Destructoid

CD Projekt Red aired a new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 during this morning's Night City Wire stream, and god dang – there's so much to unpack. One, two, three watchthroughs? Not enough. I need more.

According to lead quest designer Paweł Sasko, this footage represents the prologue. In other words, just "the first few quests." Our protagonist, V, is after a "chip of immortality," and it won't come easily.

Sasko says the designers "have learned so much" since The Witcher 3, and they're aiming for no filler.

The more I see of Cyberpunk 2077, the more I appreciate the delay to November 19. Let's go.

The next episode of Night City Wire is coming in "just a few weeks."

During this morning's Night City Wire presentation, CD Projekt RED revealed that its super-hyped RPG Cyberpunk 2077 will be receiving a standalone anime series in 2022, streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will realise all of the intense action, explosive combat, and neon-soaked opulence of the Cyberpunk 2077 universe in animated form. The 10-episode series is being produced by industry veterans Studio Trigger, who are previously responsible for such hits as Kill la Kill and Little Witch Academia.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners will arrive on Netflix in 2022.

Twitch Prime continues to dole out monthly rewards, and July's offerings have just come across our desk.

The highlight of the month is easily the new batch of free SNK classics, a list that now fully includes (with the July additions): SNK Collection 1: Art of Fighting 2, Blazing Star, Fatal Fury Special, The King of Fighters 2000, The King of Fighters 2002, Pulstar and Samurai Shodown II.

The new Doom Eternal drop includes the "Cosplay Slayer skin," which is literally just the Doom Slayer dressed up in cardboard like he was going to a gaming convention. It lines up nicely with the old school shooter Turok 2: Seeds of Evil, which is also free. Other July free games are Dear Esther, GRIP: Combat Racing, KUNAI and Dark Devotion.

You can find the full list below, which includes all drops (free games or DLC) and dates.

In a surprise bit of news, Revolution Software has announced that its old-school adventure sequel Beyond a Steel Sky is now good to go, and will launch on the Apple Arcade platform tomorrow, June 26. The sci-fi cyberpunk thriller will arrive on PC via Steam sometime in July.

A sequel to the 1994 DOS title Beneath a Steel Sky, Beyond welcomes back weary protagonist Robert Foster, who is forced to leave his desert encampment and return to the walled-off metropolis of Union City on a mission to recover an abducted child. While the old 'berg looks far more pleasing and luxurious than one might remember, it quickly becomes clear that corruption and danger still lurk behind the utopia's bright lights and starry-eyed promises.

Developer Experiment 101 continues to plug away at its dystopian adventure Biomutant, which has been quietly in development since its initial reveal back in the summer of 2017. Now entering the final phases of production, publisher THQ Nordic has released a 10-minute video giving us all a look at the epic adventure in action.

As a quick refresher, Biomutant is the tale of a post-apocalyptic world populated by anthropomorphic animals. Players take control of a fully customisable raccoon character, who is tasked with rescuing The Tree of Life, which is slowly dying due to the failing ecosystem. Exploring a vast open world, players will encounter a wide cast of characters and localised tribes and must attempt, by favour or force, to gain access to the roots of the tree itself, embedded deep within each territory.

Dialogue choices, actions, and reactions will affect a "Karma" system which forms the spine of the adventure, having major impact on both the player character and the denizens that they encounter. On a physical front, Biomutant will feature constant customisation and adaptation options, as the hero alters their very being with new skills, abilities, and weapons as the story progresses.

One of the features introduced in Animal Crossing: New Leaf is finally making the jump to New Horizons. Ocean swimming and deep-sea diving are coming to the best-selling sim in a new update scheduled to launch July 3. Players will be able to hop into the waters surrounding their islands and dive for creatures to donate to Blathers. Renowned diver Pascal the Otter is also making a comeback in this update and will reward players with new pieces of furniture to craft.

In case you forgot; TGS is much, much bigger than E3. How big? Well try 262,076 attendees in 2019 versus E3's 66,100 figure from the same year. This is with E3's public entrance policy.

It's so big, in fact, that it won't be going on hiatus entirely, despite the lack of a physical show. As a past TGS attendee Destructoid has obtained information directly from the show's organizers, which now involves an elaborate combination of streams and behind-the-scenes events, taking place from September 23 to September 27.

Right now, TGS organizers are gathering up publishers for the show, with Nintendo and Sony are already onboard with a specific focus in indie games. A "live streaming of an esports tournament" is vaguely mentioned, as well as "online round-table discussions" hosted by TGS.

So how does this impact you? Well there's going to be behind-the-scenes events that press will share at a later time, as well as the open invitation to have games at the event host their own streams. So mark off your calendar folks: the summer of gaming has expanded into the fall!

If there's nothing I dislike more, it's being the bearer of bad news. But I'm sorry to inform fans that the Ape Escape 20th Anniversary Twitter account has abruptly closed down, with a strange message hinting that perhaps a project was initially in the works, but has since been canned.

As spotted by Push Square, the Twitter account - which opened with bright eyes and big dreams back in June 2019 - released a series of somewhat cryptic tweets on June 23. These included images of an Ape Escape monkey leaving an office and returning to the jungle along with a message that, roughly translated, reads "There are things that I could and couldn't do in the last year, but I have some regrets."

While purely speculation, this seems to imply that perhaps an Ape Escape project was on the cards to celebrate the platformer's 20th anniversary, but undisclosed circumstances have brought an end to any such plans. Ape Escape is a beloved franchise with a dedicated fan following, so this news will no doubt come as a disappointment to many. Still, here's hoping that this is more a case of "See you soon," rather than "Goodbye."

I don't know what it was about Mr. Driller that drew me to it in 1999. Maybe it was the beautiful color scheme, or the adorable mascot.

Either way, the Arcade/PlayStation/Dreamcast original made me a fan for life. So you better believe I'm here for the Mr. Driller Drill Land remaster on PC and Switch.

We'll have a new reason to boot up Overcooked 2 in July. Sun's Out Buns Out, the latest in a string of free seasonal level packs, is coming to PC on July 5 and consoles soon after, according to IGN.

Cold drinks, corn on the cob, hot dogs, fireworks, a parade, and dispensers – there's a lot to love. The trailer for Sun's Out Buns Out shows five chaotic summer-themed levels and a pair of pooches.

I'm less thrilled about that one level with another dreaded joystick-controlled platform (I always struggle to keep the kitchen combo going in stages with pitfalls), but at the same time, I'd rather not breeze all the way through. I mean, it's been a minute. I want to savor Overcooked 2 while I still can.

These free updates aren't typically Overcooked's best material, but this theme is jolly, and I'm into it.

Overcooked 2: Sun's Out Buns Out DLC Revealed - IGN Expo [IGN]

Spartans have spent the better part of two decades putting the Covenant in their place. If it's not Covenant, it's mostly the Flood and Sentinels that are causing problems for the UNSC. However, you'd have to play one of the non-FPS Halo side-games to be acclimated with one of the enemy factions in Halo Infinite.

Today, the Halo Twitter account posted the following cryptic tease:

The final wave of Xbox Game Pass additions for June 2020 may not have the sheer impact of Kingdom Hearts or No Man's Sky – if you're just getting started, good luck – but if you're longing for something to pick up, play, and power through, Observation and The Messenger come highly recommended.

Observation is a thriller about a turbulent space station and an artificial intelligence with presumably less-than-pure intentions. The gameplay twist is that rather than playing as an astronaut, you're the AI.

While it was previously available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers on PC, The Messenger is joining the Xbox One lineup tomorrow, June 25. For many of us, it's a mixed experience that arguably bites off too much (it's 8- and 16-bit), but the classic Ninja Gaiden and metroidvania fan in me still had fun.

Two other lesser-known games – Night Call, a mystery-cracking visual novel about a cabbie who's on the hook for a string of murders, and Streets of Rogue, a top-down roguelite with "emergent gameplay elements of immersive sims and RPGs" – are also playable with a Game Pass membership.

Here's the platform and timing breakdown for this week's games:

The Mafia games have gotten increasingly lenient in terms of what the police consider to be stoppable offenses. In the first game, simply blowing through a red light would get you pulled over. In Mafia II, traffic lights weren't of much concern but cops weren't shy about issuing tickets for anyone breaking the speed limit. Mafia III's police don't care so much about traffic laws but a black man behind the wheel always piques their suspicion.

The remake of Mafia will let you choose your preferred cop aggression. In an interview with USGamer, developer Hangar 13 explains that there's a slider to determine how strict the police are. The default settings are akin to the original version of Mafia, but anyone who wants to have more fun with it can crank the police presence down and drive like a madman.

Because this is a remake, the mission structure has been radically altered too. Hangar 13 says that it's trying to emulate the gameplay of Mafia III but without all the repetitive missions. Instead, it's focusing on making each task meaningful. The combat will function similarly to Mafia III too, featuring the sort of sticky cover that games like Gears of War popularized; the original Mafia emphasized using cover, but it mostly just meant hiding behind walls with free movement. Now, it's adapting genre conventions that have been the standard for well over a decade.

A new Don't Starve game surfaced this week, and it's out of left field.

Don't Starve: Newhome is a free-to-play mobile spin-off developed by Shengqu Interactive, published by Tencent Games, and licensed under Klei Entertainment. If you're out, I gotcha. If you're in – or at least in enough to want to hear more – there's a cinematic trailer and a closed beta test coming in mid-July.

Shengqu says Don't Starve: Newhome is multiplayer-focused and play sessions are "faster."

"Players will be able to build persistent homes, discover new creatures, builds, and crafting options, and team up with friends online to delve even deeper into the world of Don't Starve: Newhome. The game will also feature a new story mode, ongoing live support, and much more." There's a pair of screens, too.

Sometimes I forget how big the Don't Starve brand has gotten. A rebuilt-for-mobile title from another studio isn't ideal, but I'm happy about the series' success. Its art direction is still second to none.

With the sun beating down hard on much of the world right now, its the perfect time for a spot of photosynthesis. In keeping with the summer season, spirited "plant girl" Kanna is getting set to bring some flower power to Inti Creates' Blaster Master Zero II.

Revealed during yesterday's New Game+ Expo presentation, the Kanna Raising Simulator DLC will add a brand new mini-game to BMZ II. Players will be charged with blastin' baddies and collecting bonuses in order to provide fertiliser and nutrients to young Kanna, helping her bloom and grow through a variety of different forms. According to the leafy lady herself, the game is "totes bonkers", so go ahead and check out the action in a new trailer below.

The Kanna Raising Simulator DLC will be available to purchase from June 29 on all platforms for just a couple of bucks. Blaster Master Zero II will also launch on PS4 the same day.

During yesterday's New Game+ Expo presentation, Arc System Works graced us with some fresh gameplay footage from its heavy metal slapfest Guilty Gear Strive, which is headed to PS4 in 2021.

While the new video did not, unfortunately, reveal any new characters or features, we did get to see two of GG's finest - classy assassin Millia Rage and master of the Forbidden Beasts Zato-1 - engage in a knock-down, drag-out brawl, giving fans their first in-depth look at the two roster veterans in action. Millia demonstrates her excellent rushdown potential, accompanied by a wild variety of weaponised hairstyles, while Zato-1 shows off his ability to control the entire playing field, with help from his nightmarish demon pal, Eddie.

Rebellion has released the third and final chapter of Zombie Army 4: Dead War's story expansion Hell Cult. Available to purchase now on all platforms, Deeper Than Hell adds a new story chapter, new weapons, and an all-new difficulty setting for hardened zombie-poppers.

Following on from the previous chapter, Blood Count, Deeper Then Hell sees our mob of ragtag heroes travel into a subterranean archaeological dig, where it appears The Reich had been attempting to tap into some great evil from generations past. Not only will players have to contend with armies of rotting Nazis, but it seems that the guardians of the ruins themselves are none-too-pleased with this violent incursion into their resting place. It's been a long and frightening journey, soldier, but the end is in sight. Fight on.

Ubisoft has lost the captain of its big Viking warship. Ashraf Ismail, the creative director on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, has abandoned the project.

Ismail has stepped down from leading Valhalla a little earlier today with the following tweet:

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix showed off around 25 minutes of Marvel's Avengers in today's War Table stream, and if you caught it live, the compression-heavy showing was rough to watch.

If you're checking in now, the 4K upload on YouTube is better. Not great – I'm afraid to see this game running on current-gen base consoles – but better. There's also a co-op trailer if you're in a rush.

Marvel's Avengers will seemingly put most of its attention on A.I.M. – an organization hellbent on curing the "Inhuman infection" and convincing everyone that superheroes are too dangerous.

He won't be the only villain, but MODOK is leading the charge, which is an interesting choice, to be sure. The designers said they wanted "a new face for modern Avengers fans." He's punchable, at least.

In a level set on top of a helicarrier, Thor flew around, wailed on a spider-bot for a bit, and smashed up humanoid robot reinforcements, eventually blowing up the big lug with a God Blast heroic ability. This was a Hero Mission, "a single-player campaign experience focusing on a specific playable character."

The combat seemed... okay. A little dated and clunky. Above all, I'm worried about enemy variety.

War Zones, meanwhile, are up-to-four-player missions from Jarvis, Hank Pym, and others that can be played online or with AI-controlled squadmates "made up of your unlocked and leveled heroes."

After a long hiatus, both a tank hero and an Overwatch character have re-invaded Heroes of the Storm.

Mei probably isn't the first pick for a lot of players when it comes to crossovers, but she slots in quite nicely with the crew on multiple levels.

It can be really frustrating to start up a match of something that could go on for 40 minutes, only to find out that one or more of your teammates left out of the gate. You kind of have to go through the motions until the inevitable loss, but thankfully Riot Games is adding a surrender option to Valorant: just as they did to League of Legends so many years ago.

Here's how it works. Basically, you can "call for an early surrender," using the chat system, which requires a 100% team vote to pass. To prevent spamming, you can only call for a vote once per half and only spark it after reaching the eighth round. It's restrictive, but that's deliberate, to prevent surrender abuse.

In other news, Viper has been buffed so that her poison abilities are a little stronger now, with a small nerf to her poison orb cooldown (up to six seconds from five). Jett got a no-brainer quality of life upgrade on her blade storm ult (it now procs a refresh after Phoenix dies during his ult), as did Reyna with her Soul Orbs (basically, a faux Phoenix ult death now ostensibly counts as a death). Cypher got a few bug fixes for his abilities, and that's about it: not a huge shakeup.

You can find the bulk of the patch notes below. For specific character and map changes, visit the full blog post, which provides visual cues for the alterations.

Valorant Patch Notes 1.02 [Play Valorant]

Taito has released some details regarding its second compendium of classic Darius titles. Originally revealed back in March, Darius Cozmic Collection 2 is now Darius Cozmic Revelation, and will blast off on PS4 and Nintendo Switch in Japan later in 2020.

Having already filled out the original Darius Cozmic Collection with a huge array of series favourites, Cozmic Revelation is a far slimmer package. We do know that it will contain the great G-Darius HD, a hit in the arcades and on the PS1 back in 1997, as well as 2010's Dariusburst EX: Another Chronicle +, an excellent four-player shmup renown for its lengthy widescreen cabinet.

As was the case with the original Darius Cozmic Collection, both titles will be spruced up with new features, with details to follow at a later date. Even if this collection doesn't contain nearly as many titles as the previous release, hopefully the inclusion of Dariusburst EX: Another Chronicle + alone should be enough to fire up the engine of stalwart fans.

Darius Cozmic Revelation will launch in Japan on PS4 and Nintendo Switch this winter.

Darius Cozmic Revelation announced [Japanese Nintendo]

If you've been cruising around the Pokemon Sword and Shield Isle of Armor expansion, slaying Zeraora's left and right this past week, you have my thanks.

According to a tweet from the official Pokemon Twitter account, "over one million players" have already cleared the max raid battle, and thus, have unlocked the Shiny Zeraora reward for everyone. The tweet actually fully breaks down how many people participated, and the number is a staggering 1,435,283 victories as of the end of June 23.

Given how inconsistent raid battles have been (in terms of connectivity), that's quite the feat, and a true testament to just how many Pokemon players there are in the wild. As a reminder, you'll need to transfer a Pokemon off of or into Home (do both just in case) by July 6 (4:59 PDT) to qualify for the Shiny Zeraora.

You can find the full rundown here!

Pokemon [Twitter]

It's been a big day for news for EDF fans. Not only did D3 publisher reveal the cool-looking voxel title Earth Defense Force: World Brothers, but PlayStation Blog Japan then followed up with the announcement that a sixth mainline sequel is already in the works for a 2021 release.

Earth Defense Force 6 - of no surprise to anybody - will see the brave men and women of The EDF take up arms once again to combat the threat of giant bugs who are rampaging through our world's capitals. In an amusingly dark storyline, it seems that the previous invasion has reduced the global populace to just 10%, and society itself stands on the brink of collapse. Furthermore, some of the aliens that came to Earth have established colonies on the planet, leading to a perpetual civil war between humans and the new colonists.

Hundreds of years ago, The League of Shadows burned London to the ground. Now in 2020, you're able to watch them on-screen in Fornite. The world is a wild place.

As promised, Fortnite will be hosting a Christopher Nolan film in-game this Friday. While the phrase "film" was used previously, the lineup actually involves three Nolan flicks, but you'll only see one of them depending on your region. Those three are: Inception, Batman Begins and The Prestige. All good picks! It's not like we expected something with a hard-R rating. Oh, and there's going to be some musical guests too....or something (Diplo Presents: Thomas Wesley, Young Thug and Noah Cyrus).

For reference on all of the big gaming regions: the US will be showing Inception on Friday at 8AM ET, 8PM ET and 11:55PM ET. The UK will see The Prestige at 12PM ET on that same day. Japan will also host Inception on Friday at the same trio of times as the US. Canada will host Prestige at 12PM ET on Friday.

It's hard to pick a favorite! Batman Begins is an easy standalone watch despite being part of a larger series. Inception and Prestige are always fun to rewatch, so you can take in all the little ancillary details. They're all nearly two and a half hours long either way, so it might be a bit exhausting to see them in a gaming world.

Party Royale [Epic Games]

It's a busy morning at Chez Pokémon. Not only did fans receive word of new "MOBA-like" Pokemon Unite, but the doors are now officially open at Pokémon Cafe Mix, which is available to download on Nintendo Switch and iOS/Android devices.

Revealed during last week's "Pokémon Presents" broadcast, Pokémon Cafe Mix is a fast-moving puzzler which tasks players with mix-and-matching character icons in order to build a menu for your burgeoning business. As the cafe expands in size, popularity, and staff, more and more cuddly critters will pay you a visit to enjoy a nice drink and a Dugtrio sandwich... That's a sandwich shaped like Dugtrio, not a literal "Dugtrio sandwich"... That would be hideous.

This morning, Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokemon Company announced Pokemon Unite, the first "strategic battle game in the series."

Ishihara has partnered with Tencent (presented by its Timi Studio) on the game (uh oh), a partnership that The Pokemon Company seems to be really proud of. Described as a 5v5 team battler, you'll trawl across the map to capture Pokemon (MOBA camps), capture points and take down opponents. As a catch-up mechanic, points scored in the last two minutes are "double" (I'm sure MOBA players will "love" that!). Pokemon seen in the playthrough stream (which evolve from their base forms) include Charizard, Snorlax, Pikachu, Lucario, Clefable, Venusaur, Gengar, Blastoise, Talonflame and Machamp. Creatures will seemingly have ultimates/heroics, called "Unite Moves."

Naturally, because Tencent is involved, it'll be a "free-to-start game," launching on mobile devices (Android/iOS) and Switch with cross-play. Given the last bit of the presentation, there might be an effort to make this into an esport? It'll likely be a long road, but it has a large country's GDP of cash behind it. "More information will come later" as to when it'll actually launch.

Sinnoh remakes indeed!

Sales are now closed on Humble Bundle's Fight for Racial Justice Bundle, which offered a selection of more than 50 titles for a minimum of $30. In one week, the bundle succeeded in raising an incredible $4 million USD, to be distributed among appropriate charities.

The Humble Fight for Racial Justice Bundle included games Hyper Light Drifter, NBA 2K20, Observer, Neo Cab, Baba is You, Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, System Shock 2 and Super Time Force Ultra, among others. Also featured were a range of e-books, including Black Women in Science, RESIST!, Six Days in Cincinnati, Twelve Years a Slave, Yo Miss, and Black History in Its Own Words.

In just seven days, total sales of the bundle passed 130,000. All of the proceeds raised are to be split between three racial justice charities: The NAACP Legal Defense Fund; educational and analytical organisation Race Forward; and The Bail Project.

The Humble Fight for Racial Justice Bundle is one of many video game-driven initiatives inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Just last week, publisher itch.io announced that its own Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality - offering over 1,000 items for a minimum of just five dollars - had raised a staggering $8.1 million USD in total donations,

The Le Carré tourism board does exactly half of a good job selling this quaint little town as a relaxing getaway destination. I was sold right up until "Everyone's as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine." The Casa Pineapple might be enough for me to throw caution to the wind.

The population is about to grow a little bit as Special Agent York comes to town. But, the population will subsequently drop as townsfolk are gruesomely murdered and fed to alligators. That's the circle of life, I guess; York shows up and strange killings overrun the city.

Deadly Premonition 2 is only two weeks out, launching on July 10 on Switch. We're assured some bonkers writing and ridiculous overacting. Apart from that, no one really knows what to expect. It's gonna be a wild ride one way or another.

It feels odd to be more excited about the exploring-nature side of Ghost of Tsushima than anything to do with sneaking around or slicing dudes, but that's where I'm at after May's State of Play presentation. Will the combat be challenging, deep, and engaging enough to sustain the whole island adventure?

It's one of those questions that can't be answered pre-release, but here's a bit more to go on.

Today, in a PlayStation Blog post, Sucker Punch shared more details about the game's combat design and intent – including a stance-switching gameplay clip that looks better than prior footage.

There are several choice quotes from Sucker Punch co-founder Chris Zimmerman, too.

Oculus is ditching its first standalone headset, the VR unit that launched in 2018 to address complaints that the flagship Rift was too expensive, had too many cables, and required a PC that was also expensive. The Oculus Go -- a headset that is wireless, cheap, and is entirely self-contained -- is being discontinued.

This is less a story of failure and more a story about how quickly virtual reality tech is advancing. The reason Facebook will no longer sell Oculus Go is because the newer Oculus Quest is simply a better product.

The Quest is entirely self-contained just like the Go, but it's capable of running higher-end apps. It's also able to plug into a PC, essentially turning the Quest into a Rift. The Quest is a smarter purchase and it made Oculus Go redundant. So, Go is being axed from the Oculus lineup only two years after launching.

To that end, Oculus is also no longer developer three-degrees-of-freedom (3dof) products, instead focusing exclusively on six-degrees-of-freedom (6dof). Here's some additional reading about the specifics of degrees of freedom. The gist is that 3dof could only give the player rotational and not translational movement. Oculus says that players clearly want 6dof as the standard, so it's not going to devote any more resources to 3dof devices.

Go will receive security patches and bug fixes through 2022. However, Oculus isn't shipping any new features starting now, and won't update the storefront after December 18 of this year.

An Update on the Evolution of the Oculus Platform [Oculus]

Hades has had a hell of a ride in Early Access, but it's in the home stretch and I couldn't be more stoked. Today, Supergiant released The Blood Price – its "biggest ever" update, and its final one before the version 1.0 launch adds a proper ending, extra content, and a full localization "later this year."

Not that this should come as a surprise – it's Supergiant – but Hades looks so dang sharp. Really, I mean it. Don't skip the Blood Price trailer just because you're not playing Hades. It'll still amp you up.

If you have time for the full patch notes, look no further. Otherwise, here's the team's rundown:

Fans of one of the oldest, purest shmups of all-time, Space Invaders, have reasons to be cheerful today, as Taito has announced its intention to localise Nintendo Switch release Space Invaders: Invincible Collection in the west. Furthermore, the retro compendium will receive a physical release, courtesy of Strictly Limited Games.

Space Invaders: Invincible Collection collates 11 different variants of the alien-zapping shmup, from the 1978 original, through 1990's Super Space Invaders, 1994's Space Invaders DX, Space Invaders Extreme, and many other modern iterations. This release also contains the rare 2017 release Arkanoid vs. Space Invaders, which sees two classic arcade titles mix up their respective gameplay. Pew-pew.

After a tease of a fall release date alongside the announcement of the collector's edition earlier this year, Trail of Cold Steel IV now has a finalized date for the western PlayStation 4 release.

Fans of the JRPG series now only have to wait until October 27 for the conclusion of the spin-off's storyline. The October date puts it directly one month past the Japanese release. Unfortunately for those of you who were looking forward to playing on Nintendo Switch or PC, you are still stuck in limbo with a vague 2021 date.

To celebrate the announcement, NIS released a short trailer complete with western voices and some looks at the gameplay.

Loving parents just want their children to have a better life than they had. The parents in Rogue Legacy 2 are good parents because they find ways to make life easier for their kids. They're also bad parents for leaving the kids a castle full of monsters who will inevitably kill them. Life's tough.

Rogue Legacy 2 developer Cellar Door opened up about some of the changes to the sequel. One of the major new features adds more metroidvania to the roguelike. Heirlooms are permanent unlocks that grant new abilities, and they "fundamentally change how you play." Cellar Door also notes, however, that heirlooms are tough to find and to unlock.

There's more new stuff with Rogue Legacy 2 including: Animations that use stepping techniques a la Dragon Ball FighterZ; a trait system that rewards more gold for more difficult modifiers; biomes that feel like completely unique regions rather than just more castle; at least 12 different class types; and more options for struggling players to make the game less punitive.

It's all very much a work-in-progress which you can experience first-hand very soon. Rogue Legacy 2 is coming to Early Access on Steam and the Epic Game Store on July 23. Those who are conscious about their gold-spending habits may want to pay attention to the pricing. The Early Access release will cost $20. Half-way through Early Access (which is expected to run a full year but may go longer), the price ups to $25. When the final game launches, it'll be $30. Also, it's only on PC for now but new platforms will eventually be added.

Rogue Legacy 2 [Steam]

During this morning's New Game+ Expo, Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka popped by, (accompanied by psycho-bear Monokuma) to offer a brief message to fans regarding the wild murder mystery series' 10th anniversary.

Kodaka noted that although it may not feel like 10 years since the series debut to much of the world, it is in Japan, also noting that 99% of his Instagram followers are international fans. Kodaka joked that he should just learn English and then move to the west. Kodaka then reminded viewers that this year will see the Danganronpa series make the move to smartphones, suggesting that fans download the title "on a stranger's phone" to help get the word out!

You can check out the full message below. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is available now on iOS and Android devices, with much more Danganronpa news planned throughout 2020.

The Switch port of Megadimension Neptunia VII will be heading west next month, according to a new listing on the Nintendo eShop. The 2015 JRPG, which was ported to the Nintendo platform in March, will be available to download in North America and Europe from July 28, priced at around $30.

Megadimension Neptunia VII sees dopey gal Nep-Nep travel to an unknown parallel universe known as the Zero Dimension. It is here that Neptune meets a new goddess, Uzume Tennouboshi, and learns of a devastating evil that plans to overcome Uzume's world, before bringing the same fate to Gameindustri itself. So begins an epic action-JRPG adventure, filled with colossal boss battles, the exploration of colourful, hyperkinetic worlds, and oodles of typically goofy Neptunia humor.

Megadimension Neptunia VII launches on the Nintendo eShop July 28. It is available now on PS4 and PC.

The New Game+ Expo may not have had all the titles fans were anticipating, especially if you're a fan of Sega and Atlus, but that doesn't mean it wasn't worth a watch. In fact, sitting through the whole presentation, I discovered a game I'd never heard of before, and I'm starting to obsess over it.

Tasomachi is currently scheduled for a 2021 release on PC. It has a Steam page, but until now, there were no plans to bring it over in English. However, publisher Playism has announced it's publishing the game, possibly exposing it to a larger audience that may have never known it existed.

The game features an elegantly designed fantasy world. Rather than having players slay their way across the land, it sounds as though Tasomachi will focus on exploration and interacting with locals. Protagonist Yukumo needs to repair her airship, and her search for items that'll do just that will find her exploring valleys, highways, and more.

I can't wait to see what this land has in store, and hopefully, Playism can get this out onto more platforms when it releases.

Activision slapped a release date on the Warehouse demo for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 remaster. If you pre-order the game digitally on PS4, Xbox One, or PC (Epic Games Store), you'll get access to the demo on August 14, 2020, just a few weeks before THPS's September 4 launch.

This is going to sound ridiculous – hear me out! – but I'm almost more excited for the Warehouse demo (assuming it's the full stage) than I am the rest of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 package. The vibe runs deep. I miss the days when I'd go hard on a demo because, well, that's just what we did back then.

Will it be as fun as we remember? Will it be better? I'm sticking to my modest expectations.

In a blog post, Activision also revealed eight new skaters that will join the original, aged-up cast of THPS 1 and 2: Lizzie Armanto, Leo Baker, Leticia Bufoni, Riley Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Tyshawn Jones, Aori Nishimura, and Shane O'Neill. Naturally, the newcomers have "their own signature tricks to represent their strengths and accomplishments they have earned so far in their young careers."

I love this endless summer of demos, even if this one is tied to pre-orders.

Magic: The Gathering Arena launched last fall (after a lengthy beta period), and continues to stroll through each set (Core 2021 is coming soon). But it's sadly still on just the PC platform: until this week, that is.

Wizards of the Coast has just announced that Arena will be available for MacOS as of June 25. The catch is it'll be through the Epic Games Store, which Wizards says is the "fastest way" that a Mac port could happen, given their prior relationship with Epic. The publisher says that everything will be the same, including queues, formats and cards.

You'll also be able to authenticate via your Arena account and play with all of your prior purchases or earned content. As of now, there are "no plans" to support a standalone MacOS client, so just keep that in mind. It's also a "different client," so it may have its own bugs to work out.

There is also vague talk of Arena coming to mobile devices "later this year," then the trifecta will be complete.