October 2020

We're only a few weeks away from the release of Frictional Games' latest horror opus, Amnesia: Rebirth, and the developer, while still being coy about specifics, has now shared a five-minute gameplay trailer and teased some of the overhauled mechanics set to terrify at launch.

The atmospheric gameplay trailer speaks for itself, showing just a tiny portion of protagonist Tasi Trianon's "harrowing" journey through the Algerian desert in the 1930s. Over on the PlayStation Blog, however, Frictional's creative director Thomas Grip has shared a little more detail on how Rebirth updates the systems driving 2010's acclaimed Amnesia: The Dark Descent to create a more modern - and more terrifying - experience.

Frictional's goal, says Grip, is to effectively simulate the kind of Gothic horror - often defined by "vulnerable protagonists exploring unsettling environments" - associated with the work of writers like Poe, Stoker, and Lovecraft. To that end, it's overhauled some of the original Amnesia's most memorable mechanics, including light sources and sanity.

Read more

The Pokémon Trading Card Game rolls on as the latest expansion is out now. The Pokémon Sword & Shield – Champion's Path expansion gives you just more than 70 new cards, making it one of the smaller expansions in recent memory. However, unlike most other additions, you cannot purchase these cards in standalone booster packs. Instead, you must pick up one of several collections themed after gym leaders in the Galar region.

This Summer marked a distinct turning point regarding internal practices at Ubisoft and the community's perception of the company all together. After numerous reports surfaced regarding abuse, misconduct, and power corruption leading to several high-profile execs being fired, the investigations into the underbelly of this studio's culture continue. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is leading the charge for the investigations and has published publicly the results of a recent employee survey. The results? Over 25 percent of employees witnessed or experienced firsthand workplace misconduct. 

The referenced survey was conducted by a third-party research company and revealed more about the work culture seen over the past several years. The survey was anonymous and encapsulated over 14,000 working employees. At 25%, one in four workers reported that they have either experienced workplace misconduct or witnessed it happening over the past two years alone. Taking those results even further, one in five reported that they did not feel "fully respected or safe in the work environment." 

The survey also notes that many of the people that were vocal about their experience, a disproportionate amount reporting misconduct were either non-binary workers or women. While the numbers were disproportionate, men were also very vocal about what they too experienced and witnessed while with the company. 

While plenty of games over the last few years have let lightsaber and blaster fans live out their dreams, it’s been a while since a big Star Wars game focused exclusively on starships and space combat. Thankfully for more dogfight-obsessed fans, the newly released Star Wars: Squadrons lets you become an ace pilot for…

Read more...

In today's contest you can win Let's Sing Queen for Xbox One, PS4, or Switch!

I'm going to say it, and you're going to listen to it: Let's Sing Queen is the Dark Souls of singing games. Like, legit. Freddie Mercury has the absolute best voice EVER in rock, and probably outside of it, too. I'm nervous even thinking about trying to hit any of those notes playing this one.

Well, you can give it a shot! We've got some Xbox One, PS4, and Switch copies to give out, so everybody play the game!

It’s a story about storytelling, and what really scares us

Continue reading…

[Editor’s Note: This review is just for Star Wars: Squadrons’ PvP multiplayer. For our full thoughts on the campaign, read our Star Wars: Squadrons single-player review.]

[poilib element="accentDivider"]

While the immaculately detailed ship interiors and charming characters may have been what hooked me into the Star Wars: Squadrons campaign, its light but fun PvP multiplayer is exciting for a more unexpected reason: its terrain. The accessible but nuanced flight controls and systems management still stand strong, but facing off against human pilots shows just how much room there is for making tricky maneuvers around asteroids or through tight corridors. The letdown is that there isn’t more of it here in terms of modes, maps, or progression.

Squadrons has just two modes: Dogfight, which is a straight-up 5v5 slugfest where you race to 30 kills; and Fleet Battles, which instead gives each squad a large capital ship that must be dismantled and destroyed by the opposing team through a game of starship tug o’ war. Both share the same six maps, none of which alter a mode’s objective or general strategy but do vary in both gorgeous visuals and clever obstacle layouts. The exception there is Yavin, which might have the prettiest skyline of the bunch but pays for it by being a completely empty area with nothing to maneuver or hide behind, making it a total killjoy whenever it comes up in matchmaking.

Members of the multinational video game piracy group Team Xecuter are facing multiple felony charges, the US Attorney's Office of the Western District of Washington announced today. Max Louarn, Yuanning Chen, and Gary Bowser were all charged with 11 felony counts, including wire fraud, trafficking in circumvention devices, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

"These defendants were allegedly leaders of a notorious international criminal group that reaped illegal profits for years by pirating video game technology of US companies," Brian Rabbitt, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said. "These arrests show that the department will hold accountable hackers who seek to commandeer and exploit the intellectual property of American companies for financial gain, no matter where they may be located."

Team Xecuter, known for releasing homebrew software for various video game systems including the Nintendo Switch and 3DS, is comprised of more than a dozen members around the world. The indictment alleges the group "at times cloaked its illegal activity with a purported desire to support gaming enthusiasts who wanted to design their own video games for noncommercial use. However, the overwhelming demand and use for the enterprise's devices was to play pirated video games."

Collectibles have been a key part of the Crash Bandicoot series since day one, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time continues the trend with a variety of Flashback Tapes, character skins, and Hidden Gems to collect. Getting all the tapes and skins is pretty straightforward, but collecting every gem takes some doing.

There are three types of Hidden Gems in Crash 4: standard, N. Verted, and colored. We'll help you find them all with this guide detailing each one we've found so far, but check back frequently as we update it with even more! Otherwise, be sure to read our Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time review.

Hidden Gems

Every level in Crash 4 has its own Hidden Gem, so there are a lot to collect. Some are pretty easy to spot, while others are quite difficult to obtain. Here are all the standard gems we've found so far!

PlayStation Plus gives you access to online multiplayer and free games every month, and soon, PS5 owners will be able to access a library of backwards-compatible PS4 games as part of their PS Plus membership. If you're looking to stock up on your subscription, Daily Steals has a great deal on 12-month PlayStation Plus subscriptions. You can snag a year-long subscription for only $33.49 with exclusive promo code GAMESPOTPSN.

This promotion is only available in North America, and Daily Steals delivers the 12-month PS Plus subscription via email. Once you place your order, you'll receive a confirmation via email, after which your code should be sent to you within one business day--Daily Steals says it'll appear as your tracking number. PlayStation Plus's regular yearly cost is $60, so this grants you a savings of nearly $27. This deal can apply to multiple 12-month codes, so you can stock up on multiple years.

From now until Monday, October 5, double XP is awarded to all Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warzone players on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The double XP weekend is available across Modern Warfare and Warzone in all modes. Players can earn double XP for their Operators, double weapon XP, and double battle pass tier progression. This will especially come in handy with the Season 6 battle pass that dropped not too long ago.

Season 6 is now live in both Modern Warfare and Warzone. Along with the usual additions--such as new Operators and weapon blueprints--the latest season adds a fast travel system by way of the new subway. The underground train travels all throughout Verdansk, stopping at several different locations for players to engage in skirmishes across Warzone's massive map. Season 6 also adds new maps to Modern Warfare. Here's everything we know about Season 6 for Modern Warfare and Warzone.

Amnesia: Rebirth is Frictional Games' upcoming sequel to the highly popular horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. In a gameplay video, players got the chance to see a preview of Rebirth's graphics, mechanisms, and tools. Set in the Algerian desert--a marked difference from The Dark Descent's gloomy castle--the protagonist, Tasi Trianon, explores a broken-down tank in a dusty outdoor setting and a corpse-laden indoor area.

We see the inventory system in action as Trianon grabs a key in the tank. The lighting actions present in The Dark Descent are also here in Rebirth, but with a twist. Trianon makes her way through dark rooms and corridors with matches and needs to quickly light lamps placed in rooms. It also appears that Trianon eventually finds a handheld oil lamp, which certainly makes running away from monsters easier.

As Frictional Games shared on PlayStation's Blog, the developers wanted to keep the players' ability to light torches and candles in dark areas in Rebirth, but felt that the tinderboxes in The Dark Descent didn't fit in the context of Rebirth's 1930s setting. The change to matches, though slight, does make a difference in gameplay.

Update: Bloodborne appears to no longer be available via PlayStation Plus, and it's price is once again listed at $20. If you are subscribed to PlayStation Plus, it should be back when the PlayStation Plus Collection comes to PS5 in about a month.

PlayStation Plus's free games for October 2020 are racing game Need for Speed Payback and action-RPG Vampyr. However, seemingly out of nowhere, Bloodborne has also been made free for PS Plus subscribers. It's unclear if this is a mistake, as Sony did not announce the From Software action game as one of this month's free offerings. You'll want to claim this as soon as possible, as it could be an error and fixed shortly.

Bloodborne was PlayStation Plus's offering all the way back in March 2018 and is included in the PS5's upcoming Plus Collection, which grants subscribers a library of backwards-compatible PS4 games on the next-gen console.

October has officially begun, and it's shaping up to be another busy month for Pokemon Go. In addition to all the October events happening over the next few weeks, a new batch of Field Research tasks is now live. Many of this month's tasks fittingly revolve around Ghost- or Dark-type Pokemon, which is very fitting given that Halloween is looming just around the corner.

Along with the new Research tasks, a new Research Breakthrough reward is now available. Each time you achieve a Research Breakthrough this month, you'll get a chance to catch the Bug/Ghost Pokemon Shedinja. To achieve a Research Breakthrough, you'll need to collect seven stamps. You'll get one stamp for the first Field Research task you complete each day.

Typically, you can receive Field Research tasks by spinning the Photo Disc at PokeStops. The tasks you receive will be randomly drawn from a larger pool, which is refreshed at the start of every month. You can see October's Field Research tasks as well as their potential rewards, as compiled by The Silph Road, below.

With the early access release of Baldur's Gate 3 just around the corner, developer Larian Studios has launched a new account service that it says will control cross-save compatibility for the RPG and all of its future games.

The new Larian Account is a means for Larian Studios to control saves within the cloud on a platform that it owns, meaning you'll be able to transfer your saves between Baldur's Gate 3 purchases on Steam, GOG, and Google Stadia. Larian says that this account will also be used to support save transfers on any other platforms Baldur's Gate 3 launches on (although none have been announced yet).

Your Larian Account will also enable cross-platform multiplayer, though Larian says this won't be available on the day Baldur's Gate 3 launches. Any Twitch integration with Baldur's Gate 3 will also be supported through this new account, which allows you to let your audience make crucial in-game decisions while you're streaming.

Following stock issues for both the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 launches, Nvidia has decided to delay the launch of its most affordable new graphics card, the RTX 3070, to the end of October.

In a blog post, the company explained that it was pushing back the launch so that more cards could be available for purchase when listings go live. The RTX 3070 will now only go on sale on October 29, two weeks later than its original release date. The card is the cheapest of the new RTX 30 Series line, with Nvidia saying it will match RTX 2080 Ti performance for just $500.

The new date is a curious one, however, given its proximity to AMD's reveal of its new GPUs. The company is set to finally unveil its RDNA 2 GPUs, nicknamed Big Navi, the day before, making the RTX 3070's new launch date a possible limelight-stealing affair. That's especially true if AMD reveals performance metrics and pricing that Nvidia's card can rival, although we'll have to wait for AMD to share more to know for sure.

Ahead of Baldur's Gate III's Early Access launch on October 6, Larian Studios has shared the races and classes players can pick from. In total, there are 16 races/subraces and six classes available in Early Access.They include humans, githyanki, elves, drow, half-elf, dwarves, halflings, and tieflings, as well as their associated subraces. The classes players can choose are Cleric, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Warlock, and Wizard--each with at least two subclasses available.

Larian also stated that they used 3D scans of models and actors to produce 150 photorealistic heads. People were selected "because their features roughly resembled the direction for each race in the game, as well as, of course, for diversity and variety in the human-like races."

Alena Dubrovina, lead character artist at Larian Studios, elaborated on the studio's process and said, "Some of the scanned heads kept their features, but others became a starting point for creating new faces. We also used scanned data as a learning resource because there is no better sculptor than nature."

Star Wars: Squadrons puts you in the flight suit of starfighter pilots in the galaxy far, far away. While Star Wars has seen its share of flight games, this one is a unique blend of action and sim--as if you mashed up the quick pace of Rogue Squadron with the fine-tuned starfighter control of X-Wing and TIE Fighter. Being one of the top pilots in the galaxy will take practice, so to help get you started, we've compiled some important things you should know before you get started. Read our Star Wars: Squadrons buying guide for more details.

Play The Full Campaign: Star Wars: Squadrons lets you jump right into multiplayer after completing the prologue, but that's not advisable. Instead, you should instead stick with the campaign for at least a little longer, because the story stages continue to teach you important functions of your fighter like toggling lock-ons, choosing target groups, boosting, and drifting. You could always learn those in the heat of battle against other live players, but the campaign tutorials introduce them in a more controlled environment so you can get a hang of the basics.

Don't Play Immersive (At First): Similarly, Immersive Mode is tough to use when you're first getting used to your spacecraft. The ship's onboard control panel is designed to give you all the relevant information, but additional game HUD elements make their functions clearer. It's a very cool feature once you've developed your space-legs, but just give it some time and learn the layout of your ships first.

Publisher EA Sports has announced a new preorder bonus for those who buy NHL 21 early on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One: a throwback to NHL 94 that will be available on October 30.

NHL 94 Rewind is a retro-style throwback to the 1994 NHL title. It includes today's teams and rosters, but with the controls and visuals from NHL 94. Instead of the realistic style of modern NHL games, this throwback features 16-bit graphics with 2D sprites and more simplified gameplay mechanics.

Though NHL 21 launches on October 16 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, NHL 94 Rewind won't become available to play until October 30. It's unclear if EA plans to sell NHL 94 Rewind separately. Check out some screenshots from the game below.

In early lockdown I decided to send a letter to my future self. It read: "I feel calmer, yoga helps. I wish I had a dog." They say brevity is the soul of wit but I'm not sure that applies in this case. To be fair, the letter was written in Animal Crossing: New Horizons using the Nintendo Switch keyboard interface, so it's at least a testament to my stubborn button-pressing. Luckily there are far more interesting ways to chronicle the pandemic through New Horizons: the National Videogame Museum is launching The Animal Crossing Diaries project with this in mind.

Alex Roberts, a curator at the museum, explained that the research project aims to "expand the possibilities of what it means to collect experiences in games and document how to go about doing it in an ethical and sustainable way." The latest instalment in the Animal Crossing franchise is the perfect case study for this, as they put it: "the serendipity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons' release coinciding with the COVID-19 lockdown led to the game becoming an unexpected escape and a lifeline for many players." The game doesn't just provide you with a customizable pristine island paradise, it lets you visit your friends' as well. As Alex pointed out, "finding a place in which you are able to go outside and meet up with friends transformed the role Animal Crossing could play."

It’s been a long week and a quiet week, with half the site taking a few days out, but we still video-gamed, didn’t we? See you back with more the next.

What are you playing this weekend? Here’s what we’re clicking on!

(more…)

As the old adage goes: "There's not many a problem a bicycle to the face doesn't cure," and one man who took this ancient proverb to heart was Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. While one of gaming's finest ever heroes - mostly due to his stoic nature, sense of pride, and selfless defence of his friends and loved ones - Kazuma's tendency to break the two-wheeled conveyance over the heads of all and sundry cannot be underestimated as his best quality.

I got re-associated with that quality last night, as I put a couple of hours into Yakuza Kiwami. Having played the first two Yakuza titles on PS2 back when they released in the '00s, I wanted to check out how those classic storylines, characters, and scenes played out in the optimised Yakuza engine. (If you haven't played PS2 Yakuza, every random encounter or scene switch necessitated a load screen. Yeah.) It was eye-opening to see iconic moments such as Kiryu's arrest and the funeral throwdown retold in glorious HD. The only negative for me is the new "Majima Everywhere" mechanic, which really subdues Goro's presence in the overall story. You didn't see Majima as a wacky, cheeky frenemy in PS2 Yakuza, he was a murderous, stone-cold psychopath.

Anyway, I'm gonna pass the mic to the murderous, stone-cold psychopaths in Destructoid's community. That's all a' y'all. Please spare a moment to drop into the comments below and fill us in on the games that have or will be taking up your valuable time this week/weekend. This article has been more popular in the last month or so than perhaps it has ever been, and I love you all for it, so let's keep the ball rollin'. And if you haven't yet, maybe check out our forums.

Oh, and have a safe and pleasant weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.