September 2022

The Pokémon Company is taking legal action against a popular Chinese mobile game, Pocket Monster Issue, which it claims is a Pokémon clone.

(No, not like Ditto. Or those Pokémon that Mewtwo made in the movie.)

Pocket Monster Issue is a popular smartphone game in the country, and has been running for more than five years. According to the South China Morning Post (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz), The Pokémon Company is seeking damages worth 500 million yuan (around £62m), and a series of public apologies posted on major gaming websites.

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Twitch streamer Tyler "Ninja" Blevins has seemingly decided to take a break from streaming.

Ninja is known for streaming Fortnite and is currently the most followed channel on Twitch with over 18 million followers.

After some unusual behaviour on his social media accounts, it's left some people confused as to what exactly has happened.

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Indie Gladiator game Domina has been delisted from Steam, after its developer went off on a transphobic rant.

Developer Nicholas John Leonhard Groissen took it upon himself to use his game as a platform to spout these comments in a recent 'update' announcing Domina's new name - Dominus.

"We're Out of Ideas, Mentally Unstable, Totally Degenerate, & Desperate for Clout - Let's Pretend We're A Completely Different Game to Regain Relevance!" the post began.

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Video game franchises need to change. That’s how they stay fresh; developers don’t want players to get tired from playing the same game so many times. Change is how some of gaming’s most iconic franchises have persevered; they make smart improvements to their formula, while still retaining those special elements that made them worth following in the first place.

Some franchises, though, go too overboard in trying to change things up. They end up losing sight of themselves and, in some cases, may never fully recover. Even if a new entry earns positive reception afterward, the franchise will always be looked at with skepticism thanks to those bad moments. Here are five such franchises that tripped over themselves in their attempts to change.

Valorant is built around the competitive experience it aims to deliver. It’s a game with a high ceiling in which precision is rewarded, and there are a bunch of built-in features to help players understand and improve their performance. One such stat is Average Combat Score and today we’ll be delving into the meaning of ACS in Valorant and how you can use this information to assess your skills.

ACS Meaning in Valorant, Explained

As mentioned above, ACS means Average Combat Score. The higher your ACS, the higher you will be placed on the match’s final scoreboard. This is the calculation that determines whether you will become the Team or Match MVP.

Note that combat score and damage are two different things; there is a separate stat that quite literally displays the average amount of damage you achieved per round (ADR). Combat score is slightly different; Valorant attaches a score to different combat achievements during the game, such as first bloods, kills, multi-kills, assists, etc.

This explains how your ACS can be higher than another player despite sometimes having a lower Kill-to-Death ratio. If you have been consistently scoring combat damage throughout every round, and contributing first bloods and assists, you’ll likely have a higher ACS than another player who, say, popped off with an ace in the final round that put them higher on the scoreboard than you in-game.

What Is a Good ACS in Valorant? Answered

Because every match of Valorant lasts for a different number of rounds depending on how close it is, there’s no concrete answer for what a good ACS is. Not to mention, the more aggressive your playstyle and role in the game, you’ll be scoring higher or lower combat scores. A duelist should always have a higher ACS than a controller, for example.

While scepticism was high for Amazon Studios’ Lord of the Rings prequel series, it’s fair to say that both critics and audiences alike are having a blast returning to Middle-earth and re-discovering the origin stories behind an epic fantasy world that is so deeply beloved. One mystery that perplexed some fans before the series debuted was a simple one: who would be the major antagonist in Amazon’s show? If you’re here, you’re likely wondering who Morgoth is in The Rings of Power. Without further ado, let’s dive in.

The Rings of Power – Who is Morgoth?

Morgoth is a famous Dark Lord of Middle-earth who is essentially the predecessor and mentor of The Lord of the Rings’ antagonist, Sauron. Indeed, Morgoth was the major Dark Lord for the First Age and the Second Age. Interestingly enough, Sauron was one of Morgoth’s best Lieutenants, and would go on to supplant Morgoth’s position as Dark Lord once defeated.

Morgoth, who also goes by the aliases Melkor and Arun, symbolises chaos, and he pretty much hates all life, including elves, humans, and dwarves. Sauron’s predecessor is also known to have created many evil beings in the world of Middle-earth, including the Balrogs (which we see in The Lord of the Rings) and the Dragons (as seen in The Hobbit). In short, he’s the big bad villain who is filled to the brim with hate and destruction, and is determined to put an end to the age of men, elves, and dwarves.

Another developer has stepped forward to accuse UK-based publisher PQube of exploitative behavior. Thailand-based Corecell, developer of 2019's AeternoBlade II, claims that PQube, its console publisher in Europe, withheld agreed-upon payments and refused to return publishing control for the game. The new accusations come a week after Mojiken and Toge Productions, developers of A Space for the Unbound, claimed that PQube misused funding from a diversity grant as leverage for its own commercial advantage.

Corecell delivered its statement via a Tweet on its official account.

https://twitter.com/AETERNOBLADE1/status/1565340890712772615

Now that Genshin Impact Version 3.0 is out, HoYoVerse is ready to start up a new event. Specifically, it's launching the Lost Riches event, during which players must seek out buried treasure. They can then exchange their findings for a number of rewards, including a Mini Seelie. The event will run from September 2-19, 2022.

To participate in the Lost Riches event, players must be Adventure Rank 20 or above. Those who are may team up with a Treasure-Seeking Seelie and, using the map in Ulman's Treasure Book,  travel to six different treasure areas. Once in a treasure area, they must help the Treasure-Seeking Seelie absorb three instances of energy, after which it will help direct them to the treasure buried in the area one time. Those who find where it's buried can dig it up to find a chest containing Ancient Iron Coins and other goodies. These Ancient Iron Coins may be exchanged in the Event Shop for materials, but will disappear at the end of the event.

A new treasure area will be unlocked every day until all six are available. Players will be allowed to exchange for a Mini Seelie gadget in the Event Shop upon completing the final area. There will be 5 different colors to choose from: Moss (green), Viola (purple), Dayflower (blue), Rosé (pink), and Curcuma (yellow). Only one Mini Seelie may be redeemed, with the other four will becoming unavailable. Primogems, Talent Level-Up Materials, Weapon Ascension Materials, Hero's Wit, Mystic Enhancement Ore, and Mora will also be obtainable.

CD Projekt Red has revealed that it will air a special episode of Night City Wire next week to discuss what's next for Cyberpunk 2077 and its upcoming anime, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. 

For the uninitiated, Night City Wire is basically like CDPR's version of a Nintendo Direct, except the showcases are specifically focused on Cyberpunk 2077. They were quite prevalent in the leadup to the release of Cyberpunk 2077, but now, with it nearing two years old, Night City Wire has grown to be rarer. The next one airs on Sept. 6 at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET, though, and will be "about our upcoming anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and what's next for Cyberpunk 2077."

Choooom! There's something new on the horizon – a special episode of Night City Wire!

We will talk about our upcoming anime Cyberpunk: #Edgerunners and what's next for #Cyberpunk2077. 🔥

See you on Tuesday, September 6th at 5 PM CESThttps://t.co/cBU8yS6pfc pic.twitter.com/8yobnx18qz

Developer Avalanche and Warner Bros. Interactive have released a new Hogwarts Legacy featurette that dives deep into the design of the titular school. It also features the first-ever look at the four house common rooms in Hogwarts Legacy, a sneak peek of some of the easter eggs in the game, and more. 

This new featurette runs more than four minutes long and gives players the most in-depth look at the actual school of Hogwarts in this game thus far. As noted in the video, the design of Hogwarts is based on the eight Harry Potter movies and the books written by controversial author J.K. Rowling, who will undoubtedly be making money from the sales of this game. 

Check out the featurette for yourself below: 

As you can see, Hogwarts is looking great, as are the four common rooms. What’s especially interesting is it gives viewers a look at the Hufflepuff common room, which has rarely been seen on screen in the wizarding world, as pointed out in the video. 

I do not want to be a farmer—I’m a city girl, or, on my most vulnerable days, a suburban wife in the making—but something about farming games is simply so relaxing.

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Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red will reveal its plans for the future of the game next week, via a fresh livestream.

A "special episode" of the developer's Night City Wire video series will broadcast next Tuesday, 6th September at 4pm UK time.

Will this be when we finally get a glimpse of Cyberpunk 2077's long-awaited multiplayer component? Will we see a single-player expansion? Or is this just more hairstyles for V?

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18 Capcom classics will come pre-loaded on the Evercade EXP.

Evercade's new retro game handheld was announced earlier this year by Blaze Entertainment, and builds on past hardware by adding a better screen, built-in Wi-Fi, and a new pair of triggers.

Today, we learned that it would also come with 14 Capcom arcade games and four more home console titles packed in, including Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Mega Man and Breath of Fire.

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Our Chris is back from Gamescom and he's pooped, yet despite that, it sounds as though he had a nice time. Who needs all the hullabaloo when a quieter event allows smaller games some air?

In today's episode of Weekly, Chris takes us back there, to Gamescom, sharing what it was like on the show floor, as well as the games that caught his eye and the gossip he heard.

We also dive into the big review of the week, Immortality, which Chris wrote. This is the new game from Her Story and Telling Lies developer Sam Barlow, so it arrives with anticipation. And it seems it dazzlingly lives up to it. And here we hear why.

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A touching tribute from Naughty Dog can be found in the newly-released Last of Us Part 1 for the PlayStation 5.

This tribute recognises the work of Visual Arts producer Daniel Kinnard, who passed away during the game's production.

His image can be seen immortalised within the game, where the developer has been reimagined as a pro baseball player for the Denver Skulls on a poster adorning the walls of the farmhouse players search when looking for Ellie.

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Two classic games from the Nintendo 64 era have met in a rather unusual crossover thanks to modders.

GoldenEye 007 has been given a Mario-inspired makeover, which sees a multitude of Koopas patrolling through a custom-made version of Nintendo 64's Bomb-omb Battlefield with KF7 Soviet rifles and hand grenades.

Of course, the turtle-like foot soldiers and their Bob-omb comrades do not stand a chance against this Bond-like Mario protagonist and his own weaponary.

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Xbox has officially announced its Game Pass Friends and Family plan, which is already available in Colombia and the Republic of Ireland.

A few days ago, a logo for the plan, which was reportedly scraped from Xbox's backend system, surfaced online.

Xbox has now made an official announcement unveiling the new plan, including details on what exactly it includes and pricing.

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Today Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse released a new trailer showcasing a new character coming to the game, Dori.

Dori is a merchant based in Sumeru who rides a genie-like creature (which comes with the traditional lamp) and shares a deep love for money.

She is voiced by Anjali Kunapaneni in English and Tomoko Kaneda in Japanese.

You can check her trailers out below both in English and Japanese, so you can pick the voice-over you prefer.

“What constitutes Dori’s Divine Bazaar, you ask? Rare products, mysterious sources, exorbitant prices, persuasive eloquence— Oh, and the insatiable pursuit of Mora.”

Destiny 2’s highest endgame activity, Raids, are some of the game’s best content as nothing beats the feeling of finally conquering the monstrosities that lie in wait. Aside from the satisfaction of completing a raid, these activities also contain many hidden secrets and loot that makes the replay factor high. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen introduced the Vow of the Disciple Raid earlier this year, and deep in the dark Pyramid Ship, Guardians can discover a very powerful Exotic Pulse Rifle forged in the Void. In case you missed it, here’s what you need to know on how to unlock the Collective Obligation Exotic Pulse Rifle.

Unlocking the Collective Obligation Exotic Pulse Rifle

The Collective Obligation Exotic Pulse Rifle can only be unlocked by completing the Vow of the Disciple Raid in Destiny 2.

Biomutant has dropped gameplay videos for every next gen console it will be releasing for on Sept. 6.

These videos cover the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The Series S does indeed gets its own video, and there are noticeable differences in its resolution offerings.

Any PS4 or Xbox One owners of Biomutant will be able to upgrade to the new version for free. On top of that, saves will carry over and any trophies or achievements unlocked on a previous version will automatically unlock on any of the below versions.

First up we’ll give you the PS5 video, below it we will share the technical details given in a press release.

“The native PlayStation 5 version features faster loading times, HDR as well as DualSense and Activity Card support.”

There will be three modes in-game that offer differing resolutions:

• Quality Mode: Native 4K (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 30 FPS
• Performance Mode: Native 1440p (with Dynamic Resolution) @ stable 60 FPS
• Quality Unleashed: Native 4K (with Dynamic Resolution) @ up to 60 FPS

The Xbox Series X details are roughly the same.

With Amazon Studios’ long-awaited The Lord of the Rings prequel series making waves right now, a whole new generation of Tolkienites are being forged in the fires of Mount Doom. Yes, The Rings of Power is finally here, and fans are already busy at work dissecting every morsel of intel the new show offers. If you’re here, though, you’re likely curious as to how long elves and dwarves live in The Rings of Power. With that in mind, then, let’s get started.

The Rings of Power – How Long Do Elves & Dwarves Live?

Elves are an immortal race in The Rings of Power, meaning they do not age as quickly as humans and do not die of old age like their mortal counterparts. Instead, elves can potentially live forever. Pretty cool, huh?

Here’s the rub, though. An elf can be killed in combat if they’re mortally wounded. In other words, it’s possible for elves to die, but if they steer clear of combat and keep themselves out of harm’s way, elves can potentially live in perpetuity.

Dwarves, on the other hand, are much like humans in that they’re mortal beings. This means that they do age and have a finite existence. Traditionally, dwarves live until they’re around 250-years-old. Some dwarves have been know to live to be 300-years-old, but it’s quite rare for this to happen.

Jason “neptune” Tran is a Radiant, professional Valorant player; “kaykayCSGO” isn’t. Not even close, in fact, judging by their tracker.gg page, which highlights woeful stats that include a 0.46 KD this Act. Low for a former Immortal 3 player. Curious, indeed.

The disparate fortunes of these two players’ Valorant careers wouldn’t mean anything in isolation, except for the fact that they aren’t in isolation. Actually, shockingly, they’re a ranked duo. Sometimes, it seems, neptune is on his main account, but most of the time, he’s on an alternate account; recently, “imissher123.” In any case, his actions are being deemed as rank boosting by members of Valorant’s community who have been vocal about their disapproval online.

Canadian Valorant streamer “Bre4ad” pointed out the unusually low stats of kaykay over on Twitter, which prompted a response from neptune defending his actions:

Crazy how much people talk shit about someone they don’t know, I play with Kay because she’s the homie, why does it upset you so much. Her gameplay shouldn’t effect you not being able to be good. And @ somebody lil bro https://t.co/kSs4BTz3PG

— Neptune (@neptunensic) September 1, 2022

Treyarch’s iterations of Call of Duty titles have been known for introducing many memorable innovations to the long-standing FPS with the team’s Zombies mode being one of the many high points. Featuring plenty of easter eggs to discover, one of the best-hidden secrets lies in the trenches of Origins as players discover four Elemental staffs to turn the tide in their favor. In case you’re interested in discovering those staffs of power, here’s what you need to know on how to get and upgrade one of the four Wonder Weapons, the Staff of Fire, in Zombies Chronicles.

Pokemon Cafe will soon be overrun with Gengar. Both Pokemon Cafe locations will begin offering a special menu based on the Shadow Pokemon on September 3, 2022. Dishes that will be available include a cheese fondue-style soup plate and a smoothie. The Gengar-themed tableware used to serve the dishes will also be sold separately. Additionally, customers can get their hands on placemats, coasters, and a sticker. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

You can see what everything looks like below.

[gallery ids="934731,934732,934733,934734,934736" link="file"]

The featured item on this special menu is the "Gengar's Phantom Force! Cheese fondue-style soup plate set." For 2,970 yen (~$21), customers will get a rich and creamy cheese soup served with vegetables and Gengar-shaped bread. A mini parfait inspired by the move Shadow Ball will also be included. Both the Gengar pot the soup comes in and the Gengar-themed silverware provided with the meal can be purchased on their own. The soup pot will cost 3,850 yen (~$27.50), while the silverware will cost 880 yen (~$6.50) per utensil.

"Gengar's Confuse Ray Smoothie" will also be on the special menu. The grape-flavored frozen drink will cost 990 yen (~$7) and will come in a glass featuring Gengar's face. For an additional fee, customers can take the glass home with them. Furthermore, there will be 12 new art options for the Selectable Pokemon Lattes.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced that it will broadcast a sneak peek preview of one of its games next week. The sneak peek will appear during the company's regular "RGG Studio TV" YouTube broadcast, which starts on September 8, 2022, at 8 PM Japan Time (4 AM PST / 1 PM CEST).

The broadcast is a shorter version of their typical "RGG Studio TV" broadcast. As such, the broadcast will be the company's 12.5th episode, rather than the 13th episode. The broadcast will be one and a half hours long and feature RGG Studio head and Yakuza 8 producer, Masayoshi Yokoyama. In addition to new information about the company's projects, the live broadcast will also feature art and comments from fans.

While the company hasn't specified what exactly the preview footage will entail, there are a few possibilities. The most notable possibility is that RGG Studio will reveal gameplay footage of the upcoming Yakuza 8. Previous announcements have confirmed that the studio is currently working on a sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon. What's more, a behind-the-scenes video from July has also revealed that the company is already creating cutscenes for the game.

You can check out the RGG Studio short sneak peek broadcast via YouTube Live in the video below:

https://youtu.be/jMIrQbJ5K2E

DC Fandome, the virtual fan convention showcasing DC movies, TV shows, and, of course, video games, will not take place this year, Warner Bros. Discovery confirms. 

The first DC Fandome took place in 2020, serving as a livestream alternative to in-person conventions in the wake of the pandemic. It featured virtual panels with celebrities and filmmakers that provided new announcements, trailers, and early looks at all things DC media. In terms of video games, the 2020 and 2021 editions gave us substantial new looks at Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. 

In a statement to Popverse, Warner Bros. Discovery explains the decision by writing:

Well, well, well. If it isn’t the consequences of an asshole’s own actions. On August 31, the developer behind the gladiator game Domina posted patch notes that included a transphobic screed attacking trans streamer Clara “Keffals” Sorrenti. Yesterday evening, some Twitter users discovered that Domina had been removed…

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Following a wave of rumors and leaks, Xbox has finally unveiled some details about its account-sharing plan for Game Pass. Called Game Pass Friends and Family, it’s not available stateside yet. But when (or if) it eventually becomes available outside the two countries Microsoft is testing it in, it sure sounds like…

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11 bit studios has released a statement saying it will no longer issue Steam keys to curators.

The developer, known for This War of Mine and Frostpunk, will follow this rule starting from today, following on from the recent awareness of key scammers posing as curators.

In its statement, the studio said that the decision was made based on its own experiences and those of other developers.

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If Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness’ first few hours represented its full experience, it’d be just another anime game.

It adapts a small portion of the story from the anime series accurately, remaking Riko and Reg’s initial dive into the Abyss in a way that works for an interactive medium. The gameplay is serviceable enough to fill players’ time, and the graphics work for the simpler art style of the characters and environments.

Unfortunately, this is also where the game’s major faults lie. It only ever does enough to be serviceable toward what it stems from. The gameplay doesn’t feel fleshed out enough, and interesting mechanics like the Curse of the Abyss impacting the characters and how well the player can control them feels underdeveloped. The story isn’t any better, running through major points like it needs to check certain boxes off a list.

There’s nothing that strays from what already exists from the series, and it doesn’t give any reason to play the game other than to see what happens in the anime series and movies from a new medium’s perspective. It comes off as one among many shallow video game adaptations of popular anime series, and anyone who’s not a fan of Made in Abyss wouldn’t be blamed for passing it over.

Fortunately, there’s the other 90 percent of Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness to consider.

Today the developers at 1047 Games announced that they will end active development of new features for the popular portal shooter Splitgate.

The announcement is motivated by the fact that the developer did not expect the success of the game, which was built to support much fewer players.

As such, after trying to update the game to fit the unexpected situation, they decided to move on to develop a fully new game in the Splitgate universe in Unreal Engine 5. It’ll be still free-to-play and feature portals and shooting.

Splitgate itself will not be taken down and will receive a new free battle pass on September 15 to keep the community entertained.

Below you can read the full announcement.

“We could not be here without your support. We pride ourselves on trying to be as community focused as possible. We strive to improve our game and build a better future for Splitgate because of the enthusiasm of our fans. Thank you.

Splitgate achieved a level of success that we could not have anticipated and that few indie games are fortunate to reach. That initial success brought an opportunity to turn what started as a college dorm dream project into a AAA game that could stand toe-to-toe with shooters from the biggest publishers in the industry. But this also meant that as we’ve brought on top-tier talent from across the industry, we’ve spent a lot of our time trying to rework old content and systems that were originally built by a handful of people.

D3 Publisher announced that it had sold over 300,000 units of Earth Defense Force 6 within the Japanese launch week. This number combines physical copies with digital sales. The publisher added that it is the fastest entry in the entire Earth Defense Force series to reach this number. [Thanks, Gamer!]

Famitsu's sales charts for the week of August 22-28, 2022 showed that Earth Defense Force 6 had 68,341 physical units for PS4 and 24,363 on PS5 sold within the first four days after its release on August 25, 2022. When both numbers are combined, the game's total physical sales from the first four days reached 92,704 units.

Earth Defense Force 6 is a third-person shooting game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic Earth where humanity survived through a Pyrrhic victory over a massive alien invasion. The game has four playable characters: Ranger, Wing Diver, Fencer, and Air Raider, and each of them has their own unique armaments and abilities. D3 Publisher released the game first in Japan with decoy balloons of Hololive VTubers Ookami Mio, Shirakami Fubuki, and Nakiri Ayame as early purchase bonuses.

Here's a clip of the Shirakami Fubuki Decoy in action.

A new entry in the Voice of Cards series is coming. Square Enix confirmed that Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden, the third entry in the line. It's coming to PS4, Switch, and PC on September 13, 2022. NieR and Drakengard creator returns as Creative Director, with music by Keiichi Okabe and Character Designer Kimihiko Fujisaka.

Like the previous entries (Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars and Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden), the story is told entirely through the medium of cards.

Check out the announcement trailer below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sta3GwzCVkI

The Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden story lays out the premise: Humans have been in conflict with fearsome Primals, with millennia of hatred between the two races. Now a girl left without a home allies with a mysterious boy, to seek revenge against the monsters. New gameplay mechanics allow the capture of monsters defeated by the player, harnessing their power to use as skills in battle.

Check out some screenshots in the gallery below.

[gallery ids="934772,934773,934774" link="file"]

If your thirst for God of War Ragnarök news remains unsated, you might be interested in a brief new look at the game's combat, which has been shared - bows a-twanging and axes a-bonking - in the run up to release on 9th November.

The 100-second clip comes courtesy of GameInformer, and features a bit of ultraviolence against new bipedal lizard foes known as Grims.

While a lot of it appears to be business as usual for God of War (Kratos still has his Leviathan Axe and Blades of Chaos, and Atreus retains his beloved bow and arrow), an accompanying write-up details some new combat additions, including Weapon Signature Moves.

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Today Wayforward released a rather awesome new trailer of its upcoming beat’em up River City Girls.

The trailer focuses on revealing the villains that we’ll fight in the game, including crime lord Sabu, who breaks out of prison to avenge his daughter Sabuko’s defeat in the first game. Sabuko herself will also appear, alongside Sabu’s adopted son Ken from River City Girls Zero.

More baddies include tech expert Tsuiko, strength-enhancing chef Primo, and magic-wielding witch Blaire.

That being said, heroines Misako and Kyoko won’t have to fight alone as the game will feature 4-player co-op. Among the selectable characters, we’ll find the boyfriends, Kunio and Riki, on top of Provie and Marian.

More help will come from new weapons like saxophones, Molotov cocktails, and sofas, and new elemental attacks, on top of new accessories and food items that can be purchased be obtained from more than 40 shops.

You can check the trailer out below.

The game, which has recently been delayed, will now launch in Q4 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s the latest installment of the popular Kunio-Kun franchise which debuted with Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun in 1986 in the Japanese arcades.