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A sequel to Dorohedoro will appear as a streaming series, with more information about where to watch it to come later. In commemoration of this news, there is a new key visual on the official website.

The new key visual features main characters, Caiman and Nikado, throwing up the door to Nikaido’s restaurant, The Hungry Bug. On the side, it reads, “Welcome back, chaos.” Though it didn’t say which streaming network the sequel will appear on, Netflix had the streaming rights when Dorohedoro appeared outside of Japan in 2020. So it’s likely that Netflix will distribute it again.

Q Hayashida, the original mangaka for Dorohedoro, had this to say:

“I’m so happy to hear that they [MAPPA] will make a sequel anime for Dorohedoro! I’d like to thank everyone who was involved in the decision and project. Actually, production has been going on for a while now and I got to peek in on them from time to time. So I was really excited about this too. Though some time has passed since the first season, I hope you’ll all step into the world of Dorohedoro once again.”

During the It’s a Very Big Discotek New Year's live stream, Discotek announced plenty of upcoming Blu-Ray releases of retro anime, including one of the classic 1997 Berserk series. The full list of announcements can be read via the company’s Twitter account.

You can see the full Berserk announcement in the social media post below:

The 1997 Berserk Blu-Ray will feature HD scans and some improved subtitles. Though there have been newer releases of Berserk since then, none have been as beloved as the original series. It’ll be in Japanese and English, with the English using the original NYAV Post dub. The Blu-Ray will also come with extras from past releases and outtakes. The whole series will come in two discs, which have the silhouettes of Guts and Griffith, respectively, on them.

Build-A-Bear has released yet another Sanrio gift set, with Pochacco taking center stage this time. You can order the set for $47.50.

The new Build-A-Bear plush set features the Pochacco plush, a blue hoodie, and black shorts. There is a little paw design on Pochacco’s hand with BAB in the middle for Build-A-Bear. As for the clothes, while the black shorts are fairly nondescript, the blue hoodie has Pochacco’s name on it.

The shirt also features a picture of him kicking a soccer ball. In Sanrio lore, Pochacco is sporty and likes playing basketball and soccer, which explains the shirt's design. Build-A-Bear’s description for the gift set also references Pochacco’s hobbies.

You can get a closer look at the plush set in the gallery below:

In CookieRun: The Darkest Night Chapter 1, you take control of an adorable cookie hero named GingerBrave. The freshly-baked protagonist begins a journey to fulfill a prophecy to take down the Darkest Lord Cookie, who is trying to enslave cookiekind. Although it's a simple concept on the surface, the charming fairy tale is a fun action-adventure VR title with a surprising amount of depth to its gameplay and progression system.

Cygames kicked off a Granblue Fantasy: Relink character trailer series with Gran, one of the two main leads. The brief clip focuses on showing him in battle.

In both the mobile game and this new adventure, players can choose between Gran or Djeeta as their avatar. Both wield swords and use similar sorts of attacks. He’s the male version of the main character, who ends up meeting Lyria and becoming part of a quest to save the world. 

The first Granblue Fantasy: Relink character trailer highlights the English dub for Gran. He’s voiced by Kyle McCarley, who is reprising his role from the Granblue Fantasy Versus fighting games. People may recognize him as 9S from NieR Automata, Lan Di from Shenmue 3, Ei in 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, and both Alm and Soren in the Fire Emblem series. The Japanese voice actor for the character is Yuki Ono, who also played the character in Granblue Fantasy Versus and is Touma in Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Josuke Higashikata in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Kyosuke in Yu-Gi-Oh 5D.

Larian released Hotfix 16 for Baldur’s Gate 3. The patch notes revealed a range of fixes and changes, including the ability to access quest items regardless of where they’re stored.

The main change announced for Baldur's Gate 3 Hotfix 16 is the ability to retrieve quest items from anywhere. This will apply regardless of whether the item is on a party member, in the camp chest or in the pockets of a character you’ve left in the camp. This quality-of-life change will prevent quest progression being blocked without needing to do some inventory management first.

Other changes include a few adjustments to story quests, particularly Karlach’s. In addition, a few bosses have had some adjustments and fixes. This includes one late-game boss fight that has been “cheating” due to a bug where some units ignored the turn-based mode. There are also a few adjustments to the epilogue, including a fix to a Shadowheart dialog tree which was only offering players one choice.

As with previous hotfixes, Hotfix 16 also addresses some of the bugs within Baldur’s Gate 3. This includes a bug that caused the game to become unresponsive for more kleptomaniac players stealing too much at once. Also a bug removing the appearance of naked people during the Dream Visitor’s first appearance when players are controlling multiple avatars.

Bandai Namco announced the schedule for the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2024, and it confirmed the Dragon Ball Daima anime will appear. Its panel will be the last event on January 28, 2023, following the Game Producer Panel that will look at Dragon Ball: Sparkling Zero. 

There is no confirmation of a new Dragon Ball Daima trailer at its panel. The announcement did confirm there will be Akira Toriyama art shown and that Dragon Ball Executive Producer Akio Iyoku will talk about its development though. This new A-1 Pictures show was first announced at New York Comic Con 2023.

Here’s the full Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2024 schedule for January 28, 2024. The only event on January 27, 2024 is a Sand Land exclusive movie showing at 8pm PT. There are no placeholder streams on the official YouTube channel yet, but segments have been streamed in the past.

• 12pm PT: Dragon Ball Super Card Game Fusion World Exhibition Match 

On January 11, 2024, Yuffie will become the next Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis playable character, and now we know exactly how she looks. Square Enix and Applibot shared official art of her from the game.

First, here are some galleries where we can see all three versions of Yuffie. First, here’s her official character portrait art from Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis. 

Next, here is how Yuffie will look in battle. First, there’s the realistic 3D model of her. There’s also a screenshot of her performing the Bloodfest Limit Break.

Hakos Baelz, a Hololive EN Vtuber who is part of the Promise group and formerly of Council, will be on a brief break. She announced on social media that she’s moving to Japan during January 2024.

Here is Baelz’s official announcement. She noted that this will be a brief break and said that she “will try to stream.” She also cited that in addition to the move, some of the other things that will keep her busy over the next few days and weeks will be finding a place to live, singing, and preparations for next month.

Sony teased first looks at both the Gravity Rush movie and a new Patapon project. Sony showed brief clips of both projects during a presentations at CES 2024.

The teaser for the Gravity Rush movie came during the Sony CES 2024 press conference. A presentation for new visual arts studio Torchlight showed off behind the scenes shots for various projects. One of these projects was the Gravity Rush movie adaptation. The concept shots show a blonde character, likely the game's protagonist Kat, leaping off a floating island towards a red dragon creature. There is also a clip of an actress doing motion capture for the aerial acrobatics. The visual style in the clips is more realistic than the games it’s based on, but it’s likely these visuals are not final.

NVidia announced that Honkai: Star Rail will join the GeForce Now service. There’s no exact release date for it, but the company and HoYoVerse both noted it is “coming soon.”

As a reminder, GeForce Now is NVidia’s cloud gaming service. It allows people to stream games they own on PCs, mobile devices, and TVs. It also means not needing to patch. This means all someone would need for Honkai: Star Rail is an existing account for the game and to be part of GeForce Now, and when updates would appear they would automatically be ready whenever someone streams the game. 

This will mark the second HoYoVerse game on GeForce Now. The first was Genshin Impact. It joined the service back in June 2023. The company didn’t note if Zenless Zone Zero, its next title, will also be a part of it. However, its previous game Honkai Impact 3rd isn’t a part of the library. 

Vshojo Vtuber Henya the Genius announced she is taking a brief break. She said she’ll be on vacation this month and won’t be back until January 25, 2024. 

Here’s her official announcement. She noted this is just a vacation. She also shared her upcoming schedule, which showed which days she’ll resume activity later this month.

This is what Henya’s schedule for the rest of January 2024 looks like. She only listed dates and times, and didn’t note what the upcoming streams will involve.

• January 25, 2024 at 3pm PT/6pm ET
• January 26, 2024 at 3pm PT/6pm ET
• January 27, 2024 at 3pm PT/6pm ET
• January 28, 2024 at 3pm PT/6pm ET
• January 29, 2024 at 3pm PT/6pm ET

Clouded Leopard Entertainment will make its first appearance at Taipei Game Show 2024. Its booth will feature demos of Japanese video games, such as Nihon Falcom's Ys X -Nordics- and D3 Publisher's Earth Defense Force 6. The company will also host a live event starring Nihon Falcom CEO Toshihiro Kondo at the venue.

Clouded Leopard revealed via its Japanese press release that Nihon Falcom titles will dominate its booth. It will feature photo spots and cosplayers modeled after Ys X -Nordics- and The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki—the latter is also known in the West as Trails through Daybreak. The booth will also include a shop selling merchandise related to Falcom's games.

Here is the full list of games from Nihon Falcom and D3 Publisher that will have demos on Clouded Leopard's booth at Taipei Game Show 2024:

• The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki for Nintendo Switch

Capcom brought new crossover content from Spy x Family to Street Fighter 6. The company also provided details about the collaboration on the game's official website.

The main highlights of this crossover are the addition of avatar costumes modeled after Loid and Yor, and Capcom has also shared recipe codes for people to instantly replicate the characters. Players can input SPY_SF6_LOID to obtain the official Loid Forger avatar recipe and SPY_SF6_YOR for Yor Forger's avatar.

Capcom is decorating the game's Battle Hub with Spy x Family Code: White illustrations during the collaboration period, which runs through January 2024. It will also give out player titles, stickers, and photo frames to everyone who logs into the game within the month.

The company also uploaded a new trailer to mark the addition of Spy x Family crossover content in Street Fighter 6. It features an in-game match pitting Chun-Li against Yor Forger, who is using Juri's move set.

Square Enix, in collaboration with The Prisoner Wine Company, will release a new Final Fantasy XIV wine bottle featuring the Warrior of Light. The bottle costs 16,940 yen (or approximately $117,) and it will be available for pre-order throughout January 12-19, 2024 from the Isetan online store.

The bottle is being released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of A Realm Reborn. It will be packaged in a black collector’s box featuring the FFXIV logo, the 10th anniversary logo, and a black chain relief. Additionally, the line “Break your chains, shed your burdens—and show me your strength of will” spoken by Venat appears on the box.

The interior features a black and white illustration of the Warrior of Light wielding an axe and covered in chains with red accents. The bottle label features The Prisoner logo, and it also includes an additional label underneath it featuring the illustration of the Warrior of Light previously mentioned.

You can take a better look at the bottle here:

Bushiroad and Eighting revealed the first teaser trailer for the upcoming Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact fighting game. As of the time of writing, there is no official release date nor target platforms.

The new Hunter x Hunter fighting game seems to be a 3v3 team-based anime fighter. However, the teaser doesn’t show any gameplay. The developers have yet to confirm whether the game is a 2D fighting game, or a 3D arena fighter.

The six characters that are featured in the teaser are Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, Hisoka, and chairman Netero. Additionally, Bushiroad revealed that the game’s official website and X (formerly Twitter) account are now open. Both are available only in Japanese, and more information will appear in the future.

You can check out the teaser trailer here:

Final Fantasy XIV Producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida recently talked to Famitsu and shared new information about Wuk Lamat, one of the new major characters in the upcoming Dawntrail expansion. The producer also talked about the process of creating the NPC and the female Hrothgar for FFXIV. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Yoshi-P said that the story of Dawntrail is a new beginning for FFXIV. The story involves the Warrior of Light assisting in a contest to choose a successor for the throne of Yok Tural. Yoshida said that if the story does not have an appealing character supporting the player, it will not move the player’s feelings.

At this point of development, only male Hrothgar had been included in FFXIV, and there were many requests to include the female version. Yoshi-P thought that it would be very difficult to add a female Hrothgar because they were busy updating the graphics of the game and would have to balance both elements. However, thanks to the graphics team's dedication, it was possible to include them.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, FFXIV Producer Naoki Yoshida (or Yoshi-P) talked about the process of creating the newly revealed Pictomancer job for the Dawntrail expansion. The developer also explained the decision to make Krile a Pictomancer. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

When creating a new job, Yoshi-P said that the Final Fantasy XIV team thinks about the role first, not the job itself. He added that DPS is by far the most popular role, so when creating jobs for a new expansion, the team cannot exclude them. Since tank and healer jobs were the last to be added, they decided to add two DPS jobs for Dawntrail, as this would not disrupt the game's balance.

The team did not decide on Pictomancer from the beginning, but it was high among the options they were pondering. The developers considered the idea of a job that would replace performing attacks with the action of “drawing.” Eventually, they thought that Pictomancer would be the most fun and interesting job.

A new Precure series, Wonderful PreCure, will start airing on February 2, 2024. This time, a dog can transform into a Precure as well.

You can watch the trailer on the official PreCure YouTube channel:

The main character is Iroha Inukai, and her pet dog is Komugi. It should be noted that Komugi appears above Iroha in the cast list. This implies that Komugi is more important than Iroha as a character. While on a walk, the two encounter a wild animal “whose heart was growling.” They transform into PreCures to save it. While Komugi only barks in the trailer, she probably will be able to talk once she transforms into a (human) Precure.

The main trio from NieR Automata Ver1.1a will appear as miniature cat-like figures in crane game machines from January 19, 2024. You’ll be able to find them in Sega Plaza stores in Japan.

In total, there are three variations of NieR Automata Ver1.1a miniature cat figures. You can get either A2, 9S, or 2B. It’s unclear if they’ll come in a blind box or a normal one or if you have to grab them using another method. Each figure looks like they’re on their belly and taking a nap. They have a little tail as well behind them. At 5.5 x 4.5 centimeters in size, they’re fairly small and can rest in the palm of your hand.

NieR Automata Ver1.1a is the anime adaptation of the 2017 action RPG NieR Automata. The story mostly covers the first half of the game, which makes it fairly accessible for those who have not played the popular Square Enix title. The story follows 2B and 9S, YoRHa androids, who are part of a proxy war between Machine Lifeforms and humanity.

NieR Automata is available on the PS4, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. NieR Automata Ver1.1a is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. You can get the 2B, 9S, and A2 figures from Sega Plaza starting January 19, 2024.

In an interview with Hobonichi, Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound) sat down with Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, The Legend of Zelda) to discuss how Miyamoto came about with the idea and design for Pikmin. The full interview is not on the website as of the time of writing.

The interview starts with Itoi reaffirming with Miyamoto his policy regarding making video games. Miyamoto had always wanted to create video games that would provide more fun and include more ideas than how much they cost. This is because it could cost thousands of JPY to purchase a game. He also stated that in a development team, people offer ideas to each other to help them make things they couldn’t have on their own. The Pikmin design is one of such collaborations.

While Miyamoto gave the general idea of what he wanted Pikmins to do and look like, the game's designer was the one who actually came up with the final product, including the leaf on the head. Miyamoto liked it a lot because Pikmins looked so confusing that you had to wonder about it. Did it drink water from its mouth or its head? Or perhaps it sucked up nutrients from its feet, like a plant? The next logical step was to decide what would happen to the leaf and the Pikmin after they die. Though the design is simple, much thought and conversation went into Nintendo’s creation of the Pikmin.

Over the years, we’ve seen a wide range of titles come to Apple’s game subscription service. Some are “plus” versions of existing mobile titles, while others are entirely new and even exclusive. But one thing that’s increasingly come up is how Apple Arcade ended up packed with life sim games and titles like Animal Crossing. 

It’s something that sort of crept up on us. It started with a lot of farming sims. Nightmare Farm was among the first. Farm It is lighter on the “life” element, but definitely offers the farming. Cozy Groveended up basically being the first Animal Crossing kind of game on the service when it appeared in March 2021.  

Stories that get into what happens after “the end” aren’t uncommon. They might look at how society changes. We could see how a group of people adapt. But we don’t often see how specific people are affected. Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe’s manga Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End gets a little more specific by showing how one person is changed by an adventure. It involves quite the opportunity too. As the star, an elven mage named Frieren, is already hundreds of years old as the story “begins,” we’re seeing how someone that old can grow and change after adventuring and experiences. In turn, we see how her new allies develop as a result of being around her.

Frieren kicks off as a grand adventure ended. The hero Himmel and his allies Eisen the warrior, Frieren the mage, and Heiter the priest defeated the Demon King. The quartet journeyed together for 10 years. They aided people around the world and faced the Demon King’s minions. As a way to cap it off, the group watches the Era Meteor Shower. When Frieren notes that she knows a better place to see it happen, they vow to meet again in 50 years.

There’s a One Piece anime theme song performance on The First Take, with Hiroshi Kitadani appearing to sing the first opening song “We Are.” It aired on the channel on January 8, 2024, and it already passed 600,000 views in its first four hours.

To set the stage for the performance, the background has Monkey D. Luffy’s Straw Hat on top of a treasure chest and some crates. After Kitadani’s initial exclamation, the full band kicks up and he begins singing.

Here is the full performance of "We Are" from One Piece:

Massive Monster and Devolver Digital announced the new Cult of the Lamb update, which adds offspring eggs, Disciples, a Tailor, and the Sin resource, arrives January 16, 2024. Sins of the Flesh will be a free update for all platforms. 

First, the new resource in Cult of the Lamb is Sin. Players can earn it via the Drum Circle rhythm game, having Drinkhouse drinks, and having Followers head to the Mating Tent. Sin can then be used for new Doctrines and Rituals. 

As for the Mating Tent, that is how people can get offspring eggs in Cult of the Lamb. A pair of Followers who go there can help create a new child. However, as the PlayStation Blog announcement noted, that egg can also be eaten by the community.

There is also the new equipment and outfits. The Tailor will be where people can get clothing for Followers. The Blunderbuss will be the new ranged gun for the Lamb to use. 

Here’s the announcement trailer for the update, which looks at the new content:

Idea Factory International announced it will release Hakuoki otome games we’ve seen five times before in English again, this time on the Switch as Chronicles of Wind and Blossom. Kyoto Windsand Edo Blossoms will release digitally and physically, and there will be an Eastasiasoft Limited Edition.

Hakuoki is the story of a young woman named Chizuru who is searching for her missing father. She dressed herself up as a man and heads to Kyoto to find out what happened to him. She ends up encountering the Shinsengumi and joining their ranks, as they share a common goal. However, as this is an alternate reality series, the Shinsengumi here are also vampire-like supernatural figures known as Furies due to a creation of Chizuru’s father. Later releases split the game up into two parts, Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, while also adding additional love interests. 

Here's the trailer:

The Hololive New Year Cup Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Tournament for the Cover Vtubers was held January 7-8, 2024, and Tokoyami Towa won. Hoshimachi Suisei came in second, with Todoroki Hajime taking third place.

The top 12 finalists for the competition included a mix of members from the Japanese and English branches of the company. Here’s who managed to make it in, and which place they took in the tournament.

1. Tokoyami Towa - 62 points
2. Hoshimachi Suisei - 62 points
3. Todoraki Hajime - 52 points
4. Nekomata Okayu - 50 points
5. Takane Lui - 46 points
6. Oozora Subaru - 41 points
7. Sakura Miko - 39 Points
8. Koseki Bijou - 38 Points
9. Ookami Mio - 33 Points

The Boy and the Heron has won Best Animated Motion Picture at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. The ceremony was held on January 7, 2024, where Studio Ghibli’s latest movie won alongside the likes of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

While The Boy and the Heron won the Animated Picture award, no one from Studio Ghibli was available to accept it in person. Instead, award presenter Florence Pugh accepted the award on behalf of the producers. Pugh appears in the English dub of the movie as Kiriko.

The Boy and the Heron was one of six nominees for the Best Animated Motion Picture Golden Globe. The other nominees included Elemental, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Suzume and Wish. It is the first non-American winner of the award since its debut in 2006. It’s the first time Studio Ghibli have received a nomination for the category. Along with Suzume, it’s only the second time in the award’s history that has seen a Japanese movie nominated, after Mirai’s 2018 nomination.

Bandai Namco shared a look at the Minato Namikaze SH Figuarts Naruto figure being made as a result of the Narutop99 worldwide character poll results. As a reminder, he was the winner of the 2023 poll, and his figure will debut in July 2024.

For this figure, Minato is in his full Fourth Hokage attire. He’s wearing the coat, which looks like it may be flexible enough to help with posing for the figure. Neutral, shouting, and smiling face plates will be included. The mouth is open for the angry face, with one pose showing that a kunai could be placed in it to look like he’s holding it in his teeth. There will also be various equipment for him to wield, as well as an effect art to show one of his attacks.

Here’s a full gallery of four images from Bandai Namco showing us how the Minato Namikaze SH Figuarts Naruto figure will look.

People can now see the end of Attack on Titan, as the official Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2 English dub finale launched. It is live on Crunchyroll.

This is one of four dubs available for the series. The Japanese original version appeared back in November 2023. The English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish dubs debuted on the evening of January 7, 2024. 

There’s no trailer for the Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS Special 2 English dub on YouTube, but you can see one for the Special 1 anime adaptation. If you haven’t kept up with the series, there will be spoilers for what started in the first part of this finale. 

The official social media account for the Frieren series showed off an upcoming piece of merchandise that is a pillow based on a mimic. It is expected to release in UFO catchers in Japan in Spring 2024.

Sega actually first announced the item back in October 2023, but this is more of a reminder that it is expected to release soon. It is a pillow shaped like the monster, with a mouth that can open and close. The exterior looks like a treasure chest, as expected. When the “lid,” which is lined by soft fabric teeth, is opened, you can see the open mouth and tongue inside. The first four photos also show how it would look when used as a pillow.

Here’s a gallery of images Sega shared to offer us an idea of how it will look and work:

Since its debut on the PlayStation 2 in 2004, the Monster Hunter franchise has introduced players to hundreds of unique creatures to battle and take down. Here is which Monster Hunter monster we think offered the most challenge.

I don’t like Rajang! I don’t! I especially hated Apex Rajang! I just didn’t beat it in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. If I have to fight that damned beast, I’ll get whatever ice equipment I can and try to blow it up, but I know it is going to be a tough fight. Like I love the challenge Monster Hunter provides, but this can be too much sometimes when facing off against Rajang. -- Jenni

Nergigante... I love this spiky friend, but to this day, I don't know how to dodge its big supersonic slam thing. I can deal with pretty much anything else in the game, but when it comes to Nergigante, it always comes down to whether I can do enough damage before it gets a third one of these moves off, and I'm sent back home in a cart! -- Elliot

The Pokemon Company will start selling merchandise based on Pokemon Concierge. They’ll be available from Pokemon Centers in Japan from January 20, 2024.

Aside from clothing items that resemble what protagonist Haru wears in the show, you can also get household items that look like various Pokemon species. Items like the Bellsprout lamp and Horsea watering can appeared in the series, since the story focuses more on the day-to-day life of your average person in the Pokemon world.

Here is the full list of Pokemon Concierge merchandise, as well as their prices in JPY:

• A4 clear folder with three pockets: 440 JPY
• B6 notebook: 770 JPY
• Ballpoint pen: 495 JPY
• Bandana: 1320 JPY
• Bellsprout LED lamp: 7700 JPY
• Coasters: 1980 JPY (for two)

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hello Kitty, Kurotani and Sanrio will release two pure gold figures of the character and a commemorative gold card. The items will be available in limited quantities and include a serial number.

The figures are packaged in a wooden box, a they come with a protective case box that includes a mirror on the inside. Both the figures and card will be made using 24 karat gold. The Hello Kitty gold merchandise is expected to release sometime by early January 2024, and will be available for purchase from the Kurotani online store.

The first figure features Hello Kitty sitting and holding a number 50. It will weight 20 grams. There will be 25 units worldwide, and it costs 1,078,000 yen (or approximately $7,453.)

It isn’t uncommon to happen upon free dating sim games, but the quality often varies. However, one of the best examples of a high quality and worthwhile ones happened to drop in December 2023: A Date with Death.

A Date with Death starts by saying you’re ordinary, but have always experienced near-death experiences. Each time, you’d come away without being hurt. However, at the outset of the game, the Grim Reaper contacts you and says he is finally coming to take your soul. You then have a week to interact with him to determine your fate, possibly finding love with him. 

While this is a visual novel, it is also a chatting simulator not unlike Mystic Messenger. Grim will talk with you in the client over the week, and those conversations shape the relationship you build. These might not all help shape the ending, but they build up insight into the character and make it feel like you’re connecting in a significant way. 

The full trailer for Final Fantasy XIV’s fifth expansion Dawntrail released during the FFXIV Fan Fest 2024 Tokyo keynote. The full trailer showcases the entire theme song for the upcoming expansion without any cuts or edits. In addition, it gives players a nice glimpse of the new expansion region known as Tural.

The full trailer expands upon the previous version from the past two FFXIV Dawntrail Fan Fest announcements. It shows off some new details, including the first look at the Pictomancer job class. Familiar Scions of the Seventh Dawn member Krile will become a Pictomancer, and the trailer shows her painting with her brush weapon to create a flying creature.

Square Enix announced the release date window for the FFXIV Xbox Series X and S beta testing phase. Players on the Xbox platform will finally have the chance to check out one of the largest MMORPGs of all time in February 2024.

There isn’t an exact FFXIV Xbox Series X and S beta release date just yet, but Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida released a window at the Tokyo Fan Fest 2024. Players on Xbox will have the chance to check out the game and all of the current content available for it during that time.

Yoshida noted Square Enix is aiming for it to appear sometime around February 21, 2024, but this may change. As such, an exact release will come at a later date. Presumably during this time, new players will be able to check out the game through the free trial. In addition, existing players will likely be able to access their account on an Xbox Series X or S.

It is uncertain how long the open beta will last, but players will likely have to purchase the game once the full launch arrives.

Final Fantasy XIV is available for PS4, PS5, and PC. It will also release in beta form for Xbox Series X and S sometime in February 2024.

At FFXIV Tokyo Fan Fest 2024, Square Enix released a ton of new details and recapped things we need to know about the upcoming Dawntrail expansion for Final Fantasy XIV. There is quite a lot of new content and changes coming in Patch 7.0, which fans can look forward to in Summer 2024.

The Dawntrail expansion will take players to the new region of Tural. It includes two main cities for players to explore: the Central and South American-inspired Tuliyollal and the futuristic-looking Solution Nine. There are also many new dungeons coming in FFXIV Patch 7.0 that will feature some of these areas.

During the FFXIV Fan Festival 2024 keynote, Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida revealed the new limited job will Beastmaster. It will be added to the game in “the latter part of 7.X.” 

At the moment, only the name for the role appeared. Yoshida noted when discussing the Beastmaster that the team is looking into a “collection” feature for it. Yoshida also said, “As a limited job, we are proceeding with plans to allow you to play solo or in parties with other limited jobs.” He also noted art and more details about it will appear eventually. 

When implemented following the Dawntrail 7.0 patches, the Beastmaster will become the second limited job in FFXIV. At the moment, the Blue Mage is the only one available. As it is limited, there are certain duties that aren’t available and solo ones aren’t available. That job features a mechanic that involves learning spells by watching different enemies use them when fighting and defeating them. 

As a reminder, there will be two full jobs appearing in FFXIV Dawntrail as well. One is the Viper, which appeared at the 2023 Fan Fest London. The other is the Pictomancer, which debuted at Fan Fest 2024 Tokyo.

As part of the Final Fantasy XIV 2024 Fan Fest Tokyo keynote, new videos for the FFXIV Dawntrail cities Solution Nine and Tuliyollal and dungeons appeared. These showcase a number of locations players will get to explore.

First, here’s a video looking at the new some of the new Tuliyollal locations in Dawntrail. This offers a look at the city and some surrounding areas, as well as field areas people will get to explore. Interiors and exteriors of some locations are shown. 

Next, here’s the second of the confirmed cities in Tural that we’ll visit in FFXIV Dawntrail: Solution Nine. Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida noted this is a place people will live and not a dungeon. He also noted that art shown in the keynote had spoiler elements removed, and that a “different civilization” created it.