October 2023

Yesterday was a great day for fans of the most emo Batman in the Caped Crusader's cinematic history because Robert Pattinson's suit from The Batman was seemingly added to Batman: Arkham Knight. But the fun was fleeting because just a few hours later, the suit was removed.

Strangely, the suit, which first appeared in director Matt Reeve's 2022 The Batman, was only available in the Epic Games Store version of Arkham Knight, as noticed by GeekVibesNation on Twitter and verified by GameSpot; Game Informer was not able to check the game for the suit before it was removed.

#TheBatman suit is available for #ArkhamKnight via the Epic Games store

(📸 @Venturian628) pic.twitter.com/pdTMYoNvWe

Studiopolis, commented on it recasting Yoruichi in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. It stated it is due to an error the casting coordinator made when they mistakenly thought that her original voice actress Wendee Lee was unavailable. [Thanks, ANN!]

The American post-production and dubbing studio Studiopolis explained the situation in further detail to Anime News Network. Essentially, Studiopolis had always intended to keep as many of the original Bleach cast members as possible when dubbing Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. It thought that Wendee Lee could not make the recordings and went on to cast Anairis Quiñones. At this point, Quiñones had already recorded several episodes’ worth of lines. This is in line with some of Lee’s comments on social media regarding the situation. Quiñones is still in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War as Hiyori.

A short spin-off manga that will take place after the events of Dr. Stone will appear in Weekly Shonen Jump. It’ll start in Issue #49, which should come out on November 6, 2023. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

In total, there will be three chapters, and the first chapter will be 49 pages long. The spin-off will run on a condensed schedule, meaning that it will tell its story in shorter time but take up more pages in the magazine per week. It’s unclear if this will affect any of the existing works in Weekly Shonen Jump, or if readers will simply purchase a thicker volume for three weeks. Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi, who worked on the original Dr. Stone, will return to work on this spin-off.

As for the plot, the spin-off of Dr. Stone will show Senku working on a time machine. Due to how short the manga will be, it may focus on a what-if scenario in which Senku goes back in time to prevent the Stone World from happening. The plot of the main Dr. Stone series revolves on prodigy Senku Ishigami, who wakes up after a mysterious flash petrifies all humans on the planet. With his scientific expertise, he wakes up other petrified humans and work together to establish a new world order and civilization based on science.

A set of cosmetic DLC for Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash will apparently come out after the game’s release. It will feature costumes based on the first ending of the anime. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

In total, there will be 32 costumes. This is because there will be outfits for eight playable characters, and each costume will have four color variations. There is no information on the price for the DLC as of yet.

You can check out the first ending of Jujutsu Kaisen here if you want a reminder of the clothes they were wearing:

The first ending for the Jujutsu Kaisen anime featured the song “Lost in Paradise feat. AKLO” from the artist, ALI. It shows the characters in various modern fashion as they go about enjoying a day in Tokyo. The art style features bright colors that go over the thick lines, similar to what one might see in a fashion or lifestyle magazine.

Halloween lands on a weekday this year, which means this upcoming weekend is the single best time to enjoy the spooky vibes of the season. But if you’re like me, no one’s invited you to a Halloween party. Not to worry, that just means there’s time to stay indoors with the haunting glow of a game filling the dark…

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Popular licensed life sim Disney Dreamlight Valley will no longer transition to a free-to-play model when it drops its early access moniker.

Developer Gameloft revealed today that its game would leave early access on 5th December but retain its early access price point (and indeed, it will also get pricier physical and special digital editions with extra currency and cosmetics bundled in).

On top of that, there's word of a major new expansion to the game, which will also come with a $30 price tag. Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift In Time will introduce new biomes and yet more characters to the base game, and is set to be fully detailed in a video showcase to be broadcast next Wednesday, 1st November at 5pm UK time.

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I'm braving the long dark of Moria, and the major dilemma at present is that I can't line up my feasting table with my hearthfire. In Free Range Games's plucky dungeon sim The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, you're a dwarf trying to reclaim the once-proud undercity of Khazad-dûm, tunnelling between procedurally generated networks of halls and crafting your own havens and upgrade facilities from long-wrecked forges and mansions.

The game is set after Sauron's defeat at the end of The Return of the King novel (spoilers, I guess?), at a time in Middle-earth canon when most of the big names were busy shaking hands and doling out promotions, but there are still plenty of orcs, trolls and other threats to worry about in Moria. Right now, though, the real headache is that I can't make my base of operations symmetrical.

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Earlier this week, Square Enix decided to ruin over a decade's worth of CD collecting by sticking all of their incredible Final Fantasy Piano Collection soundtracks online, for free, on pretty much every streaming service imaginable. The sheer cheek of it! Honestly, I'm still mildly shocked by it all. Just the thought of all that brilliant music, available to everyone, for zero pence and import fees. What an outstanding gift to the world. (Well, the real gift would be re-printing the fabled Final Fantasy X-2 Piano Collections CD and/or sticking that online as well, if you ask me, but hey, I'll allow them this one little omission).

After all, there's an absolute treasure trove of music you lucky lot get to dig into now, so if you're wondering where to start or just fancy yet another guided tour through some of Final Fantasy's best music tracks, allow me to forcibly volunteer myself to regale you with some of my personal favourite highlights.

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The psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl posited that humans are motivated, above almost all else, to search for meaning in their lives. He would probably be unsurprised, if more than slightly confused, to see that spirit manifest in a rumour that the rubbish performance of Cities: Skylines 2 is being caused by excessive teeth.

A widely-shared reddit post suggests that rendering the highly detailed chompers of Skylines 2’s citizenry, who lack the LOD (level of detail) implementation that would reduce their model quality at a distance, is a major cause behind the game’s inability to pump out frames per second. Developers Colossal Order disagree, and have put out a statement denying this "bizarre story."

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Sakamata Chloe of Hololive is warning fans of potential scammers who are pretending to be her on social media. This is in response to rumors online that Sakamata has been DM-ing people.

According to Sakamata Chloe’s tweet, she has not been DM-ing fans, nor has anyone hacked into her account. She explains that she has two-step verification and she has not received any e-mails about someone trying to log into her account. As well, her manager has not reported getting any e-mails about Sakamata’s DMs. 

Sakamata and her manager have set up their accounts so that all of Sakamata’s DM exchanges will also appear in her manager’s inbox. This is likely to make sure that Sakamata isn’t sending anything improper or revealing information protected under an NDA, as well as for Sakamata’s own security. If anyone is receiving or has received DMs from Sakamata Chloe, it’s the work of an impostor on another account.

Here's the official statement:

To celebrate Halloween 2023, Nintendo announced Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ghost type Pokemon outbreaks. These are now live and appear in all areas of the game.

Nintendo offered some details about this event on social media. The featured Pokemon appearing in outbreaks are Drifloon, Greavard, Mimikyu, and Phantump. (As a reminder, Phantump and its evolution Trevenant reappeared in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet alongside its The Teal Mask DLC.) All four of these species will appear both in the Paldea region’s outbreaks, as well as the Kitakami DLC island. 

In addition to the increased chance of finding a shiny one, which increase if you have a Shiny Charm, there is another special element to these characters. It is possible that one of the characters you catch during these special ghost type outbreaks may have the Crafty Mark. 

Limited Run Games opened pre-orders for its Persona 4 Golden physical copies. The PS4, Switch, and Xbox standard edition, Grimoire edition, and Midnight Channel collector’s edition are available. 

As you may expect, the version you get determines the price. Standard physical copies are $34.99. This gets you the game and the reversible cover that features the original Vita cover as an option. The Grimoire Edition is $69.99. That gives someone a Steelbook case as an option and a Le Grimoire book box to store things, in addition to the game.

While HoYoVerse postponed the special program for Genshin Impact Version 4.2, the PlayStation Twitter account still shared its release date. Aside from confirmation that Charlotte and Furina will be the new playable characters, it also revealed it appears November 8, 2023.

The tweet, which ended up deleted not long after appearing, also stated that the Version 4.2 update will “put a bow on the main Fontaine storyline,” which implies that the main conflict and Archon Quest series of missions for Fontaine will end with it. This follows the ongoing trend that HoYoVerse has established for Genshin Impact. Version 3.2 also concluded the main Sumeru storyline, with the Traveler defeating Dottore and ousting Scaramouche.

More often than she plays the part of lewd Twitch and Kick streamer Amouranth, 29-year-old Kaitlyn Siragusa is a businesswoman. But she’s primarily in the business of her body, hawking “made-to-order” water from her hot tub (sold out), a few strands of hair and her fart in a jar for a $400 sale price (sold out), and On…

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Everything’s getting more expensive, even inside Fortnite. Epic Games’ free-to-play battle royale is raising the price of V-Bucks today by roughly 12.5 percent. Being the last one standing just got a little more expensive, at least if you want to look stylish and rank up the season battle pass while doing it.

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A Twitch streamer has dedicated nearly three years of his life to Fallout 4, struggling to complete the most challenging feat I’ve ever heard of: a 100-percent completion of Bethesda’s 2015 action role-playing game without taking one single bit of damage.

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Everyone loves a weird little guy. Maybe it’s Danny DeVito, maybe it’s cats, maybe it’s Turgle, Meat Boy, or the Prince of All Cosmos. The longer the list of gaming’s weird little guys, the more Nintendo shows up on it. It’s been churning out weird little guys for decades. Goombas. Midna. Basically everyone in Animal…

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Before Insomniac created its stellar Spider-Man trilogy and before Treyarch redefined web-swinging with the 2004 Spider-Man 2 movie tie-in game, the folks at Neversoft gave Spidey fans the best example of wall-crawling video game excellence with its 2000 take on the character. Spider-Man sees the friendly neighborhood hero battle a star-studded gallery of villains in an original adventure chock full of comic book goodness. As Spider-Man's first fully 3D action-adventure game, it laid the groundwork for mechanics such as web-swinging, a variety of web shooter attacks, and wall-crawling stealth gameplay. Join Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard as they find out how Spider-Man holds up 23 years later. 

Ebay has decided we have entered Halloween season with the publication of a SPOOKY20 code good for 20% off a range of PC gaming components and peripherals (and other stuff).

We're zeroing in on an RX 7800 XT graphics card, the best value option from AMD's RDNA 3 lineup. The Gigabyte Gaming OC model is down to £485 from a price of £560. That's a good deal, with the cheapest RX 7800 XT elsewhere coming in at £510.

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If you love The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker but wish it had more blood, death and inclement weather in it, consider Sands of Aura. Released out of early access today, this is a top-down fantasy action-RPG set in a swirling, post-apocalyptic world in which you build up a town and sail between island dungeons in a sandship.

The sandship, or rather, "grainwake" sailing sees you bouncing merrily from dunes as vast, ominous structures loom out of the haze. The combat takes some inspiration from the Souls games, but the top-down perspective makes it feel like a classic arcade action title. Boss battles involve dodging or parrying colourful streaks, waves and clusters of projectiles. The developers, 12-person Chashu Entertainment, say it's a difficult experience. It looks it.

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Yesterday we looked at a pretty solid deal - a 24-inch 1440p 165Hz monitor for just $200. Today we're going one better, with a 27-inch model that costs just $160 with free shipping from Monoprice. The Dark Matter 27-inch monitor is one we've recommended before, and though it lacks the Fast IPS panel we prefer it's still a solid option at this incredibly competitive price point.

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After spending hours poring over Alan Wake 2 this week, corkboards full of photos, red string and important little clue nuggets have definitely been on my brain. Alas, Remedy's horror-fuelled detective 'em up keeps its problem-solving a little too much at arm's length for my tastes. Every piece of evidence you collect has its own set place on the board, for example, and heck, even the thrill of joining the dots with a set of pins and string is taken away from you, as its deduction work is all swept up in a wave of automation.

Happily, other developers are stepping in to fill that string-based gap, and chief among them is the French-made Chronique Des Silencieux, whose Steam demo I played over lunch today. You play as a rookie detective in this charming point and click game, and your entire raison d'etre is to point out contradictions Phoenix Wright-style between testimonies you gather and the evidence you accumulate. Only instead of shouting, "Objection!" you do it by manually sticking pins and red string between the offending bits of information. It's delightful, and well worth a nose if old Alan leaves you wanting this weekend.

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Capcom have unveiled the next generation of their in-house RE Engine, which came in alongside Resident Evil 7 in 2017 and has been used by a bunch of projects over the years, from the excellent Devil May Cry 5 to the forthcoming possibly-excellent Dragon's Dogma 2. RE Engine's successor, the REX engine, is a response to three things - 1) RE Engine productions getting bigger in terms of assets, and more diverse in terms of genre, 2) RE Engine games being increasingly made by overseas developers who speak different languages, and 3) unflattering comparisons with various commercial tools, like Unreal Engine and Unity.

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I lost my way with Lunacid last year, early on after stumbling through a small warren of spongey enemies. Trying it again this week rewarded my patience and taught me that I'd had the tool I needed all along, but dismissed them because it didn't work immediately. Playing beyond that has elevated it from "not my thing but I should cover it because it's someone else's" to "wait, this might be my thing? Damn it".

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Good Smile Company revealed a new Nendoroid modeled after the Hololive VTuber Amane Kanata and opened pre-orders for the figure on its Japanese and American online storefronts. The product will be released worldwide in 2024 for ¥6,900 / $43.99.

The set will come with two body parts that let Kanata change her costume from her regular attire to the PP Tenshi T-shirt. It will also have three face plates in total. The package will also include a penlight and a gripping hand with a crushing effect. A figure base with Amane Kanata's name and logo will complete the set.

Remedy revealed details about two upcoming DLC expansions for Alan Wake 2. This insight appeared in a FAQ on the official Alan Wake website, although no release date has been confirmed for either one.

The first of the two Alan Wake 2 add-ons will be called Night Springs. It will see players taking control of multiple characters from the game’s world, each with their own supernatural story to tell. These stories will be presented as episodes of Night Springs, the fictional in-universe TV show inspired by The Twilight Zone.

The second expansion will be called The Lake House. This will focus on a mysterious facility on the banks of Cauldron Lake, which belongs to “an independent government organization” conducting research in the area. This will feature two adventures with Saga Anderson and Alan Wake, just like the main game.

These expansions will not be the only post-launch content for Alan Wake 2. A New Game Plus mode is set to be added, allowing players to keep all weapons and upgrades. Remedy will also be adding a Nightmare difficulty level and an alternate narrative feature new video content.

Good Smile Company will release Nendoroid Dolls of Loid and Yor Forger from Spy x Family. Pre-orders for them will open on October 27, 2023 and end on November 23, 2023.

Both Nendoroid Dolls will cost 9000 JPY or $56.99. They also have a release window of June 2024 for customers in Japan or Q4 2024 for those in North America. As they're Nendoroid Dolls, you can strip Loid of his suit or Yor of her Thorn Princess attire. Not only can you give those clothes to other Nendoroid Dolls, but you can also dress them up or attach parts like mermaid tails to them.

Gameloft announced that Disney Dreamlight Valley will be leaving Early Access on December 5, 2023 and won't be free-to-play. The announcement also confirmed a new paid expansion is on the way.

When Disney Dreamlight Valley leaves Early Access, players will retain access to the full game and maintain all their progress. Gameloft confirmed that players’ Moonstones and save game will remain intact during the transition to the full launch. The developer also confirmed that there will be no transition to a free-to-play release for Disney Dreamlight Valley. The team stated that this will allow them to continue to release free updates for the game and ensure that in-game purchases will remain optional.

New editions of Disney Dreamlight Valley will be released alongside the full launch. For the full release, there will be a standard digital edition, plus a Gold Edition with additional perks. These additional bonuses will include 15,000 Moonstones and three new cosmetic items. This means players who buy that will get a Flowery Summer Cottage House Style, Artists’ Overalls costumes and a Flowery Capybara animal companion. Early Access players will also be able to claim these items by purchasing a Founder’s Pack by December 4, 2023.

Disney Dreamlight Valley, the cozy life sim set in a magical world filled with iconic Disney characters, has been in Early Access since August 2022. It’s set to finally leave Early Access this December, but a recent blog post has divided fans: Disney Dreamlight Valley will not be free-to-play upon launch, despite…

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It’s been 23 years since Sony launched the PlayStation 2, and a whole lot has changed in that time. While console warriors clash on social media over the merits of Starfield and Spider-Man 2, the PS5 and Series X|S generation has gotten off to a relatively sluggish start. Although Sony has managed to sell a whopping…

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Cities: Skylines 2 has got off to a bit of a rough start, with many players complaining of performance issues following this week's launch on PC. But while publisher Paradox has been forthright in acknowledging these problems (even prior to launch, somewhat unconventionally), it now wants to make it absolutely clear that, no, technical issues aren't because the game is trying to render the teeth of every single person in your city.

All this apparently started with a post on the Cities: Skylines subreddit in which one Hexcoder0 claimed the game was rendering individual teeth with no LOD (level of detail) adjustments, even when viewed from far away. They even threw together a bit of a collage feature a screenshot, a couple of character meshes, and, vitally, two red circles, to illustrate their claim.

Two days later, Paradox - presumably in some kind of damage limitation frenzy given the not exactly glittering reception the game has received - has responded by firing a statement out to press drawing attention to the "bizarre story" and denying Molargate is true.

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Alan Wake 2 is the best looking game released so far this generation. Whether you're playing on PlayStation 5 in either of its quality modes, or on a PC without hardware-accelerated ray tracing features active, you're still getting a frankly incredible-looking game. The PC version hasn't been without its controversies though, not least when Remedy's recommending a relatively powerful GPU like an RTX 3070 for 1080p gaming at 60fps on the medium preset... with DLSS active, upscaling from 540p. 540p native on a 3070? It sounds baffling, but the good news is that provided you have a modern GPU, it is possible to get a great experience on a range of hardware.

There's a few things to get out in the open straight away. First of all, the medium preset does not mean that all settings are run at the medium quality level. Secondly, the names of the various presets mean very little anyway - based on our setting-by-setting testing, the PS5 version of Alan Wake 2 in its performance mode is essentially running with all settings at their minimums, backed by medium/high textures. Crucially: it still looks great.

So let us start with some cold hard facts. For one, the game runs at 1440p FSR 2 balanced mode on PlayStation 5 with a flat resolution and no signs of dynamic resolution while targeting 60fps. This should already be throwing up massive red flags to anyone with common sense about the whole controversy with the RTX 3070. How is the PS5 running the game at 1440p balanced mode FSR2 at 60 fps when we know quite well that an RTX 3070 is better at rasterisation and far better in ray tracing than a PS5?

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This week on All Things Nintendo, Brian and Marcus dive into the history of Mario, Sonic, and the rivalry that emerged between the two franchises and their companies. After running down the history of the longstanding rivalry, Brian shares some stories of talking with Nintendo and Sega luminaries about the '90s console wars and how the franchises continued moving forward. The show wraps up with a new ATN Draft.

If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram/Threads @BrianPShea or Twitter @BrianPShea. You can follow Marcus on Twitter: @MarcusStewart7.

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Another Attack on Titan collaboration is coming to Dead by Daylight Mobile, this time featuring alternate Mikasa and Levi skins for Yui and Jake, as well as an Attack Titan skin for the Trapper. The event runs until November 9, 2023.

The new Titan outfit for the Trapper comes in 3 tiers, each representing its appearance in different periods of the story. Meanwhile, Yui Kimura's new skin is based on Mikasa's outfit while equipped with thunder spears, while Jake Park's Levi skin has him wearing his headscarf and his sleeves rolled up. As well as these new additions, several past Attack on Titan collaboration skins will also be available to purchase, with charms awarded for buying up to 3 outfits.

Several charms and general cosmetics will be available to earn for free by playing during the event. A new accessory system for Dead by Daylight Mobile will also be introduced, with the first accessory being a backpack based on the Pure Titan.

You can get a look at the items in the gallery below:

Good Smile Company offered a first look at its upcoming Cowboy Bebop Spike Spiegel and Vicious figure. The unpainted prototype is going to be on display at the Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary exhibition in Japan.

The Cowboy Bebop 25th Anniversary exhibition is available at the Seibu Shibuya Movida Building between October 27, 2023 and November 19, 2023. Attendees can see art, as well as purchase official merchandise based on the series and its characters. This new figure prototype is among the items on display at the event. While the photo of the two shared online only is shown from one angle, people will be able to get a better look if they attend.

Here’s a closer look at the figure. In it, Spike and Vicious are in the middle of a fight. Vicious is attempting to attack with his sword. However, Spike used his gun to block it. Both characters are wearing their traditional suits. The background shows they’re fighting amidst the ruins of a dilapidated building.

Even if Tempest is one of the more unique Switch otome games, due to its courtroom elements, and fortunately Even if Tempest Dawning Connections continues to live up to the original’s legacy. It maintains all of the elements that made the first story so special, while also devoting more attention to love interests and supporting characters.

In the original Even if Tempest, we saw the harrowing life of Anastasia Lynzel. A young woman with a harrowing beginning, she eventually ended up with the Fatal Rewind ability. This allows her to not only change her destiny, but also that of those around her. Eventually, she even ends up being a critical part of changing the world around her for the better. Even if Tempest Dawning Connections is both the story of what happens next with the love interests Crius, Lucien, Tyril, and Zenn, as well as see a story of what could have been and learn more about major side characters Conrad, Evelina, Ish, and Maya. However, while this is a fan disc, it still doesn’t completely discard some of the more unique properties of the original, such as the supernatural and mystery elements, making it just as strong of a story.

There’s a new way to fight Shiva in Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, as her Co-op Battle is now available. People can challenge her in this way for one week.

Square Enix and Applibot offered more insight on what to expect from this fight. Up to three people can join in to face Shiva in-game. Doing so nets someone Co-op Medals, which can be swapped for Weapon Parts. Summon Memories and weapons can also be earned. Some Co-op Battle Missions will also appear. Getting through them will net people 20 Stamina Tonics and 1,500 Blue Crystals.

While this marks Shiva’s debut as a Co-op Battle, she’s already been in the game for a while. So have her Summon Weapons, so people have another option for getting and upgrading them. These are the Shiva’s Blade for Cloud and Shiva Cannon for Barret. Both deal MAG ice damage to enemies and offer +50% fire resistance to the characters when equipped. Other traditional summons, like Ifrit, also appear.

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis is available for mobile devices, with the Shiva Co-op Battle appearing until November 2, 2023. The game will eventually come to PCs as well, though Square Enix and Applibot haven't set a release window for that version yet.

Games For Gaza, an itch.io fundraiser for Medical Aid For Palestinians (MAP) that features 256 items ranging from games, stories, soundtracks, game assets, and more, reached its first, $10,000 goal within hours of its October 27 launch.

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