Eurogamer

"Every screen is an Xbox" Microsoft reportedly tells staff

1 month 1 week ago

Xbox president Sarah Bond reportedly told staff that "every screen is an Xbox". These words come ahead of Microsoft's business update later today, in which the company is expected to lay out its plans to publish some Xbox games on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms.

Bond was speaking at an internal town hall meeting, with several sources telling Inverse the exec went on to discuss Xbox's strategy of existing on multiple devices. She also spoke more on the company's ambitions to become the number one cross-platform gaming company, the sources said.

To illustrate this point, staff were shown images of this year's breakout hit Palworld across multiple screens. This included "tablets, TV screens, monitors, and handheld devices", the publication said.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Embracer has now laid off 8% of staff

1 month 1 week ago

Embracer has laid off 8 percent of its workforce as its restructuring programme reaches "mature stages".

The company released its latest financial report today, stating its net sales increased by 4 percent, though this is largely thanks to its Tabletop Games and Entertainment divisions. PC and console games net sales decreased by five percent.

In its third quarter, the company laid off 483 people, meaning 1387 employees have now lost their jobs in the last two quarters, representing 8 percent of the total workforce.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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French union report alleges mismanagement at Life is Strange developer Don't Nod

1 month 1 week ago

A report by the French video game workers union has raised concerns from staff at Life is Strange and Vampyr developer Don't Nod.

Headquarted in Paris, the company released action role-player Banishers: Ghosts of Eden this week, following last year's well-received Jusant and Harmony: The Fall of Reverie.

Now, a report by French union Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) has alleged that staff at Don't Nod are subject to mismanagement by the company due to the need to balance multiple projects with "frequently" changing deadlines, "contradictory" directions and "no long-term vision" for staff welfare.

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden review - a haunting story of consequence

1 month 1 week ago

Commitment can be scarier than any ghost story. When I got married, I spent a lot of time leading up to the wedding borrowing grief from my future self. The prospect of 'til death do we part' brought forward the stark idea that one day one of us would have to say goodbye to the other. I was suddenly and unexpectedly wracked with anxiety about the mortality of my loved ones, and playing Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden reminded me of this uncomfortable feeling. Antea and Red have each other, to hold and confide in and joke with – but Antea is a ghost, and they have to get ready to say goodbye. That's the commitment they make to each other.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden sees Red and Antea, ghost hunters and life partners, called to settle a curse that's fallen on the early Massachusetts settler colony of New Eden. The tight-knit, suspicious puritan community aren't all convinced that the pair can help, seeing their arrival as too little too late – or insufficiently godly – after the loss of their community pillar to the ghost at the centre of the curse.

New Eden Town introduces you to life as a banisher: fighting violent spectres that have forgotten who they were, convincing benevolent ghosts to leave people to grieve in peace, and snooping in people's belongings to get better answers to your questions. When the pair inadvertently walk into a trap, the townspeople's suspicions are proved correct – Antea is killed, and the survivors scatter. To help her peacefully pass on, it will be a long journey to loosen the curse's hold on the area to retrieve her body – and there's the unthinkable option of taking that same journey to instead resurrect her, going against everything they believe as banishers. Death to the dead, and life to the living.

Author
Ruth Cassidy

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DF's tools of the trade: digital callipers

1 month 1 week ago

Digital Foundry's tools of the trade is a new series looking at the tools - physical and virtual - that DF members use to carry out their work analysing video games and hardware. In this first episode, Will Judd shares his thoughts on digital callipers, specifically the Hozo NeoCaliper.

There are a handful of tools that should be in any PC gamer's toolkit, from the Phillips-head screwdrivers you'll need to build or modify pretty much every PC out there to the Allen keys that can help you adjust sim racing rigs, monitor arms and other more substantial furniture. However, one useful tool I've not seen mentioned much is a set of callipers - whether that's a traditional analogue set or more newfangled digital alternatives. I've used a set of the latter for several years now, and I'm always amazed at how useful these can be for PC building in general - and PC journalism more specifically.

First, the general stuff: callipers are extremely useful for small form factor Mini ITX builds, where you could start by just cramming every component into your case, but it's often better to measure your components before you begin to make sure you'll have enough clearance. Callipers won't replace a tape measure for extremely long objects - I'm thinking of graphics card length, for example - but smaller objects like CPU tower coolers or radiators can be measured quickly and accurately with digital callipers, allowing you to ensure that your intended setup is actually workable in the often limited space available. It's worth pointing out that as well as measuring the size of objects (outer diameter), you can also measure gaps (inner diameter) - the arms on the top of a set of callipers grip in the opposite direction, allowing you to see exactly how much space you have available.

Author
Will Judd

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PlayStation boss says first-party PC releases will be part of "aggressive" growth plan

1 month 2 weeks ago

Sony president and PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki has spoken of the opportunities available in its approach to releasing first-party games on PC, saying it's "proactively [working] on" bringing more titles to other platforms as part of an "aggressive" profit margin growth plan.

Totoki made the comments during an investor Q&A coinciding with Sony's latest financial earnings report. When asked how its gaming division might be looking to increase profits, he first discussed the difficulty of cost reduction in PlayStation hardware, given component pricing, before highlighting a "multiplatform" approach to its first-party game releases as a potentially more fruitful area of expansion.

"In the past, as you all know," Totoki explained, "we wanted to popularise [our] console, and the first-party title's main purpose was to make the console popular."

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Author
Matt Wales

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Helldivers 2 studio seeking more developers so it can "accelerate and beef up" content plans

1 month 2 weeks ago

Satirical sci-fi shooter sequel Helldivers 2 is off to a flying start, and now its creator Arrowhead Game Studios has put out a call for fresh development talent so it can "accelerate and beef up" its post-launch content plans.

Despite some early technical woes, which Arrowhead has been hard at work trying resolve since Friday's release on PlayStation 5 and PC, Helldivers 2 has enjoyed a positive critical reception and strong player numbers, even becoming PlayStation Studios' biggest Steam launch to date as it amassed over 150,000 concurrents this weekend.

Amid that early success, Arrowhead CEO and Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt has taken to social media on a recruitment drive, seeking out "more amazing developers" who can "help [the studio] accelerate and beef up our content plans".

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Author
Matt Wales

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Pokémon Center pop-up store returns to London in April

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Pokémon Company is bringing its hugely popular Pokémon Center pop-up store back to London for four days this April, with promise of more exclusive Pokémon merchandise.

The Pokémon Center's return to the UK coincides with this year's Pokémon Europe International Championships, which take place at ExCeL London from 4th to 7th April. The store will be open at the venue from 10am to 8pm every day except Sunday, when it's set to close at 4pm.

Previous Pokémon Center pop-ups in the UK have attracted huge crowds, and The Pokémon Company is clearly expecting similar attention this time around. It notes that while entry to the store is open to the general public and won't require a competitor or spectator badge, reservations are mandatory - even for badged attendees. More information on the reservation process is set to be shared "closer to the event".

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Author
Matt Wales

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Assassin's Creed Valhalla headlines PlayStation Plus Extra games in February

1 month 2 weeks ago

Sony has unveiled its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium game catalogue additions for February, which this month include Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Need for Speed Unbound, The Outer Worlds, Tales of Arise, and more.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is arguably the biggest biggie in there, whisking players away for a Viking adventure set against an open-world backdrop of Anglo-Saxon England at the end of the ninth century. A lavishly designed "saga for the ages", is what Eurogamer called it back in 2020.

Valhalla is joined by the developer Criterion's equally recommended arcade racer Need for Speed Unbound - the "best Need for Speed in a generation" we said when it released in 2022 - as well as Obsidian Entertainment's slightly less gripping 2019 satirical adventure The Outer Worlds, a "conventional, easygoing scifi RPG...that fades very quickly from the mind." And here's the full list of February's PlayStation Plus Extra games.

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Author
Matt Wales

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Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth to get visual upgrades before launch

1 month 2 weeks ago

An update to the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo will improve the visual quality of Performance mode.

The update is due 21st February and will add a section of the Junon area specifically for the demo, as well as this visual improvement which will also apply to the full game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth supports both Graphics and Performance modes, with the latter providing a smooth 60fps.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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More Princess Peach: Showtime! transformations enter the spotlight in new trailer

1 month 2 weeks ago

Nintendo has revealed some more of Peach's transformations in Princess Peach: Showtime!.

Following on from last month's reveal of Ninja Peach and Cowgirl Peach, Nintendo has shown off four more roles Peach can don in the upcoming Switch game.

Take a look at the second transformation trailer showing Figure Skater Peach, Dashing Thief Peach, Mermaid Peach, and Mighty Peach.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Paper Trail capitalises on the magic of a single brilliant idea

1 month 2 weeks ago

Puzzles are a tricky thing to perfect in video games. They're present in so many different genres - typically giving us some small goal to work towards between blasting enemies and searching for resources - but are also rarely as engaging as they could be, when not a game's main focus. For more creative solutions (and creative problems) we have to turn to the dedicated puzzle genre, of course. These days, indie games rule the space, but with so many out there in the wild west of digital storefronts what makes a puzzler stand out? Paper Trail answers this with one basic idea: folding paper.

Folding the piece of paper your character is standing on reveals the picture on the underside of that page, which can have keys, doors, and pathways to your destination. Or, the underside can fill in part of a pattern required to magically unlock other areas. You can fold pages from the top, bottom, sides, or four corners. Playing Paper Trail is as straight-forward as that, but simple controls do not equal a simple game.

I'd hazard a guess we've all had to push a heavy object onto a switch to get through a door at some point in our gaming histories, so it's no surprise Paper Trail includes this almost customary puzzle in its demo. However, I've never had to fold my way to the solution before. With this one addition, a mainstay puzzle suddenly requires a whole new way of thinking. What corner do I fold first? In what order? Where should the statue be when I start to fold? Where should I be standing? It doesn't have a wildly complicated solution, but it does feel satisfying when the lightbulb moment happens. This one new layer of thinking is easy enough to comprehend, but tough enough to impress.

Author
Jessica Orr

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Helldivers 2 review - team kills and bug-stomping thrills

1 month 2 weeks ago

Ten minutes into a mission on the planet of Malevelon Creek, my squad and I emerge from a swampy treeline to finally catch sight of our target. This time it's a scientific base, and we're here to destroy it entirely. After clearing the area of enemies, I summon a hellbomb – one of the largest payloads in our arsenal – and manually arm the device.

We quickly move away, making space for the massive explosion that is to come. Yet as we scurry back towards the bushes, I spot a neighbouring facility that could be destroyed with a simple airstrike. The temptation of completing two objectives within twenty seconds proves difficult to resist, and I bring up my stratagem list to input the combination.

As I pull back my arm to throw the beacon, several things happen at once. The hellbomb behind us explodes, triggering a massive shockwave that rocks my screen. This diverts the aim of my throw ever-so-slightly to the left - instead of gracefully arcing through the air towards the robot facility, the beacon bounces off a large rock, drops to the floor, and lands at the feet of my squad. Before we know it, explosions are raining down around us, and we're all swiftly turned into jam by my airstrike.

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Author
Emma Kent

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Helldivers 2 will no longer crash if you have too many friends

1 month 2 weeks ago

Arrowhead has released another patch for Helldivers 2 and it's good news for those incredibly popular players among us - the game will no longer crash if you have too many friends.

This patch - Patch 01.000.006 to give it its full name - also addresses those crashes that could occur during the extraction cutscene and when users disconnect during the joining cutscene.

Along with stability fixes, this patch also improves matchmaking experiences.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Mario vs. Donkey Kong review - the Switch's protracted farewell continues in style

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Switch is safely into its Vegas residency era now. So safely, in fact, that with the greatest hits out of the way it's offering up some deep cuts and B-sides. I am all for this. Following on from the Super Mario RPG remake, here's Mario vs. Donkey Kong, a gentle reworking of an old Game Boy Advance charmer. It's lovely stuff.

And it's interesting, too. It makes one think. Not just because it's Mario at its most puzzley, with each mini-challenge playing out like the weird equivalent of a Mario Sudoku or some other newspaper brainteaser. It makes me think because it's another reminder of how Mario, of all game series, is sort of a language that players like me have spent the last few decades learning to speak.

As with language, I'm still learning to recognise how much of the grammar I didn't consciously know that I understand, as it were. What I get in a game like this, then, is a series of actions and reactions I am surprised to learn I can anticipate. Ice will cause me to slide, sure. But when precisely did I learn that a certain kind of block will cause me to teleport, while another will vanish if a switch is flipped? Elsewhere, from a truly ancient part of my brain I somehow retained the information that I will climb up faster if I'm holding two ropes, but descend faster if I'm only holding one. This kind of recall? From a man who regularly calls his dog "doghead", because her precise name cannot be grasped in the moment? (It's Cricket - I just checked.)

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Author
Christian Donlan

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Free Sims 4 update adds vitiligo skin details with Winnie Harlow collaboration

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Sims 4 has partnered with model Winnie Harlow and added a range of vitiligo skin details to the game as part of a free update.

Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin. This is caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment in skin. Sims 4 players will now be able to customise their Sims with vitiligo skin details, with patches for the face, upper torso, lower torso, arms, and legs now available in the Create-A-Sim menu.

These details are available for Sims of all ages, from infants to elders. Several vitiligo patterns will have "more than one variant", the Sims team said, calling skin details an "important area of focus for the dev team as we remain committed to expanding representation in The Sims 4". Other skin features already in the game include birthmarks, stretch marks, scars, and freckles.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Dead Island 2 launches on Steam in April

1 month 2 weeks ago

After one year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store, Dead Island 2 will release on Steam in April.

Publisher Deep Silver announced the release yesterday, as well as discounts on other games in the series on Steam.

This includes 85 percent off Dead Island Definitive Edition and 75 percent off Dead Island Retro Revenge. However, the publisher is also giving away Dead Island: Riptide - Definitive Edition for free.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama has passed away

1 month 2 weeks ago

Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of the Suikoden RPG series and scenario writer for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, has passed away.

The news was shared by Rabbit & Bear Studios, which Murayama founded to produce the Eiyuden Chronicle games.

"It's with a heavy heart and deep sadness we must inform you that the scenario writer and head of Rabbit & Bear Studios, Yoshitaka Murayama, has passed away on February 6th due to complications with an ongoing illness," reads the statement.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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PlayStation won't launch any "major" games in existing franchises this year

1 month 2 weeks ago

Don't expect new games in any of PlayStation's biggest existing franchises before the end of this financial year, Sony has said.

That means no new entry in the God of War or Marvel's Spider-Man franchises until at least April 2025, according to Sony president Hiroki Totoki.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, currently listed with a vague "2025" release date, will therefore launch later than March. Don't expect to see other big PlayStation properties such as Uncharted, The Last of Us, Ratchet & Clank or Horizon before then, either. It's also unclear where a potential Ghost of Tsushima sequel fits in.

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Baldur's Gate 3 update streamlines party management

1 month 2 weeks ago

Larian Studios has announced more fixes coming to Baldur's Gate 3 with Patch 6, as well as its beefy install size.

Due some point this week, Larian already let us know the patch will add new idle animations for party members in camp and improve smooches (just in time for Valentine's Day).

In a new thread on X, Larian revealed Patch 6 has "more than just romance" and will add bug fixes and some gameplay improvements which should help make party management much easier.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Sony has record quarter but expects PlayStation 5 sales to decline

1 month 2 weeks ago

Sony had a record quarter for PlayStation sales and revenue, but expects console sales to decline in the next fiscal year.

According to its latest financial report, Sony sold a further 8.2m PlayStation 5 consoles, bringing its lifetime total to 54.7m. That's 16.4m consoles sold this financial year so far.

However, Sony has dropped its expected sales forecast across its gaming segment for the year by five percent, due to an expected decrease in hardware sales and increase in losses due to promotions.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Even Bloober Team wasn't a fan of Silent Hill 2 Remake's combat-focused trailer

1 month 2 weeks ago

Bloober Team's CEO has said he understands the critism around the recent Silent Hill 2 Remake trailer, which didn't "capture the spirit of the game".

The trailer in question was a combat-focused marketing beat by publisher Konami, and as Matt said at the time, combat is not exactly the first thing you think of when you think of Silent Hill 2. It probably isn't even the second or third. And yet, this was what Konami decided to hone in on during PlayStation's recent State of Play.

However, reactions afterwards weren't exactly enthusiastic. "The nurse vaulting over the wall like it's a tactical shooter is hilarious," one comment under the original trailer reads. Another remarked the game looks more like it's from 2014, than 2024. Others said it looked more like a fan-made remake.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Five of the Best: Arcade machines in games

1 month 2 weeks ago

Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It's a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It's also about having your say, so don't be shy, use the comments below and join in!

Oh and if you want to read more, you can - you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site.

We might not visit them in person any more, but there's nothing stopping us visiting arcades in games. Well, assuming the game has arcades in, Bertie. But many of them do: GTA Online is stacked with them.

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Author
Robert Purchese

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Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered review - you were never going to smooth these games out

1 month 2 weeks ago

Games can be beautiful because they are timeless, but they can also be beautiful because they are timely. When it comes to timelessness, you're going to struggle to beat Tetris. Its stark and nested blocks face every age with the same eternal silence, while the impulse to organise and tidy that they inspire is so deeply rooted in living things that it probably transcends species. Just this morning I watched a crow on TikTok working a stick into a clear plastic tube to dislodge a treat. This crow, that lives in a tree somewhere and probably eats the eggs of other birds because it is compelled to, this crow was ready for Tetris.

For timeliness, though, I give you Tomb Raider - the early Core games. These are the same games that have just been repackaged and remastered in a new collection with an annoyingly unwieldy name. And that all fits, to be honest. To play these games is to play - if you're me - something gorgeous and awkward, something that is gorgeous in part because it is awkward. But the timeliness of it all! I cannot even see these games without slipping back to the 1990s. Scream is on at the cinema. My ex-girlfriend is back from a gap year in Australia and keeps saying everything good is "immense". Everyone I know seems to have bought the same record bag to university. Chocolate bars are going through a great Cambrian explosion (forget Snickers, pick me up a Maverick!), and in every halls of residence there is at least one grubby grey plastic PlayStation, sat upside down so the laser works, with people clustered around Lara Croft's latest. They're stuck on a puzzle. They're playing together, as a kind of chorus. They're calling out suggestions. They've all missed the key that is hidden on the floor behind them.

Author
Christian Donlan

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Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered - a carefully measured, well-executed endeavour

1 month 2 weeks ago

There was a time when Tomb Raider stood as one of the most recognisable game series in the world, but decades later the original entries are largely unknown to those that didn't grow up with them. That's where Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered comes into play, a collection of brand-new versions of the first three titles with enhanced lighting, improved detail, high-res textures and better performance. Remastered feels both fresh and retro at the same time - and I've been playing it over the last week to determine how it stacks up against the original games in terms of visuals, controls and more.

Back in 2016, I created an episode of DF Retro covering the original Tomb Raider where I compared the PlayStation, Saturn and PC versions while showcasing some of the underlying technology in action, such as Sega Saturn's unique sprite-driven 3D rendering. Since that video, the Tomb Raider scene has continued to thrive with the release of the open-source Tomb Raider engine OpenLara, not only showcasing impressive new visual feature features but also enabling the community to go wild with porting. There now exists, for instance, versions of Tomb Raider that can run on classic consoles like the Sega 32x, 3DO and Game Boy Advance.

The rebooted series itself has also gone on a hiatus of sorts, disappearing following the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider as we await a new installment. In the here and now though, we have this brand-new re-release of the first three games thanks to Aspyr and, save for a few minor issues here and there, my experience has been excellent.

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Author
John Linneman

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Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered adds racial and ethnic content warning

1 month 2 weeks ago

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered begins with a content warning that explains the trilogy contains "offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices".

The message states that these depictions are "inexcusable" but have been kept intact to acknowledge their "deeply harmful" inclusion and learn from it.

There's no detail in the statement on which specific elements of the games it refers to - though one likely example can be found in Tomb Raider 3, Eurogamer fans of the games tell me, where stereotypical South Pacific islanders attack Lara Croft with bows and arrows.

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Nearly 1 in 5 gamers are LGBT+, says new GLAAD study

1 month 2 weeks ago

Nearly one in five gamers are members of the LGBT+ community, yet LGBT+ storylines and characters account for less than two percent of all games.

That's according to the first ever GLAAD Gaming Report, the global leader in advocacy for LGBT+ representation, alongside market research company Nielson.

A previous report from Nielson three years ago stated 10 percent of gamers were LGBT+. Now that's up to 17 percent - an increase of 70 percent.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin won't release in Korea, Sony confirms

1 month 2 weeks ago

UPDATE 15/02/24: Sony has insisted Rise of the Ronin was never intended for release in South Korea.

In a statement to IGN, the company once again confirmed the Team Ninja game will not be released in South Korea, refuting claims it has been cancelled.

"Rise of the Ronin for PlayStation 5 was never officially announced for release in Korea," said a spokesperson for Sony. "We can confirm that the title is not going to be sold or published in South Korea in any form, physical or digital."

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Author
Liv Ngan

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Inkulinati headed to PlayStation, Switch, as it leaves early access

1 month 2 weeks ago

Inkulinati will leave early access later this month, on 22nd February, at which point it will become available for the first time on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.

Previously, Inkulinati was only available on PC via Steam Early Access and on Xbox through Game Preview.

"Your support and feedback during the Early Access period have been invaluable to us. Your comments, suggestions, feedback, reviews, and words of encouragement have made Inkulinati a better game. And behind the scenes, we've worked really hard on making Inkulinati an engaging and polished experience," Yaza Games and the teams at Daedalic wrote on Steam.

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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No, Arceus won't be included in Pokémon Go Tour: Sinnoh

1 month 2 weeks ago

Arceus, the god Pokémon, won't turn up in Pokémon Go for this month's upcoming Go Tour: Sinnoh.

Its apparent absence had been hotly debated by fans, though has now been confirmed to Eurogamer by developer Niantic. It means Go Tour: Sinnoh will be the first one of Pokémon Go's popular annual Tour events not to let players complete their Pokédex for the corresponding region.

Two other Sinnoh species will also be absent: Mythical creatures Manaphy and Phione.

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Author
Tom Phillips

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Two lost F-Zero Satellaview games recreated by fans

1 month 2 weeks ago

Two F-Zero games exclusively released on Nintendo's Satellaview SNES service have been restored by fans and are available to play for free.

The BS F-Zero Grand Prix games were first made available in a series of broadcasts in 1996 and 1997, including remixed courses from the original SNES game and some exclusive tracks too.

However, these games appeared to be lost in the mute city of time - until now.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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In Summerhouse, every home hides a story

1 month 2 weeks ago

This deceptively simple house-building game from Friedemann is surprisingly good at prompting stories. Once you enter a world, you are left alone to create homes or buildings with a fair amount of resources and very little restriction. It’s a lot of fun by itself, but over time the ease of placing things led to me creating deep backstories for everything I was making. Summerhouse simply lets you be. Your imagination is allowed to wander wherever it desires in that moment.

Soon after starting the demo, I found that I was asking myself, ‘Who lives here? What do they do?’ I would start asking these questions with one building, and often that would prompt the beginning of a story that would span the rest of the street. It helps that, although there isn’t an endless amount of choice, each item you can add to a building ignites its own spark of inspiration. I built a cafe then questioned if it was any good. My answer was, ‘No,’ so I placed several overflowing bins outside it. If the Cafe is bad then perhaps the local restaurant is popular - so much so that it needs renovating to keep up with demand? So then I’d put a construction-like block next to it with a stop sign outside. Naturally, traffic cannot pass through a construction site!

Author
Marie Pritchard

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Lethal Company mobile app is a "scam", developer warns

1 month 2 weeks ago

A mobile version of hit survival horror Lethal Company has popped up on the iPhone App Store and Google Play - but isn't what it seems. The game's developer Zeekerss has warned players this is "likely a scam of some sort", and not made with its permission.

Lethal Company has become incredibly popular since its debut last year, and prompted praise for the game's mix of genuine horror and almost slapstick comedy. Now, it appears others are trying to profit off Zeekerss' success by releasing their own rip-off of Lethal Company on mobile. Don't be fooled.

Writing on the Lethal Company Discord, a moderator stated this mobile version "was made with no explicit permission and is most likely a scam". They asked users to refrain from linking to any fake games, to avoid anyone falling foul of "devious and malicious intentions that may be behind that operation".

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Dead Cells "abrupt termination" was a bid to promote publisher's new game, ex-dev says

1 month 2 weeks ago

Former lead designer Sébastien Benard has further discussed the decision made by publisher Motion Twin to end Dead Cell's development - something he previously dubbed "the worst imaginable asshole move".

Benard originally shared his sentiments on the end of Dead Cells development via the game's Discord server, where he said the official statement from Motion Twin was "total marketing bullshit" from a company he called "greedy".

Now, Benard has shared an update with further thoughts on his blog, in a bid to shed more light on his previous words.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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What The Golf? heading to PlayStation next month

1 month 2 weeks ago

Hit comedy game What The Golf? is coming to PlayStation consoles next month.

The game will be available on both PlayStation 4 and 5 from 14th March, in addition to its previous releases on mobile (Apple Arcade), PC (Steam, Epic, GoG), and Switch.

If you haven't played it yet, then, there's really no excuse. It's hilarious stuff.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Helldivers 2 PC patch takes aim at server capacity and progression issues

1 month 2 weeks ago

Developer Arrowhead has released a new patch for its PC version of Helldivers 2.

With this update in play, users should be able to get into games a little more easily. In addition, this patch addresses some progression issues, with the developer stating it has now "fixed the daily and difficulty progression error".

Arrowhead said many of the issues in Helldivers 2 were being caused by a large number of users in the game and server capacity. Writing on Steam, the developer said this cocktail had created "unexpected behaviours".

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Author
Victoria Kennedy

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Microsoft's PC and Xbox exclusive Pentiment reportedly coming to PS5 and Switch

1 month 2 weeks ago

Microsoft's Xbox and PC exclusive Pentiment will make its way to PS5 and Nintendo Switch, alongside the previously-leaked Hi-Fi Rush.

That's according to a new report from The Verge ahead of Thursday's podcast from Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer, Xbox president Sarah Bond and head of Xbox game studios Matt Booty, where the trio will reveal Xbox's new business strategy - including, it's believed, the launch of exclusive games on rival platforms.

Sources confirmed to The Verge that Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment will be the first two games on the way, with Sea of Thieves planned for later this year. Other first-party titles are simply described as being under consideration.

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Author
Ed Nightingale

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Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design review: a thin foldable with a sublime display

1 month 2 weeks ago

The Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is perhaps the most sublimely designed foldable to date. With a bigger battery than competitors, as well as being much thinner, it's one of the first options we've seen that compares well in size and capacity to more standard form factor phones. The standard variant, priced at £1700, is dearer than competitors from Samsung, Google, and OnePlus, and it's expected that this special model will be even dearer when pricing is unveiled at MWC in a couple of weeks time. For the price though, you’re getting a truly incredible phone with a lot to like about it.

For the outlay however, the Magic V2 RSR has quite the capable feature set, with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor backed with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of internal storage, a sublime triple camera setup with a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP ultrawide and a 20MP telephoto. You of course also get two LTPO OLED displays: a 7.92-inch foldable screen and a 6.43-inch cover display.

The Honor Magic V2 RSR Porsche Design is quite the looker, with a sleek profile that's reminiscent of the vehicular namesake attached to this collaboration. The standard Magic V2 is an excellent looking phone as it is, but this RSR Porsche Design variant takes things to the next level.

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Author
Reece Bithrey

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Helldivers 2's double-A energy is an antidote to video game malaise

1 month 2 weeks ago

Ragdoll physics! Friendly fire! Connectivity issues! On-the-nose satire! Bugs! Double-A gaming is back, baby. You could argue it never really went anywhere, but still: what a breath of fresh air this one's proven to be.

Helldivers 2 is a blast; a messy, frenetic, straight-into-the-action whirlwind of quickfire jokes quickplay matches (when they're working). If you played even the slightest bit of the first Helldivers, though, none of this should come as a surprise.

"This is also the latest game from Magicka developer Arrowhead Game Studios - a studio, right, whose logo shows an arrow going through somebody's head. In other words, you should expect a few quirks. The biggest of these is friendly fire: it is so terribly easy to shoot your own team-mates in Helldivers. It's so terribly easy to be shot by your own team-mates. Or stepped on by them if they've unlocked mechs. Hell really is other people." That's what we said in our review of the first Helldivers, way back in 2015, a game that was cross-buy across PS3, PS4 and - hold me - the Vita. This could just as easily be describing Helldivers 2, although I've yet to see anyone unlock their own mechs just yet. If anything, the biggest surprise is how little it's changed.

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Author
Chris Tapsell

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The best way to explore in Europa is by defying gravity

1 month 2 weeks ago

A little boy steps out into the world for the first time. The landscape is full of lush meadows, striking blue rivers, and wildlife gently pottering around. It holds such serenity that I almost feel commanded to stop and drink in every detail.

I played the Europa demo like this at first. I walked slowly along the trodden paths, retracing the same steps the creator of Zee, our android protagonist, took. As Zee's creator narrated the words of his collectible journal pages, it turned out the beautiful world before me hid something darker.

An attempt to terraform Europa into a paradise for humans, and to leave behind Earth in its human-induced environmental destruction, was successful at first. But by the time Zee arrives on Europa, civilisation has fallen, leaving the world feeling empty. Its beauty turned haunting instead, and I was cautious of blasting through the demo for fear of missing out on an intended sadness I was meant to feel.

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Author
Liv Ngan

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