Boyfriend Dungeon - the dungeon crawler where you date your weapons personified - is set to get free DLC that includes a weapon designed by Ikumi Nakamura.

Nakamura is CEO and creative director at Unseen Inc., formerly the director of Ghostwire: Tokyo. Her character, Dr. Holmes, is the villain of a brand new dungeon. They're also a whip, because this is Boyfriend Dungeon.

The DLC will be added this summer across Switch, Xbox and PC.

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Mossfield Origins will be the next game from Boyfriend Dungeon developer Kitfox Games.

It's a cosy city-builer with a "snack-sized" approach to the genre, with narrative aspects and a focus on sustainability.

Check out a first look at gameplay in the trailer below.

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🎶Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles—Shredder’s Revenge is—OUT THIS WEEK!🎶

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Video game marketing season is an exercise in duality. For every Sony State of Play or Geoff Keigh3, there’s a lower key event—a Day of the Devs, say, or a Devolver Digital showcase. Today’s big one is the annual Guerrilla Collective livestream.

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Announced during Guerilla Collective's livestream, Shashingo is a new photography game with the aim of helping players learn to speak Japanese. 

As you might expect, gameplay consists of walking around a small open area, taking pictures of items in the environment, and then learning the Japanese word for said item. You can study learned words by looking at your in-game photo album. Shashingo also has reading and listening lessons and a "Find Mode," which tests your knowledge of the words you've learned. 

Check it out in the trailer below: 

While we weren't given a release date, Shashingo's trailer said it's "coming soon." It will be available on Switch and PC. 

During the 2022 Guerrilla Collective indie game livestream, Microids unveiled Arkanoid: Eternal Battle, a modern revival of an arcade classic with a battle royale twist.

This new Arkanoid includes four ways to play: a new modern take on the classic block-breaking gameplay, the original retro experiences from decades ago, four-player local split-screen gameplay, and a 25-player online battle royale mode where the last one standing wins it all.

This is Microids's second reveal of a classic game franchise's revival, as the publisher announced Flashback 2--the return of the 30-year-old PC action-platformer--during Summer Game Fest Live on June 9.

Taito first released Arkanoid in arcades in 1986 as a simple concept: players would move a single platform in order to bounce a ball, which would then break blocks floating in the air above the platform. Break all of the blocks and the player would move on to the next stage, with each stage increasing the challenge until the player hit the game over screen.

Arkanoid: Eternal Battle will launch on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC in October 2022.

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Developer: Dramatic Labs
Release: 2022

Star Trek: Resurgence lets players boldly guide an original crew where no man has gone before. By that, they get to determine the fate of a new team of space explorers and the stakes of an interspecies conflict in a choice-driven adventure. During Summer Game Fest Play Days, I got to navigate a particularly tense situation to get a taste of the sorts of decisions players will face and their potential consequences. 

The Genshin Impact Almighty Arataki Great and Glorious Drumalong Festival event is about to begin. On June 13, 2022, a new rhythm game will be available in-game. As the (long-winded) title suggests, Itto is the character behind the new drumming activity. To help people prepare, HoYoVerse shared requirements to participate, discussed rewards, and went over everything the activity will entail.

First, people need to have caught up with a bit of the story. You can’t take part in the Genshin Impact Almighty Arataki Great and Glorious Drumalong Festival unless you’ve unlocked Inazuma, started Archon Quest Chapter 2, Act 1, and finish the Ritou Escape Plan quest. If you’ve done that and are past Adventure Rank 30, then you can start drumming with Itto.

Unlike other Genshin Impact rhythm game activities, this one will feature customization elements. You’ll be able to create your own songs. For the first week of the event, there will be one new song each day. Each one will have Normal, Hard, and Pro difficulty levels. Playing them will get you things like Primogems and unspecified weapon ascension materials.

When I was a student I used to spend way too much time scrolling through the endlessly refreshing collection of horror flashfiction on r/nosleep. Consequently I'm a fan of horror anthologies in the vein of No Code's Stories Untold. Upcoming freak 'em up The Fridge Is Red (developed by 5Word Team) looks like r/nosleep having a story jam about the fridge you have to stare at off of Control, so I'm into it. Look out for it in 2022, but the trailer says there's a free demo on Steam now.

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Aquaplus announced the air date for the Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth anime adaptation. The anime will start airing on Japanese television starting July 2, 2022. The anime will consist of a total of 28 episodes, with the first two episodes airing on July 2. Additionally, Aquaplus has released a new teaser trailer as well as the anime's Japanese voice cast. [Thanks, ryokutya!]

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is an anime adaptation of the game of the same name. Aquaplus announced that the anime was in production back in November 2021, during the series' 20th anniversary live stream. Similarly, the announcement came with a teaser trailer, featuring several key characters that appeared in the previous Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception adaptation. The schedule indicates that episodes will air every Saturday night in Japan.

Notably, the new teaser trailer features the first use of the anime's opening theme, "Hitonanda," performed by the artist Suara. The Utawarerumono website now lists additional cast members, as well as their respective comments and character designs. These comments are only available to read in Japanese.

Below is a list of the newly announced cast members for Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth.

It’s a golden age for horror fans

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Sea of Stars developer Sabotage Studio released another of its usual weekly clips of its upcoming JRPG.

The video showcases a stroll on a mountain trail, as usual, enriched by the beautiful pixel art that the folks at Sabotage Studio are masters at.

Of course, bridges would be too easy for a true adventure, so we also get some tightrope walking.

You can watch it below.

Guerilla Collective's Summer Game Fest-adjacent live stream revealed a slew of new and upcoming indie games. But among the Braid-like puzzle platformers and narrative adventures were several horror games worth keeping an eye on. Here's what stood out to us. 

The Fridge is Red

Easily the highlight of today's stream, The Fridge is Red looks like what you might find if you went video game shopping in Hell. Heavily inspired by PlayStation 1 horror games – specifically Silent Hill – it tells the story of Frank, stuck in his basement staring for days at the titular red fridge. "Not only the fear of a terrible death keeps him in place, but also the hope of getting his daughter back," the game's Steam page reads. 

The Fridge is Red is a collection of different horror stories – or "episodes." In the trailer, we see terrifying waiting rooms, people frozen in place, items frozen in midair, church congregations full of glowing-eye patrons, and an elevator ostensibly sending us to the bowels of the underworld. At one point, in what's undoubtedly the trailer's most gruesome moment, an eye is gouged out with an elevator button. 

The game's low-poly aesthetic makes The Fridge is Red more unnerving. Because of the lack of detail, the brain fills in the blanks. What's rendered onscreen is nothing compared to what's in our minds.

Today Type-moon released a new TV commercial for the upcoming remaster of the Legendary Visual Novel Mahoutsukai no Yoru.

While the commercial is fairly short, as usual for TV commercials, it does provide a glimpse to the cast of main characters that we’ll meet in the game.

In case you’ve missed the news, Mahoutsukai no Yoru will release on December 8, 2022, and we already know that the game will include English text support, which is decidedly a refreshing change for fans of Type-Moon games.

You can watch it below.

If you’re unfamiliar with Mahoutsukai no Yoru, which translates as “The night of the witches” (elaborated in the official subtitle “Witch on the Holy Night”) is a visual novel released in 2012 by Type-Moon, known for creating the ultra-popular Fate series.

It was written by Kinoko Nasu, originally as an unreleased novel reportedly inspired by the first episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

This new release will include a full voice track (obviously in Japanese) and full HD visuals. The main voice cast is as follows:

HoYoVerse introduced another Zenless Zone Zero character, and her name is Soldier 11. Due to her past and nature, her “file” is corrupted. This means her age, faction, and real name are unknown. However, she’s described as the “perfect soldier.”

There's also an official Zenless Zone Zero infographic going over details about the character.

We also know who Soldier 11's voice actress will be in Zenless Zone Zero. She'll be played by Yukiyo Fujii. One of her most recent notable roles is Sailor Saturn in Sailor Moon Crystal and Sailor Moon Eternal. She’s also played Hanajima in the Fruits Basket new anime series. You might also recognize her as multiple Fairy Tail characters, like Gemi, Katja, and Millianna.

Voice Actor Announcement

...My name? I gave it up long ago.
It's only a reminder of my past.
I don't care where you've been, but whatever the case, I await my orders.

Looking for cute games? Wholesome Direct has you covered

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AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2.0 is slowly gaining traction. Its initial release for Arkane's Deathloop has since been joined by integration into Farming Simulator 2022 and more interestingly in Sony Santa Monica/Jetpack Interactive's PC port of God of War - and a further 16 titles have just been announced. God of War in particular is worthy of some focus because some might argue that the game's aesthetic is based heavily on very high frequency, intricate detail - a proper workout for 'smart' upscaling techniques. Not only that, but it already includes impressive Nvidia DLSS support alongside Santa Monica Studio's internal temporal upscaler.

This is a piece where I'm going to have to refer you to the embedded video to get the complete picture on how FSR 2.0 compares to these alternative solutions. You see, all of the upscalers I looked at actually fare rather well when looking at static imagery. To get a flavour for how these technologies really work, it's important to see them in motion. The secret to their success is that they are based on the concept of temporal accumulation - pixels from prior frames are injected into the current one. Therefore, the less motion there is, the more of a super-sampling effect you get. Conversely, the more variation there is between frames (eg fast movement), the less data there is to work with in reconstructing the image.

Bandai is releasing a new line of Sailor Moon Ichiban Kuji merchandise, in celebration of the series' 30th anniversary. The top prize of the raffle is a figure of Eternal Sailor Moon and Eternal Sailor Chibi Moon. Each raffle ticket will cost ¥680. The lottery items are available at participating Lawson convenience stores in Japan, as well as the Sailor Moon and Ichiban Kuji stores. It will also be available via Ichiban Kuji Online starting July 11, 2022.

The merchandise is based on the characters' appearances from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal: The Movie. The two-part movie series debuted in Japan back in January and February 2021. Some of the products, such as the acrylic stand, metal charm, clear file set, and teacup set, will come in several varieties. Products like the clear file set and metal charm will come in ten different varieties, dedicated to each of the Sailor Guardians.

Below is a list of all the products included in the Sailor Moon 30th anniversary line.

From the director’s insect revenge epic to powerful dramas and more

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Studio MDHR’s Cuphead has certainly come a long way from just being an exclusive indie title on the Xbox. The game released to critical acclaim, got a charming TV series on Netflix, and it’s getting an excellent DLC release at the end of the month. For all you fans wondering when The Cuphead Show season 2 is coming out on Netflix, here’s what you need to know.

Netflix’s The Cuphead Show Season 2 Release Date

Season 2 of The Cuphead Show will be released on Netflix on Aug. 19. That means fans only have to wait a couple more months before they’re able to enjoy even more episodes showing off the show’s old-timey graphics as Cuphead and Mugman get into more trouble.

To whet your appetite, Netflix has also released a short teaser video showing off some scenes from the new episodes, which you can check out down below.

54 young people have been shortlisted for BAFTA's annual Young Game Designers award.

BAFTA reports that "compelling themes relating to gender identity, mental health, and climate change dominate this year’s entries" and confirms that the winners will be revealed at an upcoming digital ceremony scheduled for 30th June 2022 hosted by Inel Tomlinson.

"This year’s shortlisted entries encompass a diverse range of contemporary topics, including mental health and anxiety, climate change, computer safety, time and space travel, and gender identity, with several gender-neutral leading characters across this year’s entries," the organisation said.

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A demo is now available for Demagog Studio's upcoming puzzle platformer, The Cub.

Available from now until Friday 17th June, the demo - which features three levels and "some Radio Nostalgia from Mars and a whole lot of apocalyptic goodness" - can be downloaded from Steam.

"Fantastic news. We just got a hefty supply drop of content here on Mars to keep you sane as you begin to question our very existence up here on this dead red planet," Demagog explain in a new Steam update.

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Tiny Magicians has revealed its upcoming survival game, Outbreak Island, is coming to Steam sometime between July to September 2022.

The survival game - which also boasts detective elements - will initially release in Early Access. The team also confirmed that a free prologue, which gives players "a chance to test the game's core mechanics", is "coming soon".

"A mysterious experiment drove the population of Erlsen Island crazy," the game's description teases. "The authorities have isolated the region from the outside world and sealed «the incident». As a detective Howard Chapman, you secretly arrive on the island to look into the cause of the accident. There is no way back.

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Growing up I lived with a tabby called Twm. I say live with because it's less that my parents adopted him and more he appeared in their garage one night and refused to leave. Twm had a nonchalant attitude about life - going about his important cat business unworried unless a thunderstorm was involved. When Twm did require assistance though, he would silently stare at you, shadowing your steps, until you solved his problem. (And, once it was fixed, usually go do something completely different, because cat.) So I can say with utter assurance that if Twm had found himself lost in a city inhabited by robots, he'd have simply found a comfy spot near a radiator and waited for me to find him. Thankfully, Stray's titular cat is far more proactive than Twm would ever have been in this situation.

After being separated from their family and falling into a cybercity, this cat searches for an escape - Stray is what I imagine a cyberpunk version of Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey would be like, but without the unsettling human voiceovers for the animals. From the sewers to cramped robot slums and busy midtown district, the city has an atmosphere of decayed glory; walls are coated in graffiti, odd one-eye creatures attack you and, sometimes, surveillance cameras seem to be following you far too accurately. It's a maze of alleyways and buildings squeezed into the tightest of places, with only the faintest glimmer of natural life, but, as a cat, it's a labyrinth you can master. What might be set dressing in another game - like tables, signs or the thinnest of ledges - all help you traverse the world of Stray and, if cat sneakiness fails you, it's time to utilise cuteness.

So, you are excited about the upcoming Netflix anime spin-off series, Castlevania: Nocturne, that stars Richter Belmont. That makes sense, especially with the excellent quality the mainline Castlevania series displayed in its four seasons. While we are not vampires who can sleep the days away or vampire hunters looking to save the world, waiting for the eventual release of Castlevania: Nocturne is going to take some patience. If you are wondering when does Castlevania: Nocturne come out on Netflix, read on.

Castlevania: Nocturne Netflix Release Date

As excited as we all are, unfortunately, we are going to have to wait a little longer. Netflix has not yet stated the release date of Castlevania: Nocturne, nor has there been a release window stated.

With the third season of the Castlevania series coming out two years after its reveal, and the fourth season releasing a year after it was announced, it is likely we are looking at the same window for Castlevania: Nocturne.

Here’s how Netflix officially describes the series:

“Castlevania: Nocturne, a new Netflix animated series, is officially in production. The series is led by showrunner Kevin Kolde and Creator/Writer Clive Bradley and produced by Project 51 Productions with production services provided by Powerhouse Animation. Castlevania: Nocturne follows Richter, a descendant of the Belmont family, popularized in the iconic Symphony of Night and Blood of Rondo Castlevania games.”

The Quarry is full of nasty surprises at every turn, and in the moments of stress, making the right decisions is the only way to help ensure that the counsellors at Hackett’s Quarry can survive the horrors of the night. While the impact of your decisions may not always be apparent straight away, know that things can be set in motion way earlier in the story. If you are looking for a surefire solution on how to get the best ending and keep all the counsellors alive, follow this guide to a tee.

Keeping All The Counsellors Alive in The Quarry

Naturally, there are simply too many ways for the counsellors to meet their end in The Quarry, so getting everything right at every juncture is crucial to their survival. These can be dialogue choices, decisions that determine actions, and of course, quick-time events. By following the right path through the 10 chapters in the game, you can help them make it out alive, and also get rid of some annoying locals.

Here’s the path to keeping the camp clear of counsellor blood in The Quarry:

Prologue

Laura

• Directional QTE: Up
• Choice: Map
• Directional QTE: Right

Once you have control of Laura outside of the car, proceed with the following actions.

• Open the trunk of the car, and choose to Snoop.
• Dialogue: Compliant

Follow the main path into the woods, and watch the cutscenes.

• Directional QTE: Down
• Directional QTE: Up

The cop, Travis, will show up, and engage you in conversation.

For a team sport like soccer, making full use of the different players that make up your team in Mario Strikers: Battle League will help you rack up those wins and cups. Depending on your preference, you may want to leave some of that switching to the game, so for players hoping to learn just what is the difference between Auto and Manual controls in Mario Strikers: Battle League, let us help.

All Differences Between Auto & Manual Controls in Mario Strikers: Battle League

You will have to decide between Auto or Manual controls before you even start a match, and this can be a very important decision that will affect how you play later on in Mario Strikers: Battle League.

Auto Controls

Should you choose Auto controls, then you really only need to focus on the ball itself. Anytime the ball is passed or up for grabs, the game will automatically switch you to the nearest character or the one that has the ball in possession. This will keep you on top of the action at all times.

Manual Controls

As for Manual controls, the game will not be doing the switching for you. Instead, this control scheme will keep you locked to one character regardless of what is happening in the game. Pressing L will switch characters, but it will be up to you to decide when and where to do so.

Should You Choose Auto or Manual Controls in Mario Strikers: Battle League?

This comes down to personal preference. If you want more control over your characters and when to switch to each one, we recommend using manual controls.

It doesn’t matter how many goals you score against the opponents if you are leaking them at the back constantly, which is why mastering defense is such an important part of the experience in Mario Strikers: Battle League. So, if you are looking for a good way to bolster your defensive game, learning how to do a Perfect Tackle in Mario Strikers: Battle League will set you up nicely.

How to Do a Perfect Tackle in Mario Strikers: Battle League

When you are on the defensive side of things, you can begin holding Y to start a Charged Tackle, however, you can enhance your chance of getting the ball back by allowing the two arrows to fill up. The moment the arrows are filled and flash blue, release the Y button to perform a Perfect Tackle.

Executing the Perfect Tackle in Mario Strikers: Battle League is all about timing, which is similar to how Perfect Combo Passes and Shots are pulled off. And with Perfect Tackles, you don’t have to worry about size and strength like normal tackles, this will get you the ball every time if you are accurate.

It will also leave your opponents on the deck for a longer time, giving you another advantage out on the pitch.

NotE3 2022 is in full swing, with another half-dozen trailer-o-ramas going on this weekend. See our E3 2022 schedule for all that. So far, I'm most excited by Skate Story, which isn't a huge endorsement for the marketing extravaganza considering we've known about that sk8 into Hell for years now. But, enough about the future and the past. What are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

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Summer Game Fest is in full swing, and we're covering the best games the showcase has to offer, including Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course. Join Game Informer as we chat with Maja Moldenhauer, studio director at Studio MDHR, about the exciting DLC, the new bosses players will be facing, and what the developers are planning on for the future.

Alex Stadnik is here to ask the burning questions fans might have. The two start things off by discussing what the team brought to Summer Game Fest and chat about the ins and outs of the Mortimer Freeze boss fight. They then discuss what players can expect from the five major fights found in The Delicious Last Course and how the stages change the experience from the main game.

They then move to Ms. Chalice, the new character that isn't a carbon copy of the title's namesake or Mugman. One of the main additions of the DLC streamlines the experience with a new moveset and abilities but is far from an easy mode. Players will have to sacrifice some of the buffs they were used to in the main game in order to use her as she's activated as a charm.

The two also discuss how Studio MDHR developed the game through COVID, how the soundtrack is yet again a highlight, and whether or not players can expect new secrets when they boot up the DLC on June 30. Finally, Stadnik and Maja round out the interview and briefly discuss what's next for the studio.

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PC
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Release: 2023

Capcom's reveal of Street Fighter 6 at the conclusion of this year's Pro Tour set the table for the next entry in perhaps the most beloved fighting franchise of all time. Following meager offerings at launch, Street Fighter V, which launched in 2016, rebounded to give fans a ton of features, fighters, and content by the end of its lifecycle. Street Fighter 6 hopes to avoid those initial stumbles by including various modes of play from the get go, but my hands-on time during Summer Game Fest 2022's Play Days in Los Angeles, California was all about seeing how matches play out.

You likely already saw all the news and trailers out of the Summer Game Fest streams this year (and if you haven't, you can get caught up right here), but Summer Game Fest 2022's Play Days are happening right now in downtown Los Angeles. There, members of the media and content creators from around the globe have congregated for two days of interviews, live demos, and hands-on play sessions. 

While the Play Days aren't nearly on the scale of something like E3, which would typically happen during this time of year annually, the Game Informer crew has seen plenty of amazing games over the course of our time there. Check out our favorite titles we've seen, played, and talked about below, and be sure to click the links to read our full preview or watch a New Gameplay Today if we have one.

The Street Fighter 6 news just keeps getting better and better. Shortly after Guile's big reveal at Summer Game Fest Live, more details about the upcoming seventh entry in the Street Fighter series regarding the game's multiplayer have surfaced. According to GameSpot's Tamoor Hussain, who got the chance to play the game during Summer Game Fest Live's Days of Play, Street Fighter 6 uses rollback netcode. In addition, popular fighting game YouTuber Maximillian Dood revealed the developers told him the game will feature cross-play.

As part of Summer Game Fest 2022, there is a media and creators in-person Play Days event. Among the titles present is Street Fighter 6. This also means access to people tied to the game. At the event, GameSpot and Giant Bomb’s Tamoor Hussain confirmed Street Fighter 6 will feature rollback netcode. Questions about cross-play in Street Fighter 6 came up, but there’s no official announcement yet.

First, here’s Hussain’s confirmation regarding rollback netcode in Street Fighter 6.

Street Fighter 6 uses rollback net code. Lots of people are asking.

— Tamoor Hussain (@tamoorh) June 10, 2022

As for whether or not cross-play will appear in Street Fighter 6, there are conflicting messages coming out of the event. Maximillian Dood is attending the event as well and said he was told it would be present.

Confirmed from the devs directly. Street Fighter VI will have cross play.

— Maximilian Dood (@maximilian_) June 10, 2022

We have officially entered the most hype time of the gaming year, and the staff of Game Informer is in full Summer Game Fest mode this week. Part of our team is in Los Angeles to check out many of the games featured during the summer showcases, and the home team is working just as hard watching presentations and what feels like endless amounts of trailers to keep the GI readers up-to-date with every bit of news coming to light this week. News such as the reveal of The Last of Us Part I, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge’s release date, new Marvel’s Midnight Suns info, and Guile coming to Street Fighter 6, to name a few. 

With everyone being so busy, Weekend Warrior would normally take a backseat in favor of SGF activities, but because we’ve already been gone a couple of weeks, I wouldn’t let that happen this time. Here’s what the Game Informer staff is up to this weekend:

After years of demand, video game soundtracks are now eligible to win a Grammy award. The new category--Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media--comes as a part of the Recording Academy's annual changes to the award ceremony, which also includes the addition of four other categories.

The new category will make its debut at the 2023 Grammy Awards, which is scheduled to air January 31, 2023. According to the Academy, eligible candidates include "score soundtrack albums comprised predominately of original scores and created specifically for, or as a companion to, a current video game or other interactive media released within the qualification period."