Destructoid

Rockstar might be planning something.

The publisher is not known to frequently tease or even release games on any regular sort of schedule, but they're due for one now that Red Dead Redemption 2 has been in the books for a while now. There's always rumors of a Bully 2 rumbling around (since 2009, actually), but a new teaser released on the official Rockstar site has actually gone and used the word "bullying," potentially getting our hopes up.

The new teaser, which is a Rockstar logo filled with other tiny Rockstar logos and cryptic messages, says:

"Killing dreams, murdering hope, fighting the righteous, bullying the weak." 

As well as:

"Why don't you tell me what went wrong?"

This follows the previous reveal of a brand new logo of sorts, which features an android hugging the Rockstar symbol with a 1998 bottle of champagne next to them. You can find both of them in the gallery below: maybe there's some small detail only you will notice! For now, we wait to see if we get more teasers leading into a potential E3 reveal.

Although Bully 2 would be nice, all eyes are on GTA VI. Of course, Rockstar probably doesn't want to release that anytime soon until they can squeeze all the money they can out of GTA Online.

Rockstar [Rockstar Games via Reddit]

InnerSpace, an aerial exploration game about flying through "inside-out" planets, has gone free on the Epic Games Store. If you add the PC title to your account by March 5 at 8:00 a.m. Pacific, it's permanent.

"InnerSpace is not like other flying games," according to Polyknight Games. "We want to reward exploration, both in terms of storytelling and the mechanics of flight. If you're expecting a traditional flight sim with aerial combat, this might not be for you. If you like the idea of a plane that transforms into a submarine, then dives inside the belly of an ancient demigod, you're in the right place."

The Epic Games Store typically gives out games I've heard of before, but I'm not sure I've ever crossed paths with InnerSpace. It's a looker! That said, some players say the controls can be a struggle.

Maybe it's your jam, maybe it isn't. Either way, I'd definitely check back next Thursday, March 5, for free copies of GoNNER (if you dig roguelike platformers) and Offworld Trading Company (if you're okay with throwing a whole Saturday away in pursuit of a hard-earned economic victory). Play 'em both.

As if I needed another reason to boot up Bloodborne and accidentally play the whole game again.

Yesterday, Bloodborne speedrunner GiantCookieJar discovered a glitch that let his brave hunter clip through some walls in the starting area and reach the Forbidden Woods, not unlike a similar skip that was patched out years ago involving a well-positioned jump onto a ledge. We're back in business!

This demonstration from Distortion2 shows how the new skip in Iosefka's Clinic works.

After alerting the first enemy in the game – a low-health werewolf who won't respawn – you need to turn around, run up the stairs, and get the wolf to grab you in the left corner. While you're being grabbed, "you want to spam L2 and R2" to clip out of bounds, then walk to the right, and drop down.

"You can skip straight to the Forbidden Woods on a fresh character," according to Distortion2. That means you can bypass bosses like Father Gascoigne, Blood-Starved Beast, and Vicar Amelia.

"The mashing of L2 and R2 is important when you get grabbed because it does a different animation where your character pushes the wolf off of you, and that allows you to actually clip through things."

GTA Online is a lawless mayhem simulator where being a bad person is promoted, encouraged, and rewarded. That's why the newest addition to this money-printing MMO seems, I don't know, just a little off-track.

Today, Rockstar introduced Formula 1 racing to GTA Online, which is being called "Open Wheel Racing" so as to dodge a lawsuit. But make no mistake about it, they're F1 cars zooming around windy and dangerous F1 courses.

The lengths Rockstar has gone to in order to simulate real racing is sort of staggering. This isn't just an arcade-like free-for-all. Players have to make pit stops. Damage has a real effect rather than being cosmetic. Tires wear down, leaving your car slipping more and more until they're swapped out.

But, early reports indicate that the reckless abandon of GTA Online's players does not mesh with this new mode. People can't (or won't) wrap their heads around discreet racing, rather barreling into turns at full speed and causing massive pileups. It's not a formula for success, as a broken car won't make it far in a race that lasts upward of 20 minutes. It's an exercise that favors caution and precision, and literally nothing about GTA Online has trained anyone for that.

Following its work on the horror adventure Man of Medan, Supermassive Games is switching gears to Little Hope, the next standalone game in the Dark Pictures Anthology. It's a witch tale with Will Poulter.

We got a new trailer today from Bandai Namco ahead of Little Hope's summer 2020 launch on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. I'd strongly encourage you to skip the first two minutes – they're fluff.

"Trapped and isolated in the abandoned town of Little Hope, four college students and their professor must escape the nightmarish apparitions that relentlessly pursue them through an impenetrable fog. Witness terrifying visions of the past, haunted by the events of the XVIIth century Andover Witch Trials."

I haven't personally gone through Man of Medan yet (I've seen a chunk of the ghost-ship adventure streamed), but Little Hope seems more my speed. The witch-trial backdrop already has me on edge.

Will there be a wicked goat? If so, I'll do whatever it commands.

The Behemoth is taking another crack at Alien Hominid with everything it's learned from Castle Crashers, BattleBlock Theater, and Pit People, and the result is Alien Hominid Invasion – an up-to-four-player run-and-gun arcade shooter with character customization, XP-based leveling, loot drops, and longer legs.

The new game – and it is a new game, not a remake – was announced in January. Today, just in time for PAX East, The Behemoth shared its first gameplay footage and screenshots for Alien Hominid Invasion.

Before I drone on, it's worth stressing that co-op is local and online. (I hate when that info is buried.)

In a lot of ways, the footage is what I expected. It's unmistakably Alien Hominid, but with a new non-linear format that fits into the current climate. I'm all about games with "life steal" weapon attributes. Other possible incremental stats include shots-per-second, piercing, movement speed, and defense.

If you're puzzled by that town-map screen in the trailer, the central hook of Alien Hominid Invasion is beaming down to Earth to "invade randomly-assembled neighborhoods built from hundreds of hand-crafted city blocks," so it's more free-flowing. You'll also "abduct intel from your enemies to sabotage their plans, observe the oddities of human life, blow up bosses, and mutate into a variety of powerful Alien forms in order to take down the not-so-secret Agents that are dead set on ruining your day."

You won't need to worry about one-hit kills like before, but they might be a factor in certain scenarios. On that note, The Behemoth is planning to have Friendly, Normal, and Insane difficulty settings.

Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock. That's the lengthy, headline-unfriendly title of the second major expansion for Borderlands 3. It only gets better from there.

During Gearbox's PAX East panel today, the developer gave us our first look at DLC number two for Borderlands 3. It takes place on the ice planet of Xylourgos, where Wainwright and Hammerlock have decided to get married. Xylourgos is full of frostbitten beasts, a town of cultists, and the carcass of a giant Vault Monster. Hope no one's a groomzilla because things will not go to plan.

Guns, Love, and Tentacles has a high-profile cameo from Gaige. Returning as a wedding planner, Gaige was the mechromancer add-on character in Borderlands 2. Her job title assumes that she'll ensure order, but she'll probably cause everything to go further off the rails.

There's some interesting influence in this add-on. Gearbox specifically mentions Eldritch horror as an obstacle to overcome. That's the Lovecraftian genre of cosmic horror. Those cultists are going to summon Borderlands' version of Cthulhu, aren't they?

We'll find out soon enough. Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock launches on March 26 on all platforms.

What does Baldur's Gate look like through the lens of Divinity: Original Sin 2 developer Larian Studios? Today, during an on-stage gameplay demonstration of Baldur's Gate 3 at PAX East, we found out.

First off, combat is turn-based – not real-time with pauses – and it's built after D&D Fifth Edition rules. It's possible to start a turn outside of combat and enact a plan in six-second increments to get the jump on someone. Baldur's Gate 3 will also let you split up your online party "to follow your own quests."

As for the story, well, let's just say I'm now afraid of brain tadpoles. Here's the setup, per Larian.

"Abducted, infected, lost... You are turning into a monster, drawn from a Mind Flayer parasite planted in your brain, but as the corruption inside you grows, so too does your power. That power may help you to survive, but there will be a price to pay. More than any ability, the bonds of trust that you build within your party could be your greatest strength. Caught in a conflict between devils, deities, and sinister otherworldly forces, you will determine the fate of the Forgotten Realms together."

"The save game system is broken, so that means that if I die, if it's a party wipe, I'll just have to restart," began Larian founder Swen Vincke. He warned that "combat is fairly high-stakes" in Baldur's Gate 3.

Later, during a turn-based combat encounter against a trio of Intellect Devourers, he missed multiple all-but-guaranteed arrow shots – we're talking a 90% chance – and was surrounded. The party wiped!

The Game Developers Conference is going to be missing a lot of the biggest game developers. In a little more than two weeks, GDC will kick off in San Francisco without attendance from PlayStation, Oculus, Facebook, Electronic Arts, PUBG Corp or Kojima Productions. They all canceled their plans in response to the ongoing concerns over coronavirus and its potential to become a global epidemic.

Now, three more heavy hitters are out. Microsoft, Epic Games, and Unity have announced that they're also skipping GDC 2020. Epic tweeted confirmation that it's pulling out by saying "Regrettably, uncertainty around health concerns has made it unviable to send our employees, and so we have made the difficult decision to withdraw attendance." Epic is always one of the biggest names at GDC considering how many developers work with the Unreal Engine. 

It's a similar story for Unity. Another one of the most popular game engines, Unity has also pulled out of GDC while citing concern for its employees. "While we did not make this decision lightly, the current conditions with COVID-19 (also known as Novel Coronavirus) present too much risk," Unity says. "We take our employees' wellbeing very seriously. We do not want any Unity employee or partner to compromise their health and safety unnecessarily."

Microsoft's withdrawal is more nuanced. According to Microsoft's official Game Stack blog, it seems as though all Microsoft and Xbox-related sessions will be moved to a digital-only format that is available to be streamed. Microsoft won't have any physical presence at GDC, though.

Here's some old news that somehow feels like new news: Borderlands 3 is coming to Steam on March 13. Technically, we already knew that! Borderlands 3 was a six-month Epic Games Store exclusive, meaning, of course, it'd launch on Steam exactly six months later.

Now, it's almost a reality. Borderlands 3 now has a Steam store page ahead of its March 13 release. It's not yet ready to pre-order, but it can be added to your wishlist.

It appears as though the Steam version will have immediate parity with the Epic version. The Steam description says that the first add-on, Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, is available right away. It's reasonable to assume that DLC will launch synchronously on Steam and Epic from here on out.

Publisher 2K Games has been thrilled with Borderlands 3's performance thus far, calling it "a massive hit by any standard" after it hit eight million lifetime sales. A launch on Steam should put some wind back in those sails, as a new platform -- a platform that some have intentionally held out for, no less -- will bring a wave of fresh buyers. Good news for them: Mayhem doesn't go stale.

Borderlands 3 [Steam]

[Update: The Baldur's Gate 3 PAX East stream is about to start.]

Baldur's Gate 3 has been riding high ever since that gnarly body-horror announcement trailer, but even with Larian Studios' pedigree, a cinematic can only go so far. When's the next reveal happening?

Larian has set the Baldur's Gate 3 gameplay reveal for February 27, 2020, at 12:30 p.m. Creative director Swen Vincke is hosting an on-stage demo and Q&A at PAX East, both of which will be live-streamed, and the studio will run follow-up demos the rest of the weekend at booth #14309.

For now, here's another checking-out-the-studio teaser – albeit with a dragon this time.

"We have grown our team to 350 people and have been working on new technology and pipelines to allow our team to create a truly next-generation RPG," said Larian. "There will be more than 100+ hours of content, with all the depth you'd expect and many surprises along the way."

Wow, it's a hot week for the Nintendo eShop! As I've been saying like a broken record for weeks now we've been getting over the post-holiday slump, but now we're back in full gear. There's 46 games dropping on the eShop this week, a far cry from Nintendo's previous 30+ mark that they wanted to hit a few years back.

Although many of them are older games that publishers are playing catch up with, the Switch has become a powerhouse in its own right in terms of its library. And, for the most part, has avoided the largely taboo "shovelware" descriptor unlike the WiiWare and Wii U eShop markets, with higher-quality ports from studios like Saber Interactive and Panic Button.

Anyway, Bloodroots is probably the headliner today, along with all of the below games, which are all for Switch: no 3DS or Wii U love (before you say anything, there still is occasional love for both systems!). Just last week the Wii U got an exclusive game called Space Hunted: The Lost Levels.

Anime game lovin' publisher XSEED will be showing off its wares at PAX East in Boston this weekend, giving attendees the chance to check out some of the gorgeous-looking new releases.

Rune Factory 4 Special is the Nintendo Switch remake of 2012 3DS title, and features all of the farming, crop-growing, animal-rearing and marital strife of the original. New features in dual audio support for English and Japanese language, an all-new "Newlywed" mode, and a higher difficulty option for anime farming pros. The western localisation of Rune Factory 4 Special is available right now, having launched just this week.

Also at PAX is RPG Ys: Memories of Celceta. This 2012 PS Vita remake tells the story of a young man, Adol Christin, who is tasked with mapping the dangerous and mystical Forests of Celceta. Obviously, this job leads to dramatic adventures, friendly and not-so-friendly encounters, and a helluva lot of fighting. Ys: Memories of Celcta will launch on PS4 sometime in 2020.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is a cute-looking adventure title that blends farming simulation with platforming action. Players take on the role of the titular Sakuna, a troubled harvest goddess who must help the inhabitants of Hinoe Island fend off armies of demons while simultaneously facilitating the growth of a struggling rice crop. Destructoid's CJ Andriessen checked the game out at E3 last summer, and you can find his thoughts right here.

Dragon Ball FighterZ just dropped the Kefla DLC, but someone over on Twitter thinks they may have cracked the code on who's coming next.

Although Arc System Works teases out the same silhouettes for upcoming DLC (not much help there), there are coloring schemes that are tied to each entry. For Kefla, that color was red, an obvious nod to her outfit. But it stands to reason that the rest (silver, blue, green, tan) will follow suit.

As such, Twitter user Senyu posits that silver is Ultra Instinct Goku (yet another Goku that was already confirmed), blue is Majin Vegeta, green is Pikkon, and tan is Master Roshi. You know what? Other than Ultra Instinct Goku, I could get down with that.

Naturally lots of characters don those colors throughout the course of the series, and Arc System Works has shown that they don't mind using the dregs of the Dragon Ball society for DLC, so it could be anyone. For now, it's fun to speculate.

Senyu [Twitter via ResetEra]

Among the many releases scheduled to appear at the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2020 event is a mysterious new title by the name of "Wonder Boy Universe: Asha in Monster World," first spotted on the official GDC 2020 exhibitor page.

There are no images or information accompanying the listing save for the address and website of Japanese indie studio Artdink - previously responsible for a huge variety of titles across franchises such as A-Train, Dragon Ball Z, Sword Art Online and Macross.

While this is purely speculation, the use of "Monster World," along with the name-checking of Asha, could suggest a remaster or remake of 1994's Monster World IV - a Sega Mega Drive sequel that starred a spritely, green-haired hero of the same name. Monster World IV never saw the light of day outside of Japan until the last decade, when it was finally localised and released on platforms such a the Nintendo Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Still, in the wake of excellent releases such as DotEmu's Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and love letters like Game Atelier's Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, the time would be perfect for a full remake or sequel to this lost classic. Again, this is just speculation, but hopefully the mystery will be cleared up soon.

GDC 2020 takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco between March 16-20.

Wonder Boy Universe: Asha in Monster World on GDC website [Resetera]

Game Freak is still mixing up the whole max raid battle event schedule in Pokemon Sword and Shield, and the next era has begun: but it's going to be very brief.

This time the stakes are a little higher, as Kanto region (Generation 1) creatures are now scattered around the Wild Area raids. The event is live now, and will run through March 1 at 3:59PM PT: I said it was going to be brief, didn't I? That's not even a full week!

Note that the rules are a bit different for this raid event. So you can fully catch Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle, as well as their secondary evolutions. But! You cannot catch the Mewtwo that is also live during the event: beating it will only grant you bonus items (which you can view in the galley below). As always, you'll need to sync your game up using an online connection to do the latest raids.

Good luck! I already have the original trio and I'm only interested in fighting one Mewtwo just to see how it goes.

Max Raid Battles [Pokemon]

Fighting Road: Champion Road Beyond - the story mode expansion penned by the legendary Suda 51 - is now available to purchase for Spike Chunsoft's great ring-rocking sim Fire Pro Wrestling World.

Champion Road Beyond is a direct sequel to the story mode of 1994's Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special, in which a young Goichi Suda penned the tale of fictional wrestler Morio Sumisu, a tale notorious for its ultra-grim tone and tragic climax. The waves made in the Japanese game industry by this shocking release helped get Suda's name on the map as a daring developer, and the rest is history.

The new FPW DLC will see players take on the role of Morio Sumisu's son, who is just starting out in the business and hopes to find his own path of glory. But with the legacy of his father haunting his every move, will the younger Sumisu succeed in his quest for fame and super-stardom? Or is he destined to fall to similar misadventure?

Also included as part of the DLC download is a brand new interview with Suda 51 himself, in which the No More Heroes and Killer7 director talks about his history with the Fire Pro Wrestling series.

Fighting Road: Champion Road Beyond is available to purchase now for Fire Pro Wrestling World on both PS4 and PC.

The whole "free-to-play" concept has really thrown me for a loop whenever a game goes temporarily free. I mean it is free to play, but not "free-to-play," dig? The hyphens used to let you know a game wasn't swimming in microtransactions, before premium games started to abuse microtransactions.

Anyway, The Division 2, a premium game that's currently on sale for $3 for four more days at the time of publication, is free to play this weekend. That means you can download it on PC, PS4 and Xbox One and lay it from February 27 through March 2. The catch, of course, is that you can't partake in any of the upcoming Warlords of New York expansion bits, as that DLC drops on March 3.

If you do partake, and you should, because Division 2 is still pretty fun, you'll get a free mask for logging in and progress will carry over to the retail edition. That includes anyone who buys it at the sale price, as Ubisoft points out in their announcement blog for the event.

As a reminder, The Division 2 is going full swing with the "seasonal" concept that so many other shooters of its ilk are using, which will be the framework for the game going forward, to propel it past the Warlords of New York story campaign. Season 1 kicks off on March 10, and you can find all of the relevant info regarding them below. Have fun this weekend if you boot it up!

The Division 2 – State of the Game Recap [Ubisoft]

Video game convention PAX East gets underway in Boston today, and publisher THQ Nordic has revealed some of the titles that it plans to showcase for the public, some of which will be playable for the first time on U.S. soil.

First up is SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. This remake of the 2003 adventure will be making its U.S. playable debut at PAX East, giving fans new and old the opportunity to see how developer Purple Lamp Studios has reinvigorated the classic 3D platformer for a whole new audience.

Another remake playable at PAX is Destroy All Humans! taking another 3D adventure from the mid-'00s and sprucing it up for a fresh audience. Take a trip to the wild times of the 1950s, as Crypro-137 lays waste to Americana on a mission to rescue his captured brethren - gladly bringing about armageddon en route.

Mimimi Games will also be in attendance at the THQ Nordic booth, showing off old west sequel Desperados III. Coming a long 14 years after the previous entry, Desperados III already looks poised to capture the intense and highly methodical stealth-strategy action that is the series' trademark.

In case you missed it, Google held a "Pokemon of the Year [2020]" poll recently, and allowed everyone to vote on their favorite creatures. The results are in! And for the most part, will not shock you.

Coming in fifth is Umbreon (of course an Evee-lution made it in) with 67062 votes. The enduring Charizard is fourth with 93968, a substantial increase over Umbreon. Recent favorite Mimikyu is unsurprisingly high-up in third with 99077 votes. Lucario is second with 102259 votes, cementing his place in Smash Bros. along with Charizard. And...drumroll...taking the number one spot is Greninja, with a whopping 140559 votes: who is also in Smash Bros. Remember when ninjas were in everything in the '90s? Well they still rule the roost, apparently.

If you're interested, you can delve further into the poll here and discover top-voted Pokemon in each fictional region, from Kanto to Galar. Also, the full top 10 can be found below, with Garchomp, Rayquaza, Gardevoir and Gengar taking the sixth through tenth spots respectively.

Pokemon of the Year 2020 [Pokemon]

After weeks of teasing (as The Pokemon Company tends to do when they have a multi-billion dollar franchise on their hands), the curtain has finally been pulled back on the new mythical Pokemon that's debuting in Sword and Shield: Zarude.

It's described as a "Rogue Monkey," and "when fighting, it swings around using trees and their branches, attacking relentlessly with its sharp claws or any other means it has. Its quick wit helps it excel in battles." You can find the full stat breakdown below (as well as the full out-of-game artwork), including the reveal of its dark/grass archetype.

According to Game Freak it will be a Sword and Shield exclusive, and "can't be encountered during regular gameplay," making it a typical event-based mythic. Further details weren't given out, but a distribution event is likely coming soon, either through the Mystery Gift online function or by way of a retail chain (maybe not GameStop given their troubles lately).

Anyone else immediately get Darude's Sandstorm stuck in their head?

Annapurna Interactive might hold claim to a prestigious-yet-regrettable crown within games: It's the publisher that consistently funds incredible projects but kind of goes unnoticed. Annapurna has been around for three years now. In that time, here's a sampling of some games it has published: What Remains of Edith Finch, Gorogoa, Florence, Donut County, Outer Wilds, Telling Lies, Sayonara Wild Hearts, and Wattam.

Although we only have a trailer thus far, the latest game to be announced seems like it could fit in with that fine company. It's called Maquette and it's a first-person puzzler where shifting perspectives fuels the whole experience. Developer Graceful Decay describes it as "set in a recursive world where players experience the life cycle of a loving relationship" and that "[the] narrative takes players through an adventure of love, loss, and acceptance."

At first glance, there looks to be a parallel to be drawn between the recently-released Superliminal and Maquette. The angle of both games is manipulating size to make things fit. However, whereas Superliminal stuck to the confines of a Portal-like testing center, Maquette breaks out into a fairy tale imaginationland. It's a more inspired choice.

Maquette is said to be "coming soon," but there's no confirmation of which platforms it'll land on. Nevertheless, it looks like Annapurna has another hit on its hands. 

[Update: In a follow-up blog post after the stream, Yacht Club Games confirmed that the other Shovel Knight spinoff, Dig, wouldn't arrive until "next year." So while Pocket Dungeon was announced months after Dig, it will beat it to market.]

Yacht Club Games is becoming one of those studios that you need to constantly keep an eye on. Their previous Nintendo Direct-like presentation delivered with several new game announcements, and this second one, which aired this morning, is similarly delivering.

The studio has just revealed Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, which is being described as a "roguelite puzzle game hybrid." Taking a page out of games like Puyo Puyo or Puzzle Fighter, the game puts you in the shoes of a Shovel Knight avatar as you traverse dungeons comprised of puzzle pieces, acquire upgrades and fight bosses. It'll also feature a competitive versus mode on top of a story campaign, and "more" ways to play are teased.

This is a joint project between VINE and Yacht Club Games, similar to the collaboration with Nitrome for Shovel Knight Dig. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon will debut this fall on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch. Man it feels good to type out a Nintendo system constantly in announcements like this: it was the complete opposite in the Wii U era.

In a surprise announcement made on the Granblue Fantasy Japanese Twitter account, it has been revealed that Arc System Works' gorgeous fighting title Granblue Fantasy: Versus is officially coming to PC worldwide - via Steam - and as soon as March 13.

This is quite the surprise, as not only had there been little-to-no murmurings of an incoming PC port, but the noted release date means that Granblue Fantasy: Versus will be launching on PC before it has even hit PS4 in Europe and Australia (though it will be available in North America by then).

Two caveats that should be noted, however. Firstly, it appears there is no cross-play or cross-save support incoming. So hopefully a healthy PC community will be able to establish itself in double-quick time, lest this become yet another PC anime fighter that dies out in a matter of months.

Secondly, the PC edition will not include the exclusive codes that allow you to unlock extra content in the Granblue Fantasy mobile game. These codes will only be available to customers who pick up the PS4 release. This news has already disappointed a number of fans in the comments of the original tweet.

Granblue Fantasy: Versus launches on PS4 in North America March 3, in Europe and Australia on March 27, and on PC worldwide March 13.

Granblue Fantasy Versus PC version releasing March 13th [EventHubs]

In possibly the busiest new week in the company's history, Platinum Games has announced that it is to open a brand new studio in the heart of Japan. Platinum Games Tokyo is the developer's first venture outside of its original office in Osaka, and is expected to open in April.

According to an interview translated by Gematsu, the new studio is already hiring a team of 100-strong developers from all aspects of game creation - from artists and coders to producers, audio specialists, and support team members. Platinum Games President Kenichi Sato has noted that both the new studio and Project G.G. itself are both ideas facilitated thanks to the recent investment by Chinese company Tencent.

The establishment of Platinum Games Tokyo is the third of the "Platinum4" announcements, following the reveal of The Wonderful 101: Remastered and Project G.G. The fourth and final announcement is still unknown, although Platinum Games Studio Head Atsushi Inaba has noted that it will be "interesting and very Platinum."

Project G.G. is currently in pre-development. The Wonderful 101: Remastered launches in May.

Today's contest features Steam copies of action-packed roguelike Skul: The Hero Slayer!

Ever notice how your head is like, just there? Like, it's stuck there. It never moves. Sometimes you hit it on the shelf or something, and it's really more of a pain in the ass than anything. It sure would be neat if we could discard it for a new one that gives us special abilities.

Since most of us are humans, we can't do that. But Skul can! Live vicariously through him in a Steam Early Access key of Skul: The Hero Slayer. Just don't whack his head on a shelf.

Golf With Your Friends is one of those surprisingly popular Steam games you don't often hear about in casual conversation. The 12-player minigolf game has been doing its thing in Early Access since 2016, but now it's gearing up for a full launch on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch this year.

This game looks fun, plain and simple. There's no-frills putting, zanier modes like Hockey and Hoops, a range of plain and out-there courses (12 in total), power-ups like sticky honey trails, and a level editor.

Golf With Your Friends is exactly the kind of approachable, just-wild-enough minigolf experience I've been craving on Switch – something I can unwind with and have a few laughs over. Know what I mean?

The console ports and final, out-of-Early-Access PC version will launch in Q2 2020.

Purists wouldn't be caught dead making use of Diablo IV's flexible new control scheme. Anyone's who has ever actually been caught dead because of an accidental attack when they meant to reposition might welcome it with open arms.

Blizzard plans to be transparent with the development of Diablo IV, committing to quarterly updates where the developer shares the status and coming-along of the game. In the first one today, Blizzard has revealed that it's giving the option to deviate from a Diablo staple: You can rebind attacks and movement off of the left mouse button.

This is semi-jarring news because Diablo lives on the left click. Click on every single spot you want your character to go. Click on every single enemy you want to attack. Keep clicking until those things are dead, and then click on the pile of gold they left behind.

It goes a lot deeper than just the left click. Diablo IV will let players reassign any skill to any key binding. With skills and movement fully flexible, it sounds as if Diablo IV gives you the freedom to make the game play however you want. But, and this is probably important for those aforesaid purists, movement and attack on left mouse will be the default.

Blizzard also confirmed that controller support will be included on PC -- another development that reads like heresy to anyone who knows the deep roots of Diablo. But, this is the first Diablo game that is being developed concurrently for both PC and consoles, and it makes sense that this sort of flexibility would be extended. Controller users also get the courtesy of fully customizing their bindings.

[Update: I would like to clarify that neither CDPR or PUBG Corp. were scheduled to hold any panels or feature any of their titles at PAX East. Therefore both companies' decision not to attend the event will not impact the PAX East lineup. I apologise for not making this clearer in the original article and have altered the text to reflect this - Moyse.]

The list of major companies cancelling plans due to the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow. Both CD Projekt RED and PUBG Corp. have both made the last-minute decision not to visit PAX East, which takes place in Boston from tomorrow.

The news of CDPR's change of plans broke via the Twitter account of Head of Communications Stephanie Bayer, who notes that her team will not be present at the event. Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't scheduled to be in attendance at PAX East, so this is presumably a motion to secure staff health ahead of the game's appointment at GDC 2020 next month.

PopCap has soft-launched Plants vs. Zombies 3, a new mobile-based free-to-play game, in select territories. Right now, it's playable on Android Galaxy S6 devices and iPhone 6S or higher in the Philippines. More countries will be supported "as time goes on," according to the developer.

The game is still about defending against kooky zombies with your all-powerful plant squad, but it's "not meant to replace the original PvZ or PvZ 2." Put another way, it's mixing things up. "For this game, we wanted to incorporate social play, faster combat, and deeper synergies for the plant team."

One big change is that you no longer need to plant sunflowers to produce energy – there are "multiple" ways to "improve your sun production" and the sunflower's "role has been expanded in new ways."

The main loop of Plants vs. Zombies 3 is assembling a diverse team, leveling everyone up, and knowing which plants are best suited to which missions and boss battles. Related: it has microtransactions.

The core progression involves pushing back the undead troops, rebuilding, and clearing floors on the Devour Tower. PopCap is also leaning into multiplayer and hoping that friends will guilt-trip each other into joining up. "Compete against others in Arena Mode and climb the League Tiers in Tournaments to earn gems and seeds. You can also create or join a Club to chat, donate seeds, and acquire Club plants."

Dragon Quest is, without a doubt, one of my favorite properties in all of entertainment. It's also one that tends to leave me yearning far more often than it quenches my thirst for it. While we in the west need not fear a lack of localization for non-MMO mainline entries in the franchise, a good chunk of Dragon Quest games don't see our shores. Several 3DS titles never left Japan, along with numerous arcade machines and mobile apps.

One such app was Hoshi no Dragon Quest. Originally released in Japan back in 2015, it seemed destined to stay exclusive to its home turf until last year, when Square Enix announced a localization was on the way. I eagerly downloaded it the moment it became available, fully aware that a five-year-old, free-to-play mobile RPG might be set up to squeeze me out of some cash rather than provide me with a worthwhile adventure.

Fire Emblem Heroes may be frustrating some of its long-term supporters lately with a number of money-making controversies, but the battle goes on regardless. As such, Nintendo has released a new trailer revealing that Fire Emblem: Awakenings protagonist Chrom is coming to the mobile battler as a new Legendary Hero.

Chrom is the prince of Ylisse, where he also serves as Captain of the lands elite guard, known as "The Shepherds." Chrom is an expert swordsman, wielding the legendary blade Falchion with ease. Surprisingly, however, his FeH Legendary Hero appearance will see him take up a bow instead. Whatever the weapon, Chrom's fearsome nature in battle is powered by the young noble's steadfast sense of justice, which makes him a powerful fighter, leader, and ally.

I can think of only a few digitally-distributed PC games that I really, truly wish I could've returned, no questions asked, because they weren't the right fit for me. (My technical issues and complaints run far deeper.) Progress has been made with refund policies, but there's always room for improvement.

The DRM-free game distributor GOG has updated its refund policy to be more customer-centric, and even at a cursory glance, it's impressive. Now, after submitting a request for a return, "you can get a full refund up to 30 days after purchasing a product, even if you downloaded, launched, and played it."

Going a step further, under the new refund guidelines, "pre-orders can be refunded throughout their pre-order period (as in – until they get released), and for 30 days after their release date."

Obviously, this trusting approach will be open to abuse – especially since there's no DRM.

"It's important for us to say that this update is possible thanks to your respect for all the time and hard work put into creating the games you buy on GOG.com and playing by the rules," the store said.

There are "no limits" on refunds, but GOG is upfront about "monitoring the effects of the current update to make sure no one is using this policy to hurt the developers that put their time and heart into making great games." Another (understandable) caveat: "We may refuse refunds in such individual cases."

"We'd also let you know about any future adjustments in the voluntary Refund Policy in advance."

I appreciate them for going above and beyond the bare minimum that many online stores offer.

Update to our voluntary Refund Policy [GOG]

The continued love and affection for Stardew Valley has exceeded all expectations. Four years after launch, creator Eric Barone is working on yet another content update. He's cooking up version 1.5.

"Thanks everyone for the Stardew Valley four-year anniversary wishes," he said today on Twitter. "It's been a pleasure, and I look forward to another great year! Now that 1.4 is out on all intended platforms, I'd like to announce that there will be another free content update (1.5)...it's currently in the works!"

I'm kind of at a loss. Since the introduction of fish ponds, I feel like I've almost run out of requests. There are still so many facets of Stardew Valley I need to explore more thoroughly – especially relationships.

Where do we go from here? Where should we go from here?

My big, not-gonna-happen-but-I-still-hope-it-will wish is for Stardew Valley to get split-screen support or some form of local co-op. "I don't think that's going to be possible, for technical reasons," Barone said on Twitter. He added that he has "no plans for paid DLC" and 1.5 will have "lots of new content."

Stardew Valley is Barone's legacy at this point, and it seems like he'll do everything in his power to make sure this game stands the test of time. It's a masterclass in long-term support and community building.

It may take some patience, but update 1.5 will work its way to PC, consoles, and mobile.

The next generation seems to be in a really weird spot, and it hasn't even arrived yet.

In the past several months we've heard about how multiple studios aren't developing exclusives yet, making the generational gap between the present and the future that much more ubiquitous. Square Enix is joining that list, based on a new statement from president Yosuke Matsuda in a recent financial results briefing.

When asked about how the publisher feels about next-generation consoles, Matsuda responded: "The next-generation consoles will have backward compatibility, so we plan for the time being to make our new titles available for both current and next-generation consoles. It will therefore be somewhat farther down the road that we release titles exclusively for the next-generation consoles."

It's a pretty cut-and-dried response that seems in line with the non-bullish approach from many other publishers. It also helps create a multifaceted and cascading outcome, which simultaneously props up the value of older consoles (if the same games are available on both) while cheapening the idea of getting a shiny new toy that can play all-new things. I'm firmly on the side of "the more relevant platforms, the better."

Then again, we're roughly 10 months away from the next-gen and we still don't have firm price points yet. It's going to be an interesting year!

Financial Results Briefing [Square Enix]

I didn't expect to be this into World of Horror's unfinished Steam Early Access version. It's a rare treat.

I'm a huge fan of horror manga creator Junji Ito's work (I even have his cat diary!), and I think it's long overdue for his influence to spread to video games more directly, but I wasn't sure this was the right time for me to absorb a text-heavy point-and-click RPG. I can be super finicky about Early Access.

I've seen some of you express similar concerns, but don't let those fears hold you back. Face them.

Bandai Namco has released the next DLC expansion for its anime-gothic adventure Code Vein. And, after taking down the burning brimstone of the Hellfire Knight, things are about to get a little chillier, with the arrival of your newest nemesis, the Frozen Empress.

By venturing into the new Celestial Ice Prison depth, players can take on the Frozen Empress in battle, utilising their best offensive and defensive maneuvers to avoid her icy attacks, while blocking buffs offered by her support crystals.

Defeating the Empress will reward players with new weapons and Blood Codes, allowing you to harness her cold abilities for yourself. You will also bag another costume for best buddy Mia. Should you survive this frosty encounter, be sure to venture into the caverns for more further new treasures.

My first thought when downloading Samurai Shodown, the soft-reboot of the mostly-2D fighting series on Switch, was "I had to delete Skullgirls to make room for this?" The game comes in at about 10GB, which is larger than I would have assumed, and parting with games I prefer in order to fit it on my dashboard hurt a little bit. I'm not normally that harsh, even in my own internal monologue, so I had to guess something else was making me crabby.

My guess is that on some level, I just wasn't ready to make room for another fighting game in my already crowded library. It's bloodier than Street Fighter, but not more bloody than Mortal Kombat. It's a 2D weapon-based fighter, but so is Blade Strangers, BlazBlue, and Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r]. In 2020, it's hard to see exactly what a thoroughly double-A, chunky-poly fighting game series like Samurai Shodown can hope do better than its competition. 

After putting ten-or-so hours into online multiplayer and then running through singleplayer with a few characters, I'm confident that I know the answer to that question. This new Samurai Shodown packs a wallop. In some ways, it reminds me Bushido Blade, the classic "One-Hit Kill" PS1 arena fighter from Square, than it does Smash or Street Fighter. A lot of enemies can take a quarter of your health with one hit from their heavy attack. As soon as a new round starts, every breath could be your last. I love that.

There's a long road ahead of Temtem's 1.0 launch. Crema pulled off a strong Steam Early Access release just over a month ago, and it's picking up fans who are down for an alternative take on the Pokémon formula, but the real trick will be keeping players engaged in the months to come. Early Access is hard!

Today, the team shared its vision for the rest of Temtem's year. It's a roughed-in 2020 roadmap – not every feature is "100% confirmed," and delays and date swaps are expected – but here's the schedule.

In short, you can expect the first pass at ranked matchmaking plus in-game chat, spectating, player housing, tournaments, achievements, new islands like Kisiwa and Cipanku, 50 new Temtem, and the first Mythical Temtem. Under the current schedule, those additions will be out by the end of 2020.

"We're not really big fans of having public dates for everything, they add a lot of unnecessary pressure on the team and they make making changes and swapping features around a very difficult task. We know everyone else likes dates though, so we've decided to include open dates for each block of features. Take them with a grain of salt and expect delays and features moved around dates."

In a blog post, Crema gave more specifics about what's ahead including auto-scaling for the ranked queue, and overall balance, which will stay not-so-perfect "until the Temtem roster is complete."

We haven't gotten substantial info regarding the Illfonic-developed Predator: Hunting Grounds in a while, but it looks like we'll be getting a full hands-on session soon enough.

Announced by way of the PlayStation Blog, Hunting Grounds is getting a free trial next month on both PC (Epic Games Store) and PS4. PC owners can just download the trial, but you'll need PS Plus to play it on PS4, and there will be cross-play support between the two versions. The trial will begin on March 27 at 5PM PT, and will run through March 29.

So what doe sit entail? Well you can play as the Predator by yourself, or as a "fireteam" of up to three other humans. Illfonic re-iterates that being attacked by the Predator will be "terrifying," and that as the fireteam, "the odds are against you."

Predator: Hunting Grounds will arrive on April 24, 2020 on PC and PS4. You can find the official box art below!

Predator: Hunting Grounds Trial Weekend Starts March 27 [PS Blog]