Read more...

THQ Nordic has announced another delay to its reimagining of 1992's Alone in the Dark.

The game was originally meant to release on 25th October, but was delayed to 16th January 2024 to avoid a month of "remarkable releases" including Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Alone in the Dark is now set to launch on 20th March 2024. In its press release, THQ Nordic said the decision to delay the game was to "avoid any potential crunch over the Christmas holidays".

Read more

Despite a tumultuous development period, the action-RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink is close to release and going hands-on with it is encouraging. Featuring a story independent from the wildly popular mobile game, players assume the role of Gran or Djeeta as they explore several floating continents and seek to uncover the mystery behind Lyria's broken link to the Primal Astrals.

Don't worry if reading that didn't make a lot of sense, as Relink actually has an in-game primer that will help players who've never touched Granblue Fantasy get up to speed. Which makes this game approachable to action-RPG players, as well as fans of the mobile game due to its varying difficulty modes and ability to grind out levels. Yes, this game is pretty much for everyone, but the portion I played made it feel as if that doesn't come at the expensive of its core experience.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a gorgeous game. Environments are bursting with color and character models feature texture work that makes them look very similar to their illustrated counterparts in Granblue Fantasy. Each environment has a unique feeling to it; verdant forests are awash in deep greens with streams of light filtering between branches, and mining settlements are appropriately dark and set with moody, atmospheric lighting. The town of Folca is especially gorgeous, with all the trappings of a quintessential fantasy village, tavern, blacksmith, and all, and is full of NPCs that wander the locale to make it seem incredibly lively and lived-in.

Baldur's Gate 3's newest patch is the latest to address not just bug fixes or the occasional glitchy animation, but to bring in new additions to the game in response to popular demand. Along with both a customisable difficulty setting and a bragging-rights, one-save-file only mode, the update brings with it new epilogues to see off the characters you've spent so long getting to know. With the vast majority of players rolling an original character - rather than playing as one your companions, as is the recommended choice in Larian's previous game, Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Baldur's Gate 3 has earned a fan base that's deeply attached to their characters, and its new endings are emblematic of how Larian intend to interact with them.

When I first played it back in the summer, the game's ending was the culmination of an act that couldn't quite live up to the rest of its promise. After tens of hours of role-playing a character and their companions in a complex and reactive world, interesting choices dwindled - or at least the ones that weren't about the best way to approach a combat scenario. My companions fell quiet, and suddenly the biggest, most dramatic choices of the entire game - which will be impossible not to spoil, so consider that a big spoiler warning for Baldur's Gate 3 endings in itself - felt arbitrary.

At the climax of the game, you discover that only a mindflayer can successfully wield the netherstones you've fought to gather and overwhelm the netherbrain. Immediately, your choice appears to be either trust your dubious ally, the Emperor, with them, or become a mindflayer yourself, the very fate you set off in the first place to avoid. A sacrifice, or a leap of faith.

This door on the RPS Advent Calendar is in fact not a door, but a portal. It could go anywhere - including nostalgia land.

Read more

Nintendo has cancelled the Nintendo Live Tokyo 2024 event planned to run in January due to safety fears, following threats to staff and visitors.

A Splatoon esports event due to be held next weekend has also been postponed, and the game's World Championship 2024 has been delayed until further notice.

Nintendo has not detailed the exact nature of these safety concerns, other than a statement released via X, formerly Twitter, that noted it had received "persistent threats targeting our employees" which had recently also "spread to spectators" at the upcoming Splatoon event.

Read more

Back in September, Nintendo revealed that the Kingdom Hearts "Sora" Amiibo for the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate line was coming sometime next year. Now, Nintendo has revealed exactly when: February 16, 2024. 

Nintendo revealed the release date late last night, on December 6, with a short video on Twitter showcasing the Amiibo. As expected, it adopts the look of Sora in the first Kingdom Hearts – a fan-favorite – with his trademark smile and keyblade hoisted over the shoulder. 

Check out the Sora Amiibo teaser for yourself below: 

The #SmashBros #amiibo of Sora will be released on 2/16/2024! #KingdomHearts pic.twitter.com/y3zdbaLplz

The second season of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation will air in 2025, it has now been confirmed.

As part of a new sizzle reel showcasing HBO's upcoming slate of shows and original series, the company shared a little teaser for what fans can expect in 2025. Along with White Lotus and Euphoria, The Last of Us also showed up here.

In a clever little bit of editing, the clips shown for the series show Bella Ramsey's Ellie from season one stating: "We finish what we started." There is also a clicker in there, because of course.

Read more

Remember when Fortnite was just about building? Before its celebrity cameos, its attention-grabbing live events, before you could play battle royale in Zero Build, and before the game let users make up their own endless variety of modes. Fortnite was a simpler game - you constructed a base, defended it from enemies. And in some ways, today's big launch of Lego Fortnite feels a return to those simpler times.

Where the original Fortnite Save The World mode was a tower defense title, Lego Fortnite - in its current iteration at least - borrows mostly from Minecraft. You chop down trees and mine rocks for Lego resources, which can be crafted into Lego pickaxes, swords, or Lego building chunks. Said chunks - clusters of Lego bricks arranged into archways or staircases, campfires or even full buildings - can then be used to construct your own settlements. Finally, over time, you can grow and level up these settlements to welcome in a group of friendly characters, who can be assigned some of the more menial jobs such as farming and harvesting.

All of this plays out in a world which looks similar enough to Fortnite itself - its fresh Unreal Engine 5-powered iteration, that is, not last month's Fortnite OG - where Lego characters and monsters roam. UE5 means your constructions are as permanent (or destructible) as you make them - able to be edited, customised, or blown to smithereens in impressive style - individual Lego elements tumbling away in remarkably believable fashion.

Read more

Destiny 2 developer Bungie are staring down the barrel of a full Sony takeover if forthcoming expansion The Final Shape doesn’t meet sales expectations, according to several anonymous current and former employees. The same sources also claim that the studio are prepared to cut staff again to meet their financial obligations as a Sony subsidiary, having laid off a significant proportion of their workforce in November.

Read more

The Among Us beans are infiltrating Vampire Survivors in a new Emergency Meeting DLC out on 18th December for PC and Xbox.

Vampire Survivors developer poncle announced the collaboration DLC with fellow indie developer Innersloth yesterday along with a trailer showing off what it adds.

Emergency Meeting contains nine characters, 15 weapons, a new Among Us -inspired stage, 20 in-game unlocks, and the ability to see the future, according to poncle. Take a look at the trailer below.

Read more

I have said it before and I will say it again, Jack Black is the gift that keeps on giving.

In the performer's latest TikTok video, Black has once again dressed up as Bowser, whom he voiced for the Super Mario Bros. Movie. That in itself is enough to make me smile anyway, but there is more.

You see, he has also taken this opportunity to serenade us with a catchy remix of the film's hit song, Peaches.

Read more

I find myself agreeing with Ed’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review so closely that we may as well have plugged our USB dreadlocks into the same magic tree. This is indeed an extremely Ubisoft game, with all the busywork and go-here-shoot-that roteness that entails, and although it throws some genuinely gorgeous visuals into the bargain, these also come at the cost of steep hardware requirements.

That said, good performance ain’t out of the question, at least not for modern CPUs and graphics cards. It will just take some digging through the graphics menus – digging that I’ve now completed, so join me as my blackened fingers bash out a convenient guide to Frontiers of Pandora’s PC performance and best settings.

Read more

Feral Cat Den and Fellow Traveller have announced Nirvana Noir, a follow-up to cosmic philosophical jazz-me-whatsit Genesis Noir. Revealed as part of yesterday's Day of the Devs showcase, the game continues the adventures of spacey watchmaker No Man, who must solve mysteries that span two parallel realities, Black Rapture and Constant Testament. In Black Rapture, the Big Bang never happened. I feel 'universe in which the universe never began' is an... unpromising choice for a setting, but I am not an astrophysician, nor very much of a magic-realist, and I know eff-all about jazz. Here's the trailer.

Read more

“Moebius built a world that doesn’t exist, but you can understand it. It’s a realist world. A world you can relate you, but it’s not your world,” says Edouard Caplain, art director for Jusant, the meditative tower climbing adventure that is Life Is Strange studio Don’t Nod’s latest game. Moebius was the pseudonym of French artist Jean Giraud, and whose surreal sci-fi and fantasy landscapes, with washes of contrasting colour and impossibly huge structures of soaring rock, have influenced games for years. You can certainly see that influence in Jusant, too: a world you can understand, though it's quite unlike your own.

RPS slapped on the coveted Bestest Best sticker when reviewing it a few weeks back, calling it “a show don’t tell masterpiece”. A sentiment I can get behind as a long-standing proponent of silent games ever since the Evil Within 2 insisted on puncturing its creepy baroque ambience with consistently stupid dialogue. Jusant comes from a team that know how to write a conversation, though. So why the change of pace this time around?

Read more

Nintendo revealed that the Super Smash Bros Ultimate Kingdom Hearts Sora amiibo release date is February 16, 2024. This figure will be the final Amiibo for the DLC Fighter Pack that will be released for the highly-acclaimed Nintendo Switch game.

Pre-orders for the Sora Amiibo are currently not open at retailers, although the listing for the product is up on Amazon Japan and was previously available to pre-order in November 2023. This amiibo costs ¥2,116 (~$14 USD) in Japan. It is anticipated that pre-orders will begin soon for the amiibo worldwide.

The SSBU Sora Amiibo was originally announced as being in production on September 14, 2023 during the September 2023 Nintendo Direct. The final DLC Fighter Pack Amiibo was announced alongside Noah and Mio Amiibos from Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

The release date for Season 3 of the new Blue Exorcist anime series was announced. Blue Exorcist: Shimane Illuminati Saga will premiere in Japan on January 7, 2024. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

New episodes of the anime will appear every Saturday. The latest teaser trailer for the new season appeared on September 2023, and it teased a January 2024 release date. The new Blue Exorcist anime series was originally announced back in December 2022

This new season of the Blue Exorcist anime marks the return of the anime seven years after the previous season aired. The original Blue Exorcist anime series premiered in April 2011. Meanwhile, the second season of the anime series appeared on January 2017, and it was titled Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga.

Nintendo and Family Mart announced that new Animal Crossing: New Horizons themed merchandise goods and a snack will appear at convenience stores throughout Japan. The new campaign and goods will be available starting in December 26, 2023. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

Approximately 14,000 stores nationwide will hold the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons campaign. The snack available as part of it is an Island Apple Danish pastry, inspired by the apple trees that appear in some of the islands in the game. It will cost 158 yen (or about $1).

Meanwhile, the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons merchandise goods available at Family Mart will be everyday utility items. Here is the full lineup of goods, and its prices:

• BOOK Tumbler Glass (Brewster Variant) – 2,959 yen (~$20)
• BOOK Tumbler Glass (Villagers Variant) – 2,959 yen (~$20)
• BOOK Dodo Airlines Multi Case – 2,519 yen (~$17)
• BOOK Dodo Airlines Big Travel Poach – 2,849 yen (~$19)

In a Famitsu interview about the upcoming Atelier Resleriana, Gust Head and Producer Junzo Hosoi said that the team has fully planned out the end of the story. He also said that they will be able to show it to players when the time comes. [Thanks, ryokutya2089!]

In the upcoming Famitsu interview shared by leaker ryokutya2089, Hosoi explained that while development of the story is still in its early stages, the developers have a tight plan for it.

Since Atelier Resleriana is both a live-service mobile game and a main entry in the Atelier series, these words are intended to reassure players that they will be able to witness a proper ending to the story, regardless of when service ends.

In regards to the pacing of events, Akatsuki Games Producer Shuhei Yamaguchi shared that starting in January 2024, the development team will update the game three times per month to allow for more breathing room between events. In addition, the developers are also considering a way to allow players to obtain limited-time characters and Memoria more than once.

Day of the Devs does know how to put on a good show, and its latest indie games spotlight - officially a special The Game Awards edition - was another winner, bringing release dates for the long-awaited likes of Open Roads and Flock, plus a bunch of other reveals. We got a psychedelic sequel to 2021's acclaimed jazz adventure Genesis Noir, the second entry in Digital Eclipse's stellar Golden Master Series - this time focusing on the legendary Jeff Minter - plus a load of weirdness, from landlord witches to callcentre horror, to enjoy. And if you missed the showcase live (which is still worth watching, seeing as some of the footage included hasn't yet been published as standalone trailers), you can see everything you missed below.

Yes, the big policeman game is back for another showing and it continues to look wonderfully, beautifully weird. The gist, if you're unfamiliar with developer Tall Boys' Militsioner, is that you're trying to find a way to catch a train and escape the city, all while trying to not rouse the suspicions of the aforementioned massive law enforcement officer looming in the sky. The city has a routine, with people, trains, and even the policeman all operating on their own schedule that you'll need to work with if you're going to escape (perhaps triggering a car alarm at night to wake the slumbering policeman so he falls asleep during the day), and you can also befriend the locals using a Tamagotchi-style mood system. Militsioner doesn't have a release date yet (you can wishlist it on Steam though), but I'm watching this one closely.

Megahobby opened up pre-orders for the Look Up figures of Asuka and Rei from Evangelion. You’ll be able to pre-order them from Premium Bandai but as a note, it does not offer international shipping and you cannot even view their site unless you’re in Japan.

Both figures cost 9,240 JPY ($62.75) together. They’ll also come with little cushions that you can sit them on. The Rei cushion is blue and the Asuka cushion is red. Pre-orders opened on December 7, 2023 and the figures will ship out some time in June 2024. Again, as a reminder, if you want to purchase these but live outside of Japan, you’ll have to either ask your local hobby shop if it plans on importing them or you’ll need to use a proxy service.

Here are some more pictures of the Evangelion Rei and Asuka Look Up figures:

We're drawing ever closer to when the Urusei Yatsura anime will come back with season 2. It’ll start airing from January 2024, and you'll be able to catch it every Thursday from 12:55am in Japan. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

There is no news as of yet in regards to a specific start date. However, since it will start on Thursdays, there’s a chance that it’ll start airing on either January 4 or 11, 2024. About a month ago, the Fuji TV uploaded a special trailer for Urusei Yatsura season 2. This trailer focused mostly on the main characters.

You can watch the season 2 trailer here:

In this exclusive cover story video, Game Informer sits down with Massive Entertainment's senior leadership – Ditte Deenfeldt, Drew Rechner, Anne Reid, and Chella Ramanan – to discuss the making of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which releases this week. Read our review of the open-world adventure right here.

The Making Of Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora:

In a short interview on the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio YouTube channel, Kson described what it was like to appear as Kei in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. It also briefly showed some behind-the-scenes content of Kson voice acting and modeling for the face capture.

You can watch the interview here:

The interview is entirely in Japanese. Kson stated that she thought the role was perfect for her to the point that she jokingly suspected the writers wrote Kei with her in mind. She also stated that the studio staff praised her on her pronunciation during voice recording. Kson voiced Kei in both the English and Japanese version of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. She found it easier to voice act in Japanese. 

Square Enix shared new Final Fantasy VII Rebirth information and screenshots featuring Priscilla, a resident of Under Junon that likes to befriend dolphins. The new character design and screenshot was also compared with images of the original Final Fantasy VII.

Here is the original Final Fantasy VII image. It depicts Priscilla inside her house in Under Junon, with Cloud on the entrance. Priscilla is wearing a yellow too and red pants, with a green hair accessory.

And here is the new Priscilla screenshot from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The screenshot shows that Priscilla retains the same design and outfit, but now includes more detail in her clothing, and even preserves the green hair accessory from the original. In addition, Priscilla is now seen wearing a seashell necklace.

The 2023 Game Awards are happening on December 7. And to celebrate a night of mostly trailers, ads, and celebrities with maybe (if we’re lucky) a few awards tossed in, Steam and The Game Awards have teamed up for a big sales event discounting some of the best games of the last decade.

Read more...

Moonstone Island will be receiving a round of winter themed DLC and an update just in time for Christmas. These new additions include some free content along with a paid decoration pack will be releasing on December 13, 2023.

The free content for the Moonstone Island winter DLC includes festive decorations and a selection of new Ice Spirits, including a polar bear in a huge jumper and a penguin on a snowboard. Their names have not been revealed yet. In addition, a new infinite dungeon will be included, called the Infinidungeon. Two major tweaks will also be made to the game, including the ability to fast travel using a new Warp Totem item and the ability to save Spirits to the Science Center, allowing you to keep them even without a Spirit Barn.

The paid DLC, called December Lovely Cozies, will feature a range of new decorations for Moonstone Island. These include snowmen, which the developers at Supersoft have named Snowmelia and Frostopher, along with a Snowman House. Other items will include a snowboard, fuzzy rug and icicles. This DLC will be available for $3.99 and there will be a 15% discount for its first week.

While the Batman: Arkham Trilogy may be something of a dumpster fire on Nintendo Switch, folks playing the superhero adventure games via the handheld-console hybrid found one redeeming element: a touching tribute to legendary Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy.

Read more...

Atlus shared new insights from Persona 3 Reload character designer Azusa Shimada about the new battle outfit for Yukari. Her new outfit is designed to reinforce the idea of Yukari being both a fashionable person and a cool fighter.

The A-line silhouette of her new jacket is intended to reinforce her aesthetic as an archer, explained Azusa. Furthermore, she wears her jacket in a casual manner, and pairs it with widely visible neck and chest accessories to emphasize the idea that she’s a fashion-conscious person.

Azusa also said that he wanted to make her combat equipment, bow, and quiver look heavy. The reasoning behind this is so that she would convey the feeling of being a cool fighter, as much as she is cute and fashionable. In a similar fashion, Yukari’s jacket is designed to flutter and move when she casts Wind elemental spells.

You can take a better look at the new Persona 3 Reload combat outfit for Yukari, and original Japanese commentary on it here:

Influential British developer Jeff Minter, whose four-decade career spans the likes of Tempest 2000, Polybius, Space Giraffe and Revenge of the Mutant Camels, will be the focus of the next interactive documentary from the folks behind the roundly excellent Making of Karateka and Atari 50.

Read more

The VR version of Lego Bricktales is a perfect example of a game working better on a new platform than its original one. While I enjoyed playing it on a PS5, getting to actually zoom in on dioramas and build on virtual tables in my lap or on my coffee table is far more intuitive and fun. 

We’re an observer in Lego Bricktales VR. We watch from above as a young individual reunites with his grandfather to help restore a dilapidated amusement park. How? They work alongside a robot named Rusty that was rehabbed by aliens and go through portals to other areas to assist people in need. In so doing, they earn the Happiness Crystals necessary to clean up the place, get the mayor off Grandpa’s back, and potentially make even more people happy.

Mech-farming sim Lightyear Frontier has confirmed its release for next March, landing around a year after the delayed chill space game was originally meant to touch down on Planet PC.

Read more

Open Roads, the narrative adventure game starring Keri Russell (The Americans, Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of Skywalker) and Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End), finally has a release date, nearly three years after its initial reveal at The Game Awards 2020. It hits consoles and PC on February 22, 2024. 

Publisher Annapurna Interactive announced this release date today with a new trailer that features Russell talking about the game. Check out the Open Roads release date trailer for yourself below: 

Earlier this week, Rockstar Games released the long-awaited first trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, the massive sequel to 2013's GTA 5. And while the trailer itself is quickly racking up millions of views every hour, the Tom Petty song featured in it is also doing pretty dang well, too.

Read more...

Employees at Destiny 2 developer Bungie have said they feel anxious about their current status at the company, following layoffs earlier this year.

As you may recall, layoffs were first reported at the developer in October. At this time, studio CEO Pete Parsons publicly commented on the cuts, calling it "a sad day". Around 100 employees were said to be affected.

Now, in a new report by IGN, many remaining at the company have said the studio is implementing a variety of other cost-cutting measures across the board, in order to remain an independent subsidiary within Sony (which acquired the developer in 2022). There is concern among staff that Bungie may lose its independence within Sony should Destiny 2 fail to meet financial goals.

Read more

Cyberpunk 2077 is in a pretty good spot these days. After a dumpster fire of a launch, the next-gen update, 2.0 patch, and Phantom Liberty expansion have gotten CD Projekt Red’s open-world RPG to a respectable state. The 2.1 patch that launched this week adds a nice little bow to the game as its “last big update.” It…

Read more...

Poncle announced that there will be a Vampire Survivors Among Us DLC pack called Emergency Meeting. It will debut on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on December 18, 2023 for $2.49/€2.49/£1.99, followed by a PC and mobile one.

As suggested by the name, all of the new content will be based on Among Us. This means there will be nine playable characters based on crewmates. Songs from the game will appear. So will 15 weapons inspired by the game and its kills. This also means the new characters and old ones can visit a Polus Replica-inspired map to uncover its secrets and face its enemies.

Here’s the full trailer for the Vampire Survivors Emergency Meeting DLC. It begins with an animated segment featuring some of the various playable characters we’ve already seen in the game. While facing a boss, they are teleported to another area. This is Polus, and the crewmates then appear before them. The animation then continues with a brief clip of gameplay footage suggesting some of the crewmate playable characters could be a ghost and an imposter.

Baldur's Gate 3 is pretty popular, it turns out. So popular that more collective human time has been spent chatting up hot vampires, shagging bears and being turned into sentient cheese than human civilisation has existed for.

Read more

The first Usada Pekora “Usagi the Megami” concert aired, and it turns out it included guest stars like Houshou Marine and Shiranui Flare. The full set list was revealed, merchandise is available, and the archived stream is on the way.

First, here’s the full Usada Pekora concert set list of songs. Many of them are tracks from her first album. As pointed out on the official social media channel, Flare, Marine, and Noel all joined her for a cover of the Vocaloid song “Blessing.” 

1. “RaRaRa Rabbit”
2. “Saikyo Megami Usa Pekora"
3. “Sign is B” (from Oshi no Ko)
4. "ZenjinruiUsagikakeikaku!"
5. “Zenryoku Jumping” (Shiranui Flare)
6. “Lyrical Monster” (Shirogane Noel)
7. “I’m Your Treasure Box” (Houshou Marine)
8. “Blessing” (originally by Hatsune Miku)

I’ve played about six hours of Ubisoft’s new Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora and my big takeaway is that Avatar sickos will love this game, Far Cry Primal fans will get a kick out of Ubisoft returning to this formula, and everyone else, well… uh…dang, the game sure is pretty, huh?

Read more...