Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, developer Sharkmob's free-to-play battle royale spin on the long-running RPG series, is getting its full PlayStation 5 and PC launch on 27th April.

Bloodhunt (not to be confused with Big Bad Wolf Studio's upcoming RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, Paradox Interactive's troubled Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, or indeed 2019 visual novel Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York) was announced toward the end of 2020 and had a limited Steam early access run the following year.

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Today, CD Projekt Red announced they are teaming up Anita Sarna and Karolina Krupecka of Nerds’ Kitchen and Witcher Kiten to bring fans of The Witcher series an entire cookbook that is based on the mouthwatering and restorative recipes that make up the video game trilogy. The book is set to include 80 recipes, and includes everything from hearty tavern fare meals and fortifying drinks to lavish banquets for feasts with friends.

You can check out the official description for The Witcher Cookbook right down below.

Among NIS America’s New Game Plus Expo 2022 announcements was the reveal of a Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana PS5 port. People won’t have to wait too long for it either. It currently has a Fall 2022 launch window.

A trailer also appeared at the event to remind people of how Ys VIII works ahead of the PS5 release. In this installment, Adol and Dogi are traveling on a ship when it gets into a wreck. They and the other passengers are now stuck on the Isle of Seiren. You’ll need to establish and protect a camp, while also working with the other people trapped there to explore the island and learn its secrets. Adol also begins dreaming about a mysterious, blue-haired woman named Dana. The playable characters this time include Adol, Dana, Hummel, Laxia, Ricotta, and Sahad.

Embark on an exciting Ys adventure with Adol the Red and discover the mysteries behind the mystical maiden Dana in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA! Sailing onto the PS5 this Fall!#YsVIIIPS5 pic.twitter.com/hu3WMBd85E

— NewGame+Expo (@newgameplusexpo) March 31, 2022

People won’t have to wait too much longer for Inti Creates’ next game. At New Game Plus Expo 2022, the company revealed the Azure Striker Gunvolt 3 release date. It will appear on the eShop on July 28, 2022. There will also be a physical release. Limited Run Games will be handling it.

As a reminder, we already had an idea this would be coming. At New Game Plus Expo 2021, Inti Creates showed it off and revealed a 2022 launch window.

Here’s the official Azur Striker Gunvolt 3 video with Executive Producer and Action Supervisor Keiji Inafune that reveals the release date. It also shows a bit of gameplay footage.

As usual, this will be an action game. However, there will be two protagonists this time around. Gunvolt will be joined by Kirin. She is a shrine maiden who uses a sword and talismans to attack her foes. Her playstyle will be different than Gunvolt's, to act as a complement and offer a different way to tackle challenges. As for Gunvolt, he'll still rely on his familiar electrical attacks.

Platform: PlayStation 5, PC
Publisher: Sharkmob AB
Developer: Sharkmob AB
Release: April 27, 2022

2022 is shaping up to be a noteworthy year for Vampire: The Masquerade fans. In addition to the May 19 launch of the narrative RPG Swansong, we now know that Bloodhunt, the free-to-play battle royale, will exit Early Access and launch in full on April 27.

New Game Plus Expo 2022 kicked off with an announcement from NIS America and Acquire. The companies will release Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC in Fall 2022. It appears to be a period piece and adventure along the lines of Acquire’s Way of the Samurai series and Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story.

Here’s the official reveal. It notes that players follow a noble thief named Ebizo. It showed both action segments, as well as some moments in the story.

Put your thieving skills to the test on the streets of Mikado! Will you walk the path of honor for the sake of your family? The choice is yours to make in Kamizawa: Way of the Thief, coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC Fall 2022!#Kamiwaza pic.twitter.com/r3CpMSpu7i

— NewGame+Expo (@newgameplusexpo) March 31, 2022

Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PC in Fall 2022.

The post Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief is on the Way from Acquire and NISA appeared first on Siliconera.

Vermintide follow-up Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will launch on Tuesday 13th September.

The four-player co-op game builds on Vermintide 2's melee combat with the addition of "deep and balanced gunplay", developer FatShark has said.

You'll need a mix of melee and ranged combat to fight off Darktide's new menagerie of monsters, which you glimpse in the new trailer below:

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Vermintide follow-up Warhammer 40,000: Darktide will launch on Tuesday 13th September.

The four-player co-op game builds on Vermintide 2's melee combat with the addition of "deep and balanced gunplay", developer FatShark has said.

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A recent job listing has revealed Sony's recently acquired studio Firesprite is working on a new AAA horror game.

The listing in question was shared on ResetEra and reads: "We are looking for a Narrative Director to join our development team for a AAA narrative driven horror-adventure game in Unreal 5. 

"The Narrative Director is responsible for the project storytelling, helping establish & consider the game's universe and lore, with responsibility for the quality implementation of narrative content for project milestones and ultimately the game's release."

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A recent job listing has revealed Sony's recently acquired studio Firesprite is working on a new AAA horror game.

The listing in question was shared on ResetEra and reads: "We are looking for a Narrative Director to join our development team for a AAA narrative driven horror-adventure game in Unreal 5. 

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Welcome back to the third edition of The RPS Time Capsule, a monthly feature in which the RPS Treehouse puts their hivemind together to pick their favourite, bestest best games from a specific year to be preserved until the end of time. In the spirit of keeping you on your toes, this time we've set our sights on the best games from 2014. Which games will make the cut and ascend to the realms of the PC gaming elite? Find out below.

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A new Fullmetal Alchemist Ed and Al figure is on the way, and it is both elaborate and expensive. Good Smile Company revealed a $2,199.99/¥220,000 figure of the Elric brothers. It is a non-scale figure based on their Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood appearances. It is expected to appear first in Japan in July 2023. Then in September 2023, it will show up in North America. Pre-orders are open, but this is also a situation in which they are limited and could run out.

The figure is designed to show both Ed and Al in the middle of a fight. Electricity surrounds them, there’s dust on the ground, and both characters are in an active pose. Ed is using the pillar Al is holding to prepare to leap and attack.

Here's a closer look at the figure from various angles.
[gallery columns="8" ids="922282,922283,922284,922285,922286,922287,922288,922289" link="file"]

"It'll be a game for freaks," said Ben Esposito of Neon White in a gameplay trailer when it was announced for Nintendo Switch last July.

Really, it's a game for people who like fun, campy, melodrama alongside their speedrunning. In a video preview of the game, Esposito describes Neon White as a speedrunning first person shooter meets visual novel that's "nostalgic but not in a superficial way".

"We really wanted to make a game that felt cool and it really felt like the self-indulgent Y2K anime game of our dreams," he says.

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"It'll be a game for freaks," said Ben Esposito of Neon White in a gameplay trailer when it was announced for Nintendo Switch last July.

Really, it's a game for people who like fun, campy, melodrama alongside their speedrunning. In a video preview of the game, Esposito describes Neon White as a speedrunning first person shooter meets visual novel that's "nostalgic but not in a superficial way".

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Click here to watch embedded media

Platform: Switch
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release: April 29, 2022

Nintendo Switch Sports was first announced in February when fans of the classic Wii Sports game and Nintendo newcomers learned that six sports – Soccer, Volleyball, Bowling, Tennis, Badminton, and Chambara – would be available at launch. Moreover, the latest overview trailer (see above) revealed a new ranked mode, Mii customization, and much more.

MiHoYo shared more details about The Thirteen Flame-Chasers, one of the groups of characters in Honkai Impact 3rd. In-game, this group of characters are members of a MANTIS project who have increased powers due to getting Honkai genes. The goal was that the group would defeat Honkai with their power. The new update did things like reveal everyone’s identity and share their official portraits.

First, here are all of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers characters in Honkai Impact 3rd. They’re listed by their rank. As a note, their position doesn’t necessarily suggest they are more or less powerful. Rather, each person’s rank is based on a number of factors.

1. Kevin
2. Elysia
3. Aponia
4. Eden
5. Vill-V
6. Kalpas
7. Su
8. Sakura
9. Kosma
10. Mobius
11. Griseo
12. Hua
13. Pardofelis

Next, here are the portraits showing each one of them.
[gallery columns="7" ids="922266,922267,922268,922269,922270,922271,922272,922273,922274,922275,922276,922277,922278" link="file"]

The makers of cooperative Warhammer FPS Vermintide today finally announced a release date for the far-future follow-up, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Its ragtag gang will start rooting out Chaos on the 13th of September, which, yes, does mean the game is delayed again. But this time they're committing to an actual date.

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The Nintendo Switch will get more ports of classic Valis games. Edia announced that it has started developing Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection 2 for the console. It will contain the 1991 PC Engine release of Valis IV and the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) versions of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier and SD Valis.

SD Valis was an arranged version of Valis II with chibi character designs, while Valis IV was the final mainline title in the series. Even though the SNES version of Super Valis IV is available in the North American Nintendo Switch Online lineup, there were many changes from the original release. The inclusion of Valis IV in the new collection will complete the original PC Engine tetralogy on the Switch.

Edia had previously compiled the first three titles and released them on Nintendo Switch in late 2021. It also released the English localization of Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection on the North American Nintendo Store on February 10, 2022.

Let me get this out of the way quickly: Superfuse looks really good. It's basically a Cel-shaded action RPG in the cut of Diablo. Four-player co-op or single-player fun. There's a comic book presentation - and a comic book plot, about people who have become gods and whatnot - which means that gorgeous comic book panels pop up during cut scenes and the designers have been wonderfully bold with the application of halftone. I am a fan of halftone. And from hubs you are despatched to various procedurally wrangled dungeons to splatter sci-fi horrors and take on bosses and pick up loot. Repeat.

All of this looks great. I had a build for a while and was very happy splattering and looting - doing the inventory Tetris thing and the skills-bar glissando. Mutant crabs. Horrible shambling monsters. And me at the heart of it, a Berserker class who seemed to be lamping people for the sheer luminous joy of it all. (The voice acting is supremely charismatic, incidentally - courtesy of Eli Harris in this case, I think.)

Right. That's out of the way. Now I want to talk about the point where I almost fainted with happiness. Reader, it's to do with skills.

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Let me get this out of the way quickly: Superfuse looks really good. It's basically a Cel-shaded action RPG in the cut of Diablo. Four-player co-op or single-player fun. There's a comic book presentation - and a comic book plot, about people who have become gods and whatnot - which means that gorgeous comic book panels pop up during cut scenes and the designers have been wonderfully bold with the application of halftone. I am a fan of halftone. And from hubs you are despatched to various procedurally wrangled dungeons to splatter sci-fi horrors and take on bosses and pick up loot. Repeat.

All of this looks great. I had a build for a while and was very happy splattering and looting - doing the inventory Tetris thing and the skills-bar glissando. Mutant crabs. Horrible shambling monsters. And me at the heart of it, a Berserker class who seemed to be lamping people for the sheer luminous joy of it all. (The voice acting is supremely charismatic, incidentally - courtesy of Eli Harris in this case, I think.)

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Diablo meets The Boys is the four-word elevator pitch of Stitch Heads and Raw Fury's new isometric hack and slasher - and judging from the amount of loot, blood and minced limbs I saw in my hands on demo last week, I'd say they're pretty bang on the money, albeit with an extra dash of Borderlands thanks to its cel-shaded comic book visuals. Whichever way you slice it, though, Superfuse makes a striking and violent first impression.

Perhaps it's because I'm playing as its Berserker class, a large walking slab of man muscle whose axe and (comically large) fists can pulverise anything and everything standing in its way. Or maybe it's because the devs have given me free rein of the game's extensive skill tree, letting me pile in dozens of points into attacks, abilities and power-ups normally reserved for later on. Superfuse may be a loot-driven hack and slash with hundreds of different weapons and armour components to pick from, but its skill tree is equally vast, giving you as much flexibility in how your attacks play out onscreen as your various wardrobe choices - and some of its effects are deliciously gory.

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Today Granzella hosted a livestream from Japan and founder Kazuma Kujo answered a few questions about the upcoming Disaster Report 5.

Kujo-san mentioned that the game will feature an open world and will have ties to the 2002 original Disaster Report for PS2 (known in Japan as Zettai Zetsumei Toshi and in PAL regions as SOS: The Final Escape).

The story is set 3 years after the original game and the location is related to Capital Island (which was called Stiver Island in the west). On top of that, characters from the old game will also make an appearance but won’t be the protagonists.

At the moment, basically nothing else is known about Disaster Report 5, with Granzella not ready to fully reveal the game.

The previous game of the series, Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories, has been released in the west for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC in 2020, courtesy of NIS America.

The game marked the return of the series after 11 years of inactivity (partly due to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake), on top of the return to the west since Disaster Report 3 was never localized.

It’ll be interesting to see what new elements Disaster Report 5 will include when Granzella is ready to reveal it. Hopefully, western fans will be able to enjoy it as they did with the fourth chapter of the series.

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, PC
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal
Release: September 4, 2020 (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia), March 18, 2021 (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S)
Rating: Teen

Update: 2:37 p.m. ET: The Marvel's Avengers Twitter account has announced that an update has gone live for PS5 to fix the crash bug. 

After the Genshin Impact 2.6 update, miHoYo released a statement noting changes made to Yae Miko. However, since the patch went through, people are reporting issues with the change to the character. Namely, it adjusts the Sesshou Sakura “turrets” placed with her Elemental Skill. However, in practice, people are reporting this acting as a Yae Miko nerf.

When miHoYo announced the change, it noted the Yae Miko Elemental Skill changes would affect how it targets Genshin Impact’s enemies. It specifically noted two things were being altered. In the exact words, it said there would be “adjustments to the mechanisms by which enemies are targeted” and “mass optimization to character enemy selection logic based on 1., aimed at fixing targeting issues.” The goal would be to make it easier for people to specifically target certain enemies when placing each Sesshou Sakura.

Nintendo has announced three new Switch Online games for March, and they include the 90's run and gun platformer Earthworm Jim 2.

Not many could slow their fall from a great height by ballooning out huge quantities of snot to make some kind of bogey-chute, but Earthworm Jim could. Now, he is back once more, thanks to this recent update from Nintendo.

Earthworm Jim 2 can be played through the Nintendo Switch Online's SNES app.

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Nintendo has announced three new Switch Online games for March, and they include the 90's run and gun platformer Earthworm Jim 2.

Not many could slow their fall from a great height by ballooning out huge quantities of snot to make some kind of bogey-chute, but Earthworm Jim could. Now, he is back once more, thanks to this recent update from Nintendo.

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A choreographer is suing Epic Games over dance moves included in an old Fortnite emote.

Kyle Hanagami, a choreographer who has worked with Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and J-Lo, filed suit against Epic regarding the "It's Complicated" emote, which was released within Fortnite back in August 2020.

Lawyers for Hanagami have said the emote uses copyrighted dance moves from a 2017 video set to Charlie Puth's "How Long" (thanks, Kotaku) without credit or compensation.

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A choreographer is suing Epic Games over dance moves included in an old Fortnite emote.

Kyle Hanagami, a choreographer who has worked with Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and J-Lo, filed suit against Epic regarding the "It's Complicated" emote, which was released within Fortnite back in August 2020.

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The Old West has always been weird, hasn't it? A bloody daydream of plunder and desolation, heroism and nihilism, reincarnated in a thousand motley forms across generations of books, films, folk songs and campfire stories. Videogames have certainly taken it in some peculiar directions. Think of Media.Vision's Wild Arms series for PS1, where six-shooters are ancient relics wielded by chosen adventurers, or the pre-patch version of Red Dead Redemption, with its cursed physics and flying centaurs, or the dreamy vestiges of frontier life you encounter while trudging the plains of Where The Water Tastes Like Wine.

WolfEye's Weird West mixes this vast, rancid legacy with outright fantasy elements sourced partly from the likes of Lovecraft and partly from the studio founders' previous Dishonored games. This very much isn't your classic rootin' tootin' cowboy yarn. Head out into the wilds and you'll find raucous villages of pigmen and ghost towns that absent-mindedly manifest from the foundations up. Dip into the caves and you'll encounter ravenous mutants and blue-stone temples where cultists debate visions of the apocalypse.

Magic is an everyday concern: town deputies sling lightning and fireballs alongside bullets. Stores are happy to trade in ectoplasm and cursed goblets alongside deerskin and copper. Quests alternate gritty pulp novel conceits with otherworldly enigmas: one moment you're squeezing a barkeep for information on a posse of kidnappers, against a backdrop of tinkling piano; the next, you're trying to make sense of a captive meteor. The realm is divided not just between settler communities and indigenous Americans, but factions of cannibals, werewolves and witches, all of them being manipulated by an off-screen illuminati of cowled figures who might as well call themselves game designers.

Weird West on PS5

With the legacy of Dishonored, Prey, and all the other games at Arkane Studios, the expectations are that its games are almost always innovative, well-designed, and tell interesting stories set within unique locations. Having left Arkane to set up Wolfeye Studios, some of these veterans have now given us the action-RPG Weird West, and unfortunately, those expectations are not exactly being fulfilled.

As a top-down immersive sim, Weird West transports players to the frontier but with a twist. Here, people are trying to survive not just the outlaws and the elements but also all kinds of monstrosities and creatures. It is a fascinating premise, and giving players the free rein to do whatever they want to progress is a gamble worth taking, especially when the storytelling takes on a life of its own.

Reviewed on: PC
Also on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: WolfEye Studios
Release: March 31, 2022
Rating: Mature

Weird West is a spellbinding, isometric portrayal of the Wild West. From the minds behind Dishonored and Prey, this compelling immersive sim is unlike any western tale you’ve experienced. Its macabre frontier isn’t just a land of cowboys and cattle but one brimming with old magic and hideous monstrosities like werewolves, flesh-eating sirens, gold-hungry zombies, and bewitched trees capable of trapping the souls of men. 

“Graveyard’s full,” says Timothy Hall, the man prodding the bones of the piano at the saloon in Grackle. It’s a concise expression of everything the town’s been through: the rampaging bandits, the cannibal kidnappings, the swirling tornados. Filling the graveyard has been a solemn bid for order in the wake of so much chaos.

It’s not that way in Bripton, the next town over. The graveyard there is uncannily empty, save for a similarly bare tree. But you can change that, should you so choose: shoot up the bank or fight a duel and, the next time you return to that settlement, new plots will have appeared for every life snuffed out. Weird West even suggests you head to the local cemetery to loot any bodies you’ve missed - though its reputational system implies you should ensure nobody’s watching first.

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The Old West has always been weird, hasn't it? A bloody daydream of plunder and desolation, heroism and nihilism, reincarnated in a thousand motley forms across generations of books, films, folk songs and campfire stories. Videogames have certainly taken it in some peculiar directions. Think of Media.Vision's Wild Arms series for PS1, where six-shooters are ancient relics wielded by chosen adventurers, or the pre-patch version of Red Dead Redemption, with its cursed physics and flying centaurs, or the dreamy vestiges of frontier life you encounter while trudging the plains of Where The Water Tastes Like Wine.

WolfEye's Weird West mixes this vast, rancid legacy with outright fantasy elements sourced partly from the likes of Lovecraft and partly from the studio founders' previous Dishonored games. This very much isn't your classic rootin' tootin' cowboy yarn. Head out into the wilds and you'll find raucous villages of pigmen and ghost towns that absent-mindedly manifest from the foundations up. Dip into the caves and you'll encounter ravenous mutants and blue-stone temples where cultists debate visions of the apocalypse.

Read more

In an interview with Famitsu, Final Fantasy XIV Producer Naoki Yoshida, or Yoshi-P, shared his hopes for the future of the MMORPG. While he stated that there will be many changes that will occur between Patch 6.1 and Patch 6.5, he shared his personal thoughts and feelings about the evolution of the game. In the interview, he elaborated on what he believes has made FFXIV such a success, as well as how the players' lived experiences within the game contribute to this. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Yoshi-P revealed he had a feeling of catharsis once Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker released, as the story that the team had effectively worked on for 10 years had come to a close. However, he went on to say that it wasn't just the story that made Endwalker an emotional experience:

It was more than the story that made me emotional, it was also the fact that players live within this world (FFXIV) and have everyday experiences. Stand-alone single player RPGs definitely cannot make the same kind of impact. However, now that the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark is over, I hope those people will continue to join us and move forward to relive this sense of excitement. I believe that Patch 6.1 is the first step towards this new goal, and up to Patch 6.5 there will be many changes.

Acquire announced today Kamiwaza Tourai, a remaster of the 2006 PS2 classic Kamiwaza.

While many may associate Acquire and stealth-action games with the Tenchu series, that’s certainly not the only foray of the Akihabara-based developer in the genre.

While it’s less-known, also due to the fact that it was never localized in the west, Kamizawa is set in Japan in the Edo period, prompting the player to play as Ebizo, a thief who steals from the evil to help the weak.

Kamiwaza Tourai will launch in Japan in Fall 2022 for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Resolution will be upscaled to 1080p, textures will be improved, an auto-save feature will be added, and playability will also be improved, including the inclusion of tutorials.

At the moment, no announcement has been made about a western release. We’ll have to wait and see whether Acquire says something an this front going forward.

Update: the western localization has been announced during the New Game+ Expo with the title Kamiwaza: Way of the Thief, also revealing a PC version.

Below you can check out a gallery of images.