August 2023

Far bet it from me to complain about Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The London Case introducing more incongruous eye candy, after my previous conniptions over Hot Hipster Poirot with his ankle-grazer trousers and his sexy egg-shaped head, but tick tock, it's himbo Hastings o'clock. Released on Steam this week, The London Case takes young Poirot to, err, London, charged with protecting a famous painting along with a representative of the insurance firm. Naturellement, the painting is stolen from an apparently locked room under everyone's silly noses, and thus begins Poirot and Hastings' first puzzle caper together (for who else is our insurance representative?).

Technically, of course, they met in The Mysterious Affair At Styles, when Captain Arthur Hastings was on leave from the front during WW1, but one of the things I like about this series is how it takes what it wants and gently buffs away the rest. If you're going to adapt, then adapt! Like The First Cases, which came out in 2021, the game itself is largely a process of pointing and clicking through crime scenes to find clues, and then joining them in a big mind map akin to what you'd find in a Frogwares Sherlock Holmes game. But having Hastings along does make it a bit more fun, because his role is to be a bit of an idiot.

Before Diablo 4 came out, Blizzard had concerns that their latest ARPG would tank the popularity of their most recent entry in the series, Diablo Immortal, Blizzard's franchise general manager Rod Fergusson tells RPS. Immortal, which launched last year as a free-to-play MMO game, left quite a bad taste in our mouths when it launched on PC, especially when it came to the prohibitively high cost of its various microtransactions. Despite this, though, the game's continued to enjoy great success over on mobile, but even Blizzard weren't sure whether its popularity would last once Diablo 4 arrived.

"One of the things that we were kind of nervous about initially was that when Diablo 4 landed it would sort of cannibalise Immortal, and that everyone was just going to be, 'Oh we're just playing Immortal until Diablo 4 comes out'," Fergusson told me at Gamescom. As it turns out, they needn't have been so apprehensive. "In fact, it was the opposite," he says.

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Head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka doesn't think pixel art is a "viable art style" for the future of Sonic, so don't get your hopes up for Sonic Mania 2.

In an interview with Games Radar at Gamescom, Iizuka discussed the future of the Sonic franchise and the need to maintain both 2D and 3D Sonic games in parallel.

"When we talk about the brand, we definitely need to have a modern Sonic 3D game," he said. "We also feel we need to have a classic Sonic 2D game. Those are our fundamental pillars that we need to have. We're expanding into movies and TV, but we still need to have both the 3D and the 2D line up for our gaming audience."

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Hello! Welcome back to Captain's Log, a mini-series on the things we love about space - and how video games so brilliantly engage with it. You can read all of our pieces in the series in one place as they go live, here at the Captain's Log archive. Enjoy!

Pity the poor Kerbal. His expression remains passive as his hastily bodged-together ship slingshots around a planetoid and sails off course. Fatally. Kerbal Space Program is a wonderful sandbox that lets you build ships to navigate the universe. It also has these delightful moments of existential dread as ships flake apart, run out of fuel or just sail off into the endless darkness, never to be recovered.

With Starfield just around the corner, I have been touring space games to enjoy a variety of terrors. Star Wars: Squadrons looks fairly close to Starfield's dogfights, and proves a good place to start. I soon find myself cowering as laser fire drums loudly against the canopy. Dashboards spark, alarms blare and desperate attempts to redirect ship power to my shields prove futile.

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A fresh trailer for Bō: Path of The Teal Lotus has revealed more of its combat and abilities, all of which stem from Japanese folklore.

The game will be published by Humble Games and is being developed by Squid Shock Studios, comprising members of the AM2R team - an unofficial fan remake of Metroid 2.

Bō: Path of The Teal Lotus is, understandably, a Metroidvania, but with a beautiful Japanese art style reminiscent of Okami. Check out the new trailer below.

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Konami has delayed its remasters of Suikoden 1 and 2, originally set for release in 2023.

It's unclear when the remasters will now launch, though a statement from Konami simply reads "as soon as is possible".

"Regarding the planned release of Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, we have reached the conclusion that despite the very best efforts of our dedicated development staff to release the Remasters in 2023, additional time is needed to ensure the quality performance and gameplay experience our users deserve," reads the statement.

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Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

How often do you notice a journal in a game beyond the fact that it's there to help you record what you've done? Journals have become such commonplace features in games that they're taken for granted - expected, but largely ignored. Yet, some games see an opportunity there. Some games find a way to work a journal into the adventure you're having, to enhance it, or to tell us more about the characters or places in it.

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UPDATE 06/09/23: Sea of Stars has now sold over 250k copies after just one week of sales.

As developer Sabotage Studio shared on social media, the game has sold in a week what the studio had projected for a year.

In short, it's selling very well. And as mentioned in the original story below, Sea of Stars is available on both Game Pass and PS Plus, meaning even more people are likely playing it.

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Karlach is slowly dying from an infernal engine, which is housed in her chest. At the end of the game, she can either return to the hellish realm of Avernus to prevent her from burning to a crisp, turn into a Mind Flayer, or give up the ghost entirely and die. In either case, Karlach is pretty hard done by.

Patch 2 adds a new optional ending with Karlach, Larian said. “It’s fiery, poignant, and gives her the ending she deserves”.

It can be odd to discover, over time, what a game is really about. Finity is a match-three game for Apple Arcade. It delights in pastel colours and endless chiming sound effects. But what it's actually about is that crucial element of first-person shooters and MMO raids. Finity is about target priorisation.

This is because, at any give moment, you might be able to make a handful of matches with the tiles on your four-by-four grid. But which match should you make? Might some be better than others? Might some be much, much worse? These simple questions turn a good game into a great one. I am still working out how to untangle it all.

The basics are simple. You have that four-by-four grid with blocks of various colours. You match blocks by shifting rows or columns, with matched blocks vanishing and creating room for new blocks to fall into view. Matches build a meter during each level, which eventually creates three special blocks that must be matched to move on to the next level. Fine.

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There's a new peek at some of the star systems and places players will get to go in Starfield. Microsoft and Bethesda shared a brief teaser trailer showing off three locations. All of these are Starfield United Colonies territories, which was established in 2159 in-game.

Here's a closer look at the Starfield United Colonies star systems. We get to see Alpha Centauri's Jemison, Sol's Mars, and Wolf's Pontem.

In accordance with the Treaty of Narion, the UC controls 3 star systems at the heart of humanity’s earliest interstellar endeavors. Society in UC space is bound by military tradition, civic pride, and science built on the vestiges of mankind’s oldest remaining history. #Starfield pic.twitter.com/NjJtKAAfJU

— Starfield (@StarfieldGame) August 29, 2023

Konami has revealed that Suikoden I and II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars have been delayed out of 2023. The company did not indicate when it will now be releasing these games. 

These remasters were revealed last September, packaged into the same collection and given a release window of 2023 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam. However, that was the last time we heard of these games. Yesterday evening, Konami gave us an update, stating they had been delayed out of 2023. 

Important information regarding Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: https://t.co/2yjEoDi6jL pic.twitter.com/5mlAqHs0gb

The original Destiny storyline opened following the collapse of a vast Terran civilization at the hands of an invading, amorphous Darkness and its various alien accomplices - an advance stymied only by a benevolent Big Dumb Object known as the Traveller. It cast you as an ancient warrior, resurrected by a flying robot to reclaim humankind's old dominions together with their antique, storied weapons and gear. So much of its appeal for me, back in 2014, was the mystique of that reclamation process, bolstered by alternately zany, obnoxious, fragmentary or intriguing writing that expanded upon the viral mythological element in Halo.

Fast-forward nine years, and Destiny 2 has turned the destruction and loss of history wrought by the Darkness into a seasonal - or as it's shortly to become, "episodic" - content "cadence" (a term that stems from the Latin word for falling) of erosion and restoration, with areas, weapons and quests stripped periodically from the game due to a mixture of technical pressures and commercial priorities. It's sort of become the very thing you're fighting, but where the Darkness aims to engulf and extinguish the Guardians of the Light, Destiny wants to keep you engaged.

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Pong is one of those video games that I don’t need to explain. I say Pong and you can see it in your mind. But what if Pong was more? What if that ball you batted around for decades could escape and see the world? That’s the question asked and answered in Qomp 2, Atari’s upcoming, and odd, sequel to Pong.

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Square Enix released a brand new trailer further teasing the story of young Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. Players will learn more about Sephiroth's unknown past during the events of Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier in a brand new, original story.

The Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis trailer tells players that "we still don't know Sephiroth" as the young hero turns away from the burning flames in the background. The trailer also shows off new scenes from the game detailing The First Soldier characters Glen, Matt, and Lucia's journey to the island of Rhadore to survey locations to build Shinra's Mako reactors. Glenn, Matt, and Lucia are P0 Soldiers who worked for Shinra 15 years before the events of Final Fantasy VII.

This game will also cover the events of FFVII, Crisis Core FFVII, and expand on never-before-seen story during these games.

You can see young Sephiroth below:
[embed]https://twitter.com/FFVII_EC_EN/status/1696704292013437183[/embed]

The latest Persona 5 Tactica character spotlight trailer released by Atlus introduces Futaba Sakura, codename Oracle. Her Persona is Necronomicon, and she plays an active support role as the navigator of the Phantom Thieves. While she cannot be controlled directly, Oracle is capable of using protection and recovery skills when the party needs it most.

The new trailer showcases some of the automatic skills that Futaba can perform in Persona 5 Tactica when her allies are in need of support. Final Guard protects downed allies from an attack. Meanwhile, Active Support recovers a fraction of the party’s MP, and makes it easier to increase the Voltage Gauge.

You can check out the new Persona 5 Tactica character spotlight trailer introducing Oracle here:
https://twitter.com/p_kouhou/status/1696719397518491818

Prior to joining the Phantom Thieves in the original Persona 5, Futaba was a secluded and genius hacker that gained notoriety for her skills. As a member of the Phantom Thieves, Futaba is still not used to communicating, as she hasn’t had much practice.

Persona 5 Tactica will come out on November 17, 2023 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC via Steam. Atlus recently shared a trailer showcasing Akechi and Kasumi in the game’s Day One DLC, Repaint Your Heart.

Netflix just shared the final One Piece live-action trailer the day before its debut. This is a more far-reaching video. It offers a larger look at not only the main cast, but supporting characters. A number of different locations also showed up.

Here’s the newest video. It focuses more on the quest for the fabled One Piece and the Straw Hat’s goal to find it. As it does discuss this, we see members of the Navy and other rivals and antagonists that the crew will encounter throughout the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6kp780S-os&ab_channel=Netflix

While this is the final One Piece live-action trailer, Netflix released another one not too long ago. Back on August 24, 2023, a Japanese dub video appeared. It features the original Japanese voice actors from the anime. However, as it was shared by the Netflix Japan account, there are no English subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upJ3Rk4e1d8&ab_channel=NetflixJapan

There was also recently a Netflix video that involved actors from the show talking about the adaptation. Also, episode 1,074 of the anime ended up delayed due to this version's debut.

Niantic teased Pokemon GO would get Paldea characters from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in September 2023 back in the beginning of August 2023. Now we have release dates. The new critters will arrive in two parts. First, we'll see starters like Sprigatito in Pokemon GO on September 5, 2023. Then a second batch of four will arrive on September 10, 2023.

First, here’s the list of Pokemon GO Paldea Pokemon that will appear on September 5, 2023. The base forms of Fuecoco, Lechonk, Sprigatito, and Quaxly will be in the wild, in 7km eggs at launch, and in Field Research tasks. Lechonk will also show up in Timed Research. Lechonk is also the only one who will be available as a shiny.

• Crocalor (evolved from 25 Fuecoco candy)
• Floragato (evolved from 25 Sprigatito candy)
• Fuecoco
• Lechonk
• Meowscarada (evolved from 100 Sprigatito candy)
• Oinkologne (evolved from 50 Lechonk candy)
• Quaquaval (evolved from 25 Quaxly candy)
• Quaxly
• Quaxwell (evolved from 25 Quaxly candy)
• Skeledirge (evolved from 100 Fuecoco candy)
• Sprigatito

After the A Paldean Adventure event ends on September 10, 2023, Lechonk will be in 2km eggs and the starters will be in 5km ones.

When I first watched Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon I'd never seen anything like it. The balletic swordplay, gravity-defying leaps and beautiful cinematography were mesmerising. For me, as I suspect for many Westerners, this was my introduction to Wuxia - a genre of Chinese fantasy fiction focused on martial artists in ancient China.

Chinese developer Everstone Studio has similar aspirations for its debut game. Where Winds Meet is a love letter to the Wuxia culture its developers have adored from a young age; now they intend to bring it to the world.

I was able to chat with Everstone at Gamescom and even have a brief hands-on, though my Wuxia fantasy proved clumsy with mouse and keyboard controls. I was assured, however, that full controller support will be included with its PC release next year.

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In a February 2022 Nintendo Direct, it was announced that the first three mainline Front Mission games would get modern remakes exclusively for Switch. Front Mission 1st: Remake hit last November, and now, nearly a year later, we finally know when Front Mission 2 will arrive.

That date is October 5, following a delay from it's previously announced June 12 launch. Front Mission 2’s revival is significant because it has never been released outside of Japan, originally hitting shelves in 1997. Set 12 years after Front Mission 1st, it stars Ash, an O.C.U. soldier who tries to escape the nation of Alordesh after its overrun by a revolutionary group, only to discover a broader conspiracy. Check out its story trailer below. 

The remake’s features include improved loading times (addressing a big criticism of the original version), free camera movement, a revamped soundtrack, new coloring/camouflage options, and additional language support. 

Front Mission 2: Remake will be available for $34.99. To keep up with every major upcoming remake, be sure to visit our complete list of them here.

Appropriately for third-person shooters featuring icky electric zombies, Invader's Daymare series has crept up on me. The second game, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, launches today. It casts you as Dalila Reyes, a special agent of Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search, aka H.A.D.E.S., and - wait a minute, I know this vibe! That annoying acronym? The washed-out, cadaver-on-concrete set dressing? The gimmicky ice-gun and scanner mode puzzles? The not-so-subtle undertones of Monolith and Midway? Characters with big glowy gadgets on their backs, so you can track them through poorly-lit warehouses?

For all the 90s setting, this looks to me like a homage to shooters of the early/mid noughties, when every action game took place in an office block, prison or garage, featured some kind of paranormal auxiliary ability, and owed a few cinematic chromosomes to the Matrix. Get a load of that trailer.

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Where Winds Meet struck me as hugely ambitious action adventure romp set in vast, Ten Kingdom-inspired China. And it was hilariously impossible to summarise in the space of a short, sharp 30-minute appointment. While the elevator pitch started off fairly naturally, there came a point where the elevator rocketed up into the atmosphere and spiralled out of control. I won’t pretend to completely understand what the exact measure of the game is, but I'm both excited to see more and a tad worried it could end up being a disjointed, overstretched mash of things that don't form a cohesive whole.

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When you boot up Baldur’s Gate 3, you can choose between creating a custom character, or playing as any of the party members who can join you throughout the game, like Astarion or Karlach. However, there’s one other option as well: it’s called the Dark Urge, and it’s kind of the best of both worlds. You get to make…

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Free, fan-made browser game Pufferdle is an unexpectedly successful cozy mutant. Developer Abdullah Masud made it from sewing together some beloved parts—the fishing minigame from Stardew Valley, and Wordle’s streamlined hangman procedure—and ended up with a pixel fish-guesser many will find relaxing and familiar.

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Pokémon Go is notoriously behind the rest of the Pokémon universe, especially when it comes to the pocket monsters that inhabit its world. But finally, almost a year after the Switch’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were released, the mobile game is to see its first smattering of Paldean beasties.

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Nintendo revealed details about another new Splatoon 3 stage, Shipshape Cargo Co. This new stage will be added to the stage rotation as part of the Drizzle Season 2023 update, which will be released on September 1, 2023.

Shipshape Cargo Co will be set on a gigantic Arctic cargo ship. The stage itself is situated between shipping containers as the ship sails through the frozen seas. The stage will feature a number of elevated areas accessible by ramps that run along the side of the stage. It’s the second stage set on a ship to be added to the Splatoon series, after the cruise ship stage Manta Maria. However, that ship was static in both Splatoon 2 and Splatoon 3.

Shipshape Cargo Co will be added to the Splatoon 3 Drizzle Season 2023 alongside another new stage, Crableg Capital, which takes place on top of a skyscraper.

https://twitter.com/SplatoonNA/status/1696870529238519826

In addition to the new stage details, Nintendo also revealed that Drizzle Season 2023 will add a huge number of additional customisation items. Over 300 new decorations and stickers for player lockers will be added. Some of these have been confirmed to be part of the new season Catalog, while other items will be unlocked via the Shell-Out Machine in the lobby.

Disney Dreamlight Valley “physical” copies are heading to retail on October 27, 2023, but don’t include a cartridge. This will be a Cozy Edition of the game. For $49.99, people will get one a code for one of the console copies of the game, as well as some DLC and physical bonuses to go with it. As a reminder a standard digital copy starts at $29.99, with deluxe and ultimate versions priced at $49.99 and $69.99. [Thanks, Wario64!]

Regardless of which platform you pick the Disney Dreamlight Valley “physical” copies, the Cozy retail edition comes with the same four add-ons. First, you get 14,500 Moonstones. That’s the in-game currency, and normally a Huge Moonstone Pack of that size costs $49.99. People also get a Cheshire Cat Sweater for their avatar to wear, a Cottage House Style to change your home’s appearance, and Raccoon Companion Skins to change their color, appearance and accessories.

Koei Tecmo and Gust revealed that Atelier Resleriana will be present at TGS 2023. The title will be one of the featured games at the Koei Tecmo booth at the event. New Atelier Resleriana merchandise will be available for purchase. Additionally, a third official livestream with information about the game will premiere on September 22, 2023 during the show.

People attending Tokyo Game Show 2023 have the chance to get an original shopping bag with the key visual for Atelier Resleriana, as well as a puni keychain as part of a giveaway by Koei Tecmo and Gust. Additionally, a photo spot with official cosplayers will be available at the booth.

Official merchandise based on Atelier Resleriana and other entries in the Atelier series will be available for sale as well. Here is a full list of the merchandise available:

• B2 tapestries – 3,500 yen each
• B5 acrylic plates – 5,000 yen each
• Acrylic stand keychains (Vol 1.) – 800 yen each (16,000 yen set box)
• Acrylic stand keychains (Vol 2.) – 800 yen each (13,600 yen set box)
• Metal clear file – 1,400 each
• Tote bag with acrylic keychain – 2,500 yen
• Big tapestries Azur Lane x Atelier Ryza 2 – 8,500 yen each

You can take a better look the new Atelier Resleriana merchandise available at the Koei Tecmo TGS 2023 booth in the gallery below, as well as other goods from games available:

Sony decided to raise the price of all PlayStation Plus membership tiers, and all three will cost more starting in September 2023. Starting on September 6, 2023, it will cost at least $20 more for someone to subscribe. This will be a worldwide change in prices. It will be $79.99/€71.99/£59.99/¥6,800 per year for the lowest Essential tier going forward. Its excuse for charging more is to “continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits.”

The base PlayStation Plus Essential tier is going up to $79.99 from $59.99 for a year. The PlayStation Plus Extra tier will cost $139.99 for 12 months. It used to be $99.99. Finally, the PlayStation Plus Premium price will be $159.99 after the change, compared to $119.99 now.

The company also noted that the yearly plans will still be cheaper than buying one or three months of PlayStation Plus at a time. However, it didn’t say what the new prices for each tier will be going forward. Before September 6, 2023, it is $9.99 per month and $24.99 per three months for Essential, $14.99 per month and $39.99 per three months for Extra, and $17.99 per month and $49.99 per three months for Premium.

The cost of the three PlayStation Plus plans will increase in price starting on September 6, 2023 worldwide.

Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo will be held on January 20-21, 2023 at Tokyo Big Sight. Not only will it include two days worth of live performances from Nintendo properties, it will also include the world championship tournaments for competitive first-party Nintendo games. Entry into the event requires pre-registration. Also, everyone who registers in advance will be placed into a lottery that must be won in order to gain a ticket to attend. The event will be broadcast live on the official website. More information will be revealed closer to launch.

Nintendo plans to begin accepting applications to participate in the game tournaments beginning in October 2023. For general admission, pre-registration will begin sometime in November. More information regarding where and how to apply will be announced at a later date.

The Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe world championships are planned to be held at this event. The winners of the preliminary rounds will gather in Tokyo to compete for the title of world champion. The Splatoon 3 tournament will be on both days, while the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament will be held on the second day only.

Sony has announced a global price increase for PlayStation Plus' 12-month subscription plans across all tiers of its service, with the changes coming into effect on 6th September.

As detailed at the bottom of its latest PlayStation Plus Monthly Games update, starting 6th September, UK subscribers will pay £59.99 for 12 months of PlayStation Plus Essential, up from £49.99, while 12 months of PlayStation Plus Extra increases from £83.99 to £99.99, and 12 months of PlayStation Plus Extra Premium rises from £99.99 to £119.99.

The PlayStation Plus price increases will be reflected globally, and Sony has provided updated pricing details for Europe, the US, and Japan as part of its announcement:

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Amazon Games' MMO New World will receive its first expansion in October.

Named Rise of the Angry Earth, it will tell a brand new story, extend the level cap, and - most importantly - add mounts.

It will be available for $29.99 from 3rd October.

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When Ubisoft revealed Assassin’s Creed Mirage last September during a special stream celebrating the series’ 15th anniversary, the game was up to bat as the next in the long-running series. Set to hit PlayStation, Xbox, and PC for $49.99 with a scaled-back approach and a much shorter runtime, Ubisoft indicated it was using Mirage to return to the series’ roots, serving as a spiritual successor to Altair’s adventure that started it all. 

However, Mirage wasn’t always its own game; it started as DLC to 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. 

“At first, we were working on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and the DLC, and the idea came up to create a specific expansion for Valhalla and go back to the Middle East,” Mirage creative director Stephane Boudon tells me in the Ubisoft Bordeaux office. “We wanted, as a longtime fan of the series, to go back to this environment [and those] vibes. And it was also near the 15th anniversary of the brand. So it was for us, something we wanted to bring back for the player.”

Today, Sony announced the next slate of monthly games for the month of September. It also revealed that each subscription tier of PlayStation Plus is getting a significant price bump.

The PlayStation Blog reveals that September’s free games will be 2022’s Saints Row, Black Desert - Traveler Edition, and Generation Zero. They’ll become available on September 5 and can be downloaded until October 2.

On September 6, 12-month subscriptions for PlayStation Plus Essential, Extra, and Premium will be raised to the following prices:

Essential - $79.99 (from $59.99)

Extra - $134.99 (from $99.99)

Premium - $159.99 (from $119.99)