Twinfinite

Today Bandai Namco showcased plenty of new gameplay footage and details of its upcoming MMORPG Blue Protocol.

We start taking a look at the classes and their skills, that can be unlocked in a fairly complex “Skill Board.” Incidentally, we learn that the level cap for the upcoming closed beta is 35.

Fairly canonically, you’ll unlock skills in the skill board by spending points you can also reset them by using a skill reset ticket that can be earned by defeating field bosses and playing the story, or purchased at a shop. 

Incidentally, you’ll notice that in the video the HP of the monsters don’t go down. This is simply a debug command used by the developers to make their HP infinite, or they’d die immediately since the player character is at the level cap.

We get to see the Aegis Fighter in action. Since it’s a tank class, it has skills that will let you attract the attention of enemies on you to protect the other party members (provoked enemies have a red icon on top of their healthbar). The class also has skills associated with the Light element.

Next is the Twin Striker, that uses a combo gauses to unleash devastating combos. The gauge progressively fills as you hit the enemy, increasing your damage, but it drops if you get hit. 

With Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 due to go live in the next couple of hours, Epic Games has launched a Battle Pass trailer to give players an idea of what they’ll be unlocking and what to expect in the current season.

The trailer starts off by giving players a look at the ‘Hideout.’ We get a look at Meowscles (who’s actually that Agent Meowsicles we’ve been seeing a lot of teases for), Midas (the man with the golden touch), Maya who has a ton of different styles, and more.

What’s worth noting is this ‘Hideout’ looks like it could well be some sort of new lobby screen. In the background in our screenshot below, you can see “Level 135” up on the wall at the back, suggesting it’s keeping track of our progress throughout the season.

After days of teases, Epic Games is finally launching Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 today, and the launch trailer has dropped to keep players ticking over until the downtime is over.

The launch trailer (included below), finally reveals that this season’s called ‘Top Secret.’ The theme, from what we can gather from the skins and bad-ass music, is secret agents and super villains. Imagine James Bond 007’s escapades in Fortnite and you’re on the right track.

In the trailer, we can see a number of skins from previous seasons such as Peely get a call for help and join the fight. It also featured a teaser for a new Agent Peely cosmetic by the looks of it.

Developer TaleWorlds Entertainment announced that Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord will be launching into early access for PC on March 31.

The studio previously announced that the sequel to its medieval action RPG would be launching in Steam Early Access with a tentative release date of March 2020 last August.

In a tweet, TaleWorlds said that Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord would be available to purchase from Steam, Epic Games Store, and the developer’s own website for $49.99/€49.99/£39.99.

According to the game’s Steam store page, the developer chose early access to get the community involved to refine the game similar to how the first game was developed. Mount and Blade was initially available through the developer’s website beginning in 2004 before officially launching on Steam as a full product in 2008.

TaleWorlds expects the game to be in early access for “around a year” and does not have a set date for a proper release.The studio also said it has no plans to change the price of the title after leaving early access.

Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord takes place 200 years before the first game and will feature a single-player sandbox campaign, multiplayer, the series’ directional combat system, and mods.

Today Nippon Ichi Software released a new trailer of its upcoming game Bokuhime Project.

The trailer showcases the game’s hero (yes, he’s a hero) and the many heroines who he’ll meet during the story.

The hero is a boy named Minato, who enrolls in a school in which 99% of the students are female, and does so by cross-dressing as a girl himself. 

His reason his simple: his sister used to attend the school, but she fell into a coma, and he believes that going to the same school will help him find clues as to why.

In order to tread his way among the students, Minato will have to compete in cuteness against the divas of the school, aptly named the “princesses.”

Of course, this will lead to all sorts of convenient (or inconvenient, depending on the point of view) situations including swimming lessons, tea ceremonies, skinship, cosplay, and other experiences unfamiliar for a young boy.

Minato will train in polishing his appearance as a girl, deepening his knowledge of all things girly, improving his resistance to embarrassment, and more, in order to become the cutest of the school.

Despite the topic, this is not that kinind of game. Nippon Ichi defines it as a “cross-dressing game for all ages.”

If you play Final Fantasy XIV, you’re probably no stranger to how good the soundtrack is. The music we got in A Realm Reborn was already decent enough, but the soundtracks got progressively better with each subsequent expansion, reaching new heights with Shadowbringers when it released last year.

Apart from just appreciating how good the soundtrack is, though, YouTuber and music producer Alex Moukala has spent the past week or so dissecting various popular tracks from Shadowbringers, and explaining why they resonate so strongly with players. Some highlights include the Shadowbringers main theme itself, as well as the Prelude version of Weight of the World, which was featured in the NieR: Automata-themed Alliance raid.

For instance, Weight of the World is a much softer track in the original game, but in Final Fantasy XIV, it gets an epic orchestral version so that it can work as a boss theme. Moukala explains how the theme was reworked to fit this orchestral rendition, and breaks down the clusters of major and minor chords that make up the song, and how it effectively uses a ‘call and response’ technique to build tension within the track.

You can check out his breakdown below:

Today SNK announced the release date of the first new character coming to Samurai Shodown as part of the second season pass.

The new character is Mina Majkina, who was initially revealed at EVO 2019. 

She will be released in the west next week, on February 26. 

You can watch her trailer below, and see her in action with bow and arrows, on top of her flashy moves.

We already know that two more characters coming with the second season pass will be fan-favorite Iroha and Sogetsu Kazama.

The full lineup for the season pass is actially four characters, but the fourth is still wrapped in mystery. We’ll have to wait and see. 

If you’re unfamiliar with Samurai Shodown you can read our review of the PS4 version released a while ago. 

Today Idea Factory International announced that Compile Heart’s JRPG Death End re;Quest 2 is coming west.

The game will be released for PS4 in North America and Europe in 2020.

At the moment, no other platforms have been announced.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, you can read an official description below.

Story

Mai Toyama seeks an escape from her traumatic past. She becomes enrolled at Wordsworth, an all-girl’s dormitory situated in the small, mountainous town known as Le Choara where it was rumored that her sister, Sanae, was last seen. Hopeful, Mai seeks to find her kin, but she soon finds terrifying inhabitants which lurk throughout the town after dark. At night, Le Choara’s streets are filled with Shadow Matter—a horrific group of menacing creatures. Around every cobblestone corner, Mai discovers that her hope of finding her sister lies beneath the long-buried secrets which haunt Le Choara.

Key Features 

Overkill Brings Huge Rewards – The Overkill system is an added feature where characters can stack damage beyond the health of an enemy for bonus experience! Try to inflict as much damage to all the monsters for bigger rewards.

Beware of the Berserker – During dungeon exploration and battle, a faceless, black figure will appear out of nowhere. The figure will also display an area of attack once it appears. Mai and her squad must step away from the Berserker’s area of attack, as it will instantly kill anyone with one single blow. Run away from the Berserker in the dungeon or defeat all the existing monsters in the battlefield to escape!

A while ago, Team Ladybug announced a Record of Lodoss War game, and today we finally get a release date, at least for Early Access on Steam. 

The full title of the game is Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. It was supposed to launch in Early Access last fall, but it didn’t make it. Today we learn that it’s coming on March 13.

The listing on Steam is already available for your wishlisting pleasure.

If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a charming 2D-style pixel art Metroidvania. Team Ladybug is known as quite the masters of the genre, having released Touhou Luna Nights early last year, which enjoys “overwhelmingly positive” user reviews on Valve’s platform.

On top of that, apparently they’re working with Why So Serious?, the creators of Gensokyo Night Festival, which has also been well received. 

You can check out a new trailer below and a gallery of screenshots at the bottom of the post.

Below you can read an official description:

Story

Publisher THQ Nordic has today revealed a new character to feature in its upcoming western real-time tactics game Desperados III. A trailer showcases his lethal abilities, which involves using medical equipment in deadly fashion.

The publisher describes Doc McCoy:

McCoy spent his younger years studying medicine in England. When he finished his studies, he was looking for an adventure and oh boy, he found one. He set sail to the new world, crossed the Atlantic, and set foot on the American shore. There, he was forcibly recruited to fight in the American Civil War.

He fought and worked as a doctor alike, but could not stand the horror and the futility of the war, so he deserted after a year of service and became a gun for hire. Nowadays he’s known in certain circles as someone who gets the job done and doesn’t ask too many questions.

For the uninitiated, Desperados III is a story-driven tactical stealth game set in a ruthless Wild West scenario. It serves as a prequel tale to Desperados: Wanted Dead or Alive. The game tasks players with combining the abilities of five different characters to make their way through each level, choosing either a lethal or non-lethal approach.

You can check out the new trailer featuring Doc McCoy below.

Sonic has changed a lot throughout the years. But instead of permanently changing, Sonic can appear quite differently depending on the medium.

For example, in retro-style games, he’s a little chunky, has 100% more sass, and has black eyes. In modern games though, he has green eyes, is a bit more athletic and talks with a bit more attitude.

Then there’s, of course, the new movie version of Sonic and the Sonics that exist in the dark underground world of memes that we don’t speak of.

They all have their own quirks and personalities. If you’re here we’re assuming you’re down to find out which Sonic do you most align with. Let’s find out, shall we?

Tokyo-based figure manufacturers Souyoku and Soulwing announced during the winter edition of the Hobby Maker Joint Product Exhibition 2020 two new figures from Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout and Azur Lane.

To be more precise, we get the reveal of Jean Bart from Azur Lane and Klaudia Valentz from Atelier Ryza. 

Both figures will be created by SoulWing and produced by Souyoku, and they will come in 1/7 scale.

At the moment, there is no release window and we only have artwork to go by, but we know that Jean Bart will wear the evening dress from her “Uninhibited Bloodstone” skin. 

You can check out the announcements below.

After having been confirmed earlier this month, Metro Exodus finally launched on Steam this week after a year of Epic Game Store exclusivity. Despite the lengthy delay, however, it’s enjoyed impressive commercial success on the storefront, selling 200,000 copies in just five days.

The figures come from the Embracer Group’s Q3 earnings report, which was spotted by PCGamer earlier today. The Embracer Group is the parent company of Metro Exodus’ publisher Deep Silver.

In the report, Embracer’s CEO Lars Wingefors said of the game’s Steam launch:

“I was happy to see it performing well, selling about 200,000 copies already, and it was surprising to see one big country in Asia, the biggest country, buying the product.”

As noted by PCGamer, the “big country” Wingefors is alluding to is likely China, a market that has been particularly lucrative for many publishers of Steam games.

Notably, Metro Exodus’ sudden exclusivity deal for the Epic Game Store, which was announced only very shortly before it was due to launch last year, was among the first incidents to stir controversy amongst PC players. Epic’s aggressive policy of obtaining exclusivity deals has since become a huge talking point in the games industry.

Metro Exodus was one of 2019’s big highlights. Twinfinte reviewed the game and was particularly impressed, concluding:

“The survival horror tropes, linear moments, and emphasis on atmosphere haven’t been lost, but Exodus proves that Metro can be much more than a journey through dark and decaying tunnels.”

The Essential Picks sale has started up today on the PlayStation Store for the PS4, so if you’re on the lookout for some sweet deals, get your wallet ready!

You can check out the full list of titles on sale right here on the PS Blog but if you want to see what the best games on this are, just scroll down to get some highlighted choices from us.

The sale ends on March 3 at 8 am PT so get out there while you can.

The final countdown for Animal Crossing: New Horizons is upon us as we reach this last 30-day stretch –I can almost taste the cherries and smell the salty beach air.

Tom Nook is getting his loan agreements ready, Timmy and Tommy are cleaning up their cute little store to get ready for the new residents of the island, and your neighbors are patiently awaiting your arrival.

If you’ve been holding out on pre-ordering Animal Crossing: New Horizons to wait for the best offers from retailers, then you might want to think twice about pre-ordering from Walmart, because this pre-order bonus isn’t super enticing.

Spotted by the ever-helpful ACPocketNews Twitter account, Walmart is giving customers a small blue tote bag that has Tom Nook’s face on it for all of your carrying needs.

Like I mentioned before, it’s not the most exciting pre-order bonus but if you’re looking for other offers, you can still get yourself a cute bell bag from Best Buy or this adorable journal from Target.

There’s not too much information out there on Animal Crossing: New Horizons just yet, but Nintendo has announced that there will be an Animal Crossing-themed Direct presentation with a 25-minute runtime on Feb. 20 that will go over tons of new info.

A new class of ships has appeared in No Man’s Sky today following a free update across all platforms. Called “living” ships, they appear as strange alien technology unlike anything seen before in the game.

A trailer today showcases them in action, but it’s not actually the first time we’ve seen these strange vessels. Yesterday, Twinfinite reported that No Man’s Sky PC players running the game in Experimental mode had come across them following a recent patch despite the fact that there was no mention of them in the patch notes.

It was puzzling that such a significant addition to the game hadn’t been highlighted in the notes, which instead focused exclusively on hotfixes and performance improvements.

With the free update only a day off being released, perhaps Hello Games was just hoping nobody would discover it before the announcement was officially made?

You can check out the new Living Ships trailer below.

With the recent release of SEGA’s Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle, old and new fans alike have gotten to experience two cult classic hack-and-slash adventure games in stunning 4k at 60 FPS.

This bundle is my first experience with both games, and boy did it ever show me what I was missing when each released a decade ago.

The frenzied action sunk its teeth into me as soon as I started controlling Bayonetta and Sam Gideon in their respective games. Each title takes advantage of combos, time mechanics, and a large number of enemies to make every section feel like a momentous battle.

Nvidia and CD Projekt Red have partnered to bring the upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077 to GeForce Now at launch. Subscribers to Nvidia’s cloud streaming service will be able to download a Steam version of the game the day it is released.

Today’s announcement comes by way of an official staff post over on Nvidia’s forums, which reads:

Hi everyone, happy to share some exciting news: Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on GeForce NOW the day it’s released. GeForce NOW members will be able to grab their copy on Steam and play the game the moment it’s available.

GeForce NOW Founders members can explore the streets of Night City with RTX ON, fully optimized and instantly available, even on your Mac laptop. We’re thrilled to work with CD PROJEKT RED to bring its eagerly-anticipated game to GeForce NOW.

And while you wait, be sure to check out CDPR’s critically acclaimed Witcher series, also available to play through GeForce NOW. We’re PC gamers too, so we’ll be right there with you playing Cyberpunk on Day One. Stay tuned for more news.

For those not up to speed with GeForce Now, it’s a cloud streaming service that allows users to stream their library of PC games from Nvidia’s cloud network. Essentially, it means you’re able to call on the power of Nvidia’s top of range hardware to play games that might otherwise run poorly on your own setup.

GeForce Now membership typically costs $4.99, though there’s a 90-day free trial promotion on currently if you’re interested in trying it out.

Earlier this afternoon, Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club Games announced that they’ll be hosting their own mini Nintendo Direct-type livestream on Twitch and YouTube.

This will be just the second time that the indie developer has put out one of these streamed announcement events. If the first one is anything to go off of, then this Yacht Club Games Presents will be chock full of details on their upcoming projects.

The livestream announcement didn’t give up too much information on what will be discussed in this stream. Fortunately, they gave us a few tidbits that can help us see the direction this is going.

First off, Cyber Shadow will be making an appearance in Yacht Club Games Presents. That one was almost a given since this Ninja Gaiden-inspired new IP is the next big project that we currently know they’re working on.

Slightly more surprising is that they just mention Shovel Knight in general as one of the topics that will be covered in the stream. Currently, the only Shovel Knight project we know of is Dig.

As of right now, it seems like Dig is the only Shovel Knight game they could talk about. We’ll just have to wait and see what else they have planned for their livestream.

Yacht Club Games also promised that there will be some surprises we’ve never seen before. That could be anything from new IPs to new Shovel Knight content. Again, only time will tell.

You can check out the Yacht Club Games Presents stream next week on Feb. 26 at 9 a.m. PST or 12 p.m. EST.

Square Enix is ramping up its promotion for the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but not everything is going as planned. 

An train decorated with the characters from the game nicknamed “Battle Train” created for an event announced a while ago has begun running on the high-traffic Yamanote Line in Tokyo.

Below you can see renders directly from Square Enix and pictures from Twutter users しいか, ♯影羽♯, TakayukiSaito, 智よし@グリーンアップルジンジャー, and ヤテラピ.

Nintendo of America has today announced that Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3’s third DLC pack, which features the Fantastic Four, is set to release next month, March 26.

The news comes by way of an announcement made via Nintendo of America’s various social media channels.

Assemble your Ultimate Team with some heroic new additions. The Fantastic Four will join the alliance to take on the man in the iron mask himself, Doctor Doom, when MARVEL ULTIMATE ALLIANCE 3: The Black Order DLC Pack 3 – Fantastic Four: Shadow of Doom releases on 3/26! #MUA3 pic.twitter.com/2ZZwCdLTEs

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 19, 2020

As you can see from the Tweet, it sounds as though all four members of the crew will be playable, and seemingly the DLC’s main antagonist Doctor Doom too. Nintendo has, of course, already teased an image of Doctor Doom back in January.

Shadow of Doom is the final DLC pack coming to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 DLC packs. The two previous include Curse of the Vampire (Marvel Knights) and Rise of the Phoenix (X-Men), which was revealed during The Game Awards 2019.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is only one month away and if you’re the type of person who loves reading through physical guide books and learning all there is to know about video games, then you will be happy to know that there’s an official companion guide for New Horizons now available for pre-order through Amazon.

The guide is 432 pages long will cost you $29.99. The listing describes the book as a “perfect guide for getting the most out of island life, and the ultimate reference for anyone who insists on having it all.“

There are also some high-quality bookmarks included in the guide book that features character artwork and an online calendar to help you keep track of important events/holidays that may be going on on your deserted island.

Speaking of the island, the listing for this official companion book also confirms that the ever-important Museum will be making a return from previous Animal Crossing games.

The listing reads, “Museum lovers will be in for a treat – as long as you’re willing to be the one providing the exhibits! It’s a hands-on approach to preservation, and every budding naturalist or paleontologist needs a solid reference book to consult. You won’t find a single specimen that’s not covered here.“

For those that are new to the franchise, the museum was a place for players to bring in their fossils, bugs, and fish, so that the museum curator, Blathers, could display them in the appropriate sections for all to see.

Sci-fi thriller Deliver Us The Moon is making its way to PS4 later this spring, April 24, while its Nintendo Switch launch is slated for a summer window.

The announcement was made today by publisher Wired Productions and developer KeokeN Interactive via a new trailer that reveals both its PS4 release date and celebrates the game’s accolades earned following its PC launch last year.

Deliver Us The Moon is now available to pre-order in both Standard and Deluxe Editions. The latter includes the game’s soundtrack and a 100-page digital art book in addition to both physical and digital versions of the game.

Released in October 2019, Deliver Us The Moon earned acclaim for its atmospheric setting and interesting story. In December 2019, the game was upgraded to support real-time ray tracing making it one of the first independent titles to utilize the technology alongside the latest version of Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) technology.

You can check out today’s new accolades trailer below.

Deliver Us The Moon is out now on Steam and GOG.com for Windows PC and will release for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on April 24 2020. 

Sony has canceled its participation of Pax East 2020 just a week before the show kicks off, citing fears over the spread of the Coronavirus COVID-19. The news comes by way of Sony’s content communications manager Justin Massongill, who explained the decision over on the PS Blog earlier today.

Massongill explains that while the company regretted the action but felt it necessary to protect “the health and safety [of its] global workforce” first and foremost.

COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, earlier this year and has since spread to become a global health issue. While less deadly on a case-by-case basis than other respiratory diseases in recent years such as SARS, studies suggest it may be more contagious.

While Sony is pulling out, the rest of Pax East 2020 will still proceed as planned.

For those looking forward to going hands-on with the anticipated The Last of Us Part II, which was confirmed as one of the show’s big highlights last week, they’ll be pleased to know the opportunity will still be available.

There are a number of other PlayStation games playable over at the PlayStation experience, too. Massongill reminds attendees of the location and content:

“Want to play The Last of Us Part II? You can! Just stop by booth #10047 to be among the first to go hands-on with Naughty Dog’s masterpiece in the making. You can also experience MediaMolecule’s Dreams at booth #18003, then you can find us at booths #14047 and #12047 to experience other upcoming must-play titles like Marvel’s Iron Man VR, Nioh 2, Doom Eternal, Spelunky 2, and more.”

Right before the weekend, the English version of Dragon Quest Your Story landed on Netflix. Given the film industry’s recent epiphany that movie adaptations of video games can be good —or at least decent— I gave the Dragon Quest movie a shot. While I mostly enjoyed the film, the ending simultaneously fixed the movie’s problems but almost undid the goodwill it had built up.

Spoiler warning from here on.

At first glance, Dragon Quest Your Story is an adaptation of Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride. A man’s wife is kidnapped by an evil bishop and the man takes his son on a quest to rescue his wife and stop the bishop’s organization from summoning an evil demon.

Along the way, the man and son gather a fellowship of warriors and wizards, and the man is eventually killed. His son continues his quest, later marries, and has children of his own. Finally, the family and their allies band together to defeat the bishop, his organization, and the demon.

However, Dragon Quest Your Story takes some liberties. It cuts out a good chunk of the story and playable characters —including one of the protagonist’s children. Then the movie drops a huge plot twist bomb at the end and reveals this particular retelling is actually a VR game. Feel free to make comparisons to Roy: A Life Well Lived from Rick and Morty; I sure did.

Sea of Thieves’ Crews of Rage update is live, and Rare has released a new launch video detailing everything players can expect to see from it.

Streamed via the official Sea of Thieves YouTube channel, the video details some of the new features and activities the update offers. On the new content front, players can find new bounties from Duke which will send them out in search of new bounty targets and the Chest of Rage, which burns with the anger of dead pirates’ souls trapped within.

Sea of Thieves players will need to keep the chest cool as they transport it to the highest bidder, dropping it in the sea or dousing it in water with a bucket. If they don’t, the chest will let out an explosive wave of flame, burning ship and crew members alike to ash.

There’s also a new opportunity for challenge and adventure through the Molten Sands Fortress. Ashen Skeletons have gathered there for an unknown purpose, and it’s up to players to stop them and plunder their fortress for everything it’s worth.

Players can likewise now find Sea of Thieves’ final five Ashen Tomes, which will grant them the ability to deck their ship out with special Ashen Cosmetics.

Speaking of which: There are a slew of new cosmetics for players to unlock or purchase from the Black Market. Some, like the Deep Ocean Crawler cosmetics, give players and their crew a style perfect for flexing on others in multiplayer.

Others, like the Reaper’s Heart cosmetics, grant players a more fiendish vibe to their appearance and weapons, and even grant their pets an air of dark magic given form.

Should Sea of Thieves players want something less scary to dress their pets up in though, they can find a slew of new pet outfits available as well.

Today’s issue of Weekly Famitsu included an interview to PlatinumGames’ Hideki Kamya and Atsushi Inaba focusing on the Bayonetta & Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle, but they had some additional teases to share.

First of all, we hear that PlatinumGames will make an announcement next week on Famitsu itself. The new issue will release on February 27.

Secondly, Kamiya-san acknowledged that it has been a while since the latest reveal of Bayonetta 3, and he hears voices on social media from fans who are anxious about it.

He mentioned that development is proceeding smoothly, and that there is various information hidden in the trailer released in 2017.

Kamiya-san hopes that fans can wait for the next reveal while trying to read a variety of things in that trailer.

It’s worth mentioning that the announcement coming next week is likely unrelated to Bayonetta. The wording on Famitsu clearly indicates that it’s an announcement from PlatinumGames, while reveals about Bayonetta 3 are likely to come from Nintendo.

This is likely related to the three unannounced new project that PlatinumGames has been teasing, which will likely be self-published.

We’ll probably know more with next week’s panel at PAX East, with Kamiya-san and Inaba-san in attendance.

If you really enjoyed the music from The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, then this newly announced Japanese soundtrack might blow your socks off. This soundtrack collection for Link’s Awakening features over 200 tracks that are combined from the classic Game Boy title and the remake that came out on the Switch last year.

It comes with four different physical CDs with two of them featuring music from the remake of Link’s Awakening and the other two featuring music from the Game Boy version with artwork depicting their respective games.

It’s going to be released in Japan on March 18, 2020, and you can pre-order it now from Amazon Japan for 4950 yen, which is about $45 USD (and yes, it ships worldwide).

You can check out some of the photos down below that shows off exactly what comes packed with the soundtracks:

The ATLUS West YouTube channel just dropped a new English trailer for Persona 5 Royal, and in it, Morgana gives us a few details on a number of new and returning features that players can expect to see this time around.

Morgana is joined by new Phantom Thief, Kasumi, as he gives her (and the audience) a crash course on what’s to come. He covers a number of topics as the trailer shows them off in-game, including the following:

• What is a Persona?
• New foes/New Persona
• What does a Phantom Thief do? 
• New puzzles in Palaces
• Grappling hook feature
• Jose/Mementos 
• New confidants/Maruki 
• New locations: Kichijoji
• Thieves Den

Some of what Morgana explains in the trailer will be old news to those who already completed Persona 5, but the new confidants, locations, and activities are a few of the major differences found in Royal.

Jose is a new character who provides additional activities for the Phantom Thieves in Mementos, while Dr. Maruki is a new staff member and confidant at Shujin Academy that needs help with his research. That sounds pretty similar to Dr. Takemi’s situation, but we’ll have to wait to see more.

As for new locations, both Kichijoji and the Thieves Den were on display in this detailed Persona 5 Royal trailer. Kichijoji is a large area that contains enough activities, both day and night, for Morgana to even let you stay up late to experience them all. Thank goodness.

One week ago, Square Enix teased the Final Fantasy VII Remake’s first three summons: Chocobo Chick, Carbuncle, and Cactuar. None of these summons appeared in the original game, even though the latter two are iconic to the Final Fantasy franchise. Now, Square Enix is ready to reveal what these creatures are made of, as well as use them as pre-order bonuses.

The Square Enix Twitter account was recently updated with short snippets of each summon and their abilities. Also, turns out each creature is a piece of DLC.

The first summon, the Chocobo Chick, just floats around, occasionally summoning lightning and creating explosions.

Today Bandai Namco released a new trailer of its upcoming anime soccer game Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions.

The trailer showcases the Tsubasa Episode mode, which is basically the story mode of the game. 

This mode includes the middle school arc from the original anime, featuring some of the most iconic matches that have basically forged the childhood of many in my generation. 

Depending on the score and on what’s going on during a match, certain cutscenes may trigger, some reproducing the original story, while other completely original.

We also see many familiar characters and their special shoots. Basically, this is as epic as it can be.

You can watch it below.

You may not be familiar with the franchise, as its popularity varies a lot from region to region. 

While in North America the original Captain Tsubasa anime never rose to similar prominence, I don’t think I’m exaggerating by arguing that in many European and Latin American countries (and of course, Japan) almost every kid grown up in the past forty years knows about it. 

In the countries where it has been airing regularly on TV for decases, Captain Tsubasa is an absolute legend, and likely one of the most well-known and loved anime of all time. 

A sequel to last year’s Dangerous Driving has been revealed by Three Fields Entertainment, the UK based studio made up of ex-Burnout developers.

Announced in a press-release and reported by Eurogamer, the game is set to release in “Holiday 2020” and will come to Switch this time around, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Talking about what players can expect from the sequel, Three Fields said:

“Dangerous Driving 2 is the arcade racer for everyone, featuring slick driving that rewards racing fans wanting to test their lightning reflexes at eye watering speeds.

Set within a dynamic open world, players can choose how they want to race, either by competing in a host of thrilling events against AI opponents or going for a cruise in freedrive mode and testing the limits of the game’s emergent crash mechanics with huge multi-vehicle pile-ups.”

Three Fields also noted on their website that it will feature splitscreen multiplayer, which is something we’ve missed from modern racing games, and online will be available day one.

The open-world design is a big change for the series, which focused on crashes and individual events in the first game. In our review, we said that “Dangerous Driving is undeniably fun. Taking out other racers at 200mph always will be insanely enjoyable and Three Fields has taken full advantage of Burnout nostalgia.”

One of Final Fantasy XIV‘s biggest problems –or one of the biggest problems for pretty much any modern MMORPG, really– is that its main story constantly tries to sell you on the idea that you’re the main hero, the chosen one. After all, your character is called the Warrior of Light in FFXIV, and you’re seen as the champion of Eorzea.

That whole idea completely falls apart when you load into the game proper and remember, oh right, I’m playing an MMORPG, and this is a game with millions of other players experiencing the same story as you. You see them running around the game world, doing the same quests, saving the same world, and it won’t be long until you start to wonder, “Wait a minute. Wasn’t I supposed to be the chosen one?”

Playing an MMO like FFXIV requires a certain degree of suspension of disbelief, and if you can do that, the game rewards you with one of the greatest stories we’ve ever seen in the Final Fantasy series.

With the recently released patch 5.2, however, Square Enix takes the story in a slightly unprecedented direction and introduces a new twist that I didn’t see coming.

When the remaining Ascian, Elidibus, finally reveals himself to the Scions, it becomes clear that his plan is to awaken more Warriors of Light in the First. He does this by conjuring a starfall, then using that to trigger the innate Echo within the citizens of the First, allowing them to hear the voice of Hydaelyn so that they can all become Warriors of Light.

Why exactly does Elidibus want to summon more Warriors of Light? Your guess is as good as mine, but the results are pretty amusing nonetheless.

Today, Experiment 101 –the studio behind Biomutant, the upcoming action role-playing game– has released a statement to fans via its Twitter account to state how the development of the game is going. The studio promises that the game is still in development and that a release date will be revealed as soon as “everyone at our studio feels confident.”

You can read the full statement down below from Experiment 101:

We know many of you are wondering if the game is still in development. Let us assure you that we’ve never been working harder and more focused on it than now!

We are doing everything we can to make the best game all of us have ever worked on and that it will be as entertaining and great as we can possibly make it.

We can only hope for your continued support and patience as we complete the final stages of its development. As some of you might understand or know, the work involved in finishing a game is long, challenging and unpredictable. The sheer magnitude, size, and length of Biomutant adds to said effort.

We will reveal the release date as soon as everyone at our studio feels confident about hitting that date and that the game is ready for it. Again, thank you for your understanding and for your continued support and enthusiasm for our game.

From us at Experiment 101.

Biomutant was revealed back in 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One is being published by THQ Nordic, but since its initial unveiling, the studio has been pretty quiet on the title, with Biomutant totally going AWOL in 2019 with no big showing besides a gameplay demo at Gamescom.

The teaser train just won’t stop ahead of Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2’s release tomorrow, with Epic Games releasing yet another tweet, this time confirming the involvement of Agent Mewosicles in the new season, as well as a Midas Touch… or an emphasis on gold.

The tweet, which can be seen below, has a number of things to note. The first is the obvious ‘Nine Lives’ on the right of the image.

This is likely in relation to the Agent Meowsicles character that was seemingly hinted at in datamined files a few weeks ago. There’s a possibility that Agent Meowskers is going to be a new skin in the current season, but the character may have a larger part to play in the story that remains to be seen.

Epic Games has been teasing Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 on Twitter for the past couple of days, and the most recent teases seem to all be about explosives. The most recent suggesting some sort of aerial bombs may be coming to the game.

The first tease dropped earlier yesterday, when an image surfaced on Twitter with a stick of dynamite in the center.

Following that, we got a more blurry image depicting what looked like some sort of container with a bunch of golden shards surrounding it.

However, the more recent teases also from the official Fortnite Twitter account seem to suggest dynamite definitely won’t be the only explosive being added to the arsenal in Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2.

As seen in the tweet below, it appears as though we’ll be getting some sort of bomb. It appears as though we’ll be dropping these from above, just because of the shape and design of the bomb shown in the teaser.

Today Akatsuki and Too Kyo Games announced a brand new game titled Tribe Nine. 

The game is being developed in collaboration between Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka and Akatsuki’s Shuuhei Yamaguchi, creator of the mobile game August Cinderella Nine.

With the announcement, we also get a “concept” trailer, in which the character design by Danganronpa artist Rui Komatsuzaki really shines. 

Considering that it’s a concept, we can probably expect this project to be close to the beginning of its development.

At the moment, there is no further information about the game, and we don’t know for which platforms it’ll launch. 

In the meanwhile, you can watch the concept trailer below, and bask in all its neon-colored glory. 

This seems to be a very active period for Too Kyo Games, with Death March Club in the pipeline on top of the full-motion video game Death Come True.

Square Enix has released new details about Kingdom Hearts Dark Road, and what precisely the game entails.

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is about the origins of Master Xehanort and how he worked his way to becoming the Dark Seeker he is today, which makes for a good prequel, but the game has been revealed to be a prequel within a prequel. In other words, it has been connected to Kingdom Hearts Union χ.

While Dark Road is a new game on its own, it will available within the Union χ app to launch from the main game’s title screen, so you can play it without even touching the main game. The difference is that Dark Road will be replacing the Medal system used in Union χ and bring the Card system out of the woodwork of Chain of Memories, making the player rely on quick reflexes.

Humble Bundle offers a slew of strategic digital board and card games, including the roguelike card battler Slay the Spire, in its latest bundle.

The Humble Digital Tabletop Bundle 2 features the digital tabletop game Gremlins, Inc., the swiping monarch simulator Reigns, and its sequel Reigns: Her Majesty for the first tier available by spending $1 or more for Steam keys.

The second tier adds more games by paying more than the average, which is currently hovering near $7. The tier includes Terraforming Mars, board game and RPG Armello, and the turn-based roguelike For the King and its five expansions.

The last tier includes all of the games above and Slay the Spire for paying $10 or more. Considering the game retails for $24.99 on Steam, it is quite a discount.

Buying the bundle also gives a coupon for 10% off the first month of Humble Choice, the company’s monthly subscription service. It is a rebranding of its Humble Monthly program. The Humble Choice lineup for the month of February includes Frostpunk, Okami HD, Pathfinder Kingmaker Explorer Edition and more.

The post Humble Bundle Offers Slay the Spire and Tabletop Games in Latest Bundle appeared first on Twinfinite.

Even though Apex Legends is free to download, both Lifeline and Bloodhound have already gotten their own themed editions with price tags on them. Now, it’s Octane’s turn to receive his own edition of Apex Legends, complete with various incentives for purchase.

The Lifeline and Bloodhound editions of the game came with new skins, badges, and Apex Coins for a price. The Octane Edition is more of the same. Octane fans rejoice, because it’ll provide you with the following:

• Legendary Arachnoid Rush Octane skin
• Legendary Arachnoid Charge Rifle skin
• Exclusive Violet Widow Gun Charm
• Exclusive Venomous Badge
• 1,000 Apex Coins

The price is set at $19.99, so this one’s definitely for those diehard Octane mains who haven’t jumped ship to Revenant after the start of Apex Legends Season 4 a few weeks ago.