Lockwood: More Sodium, More Cauldron, More Win
Information courtesy of Lockwood, commentary by NorseGamer
The leaves are turning red, the air is getting chill, and Halloween approaches. To make sure you can all celebrate Samhain in style, the Cauldron of the Sunless Kingdom makes a return to the store, along with some regal accessories to help unlock all the Cauldron’s spoils.
If you’ve never played the Cauldron, or only ever tried out a friends here’s another limited time opportunity to grab this seasonal mini-game. Donning the Guardian Circlet or the Sorceress Tiara will not only look stylish, you’ll also be entitled to extra unique rewards from the Cauldron’s bubbling depths!
There’s an extra special Gift Machine update this week too, with Double Time’s Paintball Range expanding into giftable versions. Look at the new Double Time tab in the machine to see what to send your friends!
Calling all SodiumOne fans! This week Lockwood unveils an exciting update — the Salt Shooter Game Space. This new version of the tank action classic comes with a selection of exclusive SodiumOne game rewards, a new interactive gallery of enemy units, and connections to Sodium2. Collect all SodiumOne rewards by entering the new space and completing five demo levels of SodiumOne. Make it to the end and bag yourself your own personal SodiumOne MkII Hovertank!
But that’s not all: between Saturday, 11/08 and Sunday, 11/09, the Salt Shooter Public Game Space will give out double resources from SodiumOne! Convert these to Sodium credits to buy items from the Sodium Hub or upgrades in Sodium2!
NorseNotes: Y’all know I have a special place in my heart for SodiumOne. When I first stumbled into Home, it was right when the SodiumHub had been introduced. Walking around Central Plaza, no keyboard, default clothing…I felt mute. It was quite a despondent time, really. The Hub will go a long way towards creating a faster connection with new users, but the old experience…imagine being dropped off in the middle of Dar Es Salaam and being expected to instantly be fluent in all the cultural practices and language of Tanzania.
But there was this ball of light, over in the corner of Central Plaza. I approached it, and BAM — a cool warp effect took me to Sodium Hub.
Sodium Hub made sense to me. It had a social gathering space (Scorpio’s), with music and a minigame to facilitate some basic interaction. It had a virtual guide, VICKIE, to help explain what the hell was going on. It had its own internal currency, which could be accumulated through various tasks. And it had an absolutely killer single-player game: SodiumOne.
For a while, Home WAS Sodium Hub to me. That’s how I defined it. Central Plaza was too full of rudeness and obscenity. The Bowling Alley had ridiculous waiting times. And until my Logitech bluetooth keyboard arrived, there really wasn’t much point in exploring elsewhere. But Sodium…I felt comfortable there.
It is not an exaggeration when I say that, were it not for the Sodium Hub — were it not for Lockwood — I probably would have clicked off Home, never to return. First impressions can be a killer.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRf04Yme7PQ
Odd, perhaps, that a third party provided a better Home “experience” for me at first. But perhaps not so odd, in the same way that Drew Karpyshyn, Lawrence Kasdan or Chris Avellone can take the universe of Star Wars and come up with something far more impressive out of it.
Thus, you will forgive me for being something of a Lockwood fanboy. Lockwood, to me, is what Aston Martin or Ferrari are to Jeremy Clarkson: unimpeachable standards of quality that, even when there is a misstep, somehow manage to just be better than everyone else.
Anyway, go enjoy the Cauldron re-release and the Sodium enhancements. I know I will.