August 2021

Today, Canadian outfit Maple Powered Games and UK-based indie publisher Merge Games officially released their retro-inspired farming RPG experience, Monster Harvest, on PS4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. To commemorate the occasion, the companies have just dropped a brand new launch trailer. Feel free to check it out down below:

Clearly, Monster Harvest is very reminiscent of Eric Barone’s retro farming sensation, Stardew Valley. From its pixelated 2D visuals to its focus on farming, there’s a lot of crossover between the two titles. That said, Monster Harvest does try and carve out its own personality with one major feature: Planimals.

Paradox has been teasing new content for Surviving Mars for quite a while, and today the company delivered the announcement fans were waiting for.

Enter “Below and Beyond,” the new paid expansion coming to the game on September 7. It’ll be priced at $19.99/€19.99/£15.49 depending on where you’re located.

Here’s how the developers describe it:

“Below & Beyond pushes the limits of what is possible on the Red Planet. Expand your horizons with additional buildings, more resources, and a cavernous world full of mysteries. Players can tunnel beneath the surface and construct subterranean bases below the colony or in nearby underground caves. Enterprising players can attach rocket-propelled buildings to passing asteroids and mine exotic resources, but you’ll need to make it back to the Red Planet’s surface before the asteroid leaves orbit or else you lose your stuff and your colonists. “

Key Features

• Back to the Bases – Expand your colony into caves and lava tubes under the surface. Players can use existing structures, or underground-specific buildings to build a base for exploration. Expand with caution, potential cave-ins can destroy everything.
• Mine Your Own Business – Players can now go below the surface and beyond the red planet for resource mining. Construct special rocket-propelled buildings to mine resources, including exotic minerals and Data Samples, on passing asteroids. Don’t stick around too long or else the Asteroid will drift away with your stuff!
• Branching Paths – The Recon and Expansion research tree unlock additional buildings, vehicles, upgrades, and locales. They will also unlock asteroid mining and tunnel colonization.

You can check a trailer and a series of assets below.

Over the weekend, developer Blueprint Games hosted the first-ever Hubworld Direct – an online showcase of upcoming indie 3D platformers. Trailers and gameplay demos from 20 games were shown in the roughly 40-minute stream, hosted on Sunday.

Among the games featured are Here Comes Niko, published by A Hat in Time developer Gears for Breakfast. Some of the games featured are already out, like Castle on the Coast, Pile Up, and Toree 3D. Others have been in development for years and have gained their own cult following, like Rad Venture, Zera: Myths Awaken, and Clive N Wrench. Overall, there was a wide variety of games – old and new, big and small.

Billie Bust Up, a musical 3D platformer, also made an appearance. As well as showcasing their own game, Blueprint created two animated hosts for the show – Kiwi & Melon – appearing in fully animated and voice-acted segments between games.

Check out an archive of the stream below:

Today Bethesda and Sony Interactive Entertainment released a new trailer dedicated to the PS5 version of Arkane Lyon’s upcoming game Deathlop.

We get to take a look at the advanced visuals of the game, on top of the features like the use of haptic feedback.

You can check it out below.

Deathloop is coming on PlayStation 5 and PC on September 14, 2021. We already know that the console exclusivity for PlayStation 5 is timed.

You can read an official description below, and check out the latest footage and more recent gameplay.

Atlus has released another trailer showcasing one of the over 200+ demons that will be featured in its upcoming JRPG Shin Megami Tensei V.

The demon showcased today is Bugbear, another demon that will prove familiar to fans of the series and of the Persona franchise.

You can watch the trailer below.

After Marvel’s incredible success adapting its most popular franchise to both cinema and television, it was only a matter of time before DC tried to grab its own slice of the pie. The results have been a bit of a mixed bag if we’re totally honest with ourselves, but for all the bad eggs, there have been one or two gems that shine toward a brighter future for the DCEU.

Just like you, we here at Twinfinite can’t wait to see where the saga goes from here, especially with another Suicide Squad movie on the horizon. But before we get too caught up looking forward, it’s time to reflect on what has already been and see which of us can count ourselves amongst its most hardcore fans. Only a quiz will suffice to truly put your knowledge to the test, and so here we’ve compiled a twenty-question trivia quiz that spans the saga’s first film to its most recent.

Let’s jump in, shall we? And don’t forget to let us know how you fared in this DCEU quiz in the comment section below.

The Great Ace Attorney games were originally released in Japan for the 3DS, and have only just made their way to the Switch in English-speaking territories this year. Set in the Meiji Era, these games are extremely far removed from the mainline Ace Attorney games, featuring a whole new cast of characters, all decked out in new, flashy clothing.

We got to chat with Kazuya Nuri, the Art Director and Character Designer for The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, and he provided some insight into how these designs were born, and the thought process behind the way the team chose to dress up and present the characters in the game.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Twinfinite: With the majority of the games being set in Britain, Susato and Ryunosuke are dressed to look distinctly different from the western characters, which definitely feels like a deliberate decision considering how the games make a point to distinguish between eastern and western sensibilities. Could you tell me more about the thought process behind their designs and how you wanted to make them stand out from the British characters?

Kazuya Nuri: In order to clearly express the era in which the game is set, I gave Ryunosuke and Susato looks that were typical of Japanese students from the Meiji era. However, the base design of the typical male school uniform from that time is actually similar to modern-day Japanese school uniforms, so I gave Ryunosuke a katana to ensure his design wouldn’t look too modern.

Mike Richards, the embattled Jeopardy! executive producer who served as the game show’s host for, like, a week, is out entirely, Deadline reports. He’ll also lose his role as executive producer of Wheel of Fortune, Sony EVP Suzanne Prete told staff in a memo today.

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If you know anything about Cyberpunk 2077, an open-world romp about committing crimes with neo-John Wick, you know that it launched in rough shape. Much of the game’s eight-month lifespan has been defined more by patches and updates than anything else. But this news might help: The developer, CD Projekt Red, is hiring…

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Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.3 was touted as another round of bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as giving players a new outfit and car. But some players quickly noticed other changes. Puddles seemed fewer and farther between. The roads were less slick and reflective. In general, the game’s sprawling sci-fi…

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Motohiro Okubo, who recently acted as the Producer for both Tekken 7 and SoulCalibur VI, will leave Bandai Namco at the end of August 2021.

The post SoulCalibur VI and Tekken 7 Producer Leaving Bandai Namco appeared first on Siliconera.

Agathion is peeking out of their pot, using its spells, and enjoying a moment in the limelight in the latest SMT V demon digest trailer.

The post Agathion Peeks Out of a Pot for Their SMT V Video appeared first on Siliconera.

The online version will take place on a platform that features paid tickets to enable early orders of figures.

The post Wonder Festival 2021 Autumn Online Event Will Happen In October appeared first on Siliconera.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 online servers for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain will shut down in 2022, removing access to online modes.

The post Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Online Servers Will Shut Down on PS3, Xbox 360 appeared first on Siliconera.

Toem is a charming photography-focused game that recently got its due during the Nintendo Indie World Showcase. Those excited to unwind in its cutesy, hand-drawn world and capture photographs will get their chance on September 17.  

The game whisks players to a whimsical land inspired by Scandanavia inhabited by talking balloons, goofy ship captains, and other weird characters designed to make you say “aww.” You’ll use your trusty camera to take photos to solve puzzles while working your way up a mountain to experience an event known as the, you guessed it, Toem. Since your character has an altruistic soul, you also use your camera eye to solve the problems of the area’s native citizens. Check out the trailer for a snapshot of everything that lies in store. 

As you’ve likely gathered, Toem is a laid-back experience that encourages players to slow down and enjoy its peaceful atmosphere. To that end, a soundtrack of chill beats helps players melt into the adventure. A roughly 4-hour runtime also positions Toem as a pleasant palette cleanser in between larger releases. If you’re a completionist, though, expect to spend twice as long uncovering all of the game’s secrets. 

Ever since its announcement last summer, Far Cry 6 has been one of the most highly anticipated games on the horizon. With a revolution against a murderous dictator on the fictional Caribbean Island of Yara serving as the backdrop, the stakes are high in this latest entry. While everything has looked promising to this point, I was excited to finally get my hands on the new game to see for myself how it’s turning out.

With the October 28th release of Age Of Empires IV looming, last week’s Gamescom event saw a clutch of new reveals for the medieval strategy extravaganza, including a new trailer, a couple of live interviews, and - my personal favourite - an unexpected short documentary about trebuchets. In just three minutes, it told us a surprisingly large amount about history’s finest rock-chuckers, including the fact that they were sometimes armed with such strange ammunition as diseased livestock, dead bodies, and bee hives.

Naturally, then, when I spoke with AoE franchise creative director Adam Isgreen and game director Quinn Duffy following the show, there was one question I needed to ask more than any other. Indeed, so urgent was I to know, that I entirely forgot to say hello or introduce myself, instead opening the interview by blurting, “so, we’ll be able to shoot bees, then?”

I certainly know how to make an entrance.

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A while ago, I wrote about the weird stained glass puzzle game that is Glass Masquerade 2. Unfortunately I tore through all the puzzles on that pretty quickly. But thank goodness, now there is a new one! Let me welcome you into the early access puzzles of Mosaic Chronicles, which are a bit weird, but I want more of them asap.

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Want to learn how to create the best build for Yanfei in Genshin Impact? Animalistic demigod, maritime lawyer, Pyro Catalyst wielder — Genshin Impact's Yanfei certainly has a lot of plates spinning. This young polymath from Liyue has achieved a lot in a short time, so if you end up with her in your adventuring party, you'll be unsurprised to learn that she performs best when leading the charge as your DPS main with the help of her trusty book of elemental power.

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We're drowning in remakes and remasters. Big publishers are rereleasing every game which is older than three years and sold at least thirty copies. Some of these remakes, I suspect, sold as few as seven copies. But they're 'IP', precious intellectual properties to be recycled and rebooted and combined in new forms until the sun burns out in the sky. So why have we still not seen the one we actually need: a $500 million remake of the Mavis Beacon minigame where you type words to make penguins jump across ice floes.

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The new CFI-1100 series revision of PlayStation 5 is now making its way to market, bringing with it a wave of controversy. It began with the intriguing news that beyond revised WiFi and a new screw for the stand, the CFI-1100 model weighs 300g less than the original - an interesting puzzle that could only be solved by going hands-on. The first journalist to do that was Austin Evans, whose teardown and analysis answers a lot of questions, but raises others. Last night, I procured a unit myself, so I can add some initial insights based on my first few hours with the machine.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, the latest entry in developer Marvelous Inc's much-loved farm-life series, is making the jump from Switch to PC on 15th September.

Pioneers of Olive Town, sticking firmly to the well-worn Story of Seasons template, casts players as a newcomer to a peaceful community after they inherit the local farm from their grandfather. The usual formula of busily compulsive seasonal crop-growing and animal-rearing follows, with players once again free explore the nearby village and befriend the local in their downtime.

This latest instalment in the series initially launched on Switch back in March, where it received rather mixed reviews - with critics calling out some wonky performance, a disappointingly lifeless cast of townsfolk, and some questionable design decisions, such as a bizarre over-reliance on fussily implemented Maker machines to get things done.

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Far Cry 6 is launching in just over a month, so Ubisoft is continuing to generate hype with a brand-new gameplay stream for the game that has been captured on Xbox Series X.

Narrative Director Navid Khavari joins Ubisoft hosts Youssef Maguid and Chris Watters as they all discuss weapons, story details, and more over a ton of never-before-seen gameplay footage.

The last Far Cry 6 trailer was released last week during Gamescom, and it focused on the story of rebellion centered on the Yaran dictator, Anton Castillo. This gameplay stream gives us a look at the ways that protagonist Dani Rojas will fight back against this dictatorship, and their methods involve a lot of firepower.

You can check out this new Far Cry 6 gameplay stream for yourself in the video below:

If this trailer has you looking to put some money down for the game early, you can pre-order it on the official website. Far Cry 6 launches on Oct. 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Stadia.

Far Cry 6 is absolutely chaotic in the best ways possible. I got the chance to attend a five-hour-long preview event, and I don’t know about anyone else’s experience with the game, but my plans and ideas on how to tackle the missions nearly always failed me. And when they did, I had to improvise through the chaos that ensued. There was rarely a dull moment.

This is Ubisoft’s latest entry into their long-running FPS franchise that’s known for compelling villains and wild, over-the-top narratives and gameplay. Judging from the preview, it won’t disappoint on either of those fronts.

The bulk of the preview gave me free rein to explore the nation of Yara as I took on missions in any way that I saw fit while aiding in the rebellion against the dictator and main villain, Anton Castillo, as a member of the Libertad guerrilla movement.

Castillo has manufactured a substance called Viviro that’s highly effective in treating cancer, but he uses slave labor while destroying the land to do it. This is where protagonist Dani Rojas and the various factions at play in Yara come into the picture. And as a protagonist, Dani feels more alive and real than any other in the series thanks to the switches to third-person whenever they interact with other characters in cutscenes.

Seeing Dani physically touch other characters and having an idea of what expressions they’re making while speaking does wonders for immersion and engagement in the story.

Today SoulCalibur VI producer Motohiro Okubo announced that he is leaving Bandai Namco effective today.

Okubo-san also mentioned on Twitter that he will still work on the gaming industry, moving on to a company based in Shibuya.

It’s hard to say which company that is because the trendy Tokyo ward is home to quite a few game developers, including Cygames, DeNA, and several more. We’ll have to wait until Okubo-san announces his new creative home officially.

Motohiro Okubo has been working on SoulCalibur VI for several years and is hailed by many as one of the authors of the rebirth of the series with the success of the latest game.

He also recently worked on Tekken 7 and Pac-Man 99.

You can find the announcement below, in which Okubo-san mentions that he has been at Bandai Namco for 25 years, and expresses his gratitude to all those he met in that time.

Well, the announcement of a new Dead Space wasn’t just a shared visceral hallucination among those of us who’ve long wished for such a revival. Electronic Arts showed off some extremely early footage of the upcoming action-horror game during a live stream on EA Motive’s Twitch channel today.

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I’m not a huge fan of slugs to begin with, but the ones in the Rainbow Six event are going to turn me into the Joker.

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Siliconera spoke with Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Art Director Kazuko Shibuya about the sprites and design choices for the games.

The post Interview: Discussing Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Sprites and Designs appeared first on Siliconera.

The World Flipper global version has a release date. People will be able to begin the pinball adventure at the beginning of September 2021.

The post World Flipper Global Release Date Set for Early September appeared first on Siliconera.

While Call of Duty: Vanguard may have revitalized Call of Duty conversation over the last few weeks, the content engine rolls on strong for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. Season 5 is finally here, and with it comes a new Double Agent mode, multiplayer maps, Zombies, and Warzone additions! Let’s break it down.

If you subscribe to Game Informer's digital edition, you're now able to learn more about the highly anticipated Marvel's Midnight Suns from the strategy masters at Firaxis Games. Following last week's cover reveal, our digital issue is now live to subscribers on web browsers, iPad/iPhone, and Android devices. Individual issues will be available for purchase later today. You can download the apps to view the issue by following this link. All of these digital options are included in a standard subscription.

Despite its bumpy launch period, Cybperunk 2077’s fervent modding community has been hard at work buffing Night City’s immersion in positive and controversial ways. Nevertheless, the impact that mods like third-person perspective and cosmetic upgrades for V have raised the eyebrows of developers at CD Projekt Red. According to a post on the Cyberpunk 2077 Modding Community Discord Server (as well as this Reddit screenshot seen here), a few notable modders have been hired to work alongside the folks at CD Projekt Red.

Under developer Yigsoft’s banner, the chosen modders are slated to work on multiple aspects of Cyberpunk 2077’s backend. The post reads as follows, “We will be working on various projects related to the Cyberpunk 2077 backend and the game’s modding support. We are really excited for this, and we really hope we can help to bring Cyberpunk 2077 to the next level!” What these community members turned full-fledged developers will be working on remains to be seen. 

Microsoft today announced plans to launch Windows 11 on October 5th, inviting us to a world of exciting new features like rounded corners and a new default desktop wallpaper. As new named versions of Windows goes, 11 seems a smaller upgrade than from, say, Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, or from Window 8 to straight-up not owning a PC at all. Still, it has a few handy features for gaming. And it will roll out as a free upgrade from 10, if you want it.

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Third-party developers have shared new assets and details about upcoming add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator.

We start with Just Flight, which shared new images of the Hawk T1/A Advanced Trainer snapped during testing this weekend.

We also hear that we can expect videos showing various features and systems later this week or the next.

Today, Tripwire Entertainment has released the first DLC for their shark action RPG, titled Maneater: Truth Quest. You can check out the official launch trailer down below.

In this brand new, out-of-this-world adventure, players can experience a boatload of crazy new features and abilities, including a new story, wildlife, bounty hunters, and objectives. We’ve broken down the exact update fans can expect below, straight from the press release.

New Story 

• Play through a new full narrative, story-based expansion as Trip Westhaven (voiced by Chris Parnell; SNL, 30 Rock, Rick and Morty) is back to narrate, having now been relegated to the online video streaming platform “ViewTube.”
• New Evolutions 
• New Evolution Set
• Maximum level cap increased to 40
• Five new organ evolutions with one additional organ slot unlocked at level 35 (requires DLC ownership) 

New Wildlife

Earlier this month, MiHoYo revealed Genshin Impact’s version 2.1, titled “Floating World Under the Moonlight,” which is set to feature a ton of updated content, including new characters, locations, and gameplay. Not too long after the update was revealed, a new login event was also confirmed.

While this may sound like an exciting update on the surface, the way it and the upcoming daily login event have been scheduled is considerably troubling. Titled Passage of Clouds and Stars, this daily login event is set to reward players who log in on seven days in total to receive 10 Intertwined Fates and other rewards for their hard work.

For anyone who has never played Genshin Impact, Intertwined Fates serve as a currency that is used for wishes. If you have 10 Intertwined Fate then you get 10 Wishes. In turn, Wishes are used for a chance to unlock new characters through RNG, similarly to how loot boxes work, which is all based on the Character Banner you wish on. If you want, you can use all of them just to try unlocking the characters you really want.

So, in theory, the Passage of Clouds and Stars should be a good thing for players, as it’ll give them 10 different opportunities to unlock the new characters featured in Genshin Impact version 2.1. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Today, Motive Studios showed off a very early look at the Dead Space remake during a livestream event on Twitch, detailing the changes that fans can expect in comparison to the original. Lead by Creative director Roman Campos-Oriola and Senior Producer Phillippe Ducharme, the showcase went into a lot of important details, including updates to the graphics and gameplay.

The first part of the livestream showed off what the USG Ishimura’s beloved Headbanger hallway looked like in the early footage of the Dead Space remake, boasting updated graphics that improved the overall ambiance. When explaining the updates, Ducharme stated that the developers have gone back into the legacy assets to recreate the Ishimura, improving shaders and lighting to make the environment look more metallic and feel more atmospheric, especially on next-gen consoles.

You can see from the difference in the screenshots below, as the Frostbite engine really helps make the ship pop.

Dead Space fans have been treated to a very early look at EA's highly anticipated remake of the sci-fi horror favourite as part of an "unorthodox" new livestream - and while the project is still "really, really far from being done", according to developer EA Motive, the included new footage and details might be enough to keep interest piqued until more is ready to be revealed.

EA Motive's decision to show off its Dead Space remake so early in development is, by its own admission, a "bit unorthodox" for EA, but it says it wants "to be open with the communication" in order gather feedback on the direction it's taking.

To that end, the developer has shared a few early details - and, in some cases, glimpses - of the remake, beginning with a look at its initial efforts to enhance the original Dead Space's visuals for the modern era. As shown during the livestream, this involved the art team revisiting the 2008 game's legacy assets, adding details to existing geometry, applying shaders, materials, and VFX, plus a first pass at lighting to get the mood right. The results, as you'll see if you hop through the livestream below, are certainly striking.

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Season 15 of Destiny 2 is finally upon us and despite some of my skepticism after it went live last week, I haven’t been able to put it down. Season of the Lost might not be as significant as an annual expansion but it is still taking some big swings, and thanks to the intersection of a few different changes all going…

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Wildermyth has already secured a spot on my Game of the Year list, and barring any unforeseen gems, it will be near the top. Here’s an example of why:

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