January 2022

Koei Tecmo and Gust revealed new details regarding the Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream Digital Deluxe Editions, and the Season Pass. Additionally, those who pre-order the digital version of Atelier Sophie 2 before February 23, 2022 will receive two special costumes. The Atelier Sophie 2 Digital Deluxe Edition will come with a total of six swimsuits, one for every character. It will cost 9,900 yen ($85). The Digital Deluxe Edition with the Season Pass will cost 14,740 yen ($128). It will come with an extra costume for Sophie and Ramizel. It will also include future content scheduled to be released through the Season Pass. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

The two special costumes consumers will obtain by pre-ordering Atelier Sophie are the "Easy Breezy" and "Comfy and Casual" costumes. However, the "Comfy and Casual" costume may be available to purchase at a later date. And, as mentioned previously, a total of six swimsuits will come with the Digital Deluxe Edition of Atelier Sophie 2. Each major character will receive a special swimsuit.

You can take a look at the swimsuits below.

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Bandai will release three variations of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Tamagotchi toys from June 18, 2022. They will cost 2,530 JPY, or $22.15, each. This is the fourth round of Tamagotchi toys in which you can raise your own demon slayer. [Thanks, Hobby Watch!]

There are three different color models: Hinokami Kagura, Burning Blood, and Water Breathing. Additionally, the Water Breathing color is limited to Amazon. The Water Breathing and Hinokami Kagura Tamagotchi use the pattern of Tanjiro’s haori. Meanwhile, the Burning Blood Tamagotchi has vines.

In total, there are 18 characters to raise. Aside from the nine Hashira members and the four main characters, you can also raise Sumiko, Zenko, and Inoko. Though you cannot raise them, Akaza, Daki, and Gyutaro also show up as you play. You can also meet characters like Koinatsu Oiran and Shinjuro Rengoku, who will re-enact scenes from the anime.

Other Demon Slayer Tamagotchi toys available include designs of Inosuke, Zenitsu, and the Hashiras. While the characters you can raise and gameplay are essentially the same, the color of the device is different. Like a normal Tamagotchi , you can raise them and transform them into different characters depending on how you treat them.

enish announced Attack on Titan Brave Order will release for mobile devices in Japan on February 11, 2022. Pre-registration for the title is immediately available for Android and iOS devices. Players will assume the role of a member of the Survey Corps, and take down Titans. The game will feature miniature 3D models, with full voice acting. Additionally, players will be able to customize their own headquarters. There is no word of a potential Western release. [Thanks, Dengeki!]

Pre-registration for Attack on Titan Brave Order opened in October 2021. However, at that time, the mobile game did not have an official release date. A February window of release was then announced sometime after. Pre-registration rewards include in-game currency for gacha pulls. If Attack on Titan Brave Order has over 300,000 pre-registered users, players will receive enough currency to perform ten gacha pulls.

Stop encasing your old gaming hardware in resin to make furniture, there is a better way to honor the handheld systems that came before. Art studio Grid is taking apart old Game Boy, PSP, Nintendo DS, and Game Gear consoles, and transforming them into stunning technological dioramas you can hang on your wall.

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Car combat game Destruction AllStars has had a bit of a bumpy ride - and now looks set to go free-to-play.

After originally planning Destruction AllStars as a £70 PlayStation 5 exclusive, Sony reconsidered the game's launch plans and eventually released it as part of PlayStation Plus. Since then, it has been sold for £17.99.

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A cyberattack on a major Minecraft tournament was so substantial it took down the internet of Andorra.

The European microstate, bordered by France to the north and Spain to the south, suffered an internet outage when hackers targeted the tournament, which led to the elimination of Team Andorra (thanks, IGN).

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Nintendo has had limited luck in the mobile space, but Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp stands as one of its continued success stories.

Today, more than four years after the campsite sim first went live, a fresh update has added several new features and another optional monthly subscription. The number of animals you can invite to your campsite has been doubled from eight to 16, and the game now hosts a Pocket Planner diary where you can track in-game events.

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When warp-tunneling multiplayer shooter Splitgate came zooming out of its beta portal, gun barrels aflame, it was joyful madness. The maps were some of the best things about it. Old-school mega-arenas adorned with portal-zappable walls that functioned as DIY shortcuts. As virtual coliseums of chaos go, they were pretty cool. Well, now you can make your own. Splitgate is launching into season 1 this week (the developers insist the last four months have been "season 0") and alongside a couple of new game modes, there's now a map creation tool.

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It’s been over six years since the original Atelier Sophie debuted in Japan. Since then, four other mainline entries appeared. Simply put, a lot’s happened! Now Atelier Sophie 2 is about to appear and take things Gust’s learned to apply it to new and existing characters and a new world. The result is something in which the changes are evident, even though it might also feel a bit familiar.

As before, characters dreams from the original game are still building in Atelier Sophie 2. Sophie still wants to be as grand an alchemist of her grandmother. She wants to be licensed. Plachta, while now in a doll body due to the events of the first game, hopes for a human form again. While working toward this goal, Plachta dreamed about a mysterious tree. Sophie and her found their way to it. When they do, it looks different than it did in her mind. Upon investigating it, it pulls Plachta in. Sophie grabs her hand to save her, and the two get dragged into another realm. Said other realm being Erde Wiege. It is a dream world filled with unfamiliar characters. But it’s also one where perhaps both women could continue to work toward their goals.

Capcom will hold a new Devil May Cry collaboration event at Capcom Cafe Aeon Lake Town from February 25 to April 14, 2022. The new event will help celebrate the 20th anniversary by featuring multiple versions of the series' characters.

Capcom Cafe has held multiple Devil May Cry collaboration events in the past. However, those events only focused on a specific title. The December 2020 and July 2021 events, for example, focused on the fifth mainline entry.

The company has yet to publish the new menu and merchandise lineup. However, it has shared the key art showing characters for the upcoming collaboration. The front row showcases multiple iterations of Dante from every series title, including DmC: Devil May Cry. The art also shows different versions of Vergil, Nero, Lady, and Trish. The Devil May Cry 5 debutant V is the only character with a single design in this art.

Pretty much anyone who was around in the ’90s will know the words to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song by heart, and if you don’t – we feel sorry for you. In all seriousness, Will Smith’s iconic TV show – which helped catapult the fledgling star into worldwide popularity – was a staple back in the days before streaming took the world by storm, and we consumed shows in a more calendar culture kind of way.

Fast-forward to today, though, and Peacock has greenlit a brand-new reboot of the beloved sitcom for modern viewers – simply dubbed Bel-Air -, and it’s scheduled to begin streaming on Feb. 13.

As you can imagine, there’ve been lots of trailers to help shed some light on what fans can expect from the series, and today we have a new teaser video for the upcoming show, which reveals a scene we never got to see in the OG show. Go ahead and take a gander at the new Bel-Air footage below:

That’s right, we finally get a glimpse of that fight scene that led to Will up-and-moving all the way from Philadelphia to his Auntie and Uncle’s place in Bel-Air. You know the lyrics, right?

Game Informer can exclusively reveal the release date for Kardboard Kings, a new game from developer Henry’s House and publisher Akupara Games. As the name implies, it’s a game about becoming, well, the Kardboard King. That means designing and running the world’s best card game shop, and you’ll be able to do this on PC (via Steam) on February 10. 

You’ll not only need to customize your game shop and continually up its customer base, but you’ll also need to keep players coming back by buying, trading, and selling the rarest and best cards. Of course, you’re free to put your favorites in your card binder just for yourself, though.

 “You are the newest owner of a local game shop in the thriving town of Parakeet Bay,” Akupara Games tells Game Informer. “Live the ultimate card enthusiast dream. Collect, buy, and sell rare cards to drive your sales up and develop a bond with the locals to increase your reputation. Beautify your space by decorating it from a wide assortment of unlockable embellishments and awards to solidify your spot in the Kardboard Kingdom.” 

Oh, and did we mention there’s an adorable Pomeranian named Piccolo in Kardboard Kings? Because there is.

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Amazon has announced its Prime Gaming offerings for February.

Its own free-to-play MMO action RPG Lost Ark is due out on 11th February, and Prime members can get exclusive in-game items.

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Epic Games has issued a set of stats on its store's growth last year, and detailed upcoming improvements due to arrive in 2022.

The PC marketplace increased its registered users by 34 million in 2021, up to 194 million total, with a daily active user peak of 31.1 million.

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As we've gotten closer to Horizon Forbidden West's release, Sony has ramped up its barrage of marketing announcements with videos and blog posts highlighting various aspects of the game.

Perhaps more interestingly, Sony has today released the first footage of Horizon Forbidden West running on the PlayStation 4 Pro.

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Giftable Atari NFTs are being released for the company's 50th anniversary.

Produced by Republic Realm, active developers in the metaverse and NFT ecosystem, the "GFTs" are giftable NFTs that "unwrap" on a specific date with a "surprise" inside.

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Two Point Campus now has a release date: 17th May.

It's coming out across PC and consoles: Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. It's also coming to Game Pass on day one for both Xbox and PC.

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Sony's Uncharted movie is nearly upon us, and today we got one final glimpse at the long-awaited Tom Holland adventure.

This final trailer comes just two weeks ahead of the film's 11th February release date and is perhaps our best look at the overall project to date.

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This week the Electronic Wireless Show podcast discusses some of our favourite (and least favourite) inventory configurations. A humble beast, the inventory, yet a feature of many games - sometimes even a necessity. Often we only notice one if it's terrible. But boy, a good inventory is worth a dozen mules. So lets talk about them today!

In other news this week, Nate thinks he has come up with an original premise for a Pixar film, only to discover he has invented Seth Rogan's nightmare film Sausage Party, and we are officially starting our campaign to get Henry 'Vitamin H' Cavill on the show. We will be mentioning him every week from now on. Plus: what we like doing on our birthdays, school plays, and pro-wrestling adaptations of Dickens.

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After basically remaking Bullfrog sim Theme Hospital with their first game, Two Point Studios are preparing to return with a new comedy management game. Today they announced Two Point Campus will launch on the 17th of May, inviting us to build and run universities. All I need to know is that it seems one of the courses you can run involves cooking giant pizzas the size of a minibus. Is this real? Did I miss megapizza when I dropped out of university?

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Boomerangs are cool as hell. The sleek wooden objects careen through the air in a perfect circle - in theory, at least - before returning right back to where they began in the palm of your hand. They’re something that fascinated me as a child, and 20-something years later I still don’t really know how or why they work.

Deflector is like someone taped two swords to a boomerang, Mad Max-style. How does the boomerang still operate with twin blades slashing back and forth on either end? Don’t know. How does it always circle its way back to where you’re standing after dashing around an arena filled with enemies? Not a clue.

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The latest My Hero One’s Justice 2 DLC is here and adds villain Kurogiri to the game. People can get him alone for $3.99. He’s also part of the $19.99 Season Pass 2. He arrives about a week after Bandai Namco announced he’d join the roster.

Kurogiri is known for his Warp Gate Quirk. This can be used to teleport or attack. You can see the full Kurogiri trailer below. It contains in-game footage of him in a match.

Kurogiri and his warp abilities have just arrived to MY HERO ONE'S JUSTICE 2 season pass 2! #MHOJ2

Order today: https://t.co/X79gb6LBvb pic.twitter.com/3sgxUmbnYE

— Bandai Namco US (@BandaiNamcoUS) January 27, 2022

Here are some screenshots showing Kurogiri in-game. He looks pretty much exactly as he does in My Hero Academia.
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There are still two more My Hero One's Justice 2 DLC characters on the way with Season Pass 2. Hitoshi Shinso appeared as its first add-on. Present Mic followed. Bandai Namco didn't offer any hints as to who the ninth and tenth characters could be.

There's a chance to see exactly how Horizon Forbidden West will look on a PS4 Pro. In addition to PlayStation Blog clips, there is a new trailer. It spends under a minute showing off how it looks there.

Here's the PS4 Pro clip.

In addition, the game went gold. This means the master version is complete. It also means there shouldn't be any delays.

Horizon Forbidden West PS4 Pro gameplay showcases more of Guerrilla’s vibrant world as the game goes gold.

Join Aloy on her new adventure on PS5 and PS4 on 18th February: https://t.co/8ZBkzGKc3J pic.twitter.com/vb0aIDEZta

— PlayStation Europe (@PlayStationEU) January 27, 2022

The Genshin Impact alternate outfits for Amber, Jean, Mona, and Rosaria will be distributed starting January 27, 2022. People will get them for free. MiHoYo went over the process. All someone needs to do is log in between January 27, 2022 and the launch of the 2.5 update for them. They will be included via an in-game letter. However, after 2.5 they will be unlocked in a different way.

The letter with the costumes will be available for 30 days after you get it. Once you do, you can change the way they look from the character menu. On the main page there, you can press a button to choose between available outfits. Amber, Jean, Mona, and Rosaria’s original outfits and alternate costumes will all be available there when you get them. (So will any paid outfits if you have them and are available.

After 2.5, the costumes will unlock once you get the characters. Of the four characters, Amber is the only person who is earned for free. As people go through the Genshin Impact tutorial, they unlock the four-star Pyro archer. Rosaria is a four-star Cryo character who uses polearms and is available via banners. Both Jean and Mona are five-stars available all the time via Wanderlust Invocation standard and event wishes. (Jean is an Anemo swordswoman, while Mona is a Hydro catalyst-wielder.) So once people would pull one of those three from a banner for the first time, they’d get them and the extra outfit.

Good Smile Company has opened pre-orders for a Nendoroid of the Hololive VTuber Oozora Subaru. The figure is also available at $64.99 on GoodSmile US Shop for North American.

Subaru's Nendoroid will come with a removable hat and several facial expressions. The set will also come with a couple of plates featuring her famous tweets—her first-ever tweet and the "Subaru is a girl too" quote. As with other Hololive VTuber Nendoroids, Subaru's figure will have a pedestal with her name. A small figure of the mascot-like duck Subarudo will complete the set.

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Unlike other recent Nendoroids like Jojo Bizarre Adventure's Jolyne and Zagreus from Hades, Good Smile Company has put a hard limit on pre-orders for the Oozora Subaru Nendoroid. It will close the pre-order session when the amount has reached the limit. The company may re-open orders at a later date, but it will also produce and deliver subsequent batches later than the initial release.

Guerilla Games’ anticipated upcoming sequel is no longer in danger of any delays. The developer has today announced that Horizon Forbidden West has gone Gold, a term that was originally coined to describe the process of the final data file being ready for print on CD. Today’s digital era has slightly muddied the water on what exactly going Gold really represents (given that day one patches typically make huge changes to the “final” data file), but it does at least mean that the game will certainly be launching on Feb. 25.

The news comes by way of a Tweet from the game’s official channel, which, as you’ll see, includes a short video teaser:

We have some exciting news for your all: Horizon Forbidden West has gone GOLD! ✨#HorizonForbiddenWest #RiseAboveOurRuin pic.twitter.com/oRHDtDlxTI

— Guerrilla (@Guerrilla) January 27, 2022

Horizon Forbidden West releases for PS5 and PS4 on Feb. 18, 2022. Here’s how Sony describes it:

In some interesting news, it has just been announced that the Kao the Kangaroo series is returning this summer. One of the more obscure platforming series released on Sega Dreamcast and Game Boy Advanced, the franchise has been on hiatus for over a decade.

After a recent revival for its 20th anniversary, Nintendo has decided to bring back Kao the Kangaroo for a brand new adventure for the Switch in Summer 2022. You can check out the official announcement trailer for yourself below.

Kao the Kangaroo stars the titular marsupial, who loves to hop around and punch enemies with his boxing gloves amidst a colorful world. For more, here is a brief description of the series, provided by its official steam page.

THE GAME

Kao The Kangaroo is a 3D platformer from veterans of the genre Tate Multimedia, featuring a plucky, cheeky but a cutie, Kao The Kangaroo (Hey, just like in the title!) on a quest to uncover the truth around the disappearance of his father.

THE JOURNEY

Once upon a time, the Atelier series used to not get sequels bringing back the same protagonist. Apparently, Atelier Ryza 2 paved the way, and fans will soon be able to enjoy the return of another fan favorite. Sophie Neuenmuller will be back with Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream.

I got my hands on a pre-release copy of the English version of the game on PC, and it certainly feels like a treat for the fans. Sophie is definitely a beloved character among the rich cast of the Atelier series, having appeared in several games on top of the one (now two) in which she’s the main heroine.

The story starts pretty much where we had left it, with Sophie more determined than ever to take the Alchemist exam to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother and to find a way to give Plachta a human body.

Yet, things don’t go as planned and our heroine finds herself in a different world created by the goddess of dreams, separated from her friend. Though, not all the people she’ll meet will be complete strangers… in a big twist.

Today Koei Tecmo released new assets of the upcoming JRPG Atelier Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream.

The trailer focuses on introducing the story and characters of the game, which brings back one of the fan favorites heroines of the franchise, Sophie Neuenmuller.

We also hear the game’s opening theme “Syndetos” performed by Suzuyu.

After years of radio silence and then a sudden, long-awaited update, Dying Light 2 Stay Human is finally launching at the start of next month. Fans of the first game are likely still in disbelief since the sequel struggled to break free from what appeared to be development hell. It's been seven years since the zombie-infested Haran was first introduced to the world, and Techland is ready to celebrate with its community as the sequel's release date grows closer. Dying Light's seven-year anniversary is kicking off with a set of free, flashy weapon skins. 

It's been 7 years since the initial release of Dying Light!
Thank you all! We prepared a small gift for you for this anniversary to make waiting for Dying Light 2 Stay Human easier.
Use the docket code "DyingLight7" at https://t.co/FoeFgmj04T to grab some golden weapons! pic.twitter.com/NOFienFYQ7

— Dying Light (@DyingLightGame) January 26, 2022

A tweet (seen above) from the official Dying Light Twitter account excitedly announced the cosmetic reward:

Fans of Two Point Hospital, rejoice! Its college-themed cousin Two Point Campus begins enrollment on May 17. 

Two Point Campus lets players build and run their own college campus from scratch. The success of your school depends on the performance of your students, which you influence by providing your personalized blend of courses and extracurricular activities. But since this is a Two Point game, everything has a humorous slant. Whether it’s offering robotics classes, hosting strange rat-themed sporting events, or designing unorthodox dormitories, Two Point Campus lets you build the silliest for-profit institution of your dreams. You can find inspiration on what to make by watching a brand-new trailer below. 

You can find Two Point Campus on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Pre-ordering rewards additional items such as a U-shaped Topiary and a literal Fountain of Knowledge/Pearl of Wisdom. Two Point Hospital owners who pre-order receive a varsity jacket and suit of armor to use in the Hospital. Nabbing a physical copy gets you the Enrollment Edition that includes a fold-out Campus map and University Prospectus. 

Guerilla Games has announced that Horizon Forbidden West, the upcoming post-apocalyptic sequel to 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn, has gone gold. To accompany the news, the studio released some new gameplay footage and screenshots from the PlayStation 4 version of the game. 

When a game goes gold, it means the version of the game being put onto discs has been finalized. However, as anyone that plays games today likely knows, Day One updates are quite a regular occurrence and while Forbidden West has gone gold, Guerilla is likely working on one for this title. That means that sure, when you pop in the disc on February 18, the game will be playable but Guerilla will likely want you to download that Day One patch for an even better launch day experience. 

We have some exciting news for your all: Horizon Forbidden West has gone GOLD! ✨#HorizonForbiddenWest #RiseAboveOurRuin pic.twitter.com/oRHDtDlxTI

Evil Uno has played A LOT of video games in 2021.

Here are the best of them:

Honorable mentions: Ratchet & Clank: Ryft Apart, Deathloop, Death’s Door, Fights In Tight Spaces

This is the year that I went from playing games and talking about games to actually making games. I’ve been helping Stray Bombay (the makers of The Anacrusis) with comms, which means I finally understand how the sausage is made. At least for our game. Of course, I also co-host Brad & Will Made a Tech Pod with someone you probably know, and have been streaming PUBG, Returnal, Inscryption, The Anacrusis, and the occasional LEGO build on Twitch. (By the way, The Anacrusis came out in early access on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Epic Games Store, and Xbox/PC Game Pass on January 13. You should check it out!)

HELLO YES THIS IS DREW. Cranking out retro games and F1 podcasts doesn’t always leave a lot of time to play stuff these days, but I still managed to put together a list of things I played that came out this year! So stay awhile, and read.

10. Pokémon Unite

I’m really just putting this on here because it’s the closest substitute I’ve found for Fates Forever–the one (mobile) MOBA I ever got into–which was BRUTALLY ERASED FROM EXISTENCE so its developers could focus on some other project called “Discord.”

9. The Forgotten City