Gamespot

Developer Experiment 101 showed off new Biomutant gameplay and provided an update on its development.

In an interview with IGN, creative director Stefan Ljungqvist went in-detail about some elements players can expect in Biomutant. Ljungqvist talked about the gigantic bosses and how they play pivotal roles in the game's story, how the morphing character creator affects stats, the necessity of crafting the necessary gear to traverse the various biomes, and more. The entire interview was punctuated by bits and pieces of new gameplay, illustrating the scope of Biomutant's world as we see expansive fields, deep waters, and everything in between.

Throughout the interview, Ljungqvist said Biomutant was the biggest game he had ever worked on, mentioning the game's massive size on several occasions while disclosing that Biomutant is almost done. "We are at the end phase of development," Ljungqvist said. "When you asked me at the beginning 'what we've been doing,' we've been doing the same thing. In a massive game like this--and it's very big, like I said, the largest game I ever worked on--you will have issues. You will have technical challenges to overcome--and artistic too--but at this stage [of the project], it's more like cleaning out. You know, we're squashing bugs."

The centerpiece of Pokemon Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor expansion is a new storyline that centers around Kubfu, a brand-new Legendary Pokemon that you'll receive after you complete all three of the Master Dojo's trials. Unlike most other Legendary Pokemon, Kubfu is actually able to evolve, and its evolution, Urshifu, can take one of two forms: Single Strike or Rapid Strike.

However, evolving Kubfu is a bit more involved than it may initially seem, and Urshifu's two possible forms each have their own strengths and drawbacks. To help you decide which one to choose, we've put together this guide explaining how to evolve Kubfu and how its two evolutions compare. Isle of Armor story spoilers follow.

How To Evolve Kubfu

After you complete the Master Dojo's three trials, Mustard will gift you the Legendary Pokemon Kubfu. To evolve it, you'll need to challenge one of the Towers of Two Fists, but before you can do that, you'll need to increase your friendship with Kubfu. Fortunately, this is much simpler than the usual methods of improving friendship with your Pokemon.

Fortnite: Chapter 2 Season 2 may be over, but little bits of Deadpool's pool party are still popping up. One of the challenges in Season 3's second week tasks you with going to the ruins of Deadpool's Yacht to collect three red and black floaties. Here's a guide on how to locate the Yacht and the three floaties. Fortnite's week 2 challenges leaked early so they aren't available in game yet, check back on June 25 to see them live in-game.

This challenge leaked early so it isn't live in Fortnite yet. Come back on June 25 to try it out yourself.

Where is Deadpool's Yacht?

The Yacht was left in pieces after The Device event submerged the entire Season 3 map in water. The remains of the boat can be found at the very northern tip of the map. It's got huge holes, new sections, and no people on board. Be wary though as the Yacht regularly falls out of the storm early in the game.

The second week of Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 3 is here with a number of new challenges that will push you to explore the map. One of the friskiest challenges will send you to The Authority, the newly upgraded version of the Agency. It's simple: Use different Ziplines at The Authority. This guide will show you how to get to The Authority and ride all those zip lines.

This challenge leaked early, it won't be available in Fortnite until June 25.

Where is The Authority?

The Authority is a semi-new location on the Season 3 map. It's the big fortress in the center where The Agency was for the majority of Season 2. It's got walls on all sides that lead into the water with a tower fortress, helipad, and courtyard in the middle.

Another entry in Klei Entertainment's isometric survival horror franchise Don't Starve is headed to mobile devices. The studio announced Don't Starve: Newhome, a free-to-play mobile game published by Tencent Games, along with a closed beta scheduled for next month.

Newhome will bring all the familiar Don't Starve elements--the Tim Burton-inspired art style, challenging survival and exploration gameplay, and the like--to Android and iOS devices. According to a press release, Don't Starve: Newhome will have "all-new features" specifically designed for mobile devices, such as cooperative multiplayer modes, faster play sessions, and more.

In addition to the announcement, Klei also confirmed that Don't Starve: Newhome will have a closed beta that will take place in mid-July, though it will only be available to players in Canada and the US. Whatever progress you make won't carry over to the full game when it launches, but participating players will receive an in-game item for reaching an undisclosed level. You can sign up for the Don't Starve: Newhome closed beta here.

The second week of Fortnite: Chapter 2 Chapter 3 is here meaning there are a handful of new challenges to complete. Most require the typical head-clicking and ammo box searching, although there are a few that require a bit more planning before you jump out of the battle bus. One is fairly simple although less frequent players may not recognize the location: Gather or Consume Foraged Items at The Orchard. Here's how to find The Orchard and complete the challenge seconds after landing.

This challenge has leaked early and isn't live just yet, check back on June 25 to try it out in-game.

Where is The Orchard?

The Orchard isn't listed on the Season 3 map but it's located just north of Frenzy Farm surrounded by a road on three sides. It's a small area full of trees and a few farm houses. Once you get there you'll see dozens of trees along with basic farming equipment. Unlike other major parts of the map The Orchard has not changed at all in the transition from Season 2 to Season 3.

Dressing entirely in black, moving silently in the shadows, infiltrating castles and assassinating feudal lords? Please, says Ninjala, it’s all so 15th Century. The modern ninja has stepped out of the shadows, content to wear bunny ears and hip-hop-ninja fusion fashion while loudly smashing rivals with a hammer made of drums. Oh, and they also chew a special kind of gum that unlocks the latent ninja abilities buried in their DNA, but that’s beside the point.

Actually, no, that’s entirely the point.

Ninjala, the free-to-play melee action game from Let It Die developer GungHo Online, is out now exclusively on Nintendo Switch. You can find it on the Eshop, but servers will only go live later today.

Ninjala is a primarily multiplayer-focused action game, with a style that should make Splatoon players feel welcome. It features two modes: 4v4 PvP matches and a free-for-all eight player battle royale. You'll unlock new gear and weapons as in-game seasons progress, as well as Shinobi cards that reward you with passive buffs. You also won't require Nintendo Online to play with other players.

Along with multiplayer, Ninjala will feature an evolving single-player campaign. The story is told through comic book panels, and accompanied by an anime series online that will flesh out some of its characters more over time. The campaign will also feature various types of campaign missions, included stealth-focused ones and large boss fights. Additional story missions will also be part of seasonal content, and added to over time.

Sony has introduced the PlayStation Bug Bounty program, which will give hackers who uncover bugs and vulnerabilities cash rewards. According to the announcement, critical vulnerabilities for the PS4 start at $50,000.

The announcement also indicates that the company's bounty program has existed in some form for a while now, but it was only available to private researchers. By bringing the project public, Sony says that it hopes to enhance the security on its consoles. More details about the program can be found on its HackerOne page.

Critical security vulnerabilities have been an issue for both Sony and Microsoft in the past. The most notorious example remains the 2011 PlayStation Network outage, where hackers obtained the data of around 77 million users. During that incident, Sony was criticized by journalists and even government officials for waiting a week before informing players that their personal information was in jeopardy. Sony Europe was fined £250,000 for the breach by the UK Information Commissioner's Office in 2013.

A creative director at Ubisoft's Montreal branch has announced his plans to leave the Assassin's Creed Valhalla project behind. Ashraf Ismail, who previously worked on both Black Flag and Origins, is stepping down amid allegations of infidelity.

"I am stepping down from my beloved project to properly deal with the personal issues in my life," Ismail wrote on Twitter. "The lives of my family and my own are shattered. I am deeply sorry to everyone hurt in this."

In a follow-up tweet, Ismail said he didn't want to detract from the work others on the project are doing. "There are hundreds of talented, passionate people striving to build an experience for you that do not deserve to be associated with this," Ismail said. "I wish them all the best." [Update: Ismail appears to have now deleted his Twitter account.]

The company behind Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, has ended its working relationship with Noah Bradley, an artist for the game that has been accused of sexual assault by a number of women over the past few days. On Sunday, Bradley issued a statement on Twitter, admitting to being a "shitty, creepy sexual predator" and a "selfish asshole" who preyed on vulnerable women at industry events.

A bunch of upcoming Xbox One games have been highlighted in a new series by Microsoft's ID@Xbox division. The Summer Spotlight Series specifically targets smaller projects by smaller teams, giving us a brand-new look at titles like Carrion, Dead Static Drive, SkateBird, and more.

The series consists of six videos, with each one diving into and showing off new games and gameplay. The videos themselves are short and feature someone from the development team of each spotlighted game discussing what the game is about, how the game plays, and, in some instances, a vague release window. You can check out the first Summer Spotlight Series video below.

Some of the videos also include footage newly released or highly anticipated titles, such as Cyber Shadow, ScourgeBringer, Super Meat Boy Forever. Below is a full list of all the games mentioned in the Summer Spotlight Series.

The Pokemon Presents livestream started with news of an all-new Pokemon game, Pokemon Unite. The team-based cooperative MOBA game is being developed in cooperation with Tencent and developer Timi Studios. It will be free-to-play on Nintendo Switch and mobile, and support cross-platform play. No release date was given yet.

How Battles Work

The matches are 5v5 and take place on a MOBA-like map split into halves that represent your teams. Each side is littered with several control points that can be used to score goals. Battles will take place in real-time. As you progress through battles, your Pokemon will level up and learn new moves, and each Pokemon has a unique Unite move. But unlike standard Pokemon, there aren't type advantages. The side that scores the most points by the end of the match wins.

The livestream showed off a debut match between two teams of five, complete with commentators. The action looked wild and speedy, with players competing over control points to score goals. Tall grass is used to block vision and create opportunities for ambushes, and when you defeat a wild pokemon you "catch" it. All goals scored in the final minute are worth double points.

WARNING: this article will SPOIL PLOT DETAILS for The Last of Us Part II. If you don't want the plot spoiled, turn away now.

The Last of Us Part II is out now on PS4, and players are finally able to discover what happened to Joel and Ellie following the ending of the first game. Players who have finished the game will know that it's much longer than the first, running about 25 hours, but it turns out that a lot of content was cut during production.

In an interview with IndieWire, the game's director Neil Druckmann and narrative lead Halley Gross, who wrote The Last of Us Part II together, cover many details about the game's plot and characters--including some details about what was cut.

A small update is now available for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the battle royale game Warzone, but don't expect much from it.

This new playlist update contains two changes. First, uncommon and rare burst-fire versions of the M4 assault rifle have been removed from loot caches in Warzone. Developer Infinity Ward did not provide any commentary around why the weapons have been removed.

Second, Modern Warfare's new All or Nothing playlist now supports parties whereas previously it did not. These playlist changes are available now across PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Like other playlist updates, this one should download in a flash from the game's title screen.

Microsoft's next Xbox Series X event is poised to be the biggest and most exciting one yet. During the company's July Xbox 20/20 event, Microsoft will showcase a series of first-party Xbox Series X games, including Halo Infinite. The company may also use the show to reveal the long-rumored all-digital next-generation Xbox. We don't know what to expect for sure yet, but Microsoft has now provided a small update on how planning for the event is coming along.

Xbox marketing director Aaron Greenberg--who heads up planning for these events--said on Twitter that Microsoft conducted an internal review of the event just this week with Phil Spencer. The team at Microsoft is "working hard on it," but Greenberg said the company isn't ready just yet to announce more details, like a date or a rundown of what will be shown off during the program.

"Team working hard on it," Greenberg said to a fan on Twitter who asked for an update. "Good content review today in fact with the big boss. We will share more details when all is locked. Kindly ask for patience in the meantime."

Pokemon Sword & Shield introduced a new Max Raid event within the recently released Isle of Armor DLC, and it came with a potential reward for all players. It was announced that if one million players beat the Zeraora Max Raid, every player would be able to claim a free shiny Zeraora through Pokemon Home.

As it turns out, players were able to achieve this goal very fast. The Pokemon Japan Twitter account has announced that players have not only hit that number, but eclipsed it--the Max Raid has seen 1,435,283 victories. This counts each individual player within a team that has successfully completed it.

Radio the Universe has debuted a first trailer ahead of its intended Winter 2020 release, and it looks fantastic. The trailer shows off the game's style, rendered in the Pixel 2.0 engine, as well as the action-packed shooter gameplay we can expect later this year.

According to the game's Steam page, it will offer a "slow-paced challenge" and the ability to adopt either a simple of complex playstyle. It will also feature ambient and musical soundtrack compositions, and a minimalist artstyle.

The game will mix exploration and combat, as seen in the video below.

It has been four years since the initial release of Dead by Daylight, the popular asymmetrical 4v1 multiplayer game that pits four regular people against a player-controlled monster, and developer Behaviour Interactive is celebrating with a new event.

The event, detailed in the video below and on the game's website, will include numerous unique cosmetic unlocks and a few neat aesthetic changes to the game. It will run from now until July 7, and the game's levels will be filled with balloons, confetti, and unique hooks, generators, and lockers.

Also notable is the Anniversary Crown, which will be added as a collectible in each level. The first survivor (or monster) who stumbles upon the crown and interacts with it will glow for the rest of the match, and if they make it through the round alive (or succeed at killing everyone) they will unlock it as a permanent cosmetic for any of the game's original group of survivors.

Ultracore is now available, marking the end of a journey that has been stalled since 1994. The game, previously known as Hardcore, was cancelled by Psygnosis when it was most of the way complete. It was due to release for the Amiga, Sega Genesis, and Sega CD, but the near-finished game was cancelled by its publisher due to the impending launch of the PlayStation, and the assumption that a game that wasn't 32-bit would not sell.

Hardcore was to be one of the earliest releases of Digital Illusions, now known as DICE, the developer of the Battlefield franchise. Now, 26 years later, the game has finally debuted for two modern systems.

We've played through the game's first stage for some quick impressions, and it's fair to say that the game is an unapologetically old-school experience. Don't expect a modern remake or update--this is very much the game as it was intended to be released in the early 90s. That's not to say that it has aged poorly, though, as the game's run-and-gun action is very enjoyable. Having to enter codes to level select is slightly less of a pain on a console with a screenshot function, too.

The Epic Games Store has hit a significant monthly user figure, the company has announced, following a promotion where several major games were given to users for free. Epic has announced that the store has hit a peak of 61 million monthly users for the service.

The biggest draw was a free download of Grand Theft Auto V, which was available for a week in May. This promotion was followed by other high-profile free games, including Civilization VI, Ark: Survival Evolved, and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.

In a press release, general manager Steve Allison said that the promotion was a huge success. "The results have exceeded our expectations," he said. "In 2020, we’ve been growing at a historic rate." He also said that the peak concurrent user record for the store is now 13 million.

While definitely not the biggest surprise of last week's Pokemon Presents livestream, the announcement of Pokemon Cafe Mix was an unexpected addition. The free-to-play puzzle game was announced for both Switch and mobile devices, but the most surprising part was the release date: it's available to play now on Switch, iOS, and Android.

The puzzle game revolves around a cafe where Pokemon visit, and to serve your customers you need to clear rows of Pokemon icons by dragging like types together. Finishing puzzles will increase your friendship rating with Pokemon, leading to cafe upgrades and new customers. If you're playing on Switch, the game must be played in handheld mode with the touch screen.

The same livestream that debuted Cafe Mix also announced a new Pokemon Snap, a toothbrushing app called Pokemon Smile to encourage good dental hygiene habits, and in-game events for Pokemon Sword and Shield and Pokemon Go. It also coincided with the release of the Isle of Armor, the first expansion DLC for Sword and Shield.

Guilty Gear Strive has debuted new gameplay footage during the digital New Game Plus expo, showcasing Millia and Zato as they go head-to-head with one another.

The two characters, who were revealed in the same trailer released in March, were not included in the closed beta that ran in April. Now we can see them in action, and they look incredible.

You can watch the two squaring off below.

Activision has announced eight more skaters that will be featured in the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remaster package coming in September.

The eight skaters include: Lizzie Armanto, Leo Baker, Leticia Bufoni, Riley Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Tyshawn Jones, Aori Nishimura, and Shane O'Neill. They join the previously announced roster of skaters from the 1999 and 2000 original games.

Some of the newly announced skaters were featured in previous Pro Skater games, such as Hawk's son Riley, but this is the first time they're appearing as playable skaters in the first two games.

Shawn Layden, the former boss of PlayStation, has weighed in with his thoughts on the state of the AAA games business, and he thinks it's unsustainable. Speaking at the Gamelab Live conference, as reported by GI.biz, Layden said the commonly held idea that the cost of game development will double every new generation cannot continue.

"The problem with that model is it's just not sustainable," he said.

Layden recalled the days when the world's biggest video games were developed on budgets of around $1 million. Now, the cost of most AAA games is between $80 million and $150 million, he said, and that's before marketing expenses are factored in.

EA Sports has released a "deep dive" video for Madden NFL 21, showcasing some of the new features coming to this year's professional football game.

In the video, EA speaks about a number of updates, including a new system that gives pass-rushers more control off the line. As you can see in the video, players will have more options and control to help bring down the quarterback. Another new feature is more skill stick controls for ball carriers. Specifically, two new animations have been added--the side hurdle and the dead leg. These can be combined together to help you play with flair and creativity.

In Red Dead Redemption 2 Online Moonshiners and Bounty Hunters can recieve bonuses, discounts, and boosts this week, plus this season's limited-time clothing is now available. All Moonshiner and Bounty Hunter missions and free roam events are offering double role XP, plus 50% more cash for Moonshiner Sell and Bounty missions, including legendary bounties.

The MoonShiner Shack and Bounty Hunter License both are discounted by 5 Gold Bars and role items for both are 35% off. The new seasonal clothing items are now available as well, with the full list on Rockstar's official website or below.

There's a whole lot to find in The Last of Us Part 2--and if you want that coveted Platinum Trophy, you'll have to scavenge every last scrap. Finding every trading card, coin, note artifact, and workbench can be a massive chore, but we're here to help.

Below you'll find a roundup of our guides to The Last of Us 2 that will help you find every collectible in the game. It starts with our complete spoiler-free walkthrough, which walks through the location of every collectible as you play, without discussing story beats or most encounters. But we've also got specific guides for just about everything, to help you lock down whatever you're missing as you work through the game. And if you're looking for more help, we've got it-- check out our full The Last of Us Part 2 guide roundup.

Insomniac Games has responded to allegations that it protected multiple "sexual predators" in response to a claim from a former employee. The Marvel's Spider-Man developer tweeted that it had taken "numerous steps to address" the allegations.

"We were aware of the allegations made in a former employee's tweets today and had taken numerous steps to address them. For legal and privacy reasons we will not respond to individual allegations about specific former employees," the company wrote. "We are a workplace family that has actively promoted diversity, inclusion, representation and equality for our entire existence. We will continue to do so every single day."

The fifth entry in the Shiren the Wanderer retro RPG series, the Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, is coming to Nintendo Switch and PC in 2020. The game was originally released exclusively on the PS Vita in North America in 2016.

Developer Spike Chunsoft announced that the port is enhanced with exclusive new dungeons. The game features retro-style graphics and roguelike gameplay. The original Shiren the Wanderer game was the sequel to the first Mystery Dungeon game, which has spawned a number of licensed spinoffs, including the Pokemon: Mystery Dungeon series.

The announcement came during the New Game+ Expo, where Western release dates for Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV and Ys IX: Monstrum Nox were also announced.

Supergiant Games has released a new update for Hades and it's one of the game's largest to date. In both the full patch notes and trailer for the update, Supergiant reveals that this will be Hades' final update in early access--there will be one more follow-up patch "to address any lingering issues" but the next full update will be the official launch of the game.

This latest update adds a boss fight, hidden forms for certain weapons, enemies, mini-bosses, boons, and new types of upgrades to Hades. It also implements new art and visual effects, such as updated character models and animations, as well as more story events to play through. You can see a lot of these additions in the update's new trailer, which is embedded below.

The patch notes for this latest update are a doozy. We've listed out the full notes below for anyone looking to scroll through it all.

The next game in the Trails of Cold Steel saga is set to release in just a few months, and it will bring the popular JRPG sub-series to a close. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV will launch worldwide for PlayStation 4 on October 27, 2020, with Nintendo Switch and PC ports planned for 2021. The Cold Steel arc, which is part of the Trails series and The Legend of Heroes franchise, kicked off in 2015 (in the US) with the release of Trails of Cold Steel on PS3 and PS Vita, so Trails of Cold Steel IV will give fans a finale that's been five years in the making. If you can't wait to get your hands on the game, pre-orders for Trails of Cold Steel IV are live now, and there are a couple of editions with various pricing to consider.

Trails of Cold Steel IV's story picks up two weeks after the battle at the end of Trails of Cold Steel III, as Juna, Kurt, and Altina awaken to realize Rean has been captured by Chancellor Osborne. Now led by Juna, Class VI sets off to rescue Rean and put an end to Osborne's plans, which will bring about the end of the world, once and for all. The turn-based gameplay remains the same, although Trails of Cold Steel IV introduces new S-Craft techniques as well as powerful Lost Arts for each character in combat. The game also boasts the largest roster in the series' history, with returning characters from the Trails in the Sky trilogy and the Crossbell arc.

During the New Game+ Expo livestream, game director Goichi "Suda51" Suda showed off some brand-new gameplay footage of the Nintendo Switch exclusive No More Heroes 3. Unfortunately, getting a good look at the never-before-seen gameplay was a challenge, as Suda obscured the entire sequence.

While discussing the power of video games as an entertainment medium before getting to the NGPX announcements, the screen behind Suda began playing some No More Heroes 3 gameplay. It's difficult to parse what was on screen, with Suda sitting directly in front of the player's field of vision. We do see protagonist Travis Touchdown battling a boss, some sort of luminescent robot capable of controlling dimensions. Never once during the approximate two minutes of footage does Suda mention the No More Heroes 3 gameplay going on behind him.

You can check it out below, where Suda also admits that Super Mario Odyssey is still on his backlog.

Revealed during the May Xbox 20/20 showcase of upcoming Xbox Series X games, Call of the Sea is the debut title from Out of the Blue Games. When developing Call of the Sea, Out of the Blue Games co-founder Tatiana Delgado said that the team wanted to specifically "target the next gen" and designed the game to take advantage of the tech afforded by consoles like the Xbox Series X.

"We wanted to target the next gen," Delgado told USgamer. "As soon as we saw what was possible, we wanted to do it because although we have a stylized, visual style, so it's not realistic but we wanted to get as much as possible from the graphics side. And I think we can benefit a lot from the next-gen and, we're kind of different for what you would expect from a next-gen game."

Delgado added that Call of the Sea takes advantage of next-gen tech in subtle ways that players may not immediately notice--the sheer amount of assets the game manages to fit on-screen at a time, for instance, or the many layers to the lighting. These aren't features that many players are typically looking at when watching trailers for next-gen games, but they do represent an aspect of the technological jump between console generations.

The latest update to Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare makes some changes to the playlist, and introduces another fan-favorite character to the multiplayer mode. The Gaz Operator Bundle includes a new operator skin featuring the British Special Forces operative.

Along with the operator skin, the Gaz bundle includes skins for your assault rifle, handgun, and watch, a custom finishing move, calling card and quip, and a Union Jack emblem. It's available in the in-game shop.

The update accompanying Gaz also changes up the current playlist:

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are hosting a special stream announcement stream for Marvel's Avengers on June 24. The California-based developer plans to showcase new gameplay and co-op footage as part of the "War Table" stream.

The stream kicks off at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on the morning of June 24. You can watch it here on GameSpot; check back with this post for a livestream embed.

Marvel's Avengers is still set for a September 4, 2020 release date after getting delayed in January so Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montréal, who are co-developing the game, can "deliver the ultimate Avengers gaming experience."

The Oculus Quest is one of the best VR headsets you can buy today, and it's clearly driving many of the decisions around how Oculus thinks about its products--both hardware and software--and their future. Which explains why today the company is discontinuing its other portable headset, while laying out plans for a more open ecosystem for the Quest.

The Oculus Go was the first of Oculus' attempts at an all-in-one VR headset, primarily aimed at a market that was being dominated by headsets that required you to use your smartphone as the screen. The Oculus Go put all of that hardware into the headset itself, but also omitted features that made it more suitable for more passive VR experiences, as opposed to those you can find on the Oculus Quest.

It wasn't a hit like the Quest, and today Oculus is discontinuing production on the Oculus Go. Oculus has ceased production on the headset, and will shut down new app submissions this December. After-sales support will continue through 2022, with security updates ceasing after that.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon was a surprise treat that laid some narrative groundwork for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. During the New Game Plus Expo, Inti Creates announced a follow-up, Curse of the Moon 2, which will continue the 8-bit aesthetic.

The new story was overseen by series creator Koji Igarashi, and will focus on the swordsman Zangetsu. Like the first game you can pick up playable allies to add to your character roster. Those include the exorcist Dominique you may recognize from Ritual of the Night, along with the marksman Robert and the enchanted armor Hachi.

Also like the first game, your allies will each have their own health bars, unique skills, and abilities. Robert, for example, is a great distance fighter, but he's physically vulnerable and has no access to magic. Some paths will only be accessible by certain characters, so unlocking them all will create opportunities for shortcuts and alternate ways through the world.

Following the launch of the team-based shooter Crucible, Amazon Games is already prepping the release of its next game, the MMO New World. As a high-fantasy take on the early colonial era in North America, the MMO is Amazon's most substantial release. After facing delays from the COVID-19 pandemic, the online game is approaching its launch on August 25, and the developers are opening up more about what players can expect to experience in-game.

In this exclusive for GameSpot's Play For All charity event, we're showing off the latest developer diary for New World, detailing the game's five key progression systems for players to dive into. While the game has been in closed alpha for some time, this is the most in-depth look at the game's mechanics coming straight from the development team. In previous episodes, the developer diaries highlighted faction and invasion gameplay, exploration, and the lore within the world of Aeternum.

For MMO games, it's often the case that you start by selecting a character class and then following through with a series of quests that eventually open up the game's different side-activities and large-scale events. However, New World has a more flexible system in how you make your way through the world, which sets it apart from other online games. Before the reveal of this new developer diary, we spoke with New World's head of player experience Dave Verfaillie and lead UX designer Daniel Henuber about the MMO's approach to progression, along with what they learned from the closed alpha period.

The bug-squishing action series is coming back, as D3 Publisher has just announced Earth Defense Force 6. Not much has been detailed for the upcoming game aside from a handful of screenshots and a wide release target of 2021. Platforms have not been announced.

The screenshots on the official Japanese site focus mostly on the bugs themselves: ants that are several stories tall, spiders crawling over wrecked buses, and bees that appear to be at least the size of a sensible family-sized SUV. There's even some kind of bug-like monstrosity that's standing upright and holding a weapon of its own. A single screenshot shows the apparent player character, who looks pretty insignificant next to these enormous insects.

Earth Defense Force has gained a cult icon status for its notoriously terrible B-movie dialogue and wild bullet-hell action as you defend earth against an onslaught of alien insectoids.