Does The Original Assassin's Creed Hold Up? | Replay

6 months 2 weeks ago

This week on Replay Charles Harte (who recently played nearly every Assassin's Creed game) and I are going back to 2007 for a look at the original Assassin's Creed. With Assassin's Creed Mirage on our minds, which is an overt throwback to the classic Assassin's Creed formula, we decided to take a look back at the first game in the blockbuster series. Some elements of the game hold up and others don't, but in any case, it's a fascinating historical look in multiple ways.

You can find our previous episode of Replay where we played Assassin's Creed right here.

Author
Kyle Hilliard

Top 15 Most Difficult Mounts to Get in Final Fantasy XIV

6 months 2 weeks ago

One of the biggest draws for the millions of Final Fantasy XIV players around the world is the avid, never-ending pursuit of mount rewards, which are not just for easier transportation around Eorzea. More than anything, they serve as visual medals of accomplishment or just good ol’ fashioned bragging rights. The game has literally hundreds to collect and choose from, the majority of them locked behind considerable challenges you first have to complete. Some are so difficult to obtain that only a select niche of players are able to flaunt them. If you’re wondering which ones fall into this type of category, here is our hand-picked list of the top 15 most difficult mounts to get in Final Fantasy XIV.

Author
Stephanie Watel

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CD Projekt Red devs unionise after its third round of layoffs in three months

6 months 2 weeks ago

Staff at CD Projekt Red are uniting with others in the Polish video game industry to unionise.

The union was formed after CDPR announced a third wave of job cuts in as many months, driving developers to unionise as a means of "improving their workplace/industry standards in a way that has legal power and amplifies their voices".

"We started talking about unionizing after the 2023 wave of layoffs when nine per cent of Reds (that is roughly 100 people) were let go," the union explains on the Gamedevunion.pl website (as translated by Google Translate).

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Vikki Blake

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Kingdom Hearts 4: Everything We Know So Far

6 months 2 weeks ago

It’s been a year and a half since Square Enix and Disney announced Kingdom Hearts 4 at the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary event in Japan, and the well of updates for the game has been empty ever since. Meanwhile, Kingdom Hearts 3 is riding on the title of best-selling game in the series with 6.7 million units sold as of September 2021 — surpassing the sales of even the very first game.

Anticipation for Kingdom Hearts 4 is running high, so we’ve compiled a comprehensive overview of everything we know about the game so far. This page will be updated as we get more information.

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Kingdom Hearts 4 Potential Release Window

A release window for Kingdom Hearts 4 has not been announced. The game is still in early development, so it’s too soon to tell when it will be released. If the development cycle for Kingdom Hearts 3 is anything to go by, Kingdom Hearts 4 would be released in five years, if not sooner.

To justify the timeline of the game’s development, Goofy voice actor Bill Farmer said he had yet to record his lines soon after the trailer dropped. He even said that he didn’t realize that Kingdom Hearts 4 had been announced, let alone entered the development stages.

Author
Jacob Kienlen

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The Fight Against the New Unity Fees Isn’t Over Yet

6 months 2 weeks ago

It’s always wild to see how quickly the news cycle can move us past industry changing events, and the Unity drama is a perfect example. 

Early last month, the prolific game engine developer revealed they were planning to charge developers using certain tiers of their game engine fees for any installations of games made using the engine that surpassed 1 million collective lifetime sales. This applied to games past and present, which could quickly spell trouble for any developers who managed to see a modicum of success with their releases.

Author
Keenan McCall

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Silent Hill 2 Remake has been quietly updated on Steam

6 months 2 weeks ago

As we creak ever closer to spooky season and a possible second Silent Hill Transmission – the last was just before Halloween 2022 – it seems Bloober Team has quietly been updating the backend of Silent Hill 2 Remake's Steam page.

In fairness, the store description and its accompanying tags have been tweaked routinely throughout the year, but according to Steam DB, there's been a flurry of activity through September and now October, including confirmation of language subtitles (Brazillian, Portuguese, and Ukrainian), tags, and Steam achievements, hinting that the in-game achievements have been finalised and signed off. The store assets and images have also been refreshed, too.

Concrete proof that an update or release is imminent? Hardly. But it's one of the strongest signals yet that development has entered the final straight, and the "coming soon" on the game's Steam page is accurate. Here's hoping we'll get a long-overdue update from Konami in the next week or so.

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Vikki Blake

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Cat-Eyed Boy: The Perfect Edition Shows How Timeless the Manga Is

6 months 2 weeks ago

Cat-Eyed Boy: The Perfect Edition Shows How Timeless the Manga Is

It’s amazing how well older manga series can hold up. Osamu Tezuka’s works, such as Astro Boy, and Fujiko Fujio’s Osomatsu-kun are both perfect examples. But another mangaka and series people might not be as aware of is Cat-Eyed Boy by Kazuo Umezz. The manga can almost feel a bit like a Twilight Zone sort of series, with stand-alone pieces that are connected by a sometimes-supporting-cast-member, sometimes-lead that is the titular Cat-Eyed Boy. Viz Media has localized the series before, and now in 2023 it brought it back again in a hardcover Perfect Edition. It serves as a perfect example about how strong storytelling, evocative art, and great ideas always withstand the test of time.

Author
Jenni Lada

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Castlevania: Nocturne season 2 is already in production

6 months 2 weeks ago

Castlevania: Nocturne may have only premiered on 28th September, but a second season is already in production.

That's according to director Samuel Deats and the official Castlevania Twitter account, which not only confirmed the news yesterday but also shared a brief teaser, too.

You can check it out the trailer below, which Deats says contains the "actual storyboards, layouts, and animation" coming to season 2:

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Author
Vikki Blake

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Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile has been delayed to 2024

6 months 2 weeks ago

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile has been delayed to 2024.

Confirmation came in the action-packed Call of Duty Next event earlier this week, when co-studio head Chris Plummer said the delay was down to the team wanting to "polish up" the mobile spin-off.

This means that the original "fall (Q3) 2023" window has now been pushed back to spring (Q2) 2024.

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Author
Vikki Blake

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Emma's Adventures: I painted landscapes in the horribly violent world of Rust

6 months 2 weeks ago

Ah Rust, the perfect game for relaxing and enjoying the scenery, right? Wrong. It's a nightmare zone full of death, paranoia and the most irritating players you'll find in a multiplayer game. It's been made that way by design, of course - the driving idea behind Rust is survival, and having to watch your back for other players is a key part of this. Base-building becomes a matter of outwitting other players with solutions such as fake walls, impenetrable cave bases, and chests hidden under bear rugs. Journeys into the wilderness, meanwhile, require careful planning: just how much are you prepared to lose, and what backup resources do you have on standby for when you inevitably die?

It's a brutal, anarchic environment. Moments where players deviate from the cycle of violence are rare - and perhaps all the more precious when they do happen. That being said, developer Facepunch has left opportunities for creativity within Rust's world, one example being the game's collection of musical instruments. As I discovered in a previous article, you can even connect an actual MIDI keyboard to these should you want to go Christmas carolling. If you haven't read that piece yet, bookmark it for when you're feeling festive. We're not far off that time of year again.

Author
Emma Kent

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Dungeons & Dragons and the thrill of nearly losing everything in a game

6 months 2 weeks ago

We came this close to a total party kill in Dungeons & Dragons the other day, which means our whole group was nearly wiped out. And it really rattled me. I think it rattled the whole group. Even the Dungeon Master seemed shaken by it, which I didn't expect. And when he told us that in the 12 years he's been DMing, he's never had an entire group go that close to a total wipeout before, I began to understand why. He was convinced we were done for. I think we all were.

Honestly, I never realised a TPK, as the cool kids call it, was such a big deal. Or so rare. I mean, obviously I knew dying was a bad thing, because when is it not? But I'd never thought about what would happen if it did happen, if that makes sense - what would come next. And I'd never thought about it because I never thought it would happen to us, which probably sounds arrogant but I don't mean it that way. What I mean is I never thought it would happen to us because I always believed our DM would save us before it did - find some way to pull us back from the brink. Remember, the DM plays as all of the enemies in the game so really, it's up to them if they kill you. It's by their hand you will die. And that always made me feel safe - until the other day.

The other day, the safety net I imagined had vanished, and in its place was a very concerned-looking DM frantically cross-checking things we couldn't see. He didn't want to kill us, he was just playing the character in the way it was written, which I admire by the way. And I - we - were suddenly facing the very real possibility of losing many weeks of progress in the Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign, and the characters we'd created for it. My stomach lurched.

Author
Robert Purchese

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What are we all playing this weekend?

6 months 3 weeks ago

The greatest jumpscare of October is oh god! it's October already! Fairly certain it's still August but sure, I'll play along. The wind is flipping something in my kitten's brain and she spends half the morning doing parkour around my bedroom, including a spectacular move hopping on my ankle then dashing up the length of my body before leaping off the top of my head and into the wall. She's just a little cat. But what are you playing this weekend? Here's what we're clicking on!

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Author
Alice O'Connor

Lies of P DLC Seemingly Confirmed

6 months 3 weeks ago

It sounds like the Bloodborne-like, dark Pinocchio fantasy Lies of P might have DLC on the horizon, according to a recent job posting.

X (formerly Twitter) user Okami Games first pointed out the listing earlier today, which is from a post on the company's official job board. The post itself is in Korean, but IGN has confirmed that the listing is for a quest planner role for a Lies of P DLC, with one of the bullet points on the listing directly stating that the DLC is in development.

Update 10/9/2023: Neowiz has responded to IGN's request for comment by noting it did not have an official statement regarding upcoming DLC for Lies of P. However, the studio referred us to a recent blog post, which notes that Neowiz "will be providing a roadmap of the contents planned for Lies of P as soon as it is ready."

Original story continues:

While it's not immediately obvious from the listing what such DLC might entail, there's one major theory fans have based off the game's post credits scene. We're about to discuss it below, so if you're avoiding spoilers for the ending of Lies of P, don't read on:

Author
Rebekah Valentine

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The Last of Us Part 2: Remastered listed on Naughty Dog dev's LinkedIn

6 months 3 weeks ago

A reference to a "remastered" version The Last of Us Part 2 has been spotted on the profile of a Naughty Dog developer, lending further credence to suggestions an enhanced version of the 2020 PlayStation 4 game is on the way.

Hints that an expanded version of The Last of Us Part 2 is in development at Naughty Dog first surfaced back in July, when the game's composer, Gustavo Santaolalla, referenced a "new edition" that would enable players to interact with his banjo-playing cameo in the town of Jackson, selecting from a number of songs he can play.

Santaolalla wouldn't share any more details beyond that, leaving fans to ponder exactly what sort of "new version" he might be referring to, but now, thanks to a now-removed update on the LinkedIn profile of Naughty Dog's lead outsource artist Mark Pajarillo (as spotted by over on Resetera), we might finally have a clearer idea.

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Author
Matt Wales

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Meet the Sanrio Fragaria Memories Usahana Knight Sanah

6 months 3 weeks ago

Sanah Fragaria Memories

Sanah, the knight who serves the Sanrio mascot Usahana, was introduced on the Fragaria Memories official social media account and website. He is one of the charactersthat is part of a new multimedia fantasy project. Sanrio revealed new knights dedicated to certain characters daily.

Sanah spends a lot of time together with Usahana. He apparently has a warm personality like that of an everlasting summer. He is positive, open-minded, and generous. Also, he’s not hesitant to connect with people he’s meeting for the first time. However, the introduction noted he’s not so good at facing negativity head-on. He has a fondness for nature - specifically for plants and the sea.

Sanah is voiced by Shugo Nakamura. He is best known for voicing Teru Tendo in The Idolmaster SideM. He's also played Chatannakiri in Touken Ranbu. His character art was illustrated by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, the manga artist for Blue Period.

Meet the Usahana knight Sanah in the Sanrio Fragaria Memories post below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/fragaria_sanrio/status/1710218341846323524?s=20[/embed]

Author
Lauren Palmer

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Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Showcase to be Held Next Week

6 months 3 weeks ago

RGG Studio Showcase

Another Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio showcase next week on October 11, 2023 on YouTube Live and Nico Nico Live at 8pm JST. That would be 7am EST/4am PT on October 11. It is the 24th installment in a series of programs called Ryu-STA TV. The program will deliver the latest information on the Like a Dragon series, as well as the Judgment series.

This showcase will reflect on what was revealed during the RGG Summit Fall 2023 stream and Tokyo Game Show 2023, which both happened in September 2023. The developers and those involved with RGG Studio will participate in the showcase and appear for a behind-the-scenes development talk. President Masayoshi Yokoyama and Product Manager Masaya Santou will both be present.

After the Ryu-STA TV broadcast, the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Series Director Ryusuke Horii will appear for the review of the RGG Summit Fall 2023 and Tokyo Game Show 2023. This section will be limited to users with a membership status for the YouTube channel.

Wait for the stream to start below:

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrxKV_I-Nw[/embed]

The Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio showcase will be streamed on October 11, 2023 at 7am EST/4am PT. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will be released on November 9, 2023 for the PS4, PS5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

Author
Lauren Palmer

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Super Mario Bros. Wonder Cover Story, Detective Pikachu Returns Review | All Things Nintendo

6 months 3 weeks ago

All Things Nintendo

This week on All Things Nintendo, Brian talks with Game Informer editor Wesley LeBlanc about his experience visiting Nintendo and getting extended hands-on sessions with Super Mario Bros. Wonder as part of the latest Game Informer cover story. After that, MinnMax contributor and former Game Informer editor Bryan Vore joins the show to share his review of Detective Pikachu Returns.

If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram/Threads @BrianPShea or Twitter @BrianPShea. You can follow Wesley on Twitter: @LeBlancWes. You can follow Bryan on Twitter: @Bryan_Vore.

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Author
Brian Shea

Jingliu Talks to Yanqing in Her Honkai: Star Rail Trailer

6 months 3 weeks ago

Jingliu Talks to Yanqing in Her Honkai: Star Rail Trailer

There’s a way to see more of new Honkai: Star Rail character Jingliu. HoYoVerse released a “Cloud Knights Martial Doctrine, on Swords” video starring her. It also features Yanqing, another five-star, ice-type character who is always available in-game.

Editor’s Note: There are spoilers for the Honkai: Star Rail Xianzhou Luofu Jingliu and Yanqing Trailblaze Missions below. 

During part of the Xianzhou Luofu storyline, we see Jingliu encounter Jingyuan’s apprentice Yanqing. Their meeting eventually results in an altercation between the two, following some conversation. This new video is set during that time, right between their fight. Jingliu is asking why Yanqing is training and determined to become a stronger warrior. After he explains himself, she explains herself as well.

Author
Jenni Lada

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A Bakery Has Made an Incredible, Terrifying The Last of Us Clicker Out of Bread

6 months 3 weeks ago

A California bakery has crafted an astonishingly lifelike, spine-tingling Clicker sculpture made entirely out of bread.

Spotted first by Eater San Francisco, One House Bakery in Benicia has crafted a bread sculpture of a Clicker, one of the infected enemies found in Naughty Dog's hit franchise The Last of Us. It was created by Catherine and Hannalee Pervan, the mother-daughter duo that also co-owns the bakery.

The detail is astounding, as seen in the images below. If you are unfamiliar with the Clicker enemy, it represents one of the stages of a cordyceps infection in The Last of Us. A Clicker reaches a prolonged exposure to the cordyceps infection; it loses its sight, gains enhanced hearing, and makes a rapid croaking and clicking sound. Simply put, this is not the kind of infection you would want to encounter in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Eater notes that the pair decided to create the sculpture as part of an annual scarecrow contest held in the city each year, where local businesses show off their best scarecrow creations as residents and tourists in the city vote on which one is their favorite.

SF Chronicle notes in its article that it took the team more than 400 hours to complete the piece, with the process involving popping balloons wrapped in dough to form the mushrooms visible on the sculpture. "When the popped balloon is removed, it leaves behind these really strange pod-like shapes we were able to use," Hannahlee Pervan explained.

Author
Taylor Lyles

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Remedy Opens Up About Challenges Developing Alan Wake 2 for Xbox Series S

6 months 3 weeks ago

Earlier this month, developer Remedy confirmed the Xbox Series S version of the hotly anticipated Alan Wake 2 lacks the 60 frames per second performance mode the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 versions launch with later in October.

The news was the latest in a string of rough headlines for Microsoft’s cheaper console, which is at the heart of split-screen issues that have held up the Xbox launch of smash hit Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has insisted games launch across the more powerful Xbox Series X and the less powerful but cheaper Xbox Series S, both of which are approaching their third year on sale. But the underpowered Xbox Series S represents an intensifying headache for Microsoft as more and more developers look to make the most of the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X.

Author
Wesley Yin-Poole

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Five months on, Redfall finally gets its 60fps mode on Xbox Series X/S

6 months 3 weeks ago

Five months after release, Arkane Studios' beleaguered vampire shooter Redfall has received its long-promised 60fps mode on Xbox Series X/S, as part of a major patch that also brings improved performance on PC, stealth takedowns, increased enemy counts, and more.

A 60fps mode for Redfall was first touted back in April, after publisher Bethesda broke the news its game would be locked to 1440p and 30fps on both Xbox Series X and S at launch. At the time, the studio said a 60fps "performance mode" would be added at some point after release - although it's doubtful many were expecting it to take five moths to arrive.

Redfall's performance mode comes as part of a substantial update for Xbox Series X/S and PC touching on everything from gameplay and performance to accessibility. Patch notes promise "improved PC performance and stability across a wide range of hardware configurations", for instance, alongside fixes for memory crashes and graphical corruption on AMD GPUs.

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Author
Matt Wales

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What Spider-Man: Miles Morales Gets Right About Cultura and the Authentic Puerto Rican Experience

6 months 3 weeks ago

Spider-Man: Miles Morales opens with a smooth rumble of the Dual Sense controller and into 125th Street subway station, Harlem. The follow-up to 2018’s Spider-Man, knows exactly where it needs to place Miles to set the stage for a world that celebrates its title character’s culture. As Miles sets foot into the neighborhood he will soon fight to protect, we immediately see what sets this Spider-Man apart. Effectively known as the “Main Street” of Harlem, this neighborhood is known as a center of commerce, brimming with cultural significance. It’s where we first see Miles Morales take center stage. We’re greeted with the ice and snow-packed streets of New York at Christmas, and a thumping beat that Miles bops his head to. There is a sense of community and culture that Insomniac has taken meticulous care to craft.

Each detail and layer subtly represents Miles Morales’ Puerto Rican heritage in a way that feels authentic and indebted to it. Insomniac has worked to celebrate Miles and those cultural elements that set him apart from his fellow heroes. It’s in Spider-Man: Miles Morales where Insomniac is not just choosing to tell Spider-Man’s story, but Miles’ story – a Puerto Rican’s story. In doing so, Insomniac needed to ensure that they nailed the culture of its title character.

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (also referred to as Latino Heritage Month), we're taking a closer look at what Spider-Man: Miles Morales gets right about the Puerto Rican experience.

Author
Jesse Schedeen

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Fans Speculate Some Big Dragon Ball News Could Be Coming at NYCC

6 months 3 weeks ago

New York Comic Con 2023 is just around the corner and Dragon Ball fans are hoping big news is in store for the seminal Shonen series. The franchise has a big presence at this year’s event, with both a booth and a panel scheduled. We don’t yet know what the panel will be focusing on, but the mystery has the Dragon Ball community hyped up for a major reveal.

It’s been more than five years since the conclusion of Dragon Ball Super, the latest series in the long-running anime. Since then, two hugely successful movies have pushed the story of Goku and his friends forward, while the Dragon Ball Super manga is now on its third arc following the end of the Tournament of Power that closed out the anime.

Author
James Crosby

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A Starfield Player Is Super Disappointed You Can’t Give Books to Cora

6 months 3 weeks ago

It goes without saying that Starfield went above and beyond to provide a realistic, intergalactic immersion not seen before in video games; an exceptionally commendable feat that has earned ecstatic praise from players everywhere. However, when tasked with creating a game of this scale, it’s certainly not easy to immaculately polish a literal galaxy full of content. A cosmic blip is bound to happen here and there, but a disconcerted player decided to call one such blip out that is actually quite surprising to us.

Going by the name ‘TacosAreJustice’ (heartily agreed) on Reddit, they shared a rather bereaved post yesterday of their realization that you technically can’t give little, knowledge-starved Cora Coe any books you come across in your travels. If you went an entirely different route with your own playthrough in Starfield and aren’t familiar, Cora Coe is the young daughter of Sam Coe, a member of Constellation. If you choose to have Sam accompany you as a companion, Cora comes with him by default. As you jump from one star system to another, you’ll overhear their amusing family banter towards each other, much of which revolves around Cora’s love of books. She’ll even approach you personally and ask you to bring her any books, specifically ones from Earth, that you can find.

Author
Stephanie Watel

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Call Of The Sea devs' next game has you escaping a deadly reality TV show this November

6 months 3 weeks ago

We’ve all imagined ourselves as the stars (or the villains) of a reality show, right? What could we say, how could we act, or who could we woo to bag the ultimate prize? Everyman Trevor Hills - with his office getup, dad-sized ‘tache, and lanky build - isn’t quite so lucky in the upcoming American Arcadia. You see, he’s unknowingly stuck in a reality TV show where the penalty for unpopularity is death, and considering he has the personality of a pencil, his only option is to escape in genre-bending fashion. See below!

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Author
Kaan Serin

How Super Mario Bros. Wonder Pays Homage To The Past As It Expands In New Directions

6 months 3 weeks ago

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Following the last entry in the New Super Mario Bros. series, which was based on the idea of recreating the experience of the original Super Mario Bros. game from 1985 in a modern way, Nintendo went back to the drawing board. Though the four distinct New Super Mario Bros. games were well-received and extremely successful, the developers wanted to deliver something fresh to fans of the 2D series.

"The New Super Mario Bros. series has been going on for a while since the release of New Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo DS, so we wanted to create an all-new 2D Mario experience," Super Mario Bros. Wonder director Shiro Mouri says. "That's how this project started."

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Despite the initial desire to create something new, Mouri and his development team started thinking about what made the series so distinct and special in the first place. Mouri joined Nintendo in the late 1990s and has worked on titles like Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and New Super Mario Bros. U, but he wanted to examine the impact of games that came out prior to his tenure at Nintendo.

Author
Brian Shea

Frieren Is the Most Heartfelt Fall 2023 Anime

6 months 3 weeks ago

There's something special about the Frieren anime, and the best feature-length debut highlights its range of emotions and facets.

When I read the Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End manga, I couldn’t help feeling how this is a special sort of story, and the anime version cements that impression. Things kicked off with a feature-length special consisting of its first four episodes, and somehow it seems fitting given how much happens in these early moments. But, even more important, I feel like what’ve seen in this Frieren anime adaptation really explains how meaningful her tale is.

Editor’s Note: While there will be no major spoilers for the plot of the Frieren anime, it will explain the impetus for her journey and the first season. 

Author
Jenni Lada

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Pull off sick motorcycle backflips to reload in this gorgeous "motorvania"

6 months 3 weeks ago

As the month dedicated to ghouls and goblins and human slashers, October might not be the best month to release a Wild West revenge tale featuring anthropomorphic coyote warriors. But, hear me out. Laika: Aged Through Blood is a self-described “motorvania” where our “mother coyote reloads her guns doing backflips” on a sick motorcycle. Now that’s something I’d play whatever the weather.

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Author
Kaan Serin