March 2022

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is an upcoming compilation of games featuring the stories of the nine mainline Star Wars movies. The game is being released on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox One and Series X.

The game promises the same charming action adventure gameplay you can expect from a Lego game. That means slicing through enemies with your lightsabre and destroying different parts of the environment to find all sorts of collectibles. What's also great about this game is, regardless of platform, being able to complete the story through local co-op. So if you have more than one Star Wars fan in your life, this could be a great game to play together.

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343 Industries describes Master Chief removing his helmet in the new Halo TV series as "a mission statement".

In a lengthy blog post from 343 Industries community writer Alex Wakeford dissecting the opening episode (it's full of spoilers!), the matter of the lead character removing his helmet is addressed, seemingly in response to fan criticism.

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Prime Gaming has announced its games for April, and they include The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition Deluxe.

From 1st April Prime Gaming members will be able to immerse themselves in eight games.

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Portable monitors have become increasingly popular over the last few years. The slim form factor makes for an easy-to-pack travel monitor that slides in right alongside your laptop, but these screens have potential as a on-the-go gaming display as well. There's just one issue - these monitors are almost universally built using LCD technology which, as anyone familiar with DF might know, is not our first choice when it comes to gaming displays. That's why I was fascinated by the sudden appearance of new OLED-based portable monitors such as the Innocn 15K1F we're discussing today.

Compared to LCD, OLED technology offers vastly superior contrast with inky blacks, excellent colour and faster motion response - I simply had to check it out to see if this is a worthy purchase or if it runs into some unforeseen pitfalls. I've spent the last month tinkering with this monitor in a variety of scenarios and walked away mostly impressed. So how does it stack up?

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When the 2.6 Genshin Impact arrived, it added The Chasm to the map. Now, that location is showing up in another spot. MiHoYo confirmed the Genshin Impact interactive map now features the new place.

When people visit this Genshin Impact official site, they can now select The Chasm: Underground Mines from the drop down menu. (The exterior of the new location appears on the Teyvat Interactive Map proper.) Once there, they can see where waypoints, chests, Lumenspar, Lumenlamps, puzzles, enemies, materials, viewpoints, and world quests are. You can also see exactly where the Ruin Serpent, the new boss, waits. Other in-game pins can be added if you log in, as usual.

Bokeh Game Studios kicked off a new video series. In each installment, Founder Keiichiro Toyama will talk with a guest. In the first entry, Resident Evil Creator and Director Shinji Mikami appeared to discuss the game, how the earlier Capcom game Sweet Home influenced it, and zombies.

After talking about their pasts, Mikami began talking about Resident Evil zombies. He discussed the challenge and means of making them intimidating and scary, as well as providing ambiance. For example, he mentioned how they can suddenly rush up and attack. He also discussed the limited resources in the original. For example, he referenced the limited amount of ammunition.

From there, Mikami talked about how Sweet Home, a Famicom horror game from Capcom and fellow Resident Evil creator Tokuro Fujiwara, helped shape the Resident Evil series as a whole. He explained how the way it handled resources carried over. In Sweet Home, players’ five characters each have one item and can pick up and use others along the way. To escape the mansion and its ghost, you have to use each of the items they arrived with and ones found in the house.

Here’s everything Mikami had to say about his feelings for Sweet Home and its effect on Resident Evil.

A new Grisaia game will appear on PC browsers in Japan. Frontwing and Exnoa have confirmed the launch date for Grisaia: Barcarolle of the Battlefield. It will appear on DMM Games on April 5, 2022.

The Japanese official website shows the browser game's features. Players will collect multiple characters—including different costume versions of the same character. Together with the heroines, they will fight against waves of enemies to win in-game rewards.

Barcarolle of the Battlefield will also have an extensive visual novel storyline spanning more than a million Japanese letters. Additionally, DMM Games confirmed that this game's story will take place after The Eden of Grisaia. It has published a Prologue trailer for the browser game on its YouTube channel.

[tnm_video layout="mnmd-post-media"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rstNUrCiwUg[/tnm_video]

The Grisaia series comprises many visual novel titles. The original trilogy—Fruit, Labyrinth, and Eden—appeared on PCs in Japan from 2011 to 2013. Frontwing also released the Grisaia Phantom Trigger spinoff series between 2017 and 2022. It concluded with the final Volume 8 released in February 2022.

Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher: Humble Games
Developer: Witch Beam
Release: November 2, 2021 (PC, Switch, Xbox One), 2022 (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4)

Unpacking became one of 2021’s hidden gems when it launched on Xbox, Switch, and PC last November. Soon, PlayStation fans will have a chance to experience this unique narrative adventure when it comes to PS5 and PS4 this Spring.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, iOS, Android
Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: ArtPlay
Release: June 18, 2019 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC), June 25, 2019 (Switch), December 3, 2020 (iOS, Android)
Rating: Teen

Everyone’s favorite terrifying clown is getting his own prequel series on HBO Max, as news broke earlier today that a brand new series titled Welcome to Derry is coming to the platform in the near future.

According to Variety, the series will be set in the 1960s and will focus on the time leading up to the events of the 2017 film, It: Part One, which was based on Stephen King’s novel. While the exact details of the story haven’t been released, it will include the origins of the series’ antagonist, Pennywise the Clown.

The two newest films in the franchise films collectively grossed over $1.1 billion at the global box office upon their release, which likely prompted HBO to go forward with a new mini-series. The choice to make it into a TV series shouldn’t surprise anyone, as the original 1990s adaptation was previously a two-part miniseries that aired on ABC.

It: Part One and It: Part Two director Andy Muschietti, is also set to serve as an executive producer. Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs are also rumored to be in charge of the story for Welcome to Derry, with Fuchs in charge of writing the script.

For more information on Welcome to Derry, be sure to check back to Twinfinite for updates. In the meantime, we’ve also got plenty of great horror news, features, and quizzes for all of your favorite movies, television shows, and games down below.

Today Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the games that will be granted to PlayStation Plus subscribers in April 2022 at no additional cost.

We’re getting Hood: Outlaws & Legends for PS4 and PS5, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated for PS4, and Slay the Spire for PS4.

We also learn that Persona 5 will be removed from the PS Plus Collection on May 11.

The new games will be made available on April 5 to PlayStation Plus subscribers.

This comes hot on the heels of the news about big changes coming to the PlayStation Plus services, but these won’t be effective before June.

If you’re unfamiliar with any of the games, here’s an official description for each.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends | PS4 & PS5

Hood: In this intense online multiplayer2 title, rival gangs compete in daring heists to hit the wealthy where it hurts. One of the different game modes is State Heist: a full coop PvE mode where teams control spawn points to recuperate as much gold as possible. In Gold Rush PvPvE mode however, two teams of four players battle it out in an attempt to execute the perfect heist, stealing and extracting treasure while fighting each other and the AI Guards. Equipped with unique skills and mystical abilities, each character moves in stealth to steal treasures unseen. It’s up to you to recruit your band of outlaws, master formidable fortresses and outplay your rivals.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated | PS4

Following this morning’s news that revealed Tales of Arise crossover items distributed in Scarlet Nexus we learn that the collaboration is going both ways.

Tales of Arise users also got three accessories for their characters plus one music track from Scarlet Nexus.

You can check out a trailer and a gallery of screenshots below.

If you love deep sea horror and have been looking to spice up your RPG campaign, then Alone in the Deep is just for you. Running on the Mothership RPG system, this brand new indie adventure takes players under the sea, tasking them with trying to save their remaining crewmates from a creepy catastrophe.

Created by S.Murphy Games, Alone in the Deep can be experienced as a standalone one-shot, or as part of an ongoing campaign. You can check out the official description for the game right down below.

HELP WILL NOT COME.

Something has gone terribly wrong on the Rimor 89. Crew are failing to report for duty, strange sounds are echoing throughout the vessel, and it feels as though the ocean itself is trying to eat the submarine alive. Can the remaining crew figure out whats happening? Or will the Rimor 89 end up as yet another wreck on the ocean floor?

EASY TO RUN, EASY TO PLAY

Alone In The Deep is designed for the easy to run Mothership RPG system (while being easy to convert to any other) and fits entirely on an a4 pamphlet. The adventures layout is designed around being easy to read and run at a glance, making it an ideal module for GM’s of any experience level. 

Alone in the Deep is available now for free to download on itch.io.

With looter shooters, one of the biggest tasks is finding a great farm that both respects the time put it into and is easy to get back to when it is time to take a break. Due to this, in the Borderlands series, bosses have long since been the ideal farm targets. Everyone knows the routine of kill boss, quit game, load back in. However, in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands you can cut out some of the downtime and even now farm bosses in co-op.

The first order of business is to get yourself to whatever boss you want, it doesn’t matter. You can be doing this solo or co-op, both work. Co-op farming even gives you the added bonus of better loot.

Once you have beaten the boss, without going anywhere, open your map and find Brighthoof on your Fast Travel menu and use it. The Town Portal mechanic is what makes the trick work.

Today, The Umbrella Academy revealed a brand new screenshot of Viktor Hargreeves, who is played by one of the show’s stars, Elliot Page. The news came by way of a tweet by the actor, which was then retweeted by the show’s official Twitter account.

Back in 2020, the actor came out as transgendered, changing their name from Ellen Page to Elliot Page to reflect that change. According to the tweet, his character will also come out as transgendered in the show, changing their name from Vanya to Viktor.

You can check out the screenshot of Page’s character, as well as a detailed description of the next season’s overview, below:

After putting a stop to 1963’s doomsday, the Umbrella Academy return home to the present, convinced they prevented the initial apocalypse and fixed this godforsaken timeline once and for all. But after a brief moment of celebration, they realize things aren’t exactly (okay, not at all) how they left them. Enter the Sparrow Academy.

Swedish publisher Kinda Brave is opening its doors, as the company revealed in an announcement earlier today that it would be working toward creating an environment that would incubate new studios, diversify the industry, and reduce carbon emissions.

You can check out the official announcement trailer and core values statement below:

Anno: Mutationem is an overly ambitious love letter with one too many recipients. While the game has an interesting gumbo of ideas, its story buckles under the weight of living up to the very properties it attempts to pay tribute to. Ultimately, Mutationem’s ending fails to deliver a satisfying or cohesive pursuit of…

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Developer Guerrilla Games has rolled out a massive patch for Horizon Forbidden West, purporting to fix more than a dozen quests, plus a litany of minor hiccups. It also aims to make the game less shimmery. Those who made it through the era of puddlegate unscathed should rejoice.

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Today marks the launch of Intel's Arc A-series graphics family, the company's first discrete graphics cards to go head to head against industry titans AMD and Nvidia. To start, Team Blue is building its Arc GPUs for laptops, with entry-level Arc 3 models debuting now in laptops from $899. Higher-powered models called Arc 5 and Arc 7 are set to arrive early this summer, in higher-end machines. The company also teased its first desktop Arc graphics card at the very end of its presentation, showing off a much beefier design than the DG1 card shipped to developers last year. Here's what you need to know from Intel's Arc announcements.

First of all, the Arc series of graphics cards ought to be fully-featured models, with support for the full DirectX 12 Ultimate feature set (ray tracing, VRS, mesh shading, sampler feedback) plus DirectStorage and XeSS AI upscaling. That puts them on an even keel with Nvidia in terms of most features, and ahead of AMD who don't yet have a temporal upscaling solution.

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Sony has warned PlayStation 5 owners that Persona 5 is being removed from its PlayStation Plus Collection on 11th May.

The PlayStation Plus Collection launched alongside PS5 back in 2020, giving PlayStation Plus members on Sony's new console access to 20 first- and third-party PlayStation 4 titles for as long as their subscription continued:

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Acclaimed Industrial-Revolution-era city builder Anno 1800 has enjoyed significant success since its release in 2019 - having surpassed more than 2m players at last count - and Ubisoft is capitalising on its continuing popularity with a fourth season of DLC. That much we already knew, but now the publisher has provided early details of Season 4 - which will include the likes of airplanes and agricultural revolution - revealing its first DLC will arrive on 12th April.

As outlined in Ubisoft's new introductory video, Anno 1800's fourth season will introduce a total of three new paid DLCs before 2022 is through, with its first offering being titled Seeds of Change. Arriving on 12th April, this will enable players to "revolutionise" the agricultural sector of the New World, introducing a powerful new building - the Hacienda - that will become the agricultural hub of players' empires.

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Atlus' fighting game series Power Instinct will have its 30th anniversary in 2023. However, there will be no ports or re-releases during the timeframe. Keiko "Chuuko" Ijuu, the former representative director of Noise Factory and producer of the series, made the announcement on Twitter.

The first tweet revealed that Chuuko had sent petitions to the series' rights holder since November 2021. However, the holder rejected it because one of the series characters would have a high risk of triggering litigation related to political correctness.

After the first refusal, Chuuko suggested releasing the Power Instinct title by excluding the controversial character. The rights holder still refused the proposal, citing a change in trends of the era and the difficulty in re-releasing past games.

With game ports out of the question, Chuuko is now sending proposals for republications of non-game content, such as soundtrack and character background documents. She also expressed her intent to set up a one-person company to publish content related to Power Instinct.

Sony confirmed the PlayStation Plus April 2022 titles. This time, only three titles will appear. People will be able to pick up the PS4 games SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated and Slay the Spire. Hood: Outlaws & Legends will also appear for both PS4 and PS5 owners.

Sony confirmed the PlayStation Plus April 2022 titles. This time, only three titles will appear. People will be able to pick up the PS4 games SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated and Slay the Spire. Hood: Outlaws & Legends will also appear for both PS4 and PS5 owners.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends first appeared on the PS4 and PS5 in May 2021. It normally costs $19.99. In it, eight people are divided into two teams of four. They then attempt to steal treasure in various maps to ensure their thieves do the best.

Slay the Spire showed up in May 2019. Someone would normally need to pay $24.99 for a copy. In this roguelike, people build up a deck of actions to take part in battles as they head through a dungeon and face its foes.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated debuted on the PS4 in June 2020. Usually, people would need to pay $29.99 for it. It is the updated release of the GameCube, PS2, and Xbox platformer of the same name.

The PS5 exclusive PlayStation Plus Collection library is about to get a bit smaller, as Persona 5 will be leaving it. Sony noted it will leave on May 11, 2022. No reason was offered for its upcoming removal.

The announcement did confirm that it follows standard PlayStation Plus protocol. If you claim Persona 5 before it leaves on May 11, 2022, then you maintain access to it. As long as you subscribe, even if you let the subscription lapse and resubscribe, it will be in your library.

Persona 5 is one of the third-party games in the PS5 PlayStation Plus Collection. Others include FFXV Royal Edition, Monster Hunter: World, and Resident Evil 7. At the moment, there’s a fairly even split between third and first-party games like Bloodborne and The Last of Us Remastered. The total number of available games will go down to 19 once Persona 5 is removed.

Persona 5 is available for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

The post Persona 5 Leaving PS5 PlayStation Plus Collection in May appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix talked more about the FFXIV housing lottery system the end of March 2022, and now it offered more details about what this means for free company housing. Most of the details involve exactly who can and can’t enter the lottery for a plot and what happens when multiple people enter. However, Square Enix also noted how it will handle free companies dealing with world regrouping who want to enter the lottery, but wouldn’t normally due to the new entry requirements.

Many of the initial questions dealt with additional information about the lottery system requirements. People must be a member of the free company for 30 days or more to participate, even if they a free company master. Also, if people add a fourth member now, they group can participate, but the fourth member can’t yet. People can only apply to either get a free company plot or a private one for themselves, as they can’t place bids for personal and group land during the same lottery. They must choose.

To go along with the Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition remaster, there is also a new song. Square Enix already shared snippets of “Dreams of the Past, Memories,” which is performed in Irish by Aisling McGlynn and composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. Now there’s a music video for the full track.

Here’s the “Dreams of the Past, Memories” music video. There’s no gameplay footage from Chrono Cross during the song. Rather, it focuses on McGlynn as she performs.

There's another way to hear Chrono Cross songs ahead of the remaster's release. Its soundtrack will appear on vinyl. To help promote its release, Square Enix shared a trailer with more tracks from the game. In addition to this new song, there are seven new arrangements of old tracks.

Several years later than planned, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe finally has a release date: April 27th. It's an "expanded re-imagining" of the surprising and funny and first-person explorer about an office worker who ends up on a surreal adventure probing strange depths and crashing through the fourth wall. Now, his adventure will be even bigger. The devs claim that "the script for the new content is longer than the script for the original game."

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It's a strange thing, returning to the world of Death Stranding after more than a year away. Having done that classic thing of rinsing almost every last delivery out of it before finally strapping myself in for its rollercoaster ending back in 2020, there hasn't been much reason to return to my precious, daft BB Boys in the intervening months - not even its Cyberpunk 2077 crossover was enough to tempt me back. At long last, though, I have cause to load up the BB train again. Death Stranding Director's Cut arrives on Steam and the Epic Games Store today, bringing with it new story missions, new delivery buddies, new weapons and... a Mario Kart-style race track? Yep, that sounds like a classic Kojima upgrade pack, if you ask me. Not quite as revolutionary as Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, mind, but it's roughly in the same kind of ballpark.

With Crusader Kings III finally having invaded the console market - presumably, as a result of a club-footed Belgian mystic spending months fabricating a claim to it - now seems a fine moment to step back and see how the game looks, eighteen months into its reign on PC. The answer, with almost embarrassing simplicity, is: “great”.

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Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Developer: Bandai Namco
Release: September 10, 2021
Rating: Teen

The oddly lighthearted and heartfelt adventure Bugsnax launched November 2020, making it one of the first games many played on PlayStation 5, which was released the same day. Nearly a year later, Young Horses, the game’s developer, announced during a Sony State of Play the game would be getting a new DLC. Called The Isle of Bigsnax, the expansion will be free for players who already own the base game. On top of a fresh story, which should take three to five hours to complete according to the creators, fans can expect a slew of new content. And while it’s aiming to release in the first half of 2022, we got an early hands-on look at the game at GDC.

Adding hours of playtime to the original game, Young Horses announced players would receive their own in-game dwelling to renovate. Now you can feel like part of the Grumpus community. The hut begins as a glorified pile of sticks. But, by completing requests from fellow villagers, players gain access to options for furniture, paint, decorative items, and even an upstairs. Many of these received objects reflect the giver. The exercise-obsessed Chandlo may offer players a weightlifting trophy, while Snaxburg’s Mayor Filbo might gift an adorable stuffed Grumpus.

Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse released new art and details introducing two new characters.

Their names are Yelan and Kuki Shinobu, and they’re likely to be added to the game with the next version, following 2.6 that was released today.

You can check them out below.

You heard right, folks, the very first prequel to Game of Thrones, titled House of the Dragon will premiere on HBO on August 21. The last big news regarding this spin-off was in October of 2021 when the teaser trailer was released.

As you might be able to guess from the title, this spin-off will focus on the deadliest white-haired family, House Targaryen.

According to HBO, the show is:

Based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” the series, which is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen.

If you look up Fire & Blood itself, you get more of an idea of the craziness House of the Dragon might deliver. With the book described on George R. R. Martin’s website as:

Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire and Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.

What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why did it become so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What is the origin of Daenerys’s three dragon eggs? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel…

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe will finally be coming to PC and consoles with a set release date of April 27, 2022, developer Crows Crows Crows announced today. The game was originally announced for 2019, but had been delayed several times throughout the years.

The new game is a remake and a re-imagining of the 2013 narrative adventure game The Stanley Parable. The Ultra Deluxe version will expand upon the world of the original game with new content, choices, and secrets. It will also be available for the first time on consoles, as the first game was only released for PC, Mac, and Linux.

“You will play as Stanley, and you will not play as Stanley,” according to the trailer’s description. “You will make a choice, and you will have your choices taken from you. The game will end, the game will never end. Contradiction follows contradiction, the rules of how games should work are broken, then broken again. You are not here to win. The Stanley Parable is a game that plays you.”

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe will be launching on April 27 for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.