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Frostpunk 2 developer 11 bit studios has announced the chilly city-builder sequel will be available on PC Game Pass from day one alongside its PC release.

The game was first announced in August 2021, before we saw it again in June 2023.

11 bit studios has released a new video which gives us our first look at Frostpunk 2 gameplay, with the player navigating through rising tensions within the city. Ultimately, in the gameplay trailer the Council rejects a law proposal to compensate everybody equally. Harsh, but where have I heard that before...

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Martha is Dead, the psychological thriller set in Tuscany during the second world war, is being made into a film.

The upcoming feature is being made in collaboration with the game's developer LKA, Wired Productions and Studios Extraordinaires from Sweden. It is currently in "active development".

Martha is Dead writer and designer Luca Dalcò called the forthcoming adaptation a "dream come true".

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Persona 3 remains a genre-defining RPG, but the lack of a "definitive" edition has always hurt it. While its sequels have a clear best option, I remember taking ages deliberating over FES or Portable, eventually beating the former on PS3. I fondly remember that journey, even preferring it to Persona 4, yet I always felt like I was missing a lot. Persona 3 Reload doesn't quite deliver the all-encompassing remake many fans hoped for, yet my recent preview convinces me that Atlus is otherwise on the right path.

Going hands-on for nearly two hours, this preview build differed considerably from the Gamescom/EGX demo. I felt pleasantly nostalgic as I explored Gekkoukan High School and Tatsumi Port Island. Reload recreates the original setting with precise attention to detail. Set shortly after Fuuka joined the Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), I had plenty of freedom and found myself getting invested in this story once again.

Soon enough, I ended up in Tartarus, a hefty dungeon that continues unlocking further floors as you advance. For the unfamiliar, think of Mementos in Persona 5 without the additional "palaces." I was concerned that Tartarus would feel lacking by comparison. However, noticeable aesthetic differences between the first and second areas reassure me that progression likely won't become boring across these shorter levels.

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UPDATE 18/01/24: Remedy has responded to the trademark dispute with Take Two, stating it was resolved amicably last year.

A statement sent to Eurogamer reads: "There is nothing to see here – this was a discussion between our teams that was resolved entirely and amicably late last year. Unfortunately, it took a little longer to complete than we had hoped due to some holiday scheduling. The legal filing was simply an initial formality, and Remedy and Take-Two continue to work together in partnership."

Rockstar published Remedy's original Max Payne games and the two companies are collaborating on the forthcoming remakes.

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The previously-delayed Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology has been postponed again - this time until 20th February.

In a statement on the latest holdup, publisher Soma Games said the decision was a "tactical move" to aim for a different release window.

The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology was previously set to arrive on 30th January for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's a linear, story-based action adventure set in the world of Brian Jacques' brilliant children's fantasy books, collecting three acts previously sold separately.

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Six months after its release, Street Fighter 6 has reached 3m sales.

Capcom announced the news earlier today in a press release, which also totted up lifetime sales for the series as over 52m units worldwide.

Street Fighter 6 had sold 2m units within a month of its release, after an extremely popular launch weekend.

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Ubisoft has updated its subscription model, and said consumers need to be "comfortable with not owning [their] game".

Ubisoft+ will now feature two revised tiers. Ubisoft+ Premium (£14.99/$17.99 per month) will include all new releases and - in some cases - early access to games alongside premium editions, monthly rewards and more. Ubisoft+ Classics on PC, meanwhile, is a brand new curated selection of popular back-catalogue and live games (£6.99/$7.99 per month).

Director of subscription Philippe Tremblay told GamesIndustry.biz there is "tremendous opportunity for growth" for subscription models, but the mindset of consumers needs to change.

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The director of Warner Bros' upcoming Minecraft film adaptation wants to avoid any kind of fan reaction akin to that 'Ugly Sonic' reveal.

As a reminder, 'Ugly Sonic' was the original design for Sonic from the 2020 film, starring Jim Carrey and James Marsden. On Sonic's initial full reveal in the first trailer, many were left unimpressed (to put it mildly) by the direction the designers had gone. But even before that there was concern, when posters teasing Sonic's cinematic release showed the hedgehog's oddly lithe silhouette and his nightmarish legs.

In fact, the criticism surrounding Sonic's seemingly final look was so loud, the team went back to the drawing board and redesigned the titular blue hedgehog to a less controversial model. If you need a reminder, you can see the Sonic designs in the video below.

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Raven Software was at one time working on a standalone live-service version of Call of Duty's popular Zombies mode, ex-Raven Software lead designer Michael Gummelt has revealed, but it was cancelled after its IP originator - presumably Treyarch - "wanted it back".

That small revelation comes via Gummelt's LinkedIn page (as spotted by MP1ST), which explains he was lead designer on an "ambitious new Call of Duty: Zombies live service project" between 2011 and 2012, but that the whole thing was canceled "when the [Activision] studio that 'owned' that part of the Call of Duty IP wanted it back."

Gummelt doesn't explicitly state the name of the studio, but it seems reasonable to assume he's referring to developer Treyarch, who created the mode for 2008's Call of Duty: World at War.

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Last week, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller caused controversy among players by revealing major gameplay changes that'll see Tank and Damage heroes receive a "modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive" in Season 9 - and Keller has now admitted it was a "mistake" to make the announcement "out of context".

In his original reveal on the Overwatch blog, Keller explained the changes - part of a wider gameplay overhaul intended to reduce 'frustration' when teams aren't working together - should "give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves" and "take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool." The idea, he added, was to shift the balance "between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player."

Since that announcement, there've been concerns among the Overwatch community that the changes might fundamentally undermine the team-based spirit of Overwatch, while others have worried the shift may risk making Support characters redundant.

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Studio Wildcard has announced revised release dates for Ark: Survival Ascended's The Center and Scorched Earth expansion map remasters following a delay for the latter last year, confirming they'll arrival in February and April respectively.

A spruced-up version of Scorched Earth was originally due to launch alongside Ark: Survival Ascended - the controversial full-price remaster of Wildcard's 2015 dinosaur survival game Ark: Survival Evolved - last year. However, in July, the studio announced that not only was it pushing the launch of the base game back to October, its expansions would be delayed too.

As per its revised plans, Scorched Earth was now targeting a December launch, with Ascended's remastered Ragnarok and Aberration maps due in "Q1 2024". Unfortunately, it became apparent Wildcard's propensity for delays had struck again when a updated roadmap released in December showed Scorched Earth was now due in March 2024, with Aberration aiming for July 2024 and Raganarok not unexpected until September.

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Rebel Wolves - the studio formed by a number of ex-CD Projekt staff, including Witcher 3 game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz - has confirmed its first project will be dark fantasy RPG Dawnwalker, after the title was reported online toward the end of last year.

When Rebel Wolves announced its existence in 2022, the studio said its mission was to "evolve the cRPG genre by creating unforgettable stories and stirring deep emotions", confirming its first project would be a then-unnamed "AAA dark fantasy built inside the Unreal 5 engine".

Since then, official word on Rebel Wolves' debut game has been limited, although CEO Tomaszkiewicz - who also served as a secondary director on Cyberpunk 2077 while at CD Projekt - did tease it wouldn't "be as gigantic as The Witcher" but could well have a "greater" number of quests. In the same interview, he also suggested the project would be around the size of The Witcher 3's Blood and Wine expansion.

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UPDATE 16/1/24: GAME has now confirmed it will end video game trade-ins, as first reported by Eurogamer yesterday.

"As part of the integration of GAME, we will be phasing out the trade-in, pre-owned and Game Elite offerings in the UK over the coming months," a spokesperson for the chain's owner Frasers Group told BBC News.

"Pre-owned will still be available in our standalone stores across the UK while stock lasts, and Game Elite will still be available until the end of summer."

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Elden Ring has received a new DLC listing as part of an update on Steam. While nothing official has been announced by developer FromSoftware as yet, there is a high chance this update relates to the game's upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC.

The update was shared by Ziostorm on X, after the user noticed Elden Ring's DLC category had been amended on SteamDB. The update in question doesn't have a name, and is merely listed as "SteamDB Unknown App 2778580" for now. However, many have speculated the developer will be making an announcement regarding the expansion's release date in the near future. We will keep you posted.

Other DLC listed in this section of Elden Ring's Steam page includes the game's digital artbook and soundtrack, as well as its Adventure Guide.

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It's time for another episode of Inside Eurogamer, the podcast that's exclusively for Supporters of Eurogamer. This is the show where we take you behind the scenes and share our thoughts about the things we do on the website, and why.

Remember, you can subscribe to Eurogamer for £3/€3/$3 a month, and that gets you access to this podcast plus a whole bunch of other things, like ad-free viewing, other exclusive articles, discount to merch and EGX tickets, and more.

Today on Inside Eurogamer we're talking about features, because in 2024, we're doing something new. This year we want to take more time to produce the kind of deeply researched articles we think you want, and that we want to write. We're going to try and ensure you have a new 'tentpole feature', as we've taken to calling them, each month. The first of these will be written by Ed Nightingale and appear this week!

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Ahead of its release in just over a month, Square Enix has shared a new preview and trailer of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth now it's available to pre-order.

The new blog post shares information on some of the locations and characters in the game, including an explanation of how Cait Sith will fight in battle.

Fans of the original game will be aware that Cait Sith usually fights atop his moogle companion, but in Rebirth he can fight solo too.

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Ned Luke, the voice actor behind Michael De Santa in Grand Theft Auto 5, has called out a company for using his voice as the basis of an unofficial AI chatbot.

The actor reshared a post from web3 company WAME, which offered GTA fans the chance to have a "realistic voice conversation" with Michael. "This is fucking bullshit," Luke wrote in response, tagging WAME.

"Absolutely nothing cool about ripping people off with some lame computer estimation of my voice. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS GARBAGE..."

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Bandai Namco has revealed Eddy Gordo will be the first DLC character for Tekken 8, and shown off the game's opening movie.

Eddy has been in every main Tekken game since Tekken 3, and though he's missing from the base roster in Tekken 8, he'll be playable as part of the first season pass.

There's no word on when the season pass will begin, but Bandai Namco has it down for spring 2024. Take a look at Eddy's reveal in the video below (which Bandai Namco snuck in at the end).

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UPDATE 2pm UK: A spokesperson for Lost Boys Interactive has confirmed the layoffs to Eurogamer.

"Lost Boys Interactive made the difficult decision to restructure our studio to ensure we can succeed in spite of headwinds facing the industry right now," reads the statement. "Unfortunately, this does mean we will separate from some of our team members and we’re working closely with those affected. We know this is a hard time for this talented and experienced group of people and will provide support and assistance through this transition to those leaving."

Gearbox declined to comment.

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I recently began a new playthrough of Elden Ring and I'm determined to complete it this time round, but my goal pales in comparison to a streamer who is beating the game with a violin.

TiavioliGaming on Twitch has already completed all three Dark Souls games using a violin, and is now taking on Elden Ring as his next challenge.

TiavioliGaming caught the eye of the Elden Ring subreddit recently, thanks to a TikTok clip of him defeating Godfrey with his violin - all at a rather calm heart rate of 80bpm.

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Several upcoming additions to The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered have leaked.

As is becoming the norm these days, this is your heads up to mute keywords and such on social media, if you want to keep as much of this spruced-up native PS5 version of The Last of Us Part 2 a surprise as possible.

While the story of The Last of Us Part 2 is already widely known, given it initally released in 2020, several videos making their way around the internet currently include content not in the original, such as the Lost Levels (with potential spoilers), new skins and No Return gameplay.

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US Pokémon fans will now need to wait until 7th March to watch the rebooted Pokémon Horizons: The Series on Netflix.

The delay was announced by the official Pokémon account on X, though no reason for the extra hold-up was mentioned. The series had previously been set to launch in the US next month.

Pokémon Horizons is the new Pokémon anime series with fresh protagonists (including Captain Pikachu) and a new story, following the conclusion of Ash Ketchum's long journey to become a Pokémon Master.

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A fan-made VR mod for Lethal Company is out now, so you can fully immerse yourself in your work for the Company.

The mod, from DaXcess, is compatible with multiple headsets and adds hand movement and motion-based controls.

It's also integrated into the game to work seamlessly with both VR players and non-VR players in the same lobby.

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The mysterious, long-rumoured Halo battle royale project from series co-developer Certain Affinity is no longer in development, a report suggests.

Speaking on the XboxEra podcast, reliable insider Shpeshal_Nick said the game, codenamed Project Tatanka, had seemingly been cancelled. [UPDATE: To clarify, Nick and fellow host Jon Clarke state they have both been contacted about the project being cancelled, independent of YouTuber ColtEastwood also saying he has heard the game is cancelled, though the pair don't seem to know for certain.]

While officially unannounced by Microsoft itself, Certain Affinity had discussed the project publicly in broad terms several times, and said in late 2022 that it had been in the works for more than two years, with nearly 100 people then working on it.

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Faheem Rashad Najm, aka T-Pain, is working on GTA 6 with Rockstar.

The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter, known for his penchant for auto-tune and singing about apple-bottom jeans and those boots with the fur along with Flo Rida, confirmed the news during a livestream.

However, this news arrived not because T-Pain was announcing his collaboration with Rockstar specifically, but because he was lamenting on an unexpected consequence of his new gig: the fact he can no longer roleplay on NoPixel, a GTA roleplay server.

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The developer of the recently struck down Portal N64 port has shed some more light on what happened and told fans to not be mad at Valve.

Last week, James Lambert announced he had taken down the playable build of Portal 64 at Valve's request due to its dependence on "Nintendo's proprietary libraries".

In an update video uploaded over the weekend, Lambert said he expected Valve would ask him to take Portal 64 down "because it's their IP on a Nintendo console". "Somebody from Valve reached out to me and I was put in contact with their legal team," he revealed.

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It's been a long time coming but solo developer Zach Tsiakalis-Brown's sci-fi spectacular Vertigo 2 is finally hitting PSVR2 next week!

That's right, on January 15th, PSVR2 owners will finally get the chance to try out this besoke VR adventure for themselves. Vertigo 2 has already received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players on Steam so it's easy to understand why PS5 owners have been so eager to get their hands (and heads) on it.

Aside from a peek at the PC demo a while back, I've been saving Vertigo 2 for this very moment and for this week's episode of VR Corner (below) you can watch me wisecrack my way through the first 5 chapters of the game.

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For years, I was aware of Prince of Persia without playing it. I loved platform games, but Prince of Persia didn't feel like it was just a platform game. I detected something else in it, something too smart for me, too challenging, too close - and slightly creepy - in its approximation of real human movement. I played a lot of platformers on the Master System, where I was often taking funny cartoon animals for a walk and a jump: Psycho Fox, Mickey (and his Castle of Illusion), and the feathers-and-scales quick-changes of Wonder Boy 3. Prince of Persia ran on more grown-up machines, like the Amiga, and if I had to put a clumsy phrase to whatever that kept me away from it, it was that: the game felt too grown up for me.

Now I am ostensibly grown up, I've spent the last week trying to understand why I ever felt this way. It certainly wasn't because of the plot - save the princess - or due to any nuanced understanding of actual Persia. With its blonde hero and evil viziers, Jordan Mechner's game was clearly based on the old Hollywood take on its subject matter. (More on this later.) But when I looked at screenshots this week and played Prince in a browser in a way that would have blown the mind of the person I was in 1989 when the game was first released in North America, I felt that same sensation. I remembered the slightly chilly confusion I had felt when I first saw the game running at friends' houses, often on machines that belonged to older siblings. It was the sense that I was looking at something very new and - somehow - also very old.

As a new Unreal Engine 5 FPS developed for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles and PC, The Finals released quite suddenly in late 2023. After a smattering of previews and an open beta, the complete game stealth-launched to the public in free-to-play form - and it's surprisingly great, with an emphasis on physicalised destruction that makes sense given that developers Embark Studios are crewed by a cadre of former DICE developers. Alex already looked at the PC release, so now it's time to see how the console versions fare by comparison.

The game's central premise certainly survives the transition to PS5 and Series X/S unscathed. With buildings crumbling piece by piece, C4 detonations blowing out chunks of the terrain and RPG-7s blasting through floors and ceilings, the pristine and beautifully realised levels quickly become cauldrons of destruction, a chaotic war zone that rewards quick and creative thinking as much as twitchy flick shots. Add on realistic spreading fires and the ability to add new partitions with a goo gun, and there are plenty of ways to manipulate the space based on your chosen class and achieve your objectives against rival teams.

It absolutely feels that M2's ShotTriggers series has been building up to this moment.

The Japanese developer and publishing house has, over its long history, established an enviable reputation for the quality of its numerous ports. But all of that, perhaps, was a prelude to the release of DoDonPachi Blissful Death Re:Incarnation.

That's quite a statement, so before getting ahead of ourselves, let's step back and get some perspective.

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We're just a week away from the launch of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered for PlayStation 5, and the studio has now announced it'll be marking its arrival with Grounded 2 - an official making-of documentary that'll be free to watch on YouTube.

Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, to give it its full name, is the sequel to Naughty Dog's 85-minute making-of documentary for the original Last of Us, which launched back in 2015 and charted the "dogged development and unique philosophy" of the first game.

Filming of the newly announced follow-up - as per the spoiler-y trailer below - started in 2016 but was abandoned when the coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020. However, the existing footage has now been revisited and assembled into a making-of documentary that doesn't look like it'll entirely shy away from the more negative aspects of development at Naughty Dog, including crunch - a practice said to be particularly brutal at the studio in a report back in 2020.

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We're just a week away from the launch of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered for PlayStation 5, and the studio has now announced it'll be marking its arrival with Grounded 2 - an officially making-of documentary that'll be free to watch on YouTube.

Grounded 2: Making The Last of Us Part 2, as it's officially known, is the sequel to Naughty Dog's 85-minute making-of documentary for the first game, which launched back in 2015 and charted the "dogged development and unique philosophy" of The Last of Us 1.

Filming of the newly announced follow-up - as per the spoiler-y trailer below - started in 2016 but was abandoned when the coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020. However, the existing footage has now been revisited and assembled into a making of documentary that doesn't look like it'll entirely shy away from the more negative aspects of development at Naughty Dog, including crunch - a practice that was said to be particularly bad at the studio in a report back in 2020.

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UPDATE 18/1/24: Following a last-minute delay yesterday as Bethesda attempted to resolve an unspecified "issue", Starfield's latest update has been released for beta testing on Steam.

As previously detailed, this new update promises "over a hundred fixes and adjustments", with its focus primarily being on quality-of-life improvements and quest fixes. A full breakdown of everything addressed in the update - officially known as 1.9.47.0 - can be found in Bethesda's release notes, with notable changes including improved textures, lighting, and shadows, as well as additional widescreen support and stability improvements.

"As we noted last year," the studio adds, "we'll continue to have a steady stream of updates about every six weeks, so if you dont see your issue addressed below, don't lose faith!"

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American Truck Simulator's list of confirmed future stops is beginning to stack up; not only has developer SCS Software revealed trips to Nebraska and Arkansas are on the way, it's announced it'll be pulling into Missouri when those two expansions are done.

News that development on Missouri is now underway brings the total list of explorable states released or announced for American Truck Simulator since its launch in 2016 all the way up to 16. So far, players can trundle their way across California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Texas, and Oklahoma, with Nebraska, Arkansas and Missouri still to come (presumably in that order).

Announcing the Missouri expansion on Steam - which actually happened just before Christmas but I was off and likely in an extended brandy butter stupor at the time, so sorry for the delay - SCS wrote, "Nestled in the heart of the American Midwest, Missouri beckons with a blend of historical significance, natural beauty, and vibrant urban landscapes. Known as the Show-Me State, Missouri invites visitors to explore its diverse offerings."

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Laurence Fishburne has joined the cast of The Witcher for the show's fourth season.

The actor, whose expansive career includes playing Morpheus in The Matrix series and The Bowery King in the John Wick films, to name but two, will play Regis. His character in the show is described as a "world-wise Barber-surgeon with a mysterious past".

In a statement, Fishburne said he was "very excited to be joining the cast and [looks] forward to exploring the wondrous world of The Witcher."

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Smite studio Titan Forge Games has announced a standalone sequel to its long-running mythology MOBA.

Smite 2 is set to launch for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and will begin "early alpha" testing in the spring.

The original Smite will remain online for the forseeable future, meanwhile.

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Square Enix's Naoki Yoshida thinks Final Fantasy 17 should be directed by someone new to make a game "with challenges that suit today's world".

Yoshida was interviewed by Sony's Shuhei Yoshida on the Game Maker's Notebook podcast (Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences) and candidly discussed development of Final Fantasy 14 and 16, as well as the future of the series.

When jokingly asked if he's directing Final Fantasy 17, Yoshida replied that nothing has been decided yet. "I've had the chance to work on two of these, 14 and 16, so maybe it's time for someone new, instead of having the same old guys handle the next one," he said.

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the well-received Three Kingdoms-era Soulslike from developer Team Ninja, is bundling its base game and all DLC into a single Complete Edition, launching for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC on 7th February.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which originally launched last March, serves up a challenging - but surprisingly approachable - action-RPG adventure build around a faster, more aggressive style of combat compared to Team Ninja's previous Nioh games.

"A new setting may suggest a new chapter," Eurogamer contributor Alan Wen wrote in his Recommended review, "but I'd almost prefer to call Wo Long a Nioh-like, or rather the sequel that Nioh 2 should have been, further refining its systems and customisation, cutting back some if not all bloat, and adding an exciting evolution of its foundations that makes its masocore challenge more approachable on its own terms."

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Whether it's via FPS Boost or bespoke software upgrades, backwards compatibility on the current-gen consoles delivered an unexpected delight - the ability to liberate older console games from their 30fps limits, running them at 60 frames per second or even higher. FPS Boost did the business for Xbox Series consoles on an impressive range of titles, but there was always the sense that PS5 could do more. It's a hunch that checks out as a range of frame-rate unlocks are available for PS5, covering many must-have games - the major caveat being that only exploitable consoles running on older firmwares are invited to the party.

We've talked about Bloodborne running at 60fps in the past, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. Games like Red Dead Redemption 2, DriveClub and Batman: Arkham Knight are transformed via this very unofficial form of FPS Boost, and you can get an idea of how these games look and run via the video I've put together below in collaboration with illusion, the modder who's done more than anyone to unlock performance on older PlayStation 4 titles.

Watching the games play out, it's hard to believe that Sony and third-party publishers did not do more to unlock performance on a wider range of legacy titles. Red Dead 2 would make millions, Arkham Knight is revitalised and even less prolific games like Just Cause 3 are transformed thanks to the sheer horsepower of PlayStation 5. In releases like Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy and Crash Team Racing Nitro Fuelled, 60fps is the final piece in the puzzle in making these remasters truly shine.

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Contrary to its usual image as a company open to fan games and mods, Valve has taken down two well-known community projects.

Both Portal 64, a demake to port the original Portal to the N64, and Team Fortress: Source 2, an effort to "recreate a new [Team Fortress] experience" in the Source 2 engine, were targeted by Valve.

On 10th January, the creators of each project released statements confirming the end of development and that each will no longer be available to download.

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