July 2023

Homeworld Remastered Collection, the bundle which contains prettier versions of cult-classic RTS' Homeworld and Homeworld 2, is currently free to keep from the Epic Games Store. We thought it was a corker of a collection when it first released eight years ago, so strategy-heads who like to build space fleets may want to get on this one.

Read more

During a recent interview with Japanese publisher Shueisha, Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto revealed that he wouldn’t mind it if he stopped drawing his mega-popular shonen series entirely, so he could focus solely on penning its off-the-rails story.

Read more...

Tomb raider Lara Croft and hip hop artists Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and 21 Savage are joining Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone sometime during Season 5, which launches next month. 

More specifically, Season 5 of Modern Warfare II and Warzone begins August 2 and it’s during this season Lara Croft, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and 21 Savage will join the game as playable Operators. Lara Croft will arrive as an Operator bundle on the store mid-season, as will 21 Savage, but Snoop Dogg will arrive in the launch window and Nicki Minaj hits the game “in-season,” according to a Call of Duty blog post about Season 5. 

Call of Duty brings these musical artists to the game to celebrate 50 years of hip-hop. Anyone who logs in between August 7 and August 16 on four separate days within that time period will receive a free gift. The first three days will grant a War Track from the 80s, 90, or 2000s. On the fourth login day, you will receive a special Weapon Blueprint. 

As Emma's Adventures takes a short break, Bertie embarks on an experimental new adventure of his own. This adventure is exclusive to supporters of Eurogamer. Remember, you can still try a month for free but the redemption period ends very soon, on Tuesday, 1st August.

Do you know what bothers me? Being good. Games expect it of us. They assume we want to save the world and want to help people out of the goodness of our hearts. And sometimes, I don't. Sometimes, I want to be the villain in the world. Sometimes, I want to be bad.

This corrupted seed was sown by Dragon Age: Origins many moons ago. I didn't set out to be evil in the game, I set out to be how I always am in BioWare games - a hero, a saviour, a force for good in the world. But then I accidentally got into an argument with a potential companion and killed her, and then I accidentally-on-purpose traded a small boy's life with a demon in return for Blood Magic. I'm sure any of you would have done the same.

Read more

It looks like a Dark Souls anime is in the works.

According to GiantFreakingRobot, an anime based on FromSoftware's dark, medieval fantasy games is being developed for Netflix.

Its sources have suggested the anime will likely begin with events based on the first game in the series.

Read more

It's always a sad day when someone leaves the Treehouse, and today we bid adieu to Rachel Watts, as she leaves being our reviews editor for pastures new. Rachel definitely left an impression here, and I know she'll do the same wherever she goes. For now, join us in saying goodbye with some nice comments, and a look at some of Rachel's coolest work for us here.

Read more

Welcome to Part Two of The RPS 100 for 2023, our annual countdown of our favourite PC games from across the ages. Earlier this week, we ranked our favourite games from 100-51, which can be found over in Part One of this year's list. But now it's time for the big 50, going all the way to our collective number one. And I'll tell you now, it's not the same as last year.

Read more

The July 2023 Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival is about to begin. The first part of the event starts on July 28, 2023. We already know the schedule for it. However, even if you aren't attending, it is easy to watch the FFXIV Fan Fest keynote with Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida and streams.

How do I watch the July 2023 FFXIV Fan Fest keynote and streams?

There are two methods. One is to go to the official YouTube channel. The Day 1 placeholder is already live. You can set up notifications and be prepared for when the FFXIV Fan Fest 2023 keynote kicks everything off at 10am PT/1pm ET/7pm CET on July 28, 2023. If you prefer Twitch, you can also catch everything on the official Twitch channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--_vb2j_qDo&ab_channel=FINALFANTASYXIV

What can we expect from the first day?

Here's the full schedule for FFXIV Fan Fest on July 28, 2023. Things start out with the aforementioned keynote. From there, a number of panels will appear.

The Pokemon video games are commonly about type matchups, and swapping in and out to manage those advantages. That’s always been present in the TCG, with the “weakness” meaning players take double damage from one type and “resistance” cutting 30 damage off another. In practice, though? Yeah, that tilts a match sometimes, but you aren’t usually able to do much about it. Energy types mean you build toward one strategy! Maybe two? But it’s not a team composition puzzle.

Tera Pokemon are the TCG’s latest attempt to add that back in. Much like the Scarlet & Violet raid opponents, the set’s new Tera variants move creatures to a different type. What makes this special is that many of them still use the old energy type. Attacks that use non-colorless energy have always been intended to be stronger, and that’s the case here too.

Vespiquen ex shifts from Grass to Psychic type, with a three-energy Phantom Queen ability that deals 200 damage to the opponent’s active combatant and 30 to any damaged foes on the bench. This works really well with last set’s cards, like Ting-Lu ex that focus on dealing chip damage to everyone. Tyranitar ex does a lot of damage for a few Fighting energy, and you might actually want the discards it forces as a “drawback” to its strong attacks.

If Remnant II wasn’t on your radar before, it should be now. The sequel to a surprisingly great 2019 Souls-like shooter is even better than the original, breaking out on Steam at launch despite reports of bugs, performance issues, and, at least on PlayStation 5, problems with co-op. The studio behind it, Gunfire…

Read more...

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is one hell of an epic adventure game, packed with satisfying opportunities to make the most of its dynamic and surprising physics and crafting systems. But while the internet’s full of examples of remarkable feats of engineering and unexpected means of surpassing challenges,…

Read more...

After a recent spike in interest as old servers were brought back online on Xbox, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II was taken offline earlier this week on PC over reports of malicious hacks. According to Techcrunch, players were getting attacked in the 2009 game via “hacked lobbies.”

Read more...

The summer heat continuing to beat down on many of us offers ever-increasing reasons to Stay Inside™ and play some video games. As we do every wee, we thought we’d give you some suggestions on games we’ve vibing with that you might enjoy checking out yourself, in case you need an excuse (or three) to stay inside.

This…

Read more...

Arc System Works announced it will be bringing the classic games Super Double Dragon and Double Dragon Advance to the PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One and Series X/S. The ports are due out on November 9, 2023. They will also be available as part of the Double Dragon Collection for customers in Asia.

Double Dragon Advance was originally developed by Million and released in 2003, whereas Super Double Dragon was developed by Technos in 1992. Both have been difficult to get ahold of legally since. The Double Dragon Collection will appear as a physical edition including Double Dragon, Double Dragon 2: The Revenge, Double Dragon 3: The Sacred Stones, and Double Dragon 4. Both games will be listed at HK$54.70 each, working out to around $7 each. The Double Dragon Collection will cost HK$195 or roughly $25, and it is only available to customers in Asia.

The most recent game in the series is 2023's Double Dragon Gaiden. Developer Arc System Works is also known for its work on fighting games Guilty Gear and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

Know what I love about Animal Crossing and all other life simulations like it? It lets you really relax and take your time. You don’t need to rush around. Go meet cute colorful characters who all want to be your friends and enjoy life at your own pace. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is definitely like Animal Crossing in some ways, as it does offer an island to make your home, but it’s really more of a take on Disney Magical World 2 or Disney Dreamlight Valley. There’s a massive to-do list ahead of you, lots of ingredients and materials to collect, and familiar mascots who want to be your friend.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure begins with a plane ride to Friendship Island, a place that is supposed to be home to a resort and entertaining attractions. However, something happened and now it’s abandoned. After deciding if you’re a bird, feline, or dog in the character creator and getting to know the Sanrio all-stars on the same flight as you, a cake disaster forces everyone to skydive to their new home. Since everything is abandoned and a strange sentient hologram known as TOPHAT is suffering from amnesia, it’s up to you to find all the Sanrio characters, make friends with them, explore the island, and lure new visitors there.

We now have an exact release date for the Honkai Impact 3rd 6.8 update. It will arrive on August 3, 2023. The new playable character this time is the Herrscher of Rebirth Seele battlesuit. The Daughters of the Sea Chapter XXXIX story update was teased, which features Seele and Veliona, as well.

First, the announcement meant more details about Herrscher of Rebirth. This is an S-Rank battlesuit people can pull. It’s a PSY-type that deals Physical DMG. However, the current form you set for her determines how you’ll use her in battle. When you want to use her as a DPS or damage dealer, you need to use the Life Binder form. However, the Soul Shaper form is designed to use her ultimate to debuff opponents for the other allies on her team.

As for activities, a few came up. The announcement trailer noted the Daughters of the Sea Chapter XXXIX update will appear. Completing it nets someone Crystals and an Event Stigma. Before the Endless Dream Ends is coming and bringing Crystals, the Darkbolt Jonin Shimmering Wavelets outfit, and a Your Miracle emblem. The Hot Summer Gift: Book of Memories event will begin and offer a Summer Reminiscence weapon option and The Moon’s Origin and Finality. A Butterflies of Rebirth: Break the Waves login event will appear with even more crystals and a Starfold Fortune outfit for Starlit Astrologos.

Rabbit & Bear Studios latest Kickstarter update confirmed the Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes release date is delayed. We won't see it in 2023. Its new window is Q2 2024. It previously had a general 2023 launch window.

The update cited quality control as a reason for the Eiyuden Chronicle release date delay. However, it also did note that the team is “in the final phase of production.” As such, it noted backers entitled to a physical copy will get emails asking which version they want in the near future.

A few Japanese voice actors for characters also came up, as well as confirmation of returning folks. The following people will appear in the game:

• CJ: Ai Fairouz
• Garoo: Taro Kiuchi
• Garr: Hiroya Egashira
• Hildi: Yoko Hikasa
• Isha: Ai Kakuma
• Mio: Masayo Fujita
• Lian: Sayaka Senbongi

There is one Eiyuden Chronicle game immediately available. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is out now. It stars side characters CJ, Isha, and Garoo, with other people who will also show up in the main entry also making cameo appearances in it.

The new Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes release date falls in Q2 2024. People will see it on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

I bloody love Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. It’s a meaty and satisfying action-platformer with possibly the best-executed comedy and character work of the entire series; a series that’s essentially grown up alongside me, in tone as much as technical sophistication. I wish I had the time to review it properly but, with a weekend and a Baldur's Gate 3-shaped boulder bearing down, I’m staying in my hardware lane to focus on the performance of and best settings to use in Rift Apart’s new PC version.

Read more

Hello! It's RPS Game Club chat time! As you know, this month's pick is Unpacking, and here at RPS, we've been writing a bunch of lovely words about Witch Beam's block puzzle tidy-em-up. I've really enjoyed returning to this indie gem and have noted the irony of my Unpacking house being spick and span but my own house being, well, a dumping ground. But we wanna hear what you have to say, so put that kettle on, grab some bourbons, and tell us what you think. The chat below will start today at 4pm BST / 8am PDT. See you then!

Read more

Every year when I ask the team to vote for their favourite games of all time ahead of us putting together our annual RPS 100 list, I'm regularly astonished by the sheer breadth of games that fly into my inbox. Everyone on the team has such varied, individual tastes, and it heartens me to see so many different genres and types of games represented every year. This year's list (available to read now in Part One and Part Two is another great testament to that.

But as we (sometimes) jokingly say any time we compile a big list like this, the games that didn't make the cut are always at #101. Well, this year I thought supporters might like to see those games at #101 this year, and crikey, there are a lot. There are so many here, in fact, that we would have had to have stretched to an RPS 200 to include them all. So here are our honourable mentions this year (listed, for ease), and I'd love to see you try and guess which games belonged to which member of the team.

Read more

With the imminent release of Baldur's Gate 3 next week, Larian have released another villain spotlight video showcasing the RPG juggernaut's final character in its trio of antagonists, and Lady Dimitrescu actor Maggie Robertson will be playing her. Hell yeah. Orin the Red is an angry, evil, shapeshifting lady who seems to have a major chip on her shoulder and a lust for destruction and blood. The video doesn't go too much into Orin's role in BG3 beyond the fact that she's super evil, but if you'd like to see snippets of Robertson as Orin in action you can watch the video below:

Read more

In a move that, if it happens a third time, will become a trend known as "doing a Dwarf Fortress", Kitfox Games are taking on publishing duty for Caves Of Qud, a proc-gen roguelike retrofuturist epic that generates funny patch notes and terrifies me, personally. Development started in 2007, before the game hit early access on Steam in 2015. And now, 1.0 is on the horizon.

Read more

Japan’s biggest yearly indie games event returned to a blisteringly hot Kyoto last weekend, just in time for the world-famous Gion Matsuri taking place in the city that same weekend. Bitsummit Let’s Go was the name given to the 11th incarnation of the event, expanding to three days for the very first time - also featuring over 100 games, the largest showcase yet. With so many games on show it’s hard to narrow them all down. Keeping with the event’s spirit of showcasing independent talent and undiscovered gems, I’ve chosen to pick out some of the smaller games peppering the show floor and highlight just a few favourites.

Read more

Amazon's Prime Gaming is offering eight free titles throughout the month of August, including Payday 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.

The first of these titles will be available from 3rd August, with the rest then released periodically throughout the month.

Here's your full line-up for Prime Gaming in August.

Read more

Hexworks has released an extended gameplay presentation for Lords of the Fallen, and as we have come to expect, it looks exquisite.

The presentation gave us another chance to see the harrowing environments we will be presented with on release. We will be able to explore Axiom, the realm of the living, and Umbral, the realm of the dead.

Each of these realms will have their own enemies, characters, treasures and the like. One example of an enemy in Umbral was a rather unusual head with arms and legs, but no body. This chap is known as a 'Mendacious Visage', and I certainly wouldn't want to meet him on a dark night (although, that is probably exactly what will happen whenever I play the game). There was also another enemy that reminded me of Silent Hill's Pyramid Head.

Read more

Fallout: New Vegas might be a 13-year-old game, but fans of Obsidian Entertainment’s open-world RPG continue to tinker with and release mods for it to this day. Hell, just this week, New Vegas received 88 new PC mods and one of them is hilariously on point, replacing one of the game’s main antagonists with X (formerly…

Read more...

Our around-the-world cosplay appreciation trip has taken us to London, Germany, Melbourne, and San Diego, and now we’re going to Paris for Japan Expo 2023. The massive convention, which ran from July 13 to July 16 at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center in Paris, France, always provides great cosplay to ogle,…

Read more...

During the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest 2023 official keynote, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed the next FFXIV expansion is Dawntrail. This will be released when the 7.0 update for the game appears. A new trailer appeared, teasing the new locations. We'll see it in Summer 2024.

You can catch the keynote for the July 2023 Fan Fest below. Other streams from the event will appear on YouTube as well throughout the day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--_vb2j_qDo&ab_channel=FINALFANTASYXIV
We will likely learn more at the Letter from the Producer Live Part LXXVIII with Naoki Yoshida and Toshio Murouchi. That will air at 10am PT/1pm ET/7pm CET on July 29, 2023.

Here's the first trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onGE1-I2T6Y&ab_channel=FINALFANTASYXIV

The last Final Fantasy XIV expansion to appear is Endwalker. It was announced at a February 2021 event. It launched the same year it was announced, showing up in December 2021 after being delayed out of November 2021. Spoilers aside, when we played it, it ended up offering a sense of closure for certain storylines.

Sanei announced new Pikmin 4 plush toys of Oatchi the Space Dog and an Ice Pikmin. Both join the company's collection of other stuffed versions of characters from the series. The Amazon listing for each one says they will arrive on September 16, 2023. The Ice Pikmin will cost ¥2,980 (~$21), while Oatchi will be ¥5,250 (~$37). As Amazon Japan ships worldwide, people can order them even if they are outside the country. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]

The Ice Pikmin plush toy is the taller, but smaller, of the two Pikmin 4 items. It is about seven inches tall, though some of that appears to be its stem and flower. It features stitching and fabric designed to make it look as though it is made of ice.
[gallery size="full" ids="975030,975031,975032" link="file"]

The Oatchi Pikmin 4 plush stands at almost seven inches tall. However, it is a bit bigger than the Ice Pikmin in terms of width and length. It features the character's collar and a white tuft of fur at the end of his tail. He also has paw pads embroidered onto the bottom of his feet.
[gallery size="full" ids="975033,975034,975035" link="file"]

As part of the Hololive Summer 2023 events and activities, Cover announced a reveal of its Vtubers new swimsuits. The new outfits and models will appear during a karaoke stream relay. Members from the English, Indonesian, and Japanese branches will all get new clothes, which all feature similar styles and match. However, they will also have each performer’s signature colors. Things start on July 29, 2023, the same day Hololive Advent debuts begin.

The general swimsuit "opening ceremony" program starts a bit earlier. That will come up at 4am PT/7am ET/8pm JST. While the screenshot does show English members like Ouro Kronii and Ceres Fauna, as well as the Indonesian branch member Pavolia Reine, it will be in Japanese.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffK5DJXVgY0&ab_channel=hololive%E3%83%9B%E3%83%AD%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%96-VTuberGroup

Here’s the full schedule. For each swimsuit karaoke performance, check the Hololive Vtuber's personal channel:

Ahead of the start of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2023, the official Pusheen Twitter account teased another FFXIV crossover. No details appeared, beyond a single image of Pusheen on a Chocobo. However, the announcement did say to watch the keynote.

Here is the official teaser.

Exciting announcements for @FF_XIV_EN are happening at #FFXIVFanFest! Hop on your Chocobo and mosey on over to watch the keynote livestream here: https://t.co/yGanJIt6qy pic.twitter.com/3fgMbRvG0B

— Pusheen the cat (@Pusheen) July 28, 2023

This sort of Pusheen Final Fantasy XIV crossover happened before. First, there were some official comics showing the character dressed as familiar mascots from the series and in job costumes. So instead of a Moogle, there was a Pusheen Mewgle.