Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've found ourselves playing over the last few days. This time: foxes, a unique take on running, and spooky stuff.
If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.
One of the best things about the first Sonic the Hedgehog film is it has its own personality. Sure, it features the blue blur you know and love, but putting him on Earth in the real world puts a new spin (pun intended) on the franchise. Unlike Sonic '06, anthropomorphic animals and humans together somehow make sense.
Yet where the first put the hedgehog into the real world, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 puts the video game back into the film, its plot now hinging on entire setpieces that honour the game series. There's a water-logged labyrinth! Snowboarding! The Tornado biplane! This is a film as much for the adult fans to pick apart as it is for kids to laugh at the silliness.
Hello, it's the list goblin. Every month I bring fun lists to share. My hideous goblin features and desperate hunger for SEO crumbs hide a generous heart. People don't expect kindness from a creature such as I. But life is full of twists, and so are video games.
Remember when BioShock pulled the rug from beneath you so hard you cracked your head on the wet tiles? Remember when the dragon scales fell from your eyes during The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim? Here's the 10 best plot twists in PC games. (I've limited it to games that are at least a couple of years old, still, don't be sad if you read spoilers.)
YouTuber Ayato has a big project on his hands: making a DIY Kaneda bike from Akira. The Kaneda bike is one of the most iconic bikes in anime—no, make that popular culture writ large. There are numerous Kaneda bike projects on YouTube, but in my opinion, this one is the best.
In a series of clips, Ayato has been…
Cities: VR, the virtual reality adaptation of developer Colossal Order's acclaimed city builder Cities: Skylines, is coming to Meta Quest 2 on 28th April.
Cities: VR is the work of Fast Travel Games, and the developer stresses its new edition isn't a direct port of Skylines - "VR does not allow for the size and scale of the PC version", it notes - instead choosing to emphasise "more intimate experiences set in smaller areas".
A new report has shed light behind the scenes of State of Decay 3, the upcoming open world zombie game from the Undead Labs.
Details published by Kotaku include allegations of sexism and mismanagement at the Microsoft-owned studio, and paint a picture of a game project which is still struggling to get off the ground years after its official reveal.
On the surface, Below the Ocean may look to be another pixel platformer paying homage to the 90s, but beneath that lies a curious twist worth exploring: floatiness.
When thinking of indie platformers, the likes of Super Meat Boy and Celeste comes to mind, and although they look joyful and cute, playing them is an entirely different experience. There is a harsh edge to the pixel precision these games often require, where a single misstep leads to a game over screen. Below the Ocean has a different approach. It sands down the harsh edges and embraces a floaty movement system that, in a palpable way, feels like swimming. If you feel intimidated by pixel platformers this might be the one to get you started.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 - the, would you believe it, third game in developer Inti Creates' acclaimed side-scrolling action-platforming series - will be heading to Switch on 28th July.
The original Azure Striker Gunvolt, which launched to a solid reception on 3DS back in 2014, took its retro-infused cue from Capcom's beloved Mega Man series, with Inti Creates having previously worked on Mega Man Zero, ZX, 9, and 10 (Gunvolt was also executive produced by Mega Man's Keiji Inafune). A sequel arrived two years later, and both games can now be played on Switch via the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack, if you're curious to learn more.
Although there are dozens and dozens of excellent gaming keyboards to choose from, very few have soft, quiet keys that also provide great tactile feel.
Thankfully, Razer have a keyboard for the rest of us. The Ornata V2 is currently on sale at nearly half price from Amazon, and available for just £54.99. And US gamers don't miss out either, as Amazon US have it on sale too for $54.99.
Don't Starve Together, developer Klei Entertainment's co-operative multiplayer twist on its acclaimed survival adventure, will be making its way to Switch on 12th April.
If you've already played Don't Starve, you'll be right at home with Together; it takes the original's deliciously dark survival conceit - in which you awake in an expansive, wonderfully twisted world and must forage, maim, eat, and build in order to survive long enough to orchestrate an escape - but enables you to do it all with friends in tow.
Nine Sols is an upcoming 2D action platformer developed by Red Candle, the folks behind horror games Devotion and Detention. It's a pretty big leap from their usual fare, but based on a 40 minute demo I got to play this week, it's worked out a treat. There's a hint of Sekiro in there, with katana clashing combat, combined with a mysterious story that has me itching to know more. This is rare for someone like me, who often cares more for the action than the characters. Hey, keep an eye on this one.
April Fool's Day mostly exists to demonstrate that marketing people are not funny, but I do like when developers follow through and actually make daft jokes reality. Case in point: renovate 'em up House Flipper has added two apartments from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. for you to fix up. You can refresh the 90s vibes of Rachel & Monica's flat, and make Chandler & Joey's flat at least somewhat resemble a place fit for human habitation. I approve of this April Foolishness.
Microsoft seemingly began testing raytracing in Minecraft earlier this week, but it was actually a mistake. The feature has now been pulled.
The feature appeared in a preview update on Xbox consoles, but it was quickly removed after news spread about its inclusion. The update included a raytracing preview for both Xbox Series X and Series S consoles but, according to Microsoft, it should never have appeared in the first place.
“The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for raytracing support on Xbox consoles,” the company confirmed. “This early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn't signal near future plans to bring raytracing support to consoles.”
The previous Minecraft Preview build available to Xbox Insiders inadvertently included prototype code for raytracing support on Xbox consoles. This early prototype code has been removed from Preview and doesn't signal near future plans to bring raytracing support to consoles.
— Minecraft (@Minecraft) March 31, 2022
That’s right – just because they’re testing it, doesn’t mean Minecraft will be getting raytracing on Xbox consoles anytime soon – even though Microsoft teased raytracing support two years ago.
Today Square Enix showcased the trailer and announced the release date of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV update 6.1 “Newfound Adventure.”
The update will launch for PS5, PS4, and PC on April 12.
The trailer brings back a look at familiar heroes and you can consider it slightly spoilery as these pre-update trailers always are. So you should watch it at your own peril.
Appropriately, we take a look at the new beginning for the story and new adventures. Speaking of new, we get glimpses at new characters but mostly known and loved faces, including some that you may not expect.
You can check out the trailer below, including the version with Japanese voices if you prefer them.
Everybody's Golf will soon be downgraded to Everybody's Golf As Long As They're All In the Same Room, following Sony announcement it'll be ending the PlayStation 4 game's multiplayer support and taking its servers offline from September this year.
More specifically, the Everybody's Golf servers will go permanently offline from 30th September 2022, meaning all online multiplayer modes and other online features - including the likes of leaderboards and certain trophies - will cease to be available from that point on.
Earlier this week it was announced that the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been delayed into next year. This was not exactly a surprise, but a shame, nonetheless. But, to soften this blow slightly, Nintendo also shared a new, very small, snippet from the game.
By snippet, I really do mean snippet. It was a "blink and you will miss it" situation. However, after playing it coy throughout Breath of the Wild 2's most recent trailer, this delay announcement did finally reveal the front of Link, and more of his corrupted arm (with said corruption looking like it is also starting to make its way across Link's chest).
A group of US senators has expressed concern at the possibility of a windfall payout for controversial Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick, as part of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of his company.
Four politicians, including former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, signed a letter to the Federal Trade Commission alerting it to the issue, The Wall St Journal has reported.
Players have already translated the runic language in Tunic.
Throughout the game, instructions from characters, signposts, and the in-game manual are written in a made-up runic language. Players aren't required to translate it; instead it adds an air of mystery to the foxy adventure and forces players to analyse visual clues instead.
The Steam Deck’s battery life isn’t one of its best qualities. While this weakness is outweighed by the pleasures of playing PC games in bed or on the bus, most such games will drain the Deck quickly, requiring a degree of foresight if you want to entertain yourself on a long trip away from mains power. At the same time, different games will drain at different speeds, with some allowing Valve’s handheld to last hours longer than others.
Ultimately, I think the only truly accurate way to measure and judge the Steam Deck’s battery life is to test a bunch of different games to see how long it lasts with each. So I have! Here you’ll find a list of games with how long they took to empty the Deck’s battery from full. I’ll be coming back and adding more to the list as I test them, so you can see for yourself what uptimes to expect from your favourites.
The comedy of Borderlands is like a high-recoil submachine gun. Hit and miss. In poorer moments, it falls into the trap of the sketch show, flogging a perfectly fine jokehorse to the point of putrefaction. In richer moments, it flips your expectations with a huge scene-changing gag that solicits a hearty giggle. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is more mix for the bag. It's a loots-be-shoot with a moreish loop urging you onward, boasting characterful art design and thick-lined scenery goading you to pause for yet another snap in photo mode. For Borderlikers, the gun compulsion and farty japes will be enough. It exists as a handsome world to roam through with pals, half-listening to dialogue while Paula chews toast and Jeremy complains about work. As that, Tinalands is fine. It is also 100% not for me.
When it comes to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, stock shortages are pretty much a thing of the past. While they're still not available everywhere all the time, you can almost always get one somewhere almost any time you want one. There are even deals to be found, although those are largely focused on the Xbox Series S, rather than Series X.
Below, you'll find links to all the places you can currently purchase a brand-new Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S. You might even find a deal on one. Let's get to it.
The Xbox Series S is pretty wildely available right now, and has been for quite some time. If you don't mind digital-only gaming along with some power trade-offs, this is actually a really great way to get into next-gen gaming. If you already have an Xbox Series X, the Series S is a perfect compliment for a second TV.
Right now Microsoft is running a deal that gets you a free digital game if you buy a Series S at regular price. The game selection is excellent, too (see above).
If, for some reason, you don't want a free game, you can get a $10 discount on a Series S at Amazon.
Today Square Enix hosted the 70th Final Fantasy XIV Letter From the Producer Live broadcast, focusing on upcoming update 6.1.
The update, about which we had heard plenty of information a month ago, will launch on PS5, PS4, and PC on April 12.
As usual, producer and director Naoki Yoshida and global community producer Toshio Murouchi provided plenty of details.
First of all, we learn that the main scenario quest part of the update will be quite sizable, so the new sidequests including the “Tataru’s Grand Endeavor” series will launch in a following 6.1X update.
The Arkasodara quests will come in update 6.15 alongside the new Hildibrand series and new custom deliveries focusing on Ameliance Leveilleur.
Omega: Beyond the Rift will also come in a following 6.1X update.
To be frank, I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting myself into when I hopped into Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars. I’ve got a little bit of experience with the Hyperdimension Neptunia RPG series, having played a couple of entries before, but I was completely new to Senran Kagura despite having heard so much about it over the years.
The Neptunia series itself has always carried with it a certain tone of lightheartedness and easily digestible gameplay mechanics and story beats. The characters are the highlight of the series, each of them representing a different game console and trying to fight for control in a world that’s constantly ravaged by a console war.
On the flip side, Senran Kagura is slightly more grounded in premise, though just as flamboyant in its presentation. This series revolves around various groups of female shinobi warriors competing with each other for dominance. When I said grounded, I meant as grounded as you can possibly be in the world of over-the-top anime.
Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars brings both worlds together in a similarly wacky premise. This time, all the console girls have banded together in a war against the shinobi, though that conflict is quickly put to the side when a third part enters the fray. A group of mecha enemies threaten to destroy both factions, and the girls quickly band together and resolve to defeat the new faction led by Yoh Gamer (I’m not making this up) before resuming their own war.
Why start something that you know you'll never finish? An hour into Elden Ring, I already knew I'd be chipping away at this game for years. The temptation to move on from anything too tricky, the endless number of things to move on to, an ocean of a map, my own limited free time... I could tell this would be another Bloodborne, another Skyrim, another Minecraft, another thing I love where I'd never see the credits roll. In this way Elden Ring is a lot like Berserk, the legendary fantasy manga so closely threaded into the DNA of the FromSoft games that it can sometimes feel impossible to pull the two apart. I'll never finish Berserk either, though not for lack of trying. The author Kentaro Miura died last May at the age of 54. His manga, which ran for over thirty years, was never completed.
I'll be frank: Miura's death hit me like a truck. Unfair doesn't even begin to cover it. I will never know Miura and I envy those who did, but through his work I felt I understood him, at least a little bit. There's something very teenager-ish about early Berserk. It's a whole lot of angst and blood and frustration splattered willy-nilly on the page. As the series went on, though, it grew into something that cautiously examined or even regretted the tone of the early chapters. Protagonist Guts - and Miura, through him - seemed to lose interest in avenging what he'd lost and instead chose to focus on protecting what he had left. Unfathomable horrors both man-made and Lovecraftian, institutional religion, war, political intrigue, sexual assault, grief, trauma, love, betrayal; Berserk took everything on, all while looking the best that any comic has ever looked, ever. And you can quote me on that.
Activision Blizzard will no longer require staff to be vaccinated against Covid, as the embattled Call of Duty and World of Warcraft company tries to encourage more people back into its offices from June.
The company said its move reflected similar changes made by other businesses across the US, in a company-wide email from exec Brian Bulatao, shared by ABK Worker Alliance's Jessica Gonzalez (thanks, Kotaku).
With so many key features that make a great gaming mouse, it's not often to find one that seems to check every box, particularly one on sale. But Razer have been making excellent mice for years now, and their DeathAdder V2 Pro is one of the best of the bunch at this price range.
Amazon currently have it reduced by nearly half price, down to just £66.99. And our US readers don't miss out on this deal either, as it's reduced by a similar margin to just $69.99.
Platform:
PlayStation 3
Publisher:
Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer:
Eat Sleep Play
Release:
2011
Rating:
Mature
My wife left me three weeks ago.
I was heartbroken, completely taken aback – it truly came as a surprise. How did I end up here? Why had she decided to leave me? I know she mentioned something a few weeks ago about me not being present or something like that, but I can’t seem to recall what she said. Regardless, life hasn’t been the same since.
There’s a flame that shines in this eternal darkness I now feel, though: the light of the fire that burns atop Needle Kane’s head in Twisted Metal Black. I’m trying to work through all the ways I failed as a partner in marriage, but it’s Twisted Metal Black that leaves me resting each night feeling like the day I had just lived through was better than the one before it.
Platform:
PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4
Publisher:
PlayStation Studios
Developer:
Polyphony Digital
Release:
Popular Gran Turismo 7 streamer, LifeIsAHighway79, has seemingly been canceled after a disturbing discovery that he plays Forza Horizon 5 in his off-time.
LifeIsAHighway79, otherwise known as John Jacobs William, was finishing up a 13-hour stream of Gran Turismo 7 – where each time he lost a race he explained that the game was busted and “buggy as hell” – when he told his viewers that he needed to take a break and eat some “chicky nuggies” heavily dipped in BBQ sauce.
Platform:
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch
Publisher:
PlayStation Studios
Developer:
Sony Interactive Entertainment San Diego Studio
Release:
Rating:
Everyone
A few weeks ago, spring's annual crack of the bat was in question as MLB's lockout dragged on. The players and league eventually came to an agreement, and the season was delayed slightly, but no games will be lost. As of this writing, we are just a week away from the first pitch being thrown on April 7. Sony's MLB The Show series usually hits a few weeks in advance of the MLB season starting, but this year's installment hits the streets just two days before it on April 5 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and, for the first time, on Switch.
In an unexpected but mouth-watering development, From Software has partnered with Red Lobster to summon the restaurant’s single greatest asset to Elden Ring: delicious Cheddar Bay biscuits.
Coming in patch version 1.05, players exploring Liurnia of the Lakes will soon find oversized bipedal biscuit monsters roaming alongside the giant lobsters already terrorizing the area. These lip-smacking foes attack by pulling off pieces of themselves to lob at the player. When hit, your character is inflicted with the “hungry” status ailment, making them halt to obsessively devour the giant crumb. This leaves them vulnerable to attack by the bone-crushing lobsters, making them a deliciously deadly duo.
In a press release, Red Lobster describes these savory troublemakers as “buttery, house-made horrors that are ready to feast on your runes! Speaking of feasting, Lobsterfest is back at Red Lobster! Get your revenge on those mean (but tasty) crustaceans by indulging in our Lobster Lover's Dream® and our new Lobster-Topped Stuffed Flounder! Stay Tarnished, not Famished!”
Slaying these tasty terrors drops the limited-time “greasy butter finger” consumable multiplayer item. Using this item summons a dozen cheddar biscuit enemies into your friend’s sessions because, according to Red Lobster, “everyone loves the friend who requests more biscuits for the table.” You'll also be rewarded with the special “lean back and loosen belt” gesture.
And breathe... We did it! We made it through the first three months of 2022, potentially the busiest first quarter of any year to date. By comparison, April 2022 almost seems a little light when it comes to new PC releases. Only one AAA blockbuster launching this month? How quaint.
Still, this relatively quiet period finally gives indie games a chance to breathe again. There are a ton of super interesting, smaller titles launching on PC this month that I’m excited to share with you all today. From epic turn-based RPGs based on English mythology to offbeat walking simulators about free will, there’s something for everyone launching on PC this month.
The main consolation of disliking a genre is the childish fun you can have by describing it badly and pretending you don’t know its name. For example, there's probably a generally accepted term for RPGs about traipsing around dungeons killing rats, while turning and moving strictly at 90 degree angles. But I actually typed out "Dungeons of Gridlock" because I genuinely thought that's what Legend Of Grimrock was called. For once, I am not trying to annoy fans of a thing I generally hate.
That's because I've been playing Potato Flowers In Full Bloom, which is very much one of those games. And it’s the first I’ve ever enjoyed.
People have been waiting for the GameStop bubble to pop for over a year now. Instead, the ailing brick and mortar video game retailer just posted another record week on Wall Street. Earnings are down. Employee morale is in the pits. But the company’s stock went from $78 per share last month to over $185 in early…
It seems an extraordinary thing for it to be a news story that, one-and-a-half years after release, you can buy an Xbox. But we live in extraordinary times, and right now is the first time the Xbox Series X has ever been easily available. You can just buy one! You know, if you have a spare $500.
