April 2023

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is readying to reach even further into the series' past with the announcement of its Return of Rome DLC, a "new form" of the original Age of Empires' Rise of Rome expansion that's coming to PC and consoles on 16th May.

There's quite a lot going on in Rise of Rome - which purchasers will need to switch to from the main screen in order to access its new stuff - but the most notable addition for series fans is arguably the return of all 16 civilisations from the original Age of Empires and Rise of Rome.

That means the Assyrians, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Choson, Egyptians, Greeks, Hittites, Macedonians, Minoans, Palmyrans, Persians, Phoenicians, Romans, Shang, Sumerians, and Yamato will all be playable in Rise of Rome, with the Romans being unique in that they'll also be available to play in Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition's base game.

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In 2016 Vice launched a website called Waypoint, which the company hoped would be an “immersive dive into the culture, passion and politics of gaming”. It did that, and then some, and then kicked even more ass, and in June 2023 it will be gone.

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Nintendo released a new video from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom showcasing the rocket, a new item that Link can use to combine with his equipment. In a short clip posted on the official Japanese The Legend of Zelda Twitter account, the company showed Link combining a small rocket with his wooden shield, which allowed him to fly into the sky for the duration of the rocket’s battery.

You can take a better look at the tweet here:

https://twitter.com/ZeldaOfficialJP/status/1651511511289053186

The rocket is a new item in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and the tweet explains that it provides powerful propulsion for a short period of time. In addition, when attached to a shield, the rocket will propel Link up into the sky, allowing him to access enemy bases and other locations from the air in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

On April 13, 2023, Nintendo released the third and last trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its release. The trailer finally allowed fans to take a better look at the new design for Ganondorf, which fans have started to affectionately call “rehydrated” Ganondorf.

In 2014 Respawn released Titanfall, a game that combined two of the best things in video games: wall-running and giant mechs. It was great, but also multiplayer-only, so in 2016 they released a sequel, which kept the wall-running and giant mechs but also added another of the best things in video games: a cool and fun…

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Have you ever had a song that didn't click for you until you heard a remix? For me it's the Glitch Mob remix of Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes. I like the original well enough, but something about that version just hits right. Feel free to blast my terrible taste in music in the comments! It's not just the slightly hammy music analogy that makes me think about Cassette Beasts as a remix. Its similarities to Pokémon are far too blatant to just slot it into a broad monster battler genre, yet there's still enough that's new and fresh and different to make it more than a mere cover or tribute. And while I like Pokémon, I love Cassette Beasts.

The game starts with you deposited unceremoniously on New Wirral, a mysterious Arthurian isle unshackled from both time and any particular version of our reality. New Wirral's human inhabitants arrived from different times and versions of Earth, with the first reaching its shores a little over a century before the game's present. They swiftly discovered that they were not the only living creatures on the island, with dozens of different monsters roaming its environs. Some time before your arrival, it was discovered that these monsters could be recorded onto regular old cassette tapes which would allow the bearer to transform into them. Pretty good setup for some monster battling, eh?

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: coffee, nostalgia, and nostalgic horror.

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

As ever, it's tipping it down in Seattle. It's late but the place is still quite empty. Officer Jorji is fretting about how to get home in a hurry when a new customer comes in. Tall, blonde, rams horns sprouting neatly from both sides of their head.

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I quite enjoy the vwing-vwing lighstabering at the heart of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which is why it now pains me to have an extended moan about the PC version's technical troubles.

Despite the odd glimmer of joy, like better-than-expected performance on its lowest system requirements, much about playing Jedi: Survivor on Windows suggests it could have used a little more time in the bacta tank. Sluggishness and stuttering are problems on higher-end graphics cards, even before adding the strain of ray tracing effects, and FSR upscaling often fails to deliver a significant performance boost.

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Emma's Adventures is a new monthly column for Eurogamer supporters written by Emma Kent - someone with an uncanny knack for finding strange adventures in games.

In the wild, abandoned wastes of the Consecrated Snowfield, a warrior stands on the precipice of a frozen ledge, his broad frame silhouetted against a soulless sky. His ragged cloak lifts in the wind, catching slightly on his armour. The crunch of snow behind him betrays the footsteps of something living, and he turns to face his opponent. Another challenger is approaching. Foolish.

The warrior unsheathes his sword, dull edges twisted and curled from the brutal force of previous collisions. Dark red lines have dried into the hilt. He mutters an incantation under his breath, bracing his body for the bone-shuddering impact of battle. The two figures circle each other, pausing just outside of striking range. For a moment, even the cruel wind stills, lessening her fury to watch the duel below. Then the veteran lets out a cry, raising his terrible blade to land the first blow. But to his horror, his opponent has already moved. An unfamiliar stab of fear runs through the warrior. He looks to the ground.

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The forthcoming Forza Motorsport will introduce Blind Driving Assists as part of its suite of accessibility features.

"The most accessible Forza Motorsport ever," reads a tweet shared by Xbox, including a video of accessibility consultant Brandon Cole using the new assists.

"This is bringing the AAA racing genre to the blind community to the fullest," said Cole in the video.

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Honkai: Star Rail, the latest game from Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse, has already been downloaded more than 20m times.

Needless to say, this is an enormously impressive figure considering the game only came out two days ago, even if it is free to download.

The game has broken records by reaching the number one spot on the iOS game download chart in more countries than any game that has come before, as noted by industry analyst Daniel Ahmad.

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Sony's PlayStation VR2 headset will soon be available through local retailers.

Until now, the hardware has only been available through Sony's PlayStation Direct store but that's set to change on 12th May.

UK retailer GAME is offering pre-registration for purchasers, with others sure to follow.

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Sony has now sold over 38m PlayStation 5 consoles, after selling a huge 6.3m units in the past quarter.

That's a record high for this specific quarter for sales of any console in history. The equivalent sales of the console last year were 2m units. By further comparison, the PS4's biggest Q4 sales were 3m units.

Added to last quarter's 7.1m units and it's clear that PlayStation 5 sales are very much on an upward trajectory following stock shortages since launch.

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The UK government has called out Microsoft's president Brad Smith for his comments on the now-blocked Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Earlier this week, the UK stopped Microsoft's $68.7bn effort to buy Activision in its tracks, prompting a furious response from Smith, who branded the move as "bad for Britain".

"Those sorts of claims are not borne out by the facts," a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last night (via Reuters).

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There's a lovely moment in, of all things, the movie Dreamcatcher, where, if memory serves, the main characters are trekking through the woods and all of these deer and rabbits and forest animals come charging through the trees, spooked by something. It's magical, almost fairy-tale like in all these bounding woodland critters. But it's also terrifying, because why are they running? What horror are they fleeing?

In Dreamcatcher's case I cannot remember - the woodland tumbling is all I have left of that film, which I may have watched on a plane or something. But when I look at this week and see how busy it is, I think of Dreamcatcher's woods. Lots of games out this week, large and small, and at least some of them have been spooked by Nintendo's huge beast crashing, unseen for now, through the distant undergrowth.

Maybe I'm wrong, actually. I look down the list and I don't think Dungeon Drafters had to get out of the way of Zelda. This is a beautiful game, a turn-based tactics game in which cards are magic and your placement on the board is deeply important. Each screen is a new room in the dungeon, a puzzle you have to fight your way through, and when one of the tilesets on offer is a glacial library, you've pretty much sold me already. Dungeon Drafters is on PC at the moment, and well worth grabbing, but it's going to absolutely sing on Switch when it arrives later in the year. Cor.

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In its ongoing bid to acquire Activision Blizzard - something that saw a major set back earlier this week, after UK regulators dramatically blocked the deal - Microsoft has announced yet another 10-year commitment.

This latest deal is with cloud gaming platform Nware. Sharing the news on Twitter, Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith wrote: "Microsoft and European cloud gaming platform Nware have signed a 10-year agreement to stream PC games built by Xbox on its platform, as well as Activision Blizzard titles after the acquisition closes.

"While it's still early for the emerging cloud segment in gaming, this new partnership combined with our other recent commitments will make more popular games available on more cloud game streaming services than they are today."

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Labyrinth of Zangetsu is a very typical dungeon crawler with a rather atypical art style. The whole game has a sumi-e aesthetic, which meshes well with the overall narrative. Though it does not bring anything really new to the table, it has a solid foundation and a beautiful look that’ll please any dungeon crawler fan.

The story of Labyrinth of Zangetsu takes place in a world where a mysterious Ink has corrupted the people, animals, and land. People who can withstand the Ink form parties to enter labyrinths and fight back against the twisted monsters threatening Ido, which is the final bastion of humankind. Though the story is fairly simple, the dialog and wording are grandiose, like you're reading a high fantasy novel. I thought that was really cool, though it was a tad annoying how the same dialog boxes would pop up every single time you entered a dungeon.

[caption id="attachment_960741" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Image via KaeruPanda[/caption]

We’re on the verge of learning more about Final Fantasy XIV, as a Letter from the Producer Live LXXVII with 6.4 details is about to appear. It will be held at 4am PT/7am ET/12pm CET on May 2, 2023. Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida will show up to discuss the next update. However, note that there will be no translator present. It will be in Japanese, with slides in both Japanese and English with details about the update. People will be able to watch it on Niconico, Twitch, and YouTube as usual.

The game only just come out, but Honkai: Star Rail has already surpassed 20 million downloads. For reference, the game officially released on April 26, 2023. Honkai: Star Rail is the newest turn-based mobile and PC game from HoYoVerse, who is the creator of Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd. [Thanks, Daniel "ZhugeEX" Ahmad!]

In a Weibo post, HoYoVerse thanked all of the Trailblazers for their support of the game. It will hand out ten Star Rail Special Passes on April 30, 2023 as a show of gratitude. That will also be the date of a celebration event for the launch of the game.

Though Genshin Impact has been HoYoVerse's global juggernaut, Honkai: Star Rail is hot on its heels. According to the same post, Honkai: Star Rail is currently the most-downloaded and best-selling iOS game on the charts. It also had 30 million pre-registrations, which is more than how many Genshin Impact had. However, it is possible that many of these players did not know of HoYoVerse prior to Genshin Impact, which may have affected those numbers for Star Rail.

Monolith Soft released a new interview with two of their event animators talking about the difference between cutscenes and scripted events, continuity between scenes and gameplay in video games, and the ins and outs of their job. Miura is one of the animators in charge of cutscenes, while Katsuta works with scripted events.

While it varies from project to project, Monolith Soft distinguished two types of events in most of the company's games. The first one of this are cutscenes. These use elaborate camera angles, particular character direction, and motion capture. The second one is scripted events. They are made by using premade stock character animations and movements, and combining them with specialized tools.

Both Monolith Soft creatives also talked about maintaining continuity between cutscenes and gameplay. Katsuta said that if a technique or move is not usable at a certain part of the game, they need to work around that. Or if the clothes get dirty during a cutscene, they also need to communicate that properly so that when players regain control these elements remain consistent.

Katsuta added that they also have to work around the possibility of the player only ever watching a cutscene or event once, so they need to make sure to craft it so that it is as clear as possible. In cases where a cutscene is immediately followed by a scripted event, sometimes they will use a particular animation from the previous cutscene for the beginning of the event, so that the transition from cutscene to scripted event looks natural.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor released today, but so far things are not looking too good for Cal Kestis' latest outing on PC.

Over on Steam, the game currently sits with a "mostly negative" reception, with many lamenting its poor performance. At the time of writing, only 34 percent of Steam reviews for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor are positive.

"Runs like my ass after Taco Bell," wrote one player, and they are far from alone with this sentiment (although, so far at least, alone with that particular wording).

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Hey there! I'm so excited to be saying hello today as Eurogamer's new editor - just typing these words feels something like a dream.

(A good dream? Absolutely. Though also one where you check everything's still on before standing in front of the class.)

Needless to say, everything about this feels a huge honour and oppurtunity. After 13 years here writing puns and making sure everyone puts the accent on Pokémon, there's little else other than Eurogamer I care about so deeply.

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Valve has released a new update for its Steam Client Beta.

This update adds a swathe of pretty nifty features and improvements, including the ability to pin windows from the overlay, so they appear on top of the game while in-game. This means that, in Valve's words, "yes, you can watch movies while you play games if you really want to" (although, I think it really meant this feature to be more for things like guides and notes).

As for those notes, this update adds a Notes app. The app does pretty much everything you would expect it to. It lets you take down notes about your game, and comes with "rich text formatting, the ability to have multiple notes per game, and can even be used in offline mode". Your notes will be saved per game, and are then synced to other PCs that you are logged into.

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SUPER-DOUBLE UPDATE: There's been a remarkable - and remarkably selfless - twist! Rogueywon has insisted I pass the PS5 Jedi: Survivor code onto someone else, because they already have a copy on PC. Isn't that nice? That means Bel Siebert, you are now the proud owner of the game!

UPDATE 3RD MAY: After much deliberation, a winner has been decided upon, and it's Rogueywon! You could say Rogueywon the prize.

Their experience of the old TIE Fighter game was something I'd never heard before, or considered, and it reinforces the unique power games have to put us inside perspectives we haven't considered before, and open our eyes to them. So thank you again for the thought-provoking memory.

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The PlayStation 5 continues to outperform Sony’s wildest expectations. The console manufacturer announced another banner year for hardware sales, including over 6 million in the last quarter alone. With Spider-Man 2 just around the corner, Sony says it’s planning to sell an unprecedented 25 million PS5s in 2023.

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With 30 million-odd pre-registrations under its belt prior to coming out, Honkai: Star Rail was always going to be a pretty big deal when it eventually launched. The turn-based anime RPG did exactly that earlier this week, and it's already been downloaded over 20 million times in just a single day, according to a tweet from analyst Daniel Ahmad. Perhaps not surprising for a free-to-play game, but still. That's a lot of people. I must admit, I could never quite gel with Genshin Impact, another very anime RPG made by the same developers, but Honkai's turn-based battles look a lot more up my street. So I downloaded yesterday, which I guess makes me part of that enormous 20 million number. Are you planning on giving it a go as well?

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Hargh blargh games are bad, roguelikes are worse, whinge moan complain. It is that time once again. You know whether my complaints will bother you, so consider this a massive recommendation if they dont: Shardtide Verminp... Punktide Verminsha... Shardpunk... goddamn it. Hang on.

Shardpunk Verminfall is, as Graham reported, an excellent mash-up of several familiar games and concepts, yet doesn't feel like a knockoff of any, or lack its own identity. I would resent it a lot less if it wasn't also a roguelike. Even with its standard mono-save system and unlocking things and "repeating the whole thing from scratch ad infinitum" though, I can't pretend I don't enjoy it anyway.

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Valve revealed a swathe of new features coming to Steam's desktop client beta last night, and there are lots of new features that caught my eye. They're overhauling things like the in-game overlay, creating a new toolbar to house achievements, friends chat and discussions, and creating a new hub that shows you everything that's happened in the game's community since you last played it. It also introduces a cool pin feature that lets you stick overlay windows on top of your game - handy if you're following a guide, say, and don't want to keep alt-tabbing out. But there's one thing I'm quite upset about, and that's the new Notes app. I love a good notebook game, you know? Fiddling out puzzles in Tunic, remembering patterns in The Witness... Notebook games are great. But I fear this new Notes app will kill that kind of note-taking dead. And that makes me sad.

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The RPS Game Club returns for its second liveblog session, this time about the weird and wonderful Betrayal At Club Low. Join us from 4pm BST today, April 28th, where we'll be chatting all things pizza and our best disco moves. Lots of the RPS Treehouse have had a great time with Club Low this month, and we hope you've been playing along too. So why not come and join in the discussion with us? See you at 4pm, folks!

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Lego and Nintendo have announced four new Donkey Kong sets joining the Super Mario lineup. 

Lego has continued to build out its Nintendo universe of sets with Super Mario and now, hot on the heels of The Super Mario Bros. Movie's release in theaters earlier this month, Donkey Kong (a major character in the movie) is joining the lineup. More specifically, four new sets, each available for purchase starting August 1, are coming and they feature Donkey Kong and some of his family members like Cranky, Diddy, Dixie, and Funky. 

Those four sets are Donkey Kong's Tree House Expansion Set, Diddy Kong's Mine Cart Ride Expansion Set, Dixie Kong's Jungle Jam Expansion Set, and Rambi the Rhino Expansion set. 

Cygames announced that it has set up international branches in North America and Europe. Cygames America is in the US, whereas Cygames Europe is in England. The purpose of Cygames America and Europe appear to be for marketing and promotional purposes rather than game development.

The international popularity of Cygames started in 2016 with the release of Shadowverse. Other overseas include ones in South Korea and in Taiwan. About half of the global gaming market exists in North America and Europe, which is why the company will branch out there in order to further promote its games.

Cygames America is specifically in Los Angeles and it has $700,000 in capital stock. Its main duties include marketing and licensing. Cygames Europe is in London, and it has a capital stock of about 500,000 GBP. Like its sister office in California, it will handle marketing and licensing, as well as other related tasks. With a stronger foothold in the western market, this could lead to the localization and eventual release of some Japan-exclusive games, such as the financial juggernaut Uma Musume: Pretty Derby.

Now that Cygames set up offices in America and Europe, time will tell how the company will expand in these two territories with its current and future games.