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[Update: The Nintendo Switch release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance has been rescheduled for May 20, 2021. Black Isle called the delay "an unfortunate set of circumstances out of our control."]

There's a new Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance on the way, and today, Black Isle and Interplay have released a re-release of the classic Baldur's Gate variation of Dark Alliance. It's out now on PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, but the Nintendo Switch version has hit a snag.

On Twitter, Black Isle Studios posted a statement saying that "due to unforeseen issues," it would be delaying Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance's Switch launch for a few days. "We're incredibly sorry about this and we're working hard to remedy this as quickly as possible."

Hey all,

Due to an unforeseen issue on the Nintendo Switch store, we’re going to have to delay the launch for a few days to fix it.
We’re incredibly sorry about this and we’re working hard to remedy this as quickly as possible.

Thanks for your patience! pic.twitter.com/qw3h8hey1L

Damn, it feels good to be back on the Normandy. 

Booting up the Mass Effect Legendary Edition for the first time last week, I was hit with waves of emotions. Dueling swathes of nostalgia and newfound wonder at seeing this, all this, in a single package slammed me over the head. I've played through the whole trilogy a couple times, and through the first game the most; yet booting it up here, in 2021, in the Legendary Edition, I couldn't help but feel a little warm about jetting off in the Normandy once again.

I'm currently playing my way through the trilogy, and we'll be looking to do a more holistic review once I've seen the whole thing start-to-finish, as it's clear there are some changes littered throughout the saga. It's worth checking in now though, after I've seen credits roll in roughly 25 hours of the first Mass Effect, to see what the Legendary Edition is up to thus far. It's important to note that this is a remaster—so while the gameplay has been tuned and even some content adjusted, this is not a remake on the scale of Resident Evil 2 or Final Fantasy VII.

It was pouring down rain on Akihabara. The girls dressed as maids had an extra layer of transparent raincoat on, and I was happy to find that basically every shop carries cheap, plastic umbrellas for 500 yen. I was exhausted after a two-week trip around the country by rail, carrying a backpack roughly the size of a refrigerator. My back had a knot in it, I wasn’t sleeping well, and my constant nausea meant the only thing I could put in my stomach that night was a donut and a cup of tea from Mister Donut.

It was 2014, and most people near me couldn’t believe that I’d be traveling Japan alone. The idea seemed to come out of nowhere. I’d never traveled by myself before, it was a rare day that I wasn’t grappling with anxiety, and I’d spent most of my life as an extremely picky eater. I was a homebody, an introvert; hardly the worldly traveler. So what suddenly changed? Why did I make such an effort to see another country?

It was a video game. One that never saw release in North America.

Shortly after the Steam and GOG release of Saints Row: The Third Remastered on May 22, Deep Silver will be rolling out the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of the remaster. I know, I know — this (surely) isn't your favorite entry. But what if I told you the new console editions are a free upgrade?

Saints Row: The Third Remastered will be available directly on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S starting May 25, and it's a free upgrade from PS4 and Xbox One. Always nice to see. Apart from new lighting and texture work compared to the original game, there's a performance boost — expect to hit dynamic 4K at 60FPS, and in the case of Series S, your choice of either 1080p at 60FPS or 4K at 30FPS.

The developers are calling this "equivalent to the PC edition at high settings."

On the PlayStation 5 front, there's Activities support. That might sound minor if you haven't used the PS5 cards before, but they're great time-savers when they're implemented with care. Also, the DualSense controller will glow purple while you play The Third Remastered because of course it will.

I liked the game well enough in 2011 (which is to say "less than Saints Row 2"), and I don't know if I'll ever go back. I'm looking forward to the future and whatever bonkers direction this series takes, though.

[Update: The Player Celebration event starts today, and Sony announced the date for the Days of Play Sale — May 26. We're getting deals on Demon's Souls, Miles Morales, Sackboy, and Nioh Collection. There's also going to be a PlayStation Plus "free online multiplayer" promo from May 22–23.]

Sony is hosting a PlayStation Player Celebration for its Days of Play 2021 event, which is just a fancy way of saying that if you sign up this month and play games and earn trophies, the community at large can work together to earn some free stuff — namely, PlayStation-themed avatars and themes.

Before I get into the minutia, here are the prizes:

Sign-ups for the PlayStation Player Celebration opened up today and they'll stay open until May 31, 2021. You've just got to log into the PlayStation Store and click a link. That's about it for right now.

Look to your left. Now your right. Now in front of you. Now behind you. Now up above. Odds are you're looking at someone who has two Switch units, because that attach rate is roughly 20%, Nintendo says.

Via the new financial results briefing to investors for the last fiscal year, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa opens up about just who is buying Switch hardware by giving us another demographic: multi-buyers. This past fiscal year ending in March 2021, he says "roughly 20%" of Switch sales were from people who already owned one.

Here's his full statement: "In the previous fiscal year, household demand for multiple systems accounted for roughly 20% of unit sales of the Nintendo Switch family of systems. Going forward, we expect demand for multiple systems per household will increase even as hardware unit sales grow. By region, significant sales growth is continuing in Asia, and we believe there is still room for sufficient growth of new demand in Europe and the United States, considering the sizes of those populations. To this end, we must thoroughly convey the appeal of existing titles and future titles to consumers."

This is something Nintendo has been hammering home for years, trying to get people to buy into the idea of the Switch being a "family" console and portable. And it's paying off. Right now based on their sales report of 84.59 million Switch units sold, multi-buyers added 16.91m to that number, which is an impressive jump that allowed Nintendo to get ahead of lifetime Xbox 360 and 3DS sales.

If they can keep the momentum, they'll hit 100 million soon enough. Furukawa is probably pushing them to release more exclusives as soon as possible.

Neon Giant has set a date for its action-shooter RPG The Ascent. The fireworks will start on July 29, 2021 when The Ascent arrives on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

The Ascent takes place in a contained corporate metropolis, which quickly becomes a battlefield as multiple groups move in to seize power. Essentially, see bad guy, start blastin'. It's got a vibe of co-op alien shooter Helldivers, but with more RPG mechanics.

It looks mostly isometric, though there are some other camera angles and twists in the trailer. Neon Giant says The Ascent will have a "free-roam play style" set in a cyberpunk, dystopian world, but also have some RPG features that let you build your character up over time.

The Ascent is also playable in either solo or up to four-player co-op mode, and to help with that, it will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass on its launch day as well. Looks like if you're aching for some co-op shootin' with an RPG flavor this summer, The Ascent might be able to make that happen in July.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild has some incredible art, both in and outside of the game.

The box itself was pretty much perfect, showing off our hero Link in his new digs, overlooking a vast world that invited you to explore it. Artist Dion42o decided to take that beautiful art a step further and animate it.

I tried to make it as clear as possible in the headline: but this is a video effect imposed on the box itself. You can find a full rundown of how Dion42o did it here in this time-lapsed video. They used Adobe After Effects, as well as Photoshop.

The creator stated their original vision: "I really wanted a Guardian fight scene for the open case part, I was envisioning link parrying a beam and it shooting way outside of the case but I couldn't find anything like it."

Hey, this works! That Gold Lynel piece is one of my favorite all-time single selections of Zelda art. It really sums up the imposing feeling of squaring off against one for the first time: and all of the memories that go along with conquering them.

The Fallout 76 team continues to pump out more content, as the game sustains itself on the subscription service, microtransactions, and season passes: it's give and take.

The recent Locked and Loaded update added a ton of quality of life upgrades and generally more oomph to "dailies," and now the squad is going to build on that foundation with a larger content update. Specifically, we're getting a Steel Reign narrative mini-expansion, that builds on the Brotherhood content released several months ago.

That's in testing now, actually! If you have the game via the Bethesda launcher, you can boot up and select the PTR and give the upcoming content a go. In fact, Bethesda says that "the entire Steel Reign questline" (!) is in, which features the "conclusion of the Brotherhood of Steel story" in Fallout 76. It's meaty!

Other additions include the legendary crafting/attribute rework, as well as the Meat Week event. Bethesda is going to release the Steel Reign update after the testing period concludes, but they also have more minor patches to deliver before that happens.

This month 76 will host a patch on May 25, which is "mostly prep work" for Steel Reign, and involves bug fixes. Welp, the game could always use those! A lot of the big stuff (and more importantly, the egregious quality of life issues at launch) has been addressed, but the original foundation was so shaky, the team is still catching up.

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]

SNK has released the first gameplay footage taken from "Metal Slug Code: J," the in-development mobile project currently on the workbenches at Tencent's TiMi Studios. The still-unnamed (and undated) run 'n' gun adventure is in the works for iOS and Android devices.

I can get by without an FOV slider in a lot of games, especially if they're re-releases. But in 2021, it's a little weird to release something on PC and not have it in at launch. Fans are answering the call with Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. It's just how most AAA releases go these days!

This mod, found here and created by "Jade," allows players to utilize an FOV toggle for "the entire trilogy." Now I'm using the phrase "toggle" here rather than the traditional slider, because you need to install an individual mod for each game. In short, on this page here you'll find files called "ME1[-3] 80, 90, and 100 FOV."

You'll need to essentially pick one of those settings and install it for each trilogy entry. If you don't like it, follow the instructions and swap to another one until it's just right. It's not a huge leap as it only takes a few seconds, you just need to settle on a setting. The same creator has a whole suite of mods for the old PC versions of the trilogy if you're interested, including a minimalistic launcher and a "skip launcher video" mod for the Legendary Edition.

All that said I dealt with a lack of an FOV slider at launch and I can deal with it now. While it would be nice to see BioWare add it in (and developers have even started implementing it on consoles now with the latest generation), I can live without it.

Rockstar has announced a release date for the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of what is arguably the company's magnum opus: Grand Theft Auto V. The open-world crime epic — now one of the greatest-selling video games of all time — will bring its brand of mayhem to the next-gen platforms on November 11.

Originally released on September 17, 2013 for PS3 and Xbox 360, GTA V was an instant smash seller and has continued to shift copies in its ensuing seven years, with an estimated 140 million units on the market. GTA V tells the story of three very different hoodlums — Michael Townley, Franklin Clinton, and Trevor Philips — whose paths cross in a spiraling story of chaos, betrayal, and violence, all viewed with the series' trademark satirical eye.

Alongside GTA V, November 11 will see the world of GTA Online open up to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players. The MMO — which has been a cash cow for Rockstar for many years thanks to a slew of paid expansions and microtransactions — will offer PS5 users their first three months of mayhem free of charge, before resuming its typical paid subscription service in February 2022.

Finally, Rockstar hinted that there were some "fun surprises" in store for the 20th anniversary of one of the single most influential release of all-time: Grand Theft Auto III. It is hinted that these surprises pertain specifically to GTA Online so, for now at any rate, it probably isn't worth getting amped up for a full remaster/remake of the 2001 PS2/Xbox title.

Remember when PopCap was pumping out a ton of hits that weren't freemium affairs or microtransactioned to death? It's hard to believe that was so long ago.

It was 2011 when EA took over, and their entire business model changed. Peggle 2 was one of the last games that maintained the same magic as their old releases, and now you can enjoy it on Xbox Game Pass via the cloud edition of the service.

I still think of Peggle all the time. My wife and I played the first one endlessly, side-by-side with multiple copies, having a blast. Somehow, someway, I hope PopCap can bounce back from the cold grasp of EA and start having fun again.

Other notable games hitting Xbox Game Pass this week include Plant vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (cloud), Maneater (all platforms), and Fuzion Frenzy (cloud). You can find the full list below!

Electronic Arts' epic space opera, Mass Effect, is back on top of the UK Charts for the first time in many years. Remaster Mass Effect: Legendary Edition debuted at number one in the physical sales charts this week, dethroning Capcom's equally rad horror sequel Resident Evil Village after just one week.

It should be noted that Mass Effect's physical sales were not extraordinary, merely enough to usurp that of Resident Evil Village, which saw a sales drop of almost 60% on last week's numbers. Both Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Resident Evil Village can be considered successes, and digital sales figures for both titles will far outweigh those represented in the UK Charts.

Elsewhere in the Top Ten, an influx of PS5 stock saw Spider-Man: Miles Morales rocket back up the charts, with the web-slinger nestling at number three. Additionally, underwater escapade Subnautica: Below Zero made a modest debut at number five, while a Nintendo Switch double-pack — featuring Below Zero and the 2014 original — sits at number 38.

_{[This is a fun conversation starter from Destructoid reader NinjaSpeed. I can't believe I waited until Kingdom Hearts III of all games to try the series for the first time, and I'm still working through that mental whiplash. -Jordan]}

Are there any beloved video game series that you've completely missed out on?

Resident Evil was one of those series for me. I noticed the positive buzz around Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but didn't pay too much attention to it as someone who'd never touched a survival horror game before. I wasn't interested in those kinds of games... or so I thought. Enter: Resident Evil 2.

I haven't forgotten about Sludge Life, a wonderfully weird graffiti platformer-adventure game from Terri Vellmann, Doseone, and Devolver Digital, but I had forgotten that it was coming to Nintendo Switch. The day's almost here, too — the Switch version and Steam release are both planned for June 2, 2021.

The first-person / open-world / vandalism-centric SLUDGE LIFE is coming to Nintendo Switch and Steam on June 2!

All SLUDGE LIFE merch comes with a Steam code for a limited time: https://t.co/1hC1IZLYb7 pic.twitter.com/X6tvlYHQIC

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) May 17, 2021

Over the past year, Sludge Life has been available for free on the Epic Games Store. That's where I messed around with it originally, and the free-to-claim-and-keep deal is still valid until May 28 if you're only hearing about this now. (Normally, the game will cost $14.99, so do what you gotta do.)

If you're someone who can tolerate a bit of the old crude humor and you enjoy exploring lo-fi 3D spaces, especially when just-out-of-reach collectibles are involved, then you're gonna have fun figuring out what's what. There's little to no hand-holding, so poking around the world, chatting with the locals, and figuring out how to get up to that one spot up there that's taunting you is a big part of the experience.

Work continues on boom-a-riffic shooter sequel Shadow Warrior 3. Developer Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devolver Digital continue to drop trailers and tidbits pertaining to the cataclysmic sequel, which is scheduled for release on PS4, PC, and Xbox One later this year.

The developers might have outdone themselves this weekend, however, with the reveal of amazing new character Motoko — the last remaining sorceress of the Kumo Brotherhood. Very little has been revealed about this fascinating new villain, but we do know that she holds mastery over electrical elements and that she plays host to an explosive and opulent fighting arena, which is fittingly titled "Motoko's Thunderdome."

We also know that she looks fucking awesome. Look at her...

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is out now, and contains most of what the original trilogy had to offer. One notable absence, however, is Mass Effect 3's renowned multiplayer. And while it was known it wouldn't make the LE cut, there might still be some hope.

Speaking to CNET, Mass Effect Legendary Edition project director Mac Walters said he would "never say no" to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode coming back in some form. "We want to see what kind of reception the Legendary Edition gets and what the demand for the multiplayer is," said Walters. "And then we'll ask ourselves if we have the resources and time to bring it up to the quality level we and fans want."

It's not much, but it's something. Previously, BioWare has cited the logistical concern of resurrecting the multiplayer mode for why it was absent. But now it seems that if enough people are hungry for it, we could be teaming up to take on the Reapers after all.

If you've been eager to brave the treacherous roads behind the wheel of massive vehicles, a pretty good option is coming to Xbox Game Pass. SnowRunner hits Microsoft's subscription service on Xbox consoles and Windows PC tomorrow, May 17.

Carrying forward the MudRunner legacy, SnowRunner has you drive a bunch of different vehicles across rain, snow, and more. Yes, that also includes mud.

Last year, Snowrunner came to Xbox for the first time​

tomorrow, it comes to the XGP library pic.twitter.com/Gp9XFBM0Kz

— Xbox Game Pass (@XboxGamePass) May 17, 2021

Games like Euro Truck Simulator have made it apparent that driving around from point A to point B can be serene and relaxing, but if you're looking for a challenge, SnowRunner might be able to offer that. Putting a snorkel on your exhaust to handle heavy water certainly sounds pretty hardcore.

Google has stated that cloud gaming platform Stadia is "alive and well." The statement comes from the industry giant following a slew of headlines that suggest the Stadia platform — still in its relative infancy — is suffering from numerous setbacks.

"We're well on our way to over 100 new games launching on Stadia in 2021, and we're continuing to make Stadia a great place to play games on devices you already own," said development marketing lead Nate Ahearn in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. "I'd tell any non-believers to take notice of how we're continuing to put our words into action, as we grow the Stadia Makers program and partner with AAA studios like Capcom, EA, Square Enix, Ubisoft and others."

The words come in the wake of numerous eyebrow-raising headlines concerning Stadia's direction. Following disappointing first-year sales, Google announced it was closing its internal game development studios in February of 2021 — a decision that led to an exodus of developers, including producer Jade Raymond, who has since formed her own studio and with several former Stadia staff. This was followed by the news that Stadia's VP & Head of Product, John Justice, had also left Google. Justice's role has since been filled by Stadia co-founder Dov Zimring.

As players have been tearing through all three games in the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, they've been discovering the changes that have been made throughout the trilogy. One in particular addresses a very well-known photo that can appear in Shepard's cabin.

(Spoilers for Mass Effect 3 follow)

During the course of Mass Effect 3, Shepard can carry on a romance with a number of different crewmates, including quarian squadmate Tali. In the course of her romance, Shepard can even end up with a photo of her in their cabin.

In the original Mass Effect 3, this photo turned out to be an edit of a stock photo that didn't sit well with some folks. Now, with the Legendary Edition, BioWare has replaced the old picture with a new one, as confirmed by Reddit user "Maxgoods" and others.

I'm officially in the "log in and do my weeklies" phase of World of Warcraft.

Look, the past year hasn't been easy on anyone, especially game developers. But right now World of Warcraft: Shadowlands has a severe content drought, and unfortunately, the studio didn't pivot to give us smaller content drops over time. Instead, we have to wait for the new Chains of Domination update to arrive. It's one of the longest waits between major content patches to date, and I feel it.

Thankfully, Chains does look like it's shaping up to be a fun romp so far, especially after this recent preview of the new eight-boss Mythic mega-dungeon. It's called Tazavesh: the Veiled Market, and it runs the gamut of insane-looking and likely-fun-to-fight bosses.

Timecap’n Hooktail, a giant dragon who Hulked out after having her heist hijacked, rules. I'm glad Blizzard is still experimenting with silly boss fights every now and then. So’leah, the final boss, also looks sufficiently epic, and I love how she fits into the overarching story of the in-universe cartel. I'm getting big Court of Stars vibes here and I love it.

A Blizzard community manager also hopped into the comments section to explain how it's going to work: "you will need to follow a (short) questline to locate the new mega-dungeon. Once you arrive there, you can learn a flight path and travel easily between there and Oribos [the new main hub]."

The Mario sports spin-offs have always taken a broader, zanier approach to their respective athletic past-times. In the latest trailer for the upcoming Mario Golf: Super Rush, it definitely seems like the trend is carrying forward, with a surprising number of modes to boot.

Today's trailer showcases some of the modes included in Super Rush, both multiplayer and single-player. On the competitive side, we've already seen Speed Golf, the fast-paced race to the finish where golfers can use special abilities to get ahead. Battle Golf is one step further: a Speed Golf variant with multiple holes to capture, in an almost Mario Kart-like battle arena.

Of course, there's still standard golf with a host of quality-of-life features. Mario Golf: Super Rush will also have a solo mode called Golf Adventure, where players can take their Mii through the ranks at a country club, completing a variety of challenges and leveling up in the process.

As someone who bounced off Mario Tennis Aces after a week or so, I'm eagerly looking forward to this one. The single-player side seems like it's got some interesting challenges to hold the player's attention, and I am all about the bonkers battle modes. I'm really just here for the incredibly good golf attire—did you see Bowser's visor?—but it looks like Mario Golf: Super Rush is gearing up to bring some more good golfin' to the Switch on June 25.

Look, Sega doesn't have to sell me on a new Phantasy Star Online project.

It's been... a while since we've gotten one of those. I mean the west just got PSO 2 recently, which is great! But the prospect of starting something on a completely level playing field, at the ground level, is extremely enticing.

Based on what I've played of the PSO2: New Genesis beta, I'm even more jazzed for that day to come.

Arc System Works' has entered its final marketing chapter for upcoming fighting sequel Guilty Gear Strive. After a long wait, some exciting character reveals, some fan frustrations, and an eventual delay, the wild roster of the GG universe is set to let rip on PC and PlayStation platforms June 11.

The publisher held one final beta this weekend in order to stress-test the effectiveness of GG Strive's rollback netcode — a key component in ArcSys' plan to make the new sequel a success within the global fighting game community. In addition to its run of crash course character guides, ArcSys also dropped a new video giving newcomers a brief overview of Guilty Gear's storyline. For a deeper look at the GG universe, be sure to check out our own Zach Bennett's in-depth guide to the series' world and roster.

It's time to put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and re-open your detective agency. Publisher Playism has announced that the super-cool, ultra-hip "social deduction" game Gnosia will be coming to PC later this year, following its launch on Nintendo Switch back in March.

Over time, Destiny 2 has become more of a grind. But the recent transmogrification system (or "transmog," or even simpler, the ability to swap out cosmetic looks for gear, similar to MMOs) is a grind upon a grind, seated on a throne of microtransaction shortcuts.

So we knew it was going to suck. We had a heads-up where Bungie for some reason explained the system in detail like people weren't going to push back against it, like it was a good idea; to convolute a really old mechanic that developers nailed over a decade ago. But this Reddit thread from alonie-homie sheds some light on just how bad it is.

Remember how you needed to grind out materials to earn the right to start the transmog process? well apparently drop rates of those mats aren't based on kills: they're time-gated, according to community testing. So it can take about five hours to get past step one: then you need to actually collect bounties and complete them.

By some estimations, it would take roughly 150 hours to grab all of the ornaments across the three classes, or about 50 hours per class. Note that transmog is gated by season. Or, you can pay real money (silver) and skip this.

It's kind of indefensible, and Bungie will probably use their "we hear you and will adjust" shtick. But the extent to which people are willing to actually sit through it is dwindling over time, especially given the aggressive monetization of this whole mechanic.

So the Nintendo Switch is on fire. It's so hot in fact that it just hit roughly 85 million units sold this year, and it still has plenty of life left in it.

It'll clear 100 million by the end of the year, which puts it right on pace for defeating the Wii, Nintendo's most successful home console to date. That's huge! The Switch's rise to fame has been more low key than the "my uncle bought a Wii Fit and never played it" obviousness of yesteryear, but Nintendo, like other hardware producers, is struggling to meet that demand.

It's all due to the semiconductor shortage, amid other supply pipeline issues, which have been raging since this past year. And Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa recently shed some light on Nintendo's strategy during these trying times (though he did not offer us an egg).

Speaking in a Q&A for the company's financial results briefing of this past fiscal year, Furukawa states: "As for production, we achieved steady hardware production through the end of last calendar year, and as a result, in the previous fiscal year we set a record for our highest fourth-quarter sales volume. Meanwhile, demand for hardware continues to exceed our expectations even after the beginning of this calendar year, and production has currently not caught up to this high demand due to the tight supply and demand situation for semiconductor materials worldwide."

Last week saw Capcom release the newest episode of "Let's Play in Bio Village," the infectiously creepy-cute puppet show starring the villains of Resident Evil Village. This episode is particularly special, as it features a guest appearance from another member of the horror sequel's Rogues' Gallery.

The episode begins with Big Sister Dimitrescu suggesting Moreau brush his teeth with a razor-sharp brush, with predictably messy results. While the edict of the entire show is that Resident Evil Village "is not scary," this latest gory happening proves too much for Angie, who admits to being terrified of the whole show. Dimitrescu and Heisenberg then question their recent, kind actions — embracing their dark side and giving in to their murderous intent.

Great news for fans of SNK's great 2019 fighter Samurai Shodown. The one-year exclusivity deal with Epic Games Store is coming to an end, which means that the tense fighting title will finally launch on the Steam platform June 19. In addition, that same day will see the launch of a brand new DLC character: The notorious Shiro Tokisada Amakusa.

Amakusa is a recurring villain in the SamSho universe, having featured in numerous iterations in the decades-long series. Amakusa is a loose interpretation of a legendary revolutionary who was executed in Japan in the late-1600s after leading a band of Catholic followers in an attempt to overthrow the Shogunate. The SamSho iteration of Amakusa started out as an evil, power-hungry monster, but the lore has since pushed a "dual-personality" slant, with two independent spirits battling for dominance of Amakusa's soul.

Shiro Tokisada Amakusa will be the third of Samurai Shodown's Season Pass 3 characters, following on from the recent releases of Cham Cham and Hibiki Takane. The fourth and final character will be a Guilty Gear guest star and is expected to arrive this summer. Samurai Shodown is a fine fighting title, unlike much else on the market. Hopefully the Steam release will open the reboot up to new players.

The greatest spoiler organization on the planet, The Game Rating and Administration of Korea, are at it again. As spotted by eagle-eyed Resetera users, the board has released a new listing that appears to show Supergiant Giant's much-loved dungeon crawler Hades is preparing to cut loose on PS4.

Launching on PC and Nintendo Switch in September of 2020, Hades won over an army of fans with its compelling story, super-cool style, wry sense of humor, and hot-as-hell (literally) cast of "heroes" and villains. Hades would go on to sell over one million copies by the end of 2020 — winning numerous end-of-year awards — and is still finding new followers all the time. A PS4 port would only add to this Army of The Damned.

For clarification, there has been no official confirmation that Hades is headed to the PlayStation platform, but time has long shown that once a title appears on the Korean listings site, it's more or less all the confirmation that you need. Here's hoping Hades arrives soon, I really miss Dusa... and Zagreus... and Nyx... and Megaera... and...

If you’re looking for something to chew on until Guilty Gear Strive releases June 11th, look no further than its story. Guilty Gear’s narrative is far from “easily digestible,” so let’s all take a lore laxative and gloss over some of the story’s broader strokes. Below is an overview of every character’s story arc leading up to the events of Strive. It’s the kind of series that uses narrative to justify changes to characters' in-game moves between iterations: a beautiful, if not convoluted, piece of art.

So, what even is a Gear? And why is it guilty? Gears are augmented beings. Originally intended to speed up our biological advancement—and cure disease along the way—the military naturally gravitated toward Gears to use as weapons of war.

Keep in mind, this is a story told across decades of arcade and console games, manga, Japanese drama CDs, literal pachinko machines—it’s a wild ride. But before we get into each character, we must first set the stage.

The announcement of GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon caught me off guard. It’s like running into your human wreckage of an ex. You thought all they did was gamble away their money constantly, but here they are talking about their new job like nothing ever happened. You start remembering all the good times, you dare to believe that maybe they’ve finally cleaned up their act. Maybe Konami has really changed and this is proof of that. Truthfully, I’m expecting to wake up and find my wallet and jewelry missing.

What’s weird about this, however, is that GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon is actually based on a Famicom exclusive title from 1987; Getsu Fuuma Den. It was never released in North America, it never received a sequel, all we got were some cameos in games like Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, while Japan would see him again in the Wai Wai World titles. I wouldn’t go as far as saying the series was forgotten, but when Konami is sitting on a treasure trove of marketable franchises, it’s strange to see them reach this far into the bucket.

Of course, it’s unlikely you’ll need to be versed in Getsu Fuuma Den to understand the new game. It’s technically a sequel taking place 1000 years later, with the actual core gameplay being completely different. There is a connection there for fans, but likely nothing so intense you’ll need to have the background. Nonetheless, let’s take a moment to get acquainted with Konami’s not-quite-classic.

Subnautica was a survival game for people who thought they were sick of survival games.

Not only did it stand out in the genre with its one-of-a-kind alien water world, it also nailed a sense of genuine chart-your-own-course exploration. I felt like I had to work for every discovery, whether it was some bizarre biome or a new tool that would help me dive deeper, but it never felt like work. The game even had a pretty compelling sci-fi mystery to unravel, complete with an actual ending to reach.

In my 2018 review of the original Subnautica, I suggested that it might be the "best underwater game ever made." I stand by that today. Free-diving, recklessly piloting a submarine, stomping around the seafloor in a Prawn Suit — it felt fantastic to get to know Planet 4546B back then, and it still does now.

Three years later, after another Steam Early Access push, Unknown Worlds has put the finishing touches on Subnautica: Below Zero. Version 1.0 is done, and I'm glad I had enough restraint to hold off.

Next week sees perhaps the most bombastic crossover in gaming history. On May 20, Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo and Bruce Willis' Die Hard hero John McClane will step away from the silver screen to bring their respective brands of rat-a-tat-tat mayhem to Activision's Call of Duty franchise, joining the rosters of CoD: Black Ops, CoD: Mobile, and uber-popular battle royale release CoD: Warzone.

The Reganized 1980s saw a (literal) boom in action movies, as a staunchly conservative populace fell completely and utterly in love with solving the world's — or just the neighborhood's — problems at the barrel of an Uzi. While some of these films were dang awful, we also received an abundance of stone cold classics, with films such as RoboCop, Total Recall, and Commando as ridiculous and as entertaining today as they ever were.

I think the Call of Duty franchise is sitting on a veritable gold mine with its "'80s Action Stars" crossover event. Presented for your consideration are a further five stars of the decade taste forgot, without whom Call of Duty: Warzone will never, ever reach its full potential. No need to thank me, Activision, just pay me the 1600 COD Points I purchased last month that never arrived in my account.

You want more Assassin's Creed Valhalla?

Well you got it! And not much else.

It was quite a surprise when Nintendo announced it was remaking and localizing its Famicom Detective Club titles for the Nintendo Switch. The games, originally released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System, are two of the few early gaming titles from Nintendo's repertoire that haven't been reintroduced to new audiences. Outside of a Super Famicom remake of the second game, both have happily existed as footnotes in Nintendo's extensive library.

But story-driven games are as popular as they've ever been, and with the Switch still red hot, there is no better time than now for Nintendo to pull these two relics from the past and into the modern era.

[Update: Huntdown is now live on Steam, early purchases will bag a 20% price discount.]

There's no denying 2020 was an explosive year for video games. But among the mega-bucks, mega-marketed, mega-sellers of the industry, smaller titles were still keeping it real, making names for themselves off of the back of hard effort, great design, hard effort, and solid gameplay.

In this regard, Coffee Stain Publishing's Huntdown completely won me over last spring, going on to become one of my most played games of the year. Developed in Unity by tiny Swedish outfit Easy Trigger Games, Huntdown overcame its budgetary shortcomings by accentuating its positives: awesome pixel graphics, a hard-hitting soundtrack, superb sound design, and raw, compelling, shamelessly violent gameplay. Huntdown is a dirty, dirty gem.

Cblogs of 5/8 to 5/14/2021

-Gamingnerd wonders if single-player games are simply a multiplayer game against the game's AI.

-Febochulus reviews indie game, Hylics.

-Lord Spencer reviews Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Dinoracha reviews the early access version of RoboQuest.

-NinjaSpeed writes about playing a long-term franchise for the first time.

-Black Red Gaming does some mini-reviews for three indie games: Deadly Days, Narita Boy, Road Redemption.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Metal Gear and some Jazz/Rock fusion.

-ABowlOfCereal continues their balancing suggestion for Guardian Tales.

-Boxman214 shares his experience being a Dungeon Master for the first time.

-ChronoLynxx opens this week's TGIF community thread.

As a budding amateur photographer, I am always on the lookout for photography games. Not video games with photo modes, which are a dime a dozen these days, but games built around the activity of taking pictures. 

So naturally, when I first heard of Umurangi Generation, it immediately shot to the top of my most-wanted list. Unfortunately, it only came to PC, and because I'm an evil cretin known as a Mac user, I had to wait for the inevitable Switch port. As I found out today, I'm only going to have to wait a few more weeks. Publisher Playism confirmed today the game will hit the eShop on June 5.