Game Informer

People Can Fly is nothing if not consistent. Since it was founded back in 2002, the Polish studio has focused primarily on the shooter genre, starting with Painkiller. Over the years, they’ve adjusted and made more technically sophisticated games, such as Bulletstorm and Gears of War: Judgment. Their latest project, Outriders, is its most expansive release yet, taking a solid shooter framework and adding deep RPG systems, an engaging storyline, and loads of powerful (and occasionally bizarre) loot. We visited the Warsaw studio and got hours of hands-on time with Outriders, and we also got to know some of the people behind the game. There’s a lot to talk about, and it’s all in the next issue of Game Informer Magazine.

The free-to-play digital card game space is a constant battle for discovery and long-term viability. With Legends of Runeterra, Riot is entering a battlefield filled with numerous competitors. An amalgamation of parts constructed from bits of Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone, Gwent, and even Valve’s Artifact, it’s a carefully crafted recipe bursting with League of Legends flavor and personality.

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People Can Fly and Square Enix have released a new trailer for Outriders, which shows off more of the hybrid shooter/action-RPG game in action. The game features three-player co-op, where players take on enemies in fairly traditional third-person, cover-based action. The twist is that these characters have special abilities, which significantly changes what might otherwise be a standard shooter experience.

2K has announced that internal developer 2K Silicon Valley will now be known as 31st Union, with progress already underway on an unannounced new IP.

2K Silicon Valley was inaugurated last year with Michael Condrey, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games (Call of Duty: WWII and more) as president.

Alongside the new studio name, 31st Union is also starting up a European division based in Spain.

Although no details have been announced just yet about 31st's game, Tyler Michaud, head of strategy at 31st Union generally described the studios' approach to the project in a press release. "We believe diverse perspectives and experiences are crucial to creating a truly global entertainment experience with a deep connection to passionate fans."

Due to health concerns linked to the spreading coronavirus, PUBG Corporation today announced the postponement of this April's PUBG Global Series event in Berlin. PUBG Corporation still plans on running all four of its Global Series events this year, but there may be some delays due to the virus, and perhaps even venue changes. A PUBG Corporation representative told Game Informer that the team is actively working on a replacement event.

PUBG Corporation offered an official statement on the situation:

PUBG Corporation is actively monitoring the spread of the latest coronavirus, which was recently declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization.

With the health and safety of our players, employees, and fans as our top priorities, we've made the difficult decision to postpone April's PGS: Berlin event. The dates and times of regional qualifiers may also be subject to change. The plan to host four PUBG global esports events in 2020 remains unchanged, and we are actively exploring options for when a replacement event can be held.

We will provide updates once we have a better understanding of the best options for esports fans, players, and staff. We thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate this situation.

One of the biggest flops of 2019 was BioWare's living sci-fi game Anthem. While it received middling review scores based on the content available at launch, it quickly became apparent the development team did not have sufficient long-term content or gameplay-evolution plans in place to sustain a dedicated community the way a living game needs to in the current landscape. Many Anthem players have felt abandoned by the development team's lack of meaningful new content in the year since its launch. Today, BioWare general manager Casey Hudson announced plans for the future of Anthem.

In a post on the BioWare Blog, Hudson says the last year has seen the team focused on improving "stability, performance and general quality of life while delivering three seasons of new content and features." Many players have been dissatisfied with not only the quantity of content released by BioWare, but the pace at which is has come to the game as well. In the post, Hudson says he understands that players yearn for "a more satisfying loot experience, better long-term progression and a more fulfilling end game."

This Wednesday marks the launch of the Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows DLC, and Nintendo is using its social media channels to reveal a bit more about what to expect.

Cindered Shadows introduces us to a new house called the Ashen Wolves, bringing new characters and classes to the fold. One thing that has been vague up until this point is just how the DLC will impact the main game. Nintendo UK took to Twitter to clear that up a bit, which you can read below.

As you progress in Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Cindered Shadows, you can interact with and recruit the four Ashen Wolves in Part 1 of the main game!

Once they've joined your house, they can take part in battles & classes. They'll also stick with you into Part 2 of the main game. pic.twitter.com/03Q6lkP95v

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In Paper Cult's Bloodroots, you can knock all of the blood out of someone's body with one good whack of a carrot. Need I say more? This wildly violent action game is releasing on Switch, PlayStation 4, and the Epic Games Store on February 28.

Bloodroots follows the exploits of Mr. Wolf, a warrior who is defeated, left for dead, and then goes on a  quest of revenge against the people that took him down. Set in the Weird West, your bid for justice unfolds through combos that can be dealt from hatchets and even a carrot. yes, an ordinary carrot. You can also attach giant fish to the heads of enemies to blind them. The world features plenty of interaction for both combat and traversal. You'll come across a giant wind-up shoe that you can use to bounce around and smash enemies. It looks like good, bloody fun.

According to an official press release from Paper Cult, the development team brought in Nick Suttner (of Guacamelee 2 and Celeste fame) to "help flesh out and write the game's characters and dialogues."

Bloodroots is Paper Cult's second game. The first was 2017's Fat Mask, an arcade puzzle brawler for one to four players that oddly looks like a mix of Towerfall and Tetris.

Netflix's upcoming Resident Evil streaming series doesn't take place where you think it would. Raccoon City is not mentioned in an official description that was accidentally posted to Netflix's media center before being quickly removed (and archived on the WaybackMachine). While it doesn't sound like we'll see an origin story in a creepy, old mansion, there's a good reason why this show isn't set in the series' familiar location. The official synopsis reads:

The town of Clearfield, MD has long stood in the shadow of three seemingly unrelated behemoths – the Umbrella Corporation, the decommissioned Greenwood Asylum, and Washington, D.C. Today, 26 years after the discovery of the T-Virus, secrets held by the three will start to be revealed at the first signs of outbreak.

Given that decades have gone by since the discovery of the virus and the events of this series, there's a chance Netflix is creating this show as a sequel to all of the Resident Evil games that came before it. The first Resident Evil game launched on PlayStation in 1996, and the show appears to be exploring new territory not seen in any of the games. Resident Evil is no stranger to living outside of video games, and has enjoyed plenty of success as movies, both live action and animated.

What do you hope to see from this series? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Like angsty cops that will do whatever it takes to get the job done? Do you enjoy seeing grown men get the pants scared off them? Well, you're in luck because today on Replay, Andrew Reiner, Jeff Cork, Ben Reeves, and I will be trying to keep our composure playing one of the horror gems of the last generation in Condemned 2: Bloodshot.

We were live earlier today but be sure to check out the archive above! If you can't get enough Replay and our other shows, remember to subscribe on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, Twitter, or Facebook to get notified when we go live each week! Thanks and enjoy the show!

Virtuous, the team handling the Switch port of The Outer Worlds, has studios located in Chengdu and Xi'an, China, and those offices have been closed during the Coronavirus outbreak and a mandatory quarantine. Publisher Private Division took to Twitter to say that "the team at Virtuous is ok," but they'll need additional time to finish the Switch port, which will now be releasing as a physical version on a cartridge (not just a download code in the box).

The Outer Worlds was slated to release on Switch on March 6. Private Division added that it is now "working with the team to determine an updated development timeline, and will share more regarding a new launch date shortly."

Virtuous employs over 1,600 people in 11 offices around the world, and recently supported Respawn Entertainment in development of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and also assisted with Frontier Developments' Planet Zoo.

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After making its way through Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter in early 2017, Laughing Machines' Undungeon is gearing up for a 2020 release. Laughing Machines and publisher tinyBuild today released a gameplay trailer that shows off combat and some of the RPG systems for this stunning hand-drawn pixel-art game.

In Undungeon, players suit up as one of seven Heralds, each coming from a different world destroyed by something called the Shift. The Heralds explore procedurally generated maps that are based on multiversal ideas, meaning you may visit the same place but it could be a little different the next time through. Their goal is to heal a world that has suffered a cataclysm.

Undungeon is described by Laughing Machines as an action game with roguelike and old-school RPG styles. The team has drawn inspiration from games like FTL: Faster Than Light, Hyper Light Drifter, and Nuclear Throne for this quest-driven adventure. Right now, Laughing Machines is targeting PC as the sole platform with a release in the fourth quarter of 2020.

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On this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, I am joined by Dan Tack, Matt Miller, and Leo Vader to discuss the latest game releases, including Apex Legends Season 4, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, and Warcraft III: Reforged. After we handle some hot topics, we jump into the always entertaining and enlightening community emails. Alex Stadnik is this week's super producer.

Thanks for listening! Please make sure to leave feedback below, share the episode if you enjoyed it, and follow me @therealandymc to let me know what you think. 

You can watch the video above, subscribe and listen to the audio on iTunes or Google Play, listen on SoundCloud, stream it on Spotify, or download the MP3 at the bottom of the page. Also, be sure to send your questions to podcast@gameinformer.com for a chance to have them answered on the show.

Warcraft III is one of the best games of all time; Blizzard’s genre-transcending work shaped both the future of the company and the greater industry landscape forever. On the other hand, Warcraft III: Reforged is an uninspired remaster that lacks Blizzard’s signature polish and panache. Almost every aspect of this remaster drags the source down instead of lifting it up.

Developer Dead Mage and publisher 11 bit studios today released the first free update for Children of Morta for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Dubbed the "Shrine of Challenge," this update introduces a Hard mode with increased enemy damage and health. Players that take on these foes will gain larger experience point rewards.

The update also introduces two new enemies called the Dark Blade and Mech Constructor. As you journey through dungeons, you'll stumble upon 18 new items (split into divine relics, graces, and charms), including one that drops boulders on enemies, and another that electrifies them with lightning. The update is rounded out with updated UI and HUD options and balance tweaks for Normal mode.

I recently reviewed Children of Morta, giving it a score of 9 out of 10, saying that it "succeeds in story, combat, leveling, and the bond formed in a family." Down the road, Dead Mage is releasing additional updates that add New Game+, another playable character, online cooperative play, Endless mode, and a expansion chapter set in the Uncharted Lands. All of these updates will be free except for the expansion chapter.

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Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is just a day away from its launch on Friday, February 7. The Ubisoft and Apple TV+ sitcom comes from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day, and Megan Ganz. The comedy tackles the challenges of making games by taking us inside a fictional game development studio and showcasing the issues the characters face in its day-to-day operations. Expect big personalities to clash, as the team desperately tries to keep their successful MMORPG interesting and profitable. Ahead of the show’s debut, we chatted with some of the creators and executive producers (McElhenney, Ganz, and David Hornsby) to see what went into making it. 

The Sega Ages collection on Switch has delivered terrific and enhanced ports several Sega classics. From Virtua Racing to Space Harrier, Switch owners have enjoyed new features and modernizations both great and small. Now, Sega has announced Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Puyo Puyo 2 are joining the Sega Ages roster next week.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is known by many as the best game in the long-running Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Much like the Sonic 1 Sega Ages release, this version adds the drop dash move that debuted in Sonic Mania, but this release. Super Sonic Mode allows you to play as Super Sonic from the start of the game, while a new Time Trial mode with online rankings lets you put your skills to the test against the best in the world.

In 1994, if you attached your Sonic 2 Genesis cartridge to your copy of Sonic & Knuckles, it allowed you to play through the entirety of Sonic 2 as Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic & Knuckles continues to be conspicuously absent from any modern-platform Genesis collections put out by Sega, so the company has baked in that functionality with the Sega Ages version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – no copy of Sonic & Knuckles required.

Gears of War series producer Rod Fergusson has announced that he is leaving Gears of War development studio The Coalition to oversee Diablo at Blizzard next month.

Gears 5 was released last year and Blizzard is working on Diablo IV (no release date announced), so the time is certainly right for Fergusson to make the transition.

Fergusson was a part of the Gears franchise since its beginning at Epic Games in 2006, and continued his leadership with Gears when Microsoft bought the IP in 2014 and started The Coalition in Vancouver, Canada (formerly Black Tusk and other iterations) to handle the franchise.

Starting in March, I will join Blizzard to oversee the Diablo franchise. Leaving is bittersweet as I love our Gears family, the fans, and everyone at The Coalition and Xbox. Thank you, it has been an honor and a privilege to work with you all. pic.twitter.com/0FuO3RFYSQ

— Rod Fergusson (@GearsViking) February 5, 2020

[Source: Rod Fergusson]

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In today's NGT, Dan Tack takes Leo and me on a dangerous expedition in Curse of the Dead Gods. The dungeon crawler/roguelike is coming soon to early access, and the version Tack plays hasn't been completely tuned and balanced. That's all to say that he dies. But he does it for you!

In the finished game, players will be able to carry over small elements of their progression between runs, which should help alleviate some of the difficulty. Even in its early form, you can get a nice sense of what Passtech is going for, however. Traps! Cool weapons! ...Corruption? It's all here and more!

Curse of the Dead Gods is coming to early access on PC soon - you can check out the new trailer below!

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February 27 is Pokémon Day, which just happens to be the date that Pokémon Red and Green lauched in Japan in 1996. You can start celebrating right now by casting your vote for your favorite Pokémon of all time. If you type "Pokemon vote" into Google, you'll be taken to a poll where you can select your favorite Pokémon based on the region they are from. You can vote until February 14, at 5:59 a.m. PT. The winning entries will be listed on Pokémon's official website.

On February 25, Pokémon Go is getting a head start on the anniversary with Armored Mewtwo returning to legendary raids. This highly coveted catch is coming back as a tie-in to the global premiere of Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution, the new Netflix animated movie. Go players will also find special clones of Venusaur, Blastoise, Charizard appearing in the wild, and a clone of Pikachu can also photobomb you when you take a picture of one of your critters.

Best of all, Sword and Shield players will learn about a new mythical Pokémon on February 27. The Pokémon Company International isn't giving any details as to what this mythical Pokémon will be or when it will actually hit the game, but we'll likely learn these answers in a few weeks. On the same day, Sword and Shield will debut new Max Raid Battles featuring Milcery. If you click the trailer below, you can see another addition: Gigantamax Toxtricity with the G-Max Stun Shock ability.

Take-Two Interactive Software recently announced that Dan Houser, vice president of creative at Rockstar Games, will soon be leaving the company. 

According to the announcement, Houser took an extended break starting in the spring of 2019, but his last official day at the studio will be on March 11 of this year. 

We reached out to Take-Two for a statement, which confirmed that "Sam Houser’s role with Rockstar Games, which he founded in 1998, remains unchanged." Sam Houser is Dan's brother.

Dan Houser is one of the co-founders of Rockstar Games and was instrumental in its success developing franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. We wish him the best in his future endeavors. Only time will tell if this change affects the future of Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive. 

[Source: StreetInsider]

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It was one year ago today when Respawn shadow dropped its take on the battle royale and changed the space forever. To celebrate, Leo Vader, Jeff Cork, and I are dropping into Apex Legends Season 4 and testing out the game's new playable character, map, and weaponry. We may even mess around and play some Titanfall 2, who knows?

We went live earlier, but if you want to catch up on the stream, be sure to watch the archive above. Enjoying the streams? You can subscribe over on YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, Twitter, or Facebook to get notified when we go live in the future! Thanks for watching!

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Fallout 76 continues to truck along, and Bethesda isn't wavering in its support. Since launching on November 14, 2018, Fallout 76 has received a number of big updates; some have been welcomed with open arms, others have not.

On April 7, players who are still wandering Appalachia's wilds can look forward to Wastelanders, the largest free update to date. Rolling out on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC (including Steam), this update brings NPCs to the mix. If you felt that Appalachia was a little too barren, or just didn't like talking with other players, you can now converse with the NPCs who will be littered across the world. Many of these fully voiced denizens are tied to a new questline that leads to new enemies and weapons.

As you get to know Appalachia's residents, dialogue trees will determine what happens next. Yes, choice is coming back to Fallout. The decisions you make in these conversations will affect your standing with specific factions.

While the core Wastelanders update is free, Bethesda is also offering two Faction-themed content bundles that hold exclusive C.A.M.P. items and cosmetics – one for Raiders and another for Settlers. No price has been given for these bundles just yet. You can find out out more details on Bethesda's official blog.

Nvidia may be looking to compete with Google Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud. The company just announced that its video game streaming service, GeForce Now, is exiting beta and is free for all users – with a few caveats.

If you’re not familiar with GeForce Now, this streaming service allows users to stream PC games to laptops, Macs, Nvidia Shields, and other Android devices. Over 1,000 games are already on the service, including Fortnite, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. Users can also migrate their pre-existing purchases over to Nvidia’s service – meaning if you bought a game through another online store such as Steam, and that game is also on GeForce Now, you’ll be able to stream that game without an additional purchase.

Users can stream with GeForce Now starting today for free, but free users will only be able to play for one hour before having to log off and start a new session. You can start as many sessions a day as you like, but you have to log off and log back in after an hour. Nvidia says this is necessary for providing the best service for paid users.

The launch of Warcraft III: Reforged hasn't been a smooth one, with myriad issues ranging from animations, assets, lighting, bugs, multiplayer features, and more. According to a Reddit thread, users are able to apply for an immediate refund on the title, with some refunds being processed almost instantly. We've reached out to Blizzard regarding refund availability and will update this post should we get a response.

Update 11:00 AM CT: A Blizzard representative has confirmed that refunds are available.

Blizzard has also responded to the launch in general with a post in the official forums, which you can check out here.

If you're unhappy with any issues with the game, you can try using this link to get a refund. Our review for the title should be hitting within the next few days.

During an investor discussion in Japan, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said Switch will remain the company's focus for years to come, even with new competition in the market. This news comes from a question and answer session that was translated by Video Games Chronicle (VGC).

“We believe that the Nintendo Switch business is now in its fourth year and is just in the middle of its life cycle," Furukawa said. "Rather than just the next year, I think about things in terms of what to do the following year and the year after that." He also added, "We do not believe that the business trends of other companies will have a significant impact on our business."

He's referencing Sony introducing PlayStation 5, Microsoft its new Xbox, and perhaps even other players like Google with Stadia. The Switch has been red-hot since launch, finding success as a unique hybrid that allows players to game on a TV or on the go, and with strong software coming from Nintendo's first-party efforts and impressive third-party support.