December 2020

In case you missed it, Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone, developer of Stardew Valley, just put out a gigantic update for the game on PC. The operative phrase here: PC.

As is customary, the patch surprise-dropped on the platform basically when it was done, but everything else is going to get it later. While "January" was the previous target for consoles, now it's been narrowed down to "by the end of the month."

According to a Tweet from Barone, update 1.5 will possibly "be ready by the end of January," but they "cannot guarantee that yet." The mobile release is even murkier, as it has "no release estimate yet." When that actually arrives on other platforms, it'll also have to have the additive bug fixes that have since been deployed to the PC edition.

Interestingly, Barone has given us a semi-rare peek into the development process, stating that "since update 1.4," they have had a "small team working with [them] on the updates." Barone stresses that it is "really small," and that 1.5 was actually just them and game developer Mr. Podunkian.

Concerned Ape [Twitter]

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2 and a Baby Yoda holiday tumbler lead Monday’s best deals.

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‘Squadron 42 will be done when it is done, and will not be released just to make a date,’ says Chris Roberts

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Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida has big plans for 2021.

He provided a few hints in a group interview on the Japanese website 4Gamer.

Yoshida-san mentioned that the goal is to make 2001 a “year that will be a leap forward for Final Fantasy XIV.”

He also encourages fans to stay tuned for “a new story” and “a new world of adventure,” teasing what kind of story awaits us next year.

It’s worth mentioning that the “new world of adventure” part is likely metaphorical, considering that Shadowbringers already included a literal “new world,” and I’d be surprised if they used the same trick twice.

Yoshida-san already teased big announcements for both Final Fantasy XIV and XVI (for which he serves as producer) ona similar interview on Famitsu.

We already know that Square Enix will host a big event in February, when the new Final Fantasy XIV expansion will likely be revealed.

Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PlayStation 4 and PC and Square Enix recently announced that it has passed 20 million players.

It is a guarantee that upon reading the headline your mind went immediately to Pokemon clones you have already played/enjoyed. At this point in video games, Pokemon and monster taming might as well be their own genre, as it is such a both broad and very specific identifier.

In this rough year there have been moments of brightness, and anyone still jonesing for more after playing Sword and Shield last year and all of the DLC this year will finally find some solace.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX

While 2020 may have been a turbulent year for many, the games industry still churned out plenty of great titles. So many great ones that we think some of them should definitely get a sequel. Let’s start with one that is a sequel of a remake… sort of.

2020 brought a wonderful surprise that not many Pokemon fans were expecting, a Mystery Dungeon game. Although not a new entry in the franchise, a remaster of the first games was definitely welcome.

Fire Emblem Heroes will start 2021 with a special New Year's banner featuring Plumeria, Velouria, Kaden, and a duo unit Peony.

The post Fire Emblem Heroes 2021 New Year’s Banner Has Plumeria, Velouria, Kaden, and Peony appeared first on Siliconera.

Want to start seeing the Stardew Valley 1.5 content on your favorite console? You'll have to wait until next year for the new features.

The post Stardew Valley 1.5 Console Patch Could Arrive ‘by the End of January’ appeared first on Siliconera.

SINoALICE Alice and Kaguya International variants will appear worldwide as part of the global version's six-month anniversary event.

The post SINoALICE Alice and Kaguya International Classes Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Ratchet & Clank is one of Sony's longest-running series, blending classic 3D platforming with an array of wild and wacky weaponry. It also serves as a nice bit of variety in the PlayStation portfolio, complementing dark and serious games like The Last of Us and God of War with the spirit of a Saturday morning cartoon.

So it should come as no surprise that the PS5 already has a new entry in the works, called Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. But this Ratchet is also serving as a nice showpiece for the PS5, relying on a snappy dimension-hopping mechanic made possible by the new hardware's faster-loading SSD. That may be why unlike some other launch window games for PS5 like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West, it's not coming for PS4 as well.

Here's everything we know so far about Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. For more on upcoming games, check out our most anticipated games of 2021.

2018's God of War was a fantastic reboot of the over-the-top and grandiose action-adventure series starring the fallen demi-god Kratos, and developer Sony Santa Monica Studios plans to release the follow-up sometime in 2022. Revealed during Sony's June PS5 reveal event, the next game will see the return of Kratos and Atreus as they explore more of the ancient Norse realms and encounter more powerful gods looking for retribution. Even more information about God of War: Ragnarok--and a new trailer--was released during the September PlayStation Showcase event. Here's everything we know about the upcoming God of War sequel so far.

Release Date: Is God Of War Ragnarok Coming In 2021?

The next God of War game is poised to be one of the PS5's biggest upcoming games. However, with the shifting changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for more development time, the sequel was recently delayed to 2022. Sony Santa Monica Studios explained the delay vita Twitter, asserting its need to "remain focused on delivering a top-quality game while maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our team, creative partners, and families." During the PlayStation Showcase in September, Sony announced that Ragnarok will be released at some point in 2022 for PlayStation 5 and PS4 (more on that next).

If I were stuck on a desert island, I'd simply curl up and wait to die. Dehydration, starvation, extreme sunburn -- unlike Destiny's Child, I am not a survivor. I probably wouldn't even get the TV hooked up to watch my three desert island movies!

You, like Gloria Gaynor (or Cake), will survive. You will simply build yourself a gyrocopter and fly high above the sharks. It's so easy, I'm not sure why everyone isn't building themselves gyrocopters at all times. 

Stuck-on-an-island survival game Stranded Deep is free on the Epic Games Store today. Go recreate the first season of Lost and the second season of Lost but no subsequent seasons of Lost.

We'll be back tomorrow to tell you that Solitairica is free. Please try to act surprised.

Stranded Deep [Epic Games Store]

Here are 10 games that offered some escapism, some human connection, a joyful retreat from the turmoil we faced and continue to face. ...

Wonder Woman 1984 has been quite the lightning rod since its release. On the one hand, there’s the epic scope, complex romance, rousing score, and positive messages. It also has an incredible cast including Gal Gadot, Kirsten Wiig, Chris Pine, and Pedro Pascal. On the other hand, some have criticized the visual…

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2020 sucked. You know it, I know it. It was amid this chaotic year that the fighting game community found itself pushed out of the arcades, hotels, and convention centers to which competitors had grown accustomed and into the unpredictable world of online play. Early on, organizers were unsure if the community could…

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Survival game Stranded Deep is now available to claim for free from the Epic Games Store on PC until tomorrow, Dec. 29.

The open-world early access game features crafting, building, and hunting on procedurally-generated islands in the Pacific Ocean. It can be played in split-screen co-op, and contains an island editor to create an entire island that can be shared with friends.

Stranded Deep has remained an early access title since its launch on Steam in 2015. While the game has continued to be supported with updates, the most recent one being last week, it was released as a full game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 last April.

The Epic Games Store has been giving away a free PC game from its catalog each day for the past week and a half since Dec. 17 with its “15 Days of Free Games” promotion.

The games given away so far include Cites: Skylines, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, The Long Dark, Defense Grid: The Awakening, Alien: Isolation, Metro 2033 Redux, Tropico 5, Inside, Darkest Dungeon, My Time at Portia, and Night in the Woods.

The 15 Days of Free Games ends later this week on Jan. 1 with three more free games left. According to a leak on Twitter that has been completely accurate so far, the last three games will be Solitairica, Torchlight II, and Jurassic World Evolution.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons delivered a diversion when I needed it most during the pandemic. The real world was bubbling with stress and anxiety, but that wasn't the case on an island governed by raccoons. While I questioned their money making schemes, those little critters put my mind at ease with escapism that hit like a warming ray of light.

In the opening moments of the pandemic, my mind would shift from dreadful COVID-19 news stories to determining what shade of blue I wanted my walls to be in my beautiful home on my beautiful island. My emotions bounced all over the place like a chaotic game of life pinball, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons helped me keep my fears and uncertainty in check. It either took my mind off of the pandemic, or gave me time to cool down and not freak out about it so intensely.

I've always loved the Animal Crossing series, but this entry holds more of a unique charge than its brethren, and it isn't because of how it's different. I hold it closer to my heart because of the circumstances to which it was played. Building a different life with animals as neighbors was exactly what I needed at the right time. Hearing a hamster wish me well is something I probably wouldn't have thought much of at all in any other Animal Crossing game, but with a virus sweeping across the world and my future and health tied to it, his words actually carried some weight. I dug the hell out of that little guy. He always knew what to say.

Team Ninja's Fumihiko Yasuda teased multiple reveals of new games from the studio in his 2021 aspirational message.

The post Koei Tecmo Says New Team Ninja Games Will Be Announced in 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

Granzella appears to be gearing up for a fifth entry in its destructive adventure series, Disaster Report. In a recent blog post by the Japanese developer, Granzella reflected on the 2020 PC release of Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories, whilst hinting that more chaos is already in the works.

"According to information I acquired from sources I am unable to disclose, planning and partial prototyping for Disaster Report 5 seems to have already begun," reads the article in its final, teasing statement. "As for whether or not 'Stiver Island' (Capital Island) is involved in the story this time… I’ll leave it at that for now as I’d rather not lose my job."

Beyond the official Granzella blog referencing "unknown sources", this tease will no doubt come as a happy confirmation for franchise fans. Originally launching on PS2 back in 2002, the Disaster Report series sees players pick their way through the aftermath of a city-wide catastrophe, helping fellow citizens and avoiding dangers in an ongoing effort to escape the danger zone alive.

Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories is available now on PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Granzella teases Disaster Report 5 already in development [Gematsu]

I always enjoy winding down the year with a look at Steam's list of best-selling games.

Besides high-profile new releases like Cyberpunk 2077 and surprise indie hits like Phasmophobia, 2020 was another year of gaming dominated by old flames that we just can't seem to break away from.

These were the "top 100 games as measured by gross revenue" on Steam in 2020:

_{Note: These games are grouped up by Steam, but I've listed the individual games in each group alphabetically.}

Platinum

• Among Us
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Destiny 2
• Doom Eternal
• Dota 2
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Monster Hunter: World
• PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
• Rainbow Six Siege
• Red Dead Redemption 2
  

Gold

• Ark: Survival Evolved
• Baldur's Gate 3
• Borderlands 3
• Crusader Kings III
• Dead by Daylight
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection
• Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
• Phasmophobia
• Sea of Thieves
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Warframe

Silver

So you've heard about the best games of 2020. What about the worst? Metacritic has you covered, with some scientific data.

The aggregate site gathered up the top 10 worst-reviewed games of the year, which has a few obscure titles and several major releases on it. The winner of the "last-minute addition" award easily goes to XIII Remake, which kind of came out of nowhere with a bizarre art style; which even garnered an official apology from the studio that made it. It was handed to this list on a silver platter.

One "I was totally expecting this" entry is Fast & Furious Crossroads, which was torn apart earlier this year for wasting the license, among many other issues. Why can't anyone get these games right? They're basically Bond films in all but name now: oh, right, people can't do Bond games properly anymore either (but you're saying there's a chance?).

Arguably the most high profile release on the list is The Elder Scrolls: Blades, which officially came out in 2020 and was eventually released on Switch; after a lengthy mobile testing bed period. It turns out it needed more time in the oven.

Podcasts used to define my commute. But now that I don’t have a commute anymore, I have to fit them in where I can. This means I have sadly been forced to ditch many of the shows I used to listen to regularly and focus on only the best of them—the ones I simply can’t miss.

And that’s what we’re focusing on today: the…

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Last year, somewhere between story research and general curiosity, I found myself in Central Park with Shane Hobel, a compact and furiously energetic man who makes his living teaching other people how to stay alive. There were seven of us in his bite-sized “urban survival” course, for which Hobel travels down to New…

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Indie game developer Bread released a very special Super Mario Sunshine mod over the holidays that makes every NPC in the game able to heave Mario over their heads with no regard for his safety. What a great gift!

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I couldn’t avoid it any longer

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Japan takes its pop culture seriously, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see an airport named after a popular manga character, and that airport is coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Tottori Airport, also known as Tottori Sand Dunes Conan Airport, owes its name to Tottori’s well-known and beautiful sand dunes and the equally-popular Detective Conan manga and anime.

The association with the pint-sized and beloved junior detective comes from the fact that his creator, mangaka Gosho Aoyama, was born in Tottori.

The airport itself is full of Detective Conan imagery and branding, and it even hosts a dedicated store with plenty of merchandise.

As you can see in the image above (courtesy of the local media TottoriNoto), Conan himself also appears on the front of the main terminal, with his name written in red within the logo of the airport.

As mentioned above, third-party add-on developer Gate15Scenery is working on creating the airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

At the moment, we don’t know when the release will be, but you can check out an early work-in-progress image below.

This is certainly great for those who love to fly in Japan, as Tottori’s Chugoku region is particularly lovely and after the first world update, not much has been released in term of local scenery.

Today third-party add-on developer JustSim released its Helsinki Airport for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The main international airport of the capital of Finland is perhaps quite appropriate for the season, and it’s available for purchase on SimMarket for about $22 plus applicable VAT.

Below you can check out a gallery of screenshots and an extensive official description.

“Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (IATA: HEL, ICAO: EFHK; Finnish: Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, Swedish: Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding metropolitan area, and the Uusimaa region. The airport is located in the neighboring city of Vantaa, about 5 kilometres west of Tikkurila, the administrative center of Vantaa and 9.2 NM (17.0 km; 10.6 mi) north of Helsinki city center. The airport is operated by state-owned Finavia.

Today Leve-5 President Akihiro Hino revealed that the Japanese studio has something new in store.

The information was provided in a group interview on the Japanese website 4Gamer.

Hino-san mentioned that the studio will focus on making games as the center of its activity of 2021, while also cooperating in the production of animation and other media.

They’re working on an unannounced new game. While he cannot share any details yet, development is progressing steadily, so fans are encouraged to look forward to it.

At the moment, no further hint or information about the game has been revealed.

In the meanwhile, we’re waiting for the release of Megaton-Kyuu Musashi, which is a mecha action JRPG with online co-op. At the moment a western release for that one has not been announced or even hinted at. That being said, the Tokyo Game Show stream was in English.

It features a collaboration with Jump, so it includes plenty of tropes and a visual style that can appeal to Weekly Shonen Jump readers. Unsurprisingly, an anime series is also coming in summer 2021.

During the development of Rocsktar’s now long-missing spy game Agent, Rockstar San Diego project leader Luis Gigliotti had to do something far outside his typical job description: Call the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt. But he needed help. A small team of artists – his fellow coworkers at Rockstar – were being held under house arrest in Cairo. Not only that, but the Egyptian authorities were also trying to pin the group with false charges of shooting pornography – a crime in the country. He needed assistance in getting them home safe.

"And I'll never forget, whoever it was on the call from the Embassy just literally said, 'Are you guys stupid?'" Gigliotti tells me in a recent interview. "'Whatever possessed you to think this was a good idea?'"

Kazuya Nino from Type-Moon Studio BB promised to release more details about Fate/Extra Record in 2021.

The post Kazuya Nino Promises More Fate/Extra Record Details In 2021 appeared first on Siliconera.

With the Grindstone Switch port, one of Apple Arcade's most compelling exclusives is available to more players. It's still as engaging and addicting as ever!

The post Grindstone Switch Port Brings a Puzzle Masterpiece to New Players appeared first on Siliconera.

One of the things I look forward to the most during each holiday season is Famitsu's massive "end of year interview" initiative.

Typically, Famitsu taps nearly every major Japanese publisher for brief comments on their 2021 goals; some of which dish up huge direct or indirect teases. This year, we got a ton of that. Platinum Games is checking in to tell us a bunch of stuff we already know, but it's generally good news nonetheless.

Speaking for Platinum, famed producer Hideki Kamiya noted that although "many people are worried about Bayonetta 3," "verifications of new systems have been going great and development is going very well." Kamiya admits that this is a "copy" of prior comments, but the point still stands.

But what about their future endeavors? Well, Project G.G. (working title) is actually happening in earnest, and has moved on from just an idea. Kamiya says that work has "finally started moving, so please look forward to it." Remember, Platinum is also developing Babylon's Fall, and possibly some secret projects we don't know about yet.

Kamiya's "keyword" for 2021? "Do my best." He always does!

End of Year Creator Interviews [Famitsu via Gematsu]

Full game trials are something I'd like to see more of in general and also specifically for multiplatform games. Sometimes you want to see – and feel – how a particular game runs on Switch, y'know?

This week, Nintendo is hosting another one of its infrequent Nintendo Switch Online game trials. If you have a membership and you're in a kart-racing mood, you can play the full version of Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled from Wednesday, December 30 at 11:00 a.m. PT until Tuesday, January 5 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

By "full version," they mean you play CTR Nitro-Fueled alone, locally, or online – the latter is a bloodbath! This is one of those games that a lot of folks are bewilderingly good at. They're monsters. Trust no one.

If you're wondering if this limited-time promo is worth the trouble, I'd say so. The file size is 9.3 GB.

Crash Team Racing isn't currently on sale on Switch, but it's down to $14 on PS4 and Xbox One.

@NintendoAmerica [Twitter]

Maybe it’s the 2020 pandemic blues, but I can’t get enough of Black Ops Cold War’s retro shopping mall map. “The Pines” is a standard 6v6 multiplayer map that was added earlier this month with the launch of Cold War’s Season One. It’s a New Jersey-based mall filled with retail flashbacks. I’ve gotten so distracted by…

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Monday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

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Mass Effect 2. It’s widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, a sweeping space opera that set the standard for modern role-playing games. One of us (Ari Notis) is just now playing it for the first time, ahead of next year’s remastered trilogy. The other (Ash Parrish) basically has a PhD in all things Mass…

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The Regency romance shows that marriage is hard work

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Find the tablets to open up a cavern with treasure

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