See First Honkai: Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero Valentine’s Day Art

1 month 2 weeks ago

honkai star rail valentine's

HoYoVerse posted its first batch of pictures for Valentine’s Day on the Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero social media accounts. This is the first year since the game launched and the other was announced that we’re seeing Valentine’s Day art for them.

This year, the Honkai: Star Rail characters that we receive gifts from are Sparkle, Kafka, and Ruan Mei. While the Genshin Impact Valentine’s Day posts read like the characters are directly talking to the player as they hand out their gifts, the Honkai: Star Rail ones are descriptions in third-person. Kafka gives an exquisitely-wrapped box of handmade chocolates. Meanwhile, Ruan Mei has made some experimental pastries and Sparkle has a bag of varied chocolates.

Here are the Valentine’s Day 2024 posts for Honkai: Star Rail:

Author
Stephanie Liu

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Ys X: Nordics English Version Heading to Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC

1 month 2 weeks ago

Ys X: Nordics English Version Heading to Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC

NIS America announced that it and Nihon Falcom will release Ys X: Nordics on the Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC in English and French in Fall 2024. This comes after its September 2023 launch in Japan on consoles and Clouded Leopard announced it’d bring the Korean, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese PC version to Steam on March 14, 2024. 

Depending on the platform you pick, different text options will be available. Both consoles and PCs will have English and French, as well as English and Japanese voice acting. However, only  Japanese text will be available as an option for the PC version. The PC version will also be available via three outlets at launch, as NISA confirmed Epic Games Store, GOG, and Steam will all offer it.

Once again, players will journey alongside Adol Christin. This time, there are more seafaring elements. This is partially because Adol and Karja, a pirate, are stuck together. (Don’t worry, as Dogi will be back as well.)

There are also a number of initial screenshots showing what people can expect from the upcoming release. Here is the first patch NIS America shared with us.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Helldivers 2 review - team kills and bug-stomping thrills

1 month 2 weeks ago

Ten minutes into a mission on the planet of Malevelon Creek, my squad and I emerge from a swampy treeline to finally catch sight of our target. This time it's a scientific base, and we're here to destroy it entirely. After clearing the area of enemies, I summon a hellbomb – one of the largest payloads in our arsenal – and manually arm the device.

We quickly move away, making space for the massive explosion that is to come. Yet as we scurry back towards the bushes, I spot a neighbouring facility that could be destroyed with a simple airstrike. The temptation of completing two objectives within twenty seconds proves difficult to resist, and I bring up my stratagem list to input the combination.

As I pull back my arm to throw the beacon, several things happen at once. The hellbomb behind us explodes, triggering a massive shockwave that rocks my screen. This diverts the aim of my throw ever-so-slightly to the left - instead of gracefully arcing through the air towards the robot facility, the beacon bounces off a large rock, drops to the floor, and lands at the feet of my squad. Before we know it, explosions are raining down around us, and we're all swiftly turned into jam by my airstrike.

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Author
Emma Kent

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Helldivers 2 will no longer crash if you have too many friends

1 month 2 weeks ago

Arrowhead has released another patch for Helldivers 2 and it's good news for those incredibly popular players among us - the game will no longer crash if you have too many friends.

This patch - Patch 01.000.006 to give it its full name - also addresses those crashes that could occur during the extraction cutscene and when users disconnect during the joining cutscene.

Along with stability fixes, this patch also improves matchmaking experiences.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 Will Include Variable Framerate Options

1 month 2 weeks ago

Dragon's Dogma 2 Will Include Variable Framerate Options

Director Hideaki Itsuno confirmed through a post on his social media that Dragon’s Dogma 2 will support variable framerate at launch. Itsuno hasn’t specified which framerate modes the game will offer or how it will work on different platforms yet.

The post shared by Itsuno included an English and Japanese caption. While the English caption mentions “uncapped framerate,” the Japanese caption specifies that the game will support variable framerates.

At the time of writing, it is unknown how Dragon’s Dogma 2 will handle the variable framerate options. One possibility is that the game will include different modes that prioritize higher framerates and higher resolutions in PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, similar to other recent RE Engine games like the Resident Evil 4 remake. Meanwhile, the PC version should be more flexible in how to customize the framerate options.

You can check out the original post by Director Hideaki Itsuno here:

https://twitter.com/tomqe/status/1757518030102561231

Author
Daniel Bueno

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The Silent Hill 2 remake's combat trailer misrepresents the game, according to one of its own developers

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Silent Hill 2 remake's State of Play trailer doesn't give a full and proper representation of the game, Bloober Team's president Piotr Babieno has observed in an apparent swipe at publisher Konami, who Babieno portrays as responsible for the upcoming horror game's marketing. If you missed it, the trailer in question focuses on the "modernised" combat. It shows alleged "everyman" protagonist James Sunderland getting all Gears of Warry with some maggoty marionettes and rancid demon nurses.

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Author
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Mario Vs. Donkey Kong Review - The Rivalry Lives On

1 month 2 weeks ago

Reviewed on: Switch
Platform: Switch
Release:

A developer can take many different approaches when remaking a game, but its primary goal always remains the same: to create a new experience that honors the spirit of the original. With Mario vs Donkey Kong, a remake of the 2004 Game Boy Advance title of the same name, Nintendo succeeds in this goal. By combining new worlds and modern quality-of-life features with the game's classic, delightful puzzle design, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a strong start to Nintendo's 2024.

In the game's opening, Donkey Kong raids a toy factory where they make Mini Marios, the hottest new product on the market. To get them back, Mario must chase him down through eight worlds, each with two distinct halves. In the first chunk, he has to carry a key to a locked door, and in the second, he has to reach the Mini Mario located somewhere in the level. On paper, it runs the risk of becoming repetitive, but in practice, there's so much variety from level to level that I was never bored. With only six standard levels in each world, there's a lot of room to play with mechanics and level design, and I was constantly impressed with how the game kept me engaged. It's nothing revolutionary – these are still puzzles from 20 years ago – but they hold up better than many games from the same year.

Author
Charles Harte

Review: Mario vs Donkey Kong Switch Port Is Perfectly Fine

1 month 2 weeks ago

Review: Mario vs Donkey Kong Switch Port Is Perfectly Fine

Nintendo decided to remind people the Mario vs Donkey Kong games didn’t always focus on puzzles with the Minis with a Switch port, and that’s great! It’s was a solid game before and, now that it’s back on a modern console with a few quality of life changes and additions, it’s once again a perfectly fine and enjoyable puzzle platformer. 

Think of Mario vs Donkey Kong as an origin story for the Minis we see in subsequent installments. DK saw a commercial for cute Mario toys. He went to go buy some. They were sold out. So, like any reasonable individual subject to the supply and demand nature of corporate greed designed to incentivize splurging, he heads to the factory and steals all of the Minis. Mario happens to be walking past when this happens and assists the Toads by going to various worlds to reclaim the stolen figures and face DK.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Mario vs. Donkey Kong review - the Switch's protracted farewell continues in style

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Switch is safely into its Vegas residency era now. So safely, in fact, that with the greatest hits out of the way it's offering up some deep cuts and B-sides. I am all for this. Following on from the Super Mario RPG remake, here's Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a gentle reworking of an old Game Boy Advance charmer. It's lovely stuff.

And it's interesting, too. It makes one think. Not just because it's Mario at its most puzzley, with each mini-challenge playing out like the weird equivalent of a Mario Sudoku or some other newspaper brainteaser. It makes me think because it's another reminder of how Mario, of all game series, is sort of a language that players like me have spent the last few decades learning to speak.

As with language, I'm still learning to recognise how much of the grammar I didn't consciously know that I understand, as it were. What I get in a game like this, then, is a series of actions and reactions I am surprised to learn I can anticipate. Ice will cause me to slide, sure. But when precisely did I learn that a certain kind of block will cause me to teleport, while another will vanish if a switch is flipped? Elsewhere, from a truly ancient part of my brain I somehow retained the information that I will climb up faster if I'm holding two ropes, but descend faster if I'm only holding one. This kind of recall? From a man who regularly calls his dog "doghead", because her precise name cannot be grasped in the moment? (It's Cricket - I just checked.)

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Author
Christian Donlan

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Nijisanji EN Vtuber Scarle Yonaguni Apparently Missed Streams (Update)

1 month 2 weeks ago

Nijisanji EN Vtuber Scarle Yonaguni Apparently Missed Streams

Nijisanji EN Vtuber Scarle Yonaguni seems to have missed two streams as of February 13, 2024. One was apparently a member’s stream, and the other was a public 8pm PT/11pm ET “Niji Pepe Adventures” stream on February 13, 2024. Update: The "Niji Pepe Adventures" stream was rescheduled for 10pm PT/1am ET on February 15, 2024.

Here is the embed for the public Scarle stream. It was supposed to begin over an hour and a half ago, as of time of writing. The chat is disabled for not only this stream, but also her upcoming February 17, 2024 Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow watch along and Black Light Letter to Self August 23, 2024 one.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Fantasy extraction game Dungeonborne was February's most played Steam Next Fest demo

1 month 2 weeks ago

February's Steam Next Fest demo bonanza officially concluded on Monday, and Valve have now revealed the 50 most played games you all tucked into across the week-long event. Ordered by the number of unique players that spent time with them during Next Fest proper (meaning all those early demo plays from earlier in the month haven't been counted), the most popular game of the lot was one that was only formally announced right at the end of January. So congratulations Dungeonborne - your blend of PvPvE dungeon crawling and fantasy skelly monsters clearly struck a chord with this year's Next Festers.

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Author
Katharine Castle

Free Sims 4 update adds vitiligo skin details with Winnie Harlow collaboration

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Sims 4 has partnered with model Winnie Harlow and added a range of vitiligo skin details to the game as part of a free update.

Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin. This is caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment in skin. Sims 4 players will now be able to customise their Sims with vitiligo skin details, with patches for the face, upper torso, lower torso, arms, and legs now available in the Create-A-Sim menu.

These details are available for Sims of all ages, from infants to elders. Several vitiligo patterns will have "more than one variant", the Sims team said, calling skin details an "important area of focus for the dev team as we remain committed to expanding representation in The Sims 4". Other skin features already in the game include birthmarks, stretch marks, scars, and freckles.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Dead Island 2 launches on Steam in April

1 month 2 weeks ago

After one year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, Dead Island 2 will release on Steam in April.

Publisher Deep Silver announced the release yesterday, as well as discounts on other games in the series on Steam.

This includes 85 percent off Dead Island Definitive Edition and 75 percent off Dead Island Retro Revenge. However, the publisher is also giving away Dead Island: Riptide - Definitive Edition for free.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor early access review: pick of the bunch

1 month 2 weeks ago

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a delicious piece of mad science: what if you spliced the ale-sodden DNA of Deep Rock Galactic’s dwarven miners with tissue samples from a Vampire Survivors-like autoshooter?

It shouldn’t work, surely. It would be easy to look at this spin-off and question why it takes the co-op out of one of the best co-op games on PC, or to shovel it aside as a cynical attempt at latching onto the popularity of autoshooters/Survivors-likes/bullet heavens (delete as preferred). But you’d be a smooth-handed leaf lover, my friend, as not only does DRG’s mix of horde shooting and rock smashing translate remarkably well to the format, even this early access version is heaps of subterranean fun.

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Author
James Archer

Will Nightingale's crafting card menus be its downfall?

1 month 2 weeks ago

By now you'll probably have read quite a bit about our preview adventures in Inflexion Games' upcoming fantasy survival adventure Nightingale - including our slightly raucous attempts to interview CEO Aaryn Flynn while instant KO-ing tree monsters and abusing our supplies of ice bullets. But outside this guided co-op session, several members of the RPS Treehouse were playing it on their lonesome last week, too, getting to grips with Nightingale's particular flavour of sticks-and-stones crafting, cooking up meat and berry wraps to keep ourselves fed, and generally being cajoled and maybe even lightly seduced by our fae Shakespearean guide, Puck.

Author
Katharine Castle

Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama has passed away

1 month 2 weeks ago

Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of the Suikoden RPG series and scenario writer for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, has passed away.

The news was shared by Rabbit & Bear Studios, which Murayama founded to produce the Eiyuden Chronicle games.

"It's with a heavy heart and deep sadness we must inform you that the scenario writer and head of Rabbit & Bear Studios, Yoshitaka Murayama, has passed away on February 6th due to complications with an ongoing illness," reads the statement.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Helldivers 2 patch fixes crashes, disconnects and matchmaking bugs as devs aim to "beef up our content plans"

1 month 2 weeks ago

Helldivers 2 might be a co-op shooter mixed with comedy genius, but its launch has been blighted by bugs and crashes. Over the past week the devs have deployed server hotfixes and matchmaking tweaks, although one server and rewards patch had to be rolled back to fix "significant" performance issues. Still, they're doing their utmost as the game becomes PlayStation's biggest PC release to date. And the latest patch brings with it a slew of crash fixes, reductions to disconnects, further tweaks to matchmaking, and preps things for future server improvements.

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Author
Ed Thorn

Terra Memoria is a cheerful party-based RPG with a touch of Grandia

1 month 2 weeks ago

In the event that I walk in front of a particle accelerator, get converted into digital data and am promptly isekai-ed into a gameworld, I hope that gameworld is the opening port town from the original Grandia, released on PS1 way back in 1997 (and ported to PC in 2019). There's something about that game's isometricky vantage point and precise combination of 2D pixel characters and 3D environments. The last sentence describes many virtual worlds of the late 90s, but none have stuck in my mind like Port Parm: that hodgepodge of green and rusty roofs, the canals cutting through the cobblestones, the smoky chimneys and people filling the alleyways. Bliss. I can still hear the seagulls blowing around the screen.

Oh sorry, I rhetorically lost myself for a minute there! I'm supposed to be telling you about Terra Memoria, a new RPG featuring time travel, magic crystals and animal wizards. Here's a trailer.

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Author
Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

PlayStation won't launch any "major" games in existing franchises this year

1 month 2 weeks ago

Don't expect new games in any of PlayStation's biggest existing franchises before the end of this financial year, Sony has said.

That means no new entry in the God of War or Marvel's Spider-Man franchises until at least April 2025, according to Sony president Hiroki Totoki.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, currently listed with a vague "2025" release date, will therefore launch later than March. Don't expect to see other big PlayStation properties such as Uncharted, The Last of Us, Ratchet & Clank or Horizon before then, either. It's also unclear where a potential Ghost of Tsushima sequel fits in.

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Baldur's Gate 3 update streamlines party management

1 month 2 weeks ago

Larian Studios has announced more fixes coming to Baldur's Gate 3 with Patch 6, as well as its beefy install size.

Due some point this week, Larian already let us know the patch will add new idle animations for party members in camp and improve smooches (just in time for Valentine's Day).

In a new thread on X, Larian revealed Patch 6 has "more than just romance" and will add bug fixes and some gameplay improvements which should help make party management much easier.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Sony has record quarter but expects PlayStation 5 sales to decline

1 month 2 weeks ago

Sony had a record quarter for PlayStation sales and revenue, but expects console sales to decline in the next fiscal year.

According to its latest financial report, Sony sold a further 8.2m PlayStation 5 consoles, bringing its lifetime total to 54.7m. That's 16.4m consoles sold this financial year so far.

However, Sony has dropped its expected sales forecast across its gaming segment for the year by five percent, due to an expected decrease in hardware sales and increase in losses due to promotions.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Even Bloober Team wasn't a fan of Silent Hill 2 Remake's combat-focused trailer

1 month 2 weeks ago

Bloober Team's CEO has said he understands the critism around the recent Silent Hill 2 Remake trailer, which didn't "capture the spirit of the game".

The trailer in question was a combat-focused marketing beat by publisher Konami, and as Matt said at the time, combat is not exactly the first thing you think of when you think of Silent Hill 2. It probably isn't even the second or third. And yet, this was what Konami decided to hone in on during PlayStation's recent State of Play.

However, reactions afterwards weren't exactly enthusiastic. "The nurse vaulting over the wall like it's a tactical shooter is hilarious," one comment under the original trailer reads. Another remarked the game looks more like it's from 2014, than 2024. Others said it looked more like a fan-made remake.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Five of the Best: Arcade machines in games

1 month 2 weeks ago

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 are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

We might not visit them in person any more, but there's nothing stopping us visiting arcades in games. Well, assuming the game has arcades in, Bertie. But many of them do: GTA Online is stacked with them.

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Author
Robert Purchese

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Hololive Vtuber Calliope Mori Announces First Charity Stream

1 month 2 weeks ago

Hololive Vtuber Calliope Mori Announces First Charity Stream

On February 14, 2024, Hololive EN Myth Vtuber Calliope Mori will hold her first charity stream. It will begin at 5pm PT/8pm ET and benefit Cats Protection UK. 

Following the announcement, Calliope shared a detailed schedule going over all of the events happening throughout the stream. While it official starts at 5pm PT/8pm ET, there is actually going to be an opening karaoke segment at 4pm PT/7pm ET. There will also be a number of collabs that will include both members of Hololive EN and MAI PRINCESS’ Milky Queen. Her fundraising goal on Tiltify is £50,000. As of time of writing, she already passed £15,500.

Here is her full schedule for February 14, 2024:

  • 4pm PT/7pm ET: Opening Karaoke
  • 5pm PT/8pm ET: Introducing the Charity
  • 5:30pm PT/8:30pm ET: Cats Review with Fuwawa and Mococo (Calliope clarified people can submit photos of all pets, and not just cats.)
Author
Jenni Lada

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FFXIV Patch 6.57 Adjusts Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Savage)

1 month 2 weeks ago

Ffxiv Patch 6.57 notes

The patch notes for Final Fantasy XIV version 6.57 are out and list changes to the Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Savage) raid encounters, among other things. The patch also adjusts the weekly limit for Comedy Tomestones and PvP win requirements while removing overflow instances from some zones.

The most interesting part of the notes for raiders will be the removal of several restrictions on the 8-player raid Pandaemonium: Anabaseios (Savage). Players can no longer only enter or receive rewards a set number of times a week. Encounters will now always reward 2 treasure coffers rather than 0-2 based on how many party members had previously cleared it that week. Farming for gear will also be made easier with the addition of the general-purpose Echo buff and the ability to skip to specific encounters.

Other changes brought by FFXIV's patch 6.57 include doubling the weekly limit for earning Allagan Tomestones of Comedy from 450 to 900, removing extra instances from areas like Radz-at-Han and Old Sharlayan, and adding the Thaleia raid to the Alliance duty roulette. PvP players will also note that the Fields of Glory (Shatter) frontline campaign has also had the amount of data required to win reduced from 2,000 to 1,600, and defeating enemies will reward you with 8 units of data, up from 5.

Author
Elliot Gostick

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Palworld Costumes Are Here And Oh God…Oh No…

1 month 2 weeks ago

Pokémon with guns (aka Palworld) is a massive hit and a lot of kids and teenagers are enjoying the open-world survival crafting game. It’s likely to be a popular source of inspiration for this year’s Halloween costumes and so, as expected, some companies are already producing unofficial merch that might end up on…

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Author
Zack Zwiezen

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Unicorn Overlord Gameplay Trailer Goes Over Class Promotions and Training

1 month 2 weeks ago

Unicorn Overlord Gameplay Trailer Goes Over Class Promotions and Training

Atlus shared yet another Unicorn Overlord gameplay trailer, with the focus this time being on features that help make characters stronger like training and class promotions. It spends three minutes going over how players can strengthen their army outside of battle.

As usual, this clip is framed as the player’s avatar Prince Alain being trained by the Holy Knight Josef. Things begin by looking at the different classes each character in the army belongs to. It then notes how adapting the army to each situation will help with winning. As you earn honors as you play through quests, you can spend them to promote a unit. The example in the Unicorn Overlord video shows the Swordfighter Giselbert becoming a Swordmaster after the player uses 30 honors to change their class. 

There will also be supplemental battles for players called Auxiliary Stages. These are Sigils of the Ancients fights that offer opportunities to fight. The example shown in the video was The Sigil’s Trial, Beginner 1 and involved Knight and Soldier enemy classes. These offer opportunities to earn experience and can be repeated. The video also showed a reward from the fight could be a Treatise, like a Novice Military Treatise item that gives a minimum 50 EXP to a unit when used.

Author
Jenni Lada

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DC Universe Online Developer And Publisher Suffer Layoffs

1 month 2 weeks ago

DC Universe Online layoffs

DC Universe Online developer Dimensional Ink Games and its publisher Daybreak Game Company have been hit with layoffs. 

According to Kotaku, Dimensional Ink lost an unknown number of senior staff, with Game Developer reporting reductions in the art, community, and narrative departments. The team is best known for developing the superhero MMO DC Universe Online. Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) has worked on several multiplayer games, including EverQuest II, H1Z1, Star Wars Galaxies, and Planetside 2. The exact number of affected employees from both studios is currently unknown. 

This is, unfortunately, the latest of an alarming trend of game industry layoffs that plagued 2023 and have only intensified in 2024. Over 5,500 jobs have been cut within January alone. Last year, over 10,000 employees in the games industry or game-adjacent industries were laid off. 

Author
Marcus Stewart

Review: Foamstars Is a Great Game in a Mediocre Package

1 month 2 weeks ago

Foamstars Team

Foamstars is the latest live service game hoping to gain huge success off the back of being one of the monthly free PlayStation Plus games. It’s a bold strategy, but is Foamstars more Fall Guys or do we have another Destruction AllStars on our hands?

Foamstars is a squad-based multiplayer shooter. However, unlike other games in the genre, this game is built around a party atmosphere. It’s set in the vibrant city of Bath Vegas, where two teams of four battle it out in a chaotic soapy mess. You see, in this town, the battles are fought with bubble guns that shoot thick bubbly foam that glues itself to the scenery.

The main gameplay mechanic here is using your foam guns to cover your opponents in suds before surfing up to them and kicking them out of the arena. The game’s main mode, Smash the Star, requires players to get seven KOs (or “chills” as they’re inexplicably called here) which makes the rival team’s best player the final target. This Star Player gets boosted significantly to protect them, but as soon as they’re taken down, you win.

Author
Leigh Price

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