November 2022

A return to the cyberpunk world of Deus Ex is coming courtesy of Human Revolution and Mankind Divided developers Eidos Montreal, it’s been claimed. The snippet of info that the new Deus Ex game is in the very, very early stages was reported by Bloomberg following yesterday’s revelation that sister studio Onoma is closing down. Eidos Montreal are also alleged to be working on a completely new game, as well as helping out with some co-development on some Microsoft-owned series, including the new Fable.

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As Replika Elster, Signalis will force you to untangle a mess of writhing flesh and malfunctioning memories to separate dream from lived experience. So, in keeping with dream logic: You’ve played Signalis before, and you’ve never played anything like it. It lovingly adopts the trappings of PS1-era survival horror, and more importantly, it fully understands why those systems, aesthetics, tropes, and technical limits are so engaging. But it also presents and explores love and loss, freedom and manipulation, fear and trauma, in its own cruelly captivating way. It’s strange and familiar, gorgeous and horrible. It’s an absolute banger of a videogame, made all the more impressive by its indiest of indies price tag and two-person dev team.

Fundamentally, it's a love story. Things go bad for space technician Elster, but she made a promise she intends to keep. We’ll get back to this later. First up: Signalis excels at capturing the essence of survival horror - those juxtaposed feelings of possibility and unease that hit you entering a long hallway, flanked by doors, only to find all but two locked or malfunctioning. You’ll be back here soon enough, you know that. Probably with a new key. Maybe with a new gun. But there’s also a good chance things will have…changed, by then. A floor tile might reveal new horrors. You might have spent your last bullet. So, left or right? Or maybe back? You can only carry six items, after all.

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When Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak Title Update 3 appears in November 2022, it will also offer new Follower options for players to set. These new game settings let you further restrict or enable the NPCs journeying alongside you. In short, you can set guidelines for Follower Wyvern Riding, bomb usage, and trap usage.

Here's Director Yoshitake Suzuki's statement regarding the upcoming Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak Follower adjustments. It shows the Follower Wyvern Riding (Same Area), Follower Wyvern Riding (Other Areas), Follower Flash Bomb/Sonic Bomb Use, and Follower Trap Use options.

Hey everyone! As part of Free Title Update 3, you will be able to adjust various settings for your Followers, such as whether or not they perform Wyvern Riding when in the same or other areas as you, whether they set traps, and more.

- Suzuki, #Sunbreak Director pic.twitter.com/Ac8UJLFC85

— Monster Hunter (@monsterhunter) November 2, 2022

The PlayStation VR 2 release date is here, as well as news about upcoming PSVR 2 games. Sony said PlayStation 5 owners will be able to begin using the new headset on February 22, 2023. However, pre-orders will open this month on November 15, 2022. It will cost $549.99 / €599.99 / £529.99 / ¥74,980, which gives people the headset, two Sense controllers, and stereo headphones.

The release date announcement also included some details about other PSVR 2 options and accessories that will be available at launch. For example, there will also be a Horizon: Call of the Mountain bundle. This gives people everything in the base PSVR 2 bundle, but adds in a download code for the Horizon series spin-off. That will cost $599.99 / €649.99 / £569.99 / ¥79,980.

There will also be a charging station for two Sense controllers. This allows you to place the PSVR 2 controllers on a dock to charge them. It will cost $49.99 / €49.99 / £39.99 / ¥5,480.

Finally, Sony announced a list of upcoming PlayStation VR 2 games. Here are the titles in development:

Square Enix revealed Fullmetal Alchemist Mobile will get a Persona 5 Royal crossover on November 4, 2022. Ren "Joker" Amamiya, Makoto "Queen" Niijima, and Morgana aka Mona will all appear in the game as units. Other characters like Ryuji "Skull" Sakamoto will show during the event story. Mementos will show up as a special dungeon. A crossover website is also open to show off the event quests and character art.

First, here's art showing Mona with Winry. He'll be an SR unit and appear alongside his Persona Zorro. Everyone will get him for logging into the game.

Back in May 2022 Sweden-based publisher Embracer Group acquired a handful of developers, including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal, after Square Enix opted to sell off most of its overseas studios. Less than six months later, it has decided to shut down one of those studios outright: Square Enix Montreal. The move comes less than a month after the studio rebranded itself to become Onoma [Thanks, Bloomberg!].

In addition to Onoma, Embracer will also shut down its publishing QA team. All in all the closures are expected to impact about 200 people, though Embracer said it would look to match those affected with open positions elsewhere in the company and on other PC and console projects. Embracer said that of the former Square Enix assets, it intended to focus "future production capacities" on flagship studios like Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.

Founded in 2011 as Square Enix Montreal, Onoma was originally intended to assist with console and PC projects, but pivoted to mobile development by 2013. Onoma was best known for developing the mobile-based Go series. They were puzzle game adaptations of popular properties then owned by Square Enix. These included Hitman Go, Lara Croft Go, and Deus Ex Go. The studio also developed Hitman Sniper, and as late as 2022 was working on further titles related to Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The Steam Deck has come along and taken the world by storm, enabling players to play the majority of their Steam library on a super cool, small form factor handheld. While this means you can finally play Elden Ring in all its jaw-dropping glory from the comfort of your own couch, you may be surprised that another wee title is actually taking up the bulk of gamers’ mindshare, as well as pure hours played on the brand new system.

Yes, that’s right, step aside Elden Ring, Cyberpunk 2077, and Grand Theft Auto V, there’s another sheriff in town, and its name is… Vampire Survivors. Somewhat amazingly, this 8-bit style roguelite shoot-’em-up has managed to wangle the top most-played game on Steam’s burgeoning new platform last month – but what’s truly incredible is that this is in fact the second month that the game has topped the Steam Deck’s charts, according to its official twitter account.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 features a large number of changes to the core multiplayer experience to hook you in and keep you wanting more. As is the standard, there are plenty of challenges to help you power through the game’s multiplayer to unlock the best equipment. However, some challenges are worded confusingly. The most prominent example is the “Get X Operator Kills”, and in case you’re struggling, here’s what you need to know on how to get Operator kills and assists in Modern Warfare 2.

A new trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water spotlights the grandeur and scope of Pandora. Set more than a decade after the events of the first film, Avatar: The Way of Water sees Jake Sully and Neytiri settling down with their children. When danger threatens their peace, Jake and his family are forced to protect everything they hold dear.

The trailer spotlights the underwater special effects touted by Cameron and the creators. In a 2017 interview with Collider, Cameron discussed how he and his team pioneered performance capture underwater. Some of the actors trained for six months on how to perform in such a unique environment without the use of scuba suits. It makes quite the difference, as the underwater scenes in the sequel look incredible.

It’s been a few years since Russian studio, Mundfish, announced its upcoming FPS action game, Atomic Heart. After much delay and silence, the team has revealed the release date for the game in a new reveal trailer, which might be the quietest trailer ever debuted by the team.

Previous trailers and teasers for Atomic Heart have been full of epic musical segments set in the game’s alternate timeline of 1955 and extra heavy on Mick Gordon’s musical prowess. However, the newest trailer debuts to an eerily quiet soundtrack flashing through segments of combat and story before ending with the targeted launch date of Feb. 21, 2023.

In what appears to be a combination of formulas from games such as Wolfenstein, Doom, and Bioshock, Atomic Heart follows an alternate timeline where advances in robotics helped the Soviet Union defeat Nazi Germany during World War 2. The Soviets proceeded to experiment with robots until said beings became aware, evolving into a hive mind that took over society that is now doing strange experiments

It’s that time of the year; as temperatures drop, Activision brings warmth to your home with another Call of Duty game. For the past 15 years, Call of Duty has been one of life’s most consistent guarantees as three studios put together the latest instalment in the long-standing military shooter. This year sees the franchise return to the present after a disappointing year in World War 2 with Call of Duty: Vanguard.

In case you missed it, CoD: Modern Warfare 2 is off to a roaring start. After launching its campaign portion in early access on Oct. 20, the rest of it was released on Oct. 28, with fans scrambling to power through the game’s multiplayer and Spec-Ops portions. Within just a few days, this entry has gone on to rack up $800 million in sales, making it the fastest-selling CoD title of all time, which ironically feels like a headline we see every year. It has been reported that more players have been online this past opening weekend than ever before, but how they managed to play the game is beyond me, as the latest entry boasts an abomination of a user interface system.

At this point, it’s a little held secret that the Chainsaw Man anime and manga is jam-packed with homages and references. From the film-referencing OP to the select panels that pay respects to legendary works, there’s no shortage of Easter Eggs to find throughout the series. One, in particular, might have you stumped, though, and as a result, you’re now wondering: What does the 76.1 on Power’s Shirt mean in Chainsaw Man?

Fortunately for you, we’ve done the research and have some potential answers for you.

76.1 Meaning on Power’s Shirt Means in Chainsaw Man

As it stands, there are three potential answers for what the 76.1 on Power’s shirt means in Chainsaw Man.

The first and most plausible theory is that it represents a popular radio station in Japan, namely, Tokyo’s Inter-FM channel 76.1. The channel was a go-to for Popular, Alternative, and Rock music before it changed its station frequency to the current 89.7. More on this theory can be found via a post made by Reddit user Quiptastic regarding the subject.

After that, the next best theory is that the meaning is currently unknown and would need to be revealed by series author Tatsuki Fujimoto. Though it would be a bit strange that he hasn’t revealed what it means so many years after the reference was first made, the likelihood is there, and the lack of explanation could have occurred for any number of reasons. Regardless, we’d need to wait for Fujimoto to reveal the meaning behind the numbers through an interview, manga volume blurb, or some other means.

Genshin Impact 3.2 update is full of exciting new features and content to keep travelers engaged. One of the new additions, in particular, is the Dendro Hypostasis boss, a new enemy in the world of Tevyat. However, finding and defeating Dendro Hypostasis isn’t easy, as the boss spawns at a particular location in the massive world of Genshin Impact. Therefore, here’s a comprehensive guide to finding Dendro hypostasis in Genshin Impact, followed by tips to defeat him.

Genshin Impact Dendro Hypostasis Location

Dendro Hypostasis is located towards the southwest side of Dar al-Shifa within Sumeru’s Desert region.

We’ve heard plenty about PlayStation’s VR2 over the last several months. We have heard about the company handling eye-tracking implementation as well as other modes that will be available. However, we have remained hungry for a release date. In late August we learned that the release window would be “early 2023”, but we finally know just how early. PlayStation VR2 will release on Feb. 22 and will include PS VR2 Sense controllers, as well as stereo headphones. Pre-orders will begin on Nov. 15.

As for price, you’re definitely not going to get away with this thing for cheap. The price will be more than the disc edition of the PS5 was (at launch, considering the recently announced price hike) at $549.99 (€599.99/£529.99/¥74,980).

There will also be a PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle that will run you $599.99 (€649.99/£569.99/¥79,980). It includes the above items as well as a “voucher code” for Horizon Call of the Mountain. The blog post mentions that “standalone software titles, including Horizon Call of the Mountain, will also be available for pre-orders starting this month.”

The Japanese arm of PlayStation is known to produce some rather weird trailers, but the one just released for God of War Ragnarok likely beats them all.

The trailer stars Hiromichi Sato as he sings the “God of War Ragnarok Song” alongside two “macho dancers” and footage aplenty from the game itself.

While for us in the west this is likely really weird and random, especially considering the contrast between the catchy children’s song-style performance, the whimsical set, the dancing, and the game, there is a method to the madness.

Hiromichi Sato used to play the role of the “Taisou Brother” for 12 years in Okaasan to Issho (which translates as “Together with Mom”), one of the most popular and long-running children’s programs on the NHK, Japan’s state television. It has been on the air since 1959 and it’s still going.

In this trailer, he does pretty much what he used to in the program, and since he played the role between 1993 and 2005, the scene depicted here is likely engraved in the hearts of Japanese people who are the right age to play God of War Ragnarok today.

If you thought the star-studded trailer from the western arm of PlayStation released yesterday was a bit weird, Japan has them beat for sure.

You can check it out below, and while you may not understand the song itself (it basically describes the plot of the game), the whole thing is pretty funny. Even if you don’t care for the weirdness, at the very least you may appreciate the gameplay footage.

The first-person shooter action RPG genre is a cash cow in the video game industry, as gamers just can’t get enough of pretending they’re destroying their enemies. As such, it makes sense that the upcoming dystopian title Atomic Hearts is so highly anticipated, as the game puts you in a unique place and tasks you with saving the world. Here is everything you need to know about when Atomic Heart is coming out.

Atomic Heart Release Date

Atomic Heart arrives on Feb. 21, 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Set in an alternate 1955 version of the Soviet Union, this FPS will place you in the shoes of a P-3, a mentally unstable KGB special agent sent by their government to investigate a manufacturing facility that has fallen silent.

Not long into the investigation, though, it is revealed that the machines have gone rogue and are bioengineering strange experiments. Now it’s up to you to make use of everyday items to make improvised, crafted weapons that you’ll shoot and swing in order to defeat enemies.

As is the case for the majority of big, blockbuster games as a service titles, Modern Warfare 2 has had its fair share of bugs and issues during its launch window. One that’s recently reared its ugly head is a specific error that’s stopping players from accessing the game. If you’re here, you’re likely wondering: How to fix the Travis-Rilea connection failed error in Modern Warfare 2. With that in mind, let’s find out how to fix it, shall we?

How to Solve the Travis-Rilea Connection Failed Error in Modern Warfare 2

Much like many of the other connection errors that crop up in Modern Warfare 2, there’s usually no single way to fix it per se. Instead, we have a list of solutions that may help to alleviate the problem and get you playing Activision’s military shooter sooner rather than later.

Given that Cyberpunk 2077 came out nearly two years ago, you might think there’s little left to discover and document ahead of the game’s first and only planned DLC, Phantom Liberty. But right in the heart of Night City lies the beginning of a riddle that has left fans scrambling to unravel the mystery since the hunt…

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II fully launched on October 28 on consoles and PC via Steam and Battle.net. Initially, like many Steam games, it supported the service’s Family Sharing function. Though as of yesterday, folks looking to share a single copy of the latest CoD on Steam won’t be too happy as Activision…

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Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Publisher: Playstack Ltd
Developer: Stubby Games
Release: November 3, 2022
Rating: Everyone 10+

I don’t envy the developers of puzzle games. They have to create puzzles formidable enough to be challenging and exciting, but not so much that the player feels more burdened than empowered. The best walk that line almost perfectly, and The Entropy Centre is chock full of them. But The Entropy Centre is more than its brain teasers, and it’s that “more” where the game hits its stumbling blocks. Despite that, its core design is unlike anything I’ve ever played, and genre enthusiasts will find that this game bends their brains in new ways worth experiencing. I only wish the game’s pacing and polish lived up to the thrills its 60-plus puzzles gave me. 

Sony announced that PlayStation VR2 will launch on February 22 and has revealed its price, two bundles, as well as accessories and newly announced games. 

The standard package will retail at $549.99. It includes the headset, two PS VR2 Sense controllers, and stereo headphones. Check out the box below. 

If you want something to play out of the box, the PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle has you covered. This edition runs for $599.99 and tosses in a digital code for the first-person Horizon spin-off on top of everything that comes in the standard package. 

Want to charge your controllers without using up your PS5’s USB ports? Feast your eyes on the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller charging station. For $49.99, this separate dock replenishes your VR gamepads by simply clicking them into the base without the need to connect to a console.

Dune: Spice Wars will be added to PC Game Pass "soon", Xbox has announced.

Following from yesterday's blog post revealing the November line-up forXbox Game Pass, the addition of Dune: Spice Wars was revealed yesterday as part of Paris Games Week.

Dune: Spice Wars is currently in early access, and its latest update back in June added plenty of key features including multiplayer on dedicated servers and peer-to-peer connections.

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God of War Ragnarök will include a transmog system on its release.

A transmog system allows players to change the visual aspect of their gear to that of another, while maintaining the stats of the original piece.

In a recent developer Q&A on the official Discord server, Sony Santa Monica's lead combat designer Mihir Sheth confirmed the game's transmog system.

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Sony has announced official launch and pricing details for the PlayStation VR2 - its new virtual reality headset designed to work specifically with the PlayStation 5.

The PSVR2 will launch on 22nd February 2023 and cost £530. In the US, that's $550. In Europe, that's €600. For that price you'll get a PSVR2 headset and its controllers, plus a pair of stereo headphones.

A pricier bundle will pack-in the PSVR2 launch title Horizon Call of the Mountain. That costs £570, $600, or €650.

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Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster company Frontier Developments has snapped up Complex Games, the studio behind Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters.

It's the first time the British-based Frontier has acquired a development studio, albeit one which the company has worked with in the past. The well-received Daemonhunters arrived in May this year as part of Frontier's own third-party games label.

Frontier has paid £8.3m upfront, with a further £3.3m due over the next year if milestones are met.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor looks set to launch by the end of March 2023 - even though publisher EA is yet to make it official.

Speaking to investors in a financial briefing last night, EA said it had a "major IP" due to arrive before 31st March next year - but that it was holding off on its big reveal until nearer the time.

The sequel to 2019's popular Jedi: Fallen Order is really the only thing on EA's slate this "major IP" without a release date could be. We already know the launch dates of EA's upcoming Need for Speed return, its Dead Space remake and its collaboration with Koei Tecmo on Wild Hearts.

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By far the best thing about the RTX 4090 – which is otherwise a bit of a GPU boondoggle – is that is supports DLSS 3. This next-gen version of Nvidia’s DLSS upscaler not only boosts performance with render resolution trickery but also adds entirely new, AI-generated frames of its own, smoothing out visuals even further. Fewer than 40 games are confirmed to implement it so far but that number is growing, with Nvidia today announcing that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will include DLSS 3 when it launches for PC on November 18th.

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Canadian studio and developers of sci-fantasy, turn-based tactics RPG Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, Complex Games, are joining UK-based publisher Frontier. Daemonhunters was released in May this year under the Frontier Foundry label, and we rather enjoyed it at the time. It seems as though, in the grand tradition of Remington shaver ads, Frontier liked the game so much that they bought the company.

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Developers Munfish have finally announced that its bonkers Soviet shooter Atomic Heart will release on February 21st, 2023. The new trailer for shooty alternate universe action RPG Atomic Heart is a bit of a trip, frankly. Barrelling along at the speed of Sonic The Hedgehog, you can just about make out some weird looking Soviet robots, head-splitting mutants, and what seemed to be a truck plummeting towards towering futuristic architecture. Watch the eye-meltingly speedy trailer below, you’ll probably need some bugeye goggles afterwards to recuperate your peepers.

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Kotobukiya has announced a new model kit based on Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time, and it's based on the latest incarnation of the Unit-02. It's formally called the "Evangelion Production Model-New 02α (JA-02 Body Assembly Cannibalized)", but that mouthful can be shortened to Evangelion Unit-02α (for "alpha"). The kit is set to go on sale in April 2023 in Japan.

The model stands at 218mm (about 8.6" inches) tall, set to 1/400 scale. As a plastic model kit, it requires assembly, but the different parts are colored, with some pre-painted. As such, users should be able to get close to the desired look without additional painting needed.

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With a new character in Genshin Impact comes the whole question about how to outfit them. People can only equip certain kinds of weapons, after all. Also, based on their roles and stats, you may want to focus on certain traits. Both Nahida and her A Thousand Floating Dreams catalyst weapon will appear on Genshin Impact banners starting on November 2, 2022. However, there are a number of different pieces of equipment, both four-star and five-star, that could fit for her.

Yes, A Thousand Floating Dreams is Considered the “Default” Weapon for Nahida in Genshin Impact.

So, when HoYoVerse introduces a new five-star unit in Genshin Impact, there’s always a limited weapon banner with a piece of equipment designed specifically for their needs. In the cast of Nahida, that is the A Thousand Floating Dreams catalyst. Its primary stat is Elemental Mastery, which can hit 265 if a person gets it to level 90. (Naturally, its attack also grows as you build it up, with 542 as the maximum.)

In addition to promoting Elemental Mastery, so Nahida’s Dendro attacks will hit hard, this catalyst offers buffs for her and her party members. If the other people in her party are also Dendro characters, she will get an additional 32 points of Elemental Mastery per character. If they are from different elements, she’ll get a 10% damage bonus for every one of them. Also, the other people in their party will all get 40 points more added to their Elemental Mastery because Nahida is around and equipped this weapon.

The Adventurer’s Trials event is about to begin in Genshin Impact, and HoYoVerse offered more details about how it will work and what people will get out of it. As usual, Primogems, Talent Level-up, and Weapon Enhancement materials will be among the rewards people can get. Everything kicks off on November 4, 2022. As long as someone passed Adventure Rank 20, they can participate.

Adventurer’s Trials will be one of Genshin Impact’s Challenge Domains. There will be five steps to it. These can be completed alone or with allies via co-op.

The first four are Sequential Trials, with each one featuring three pre-determined challenges. These will involve trial characters, so people won’t need to prepare parties. They will be the same each time you head into it.

The final trial will be a Fortuitous Trial. This one adds a random element. Again, trial characters will be used. However, it uses randomly generated trials. This means you won’t know which three will be in there each time.

As for the rewards, here are the items you can earn for taking part. HoYoVerse didn’t list specific amounts for each one.

The polls are open. Google is now taking votes for the Google Play Best of 2022 Awards. As with previous years, users can vote for nominated titles (split between Apps and Games), with the winner being awarded the User's Choice Award for the year [Thanks, Denfaminico Gamer!].

To participate in the Google Play Best of 2022 voting, you need only log into your Google account and visit the Google Play Store on Android or via a web browser. There you should see a banner and a button to vote.

The banner should look like this one below (as seen on Chrome). Clicking or tapping the vote button should allow you to cast a vote. Voting will last until November 14, 2022, with winners announced on November 30th.

For users in North America, the Google Play Best of 2022 User's Choice game nominees are as follows.