September 2021

The deceptively fluffy action-platformer F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch by TiGames Network Technology is about to release, and Sony released a launch trailer to celebrate.

The trailer provides a look at the gameplay and its diesel-punk-ed anthropomorphic characters. It’s worth mentioning that this is one of the games developed under the umbrella of Sony’s own China Hero Project.

You can watch it below and take a look at the previous trailer.

F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch comes out tomorrow, Sept. 7, for PS5 and PS4, while a Steam version is also coming.

Below you can read an official description.

We already knew that the Final Fantasy XV crossover event on Final Fantasy XIV would return this month, but now we know exactly when.

Square Enix announced on the official website that the coveted event will return on September 13 at 1:00 am PDT. It will be available for over a month until October 18.

The event, which was originally launched in 2019 included its own story featuring Final Fantasy XV protagonist Noctis himself, his outfit and hairstyle, and the prized  Regalia Type-G “mount” which is designed to carry four players and as such is quite enjoyed by many

If you missed the original event, you will now be able to enjoy it just before the Endwalker expansion. By the way, if you want to hear more about that, more information will be shared during the next Letter from the Producer Live between September 17 and 18 depending on where you live.

Of course, you can expect a full report about that here as soon as it happens.

Incidentally, the new Final Fantasy XIV expansion Endwalker will release on November 23, 2021, for PS5, PS4, and PC. A benchmark has been released for PC, including the male viera character creation.

The announcement that Horizon Forbidden West would basically require to buy a special edition in order to get both the PS4 and PS5 version wasn’t exactly met with unanimous praise among the fans, so Sony is changing its tune, at least partially.

An update was made to the original post announcing that the upgrade from the PS4 to the PS5 version will be offered to everyone free of charge.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the same policy will be applied to future games. The same announcement clarifies that all upcoming first-party PlayStation games will have an upgrade option from PS4 to PS5 priced at $10.

This includes the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7, and any exclusive cross-gen titles published by Sony itself.

Below you can read the full announcement signed by CEO Jim Ryan himself.

“Thursday was to be a celebration of Horizon Forbidden West and the amazing team at Guerrilla working to deliver it on February 18, 2022. However, it’s abundantly clear that the offerings we confirmed in our pre-order kickoff missed the mark.

Last year we made a commitment to deliver free upgrades for our cross-gen launch titles, which included Horizon Forbidden West. While the pandemic’s profound impact pushed Forbidden West out of the launch window we initially envisioned, we will stand by our offer: Players who purchase Horizon Forbidden West on PlayStation 4 will be able to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version for free.

Today Atlus announced that Vanillaware’s latest game 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim has achieved a local sales milestone.

The game has sold 200,000 copies in Japan alone.

Back in March, we heard that the game had shipped 400,000 copies worldwide, and it looks like it has done quite well at home.

You can check out the announcement below, also revealing a 40% off sale on the local PlayStation Store until September 15.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is now available exclusively for PS4.

Looking for the best M91 LMG loadout to bring into Warzone? This LMG has long flown under the radar due to its average stats, but it can be a decent choice in Warzone if you prefer easy-to-use weapons. This M91 loadout has a 100 round magazine by default, sound suppression, moderately high bullet velocity, decent range, and low recoil. The lower rate of fire, slower ADS time, and limited movement speed leave something to be desired of the M91, but you're sure to rack up some satisfying kills in Warzone with this loadout once you adapt your playstyle to its strengths.

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Want to learn how to create the best Ganyu build in Genshin Impact? As an emissary for the Liyue Qixing, Cryo Bow user Ganyu is quiet and composed, often prioritizing work over friendships. However, her adeptal heritage lends her a massive favor in battle, which is why the graceful Ganyu is one of our favorite characters and even earned a spot near the top of our tier list.

This guide will show you how to create the best Ganyu build in Genshin Impact. Below we'll cover everything you need to know about Ganyu, including wishing, weapons, artifacts, ascension materials, talents, abilities, and constellations.

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Wondering where to get Unusual Hilichurls in Genshin Impact? If you’re on a mission to get some achievements in Genshin Impact, one of the most tedious (yet rewarding) quests you can go on is earning the “...Well, That Was Strange” achievement. To get this achievement, you’ll be sent on a multi-day across Teyvat hunting for Unusual Hilichurls. You'll have to check very specific locations to find these guys, which can be hard if you don't know where to look. We've got your back, though! Here's everything you'll need to know about Unusual Hilichurls and every location they might be in - happy hunting!

Unusual Hilichurls can be found throughout Mondstadt and Liyue in a variety of locations. However, only one Unusual Hilichurl can be found at any given time in each world. Every day, you’ll be able to find two Unusual Hilichurls (the second one will spawn at another random location after you kill the first), and to find them, you’ll have to travel to 14 locations throughout Teyvat, all of which are listed below.

To get the “... Well, That Was Strange” achievement, which is likely the last achievement you need for the Challenger: Series II set, you’ll have to kill a total of 50 Unusual Hilichurls, though you’ll get some Primogems after killing your first 1 and 20 as well. If you’re consistently finding your two daily Hilichurls, it’ll take 25 days to finish this achievement. Thankfully, you can speed this up by killing Unusual Hilichurls through Co-Op Mode in the worlds of people who haven’t killed their daily Unusual Hilichurls yet - just make sure you land at least one hit or it won’t count toward your achievement progress.

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Aniplex revealed a new mini-game for the upcoming Demon Slayer: Hinokami Kepputan game. It draws inspiration from the Butterfly Mansion arc.

The post Demon Slayer: Hinokami Kepputan Has a Butterfly Mansion Minigame appeared first on Siliconera.

This Saturday at 11:40pm Japan Time, a man with a pickax attacked a car in which actor and film director Takeshi Kitano—best known by his stage name Beat Takeshi—was traveling. The attacker even called for the 74-year-old filmmaker get out of his car. Thankfully, neither Kitano nor his driver were injured.

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Spoiler warnings for Mass Effect 2.

I'm not sure why I liked Kelly Chambers so much. There's definitely more exciting characters in Mass Effect 2. She was just cool is all. They seemed so good together, her and my Shepherd, two straight-talking women on a ship full of neverending melodrama, quipping back and forth along the bridge. But I was trapped in a loveless relationship with the odiously boring Kaidan Alenko. So Kelly remained elusive: the steadfast second in command, a constant source of warmth, good sense and pragmatic kindness.

Anyway, she melted. In fact, most of my crew died in that final mission, but Kelly was the first, melting down into flesh chowder in a giant frosted glass tube. Afterwards I read that the only way to save everyone was to max out your relationship stats, upgrade your ship to the nth degree, and hightail it over to the suicide mission the moment you can. Reader, that's exactly what I did. I went back to the start and put another 30 hours into that game, telling myself I was getting value for money. But in my heart of hearts I knew it was all for Kelly.

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Developers have distanced themselves from publisher Tripwire after its boss said he was "proud" a draconian Texas anti-abortion law was allowed to stand.

John Gibson, president of the Chivalry 2, Killing Floor and Maneater publisher, tweeted to say he "felt it was important to go on the record as a pro-life game developer".

Atlanta, Georgia-based co-developer Shipwright Studios, which worked on Chivalry 2 and Maneater, tweeted in response to say it had cancelled all its existing contracts with Tripwire.

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Some prospective Steam Deck owners have apparently been getting a little too excited about how much of the Steam library will be compatible with the handheld PC when it launches. It’s actually rather unlikely that every Steam game will readily work, according to James B. Ramey, president of software dev outfit CodeWeavers.

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

The demon showcased today is Loup-garou, which is a new demon introduced with the new game.

You can watch the trailer below.

For the past fifteen years, one constant for Konami’s Bemani music game series has been the musical stylings of composer Yasuhiro “TAG” Taguchi. Today, he announced his is leaving the Tokyo-based game company.

“I’ve now decided to go freelance as a composer after being employed at my company for fifteen years,” Taguchi…

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Larcei, Julia, Lewyn, Leif, and Nanna are ready to join your party, Summoner.

The post Fire Emblem Heroes Scions of Twelve Banner Will Focus on FE4 appeared first on Siliconera.

Shipwright Studios, co-developers of Chivalry 2 and Maneater, are cutting ties with Tripwire Interactive after Tripwire president John Gibson voiced his support for the stringent new Texas abortion law. Shipwright say they're starting to cancel contracts with Tripwire "immediately", while Chivalry 2 creators, Torn Banner Studios, have also released a statement condemning Gibson's views.

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Swedish tech news site Breakit is reporting some grim news from within Swedish publisher Paradox. A leaked document, created by unions Unionen and Sveriges, suggests a discriminatory workplace at Paradox, where almost half of employees report they’ve experienced “abusive/incorrect treatment.”

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October 14, 1982 saw what was then the largest protest in video game history when a crowd of 200-300 Native Americans, feminists, and anti-porn activists gathered outside a trade show in New York to protest the offensive Atari 2600 game Custer’s Revenge.

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Crusader Kings developer Paradox has been accused of "bullying and gender discrimination".

Swedish publication Breakit (via GamesIndustry.biz) reported on a union-led employee survey conducted in August that found almost half of the 133 staff who participated experienced "mistreatment".

According to Breakit, the survey results show the problems are mainly about bullying and gender discrimination", and "worst for women".

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This new story trailer focuses on the Raiden Shogun and her personal motivations.

The post Raiden Shogun Spoilers Appear in New Genshin Impact Trailer appeared first on Siliconera.

Players will be able to obtain the free four-seater mount through the month of September.

The post The FFXIV and FFXV 2021 Event Will Begin Soon appeared first on Siliconera.

Yoshi-P once again reassures everyone that he is still very much hands-on with the development and updates of Final Fantasy XIV.

The post Yoshi-P Reaffirms He’s Still Working on Both Final Fantasy XIV and XVI appeared first on Siliconera.

I am very bad at maths, but when I was a kid I really liked doing basic equations and algebra and stuff. I liked methodically writing things out on graph paper, all neat and staying between the lines. I do not actually like maths, but I liked the action of quietly sorting something out by myself.

Strange Horticulture, which I got excited about as soon as I heard it existed, is like that - quiet, methodical, rain drumming on the roof, labelling plants and running a finger down the taxonomic list in your Big Book O' Weird Plants... except I'm not having to use the quadratic formula, which, for reasons relating to a jaunty song my maths teacher repeatedly played, I am cursed to remember forever.

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The official Stardew Valley Cup was held on September 4th and it turned the relaxing farming sim into a surprisingly tense eSport tournament. The cup had a prize pool of over $40,000 and was hosted by streamer UnsurpassableZ and Stardew's creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone on Twitch.

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DokeV has been kicking around for the better part of two years, but the trailer at Gamescom (which you can watch below) was the first time I laid eyes on it. At the time, I could only describe what I saw as a fever dream but looking closer at this mystifying game reveals a promising mix of open-world adventuring, Pokemon-like creature collection, and exciting arena battling. DokeV even has a bit of Monster Hunter DNA in there, which piques my interest even more. What's been shown so far has an infectious energy, and each element seems playful and fun. Granted, there's not much information out there about the game, but I think DokeV is worth keeping an eye on in the coming months.

Earlier this summer, Pokémon Card Specialty Shop Hareruya 2 opened in Tokyo’s Akihabara. While card shops are not unique in Japan or elsewhere, this one singular focus does make it stand out.

In its official announcement, Hareruya claims to not only have the best inventory in the world, it also purports to have the…

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Welcome to the blog post announcing the arrival of the 27th Digital Foundry Direct Weekly, the show for discussion of the latest gaming and tech news. I won't talk too much about this one as ultimately, I was not involved in it! We like to have a rotating panel on each Direct and sometimes our workflow is such that we can't spare the time to take part, but regardless - there's a good, solid, 75 minutes of chat for you to enjoy this week, kicking off with the somewhat unorthodox but still welcome reveal of the Dead Space Remake.

Summer is the time where we try to take some vacation time, and this does mean that we can't always cover every game we want to with either video or written content - Psychonauts 2 is a case in point here. John's a big fan of the game, however, and shares his thoughts on it in this week's Direct, as well as lamenting the sad loss of Konami's remarkable Breeding Stud franchise. Assassin's Creed Odyssey's 60fps patch? Some light coverage this week, but we'll be looking to go hands-on with it when we can.

Beyond that, retro collectors John and Audi share their thoughts on the WATA grading and trading stories that have emerged this week and their general thoughts on putting collectible games into protective plastic packaging and basically ensuring they can never be played again. The team also share their thoughts on this week's PlayStation Showcase - what titles should we expect to see?

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Following the recent release of version 2.1 of Genshin Impact, MiHoYo launched a new trailer focusing on the story.

This time around, it’s all about the backstory behind the Raiden Shogun, who plays a central role in the game.

You can check it out below in both the English and Japanese trailers depending on your voice-over language preference.

“A nation that surges ahead has become stuck in a fleeting shadow of a moment. Perhaps only if time stands still will Inazuma truly shine eternal…

Candidates can choose to join the SMT team, Persona team, or Studio Zero.

The post Atlus Online Job Interviews Will Place Candidates on 1 of 3 Teams appeared first on Siliconera.

Drive and decompress.

The post Lake’s a Game That Evokes the Vibe of a Trip Back Home appeared first on Siliconera.

While the idea of a Switch farming game with a side of monster growing-and-training seems sound, Monster Harvest is unbalanced and buggy.

The post Monster Harvest Needs More Time to Grow on the Switch appeared first on Siliconera.

An internal survey conducted by Paradox Interactive's unions has revealed an alleged culture of mistreatment at the company, who're known for developing grand strategy games such as Crusader Kings. Of the 133 Paradox employees who responded to the survey, 44% claimed to have experienced mistreatment, from bullying to gender discrimination.

This comes from a leaked document made public by the Swedish tech website Breakit, though RPS have seen a copy of the results summary, and a union representative has verified the document's authenticity for us.

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There’s a widespread stigma attached to mobile titles that has pushed them to the bottom of the popularity charts for years … at least when compared to PC and console experiences. Of course, there are exceptions. Pokémon Go and Clash of Clans, for example, have proved games on the smallest screen are more than just microtransaction-heavy propaganda or digitized tabletop adaptations. Like other extensive catalogs, Apple Arcade is filled with games that raise the bar – from experimental JRPGs to ported blockbusters. Try out the ten gems listed below if you’ve got an iOS device and want to break into the mobile scene.

As we already covered in a previous look at Marvel's Midnight Suns, you play as The Hunter. This all-new hero is sought out by an all-star cast of Marvel characters and awakened to help fight off the evil entity known as Lilith. But why is Lilith so important that she requires the combined powers of Marvel's most powerful heroes in addition to an ancient, legendary warrior? We spoke to the team at Firaxis Games to learn more about the menacing villain.

Lilith was once a warrior of light as a member of a race called The Blood. She is a descendant of the Elder Gods and fought the forces of darkness alongside her sister, Caretaker, for thousands of years. During the late 1600s, Lilith sold her soul to a corrupted, evil Elder God named Chthon in a moment of weakness.

"Your best villains, in their mind, they're not evil; they're doing something for good, but her motivations for her fall are actually very personal and very tragic," director of narrative Chad Rocco says.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate isn’t even officially out yet, but as VGC reports, Sega are already putting out statements addressing the buggy state it’s in. While the game’s full release is tomorrow, pre-orderererers were able to get the game last Friday, and apparently haven’t been having a great time of the remastered Wii…

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