August 2022

Apex Legends: Hunted is soon to release, and leading the charge is Vantage - the youngest Legend ever inducted (or abducted) into the Apex Games. Vantage hails from the icy world of Pagos, and her skills as a sharpshooter are borne out in her three powerful abilities - not least of which is her custom sniper rifle Ultimate, which she can bring out before the ability has even fully charged in order to snipe enemies and mark them for increased damage for her entire team.

Take a closer look at her dangerous-sounding abilities in the new Apex Legends vignette trailer below.

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I'm back from my holidays to record The Electronic Wireless Show podcast once again, and I've brought a reader email and a new tattoo of Murray from Monkey Island with me. These are both relevant, because the email from James suggests that we talk about the games that we'd like to play for the first time again - just erase them from our heads and encounter them anew. Thus, we discuss Lucasarts games like the Monkey Island series. See, I tied it all together.

In fact, I'm not sure if I'd wipe Monkey Island from my head or not, because I can't be sure how much of my love for it is fuelled by nostalgia. Matthew has other concerns, though, because as is our usual fashion we spend some time discussing the question "what games would you play for the first time again?" more literally than is intended. What grave consequences would come from erasing certain things from your brain? What sort of person would co-host Nate be if he wiped the Civ games from his memory? Listen in to find out.

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Two Point Campus trades the operating rooms of its predecessor Two Point Hospital for lecture theatres and decrepit dorms. But its foundations remain the same: you're a manager with a budget and you've got to turn the fortunes of increasingly prestigious – and in some cases, bonkers – institutions around. Of course, this time you're not dealing with injured mummies and lazy surgeons, you're in charge of running university campuses (campi?) and ensuring they deliver a solid education.

The job of a university president is a pretty relaxed affair, which means you're able to soak in the joys of watching your oddball students grow. But this leniency means it struggles to reward you for constructing a campus that's uniquely yours.

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Dead Cells, the ever-expanding rogue-like action-platformer from developers Motion Twin and subsidiary Evil Empire, continues to swell, this time with the newly released Enter the Panchaku update, which introduces pet petting, a formidable dual frying pan weapon, and more.

The ability to pet your pets in a rogue-like action-platformer mightn't be at the top of your own personal list of exciting additions, but - as revealed in Evil Empire's extremely extensive release notes - the feature is now in, giving players the ability to show their companions some love between biomes. And why wouldn't you want to do that, you monster?

Elsewhere, the free Panchaku update introduces the new Panchaku weapon, which keen-eyed players might recognise as originating in the animated trailer for Dead Cells' Bad Seed expansion. It's described as "two frying pans tied together with a piece of string, which crits on enemies facing you and has a slick combo with hits behind and all around you". It'll also reflect bombs and projectiles mid-combo.

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast we're talking Pokémon, following the franchise's huge announcement livestream that divulged fresh details on upcoming games Scarlet and Violet.

The star of that show? Well, obviously it was Fidough - a freshly-baked dog Pokémon made of bread, whose popularity has now set the internet ablaze. But, dear viewer, we have questions. If Fidough is bread... can you eat it? Should you eat it? Why wouldn't you eat it? And how does it evolve?

Tom Phillips, Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Liv Ngan discuss all of this and show off our own two-minute art challenge concepts for whatever Fidough evolves into, while pondering how it might taste.

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With Apex Legends' 14th season coming in fast and its pre-launch promotional push in full swing,developer Respawn Entertainment has shared further details on new hero Vantage - this time focusing on her abilities - ahead of her arrival next Tuesday, 9th August.

Vantage was officially unveiled as Apex Legends' 22nd hero at the end of July, in a new Stories from the Outlands video introducing her as a young hunter on the snowy planet of Págos. Adding a sport of drama to her backstory, her mother is an escaped prisoner (wrongly convicted) who was forced to turn herself in after Vantage was badly injured in an accident.

With that lore dump out the way, Respawn has now turned its attention to detailing what Vantage will bring to Apex Legends in gameplay terms, revealing her abilities to be based around two core elements: her sniper rifle and her bat-like companion Echo.

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Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still alive, despite more than a decade of on-again, off-again development and the departure of its creator two years ago.

Narrative designer Sarah Arellano, formerly of Blizzard, today announced via Twitter that she had joined the project as its lead writer.

Arellano previously worked on World of Warcraft, following a stint at Saints Row studio Volition.

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The Star Wars droids are beloved figures in the franchise that can either be extremely valuable or downright useless. So, to celebrate our love and hate for these robotic beings, here’s a list of the top best units that will be ranked from trash can to sassy murder bot.

15. R5-D4 (A New Hope)

Top 15 Best Star Wars Droids, Ranked From Trash Can to Sassy Murder Bot

R5-D4 takes the top spot as the droid that malfunctioned in A New Hope. According to the franchise’s lore, these units were widely known to have many malfunctions, causing this particular character to become frustrated because no one wanted to buy them.

The past few years have been good for Bleach fans. In addition to the anime experiencing an unexpected revival, the manga series also saw the release of a new chapter and a potential spin-off in the form of Tite Kubo’s latest work, Burn the Witch. However, one big question has been hanging in the air that you’ve probably been asking yourself: Is the Bleach manga coming back? We were wondering the exact same thing, and after doing some research, we’ve compiled our findings in this guide.

Is the Bleach Manga Finished? Answered

As it currently stands, the chances of the Bleach manga coming back aren’t as hopeless as they once appeared.

On one hand, the manga did see new content released as recently as 2021 via a companion one shot for the announcement of the anime’s continuation. In it, Kubo introduced plenty of new characters who could be fleshed out further and a potential storyline for Ichigo and his companions to explore should the series continue.

Likewise, the anime has seen plenty of positive buzz and interest from anime fans. Should it perform well, this could translate to renewed interest in more one-shots or even regular chapters being produced by Kubo and published in Shonen Jump. They could then be released either through their regular publication or at a slower pace alongside their Shonen Jump+ online publications.

However, these factors going the other way could have the opposite effect. If the anime doesn’t receive a ton of attention upon release, Shonen Jump isn’t likely to show interest in putting out new chapters.

Yesterday, it was officially announced that Joaquin Phoenix will be returning for the Joker sequel. Today, Lady Gaga has confirmed the long-standing rumor that she will not only be joining the cast of the second film, but that she will be playing the Joker’s longstanding love interest, Harley Quinn.

Whether or not we’ll see the powerhouse couple go up against any caped crusaders remains to be seen; however, now, with our first look at the promo, it does seem more likely the sequel will indeed be a musical. You can take a peak at the announcement for yourself down below.

With a release date of Oct. 4, 2022, it’ll have been five years since the original release of the first film, which had previously shattered records and won numerous awards, on top of accumulating over $1 Billion globally.

There is just about one thing more deadly than other players in Fortnite, and that is misjudging a jump or heights and falling to your death. The recently unvaulted Crash Pad item is made to prevent deadly falls and is the focus of one of the new quests this week. Here’s how to bounce on three separate crash pads without landing in Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 3.

How to Use Crash Pads

Crash Pads come in sets of three and can be thrown to create a pad you can bounce on for height or to give yourself some extra travel distance. They can also be thrown from the air and provide protection from any fall damage. You simply have to hold the aim button and then press fire to throw them.

Disney’s entire back catalogue is filled to the brim with gems that flood our lizard brains with nostalgia. One such cult classic is 1993’s fantastical comedy pic Hocus Pocus which stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Middler, and Kathy Najimy as a mischievous trio of witches with a penchant for sucking the souls out of youngsters in a bid to stay young forever.

If you’re here, you’re likely curious as to whether Hocus Pocus is based on a true story. So, without further delay, let’s get started.

Is Hocus Pocus Based on a Real Story? Answered

The short answer is, no, Hocus Pocus is not based on a true story. The longer answer is that there is a little more to this question than meets the eye.

You see, one of the co-writers behind Hocus Pocus, David Kirshner, has said that the idea of the movie evolved from him telling scary bedtime stories to his children. Specifically, Kirshner told Yahoo back in 2015 that, “Halloween is a huge deal in our home, and it has been since our daughters were little.”

Furthermore, the writers have gone on record to say that they loosely based the three sisters at the heart of Hocus Pocus on the very real victims of the Salem Witch Trials.

What Were the Salem Witch Trials?

For those wondering what the Salem Witch Trials were, well, back in 1692 in puritanical Massachusetts, there were a series of arrests and prosecutions trying to figure out whether a group of around two hundred people were witches or not. The hearings ultimately led to 19 innocent people being hung, five being imprisoned, and one man being crushed to death.

On Wednesday right-wing media barker Alex Jones learned that his lawyers had accidentally sent the prosecution in his defamation trial a copy of his cell phone records. “You know what perjury is, right?” the plaintiffs’ lawyer asked as Jones tried to stumble backwards out of more crimes. Now one of the absolute…

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch received its second wave of Booster Course Pass DLC today, which adds eight new courses and finally fixes an old one. Let’s just say Coconut Mall’s Shy Guys aren’t so shy anymore, and if you get too close you will get merc’d.

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The record held by Eiichiro Oda's One Piece in Guinness World Records has received an update. The long-running manga series has generated even more copies when compared to the first time it received a world record in December 2014.

Hiroyuki Nakano, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Jump, displayed the new Guinness certificate on the official One Piece staff account on Twitter. It shows that there have been 416,566,000 copies of One Piece books circulated between December 1997 and July 2022.

Japanese press releases noted that the number contained in the certificate only counted the number of books published domestically in Japan. The Twitter account added that the manga series has over 500 million copies in print worldwide. That means around 84 million copies have circulated outside Japan.

In June 2022, Eiichiro Oda took a month-long hiatus from publishing new chapters. He wanted to recharge and prepare for the final arc of the long-running series. The hiatus did not dampen the popularity of the series, which resumed publication in the July 25, 2022 issue of Shonen Jump.

The developers of Crypt Of The NecroDancer just sneakily announced a followup. It's called Rift Of The NecroDancer, and it's a "standalone rhythm game in the NecroDancer universe." You can watch its surprise reveal below, at the end of the trailer for the newly released Synchrony DLC for Crypt Of The NecroDancer.

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My first encounter with Frogwares' Sherlock Holmes games was the Consolevania drubbing of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, but the series has come a long way since. Alice loved last year's Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, which stars a young, hot Holmes.

As CJ reported last week, Frogwares now intend to close the circle by pitting hot Holmes against (hot?) Cthulhu creatures in a remake of 2007's The Awakened. Its Kickstarter project launched today and there's a reveal trailer below.

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If you're changing your company's name in part because it's hard to pronounce, you'd presumably want to change it to something with zero ambiguity. Seemingly not, if publisher Koch Media are any indication, as they announced today that they've changed their name to Plaion. At least the mispronunciations are now lower stakes.

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We've been writing about Beyond Good & Evil 2 for over 14 years, but the ambitious open world sci-fi sequel hasn't been seen in over three. Ubisoft have maintained that the project isn't cancelled, and here's at least a little proof: narrative designer Sarah Arellano announced via Twitter that she's joined the project as lead writer.

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Crypt of the Necrodancer, the acclaimed rhythm-based dungeon-crawler from Brace Yourself Games, has - following its first update in five years last month - launched a huge new expansion, titled Synchrony, into Steam early access, bringing new characters, online multiplayer, and more. And if that wasn't enough, there's also some sort of sequel or spin-off on the way.

Getting the latter part of the announcement out of the way first, as details are currently rather limited, the follow-up is called Rift of the Necrodancer and is described as "new standalone rhythm game in the Necrodancer universe." Exactly what form it'll take is currently unclear, but Brace Yourself says to "stay tuned" for more details.

Thankfully, if it's details you want, Crypt of the Necrodancer's newly released Synchrony DLC delivers in spades, arriving alongside an absolutely enormous set of release notes. To summarise though, it brings three new characters, new enemies, new items, online multiplayer, a new Versus mode, full mod support, plus a stack of DLC-exclusive features.

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If you’ve recently purchased Hooked on You on Steam, you’ll have the chance to gain two rare cosmetic items for Dead by Daylight. However, players may be surprised to hear this news because there aren’t many details about this opportunity. So, we’ll tell you how to claim Hooked on You’s Sim rewards for DBD.

How To Claim Hooked on You Sim Rewards for DBD

The two Hooked on You Sim rewards you can claim for Dead by Daylight are the Surf Survivor outfit and the Captured Heart keychain. Here’s what you must do to get these exclusive rewards:

Today Microsoft announced that Xbox insiders in Ireland and Colombia are being prompted to test a new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service that will let them share their benefits with multiple family members and friends.

This allows players to add up to four people to their subscription, each with their own unique access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games, content, and benefits.  

For the moment enrollment is limited and you can only add players residing in the same nation as you. Members using Xbox All Access also aren’t eligible.

We can guess the price from the conversion of your remaining Xbox Game Pass Ultimate time (assuming you’re already a subscriber) into the new service. 30 days will be converted to 18, which means that the proportion is 30:18. Considering the present $14.99 price for 30 days, that means that the service would cost a little over $25, which is definitely convenient for five people. Of course, for now, this just speculation, and we’ll have to see what Microsoft will price it, assuming that it will be offered worldwide after it has been properly tested.

One thing is for sure, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate was already very attractive before, and the ability to share the price with friends and family would certainly make it even more attractive.

All that remains to be seen is where the offer will make it to the wider worldwide market, but this is information for another time.

Of course, we’ll keep you posted here on Twinfinite should Microsoft reveal new details.

Bear And Breakfast is a hotel management sim that plays like Animal Crossing. You gather resources every day, complete delivery errands, and build your Airbnb empire–all while playing as an adorable bear. The problem is that Bear and Breakfast lacks the relentless optimism of business sims while not delivering on any…

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Today Vampire Survivors, the popular top-down, reverse bullet hell roguelike currently in Early Access on Steam, received a patch that not only tweaked some of the game’s mechanics, but added a handy cheat menu as well.

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While it’s not the most powerful console out there, the smaller and more affordable Xbox Series S has been a big hit for Xbox. But reportedly, some devs have felt the strain of getting bigger, more advanced games to work on the console and in response, Microsoft is freeing up some memory to help improve the tiny…

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Ever since Arceus made the world in its image, Pokémon fans have had to grapple with a huge choice for every mainline game: which version to get. That quandary will remain in place for the latest games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, with many more unique features than usual, some even pertaining to the distant past or…

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Ooblets, the long-in-development indie title that blends monster collecting, farming, and dancing, has gone Gold. That means the game has completed certifications for release, signaling that its impending 1.0 launch is fast approaching. 

Developer Glumberland shared the news on Twitter, stating that they’ll announce the release date of the game’s full launch in the near future. Pre-orders for the recently announced Switch version will begin soon as well.

We just found out that Ooblets has gone 🌟GOLD🌟!!

That means we passed our main certifications so we'll be able to announce our 1.0 release date and open preorders on Switch soon ⏱️

We're so excited for everyone to get to play! pic.twitter.com/LHdJtgKTHV

Cast your mind back to March and you might recall reports claiming Microsoft was working on a new family plan for Game Pass. Those reports, it now transpires, were true, and an Insider Preview test of the new scheme is available now in an extremely limited number of countries.

As detailed in a new Microsoft blog post, the Xbox Insider trial version of the scheme will enable anyone with a special Insider Preview Game Pass plan to invite up to four people to share that subscription, with each one then gaining unique access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's full selection of games, content, and benefits.

The immediate catch right now is that the test is only available to those in Colombia and Ireland. And while the people being added to a subscription by Insiders don't need to be an Insider themselves, they do need a Microsoft account and must be in the same country.

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Following last week's announcement that Frogwares - the developer behind the likes of Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One and The Sinking City - is remaking its 2007 Sherlock/Lovecraft crossover The Awakened, the studio has released a first cinematic trailer for the project, which is seeking Kickstarter funding right now.

The Awakened, if you're unfamiliar, was the third instalment in a series of Frogwares-developed Sherlock Holmes investigatory adventures that has so far spanned nine games, pitting the Baker Street detective against Cthulhu cults and eldritch abominations across Victorian London, Switzerland, New Orleans, and the Scottish Highlands.

Frogwares' remake will see the studio reimagining the title for modern audiences, drawing on its learning from the more recent Sherlock games, and retooling its story to be a continuation of the young Sherlock arc, which started in last year's Chapter One. And if you're curious to know how that might look, the developer has you covered with a new cinematic trailer in which Sherlock and Watson traverse the New Orleans bayous into a strange realm that, pleasingly, looks to share more than a few aesthetic beats with Frogwares' Lovecraftian The Sinking City.

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Because the Culture Wars have now spread to every front imaginable, for the last few years board and tabletop games have been going through their own struggles as players traditionally marginalised in the space have fought for greater inclusion, in turn facing increasingly shrill levels of opposition. That opposition…

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If you looked in the dictionary under “cult classic,” Rocky Horror Picture Show perfectly exemplifies its definition. Not only is it a fantastic musical stage production, its popularity spawned an equally great movie full of science fiction, horror, and comedy. Of course, Tim Curry’s performance as Frank N. Furter cannot be overlooked. As with all good musicals, an interesting story was weaved throughout the film. That begs the question: is Rocky Horror Picture Show based on a true story?

Is Rocky Horror Picture Show Based on a True Story?

Long story short: no, Rocky Horror Picture Show isn’t based on a true story. The movie and play are rich in science fiction and horror elements. More importantly, there are various aspects of the movie that immediately call into question the possibility that Rocky Horror Picture Show is based in reality.

One prime example is the bizarre mad scientist Frank N. Furter. It isn’t that he’s a bisexual cross-dresser or even his status as a mad scientist—it’s the fact that Frank N. Furter is an alien from Transsexual, Transylvania. No, not the location in Romania, but a planet called Transylvania. Everyone who is housed at Frank N Furter’s mansion is from the same planet, excluding Janet and Brad. In fact, the mansion is a spaceship.

Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PC
Publisher: Kasedo Games
Developer: Dapper Penguin Studios
Release: August 5, 2022

Wisdom from those who have tried opening a restaurant informs you that it isn’t the easiest way to make money. If Recipe for Disaster is any indication, running a successful eatery is a challenging, trial-and-error affair with plenty of stress and frustration, but one that, once mastered, offers excitement and gratification to balance it all out.

In this restaurant-management sim, you manage staff, monitor your business, and work to ensure your lights stay on. Hiring the right employees to develop a balanced team composition and designing a functional and visually appealing restaurant are important, but this game goes deeper with its management tools. I particularly love how you can drill into the menu, even allowing you to create your own recipes.

While a big deal has been made about some former PlayStation exclusives coming to the PC—like Horizon and God of War—no deal was made last week whatsoever about a game with a much lower profile, but which I love regardless.

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There have been firefighting games for as long as there have been video games, but for whatever reason—and I’ll speculate on this in a second—there has never been a great one. Fire Commander is the latest game to try and break this duck, and while it doesn’t make it, I at least admire the way it tries.

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Nihon Falcom released another gallery of screenshots and artwork of its upcoming Trails JRPG The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki II – Crimson Sin.

We get to see quite a few characters most of which belong to powerful organizations like Ouroboros, the Bracers, the Central Intelligence Division, and Heiyue.

They are René Kincaid, Zin Vathek, Ellroy Harwood, Walter Kron, Lucrezia Isselee, Cao Lee, Gauran, and Ashen Lu.

You can check them all out below.

Developed by Yostar, best known for Arknights and Azur Lane, Aether Gazer is an upcoming free-to-play mobile ARPG with a futuristic and dystopian twist. There’s no set release date for the game just yet, though that’s par for the course with most mobile games, but the developers have just released a new concept trailer, which you can check out down below:

In addition to that, the game is now open for pre-registration, and here’s a preview of the pre-reg rewards players can get once the milestones have been hit: