D-Cell Games' debut project Unbeatable makes a pretty strong first impression. And as it nears the end of its fully funded crowdfunding campaign, the studio has put out a demo so you can check out whether it's your kind of jam.

The demo, titled Unbeatable [white label], is now live on Steam for free. It's an "exclusive side-story set in the world of D-Cell Games' debut work," so it sounds like you're good to jump in without fear of spoilers.

The Unbeatable team has also been uploading a bunch of the demo tapes for its game, so you can check out their YouTube page to get an idea of the vibe they're going for. It's essentially about rebellious musicians rocking out against the world, with an extremely '90s VHS tape-era anime look.

This one's been on my radar for a while, and with both a demo and a funded campaign, I'm looking forward to seeing what D-Cell can cook up.

We've got a new Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade trailer to dive into and it shows off more of Ramuh's Summon, Fort Condor, a return from Dirge, and so much more. This is also the final Intergrade trailer before the game launches on June 10.

The trailer opens up with Cloud and the usual gang as they fight once more in an epic battle of survival, only to once more run into an Arbiter of Fate. But the trailer is much more than just the opening sequence, it shows off the stunning graphical enhancements made for PS5 with certain animations looking much smoother than before. Sephiroth makes yet another appearance, once more beseeching Cloud to aid him to "defy destiny."

Yuffie and the new arrivals come into the action when they realize that Plate 7 is about to drop, so they gear up and get ready to fight to help make sure that doesn't happen. But not before playing a round of Fort Condor, of course. Fort Condor is a strategic minigame that is a highly beloved facet of the Final Fantasy-verse, so to see it back is a neat little nod as to how the Remake continues to bring back what we love the most. 

For a game featuring animals as characters we sought to create a unique, robust, and meaningful mechanic that revolves around scent. This was far easier said than done. ...

North American players can immediately sign up for the First Soldier beta.

The post Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier Closed Beta Scheduled For June appeared first on Siliconera.

Six additional developers have taken their leave of Google Stadia in order to join producer Jade Raymond in her new venture, Haven Studios. The new company was founded by Raymond following her own departure from the Stadia project back in February.

As spotted by eagle-eyed Resetera readers, the six developers left the Stadia project to take up new roles alongside Raymond's new Montreal-based studio, which aims to produce brand new games without fear of overlord interference. The name "Haven" was chosen by Raymond — formerly of Ubisoft and Electronic Arts — to represent the studio's ethos of being both a haven for gaming, as well as being a haven for developers to work unimpeded.

"It’s time for us to refocus on GAMES in a place where we can practice our crafts without any barriers or impediments," said Raymond in a recent interview with PlayStation Blog. "We want to create worlds where players can escape, have fun, express themselves, and find community. We want to pour our passion into a project. We want to make something wondrous for people to experience."

Wolfire Games founder David Rosen claims they had "no choice" but to take legal action against Valve after it allegedly began interfering with pricing on other storefronts. ...

Plus: early Monchi concept art

Continue reading…

Monsters will be roaming the field as you take on other players in Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier.

The post Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier Gameplay Information Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Welcome to spring/summer 2021, the year in which this endless hell enters its Thunderdome mode. We all stagger from our caves, blinking in the harsh daylight, to batter each other for the chance to order a pint and drink it in a freezing beer garden going "Yeah, it's not actually that cold today, is it?"

If you're anything like me you'll have already prepared by making knuckle dusters out of empty spaghetti hoop tins been getting loads of emails about wellness and mindfullness. I've been getting them from my hairdresser. I've been getting them from cheese companies that I signed up to once like a year ago because I wanted a massive box of cheddar. Pretty sure I even got one from my bank, which is weird. Businesses out there are very concerned that we stay mindful and well in this difficult time. But none of the tips for easy yoga stretches I can do on my lunch break have done me as much good as Say No! More.

Read more

Time to judge your Genshin Impact characters on looks alone!

The post Genshin Impact Launches Character Design Survey appeared first on Siliconera.

It's been at least a few hours since the last one started, so it's time for another industry lawsuit. In the dock this time is Sony Interactive Entertainment, which is facing a class-action lawsuit over the exclusivity of digital software as it pertains to its online storefront, PlayStation Store.

As reported by Bloomberg, the consumer-led lawsuit accuses SIE own maintaining a monopoly over the price of digital games, given that the PlayStation Store is the only place said titles are available. While Sony previously allowed digital game codes to be sold over-the-counter in high street stores — as well as other third-party retailers — this practice was halted two years ago, making the PS Store the only place in town to officially acquire digital games for PlayStation platforms.

"Sony's monopoly allows it to charge supracompetitive prices for digital PlayStation games," reads a section of the suit filing. "[the digital games] are significantly higher than their physical counterparts sold in a competitive retail market, and significantly higher than they would be in a competitive retail market for digital games."

The suit references examples of online customers being charged up to 175% more for purchasing a game via PlayStation Store than it would purchasing the same title in a hypothetical third-party-retailer environment. The case is set to be heard presently at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California.

Wikipedia defines a spiritual successor as "a product or fictional work which is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor 'in spirit'."

The amount of games that are – for my money – wrongly considered spiritual successors is wild. But, to be fair, I believe we did well this week. I think you could call every game in this week's Mystery Steam Reviews a spiritual successor. And that's good, because if you haven't picked it up at this point, that's the theme.

Read more

Norse mythology is great. Really, what's not to like about nine magical realms all connected by a giant space tree? The open-world Viking stabbing sim Assassin's Creed Valhalla might be exploring these mythological Norse roots a bit more in the future, as a dataminer has discovered files in the game that reference the toasty realm of Muspelheim - that's the one with fire giants and lava rivers.

Read more

Players can give gifts to their companions to deepen their bonds and unlock more conversations.

The post Scarlet Nexus Will Allow Players to Form Bonds With Companions appeared first on Siliconera.

Magic: Arena is gearing up for several big events these next few months, in what it is calling "Summer of Legend."

That includes a surprise concept titled "Mirror, Mirror," a mode where old cards are "reprinted" in digital form. Here's the quick rundown:

In July, we're running a short but exciting event called Mirror, Mirror. Imagine a world where Oko, Thief of Crowns was printed with balanced abilities and became just another great Historic card. What if Teferi, Time Raveler was printed where he was more of a friend than foe to the format? In Mirror, Mirror, you'll explore this other universe of decks featuring rebalanced versions of some of Historic's iconic banned cards. This legendary event won't stay around for long, but you'll just have to wait and see what's inside later this year.

Interesting, right? I love the implication that Oko will be "balanced" now, and Teferi was a "foe" to all of Magic: The Gathering players. I mean, it's kind of true! And in the case of Teferi, it took Wizards an inordinate amount of time to do something about it. But here we are: in a state where the company can laugh.

It's fascinating, because this is one of the few times Arena has pulled rank and decided to rework cards to suit its needs over the more rigid and unbending paper format. In other words, it's an extremely Hearthstone thing to do and it could lead Arena down a different path going forward, if Wizards decides to pivot more into digital.

Resident Evil Village has finally arrived, bringing back Resi 7 star Ethan Winters and chucking him into town where tall ladies and werewolves roam. The first-person horror game takes place a few years after Biohazard, after Ethan and his wife Mia attempted to live a peaceful life following their escape from the Baker family. But there is no peace for Eef. Now he is in a scary village whose inhabitants seem to want to eat him.

Read more

The English voice cast takes center stage in this new trailer.

The post Sailor Moon: The Eternal Trailer Showcases English Voice Cast appeared first on Siliconera.

While perhaps not at the forefront of the first-person adventure genre, Metro Exodus was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most atmospheric games I'd played in recent years. And real scary to boot. That bar is only set to rise, with the launch of Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition.

Now available on PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG.com, and the Microsoft Store, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition takes 4A Games' 2019 post-apocalyptic adventure and gives it a fresh coat of paint for next-gen technology. The new edition includes additional ray-tracing and global illumination effects, improved load times for SSD drives, the implementation of 4K textures, and support for DLSS 2.0 on Nvidia video cards. Best of all, Enhanced Edition arrives as a free update to all Metro Exodus owners.

You can check out a lengthy demo video below to check out the flashy features in action.

Resident Evil Village was once planned to feature a fan-favourite character from the series, before the story changed direction.

This character would have popped up in disguise as a plague doctor - as you'll see in the concept art, below - before finally revealing their true identity.

(There are no spoilers for Village here, but if you'd like to play through without knowing this character doesn't appear, look away now.)

Read more

It’s a beautiful day in the meadows of Viking survival game Valheim; I’m ambling about picking raspberries, looking for stones and promising-looking sticks. They don’t take long to find, and with trembling hands I attach one to the other, and create a crude axe.

I seek out the nearest tree to unleash my wrath upon. It takes a while to bring my opponent low, but eventually I am victorious, and the great trunk teeters and falls!

The tree comes down on top of me, and I die immediately.

Read more

Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: non-shooting shooters, endless connections, and agile break-out scrums.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What we've been playing, here's our archive.

If my memory is correct, Rebel was a PlayStation Mobile release, which means it was dead even before Sony started thinking about killing off the Vita store. A real shame if so, because it's a game by PomPom Games, the masters of odd arcade, and a team which serves as a reminder of the fact that when you close stores you can pretty much wipe out the work of entire developers - or so it seems, anyway.

Read more

Conan Exiles is coming soon to Xbox Game Pass, developer Funcom has announced.

The exact date will be announced shortly, but we do know the survival game will be available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on PC and Xbox.

Conan Exiles celebrates its three-year anniversary tomorrow, 8th May. The Isle of Siptah expansion launches proper on PC, Xbox and PlayStation on 27th May. This expansion was first released on PC in early access form in September.

Read more

This Pillar will be playable in the upcoming action title.

The post Shinobu Kocho to Join the Roster of Demon Slayer: Hinokami Kepputan appeared first on Siliconera.

Resident Evil Village is out, and we can finally talk about a few elements of it.

Consider this tip as non-spoilery as possible! It's just about a nuance to the shop, which was shown off weeks ago. And it's a helpful warning, before you mess up too badly.

Back in December 2000, Somari began a Famicom game collection with the 1986 title Mobile Suit Z Gundam: Hot Scramble. And now, as of this spring, the YouTuber finally owns all 1,053 games for the consoles.

Read more...

Gunpoint and Heat Signature developer Tom Francis has shown off fresh gameplay of Tactical Breach Wizards.

The turn-based tactics game revolves around wizards who wear modern-day tactical gear. Breaching and clearing rooms of enemies is the bulk of the gameplay, but there's an upgrade your wizards mechanic and a conspiracy plot to fuss over, too.

The video below sees Francis narrate seven minutes of new gameplay. I think Tactical Breach Wizards looks pretty good! There is some decent combo potential here, and, this being a Tom Francis game, plenty of defenestration.

Read more

Update (3:45PM): Now out of stock! We'll keep an eye out for similar deals and tweet them on @dealsfoundry if we find any. Original article continues below:

Anyone who's tried to build or even upgrade a PC on a budget recently knows that it's almost impossible right now. With new AMD and Nvidia graphics cards in short supply, even old and low-end GPUs are now selling for hundreds of quid over RRP, to say nothing of the price inflation affecting other parts like processors and power supplies. Prebuilt PCs are one of the few ways of actually getting a decent deal anymore, and that's exactly what we have for you today: a £949 desktop PC with a Ryzen 5600X processor and RTX 3060 graphics card.

The PC comes from the system builders at AWD-IT, and actually represents really good value given the state of the market. We tossed the non-GPU components into PCPartPicker - 240GB SSD, 16GB RAM, MSI B550 motherboard, white CM case, RGB fans and 550W CM power supply - and came up with a total of £636 if you were to buy the same components yourself.

Read more

Fortnite's latest creation is an old-school cartoon version of Meowscles, its fan-favourite buff cat.

Toon Meowscles is obviously inspired by the early Disney, Steamboat Willie cartoon style, with the similar bouncy limbs and the now-familiar Mickey Mouse white gloves. (I asked Donlan about this and he pointed me to the work of Oswald and Mickey animator Ub Iwerks, specifically.)

Here's his cartoon debut, which will play if you log into Fortnite today:

Read more

When the Outriders packed up for their mission to a deadly planet, they had no idea they were going to face the most formidable foe of all: data corruption!

In case you haven't heard, some Outriders players have been having issues with their character and inventory being wiped. It's kind of a big problem! But efforts are being made to make it right, and here's the deal.

As of yesterday, the team is making huge strides in terms of what is going to be restored. "Group B" is being worked on now, and will be complete basically any day now. "Up to 20 legendary items" will be restored, for folks who lost an item through April 20.

The interesting thing is that you may not have even noticed a bug stealing an item for you. If that did happen, you'll just kind of get a legendary item or two when you login next time, as that could have struck you via a vendor bug. Group A was worked on and completed roughly two days ago, so you may have already been impacted.

Also note this caveat: "If your inventory is already full, restored items will be held server side until there is space in your inventory and you have logged out and back in again." So thankfully, they're in the blank void until you're ready.

Weird! Modern games can strike without warning. Destiny 2 had something similar happen in the past, and it's probably one of the most annoying things about always-online looter shooters: the idea that loot can randomly just disappear.

Outriders [Twitter]

Today, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced Lost Judgment, a follow-up to its street detective spin-off Judgment. And while Judgment will carry forward the classic Yakuza series action, the Yakuza series will keep diverging into new territory.

Speaking to IGN, Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Kazuki Hosokawa confirmed that Judgment will be the pillar for action going forward, while Yakuza will carry forward the turn-based RPG systems brought about by last year's Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

"The Yakuza series has been transformed into a turn-based RPG," they told IGN. "On the other hand, over the year, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has accumulated resources and know-how of making flashy and exhilarating action games that are effortless to enjoy. We decided that we should let our signature action gameplay live on through Lost Judgment."

 This might be a surprise for some, but it might split the difference of letting Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio continue building on the foundation of Like a Dragon while still creating their particular brand of beat 'em up. Lost Judgment certainly doesn't seem like it's slouching on either the action or the wild side activities either way.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker just got a big story update.

Blackbird Interactive's first-person spaceship laser-cutting game launched the Salvage Your Future update after almost a year in early access.

This includes new ships, a new salvaging tool, a new game mode and other gubbins. It's the most substantial change to the campaign yet, the developer said, with a complete revamp of the story and progression.

Read more

The original Mass Effect's terrible Mako truck controls have been preserved as an option in the upcoming Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, developer BioWare has said.

Improvements to the Mako are among one of many gameplay improvements added to the aging Mass Effect 1 as part of the Legendary Edition. These are things BioWare has been trumpeting for a while.

Now, via PC Gamer, we've heard the authentic experience is still in there - if you really want to recapture how bad it was.

Read more

Enjoy some emotive chat stickers of Fugen, Utsushi, and Iori after defeating a High-Rank Nargacuga!

The post Monster Hunter Rise Event Quest Adds Ninja Themed Stickers appeared first on Siliconera.