Eurogamer

XDefiant, Ubisoft's upcoming Tom-Clancy-inspired free-to-play shooter, is holding its first Open Session test later this month on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.

XDefiant - a 6v6 mash-up of Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division - was initially announced as Tom Clancy's XDefiant back in 2021, but Ubisoft chose to drop the Tom Clancy branding after criticism from fans that felt its flamboyant action strayed too far from the franchise's more serious military themes and formula.

Development has quietly continued since then, with Ubisoft occasionally opening XDefiant up to registered "insiders" to canvas feedback, and a recent closed beta finally brought the game into the hands of a much broader audience, with over 1m players ultimately getting to spend some time with its first-person shooting action.

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Ubisoft gave us a proper look at Star Wars: Outlaws at its big Ubisoft Forward conference today, showing its latest wise-cracking scoundrel Kay Vess in action. But we've also had a bit of extra time with it behind closed doors out in Los Angeles this week, where we saw the new extended walkthrough of a mission ahead of time and spoke with Navid Khavari, Outlaws' narrative director, and game director Mathias Karlson, who talked us through it in a bit more detail.

As you've likely already seen, Outlaws is an "open-world, single-player action adventure game" set in the year between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi - specifically in the aftermath of the battle for Hoth. The basic setup, we're told, is Kay comes out on the bad side of a job gone wrong, and has to worm her way out of trouble through grinding credits for the gangs of the underworld and attempting to pull off "one of the greatest heists the galaxy has ever seen."

That setup is a little familiar. Between Rogue One, Solo, and now Andor there have been a few stories about heists and scoundrels and criminal underworlds in Disney's world of Star Wars, but most of all it's a remarkably similar setup to that of Project Ragtag, the game Amy Hennig was working on for EA's Visceral, before it was infamously cancelled in 2017.

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Hello! Now that the Ubisoft Forward presentation has come to a close, it's time to go over everything that was shown during this trailer-filled summer showcase. It included a variety of updates for upcoming games and a selection of reveals - all of which you can find below with their accompanying trailer.

Below you'll be able to take a look at Assassin's Creed Mirage, Skull and Bones, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, among many other titles, ending with our first glimpse at gameplay from Star Wars Outlaws.

Ubisoft Forward began with the trailer for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which will be released on 7th December 2023:

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Tonight's Ubisoft Forward has given us a closer look at the trio of Assassin's Creed titles set to launch in 2023, including the Baghdad-set Assassin's Creed Mirage, VR title Assassin's Creed Nexus and smartphone entry Assassin's Creed: Codename Jade.

We began with a look at Assassin's Creed Nexus, which is due to launch for Meta Quest 2. Tonight provided our first real detail of the game, including the fact it will star three of the series' best-loved protagonists: Ezio, Kassandra and Connor.

Nexus will boast a "full single-player campaign", Ubisoft said, with an Abstergo-set modern day threat revolving around the evil tech company trying to use people's memories to sway their behaviour - and even their voting preferences. It's perhaps a bold choice of narrative for a game set to be played on Mark Zuckerburg-branded hardware.

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They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and if that's the case, Playground Games must surely be blushing quite a lot right now. After going hands-on with a press demo for The Crew Motorfest, I can safely say that Ubisoft's upcoming open-world racing game shares a heavy dose of DNA with the popular Forza Horizon series.

In my preview video (above or on YouTube), you can hear my thoughts on the game based on the short demo I played through last week. Although when I say 'played', I really mean 'drove around like an a-hole, crashing into everything for science'. The demo itself kicked off with a vehicular montage that, just like in the recent Forza Horizon games, sees you jumping between different vehicles as you race around eye-catching locations from the games' open-world map.

Rather than being let off the leash to explore the gorgeous looking island of O'ahu, Hawaii though, I was only allowed to try out a couple of fixed tracks on a playlist of my choice. The available playlists included Vintage Garage, which gave me the chance to race classic cars, the Legendary Playlist that featured supercars aplenty and the Motorsports playlist which had a slightly more focussed racing experience aimed at more serious racing fans. In the end, I chose to try out the neon-tastic Made In Japan playlist, but only because I wasn't given the option to play my favourite playlist, Offroading Addict which, based on the intro montage, featured longer, open tracks and some super cool stunt jumps.

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Almost exactly two years to the day of its original announced, Netflix's exuberant animated Far Cry adaptation, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, has received its first trailer.

Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix comes from series creator and writer Adi Shankar - who helped bring Netflix's acclaimed Castlevania adaptation to life - and is described as a "love letter from the 90s".

Unless its story has changed dramatically since its unveiling in 2021, it all takes place in parallel version of Earth where a massive tech company, Eden, exerts social control via mass surveillance and big data. Enter series protagonist Dolph Laserhawk, a cybernetically enhanced super soldier, who escapes from the Eden army and decides to embark on one final heist before sailing off into the sunset with his boyfriend Alex.

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Ubisoft's delayed movie tie-in from The Division developer Massive Entertainment, will release on 7th December.

Accompanying this news, Ubisoft shared a gameplay overview trailer for the upcoming release. It transports us to the franchise's never-before-seen Western Frontier, and covers things such as skill upgrades, mounts (you will be able to tame your own banshee) and introduces some of the game's new Na'vi clans.

It all looks rather Far Cry (our Na'vi has weapons training) with a dash of Horizon Forbidden West, if you ask me, but I will let you judge for yourself below.

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Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, the fantastical stealth-strategy pirate adventure from Desperados 3 and Shadow Tactics: Blade of the Shogun studio Mimimi Games, is launching for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on 17th August.

Shadow Gambit's top-down tactical action - which should be immediately familiar to fans of Mimimi Games' previous titles - unfolds in a "dynamic, immersive sandbox" given an instantly appealing pirate fantasy twist. It sees players climbing board their living ghost ship, The Red Marley, to explore the Caribbean in an alternative version of the Golden Age of Piracy.

As they set out in search of the legendary Captain Mordechai's lost treasure, with the Inquisition of the Burning Maiden in pursuit, they'll gradually acquire a crew of cursed pirates with supernatural powers that can be assembled into teams for use in missions around the world.

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There's light at the end of the not-E3 Summer Games Fest 2023 conference tunnel, but still enough time for Uncle Yves to uncork his content pipe and provide us with an update on everything Ubisoft.

We likely know the full schedule for tonight, with two just-revealed titles set to get a more thorough showing. Those, of course, are Star Wars Outlaws from Division studio Massive, unveiled last night at Xbox Games Showcase, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, which we got a glimpse of at Summer Game Fest.

It's a Ubisoft show, so there'll be some Assassin's Creed. We're looking forward to seeing more of the upcoming back-to-basics Mirage, and potentially some of VR game Nexus and Ancient China-set mobile entry Jade. Then there's likely to be Forza Horizon-like The Crew Motorfest, plus the latest release date for Skull and Bones.

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Adorable Moomin game Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley is now set to release early next year. It was previously down for a 2023 release.

A new trailer for the game was shown during Saturday's Wholesome Direct, but developer Hyper Games and publisher Raw Fury have since stated the game will be released on PC and consoles in Q1 2024.

The trailer does give a glimpse at some fresh gameplay, you can check it out below.

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UPDATE 12/06/2023: Developer Terrible Toybox has contacted Eurogamer to address Ron Gilbert's earlier statements regarding the Monkey Island and Sea of Thieves crossover.

"Disney did give him a heads-up on the project as a courtesy, but the game was well into development at that point and he wasn't given the opportunity to be meaningfully involved," Terrible Toybox's PR told Eurogamer.

The original story continues below.

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Last night, developer Compulsion unveiled its new game South of Midnight, and introduced us to its heroine, Hazel.

Hazel is a Weaver, a "magical mender of broken bonds and spirits". Compulsion has described her as "outwardly confident, wisecracking, and actively on the hunt". Hazel is also Black, something that narrative producer and creative specialist James Lewis lamented is "unfortunately... still pretty unique for video games".

Thankfully, the South of Midnight developer has ensured its Black heroine was created by Black women and women of colour, calling this inclusion "key for understanding and writing Hazel's voice."

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It's usually the dogs. Ask any Souls fan and they'll tell you how infuriating the dogs are. Hiding around corners. Interrupting combat. Hunting in packs. They're secretly one of the trickiest enemies.

But in Lies of P? They're practically harmless, docile even. Not once while playing the recently released demo have I had trouble destroying these mechanical mutts. This can't really be a Soulslike, can it?

Dogs aside, Lies of P wants to be a real Souls game - just as the puppet Pinocchio longs to be a real boy. It's certainly comparable - and enjoyable - yet while imitation is flattering, from what I've played of Lies of P it doesn't quite find its own identity, its own...soul.

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Microsoft and developer Asobo have moved to assure Microsoft Flight Simulator players the current 2020 release will continue to receive updates after yesterday's announcement of a "standalone sequel" shed doubt the companies would continue their long-standing pledge to provide 10 years' worth of support for the current game.

Microsoft Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann initially spoke of the studio's plans to support the 2020 version of the sim for a decade back in 2019, a year prior to its release, and it's a stance that's been reiterated intermittently ever since. As such, there was much confusion among fans following last night's Xbox Games Showcase reveal of a standalone sequel for 2024 - particularly as Neumann had already hinted at some of its flagship new features, including cargo delivery jobs, in relation to the current sim.

Now though, in an effort to quell confusion and de-escalate mounting controversy, Neumann has offered clarification on continued support for the 2020 release in a FAQ posted on the Flight Simulator website, beginning with the reiteration that Flight Simulator 2024 is a "standalone simulator and the next-generation sequel" and not an update for the existing game.

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UPDATE 5.45pm UK: Microsoft has commented on the similarities to BioShock Infinite seen in the debut trailer for Clockwork Revolution, the next game from Wasteland 3 developer InXile.

"Any similarities are unintentional," an Xbox spokesperson told Eurogamer today. "Players will be able to fully customise their own main character in the game."

Character customisation may set Clockwork Revolution apart from BioShock Infinite, but plenty of onlookers made comparisons between the game's artstyle, characters and setting. More on that below.

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Everyone knows the best adaptation of A Christmas Carol is the Muppets version - and there's no way this can be beaten. Still, if you're looking for another oddball take on Ebenezer Scrooge, there's a new adventure for the Victorian miser now on the horizon.

Ebenezer Scrooge and the Invisible World is a side-scrolling platform adventure with something of a Doctor Who Christmas special to it, while the art style gives me vibes of Forgotton Anne.

Scrooge - acting here as the protagonist and good guy - must jump and fight his way across London to fight wealthy industrialist Caspar Malthus, a press release reveals, using "a team of spectral allies" to fight Malthus' own private guard.

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Soulcalibur 5 is set to be delisted next week across PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

From 19th June, the game and its DLC will no longer be available for purchase.

The news was announced on Twitter this morning, following a flurry of game announcements made over the weekend.

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Capcom has made a selection of its retro games playable in-browser to celebrate the company's 40th anniversary.

The games can be found by visiting Capcom Town, a website set up specifically for the anniversary and which was first teased back in March.

The site acts as a hub for all the different franchises Capcom owns, and you can hover over all the pins to find links to websites for each. There's also plenty of Capcom's most famous characters dotted around - I'm particularly enjoying watching Jill Valentine strolling around in horror as she's followed by Nemesis and his huge rocket launcher.

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UPDATE 13/6/23: Persona 3 Reload producer Ryota Niitsuma has suggested that some additions from Persona 3's extended edition FES will be included in Reload, via an interview with Famitsu.

However, as previously stated, this will not include FES' epilogue, nor the female protagonist and story expansions from Portable.

"Persona 3 Reload started out as a project to remake the original release of Persona 3 for current platforms," Niitsuma said. "This means the continuation to the main story added in FES and the female protagonist added in [Persona 3] Portable are not included.

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A free and extensive update for Vampire Survivors is available today. Developer Poncle shared this news during the PC Gaming Show last night, revealing update 1.5 will introduce players to a new stage known as Astral Stair.

The team has dubbed this stage as "chaotic", and I can understand why. This level will see players coming face to face with "seemingly endless corridors, flying paintings" and, my personal favourite, "a gameshow-like spinning wheel that triggers random events".

There is also a new pick up known as GoldFinger, and if you didn't read that and immediately start singing Shirley Bassey then, I am sorry, but I am not sure we can remain friends. You can see how it all looks in the trailer below.

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The Banner Saga trilogy developer Stoic has announced Towerborne, a side-scrolling co-op action adventure for PC and Xbox, coming next year.

This is the project previously referred to internally as Project Belfry, and was revealed in the Xbox Games Showcase last night as coming from both Stoic and Xbox Game Studios. The suggestion is it won't be coming to other consoles.

After some new apocalypse razes humanity's cities, survivors accumulate in the Belfry, a towering windmill that looks like something from the Moomins.

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After a shaky start to 2023, Microsoft's Xbox and Starfield showcase double header was a confident and compelling menu for the next couple of years - and a welcome distraction from the smoke still wafting from the kitchen.

Expectations were, perhaps, a little low - while the bar set by Sony with its own showcase was even lower. For some starved fans, any glimpse of Fable would likely have been considered enough of a win. For everyone else, well, we knew we were getting an hour of Starfield - and that was likely going to be just fine.

As it was, Microsoft smashed out the best games reveal event we've seen in years - and finally brought life to a lacklustre not-E3 week overall. Nearly every announcement was an exclusive or brand-new title getting its reveal on Microsoft's virtual stage. More importantly, nearly every announcement was something that looked interesting enough to play. Even the rare moments where things dragged were a far cry from the sponsorships and unvarnished advertising we all sat through last week, during self-appointed E3 replacement Summer Game Fest's livestream. It was a thoroughly entertaining and rousing spectacle.

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Final Fantasy 16 will be available to play today in demo form, Square Enix has confirmed.

The highly-anticipated demo will go live for PlayStation 5 in the UK at 9am - that's 4am Eastern time or 1am Pacific.

The demo will contain "two lengthy sections" showcasing Final Fantasy 16, beginning with the game's opening prologue. A PlayStation blog update states this will likely last you around two and a half hours, and will give you a look at main character Clive's backstory.

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Xbox console exclusive Starfield will be locked to 30fps on Xbox Series X and S, Bethesda's Todd Howard has confirmed. On Xbox Series X, it will run at 4K resolution. On Xbox Series S, it will run at 1440p.

Speaking to IGN, Howard said Starfield sometimes ran at 60fps in development on console, but that Bethesda had taken the decision to lock its framerate because "we prefer the consistency".

"I think it'll come as no surprise, given our previous games, what we go for," Howard said. "Always these huge, open worlds, fully dynamic, hyper detail where anything can happen."

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Matt Booty, the boss of Xbox Game Studios, has said that Microsoft has now "turned the corner" on its first-party output, following tonight's announcement-filled Xbox Games Showcase.

In a post-event roundtable in Los Angeles attended by Eurogamer's Chris Tapsell, Booty said that Microsoft's output was entering a new era.

"We had some gaps last year, but I think we've turned the corner coming into 2023," Booty said. "[I] feel very good about launching Hi-Fi Rush, we have Minecraft Legends out there which is doing well, we have Age of Empires continuing to come to console... and then as we saw today, this fall we have Forza Motorsport and Starfield."

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UPDATE 12/6/23: Further story and gameplay details on Citizen Sleeper 2 have emerged, including its central theme of crisis.

In an interview with RPS, developer Gareth Damian Martin cited the pandemic and invasion of Ukraine as having a "big impact" on their understanding of crises, which has influenced the game's plot.

"It's always interesting to me how these things feel closer to some people and not close to other people," they said. "How you can have people who are all having the same experience, but actually how they perceive what a crisis is and how a crisis manifests [is different]. These things seem really rich to me, especially the balance between the idea of a global or large-scale crisis, and then a crisis in the community, and then individual moments of crisis. We use the same word for all those things, and I think there's interesting ways that they interact with each other."

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Finally, as promised, we've had a good look at Starfield gameplay.

Following the Xbox Games Showcase, we were treated to 45 minutes of in-depth Starfield details and gameplay.

Most importantly, the game is set for release on 6th September and will be on Game Pass from day one. Check out the full Starfield Direct below.

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Frostpunk 2 is set to launch on PC in 2024.

That's straight from developer 11 bit studios, which made the announcement at today's PC Gaming Show.

Though a sequel to the popular, icy city-builder was announced back in August 2021, an official release window was never announced.

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At first glance, tonight's reveal trailer for Clockwork Revolution looked like a new game set in the world of BioShock Infinite's floating city of Colombia.

There were the steampunk machines, the gleaming statues and overhead skyrails, the alternate history Americana. The first-person visuals and chunky golden guns didn't help things either.

But no, this is the completely legally distinct Clockwork Revolution, from Wasteland 3 developer InXile Entertainment, and this "vibrant steam-powered metropolis" is named Avalon.

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Colossal Order's eagerly awaited city building sequel Cities: Skylines 2 has had a big news day! Not only has the developer shared a first gameplay trailer, it's announced a 24th October release date on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Publisher Paradox Interactive officially unveiled the sequel back in March, calling it a "revolutionary" spin on the acclaimed 2015 original and the "most open-ended city-building sandbox on the planet". Other than talk of a "fully-realised transport and economy systems", however, specifics remained pretty thin.

Courtesy of tonight's Xbox Games Showcase, though, we've now had our first proper look at Cities: Skylines 2 in action, with Colossal Order showing off a sequel that notably ramps up the realism, in terms of visuals at least.

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The Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct 2023 has come and gone! Over the course of nearly two hours, we saw a huge variety of Xbox titles, including new reveals and updates for ones already on the slate, and, most importantly, we also got a detailed look at Starfield.

Outside of Starfield, highlights included South of Midnight, Star Wars Outlaws, Avowed, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and a new trailer for Fable (though still no release date). Many of the games shown will also be available from Game Pass from day one.

The show began with the Fable trailer narrated by Richard Ayoade, AKA Dave - a giant-sized vegetable enthusiast. While a release date and final name are yet to be annouced, this upcoming addition to the Fable series will of course be available on Game Pass from day one:

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Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC, which stars Luther's Idris Elba as FIA Agent Solomon Reed, will be released on 26th September.

The breathtaking Keanu Reeves, who is reprising his role as Johnny Silverhand for the DLC, introduced the new trailer for Phantom Liberty, saying it was an honour to share the screen with Elba.

In Phantom Liberty, players will be travel to Dog Town, an "all new district" of Night City, where they have to rescue the president of the New United Stated of America. CDPR describes Phantom Liberty as a "spy-thriller", with Reeves telling us to expect "twists, secrets and plenty of stuff to do". Here is the official trailer for Cyberpunk 2077's expansion.

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Atlus and the creators of the Persona series revealed its next game at the Xbox Games Showcase: Metaphor ReFantazio.

The game features an anime style familiar to fans of Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, but an all-new setting and characters.

It's more dramatic, however, with a seemingly sprawling map. Check out the trailer below.

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Microsoft has just announced a new model of the Xbox Series S with an 1TB SSD. Oh, and it's coloured black.

This fresh model launches on 1st September, Xbox chief Phil Spencer announced tonight at the Xbox Showcase. It's priced at $349, which is $50 more than the standard Xbox Series S at $299.

We're checking to find UK pricing and release details right now.

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Developer The Chinese Room - known for the likes of Eveyone's Gone to the Rapture, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Dear Esther - has unveiled its new first-person horror adventure Still Wakes the Deep, launching "early" next year.

In Still Wakes the Deep, players are cast as an off-shore oil rig worker - stationed on the Beira D oil rig off the Scottish coast circa 1975 - who finds himself "fighting for his life through a vicious storm, perilous surroundings, and the dark, freezing North Sea waters."

All communications with the outside world have been severed, all the exits are gone, and, worse, there's some unspeakable otherworldly horror onboard.

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One of the most promising micro-trends at this years' summer showcases is everyone discovering that climbing is rad, and climbing videogames are double rad because if you fall you don't die. Anyway, continuing this theme, Life is Strange developer Don't Nod's new Jusant looks absolutely stellar.

It's a sci-fi climbing game, by the looks of it, in which a young hero climbs endless mountain walls with a funny little creature for company. There looks to be puzzling, interaction with mountain communities, a range of surfaces to climb on, and a sprinkling of futuristic stuff. And at one point you ride a mushroom.

The sense of place - and the lighting, cor - is just wonderful. And the game's due out in 2023. Cannot wait for this one.

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Capcom revealed Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, a brand new action game, at this year's Xbox Games Showcase.

Little is known about the game, but it's set for release on Xbox consoles, PlayStation 5, and PC, and will arrive on Game Pass.

Steeped in Japanese tradition and folklore, its visuals blend beautifully detailed costumes with bizarre creatures and some stunning kaleidoscopic floral effects. Check it out below.

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Fallout 76's next expansion will take Bethesda's game to Atlantic City, the spiritual home of Monopoly, according to a nifty animated trailer that dropped during Xbox's summer showcase.

The video announced that after Appalachia had welcomed 15 million dwellers, Atlantic City beckons. New Jersey's pleasure city was invoked with a lot of gambling imagery and a neat riff on one of Springsteen's greatest songs, which I enjoyed at least.

Not much else to say at the moment, but the game is "coming soon". If you get a chance, do dust off Nebraska, which is one of the Boss' finest.

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Xbox has confirmed that Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 will arrive in 2024. A new trailer was also shared as part of this evening's Xbox Showcase.

It is all rather chilling, with Xbox proclaiming that viewers will be able to "Sink deep into the next chapter of Senua's story" thanks to the trailer's "cinematic immersion, beautifully realised visuals and encapsulating sound from the team at Ninja Theory".

It really is quite something, I have to say. The footage for this trailer, which you can see below, was captured on Xbox Series X.

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UPDATE: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the next mainline game in the Like a Dragon series, previously announced as Like a Dragon 8. Publisher Sega has confirmed the game will be released on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Developer RGG Studio will have more details on its upcoming games, including Like a Dragon Gaiden, at its showcase on 15th June.

ORIGINAL STORY 6.36pm: A new Like a Dragon game has just been announced at Xbox Games Showcase called Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

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