time when the first stars and galaxies were forming. ![]() Launched less than a year ago, the $10 billion Webb is spending most of its time peering much deeper into the universe. (Nasa) Covered in a frozen sheen of condensed nitrogen, Triton reflects an average of 70 percent of. These new views show seven of the distant. Webb showed Jupiter at its best in a series of fresh photos released last month. The latest James Webb Space Telescope image shows a glowing Neptune amidst a sea of stars. From its perch one million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope has peered deep into our solar system to capture images of Neptune. The pictures taken in July show not only Neptune's thin rings, but its faint dust bands, never before observed in the infrared, as well as seven of its 14 known moons. NASA released new glamour shots of our solar system's outermost planet Wednesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. ![]() Authy reviews12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() The app offers enterprise features, such as multi-user deployment options. What really matters is that the second factor is something that only you have. Duo Mobile is geared toward corporate apps, especially now that it’s part of Cisco’s portfolio. Two-factor authentication is still valid regardless of whether the second authentication factor comes from your cellphone, your tablet, or a desktop app. Cloud Sync Sync your data (notes, documents, bookmarks, etc.) across your different devices and to the cloud. It generates offline authentication codes makes it very convenient. It offers back-up functionality via its cloud and describes a very secure process to handle it, where only a back-up password will be able to unencrypt it. Is using Authy on the desktop still considered to be two-factor authentication? Pros: Authy is a very intuitive app and gives 2FA security to accounts. Authy is a multi-device 2FA app that can be used with any account you might want to secure, as long as that account supports 2FA via apps.We encourage this because if you lose access to one device, you still have another app with which to login to your applications. Can I install Authy Desktop on more than one computer?.So experience this new app by heading over to /download. We’ll also be making updates and improvements along the way. Support for Push Authentication logins will be launched during the beta, along with the Linux version. I have been using this platform with the most recommended forex strategy on the internet from Mrs. These features will migrate their way into our mobile apps as well. Best platform, easy to use and quick withdrawal. We also took the opportunity to design a new UI that allows you to view your 2FA accounts either in a grid or list view, as well as a new search bar to quickly find accounts. A standalone desktop 2FA app for both macOS and Windows and it doesn’t depend on any specific browser. So today we are proud to release into public beta the new Authy Desktop. It had been wildly successful, however many users had been asking us to allow them to run Authy on the desktop, without the need to install Chrome. It was a version of our popular 2FA app that ran as an application in the Chrome browser. Twilio Authy provides a fast-to-implement, highly scalable and proven 99.999 reliable alternative to passwords designed to give users the ability to self. In 2014, we launched Authy for the desktop. Authy is a Authentication Software that helps you protect your online accounts by using. ![]() Prism kaleidoscope glasses12/1/2023 ![]() īrewster thought his instrument to be of great value in "all the ornamental arts" as a device that creates an "infinity of patterns". ![]() The last step, regarded as most important by Brewster, was to place the reflecting panes in a draw tube with a concave lens to distinctly introduce surrounding objects into the reflected pattern. A version followed in which some of the objects and pieces of glass could move when the tube was rotated. An early version had pieces of colored glass and other irregular objects fixed permanently and was admired by some Members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, including Sir George Mackenzie who predicted its popularity. This triggered more experiments to find the conditions for the most beautiful and symmetrically perfect conditions. A while later he was impressed by the multiplied reflection of a bit of cement that was pressed through at the end of a triangular glass trough, which appeared more regular and almost perfectly symmetrical in comparison to the reflected objects that had been situated further away from the reflecting plates in earlier experiments. He forgot about it, but noticed a more impressive version of the effect during further experiments in February 1815. In 1814, Sir David Brewster conducted experiments on light polarization by successive reflections between plates of glass and first noted "the circular arrangement of the images of a candle round a center, and the multiplication of the sectors formed by the extremities of the plates of glass". However, an optimal configuration that produces the full effects of the kaleidoscope was not recorded before 1815. Bradley's New Improvements in Planting and Gardening (1717) described a similar construction to be placed on geometrical drawings to show an image with multiplied reflection. In 1646, Athanasius Kircher described an experiment with a construction of two mirrors, which could be opened and closed like a book and positioned in various angles, showing regular polygon figures consisting of reflected aliquot sectors of 360°. Multiple reflection by two or more reflecting surfaces has been known since antiquity and was described as such by Giambattista della Porta in his Magia Naturalis (1558–1589). ![]() History A comparison of the mirror constructions of Kircher (left) and Bradley (right) Patterns when seen through a kaleidoscope tube Rotation of the cell causes motion of the materials, resulting in an ever-changing view being presented.Ĭoined by its Scottish inventor David Brewster, "kaleidoscope" is derived from the Ancient Greek word καλός ( kalos), "beautiful, beauty", εἶδος ( eidos), "that which is seen: form, shape" and σκοπέω ( skopeō), "to look to, to examine", hence "observation of beautiful forms." It was first published in the patent that was granted on July 10, 1817. These reflectors are usually enclosed in a tube, often containing on one end a cell with loose, colored pieces of glass or other transparent (and/or opaque) materials to be reflected into the viewed pattern. For other uses, see Kaleidoscope (disambiguation).Ī kaleidoscope ( / k ə ˈ l aɪ d ə s k oʊ p/) is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when viewed from the other end, due to repeated reflection. ![]() Ema login modernizing medicine12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() As a practicing physician, he knows firsthand just how important specialty-specific knowledge and workflows are, when it comes to saving time and focusing on patient care. His personal passion aligns with the company’s mission of transforming how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized to increase practice efficiency and patient outcomes. Michael Sherling is cofounder and Chief Medical and Strategy Officer of ModMed®. Abrams is chief of the department of ophthalmology at the Krieger Eye Institute and vice president for Graduate Medical Education at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.CHIEF MEDICAL AND STRATEGY OFFICER & CO-FOUNDERĭr. We continue to be very enthusiastic about the EMA platform and pleased that we decided to look beyond “OK” to fi nd an ophthalmology EHR vendor that truly supports our work. About a year later, we added an image manage-ment system integrated with EMA, which has been great. Thus, adoption was very rapid - much faster and easier than we imagined. The rollout goal was to use a mix of EMA and paper, but within a couple of days, most of our physicians didn’t want to use paper anymore. We were actually more productive with EMA than with paper charts (not to mention that all of our charts were now legible). WORTH THE WAIT Six weeks after implementation, the department of ophthalmology reached 108% productivity. We went live with EMA after just 6 weeks, compared with nearly a year with the other EHR systems. Modernizing Medicine’s training model was unique and effi cient, with a mix of self-directed and group learning. We were actually more productive with EMA than with paper charts.” We took part in an online demo of EMA and an on-site meeting at Modernizing Medicine, and in a few weeks, the contracts were signed. “Six weeks after implementation, the department of ophthalmology reached 108% productivity. The shared-device approach also allows staff and physicians to access patient records simultaneously. With EMA’s cloud-based platform, physicians can easily share images, helping to facilitate patient education. There’s also no signing in and out a hundred times a day - only once in the morning. The EMA platform is designed from the ground up for ophthalmologists, so data input and retrieval are already optimized for effi ciency in our world. ![]() Our staff prefers this shared-device approach - and our patients appreciate the uninterrupted visits. We also use the iPad to educate patients, sharing im-ages and graphics of the disease process with ease. Instead of turning away to type into a laptop, we can chart while maintaining our connection with patients. First, EMA is a cloud-based mobile platform, so our physicians, technicians, and scribes can all use iPads, while only staff in administrative roles use desktop computers. THE RIGHT FIT: INCREASED EFFICIENCY During our search, we found EMA for ophthalmology from Modernizing Medicine, which has all the features we wanted. The old EHR system was actually worse than before, so the search began in earnest for a new vendor. One caveat: Try the health system’s EHR again, with help from the vendor, to see if updates had prepared it to handle ophthalmology. Yes, some ophthalmologists hang in there and get used to an EHR system that “works OK,” but we didn’t want to get used to “OK.” After 5 years of browsing other EHRs, I was given the go-ahead to search for our own system that would interface with the larger EHR system. ![]() Ophthalmology Management Modernizing Medicine Supplement: ![]() Zerg rush builds12/1/2023 ![]() These “rules” provide for an extremely complicated search space to find optimal build orders. Creating a building causes you to lose the worker who creates it (so the longer you can wait, the more resources that worker can collect before building the building).Most units require some building to be constructed in order to be "unlocked" (and many of these buildings require others as prerequisites - this is the so-called tech tree).So long as you have less than three, they regenerate at a fixed rate (note: this means any time spent at three larva delays all future larva production - very bad). Larva are used to create ALL zerg units, including workers. Zerg also have a third de factor resource: larva.There are two primary resources that workers collect in starcraft: gas and minerals.This means "how quickly can I get N of this type of unit?". Of most interest are "rush" build orders.The program in question optimizes Zerg build orders (which is one race in starcraft), this is a rather significant choice because the mechanics of the zerg race are arguably the most difficult to manage (esp.If I can get an army of N size into your base when you do opening X, you will always lose.Įnough with the abstract, here’s what you need to know: One of the reasons build-order optimization is so important is that you can discover openings that “hard-counter” other openings. They set up the soul of the entire game about to be played, and some players prefer to force certain types of games, depending on what kind of opening they choose to do. In this way, build orders in real-time strategy are very much akin to openings in chess. In other words, and a perfect aphorism, no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. These early games are all about balancing spending money on your economic foundation (making more workers), making units (rush!), or building new buildings or getting new upgrades (tech!).īuild orders generally only cover the very early game because once you’ve scouted the enemy, you have to begin to react to what he’s doing and modifying it as you go. A build order refers to the exact opening steps you take early in the game that best supports the strategy you are trying to conduct. Essentially, SC2 is a real-time strategy game that starts you with a simple base, some workers, and some resources, and asks you to put those workers to work collecting resources that you can use to build things (including other workers), eventually building up an army and killing your opponent. Feel free to skip this section if you know anything about starcraft 2, in particular. Since this is primarily a programming blog, I’m going to assume you know a fair bit about video games. A quick Starcraft 2 primer: setting up the rules ![]() The program is called EvolutionChamber (a clever name, as it’s the name of one of the buildings in the game), and it uses genetic algorithms to find build orders. He eventually cleaned up his code and posted the code to googlecode. Over on a forum called teamliquid, a user by the name of Lomilar posted a fairly long thread about a program he had written that optimized build orders for the zerg race in starcraft. I also work in computer vision, and general AI has always been an interest (see this post on “evolving” faces). I’ve been on a bit of starcraft kick recently (see my replay aggregator: replayspider). I also added a video of the rush to the bottom. The fourth sentence makes this fairly clear, but some comments indicate that some people are a bit lazy :). UPDATE: Just to make this explicitly clear: I did not write this program. Posted by Louis Brandy on 01 November 2010 Using genetic algorithms to find Starcraft 2 build orders ![]() Octopus invisible cloak google game12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Much to the delight of everyone, SuBastian was able to film not one, but TWO, Glass Octopuses minding their own business in the ocean abyss. On a recent expedition by the R/V Falkor ran by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, ROV SuBastian went on 21 dives and recorded 182 hours of video footage. It’s all thanks to some beautiful video footage that a little underwater robot named SuBastian took of a very much alive Glass Octopus! Spacial Thanks To SuBastian (And Schmidt Ocean)! So, how has it become such an internet sensation of late? Posting pictures of clear chunks that were dredged out of the belly of a whale doesn’t exactly scream viral content, does it? Up until recently, most of what we know about the Glass Octopus has come from studying the stomach contents of its predators. Would you believe me if I told you the first Glass Octopus was discovered in 1918? Well, believe it! After all, it’s 95% translucent AND lives at crushing depths of our oceans, making it like finding a needle in a haystack. It might come as little surprise that this octopus is one of the least researched cephalopods out there (that we know of). They hatch directly from her, and the cycle begins all over again.īy: Schmidt Ocean Institute There is still so much more to learn about the Glass Octopus The most plausible explanation: mating! □ Fun Fact □Īfter mating, the female glass octopus broods (matures) all the eggs inside of her mantle (body) as she navigates the massive open ocean. Upon closer inspection, scientists observed one octopus inside the webbing of another. When mating takes place, the male will completely envelop the female in his webbing, ensuring that the sperm is released precisely where it needs to go! How did scientists discover this mating process?Ī submersible off the coast of Hawaii at around 900 meters caught a Glass Octopus with WAY too many arms. The male still has a hectocotylus but (PLOT TWIST!)- it doesn’t break off! Like other open ocean male octopuses, such as the Blanket Octopus that breaks off its unique arm (also called a hectocotylus) to leave sperm packets with the female, the Glass Octopus has…well a different strategy. Yu said this technology could be incorporated for a similar purpose.They mate just like everyone else… right?Īs if they weren’t unique enough, the Glass Octopus goes the extra mile to stand out with its mating process. ![]() While the most valuable applications would be for defense or industry, Yu said consumer applications such as toys and wearable electronics also could offer a market for such a technology.Īnother possibility? Luxury carmakers now try to give a car's occupants the sensation that the car has disappeared by deploying cameras to shoot videos on the passenger side of the car and using LED mats to display the view. The researchers describe their work as including pixelated devices that include analogs to each of the key elements included in the skin of cephalopods, with two exceptions, the iridophores and central ocular organs. The flexible skin of the device is composed of ultrathin layers, combining semiconductor actuators, switching components and light sensors with inorganic reflectors and organic color-changing materials in such a way to allow autonomous matching to background coloration. Similarly, he said while the prototype is less than one-inch square, it can be easily scaled up for manufacturing. The prototype developed by the researchers works in black and white, with shades of gray, but Yu said it could be designed to work in the full color spectrum. It reads the environment using thermochromatic material." Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University.Įarlier camouflage systems didn't automatically adapt, Yu said. Other researchers on the project include John A. The technology is described in a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Ĭunjiang Yu, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston and lead author of the paper, said the optoelectronic camouflage system was inspired by the skins of cephalopods, a class of marine animals including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish, which can change coloration quickly, both for camouflage and as a form of warning. Researchers have developed a technology that allows a material to automatically read its environment and adapt to mimic its surroundings. ![]() Hyper light breakers12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Will there be a physical release? We’re looking into it but please direct those questions to our publisher, Gearbox.Feel free to contact them directly about this! Down the line, we certainly hope to release it on as many platforms as possible. Will Hyper Light Breaker eventually release on other platforms? (EGS, Xbox, Switch, Linux, Playstation, etc.) Right now, we’re focused on making our Early Access happen (on Steam).You’ll be able to see the full world in three dimensions. You’ll be able to play alone or with friends online cooperatively! There will be more hidden truths about the world to uncover, an ever-shifting landscape, and tremendous rewards for exploration. Is it single player? This time, you won’t be traveling alone through our range of lush though deadly landscapes. ![]() ![]() It felt right to come back in, root around, and share what we unearthed about this beautiful-yet-bleak world with everyone. Why did we decide to return to that universe? The faded whisper of allure of this world we built transformed into a clarion call through the years.It will share threads, aesthetics, lore and other recognizable elements, but will be a new game driven by new designs. It is set in the universe of Hyper Light and is its own story. Is it a sequel to Hyper Light Drifter? Hyper Light Breaker is neither a sequel nor a prequel to Hyper Light Drifter.Here are some frequently asked (and answered) questions! If you have any more questions for us, please join our Discord! Visit the official website here.We're so excited about our upcoming game Hyper Light Breaker! Since our announcement, we've gotten a lot of question about this project and our plans. View the first screenshots at the gallery. Visit the settlers between each run and discover their stories.Help a settlement flourish, bringing with it colorful characters and permanent upgrades.Learn more about the Overgrowth and the deep storylines hidden within with each death and subsequent attempt.Discover and unlock a wide arsenal of weapons and items to create the perfect build for every run.Face hordes of enemies and gigantic bosses in frenetic third-person combat.Play single player or lead your team of Breakers through the Overgrowth in online cooperative play.Use your wall-dashing, hoverboard, glider and more for incredible freedom across landscapes.A vast, ever-changing world awaits with massive, open biomes and deep labyrinths.A world in disarray, with mysteries to solve, vicious enemies to fight, and fully 3D environments to explore.Play alone or with friends to explore massive biomes, defeat brutal monsters, create new builds, survive the mysterious Crowns and overthrow the almighty Abyss King in this action roguelite adventure from the creators of Hyper Light Drifter. Players are going to love exploring the Hyper Light universe like never before.”Įnter the Overgrowth, a new land in the world of Hyper Light. Hyper Light Drifter has a passionate community of players who fell in love with the game’s unique presentation, and Hyper Light Breaker will elevate that with its stylish 3D world and unforgettable art style alone. Gearbox Publishing San Francisco president Yoon Im added, “As huge fans of Hyper Light Drifter, we are thrilled to partner with Heart Machine to help bring Hyper Light Breaker to life. Fans put their trust in us back then to deliver on the vision we can’t wait for our community to experience Hyper Light Breaker-it’s a new path and culmination of everything we have learned over the past eight years of development at Heart Machine.” Crowdfunding for the game exceeded our wildest expectations, leading to millions of players from around the world falling in love with Hyper Light Drifter. We feel deeply fortunate to be able to celebrate the franchise in this way. ![]() “The long journey from the dream project getting Kickstarted back in 2013 to now has been incredible. “It’s wild to think it’s been six years since we released Hyper Light Drifter,” said Heart Machine creative director and Hyper Light Drifter creator Alx Preston in a press release. It will launch first in Early Access in spring 2023. Gearbox Publishing and developer Heart Machine have announced Hyper Light Breaker, a new roguelite action adventure game set in the world of Hyper Light Drifter, for PC ( Steam). ![]() Aragami switch review12/1/2023 ![]() ![]() Today, however, it will have to settle for pretty all right.Aragami is a game I never played on its original release as it slipped past me, but then stealth is what this title is all about. Aragami is a stealth game out of time that could have been quite beloved in 2006. Enemies exhibit nothing in the way of complex behavior, but that doesn’t make pushing through a group of them, silently killing as you go, any less satisfying. The gameplay loop is short, as it often is in stealth titles, but that loop generally works well. The story is there, and it’s executed passably well but ultimately just isn’t that engaging.Īragami is a perfectly adequate stealth game. However, I quickly found myself clicking through cutscenes with little interest in what was going on. Occasionally, a lightly-animated cartoon segment will highlight what ought to be a significant plot point. Cutscenes amount to basic animation with subtitles substituting for audible dialogue. The story plays out in a similarly simple yet solid way. ![]() There are some pretty low resolution textures in spots, which adds to the game feeling a bit older than it is at times. Despite being a PS4 and PC port, it runs very smoothly and looks especially nice in handheld mode. Therefore, any small mistake can easily send you right back to the start of the stage.Īragami’s clean, almost Wind Waker-like, art style translates very well to Switch. While not unfairly difficult due to the simplistic enemy AI, a single hit from an enemy means death. I’d regularly move to what I would have assumed was a new area of the chapter only to die and be sent all the way back to the very beginning. This could add a little replay value for anyone who enjoys hunting down a perfect score.Īs Aragami progresses, the chapters get longer and longer with seemingly no additional checkpoints to supplement the scale. At the end of each chapter, you’re graded on things like completion time, enemies killed, scrolls found, and bodies discovered. Throughout the stages, you’ll also find hidden scrolls which can be spent to unlock additional moves and abilities. Either that or you’ll sit there frustrated as an enemy repeatedly gets caught on environmental geometry until you eventually just give up and rush him before he can fill up his suspicion meter (a ninja sprinting at you is only worthy of investigation once you’ve stood there staring for a little while). Within the first couple stages you’ll master the art of making a noise, waiting for the enemy to walk to where the noise was, and then walking past or killing them while they face a wall. Dotting the environment are your typical dumb enemies with AI straight out of the very first Splinter Cell. ![]() Inversely, going into direct light will drain your abilities. The hook here is your ability to teleport from shadow to shadow, with this ability only charging while you remain in darkness. As things progress, you’ll be given additional objectives to accomplish before you can clear the stage. Initially your goal will simply be to make it to the other side. Each chapter presents a maze-like environment for you to navigate. But that initial inclination may have been more foreshadowing than I could have realized.Īragami sees you taking on the role of an otherworldly ninja, summoned by a mysterious woman to stab dudes. I was almost surprised to see that Aragami was only a few years old, having released on PS4 in 2016. So strong in fact was that wave of nostalgia, that I questioned weather Aragami was in fact some Xbox 360 game that had managed to sneak past me. When I first saw Aragami I was transported right back to 2006. Big names like Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed joined the likes of classics such as Metal Gear Solid in a stealth renaissance of sorts. At the beginning of the seventh generation of consoles, stealth games were all the rage. ![]() AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |