December 2023

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, previously described by Ed as "an exciting action-RPG mix of Elden Ring and God Of War" has a new trailer - and cat-lovers, you are in for a treat, because this game has a cat called Enki which you can use as a magic grappling hook and a handy source of lightning for your groundpounds. Enki has big cute ears and a beaver's tail, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's related to one of those awful, many-limbed gods Flintlock's protagonist Nor Vanek is trying to slay.

I'm sorry, it's my first time writing about Flintlock, and I realise the "OMG it has a cat!" ship has probably long since sailed. Only hang on, Ed thinks Enki is a squirrel, while Graham thinks it's a dog. Which of us is correct? Developer A44 Games describe Enki as "fox-like", further muddying the waters. There's only one thing for it: you'll have to watch the video and decide for yourself.

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This week I've been re-reading Graeme's wonderful piece on Iain Banks that we published on Tuesday. I've also been thinking about Banks in general, listening to old radio programmes he was on, and wishing that we'd gotten to enjoy his entry on Simon Parkin's podcast, My Perfect Console. That would have been dream broadcasting.

In its place, I realised I had a dim memory of Banks giving an interview to Edge mag about the games he loved, and when I tracked it down I discovered that one of his earliest loves in games was Asteroids. So that's it: Asteroids is our Game of the Week. About time, really. It's a classic. And to keep things topical, play the version on the glorious Atari 50 collection, which is due an end-of-the-year update.

My favourite Banks book is probably Complicity, and one of the things I love about Complicity is that it's the first novel I read where characters talk and think about video games. Umberto Eco has a wonderful section in Foucault's Pendulum about pinball, and Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis would talk about Super Mario and Defender to anyone who would hear them (Amis wrote a weird and lovely non-fiction book about games too, obv). But Complicity is a bit like reading The Great Gatsby and seeing characters in a novel talk about advertising hoardings and movie magazines. It's the moment that literature turns its attention to a new part of the contemporary scene.

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Pacific Drive is set to rev up its engines and pull out of the driveway on 22nd February, across PlayStation 5 and PC (via Steam and Epic Game Store).

The driving survival game was initially set to release this year, but developer Ironwood Studios made the decision to delay its launch in order to prioritise the team's health and wellbeing.

"It's so exciting to know that in a few short months, you'll all be out on your own adventures in the Olympic Exclusion Zone," the developer said while annoucing Pacific Drive's new release date. "For those of you who have been waiting for this news, we thank you for your patience and sticking with us! Everyone at Ironwood has been working hard to finish the game and it’s been a long road (pun intended) to get here."

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Resident Evil 4's VR mode will be released next week: 8th December.

The free DLC will be available for all PlayStation 5 owners, as the full game will be playable in VR for PSVR2.

In addition, a free demo for the mode will be available on the same day, allowing players to check out the beginning of the game and the shooting range to get a feel for the controls.

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Family Guy's portly Peter Griffin and Metal Gear Solid star Solid Snake are set to star in Fortnite as part of the game's next season, according to marketing for the game now visible on Xbox consoles.

Fortnite Chapter 5: Season 1 is expected to kick off on Sunday, after this weekend's climactic Big Bang live event that's set to cap off Fortnite's hugely-successful OG season.

Epic Games' battle royale is then expected to reboot itself with an all-new Island when it returns online, and a fresh battle pass for Chapter 5: Season 1 that features a tiger-human hybrid, Snake and the long-awaited Peter Griffin.

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Homeworld 3 will launch on 8th March 2024, developer Blackbird Interactive and publisher Gearbox have now confirmed, two decades after its predecessor.

The long-in-the-works real-time strategy follow-up was previously set to launch in February 2024, following a significant delay from the first half of 2023.

Originally announced in August 2019, the space combat threequel looks ambitious. When our Bertie took a look last year he dubbed it as having tremendous scale, and being "a space RTS for the James Webb era".

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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: fencing, cameras, and Mario.

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

As a Mario and Squaresoft fan in Europe, this has been a long time coming. Yes, I know Super Mario RPG was released on the Wii here, but I've been desperate to play this game for at least two decades. And it was worth the wait.

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Baldur's Gate 3 has received a major new update, Patch 5, which adds a fresh epilogue plus additional game modes.

The epilogue is accessible to players prior to the final fight and takes place six months later, as players say their final goodbyes to the party.

Larian boasts that this ending features some of the most complex writing in the game, tying up player choices from a giant tree of permutations.

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Let's get ready ready, let's get ready ready, let's get ready to Christmas! Is it just me, or did 2023 seem like it had more games than ever before? But look, don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened - and make the smile extra big, because, as we do basically every year, the RPS staff have worked hard (read: voted and bickered) to bring you our games of the year in beautiful, numerical form. Digitally open a new door each day and enjoy the magnificent The RPS Advent Calendar 2023!

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Let's open the first door of this year's calendar. Lock, load, and bring a buddy.

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I don't drive myself, and while that's mostly because I can't afford a car, don't really need one for work and have wibbly environmentalist sensibilities, it's also because the experience of driving, for me, has been thoroughly spoiled by videogames. I mean, just look at this trailer for Ironwood's Vandemeerian vehicle survival roguelike Pacific Drive. How am I supposed to be satisfied with some stupid road after watching that? What's the point of cars if there are no floating cryptid lifeforms, inexplicable walls of energy or lost research facilities involved?

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The story of Ash Ketchum and his loyal Pikachu's story finally ended earlier this year - without them ever giving Misty a single penny towards a new bike. But, since the Pokémon franchise is an unstoppable force, fans already knew a new series was on its way in the form of Pokémon Horizons. Set in Paldea to tie in with the latest mainline series games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Horizons follows two new Pokémon Trainers - Liko and Roy - on their journeys. Eurogamer attended a screening of the first four episodes of Pokémon Horizons this week to take a look.

Despite primarily taking place in Paldea, Pokémon Horizons evokes the original anime straight away by beginning in the Kanto region - as Liko has moved to Viridian City in order to attend a Pokémon academy. It's here she meets her first Pokemon partner Sprigatitio, the cat-like Grass-type starter from Gen 9, who meets all of her bonding attempts with the kind of indignation only a cat can possess. School life comes to a halt, however, when members of a mysterious organisation known as The Explorers - the villains of Horizons - arrive to steal the gem pendant her grandmother gifted Liko as a good luck charm.

Thankfully, a group of Trainers known as the Rising Volt Tacklers arrive in time to help Liko escape back to Paldea. Led by Friede and Captain Pikachu, the Volt Tacklers allow her to join their group so she can discover why The Explorers desire her pendant and what secrets it holds. Along the way, Liko ends up encountering Roy - owner of an Ancient Poké Ball and the most unimaginative name in the series. While Roy only made his first appearance in the fourth episode, he is the dual protagonist of the series so I wouldn’t be surprised if he joins the Volt Tacklers too in future episodes.

Everywhere, the shared world creation metaverse-y thing from former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies, will hold its first closed alpha test next week.

Closed Alpha 1: Systems Check will begin on Tuesday 5th December at midday UK time and run through until Monday 18th December. You can sign up for a free account now, via the Everywhere website.

Eurogamer got a glimpse at the hugely-ambitious Everywhere earlier this year, when Benzies assured us it was nothing to do with crypto or NFTs (remember those?) and teased the big budget episodic project MindsEye that will be available within it.

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Sonic Dream Team, the forthcoming mobile game, will put players in an "exhilarating flow state", according to Sega Hardlight studio creative director Dan Rossati.

Interviewed by Touch Arcade, Rossati revealed some fresh details about gameplay and its Apple Arcade exclusivity.

Fans have compared gameplay footage to Sonic Adventure, but when asked about this comparison Rossati stated this is not intended to be a successor.

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Sorry folks, it looks like a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster isn't in the works.

A remaster of the PlayStation 1 (and later PSP) game is heavily sought after by fans of the series.

However, the game's director Yasumi Matsuno has seemingly squashed any rumours of a revival.

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UPDATE 02/12/23: The second season of Halo will premier on 8th February, on Paramount Plus.

A new trailer was released to accompany this news, giving us our first look at what's in store for the next series.

"Master Chief John-117 leads his team of elite Spartans against the alien threat known as the Covenant," the official blurb reads. "As humanity's best hope for winning the war, John-117 discovers his deep connection to a mysterious alien structure that holds the key to humankind's salvation, or its destruction - the Halo."

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Deathloop leads Amazon's crop of free Games with Prime for December.

The Arkane shooter was first released on PlayStation 5 before arriving on Xbox Game Pass once Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft.

It's one of seven games available for free this month through Amazon Prime, also including previously unreleased Atari arcade shooter Akka Arrh which received major praise in our Eurogamer review.

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Ubisoft's Far Cry 6 is heading to Xbox Game Pass this month.

It will be joined by the likes of Rise of the Tomb Raider, Goat Simulator 3 and plenty more throughout December.

First up, Remnant: From the Ashes (Cloud, Console, and PC) and Remnant II (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X/S) were both added to the service yesterday.

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Xbox is "actively working" on launching a mobile store that will compete with the likes of Apple and Google.

Speaking in Sao Paulo during the CCXP comics and entertainment convention, Xbox head Phil Spencer said the move into the mobile market is an "important part" of the company's strategy (thanks, Bloomberg).

"[It's] something we are actively working on today not only alone, but talking to other partners who'd also like to see more choice for how they can monetise on the phone," Spencer said.

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Fallout 76 continues to grow. On December 5, 2023, alongside the Atlantic City - Boardwalk Paradise, the game will receive Season 15: The Big Score.

Over the course of Season 15 you'll be able to earn S.C.O.R.E. by completing in-game challenges,unlocking new cosmetic items and furnishings for your C.A.M.P..

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Grand Theft Auto VI’s trailer reveal is just days away. Rockstar Games confirmed it will finally show the much anticipated next game in the hit open-world franchise on December 5, indicating that it’s the first trailer of many.

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Yuuya Uchida, the voice actor of Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI, took to social media. He made a chaotic post regarding Final Fantasy XVI where he teased a rumor about an announcement for the game in December 2023 that could involve the DLC.

In the social media post made by Uchida, he states the following. It has been translated to English:

It's a chaotic FF16 retweet. I'm still in the middle of playing, and I've been curious about it for a long time. I want to move forward quickly, but I also want to proceed carefully. There are rumors that there will be an announcement in December, so I have to continue. I've like all the works I've been involved in, and I want to cherish them, and I want to get to the end the things that interest me, and I'm so excited!

The original post can be viewed below:

https://twitter.com/yuuya_uchida/status/1728602086831759552

Although no plans concerning any announcement have been revealed by Square Enix at this time, Producer Naoki Yoshida stated in September that there are plans to release DLC for Final Fantasy XVI. Currently, there is no information on what the paid add-on will include.

After teasing that it would be releasing a trailer in early December about a month ago, Rockstar confirmed an exact date and time this morning. The trailer for the next be Grand Theft Auto will premiere Tuesday December 5 at 9 a.m. ET.

pic.twitter.com/BguwiJokQt

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) December 1, 2023

Rockstar shared the tweet above without any context, so it's worth noting that it is technically not confirming that this trailer will be for the next Grand Theft Auto. All it says is "Trailer 1" and a date. But, considering its early November tease explicitly read, "We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto," it's safe to assume that this is what the tweet is referencing.

The art of the tweet also offers the first official tease for the game's tropical setting. It has long been rumored that the next Grand Theft Auto would return to Vice City and a massive leak in September where 90 video related to the game also made that apparent.

Oh, hi again! We’re in the final month of what is arguably one of the most impressive years in gaming in recent memory. So when you find yourself at the end of the week looking to get some gaming in, how can you possibly choose among the embarrassment of riches that’s been released this year alone?

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Well folks, the final 31 days of 2023 are upon us. While I expect you’ll likely have picked out your personal game of the year already, there’s still time for some more games to hit physical and virtual shelves, and maybe one of them will be a nice send-off to a wild year of killer games.

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Rockstar Games announced that the first trailer for the new Grand Theft Auto game, which could be GTA 6, is coming December 5, 2023 at 9:00 AM ET. This will be the first-ever official look at the title.

Earlier in November 2023, Rockstar Games shared a message to all of the company's fans that December 2023 marked the 25th anniversary of the publisher and gave thanks to all of the fans who have played Rockstar Games over the years. Founded in 1998, the company's guiding idea was that video games could be an essential part of culture like any other form of media. Within that same announcement, Rockstar Games revealed plans to show the first trailer for their next Grand Theft Auto game. Many anticipate that this will be the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6.

Sony Interactive Intertainment announced the winners of the PlayStation Partner Awards 2023 Japan Asia. These awards honor the best-performing PlayStation games that were released in Japan and other Asian countries between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023.

The first one on the list is the Users' Choice Award. The following five titles received the highest amount of votes from PlayStation users in Japan and other Asian countries.

• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon by FromSoftware
• Resident Evil 4 Remake by Capcom
• Final Fantasy XVI by Square Enix
• Persona 5 Royal by Atlus
• Hogwarts Legacy by Warner Bros.

The first GTA 6 trailer will release on 5th December at 9am ET, 2pm GMT and 6am PT, Rockstar have announced. What's more, they've shared around the first piece of GTA 6 art. It's got palm trees in it. Seagulls too.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League publisher Warner Bros. Interactive is battling to stop the spread of footage taken from the game's alpha test.

Leaked videos, as seen by Eurogamer, have revealed the game's lengthy opening, which features a cast of familiar characters in a spoilery location, and gameplay featuring all of the game's characters.

Footage of the game's emote dances has also been posted, as well as the game's skill trees.

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UK developer Codemasters has a rich 37-year history of racing games, with its own EGO Engine used to create every flavour of racing game you could imagine. From the tarmac racing in F1 and Grid to the off-road thrills of Dirt and the more realistic Dirt Rally, it has every base covered. But the times are changing, and so is the technology. In 2020, Dirt 5 switched to an evolved form of the Onrush engine instead - to great success - while this year the launch of EA Sports WRC sees a more radical break with the studio deploying Unreal Engine 4.

This fascinating transition raises some questions. Have the visuals truly benefitted from the change? In comparison to the likes of Dirt Rally 2.0 - an EGO Engine title that was handled by the very same team in 2019, is the rally experience of EA WRC improved? And how does it run today on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, S and PC? That's what we've aimed to find out with testing on all four platforms.

The official reason for the engine change, based on developer interviews, is to allow for larger circuits. In EA Sports WRC it's possible to map out rally routes of up 30km in length. Seemingly there was a size limit with its own EGO Engine tech, and Unreal Engine 4 allows the team to break through this barrier. And no doubt, the jump to Unreal Engine also allows Codemasters to reap certain benefits native to the tech like platform scalability and Epic's TAAU upscaler. Plus, it's clear that WRC makes for a good test-bed to see if the engine is suitable future games.

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Capcom has confirmed that more Resident Evil remakes are on the way.

After the huge success of the Resident Evil 2, 3 and 4 remakes, Capcom is set to continue the trend - though which game is next remains unknown.

IGN spoke with Resident Evil 4 remake director Yasuhiro Anpo at a PlayStation partner awards event in Japan, who confirmed an announcement is on the way.

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The first season for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is set to arrive on 6th December across all platforms.

Activision has laid out an overview with all the things fans can expect to see with season one. This includes five free weapons, four new Multiplayer maps, multiple modes, the next Zombies story mission, the arrival and integration of Call of Duty: Warzone and the new Urzikstan map, an all-new 100+ Tiers of Battle Pass content to earn, BlackCell, and "more".

You can see a little trailer for it all below.

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The first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer has a release date: this Tuesday, 5th December at 2pm UK time.

Developer Rockstar announced the news this afternoon, and anticipation is clearly high. Despite only sharing this small update five minutes ago at the time of writing, the studio's post on X (formerly Twitter) is already awash with some very enthusiastic responses.

We knew Rockstar would reveal its first GTA 6 trailer at some point in the coming weeks. Clearly aware fans were eager for any morsel of news about the next game in the studio's hugely successful series, the developer announced last month it would be sharing a trailer in December.

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Alongside a new trailer showing what Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will sound like in English, Sega also confirmed Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name's English dub will release for free this month. The new trailer shows scenes that will be familiar to anyone who watched the Japanese trailer back in September, but it's nice to hear familiar voices connected to this new footage. The trailer also gives us a chance to hear Daniel Dae Kim's Masataka Ebina and Danny Trejo's Dwight. Here's what Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has to say about the two characters.

Ebina is the de-facto leader for the Seiryu Clan, a yakuza syndicate whose current chairman is incarcerated. Dwight leads the Barracudas gang in Hawaii and supervises the world's largest counterfeit goods market, aided by his sharp sense of business and even sharper machete.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth releases January 26 PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Turns out CD Projekt has even more plans for Cyberpunk beyond its 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty earlier this year. During a stream detailing the update with developers Paweł Sasko and Monika Janowska, the team at CD Projekt revealed Cyberpunk will be getting a 2.1 update soon that will add a fully functional metro, radioport, replayable car races, boss fight improvements, accessibility features, and more. The update will be available December 5 (the same day Rockstar is launching the trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto), which will also mark the release of Cyberpunk 2077's Ultimate Edition.

The metro system, called NCART in the game, lets players move around the city and take in the views. The Radioport will let players listen to music outside of vehicles. The update will also allow players to to invite their in-game significant others to "quality time" together in V's apartment. The other previously mentioned updates are a little more self-explanatory, though CD Projekt did specifically mention that the boss updates were specifically applied to the late-game encounter with Adam Smasher. He is also now equipped with Sandevistan, which was seen in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. New vehicles will be added like the Porsche 911 Cabriolet and others, motorcycle handling has been improved, and there are also technical updates like larger fonts and the option to turn off timers in the Breach Protocol minigame.

An early leak via the Xbox store has seemingly revealed that Peter Griffin from Family Guy and Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series will be available in Fortnite’s next season. What a world we live in.

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This story is part of our new Future of Gaming series, a three-site look at gaming’s most pioneering technologies, players, and makers.

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Between Cyberpunk 2077's big 2.0 overhaul and its lengthy Phantom Liberty story expansion, it might have seemed like the game’s developers were done with the open-world RPG’s three-year turnaround. But today CD Projekt Red confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will still get some big features in one last 2.1 update,…

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At long last, the GTA VI rumor mill can slow down. Rockstar Games officially announced the sequel in February 2022, but the studio just confirmed that a trailer for the long-awaited crime sim sequel will arrive on December 5. As we gear up for GTA VI‘s reveal, we at Kotaku have just one question: What do y’all want to…

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Publisher EA has been making it easier for developers to implement accessibility features by making many of them free for other developers to use. Now, the company is expanding that toolset with a patent to help folks with epilepsy and other forms of light sensitivity.

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