July 2021

Have You Played... Dyson Sphere Program?

2 years 8 months ago

Dyson Sphere Program is possibly the most ambitious game I've ever played. It's certainly the most ambitious game that manages to deliver on its promise. That promise? Factorio, but in 3D, set in a galaxy of multiple spherical planets, and with the goal of creating a Dyson Swarm megastructure around a star to harness its energy.

I mean, come on. How can any development team deliver on such a promise? Let alone a development team of only five people?

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Author
Ollie Toms

Pride Week: Disidentification and Lady Dimitrescu - Taking Pride in Queer Thirst

2 years 8 months ago

Hello! All this week Eurogamer is celebrating Pride with a series of stories examining the confluence of LGBT+ communities and play in its many different forms, from video games and tabletop games through to live-action role-play. Next up, Dr Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston on a certain Tall Vampire Lady and what they can teach us about the process of disidentification.

To say that the internet collectively lost its mind over all nine feet and six inches of Countess Alcina Dimitrescu would be an understatement almost as colossal as the Lady herself. As a quick glance at DeviantArt, TikTok, and Team Eurogamer's Let's Play videos will confirm, from the moment fans first laid eyes on Tall Vampire Lady, their desire to have her pursue them, pin them down, and step on one of the more sensitive parts of their anatomy was virtually irresistible.

Though straight, cis-gender men were far from immune to Lady D's vampiric charms, it was queer gamers who seemed to take her most enthusiastically to their hearts (and most willingly proffer her their throats). Indeed, in a recent TikTok AMA, Maggie Robertson - the mo-cap performer and voice actor who brought the hulking haemovore to life - aligned House Dimitrescu firmly with the cause of LGBTQIA+ rights with characteristic flair.

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Nico Parker Joins HBO’s The Last of Us Cast as Joel’s Daughter

2 years 8 months ago

HBO’s The Last of Us TV adaptation is still a long way off, but it looks like the cast is starting to come together pretty nicely. Pedro Pascal has been cast as Joel himself, and Bella Ramsey will play Ellie. But what about Joel’s actual daughter, Sarah?

Turns out Sarah will have a role to play in the TV series as well. Deadline has just reported that Sarah will be played by Nico Parker, who also starred in HBO’s The Third Day, and perhaps best-known for starring in the live-action adaptation of Dumbo.

In the video games themselves, Sarah didn’t have a huge role to play, and only appeared during a small section of the game, though it’s possible that the TV series will help to flesh out her character even further.

There’s no set date for The Last of Us TV series just yet, but we’ll keep you updated as more info comes our way.

The post Nico Parker Joins HBO’s The Last of Us Cast as Joel’s Daughter appeared first on Twinfinite.

Author
Zhiqing Wan

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A Plague Tale for PS5 launches via PlayStation Plus

2 years 8 months ago

A Plague Tale: Innocence will launch for PlayStation 5 next month via PlayStation Plus.

Asobo's brilliant stealth horror game follows the story of two children on the run in medieval France, while creepy supernatural rat shenanigans ensue.

This new version of the game, available for PS5 via Plus on 6th July, adds 4K visuals, 60FPS and faster loading. (It will also release for Xbox Series X as a free update on that date, as well as a new cloud-based version for Nintendo Switch).

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Curious things happen when you slow down for The Longest Road on Earth

2 years 8 months ago

It's a gutsy game that makes you sit through a three-minute opening credits sequence of just a slow pan along a long road - a pixelated black and white road - and not let you skip it. Three minutes feels like an eternity to not do something in a game. But, unhurriedly, the names of the developers appear on the screen, and breathy folk music whispers in your ear. I'm hammering every button I can think of to get the game moving because normally games get moving by now, and who has time for this? But The Longest Road on Earth makes you make time. This is its pace. It walks, it waits, it queues. So, so do you. And that's the point of the opening: to settle you down and prepare you for something quite different.

Curious things happen when you slow down. Unlatch the mind from whatever you have it attached to and it begins to wander, and wonder. Random thoughts start to occur. You may start to see stories in things. That's what I think is happening here. Not only is the game about the silences in life, it's deliberately creating silence so you can fill them with interpretations of what you think they're about. What you think it, the game, is about. Because nothing here is declared. There's no dialogue, no text, no overt declaration of what is going on. There are just animal-people going about their lives. What connects them, if anything? You decide.

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Arcsmith is a new space engineering game for Oculus Quest 2

2 years 8 months ago

Thomas Was Alone and John Wick Hex developer Bithell Games has announced Arcsmith, a new sci-fi engineering puzzler for Oculus Quest 2.

Due for launch on 29th July, Arcsmith tasks you with learning to build sci-fi gadgets from component parts while a huge space war rages around you.

"Assemble essential items of the future using a library of modular pieces with master arcsmith Korith Dinn as your reluctant mentor," the game's description reads. "Watch your quiet station become the focal point of an intergalactic power struggle that could determine the future of the universe."

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Mecha Strategy JRPG Relayer for PS5 & PS4 Introduces Amanogawa & Her Voice Actress Hitomi Yoshida

2 years 8 months ago

Kadokawa Games has released a new video, a new image, and new details about its upcoming strategy simulation JRPG Relayer.

Thanks to this new serving of assets, we learn more about the star child Amanogawa (shown with what appears a sitting area inside the Hypergravity Starship Asterism) and we get an introduction of her voice actress, Hitomi Yoshida.

From the tweets, we learn Amanogawa is the daughter of the world-famous Amanogawa Shipyards. She is a Star Child and an elegant young lady.

While her attitude oozes nobility, she is basically a closet geek, hiding a passion for subcultures. She’s even a proficient gamer.

Speaking of Yoshida-san, you may know her for her roles as Miyuu Aikawa in Occultic;Nine and Haru Miura in Reborn!

You can check everything out below.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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The ugliest versions of Final Fantasy are being pulled off Steam this month

2 years 8 months ago

To make way for the upcoming Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel Remasters, the current versions of Final Fantasy 5 and Final Fantasy 6 will be pulled off Steam later this month. Since these are the ugly mobile ports, I think it's safe to say they won't be missed, though. Both Steam pages for Final Fantasy 5 and 6 have been updated with disclaimers that they'll "no longer be available for purchase after July 27th 2021". They then say you should buy the remastered versions instead which are "coming soon".

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Author
Ed Thorn

Famed Cosplayer Makes No Apologies For Dating

2 years 8 months ago

Enako is not only Japan’s most famous cosplayer, she is also perhaps the country’s most successful. As Kotaku previously posted, she has said she making up to $90,000 monthly from cosplaying, streaming, and promotional activities. Today, news broke that she is dating pro gamer Kenki, causing “プロゲーマー” (pro-gamer) to…

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Author
Brian Ashcraft

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Those fan-made GoldenEye Far Cry 5 levels are back with a new name

2 years 8 months ago

Last week we heard that several fan-made GoldenEye levels in Far Cry 5 had been pulled by Ubisoft following a copyright claim, but it seems the author has now reuploaded the levels under a new name - which will hopefully be enough to ensure the levels stay up in future.

After confirming the levels had been pulled, creator Krollywood said a few days ago he intended to "change some details like names and re-upload them as soon as possible," and it seems that's now happened. Krollywood confirmed in a Reddit comment that the levels have been reuploaded to Far Cry 5's arcade mode under the name "Golden Cry". To find them on PS4 you'll need to search for the creator name "Perfect-Dark1982", and on PC the creator name is "Graslu00".

Krollywood spent two and a half years recreating the 18 GoldenEye 007 levels in Far Cry 5's level editor, and you can hear a little about how he did it in the video below:

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Pokémon Go gets its first branching questline today

2 years 8 months ago

Pokémon Go has today added a new twist to its in-game Special Research questlines: the ability for storylines to branch out and end in different ways.

The feature will be used in Pokémon Go's upcoming Go Fest 2021 event later in July, which is this year themed around music, to offer a choice of Pikachu costumes and build a pop or rock band comprised of different creatures.

Today, however, the feature is being rolled out via Pokémon Go's delightfully bizarre Bidoof celebration, which has flooded the game with the meme-heavy beaver over the past week.

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Scarlet Nexus: Unreal Engine 4 deployed to excellent effect on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles

2 years 8 months ago

Welcome to Suoh City - the starting point of Scarlet Nexus, and the focus of our very latest tech analysis. Built on Unreal Engine 4, Scarlet Nexus - and in particular this opening locale - presents us with an alternate reality that blends traditional Japanese elements like shinto shrines with the futuristic tech of its high streets. Taking one of two selectable characters through its adventure, here we have an anime-inflected action RPG that has you defeating enemies known as The Others - mutant creatures - via combo-driven combat in a futuristic world where superpowers are the norm. Gameplay is served up at 60 frames per second on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S. But how close are we getting to a locked 4K resolution at 60fps, and how does Series S slot in?

Developed by key members of the Tales series, Scarlet Nexus' most fascinating draw is easily its visual style. The backdrop detailing of Suoh, and the ruined outskirts beyond it, is generously plotted with detail. The style, especially in the Kikuchiba Merchant City later on, draws clear inspiration from classic anime works like Akira, with thin linework helping to etch out patterns of battered circuitry, distant city skylines, all tinged with a green hue. Often it's presented in a way that could easily sit on the printed page. The setting sets up a scenario where mankind has tapped into special abilities via a substance found in the mind, while of course, it's far from a utopia. Rather, mutated creatures known as the Others threaten to disrupt the society built around all these new-found powers. And so it's up to you and your squad to scout out and battle these creatures wherever they pop up.

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Respawn details further measures to stop Apex Legends cheaters

2 years 8 months ago

As with many online games, Apex Legends unfortunately has its fair share of cheaters, and developer Respawn is in something of a continuous battle to prevent them from misbehaving. In recent months players have reported increased DDoS attacks on Ranked games, with Respawn pledging to take "huge steps" to fix the problem. And we now have another update on what the studio is doing to combat cheaters, with Respawn hiring more people and developing new tools to keep them at bay.

As explained on Twitter, Respawn said it's hiring "more people to focus on manual bans", and is also investigating new ways to catch and remove cheaters from games - presumably through automated tools. Respawn also specifically addressed the DDoS problem, saying it was "developing more tools to automatically detect and stop DDoS attacks".

"Playing against cheaters sucks," said Respawn's Twitter account. "We'll keep you updated as we ship the above changes and pursue new ones."

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Shin Megami Tensei V for Nintendo Switch Gets New Trailer Showing Lilim in Action

2 years 8 months ago

Atlus has released another trailer of its upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V, focusing on one more of its 200+ demons.

We get to see the recurring demon Lilim in action, following the previous videos we saw over the past few days featuring Jack FrostFionn mac Cumhaill, AmanozakoAngelDaimon, MermaidMandrakeArioch, KumbhandaFeng HuangInugamiTurdakFafnir, and Mothman.

Author
Giuseppe Nelva

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Pride Week: Dicebreaker recommends Monsterhearts 2 - an RPG about being queer and loving demons

2 years 8 months ago

When it officially emerged in the late 1970s, tabletop roleplaying was a hobby predominantly enjoyed by, and catered to, straight, white, cis men. In the years since, however, it's become a more vibrant space populated by all sorts of people, prompting a new approach to the way that TRPGs are being made, who they're being made for and what kind of people are making them. Thanks to platforms like Itch.io and Drivethru RPG, as well as a general shift away from wargaming to storytelling, queer creators have found new and more accessible avenues to share and sell their tabletop roleplaying games.

One TRPG that fully embraces the themes of weirdness, queerness and youth is Monsterhearts 2, a game created by trans designer Avery Alder and based on a system called Powered by the Apocalypse - which has players rolling two D6s and attempting to get more than a 10. Monsterhearts 2 takes a lot of the queer subtext and side stories seen in beloved gothic fiction such as The Craft, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and The Vampire Diaries, and pushes it front-and-centre. Monsterhearts 2 is an openly queer-oriented tabletop roleplaying game that invites its players to explore themes of sexuality and gender through the lens of a supernatural teenage romance dripping with angst.

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The Xbox Series X/S Storage Expansion Card is now at its lowest price so far

2 years 8 months ago

The Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S is an expensive yet advanced bit of kit, but the latest discount over at Amazon UK has dropped it to the lowest price we've seen so far.

It's still a fairly eye-watering £183, but this seemingly arbitrary near-£40 reduction makes it a little more palatable than the £219.99 price announced at launch.

My price tracker shows the closest it's been to this price was back at the start of June but it hasn't ever been as low as this before.

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Square Enix announces Final Fantasy pixel remaster release date

2 years 8 months ago

Square Enix has announced a release date for three games in its Final Fantasy pixel remaster collection.

The pixel remaster Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy 2, and Final Fantasy 3 will all launch on 28th July for mobile platforms and Steam.

The remasters feature updated 2D pixel character and background graphics, rearrange soundtracks, overseen by original composer Nobuo Uematsu, improved gameplay, auto-battle option, illustration gallery, music player, and the ability to save at any time.

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Wood and talent are all you need to turn an Xbox controller into a steering wheel

2 years 8 months ago

If you have an Xbox controller lying around, and a prodigious talent for woodworking and engineering, then congratulations! You too can build a steering wheel. That’s what Redditor “jaayaz” did. They encased their controller in a wooden frame and, via a series of levers, bolts, and designer sandals, turned it into a homemade “Logitech G39”.

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Author
Craig Pearson

Chicory: A Colorful Tale review: picture-perfect storytelling

2 years 8 months ago

Creativity lies at the heart of both Greg Lobanov's games. In Wandersong, it was singing. In Chicory: A Colorful Tale, it's painting. While not the most heroic of video game pursuits - indeed, Wandersong's bard and Chicory's janitor-turned-amateur brush wielder are repeatedly shown to be considerably less capable than their games' personal and professional heroes - both end up playing critical roles in restoring their respective worlds to their former glory. They balance out the bad, and revive what was lost. It's a feeling that anyone with a creative outlet can relate to, whether it's drawing, singing, knitting, playing an instrument, heck, even writing, but Chicory goes one step further.

Despite its big, chunky picture book veneer, this top-down adventure game strikes hard at what it actually means to be creative, celebrating its joyous and fulfilling highs while also tackling its (sometimes literally) monstrous lows, including imposter syndrome, burn-out, depression and more. It's very much a story first, game second kind of tale, but as with Wandersong before it, its winsome cast, sensitive story-telling and infectious soundtrack go a long way in papering over its somewhat limited mechanical toolset. At the risk of sounding like a big clanging cliche, it's very artfully done.

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Author
Katharine Castle

The top 10 games on PC in July

2 years 8 months ago

Alright, I know you’re high on Starfield, you’re intrigued by Guardians Of The Galaxy, and you’ve been vibrating with excitement ever since you got your first look at Elden Ring gameplay, but you might as well put all of them to the back of your mind for now. The heavy-hitters of E3 aren’t coming out any time soon, so you’re better off shifting your focus onto video games that you can play over the next four weeks.

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Author
Colm Ahern

Rainbow Six Extraction's failsafe system will never leave you without playable operators

2 years 8 months ago

During E3, we saw a bunch of new gameplay for Ubisoft's upcoming stealthy alien shoot 'em up, Rainbow Six Extraction (formerly known as Quarantine). It's a spin-off from the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege, and I think it looks good - PvE offshoots of PvP games are my jam. But while the new footage showed how a typical mission would go in Extraction, it left me with a lot more questions. So, I reached out to Ubisoft to ask game director Patrick Méthé for a little more detail on how things will work.

To be honest, my main goal was to find out if Caveria would be able to tackle aliens to the ground and interrogate them, but it sounds like they probably won't be doing that (which is a missed opportunity, if you ask me - one of her abilities in Siege is that she can question downed enemies to reveal player locations).

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Author
Imogen Beckhelling

Players will get to redesign Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous' biggest city as they play

2 years 8 months ago

As we quest towards the September release of Pathfinder: Wrath Of The Righteous, our little group of adventurers is being guided to the upcoming cRPG’s largest city. The latest dev diary details Drezen, "the biggest fantasy fortress we've ever built." The stronghold looms large on the horizon, and will eventually become a hub for the player to rest, trade and more. But it’s more than that: the design of the city is tied to the player’s choices as they progress through the world, and the rebuilding process has some drastically different outcomes.

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Author
Craig Pearson

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Gets New Stickers, 120Hz Mode & More

2 years 8 months ago

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is definitely one of the most impressive exclusive games on the PS5 right now, thanks to the game’s time rift mechanic where players can quickly jump between dimensions with virtually no loading times at all. The game also runs beautifully on PS5, but Insomniac Games has just pushed out an update to make the game run even better.

With version 1.002, the game now has a 120Hz mode, but you’ll only be able to take advantage of it if you have a compatible display that can support that. Input latency will also be decreased with this mode, and the frame rate target for the Fidelity graphics mode has also been upped to 40 frames per second.

You can see the full list of new features added in this update down below:

  • Added new stickers
  • Added the ability to disable the Phantom Dash VFX
  • Added the ability to disable the Phantom Dash VFX in Photo Mode
  • Added the ability to toggle armor on or off while in Photo Mode
  • Added color backgrounds to Photo Mode
  • Added 120 Hz Display Mode, which reduces input latency when using a compatible display. In this mode, the frame rate target for the Fidelity graphics mode increases to 40 frames per second
  • Added “Skip Cutscenes” as bindable option for the D-pad
  • Added the option to disable the level up message and slowdown

Of course, this update also comes with a whole ton of fixes and tweaks, which you can read up on here.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is now available on PS5.

Author
Zhiqing Wan

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