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Beat Saber multiplayer will be landing in October

Beat Games Studio has announced that Beat Saber will be getting multiplayer on October 13th. With the multiplayer aspect players will be able to create their own avatars, and play against friends or strangers online. The multiplayer will definitely be releasing for PC VR headsets on the 13th of October, but there may be a delay with the PSVR version. That has not been confirmed but Beat Saber Studio has stated PSVR players should be prepared for a possible delay.

Back in May an update to Beat Saber announced 10 new 360°/90° levels each and 26 new One Saber levels for those 18 songs, hitting that 46 beatmap target. This was a free content update so anyone who has Beat Saber can try these new levels out after updating to version 1.10. Last month, Beat Saber got a Linkin Park music pack DLC. Linkin Park Music Pack includes the tracks:

– Bleed it Out
– Breaking the Habit
– Faint
– Given Up
– In the End
– New Divide
– Numb
– One Step Closer
– Papercut
– Somewhere I Belong
– What I've Done

Songs can be purchased separately at £1.69 each or you can save a bit of cash by grabbing the full Music Pack DLC for £11.49. Aside from having new music to slice and dice away to, you'll have access to Link Park themed stage visuals.

Source: Twitter

Saints Row V rumour is incorrect confirms Deep Silver Senior PR Manager

Over the weekend a rumour came out for Saints Row V purporting to give lots of story information as well as gameplay. That information said that in Saints Row V players would be facing off against the Saints, superpowers would be removed, and the events of Saints Row IV and Gat Out of Hell would be retconned to be TV shows within the Saints Row universe. Well, all of that information is false. That comes from Deep Silver/Koch Media Senior PR Manager Alex Q. Ryan who confirmed that the leak was all wrong.

The rest of the rumour said:

Graphically, Saints Row V is said to be similar to Saints Row 3 Remastered, which was shockingly impressive, and the overall tone will be a bit more serious though some of the comic elements will remain. Character customisation is to said to be more in depth as each individual body part will have sliders. Four player co-op is also apparently in with difficulty scaling depending on how many players there are. There is also, allegedly, online multiplayer consisting of 32 players in a gang warfare scenario to take over territory.

One day, we shall find out exactly what Saints Row V will entail, and what kind of shenanigans the Saints will get up to in the series next instalment.

Source: Twitter

Sniper Elite VR first gameplay trailer released and Oculus Quest version confirmed

A new gameplay trailer for Sniper Elite VR has been released to go alongside the announcement that the game will be coming to Oculus Quest in addition to PSVR and SteamVR. There's still no release date confirmed, though…

Sniper Elite VR is Rebellion's second virtual reality game, following on from the Battlezone reboot that launched alongside PlayStation VR. It's being developed in partnership with Just Add Water and Coatsink games.

The game takes players to Sicily, as you fight in the Italian Resistance to try and rid the island of Nazis and their pesky U-boats. The whole game will take place in first person with smooth locomotion a possibility, just as you can go from sniping to stealthily sneaking, to an action-packed with guns akimbo. Oh, and there will obviously be the series' trademark X-ray killcam through all of this.

Miguel got to go hands on with the game at E3 2019, coming away suitably impressed with how immersive and intuitive it was:

Holding the Aim controller up to your eye brings the magnifying scope into sight, and closing a single eye in real life helps you get a clearer look like it would when handling an actual gun. This sensation led to an immediately satisfying and realistic gameplay experience that brought me into the world and never let me out.

Catch the rest of his preview here.

Source: press release

Oculus Quest 2 revealed by Facebook, coming out in October

Facebook has revealed the successor to the Oculus Quest, their popular standalone VR headset. The Oculus Quest 2 is more powerful, it's more compact, it's been tweaked ergonomically, and plenty more. The device will be shipping from 13th October, starting at $299 / £299 for the 64GB model.

That price point is a surprise, as it's actually $100 / £100 cheaper than the original Quest. An upgrade to a 256GB model will cost $399 / £399, while there's also a Quest 2 Elite Strap available for $49 / £49, and the strap with battery pack and carrying case for $119 / £119, both of which can enhance its comfort and portability. You might want that battery, since the headset is still only rated for 2-3 hours of play time…

The headset is now powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 with 6GB of RAM, as revealed by the leaks from Facebook earlier this week. There's also 1832×1920 pixels per eye (a significant step up over 1440×1600 in the original), and while there's only 72Hz support at launch, 90Hz will be coming via an update down the line.

In general, the headset has been made smaller and lighter – it's now 503g vs 571g – and it comes with updated Oculus Touch controllers that are also a touch smaller.

All current Oculus Quest games are supported, including hits like Beat Saber, Moss and Super Hot VR. Additionally, you can use Oculus Link to play PC VR titles, getting access to Hal-Life Alyx and others at the cost of having to plug in.

As expected, the headset will require a Facebook log in before you can use it, with the social network deciding that all new devices activated from October onwards will now be indelibly linked with their systems. To all intents and purposes, Oculus has no been fully absorbed into Facebook, having once been treated as a somewhat independent subsidiary.

Source: Facebook

Here's DIRT 5 running on Xbox Series S (not Series X)

Codemasters and the DIRT 5 team have been pretty tight with Microsoft over the last few months, and their relationship has continued with what I think might be the first meaningful demo of gameplay running on Xbox Series… S! Not the Xbox Series X, but its lower-powered counterpart.

That means the game is running at 1440p and with a 60fps target, which is exactly what's shown in the video that's been uploaded to YouTube.

The event shown is a Pathfinder event, with the Rockbouncer buggy tackling the rocky terrain with ease. It looks pretty good, bearing in mind that it's a cross-gen game targeting high resolution and frame rate over fancy effects like ray-tracing. The puddles in the game seem to be doing basic screen-space reflections.

DIRT 5 is coming out for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on 6th November, with a Series X and Series S version following on 10th November, and PS5 whenever that comes along. There's free next-gen upgrades, and a part of that on Xbox is that Smart Delivery will ensure that the game is as optimised as it can be regardless of the console you play on. So the game will target 1440p60 on Series S, but 2160p60 on Series X, and there will be performance modes to drop the resolution and let that frame rate push higher toward 120fps – a performance mode shared with the game on PS5.

The Xbox Series S was confirmed last week after a bunch of leaks spoilt Microsoft's plans for the reveal. The console is a lower powered companion to the Xbox Series X, with less than a third of the GPU power, but is still able to target 1440p60, comes with a powerful CPU and has an ultra-fast SSD. While geared towards being an Xbox Game Pass machine – since it lacks an optical drive – and having backward compatibility to all previous generations of Xbox, the console won't run Xbox One games in Xbox One X mode, but will instead drop down to the base level. Even so, it will be able to steady frame rates and dynamic resolutions and implement things like Auto HDR to enhance the image.

It's a tidy little package, and DIRT 5 shows that it's still plenty powerful enough at launch to give a meaningfully improved gaming experience.

We recently went hands on with DIRT 5's innovative Playgrounds mode, where you can create, share and race on custom tracks in a variety of events.

Source: YouTube

Dauntless update adds new Behemoth, modes and Hunt Pass

2020 has been a great year for Dauntless fans so far. Developer Phoenix Labs have continued to roll out a flurry of major updates, adding and new content, features, and reworks.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of yet another new chapter for the multiplayer action RPG as Dauntless invites players to explore the Untamed Wilds.

In short, Slayers can expect a new Behemoth as well as new story quests, game modes, tonics, and other extras. September 17th will also see the Strange Horizons Hunt Pass go live with another 50 tiers of rewards for players to unlock.

Headlining this new update is the introduction of Terra Escalations. For those who haven't visited Ramsgate or the Shattered Isle for some time, Escalations are gauntlet-like missions where you take on a series of Behemoth, unlocking power-ups between battles. As the name suggests, a Terra Escalation will have you have you fighting Terra element Behemoths. Score a high enough ranking and you'll go up against the new boss creature, Agarus.

In order to unlock Terra Escalations as a playable game mode you'll need to complete a series of story-driven quests in Dauntless. Phoenix Labs have been pushing to weave more lore into the world and missions of Dauntless – here's a quick introduction to the Untamed Wilds:

A group of Farslayers have been driven from their home, a forested island now consumed by blight and overrun with powerful terra Behemoths. Granny Strega, Ramsgate's enigmatic alchemist, has a plan to help combat this aetheric outbreak, but she'll need your help if she's going to succeed.

Veteran Slayers will be honing their skills ready to take on Agarus, repeating this encounter once the update goes live to unlock Agarus weapons and armour. There will be other new challenges too with Sporestruck variants of both the Embermane and Charrogg making their debut, complete with earth-based attacks, emitting noxious clouds of poison.

Dauntless guides & more from TheSixthAxis

For those wanting to know more about the new Hunt Pass, we'll be posting a full list of tiers and rewards soon.

Source: Dauntless

Crash Bandicoot 4 Preview – It's About Time!

Since the runaway success of 2017's Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, a completely new entry in this once dormant series seemed like a no-brainer. At least in terms of its potential to piggyback on nostalgia and Activision shifting copies by the shed-load.

However, when the publisher announced Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, there was always bound to be that little bit of scepticism. Retconning those Crash games which followed Naughty Dog's original trilogy and promising a direct sequel to Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped was a ballsy move. Can developers Toys for Bob pull it off? We dove into the pre-order demo to find out.

From what we've played of Crash 4 so far, it's a resounding yes from us. Combining the classic platforming gameplay the series is known for with some clever new gameplay additions, Crash 4 is a convincing continuation of those much-loved PlayStation classics.

In the pre-release demo (here's how to get it) there are three levels from the full game including Snow Way Out, Dino Dash, and Ship Happens. They give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of gameplay, level design, and the overall look and feel of the sequel.

The Crash 4 demo doesn't mess around, throwing you right in at the deep end with Snow Way Out. If the name wasn't a dead giveaway, this is a glacial gauntlet complete with slippery surfaces and thawing ice rafts.

The way Crash moves – running, sliding, spinning, and jumping – will feel instantly familiar to those who played the N. Sane Trilogy. However, you'll also notice a couple of refinements. The manic marsupial now has a double jump which feels strange at first, but is something you'll quickly weave it into your platforming flow, bouncing off crates and delaying the second jump to reach far away ledges. Another, smaller addition to Crash 4 is the new landing indicator. You'll now be able to see exactly where Crash will land, though this ring will still be hard to spot when the camera pulls away for certain sections. Instinctively knowing the timing and length of jump will still be essential in mastering Crash Bandicoot 4.

Two big new features in It's About Time are the Quantum Masks as well as the introduction of several different playable characters, including Coco, Dr. Neo Cortex, Dingodile, and Tawna.

The Quantum Masks can found during specific parts of a level, layering on gameplay mechanics such as the ability to slow time or phase objects in and out of the world. They may seem like a bit of a gimmick yet they allow Toys for Bob to weave challenging moments into their levels, especially when it comes to bonus stages. These will often require a mix of dexterous platforming and clever use of Quantum Masks to avoid hazards and smash every crate.

Speaking of crates, players are once again encouraged to snap up every piece of Wumpa Fruit they can get their furry fingers on. Instead of granting Crash an additional life for every 100 Wumpas you collect, they're instead tallied at the end of each stage as a kind of performance indicator. While Crash has an infinite number of lives, your total number of deaths will also be displayed.

That's unless you want to play Crash Bandicoot 4 on its "Retro" playstyle setting. There's an option to toggle between this and the default modern ruleset, reinstating a finite number of lives for those platforming fans seeking a challenge.

Needless to say, the Crash 4 demo has left us wanting to play more. We're curious to see what Toys for Bob have planned for Crash Bandicoot and his companions in terms of the game's story and where it will take us as they embark on their time-hopping adventure to thwart Cortex once again. We can't wait to see what kind of boss battles, spin-off stages, and Quantum Mask madness the full game will throw at us when it launches on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One next month.

WWE 2K Battlegrounds disappoints with its PS4 trophy list

For the first time, in a long time, there won't be an annual WWE video game launching this year. Instead of WWE 2K21, the publisher is going in a very different direction with the toonish, arcade style WWE 2K Battlegrounds.

Breaking the yearly cycle which began way back in 2000 in WWF SmackDown! Battlegrounds features over 130 superstars from the current WWE roster as well as legendary wrestlers.

If there's one thing WWE 2K Battlegrounds does not have an abundance of, it's PlayStation trophies. Trophy hunters looking for their wrestling fix will be disappointed to see that there are only 13 of them up for grabs with no platinum in sight. It's a saddening omission and one rare for PS4 games being sold at a premium price. You can check the trophy list further down.

Battlegrounds is a notable break away from what WWE gamers are used to sporting action figure-like characters duking it out across fantastical stages, landing some pretty bodacious moves on one another.

It's also the first time developer Saber Interactive (SnowRunner, World War Z) have taken a crack at the WWE license. At the same, Battlegrounds is pretty similar to what the studio did with NBA for NBA 2K Playgrounds and its sequel, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2.

I won! Perform a pin successfully Bronze
Zoologist Control the ram and feed your opponent to the alligator Bronze
Thunderstorm Unlock the "Thunderstorm" Power Up Bronze
That's my signature Perform 20 signature moves Bronze
Becoming a SuperStar Complete the Wrestlemania event Silver
Welcome to the Sunshine State Unlock the Everglades battleground Bronze
Vs. the World Win a Gauntlet match against 5 opponents or more Silver
Charismatic Fill the crowd bar Bronze
Freedom! Win a Steel Cage match Bronze
Nothing personal Perform 20 taunts Bronze
Anybody else? Win a Royal Rumble match with 20 opponents Silver
Is that a legal move? Pick up a motorcycle and a turnbuckle Bronze
Invincible Win a Royal Rumble match against 30 opponents in normal difficulty or higher Gold

WWE 2K Battlegrounds launches this Friday on September 18th for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and Microsoft Windows.

Source: True Trophies

Retailer lists Mass Effect Trilogy for Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, out this October

Portuguese retailer GamingReplay seems to have jumped the gun a little early and posted pre-orders for the Mass Effect Trilogy on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. It is rumoured the game will be officially revealed tonight as part of the PlayStation stream but as there's no PS5 but there is a Switch version, it might be showcased in Nintendo's event tomorrow.

In July we found out that "Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition" will be hitting store shelves next year on March 23rd and, like previous Mass Effect art books and graphic novels, will be published by Dark Horse Comics. It seems very odd that a book based on game that hasn't been on the shelves since 2017 is being published in 2021, that is unless there's a new/old game on the way.

Then, in August GamesBeat journalist Jeff Grub who claims the remastered games may be out this October.  "Up until like this last week, I know the plan for sure was to announce it in early October, release in later in October. So good news," he said on the Gamesbeat podcast. However, he then tempered expectations by adding "Maybe bad news, it's 2020, maybe that could start to slip, it sounds like maybe that's a possibility, nothing for sure yet. I know it's real. I've seen more than enough evidence to know it's real, but it's still 2020 and they haven't announced it yet."

EA have never officially announced the remastered trilogy but there have been many reports of the games existing. The last game in the series, Mass Effect: Andromeda, was a commercial flop and DLC that was planned for the game was scrapped. That said, the game got decent reviews including an 8/10 from ourselves.

I found it hard to be excited during the opening hours of Mass Effect: Andromeda. It feels too safe, too much like what's gone before, but then it clicks. There's a moment where the galaxy opens up and you find yourself embarking once more on a huge mission across compelling, beautifully constructed planets, surrounded by memorable characters. Sadly the glut of technical missteps serve to cheapen proceedings, but this is still an adventure you don't want to miss out on.

UPDATE: The pages listing the games have now vanished. What a suprise!

Source: Twitter

Call of Duty League drops PlayStation and moves to PC

The 2021 season of the Call of Duty League will be not be played on consoles and instead will be played on PC with a controller. Previously the League had been played on Xbox before moving to PlayStation 4 in 2015 as part of a deal with Sony. The players will only be able to use one of the officially sanctioned controllers, here is the full announcement.

The League is announcing it will move pro team competition to PC + Controller beginning with the 2021 season. This means that all pro matches will be played on PC and all pro players must use a League-approved controller of their choice.

As part of this transition, Call of Duty League competition will maintain exclusive use of controllers for the upcoming season. This change provides players with expanded choice of controller, allowing them to select the League-approved controller style that works best for their game. More details and rules pertaining to peripherals will be released at a future date.

The Call of Duty Challengers division is also undergoing a change and for the first time the players will be cross platform.

For the first time in Call of Duty esports history, competitors will be able to compete online in Call of Duty Challengers on their platform of choice across console and PC. We will continue to test platform hardware and make restrictions if necessary.

Players are required to use controllers. Mouse and keyboard peripherals will not be allowed.

Any LAN Challengers event that takes place during the season will be played on PC. Competitors may plug in their League-approved controller of choice.

Season 6 of Modern Warfare and Warzone will begin on September 29th and will include a new Battle Pass, but the rest of the content is still underwraps.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will launch November 13 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, Xbox One Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 on day one.

Source: CharlieIntel

Super Mario 3D All-Stars Review

Do people generally make a fuss about 35th birthdays? Once you reach adulthood, I thought it was mainly every 10th birthday that was a "big" one, maybe with 65 thrown in to celebrate being able to collect your state pension. Nintendo, as always, have decided to buck the trend, overthrow tradition and do things their own way. They're really going all-out for the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., starting off with the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

3D All-Stars brings together the first three of Mario's 3D adventures: The defining Super Mario 64 from the N64, the oft-overlooked Super Mario Sunshine from GameCube, and the brilliant Super Mario Galaxy from the Wii. That's where it stops though, with the direct sequel Super Mario Galaxy 2 seemingly Stalin-ed out of existence and Super Mario 3D World from the Wii U getting a separate release.

It's not everything, and arguably skips past the best 3D Super Mario game, but it's a huge amount of Mario gaming to get in one bundle, and seeing a GameCube game given the remaster treatment is an incredibly rare treat.

Instead of full on remakes, as popularised by Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy and Spyro Reignited Trilogy, Nintendo have gone the route of trying to preserve the original games. There's nips and tucks here and there, there's tweaks to make the games work on the Switch Joy-Con, but by and large these are faithful recreations of the original releases, almost to a fault.

Super Mario 64 is the most straightforward, and immediately the most mildly disappointing. In the heyday of Nintendo's Virtual Console, Mario 64 was available to buy on the Nintendo Wii and the Wii U. Between that and the game's genre defining status, it's bound to be the most familiar to fans.

The version included here is Mario 64, and nothing more. The game is presented in 4:3 on the Switch or TV screen, but now runs at 960×720 (with a thin black border around the game) and resolutely sticks to 30fps. One area that has improved is the HUD overlay, which seems to have been given a pass with a scaling filter that smooths the pixellated sprites in a slightly stylised way, and you can see that effect elsewhere as well – King Bob-omb looks so much more round. However, the game as a whole just lags behind fan game projects that have demonstrated Mario 64 can work in 16:9 and 60fps just fine.

It's not like Nintendo haven't fiddled with their classic games in the past – Mario 64 DS introduced more playable character, revised the 3D models and more – but the ambition here has been purely on preservation, as opposed to upgrading the game experience. What I'd give for smooth camera controls, for one thing, or for the draw distance on sprites to be stretched out to infinity, or even just a fix for the weird smoke bug which fans managed this year. It's even a slight step back from the Virtual Console functionality, where you could save a state and resume down the line, and you no longer have access to the digital manual.

Thankfully, Super Mario Sunshine is not quite as puritanical. For one thing, it's upgraded with a 16:9 resolution and full HD, which combines with renewed HUD elements for a crisp and sharp looking game. GameCube owners in the PAL region in particular only ever had interlaced output from their consoles, though Sunshine did have a 60Hz mode which meant we could play at 30fps. Oh, and of course, it's the same frame rate for this release. It's still perfectly playable, but a shame when Super Mario Odyssey could pull off 60fps on the same hardware.

Exploring Isle Delfino is a real joy though. While nowhere near as groundbreaking as Super Mario 64, this was still Nintendo at their inventive best, and they stepped away from the rather abstract hodgepodge of ideas from Mario 64 to create something that felt like a cohesive whole. All of the levels have a tropical island theme, and you can often spot other levels from the island in the background. Nintendo really pushed the boat out with then-emerging graphical effects as well. The waves in the game look fantastic, the water brilliantly simulating the shifting opacity and shimmer of real water, and supremely crisp reflections. It looks great and really holds up well in HD.

Nintendo have had to fiddle with the control scheme to work around the GameCube's 'analogue with a click' triggers. Now, instead of having Mario's FLUDD backpack squirt straight ahead while analogue, and then enter an aiming mode once fully depressed, these functions are separated onto the ZR and R buttons. Anyone hoping to use a GameCube controller via an adapter, a la Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, will be disappointed, as there's no support for this. I know I was a little bit.

Super Mario Galaxy has likely required the most work to get working on Nintendo Switch, but not on the graphical side. As with Sunshine, Nintendo have bumped up the game resolution from SD to HD, and that helps a huge amount with the severe aliasing you see when playing the game on Wii or Wii U. At a base technical level, you get 720p handheld and a dynamic 1080p docked, and at last we get a game in this collection that runs at 60fps. Admittedly, it always ran at 60fps, so not managing that would've been a shocker, but it helps the game feel that much smoother on Switch than the others in the collection.

While Sunshine really defined the visual style of Super Mario games in the 21st century, Super Mario Galaxy refined it further. The opening run to Peach's castle was a wonderful nod back Mario 64, but when the galaxy-hopping adventure really took form with a mixture of traditional 3D Mario levels and jaw-dropping planetoids to zip between, they were just packed with more detail that really holds up well in HD. However, it's fair to say that some elements like the crush to the dynamic range and banding in the colours is now much clearer to see in a HDR world.

Perhaps the most impressive element here is how well Super Mario Galaxy handles losing the Wii remote and nunchuck controls. Originally you'd be pointing at the screen to pick up star bits and fire them at enemies, interact with certain other elements and waggling the controller to get Mario to pull of a spin attack. With a Joy-Con in each hand, all of that has been preserved thanks to the precision of the more modern motion sensors, but if you want to play with a Pro Controller or similar, then you can substitute controller shaking for a button press to spin, and the motion controls still feel fine with two hands on the controller. Handheld play then goes that one step further to let you tap the screen instead of tilt. It can be a bit of a stretch for your thumbs, even with the smaller Nintendo Switch Lite and big hands.

Outside of the games, this is a no-frills affair. As already mentioned, there are no digital manuals included – once such a key part of a game experience and able to house explanations of more advanced game techniques – there's also no concept art to flip through, which would have been a nice touch to see how these games evolved. What you do have are the full game soundtracks that you can listen to from the main menu, with the option to turn the screen off… because everyone wants to use their Switch as a music player, don't they?

DayZ hotfix 1.09.153407 is out today, here are the patch notes

Something has gone a bit squiffy with DayZ and Bohemia Interactive are to release a quick hotfix for the game. At 14:00 CEST / 13.00 BST they will be deploying a 1.09 hotfix on PC which means PC servers will be down for a short period of time, PS4 and Xbox One players can expect the deployment between 14:00 – 16:00 CEST / 13:00 – 15:00 BST tomorrow.

Here are the patch notes:

Update 1.09.153407 – Release on 16.09.2020

FIXED

  • Fixed a server crash
  • Fixed a crash while loading into the main menu/server (caused by corrupted local cached character data)
  • Fixed a bug, allowing the player to drag full stacks of stones by using the combine area in the inventory
  • Fixed an issue resulting in unmounted but attached barbed wire giving a damage
  • Fixed an issue causing weapons to become stuck when dropped from an unconscious player during reload
  • Fixed a bug preventing pulling dead players from the Olga in certain cases
  • Fixed an issue blocking base building close to other base building objects
  • Fixed an issue preventing the collision of tent doors/walls from updating until the next server restart

CHANGED

  • Placement of base building objects was made less restrictive (reducing gaps in between)
  • The Revolver reload should be more responsive now
  • Increased the durability of the IJ-70 pistol

DayZ developers Bohemia Interactive have just launched their newest multiplayer title, Vigor, on the Nintendo Switch.

The free to play looter shooter is currently available on Xbox One. While it seems that a PC or PlayStation 4 release would come next, Bohemia have made the decision to go handheld with their newest version of Vigor.

Set in a post-apocalyptic Norway, in Vigor players must survive the perilous Outlands by competing in various game modes then funnelling their resources into building a base.

Vigor is now available to download and play via the Nintendo eShop though access is currently limited to those who purchase the founder's pack. Like many free-to-play online games, Vigor will open its doors to paying customers first before going completely free to play at a later date, sweetening the deal by throwing in a bundle of in-game items.

The Nintendo Switch Vigor founder's pack includes the Founder Uniform, Vigor Baseball Cap, "Dust-off Hands" Gesture, and a wad of Crowns – Vigor's premium currency. Priced at £17.99 (or $19.99), Bohemia claim that the value of the Crowns alone is 40USD so there are some savings to be had for those who want to get in early on the action.

Source: DayZ

The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon Review

The Outer Worlds is a darkly hilarious RPG in space, but it more importantly tells a unique and engaging story that's routinely surprisingly. It also lets you approach everything however you want to, meaning your second run through the game can be wildly different from your first. This may come as a relief to those whose save files are in the final stages of the game, as the game's first expansion, Peril on Gorgon is woven into the plot of the main game, and the final level just ends the game without allowing you to continue playing.

For those players (such as myself), Peril on Gorgon will require replaying the main game until they have finished the Radio Free Monarch quest, which is closer to the end of the game than the beginning. Whilst playing through again is hardly a hardship, it wouldn't have hurt to have the option to access the DLC directly from the menu and maybe import your character. Better yet, they could just let players keep playing after the main story is finished – there's plenty of side quests people might want to complete.

Once you finish the Radio Free Monarch quest, you'll get a request to dock with your ship from the Halcyon Parcel Service to deliver a parcel for Alex Hawthorne (whom you my have been masquerading as depending on your earlier choices). It contains a message from gravel-voiced expositioner Lucky Montana… with his disembodied arm still holding onto it. It's time to grab your detective hat, because Peril on Gorgon is a noir mystery full of metaphors and melodrama as you investigate the abandoned Spacer's Choice facility on Gorgon.

It's quite a ride with some serious implications for the colony at large, tapping into the same themes of bureaucracy gone mad from the rest of the game. It is a comment on how corporations function (soullessly), which is basically a given considering the corporate nature of the game's setting. The basic mismanagement feels a little predictable at this point.

Gorgon itself is a little awkward to explore initially. It's quite a big map, but it's split between three different levels with specific entrances and exits to transition between them. The Outer Worlds doesn't let you hop your way up mountains and over scenery like similar games, but once you've found the lifts and unlocked a few fast travel points it'll get less awkward to get around. There's plenty of stuff to find whilst exploring, but basically all the bigger locations are locked until you reach them in the DLC's story.

There's handful of side missions that manage to push a little extra comic relief between the main missions' incredibly grim revelations and fill in details about how the area has developed. One conversation with a captain and his first and second mates, who were looking for either a llama-shaped rock, actually had me laughing aloud. Then again, one of them is just collecting five datapads.

There aren't many new enemies to tangle with unfortunately, and most of the new ones are variations of the older ones, like bigger marauders, primals, or mantiqueens. The same goes for weapons and armour, where outside of a few science weapons that I haven't really found much use for, they're just variations on the ones in the main game. There's still a good amount of named, unique weapons knocking around, but they're still just modified, sometimes reskinned versions of already existing ones.

There are a few changes to the base game as well. The level cap has increased by three levels, giving you 30 new skill points to assign once you've levelled. Meanwhile, the maximum skills can be increased to is now up to 150, an increase of 50. If you have a fully levelled character who can access the DLC, you will need to respec (which is available on the Unreliable) to reach the new maximum for your most used skills. You'll need to anyway, because there have been a few retroactive changes, such as some locks that needed 100 in lockpicking to unlock now need 150, possibly adding an extra five levels to the process of accessing them. It seems Obsidian want players to heavily specialise when developing their character, though giving players only thirty new points to invest whilst requiring fifty more per maxed-out skill is an odd choice.

Of course, throughout Peril on Gorgon, you'll find the same issues the main game has, namely that combat is still a little too easy – you should really play on Hard – and item/enemy variation is still a little lacking. There a few reports of people finishing the DLC in five hours, though I can only imagine that was rushing through as it must've taken me at least double that with my usual "search every nook and cranny" approach.

Fallout 76 update 1.4.0.2.0 patch notes have landed

The latest patch for Fallout 76 includes new features like One Wasteland, Daily Ops, Legendary Perks, the start of our second Fallout 76 Season, plus the usual raft of bug fixes and tweaks. Enjoy!

UPDATE VERSION

Check below for the update version and download size for today's patch on your platform of choice:

  • PC (Bethesda.net): 1.4.0.20 (23.3 GB)
  • PC (Microsoft Store): 1.4.0.20 (37.8 GB)
  • PC (Steam): 1.4.0.20 (27.5 GB)
  • PS4: 1.4.0.20 (35.2 GB)
  • Xbox: 1.4.0.20 (42.6 GB)

ONE WASTELAND

  • With today's update, we're excited to introduce One Wasteland to Fallout 76, which allows creatures to dynamically adjust their levels up or down on the fly to more closely match each player they encounter.
    • If multiple players all come across the same enemy at the same time, its level will simultaneously rise for the higher-level players and drop for the lower-level players.
  • In addition to their levels, each creature's damage, health, and resistances, as well as the loot they drop and the XP they award, will also better match each player.
    • This means that all players who are adventuring together can have an impact on any given combat encounter, even if there is a large level gap between them.
    • While creatures will still have minimum and maximum levels, such as a max of level 50 in The Forest, they are now much more flexible overall.
  • One Wasteland opens up more opportunities to adventure anywhere in Appalachia, whether alone or with your friends. It also smooths out some of the early game bumps for new players, allows higher-level players to get max-level loot in previously lower-level regions, and should offer more consistent combat encounters for everyone.
  • Catch even more details by reading our recent One Wasteland Preview article on Fallout.com.

NEW SEASON, BOARD, & REWARDS

  • Join Armor Ace and the Power Patrol in their march against the oppressive Subjugator and his army of Red Viper minions during Fallout 76 Season 2, which begins today!
    • Season 2 brings the all-new "Armor Ace" S.C.O.R.E.board to the game, featuring 100 ranks for you to achieve during the next 10 weeks.
    • We've added a host of rewards that you will unlock as you rank up, including new Power Armor paints, Armor and Weapon Skins, themed cosmetics, C.A.M.P. items, in-game currencies, Perk Card Packs, and more.
  • We've made several adjustments this Season that you may want to keep in mind as you dive in:
    • Rank-ups will be purchasable immediately, so those who would like to rank up using Atoms can join the fight to crush the Red Vipers starting today.
    • We've implemented some new Daily and Weekly Challenges, such as Daily Ops themed Challenges, to offer you even more day-to-day variety as you rank up.
    • We're also adding more Weeklies to the Challenge lineup so you have more flexibility to progress on your schedule.
    • Finally, we've made several of last Season's rewards, like Lunchboxes, the Ammo Converter, available at Gold Bullion vendors so players who missed them have another opportunity to unlock them.
  • Head to the Seasons page on Fallout.com and read our recent Season 2 Preview article to get more information about Season 2, as well as a look at the rewards that will be up for grabs.

DAILY OPS

Put your skills to the test by taking on instanced, randomized, and repeatable encounters called "Daily Ops." Daily Ops are fairly challenging, and so we recommend them for characters who are level 50+.

  • Our first Game Mode for Daily Ops is called "Uplink," which will require you to secure a series of Uplinks to track down and destroy enemies that are threats to Appalachia.
    • In Daily Ops, you'll square off against enemies from a single faction who are affected by a unique "mutation," which will make them deadlier and more challenging to take down.
    • Complete your objectives, eliminate the enemy threat, and you will be rewarded for your efforts to make Appalachia a safe place for everyone.
  • To join a Daily Op, open the Map screen and find the new World Activity tracker we've added in the lower-left corner.
    • Select a Daily Op from the list to learn more about it, including which location, enemies, and mutations you'll face.
    • Enter Daily Ops directly from the tracker by clicking the "Join" button.
    • You can take on Daily Ops alone or in a team of up to four other players.
  • Each day, Daily Ops will feature a fresh combination of location, enemy faction, and enemy mutations to keep you on your toes.
    • Locations: The Burrows, The Burning Mine, Valley Galleria, or Vault 94
    • Enemy Factions: Super Mutants, Blood Eagles, or Robots
    • Enemy Mutations:
    • Piercing Gaze: This mutation is always applied to enemies the "Uplink" Daily Ops mode, and gives them greatly enhanced perception of players.
    • Volatile: Enemies will explode on death
    • Active Camouflage: Enemies will be cloaked when not attacking
    • Resilient: Enemies can only be killed by a melee attack
    • Freezing Touch: Enemy attacks will freeze players
  • Since you will be facing constant combat and deadly threats during your Operations, we've reduced the condition damage taken by your weapons and armor by 50% while in a Daily Op.
  • Like the event "A Colossal Problem," creatures in Daily Ops will drop ammo based on the weapons you're using when you take them down. This will help keep your ammo reserves topped off through lots of combat.
  • You can repeat Daily Ops as often as you'd like each day, and you will receive a base set of rewards every time you complete one. However, there are three additional reward tiers that you can reach once per day by completing a Daily Op within certain time limits:
    • Initiate Tier: 16 minutes or less
    • Paladin Tier: 12 minutes or less
    • Elder Tier: 8 minutes or less
    • The higher the tier you achieve, the higher your chances to get better rewards, including more XP, larger amounts of in-game currencies, legendary items, and even brand-new items like the War Glaive, which is a customizable two-handed melee weapon.
  • After finishing a Daily Op, you'll be able to view an Operation Report, which shows you how fast you managed to complete it, which reward tiers you reached, and a list of the rewards you earned (except for XP and currencies).

LEGENDARY PERKS

Legendary Perks are new high-level Perk Cards for players who have reached level 50+, which will help you add even more power and build diversity to your characters.

  • We've added a new "Legendary Perks" button to the top of the normal Perk Card Menu, which you can use to access and modify your Legendary Perk Slots and Cards.
  • You will unlock your first Legendary Perk Slot at level 50, and up to 6 slots in total at certain level milestones after that: 75, 100, 150, 200, and 300.
    • If you already have high-level characters, they will immediately have access to one Legendary Perk Slot for each of the above milestones they've reached.
    • For example, a level 250 character will have access to 5 Legendary Perk slots, and will gain a 6th slot at level 300.
    • One Legendary Perk Card can be equipped to each slot, and you can unequip them at any time in exchange for 1 Perk Coin (more on Perk Coins below).
  • Legendary Perk Slots are account-wide, and will be available to all of your characters as soon as you unlock them.
    • Even your characters below level 50 will be able to equip Legendary Perks in these slots, which gives them access to more power at an earlier stage of the game than your higher-level characters had at that level.
  • With Legendary Perks, we're introducing "Perk Coins," which you can use to increase the power of your Legendary Perk Cards by upgrading them.
    • Earn Perk Coins by scrapping your unused normal Perk Cards. Each Perk Card you scrap will grant you 2 Perk Coins per rank.
    • For example: When you scrap a rank 1 Perk Card, you'll receive 2 Perk Coins, and scrapping a rank 3 Perk Card will award 6 Perk Coins.
    • Each Legendary Perk Card can be upgraded up to three times, at a price of 50, 100, and 150 Perk Coins to reach ranks 2, 3, and 4, respectively.
    • While Legendary Perk Slots you've unlocked are account-wide, your Legendary Perk Selections and upgrades are separate for each of your characters.
    • To help give your Perk Coin collection a boost, we've added a "Become Legendary" Challenge to the Character Challenge Menu, which awards 50 Perk Coins to characters who reach level 50.
    • Please note: If your characters are already level 50+, this Challenge will already be completed for them the next time you log in, and the 50 Perk Coin reward will be added to your Perk Coin total automatically.

DESIGN UPDATES

GENERAL
  • Fast Travel: It is now free to Fast Travel to Foundation and Crater.
COMBAT
  • Bonus Damage: We've changed the way that damage bonuses are calculated so that they now apply additively instead of multiplicatively.
    • Please Note: While stacking damage bonuses will now have a smaller overall effect on your damage output than before, these changes will make the resulting damage much more predictable and allow for future improvements. This is very important for the health of the game going forward. It will also create better opportunities for us to make smarter and more effective balance changes.
    • We are still evaluating feedback we gathered on these changes from the PTS, but we also welcome your thoughts on how different weapons and builds feel after today's update so that we can make additional adjustments in the future.
ITEMS
  • Alien Blaster: Damage increased by 30%.
  • Legendary Weapons: The Assassin's legendary attribute now applies its bonus damage to human NPCs.
  • Secret Service Armor: Plans for Light and Ultra-Light Limb Mods for Secret Service Armor have been added, and they are now purchasable from Regs in Vault 79.
  • Shishkebab: Now deals Fire damage instead of Energy damage.
PERKS
  • Modern Renegade: Increased Modern Renegade's chance to cripple limbs from 2%/3%/4% to 4%/8%/12%.
  • Tank Killer: Pistols now benefit from the Tank Killer Perk Card.
USER INTERFACE
  • Public Teams: We've renamed the "Building" team to "Casual" and removed the Casual team bonus. In its place, we've added a "Daily Ops" team type, which offers bonus XP for completing Daily Ops (+25% bonus XP to start, +100% bonus XP for a fully bonded team).
    • We did this in part because it is not possible to build in Public Teammates' C.A.M.P.s., and partly because most players were using the Building team the way we had intended Casual to be used anyway.
    • Removing the Casual team option, it made room for us to add the new Daily Ops team type, which we feel players will find more useful following today's update.
WORLD
  • Vault 94: Is now accessible during world exploration in Adventure Mode and Private Worlds.
  • Vault 51: We've added a new no-C.A.M.P. zone around Vault 51's exterior in preparation for future content.

BUG FIXES

ART & GRAPHICS
  • Apparel: Underarmors no longer clip through Chally the Moo-Moo Outfits.
  • Emotes: While equipped, Grognak's Battlecry Emote now correctly displays its icon in the Emote Wheel.
  • Headwear: Extreme facial features no longer clip through the Ghillie Suit Hood's facemask.
  • Lighting: Corrected lighting issues affecting the inside of the Charleston Capitol Building.
  • Lighting: Corrected lighting issues that were affecting building interiors in Morgantown Trainyard.
  • Loot Bags: Fixed an issue with the Vault-Tec Duffel Bag model that made it difficult to interact with.
  • Weapons: Fixed additional issues that could cause clipping when reloading a Handmade Rifle with the Screaming Eagle paint.
C.A.M.P. AND WORKSHOPS
  • Ammo Converter: Attempting to sell 40mm Grenade Rounds no longer results in a "Transaction Failed!" error.
  • Blood Eagle Nest: Allies can now enter and exit the Blood Eagle Nest more easily.
  • Blueprints: The "Select" option in the Blueprint menu now correctly appears greyed out when the player is not currently highlighting an object.
  • C.A.M.P.: Resources generated by objects like the Collectron, Fertilizer Producer, and etc. are now stored in the player's Stash or Scrapbox if they move C.A.M.P. locations before collecting them.
  • C.A.M.P.: Fixed an issue that could prevent Fast Travel to another player's C.A.M.P. if the C.A.M.P. owner had the Future-Tec C.A.M.P. skin equipped.
  • Camp Fires: Objects that can only be placed in dirt can no longer be built on a Camp Fire.
  • Communist Bunker: Objects placed on the floor of the Communist Bunker no longer appear to float.
  • Communist Bunker: The interior walls of the Communist Bunker are now hexagonal rather than cylindrical to help players more easily place wall décor.
  • Communist Bunker: The building requirements for the Communist Bunker now correctly call for Concrete instead of Asbestos.
  • Communist Fence: Added an alternate version of the Communist Fence that can be freely placed without needing to snap to other objects.
  • Displays: Wall Weapon Racks can now be correctly snapped to Walls.
  • Exploit: Items can no longer be stacked on objects that are in disrepair.
  • Exploit: Fixed an exploit allowing players to build Workshop Ammunition Factories in their C.A.M.P.s.
    • Please note: As a result of this fix, C.A.M.P.s and Blueprints that contain a Workshop Ammo Factory are now invalid and can no longer be placed.
    • Players will also receive a notification that their C.A.M.P. or Blueprint cannot be placed if it contains a Workshop Ammo Factory.
  • Exploit: Addressed a C.A.M.P. budget exploit related to Generators.
  • Floors: Farmable Dirt Tiles can no longer be replaced by other floor types.
  • Floor Décor: The Standing Taxidermy Gorilla Plan now correctly unlocks the Standing Gorilla instead of the sitting version, and vice versa.
  • Floor Décor: The Standing and Sitting Taxidermy Gorillas now correctly display their destroyed states when they are in disrepair.
  • Fusion Generator: When scrapped, Fusion Generators now correctly return Aluminum, Copper, and Rubber.
  • Log Cabin: Players can now correctly place items in the window of the Log Cabin.
  • Rain Water Collector: No longer becomes invisible when destroyed.
CHALLENGES
  • Daily: Scrapping Fertilizer now correctly progresses the "Collect Fertilizer" subchallenge for the "Gather Building Supplies" Daily Challenge.
DEATH & RESPAWN
  • Ash & Goo Piles: Players now die immediately when turned into an Ash or Goo Pile, rather than entering the "down but not out" state.
  • Respawn: Implemented a fix to reduce cases where players could become unable to respawn after being killed during an event or in an interior.
    • Please Note: This fix may not address all situations that can cause this issue to occur, but it should help, and we are continuing to work on a more complete fix.
ENEMIES
  • Scorchbeast Queen: The Scorchbeast Queen's wings can now be crippled to cause her to land, and her legs can be crippled to slightly reduce her rotation speed.
ITEMS
  • Aid: Fixed an issue in which players were unable to die from Radiation damage while affected by +Max Health buffs, like those offered by Buffout, Bufftats, and Psychobuff.
  • Aid: Mud Cookie, Swamp Tofu, and all Omelette Recipes no longer incorrectly appear in the Cooking Station's Meat category.
  • Aid: Seared Venison with Berries and Cranberry Meatball Grinder now correctly appear in the Cooking Station's Meat category, and will now progress the "Cook a Meat-Based Meal" Daily Challenge.
  • Alien Blaster: Players can now correctly switch back to the Standard Grip mod after applying the Sharpshooter Grip.
  • Armor: The Pocketed Mod for the Raider Chest Piece no longer incorrectly grants more carry capacity than the Deep Pocketed Mod.
  • Exploit: Addressed an exploit in which players could intentionally double the stat bonus offered by Unyielding Armors.
  • Fireworks: Equipping Fireworks no longer causes players to reload much faster than intended.
  • Gatling Gun: Erroneous "Crafting item unlocked" notifications no longer appear when scrapping Gatling Guns.
  • Loot: Enemies that drop contextual ammo can now correctly drop Arrows, Crossbow Bolts, .38 rounds, 40mm Grenade Rounds, Ultracite Plasma Cartridges, and Ultracite 2mm Electromagnetic Cartridges instead of random ammo when players kill them with the appropriate weapons.
  • Power Armor: Fixed an issue in which Power Armor with the Junkyard Paint was not providing the correct amount of Radiation Resistance.
  • Shotguns: Fixed an issue affecting Suppressor Shotgun Mods that could cause the weapon's range value to be negative.
  • Underarmor: Secret Service Underarmor Lining Mods can now be correctly applied to Camo Secret Service Underarmor.
  • Underarmor: Fixed an issue that allowed players to craft the Camo Secret Service Underarmor without knowing the Secret Service Underarmor Recipe.
MUTATIONS
  • General: Players can now correctly acquire more than one Mutation in a given play session.
  • Speed Demon: Fixed an issue that reduced Stimpak healing while under the effects of the Speed Demon Mutation.
NPCS
  • Critters: Now cap at level 5 and can no longer spawn as legendary.
  • Fishbones: No longer flees from nearby hostiles at Ohio River Adventures.
PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY
  • Client Stability: Fixed a crash that could occur when using the Pip-Boy.
  • Client Stability: Improved client stability on Xbox One when players sign out of their profiles during active gameplay.
  • Performance: Fixed an issue with the Tesla Rifle that could result in poor framerates for nearby players.
  • Server Stability: Addressed multiple issues that could result in a server crash during normal gameplay.
  • Server Stability: Addressed a server crash that could occur during Nuclear Winter matches.
  • Server Stability: Addressed a server crash related to player Vending Machines.
  • Server Performance: Addressed an issue that could cause a "Waiting for response from server" message to appear after using a nuke keypad.
PERKS
  • Class Freak: Fixed an issue that caused some Mutations to not interact correctly with the Class Freak Perk Card.
  • Concentrated Fire: Rank 3 of the Concentrated Fire Perk no longer causes the chance-to-hit in V.A.T.S. to suddenly jump to 95% when using an automatic weapon.
QUESTS AND EVENTS
  • A Colossal Problem: Players will no longer receive the MIRV Frag Grenade Plan multiple times after completing the event.
  • A Colossal Problem: Fixed an issue where equipping certain types of thrown explosives caused Wendigo spawns to drop random ammo on death.
  • An Ounce of Prevention: Further addressed an issue that could block quest progression when attempting to analyze the Ghoul Blood Sample.
  • Primal Cuts: Quest targets will now appear on all Prime Beasts, instead of only on the last few, which will help players track down any wayward Beasts.
  • Primal Cuts: During the final wave of Prime Beasts, players are now only required to kill the boss to complete the event.
  • Vital Equipment: Fixed an issue in which a player could complete Vital Equipment multiple times per day if they already had one of the quest items in their inventory.
SOUND
  • C.A.M.P.: Sound effects now play after use the "Repair All Items" option in C.A.M.P.
  • Music: The music volume in the Atomic Shop no longer reverts to its default setting when the first song finishes playing.
USER INTERFACE
  • Controls: Fixed an issue that could prevent the quick-heal button from working properly after switching game modes.
  • Controls: Fixed an issue that could cause the controls to become unresponsive when opening the Social Menu under certain conditions.
  • Damage Numbers: Grenades and Mines now correctly display damage numbers when they hit enemies.
  • Item Transfer: Fixed an issue that could cause items to be transferred from unintended inventory categories when spamming the transfer button.
  • Notifications: Reduced the size of Season rank progress bars and rank-up notifications so that they take up less space on the screen.
  • Notifications: The "Challenge Complete" flyout notification is now correctly translated in non-English versions of the game.
  • Notifications: S.C.O.R.E. rank-up progress and reward notifications now correctly appear to players who are wearing Power Armor.
  • Notifications: Purchasing multiple rank-ups using Atoms and then leaving the Season board no longer causes the S.C.O.R.E. meter to progress very slowly or rank-up sound effects to loop repeatedly.
WORLD
  • General: The following locations can now be accessed at all times, and attempting to enter them no longer sometimes displays a "Location available at a later date" error.
    • Arktos Pharma Biome Lab
    • Eta Psi House
    • Pi House
    • The Burrows
    • The Nukashine
    • Van Lowe Taxidermy
  • Fort Defiance: The No C.A.M.P. zone at Fort Defiance has been expanded to include the road in front of Allegheny Asylum to resolve an exploit affecting enemy spawns during the Line in the Sand event.

Source: Bethesda

Spelunky 2 PS4 trophy list is full of treasures

In case you missed it, Spelunky 2 launched yesterday on PlayStation 4. The long-awaited sequel was originally unveiled during Sony's showcase at the Paris Games Week 2017.

With a PC release date expected to be announced in the near future, Spelunky 2 expands on its predecessor with buckets of replayability thanks to its brutal roguelike structure and plenty of hidden secrets to uncover. Here's the official blurb from the PlayStation Store where Spelunky 2 is currently priced at £15.99:

"Spelunky 2 builds upon the unique, randomized challenges that made the original a classic, offering a huge adventure designed to satisfy players old and new. Explore the game alone, play locally with up to four players, or, for the first time, join up with friends online to unravel its mysteries together (or battle it out in competitive Arena modes)."

Spelunky 2 offers plenty of treasured both in-game and via a meaty PS4 trophy list, complete with its own Platinum. Here's the full range of trophies up for grabs – those wanting to uncover Spelunky 2's secrets on their own might want to avoid spoiling them.

The Full Spelunky
Obtain all other trophies.		 Platinum
You Got This
Unlock the entrance in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Feels Good
Make it past 1-4 in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Skills Improving
Make it past Olmec's Lair in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Persistent
Reach the Ice Caves in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Journeyman
Complete the game in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Ironman
Complete the game without using shortcuts in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Silver
Speedlunky
Complete the game in 10 minutes or less without shortcuts in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Silver
Low Scorer
Complete the game with no gold in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Silver
Pilgrim
Reach the Sunken City in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Silver
Master
Complete the game by defeating Hundun in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Gold
Awakened
Reach the Cosmic Ocean in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Gold
Excavator
Complete the Moon Challenge in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Torchbearer
Complete the Star Challenge in a non-seeded run.		 Silver
Survivor
Complete the Sun Challenge in a non-seeded run.		 Gold
Millionaire
End a run with $1,000,000 or more in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Silver
Seen a Lot
Complete 50% of the Journal or more.		 Silver
Seen It All
Complete the Journal.		 Gold
Mama's Little Helper
Unlock the first shortcut.		 Bronze
Mama's Big Helper
Unlock all three shortcuts.		 Silver
Track Star
Finish the Tutorial Speedrun in under 30 seconds.		 Bronze
Arena Champion
Win a First-to-Five Deathmatch against three bots using the Default ruleset.		 Bronze
Turkey Whisperer
Bring two turkeys to Yang in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Support a Local Business
Buy out Yang's Pet Shop in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
VIP
Enter Madame Tusk's Palace of Pleasure as a guest (in a non-seeded run).		 Silver
Shadow Shopper
Reach the Black Market in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Legendary
Reach the City of Gold in a non-seeded, single-player run.		 Gold
Her Favorite
Obtain the Kapala in a non-seeded run.		 Bronze
Divine Right
Obtain some royal headwear in a non-seeded run.
Bronze
A Second Chance
Obtain the Ankh in a non-seeded run.		 Silver
Chosen One
Obtain the Tablet of Destiny in a non-seeded run.		 Silver
Parenthood
Wake the Eggplant Child in a non-seeded run.		 Silver

Source: PSN Profiles

A Spanish retailer seems to have leaked the price of the PlayStation 5

We are just eleven hours away from Sony officially confirming the price of the PlayStation 5 but it seems a Spanish retailer may have jumped the gun. A photo of their internal inventory systems shows the price for the Xbox Series X and Series S, both of which we know, and also the two PlayStation 5 models.

It looks like Sony will match the price of the Xbox Series X and it will retail at €499.90, while the all digital disc free version of the console gets knocked down to €399.90. If they follow the same currency conversion model as Microsoft that works out at £449 and £349 respectively.

Another screen from the retailers system was also posted backing up the prices. However they could be placeholders but do seem to be the prices everyone is expecting.

Bloomberg have been reporting that "people familiar with the matter" have suggested that Sony are facing production problems with the PlayStation 5. The problem appears to be with custom built SoC which has production yields of just 50%, or in other words, half of the chips don't work. It is reported that Sony have been forced to cut the predicted number of consoles available down by 4 million units, dropping from 15 million to 11 million for the fiscal year.

Sony have denied the claims and provided a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. The statement reads, "While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false.We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production."

The PlayStation 5 Showcase will be taking place today, Wednesday September 16th, at 1pm PDT/9pm BST/10pm CEST. The PlayStation 5 Showcase will last for approximately 40 minutes and will include updates on the games and input from some of the development partners. We are also expecting the showcase to give the official release date and price of the PlayStation 5, following the confirmation of release and prices from Microsoft for the Xbox Series X/S.

Source: T3

CrossCode Review

CrossCode might be set in the far-flung future, but it's a thoroughly retro game in many ways. This 16-bit top-down action RPG mixes classic 90s SNES graphics and Zelda-esque puzzle solving with more modern sensibilities and gaming tropes.

It's actually a game within a game in a similar way to Sword Art Online, as your protagonist Lea logs into the futuristic MMO Crossworlds. While within this game, you level up, join factions and make friends, but there's also a deeper story and truth to uncover about Lea's origins and her purpose in the world.

CrossCode is aesthetically gorgeous, boasting vibrant 16-bit SNES style graphics and a rich soundtrack inspired by the RPGs and JRPGs of the 90s. As someone who grew up playing Final Fantasy, it's an absolute delight to listen to throughout and the music really compliments the world perfectly. The dedication to reproducing the 90s vibe means that everything just pops on the screen, and I'm totally here for it.

That continues through the amount of text you'll be reading through the adventure. The writing is interesting and funny, with a compelling cast of characters to deliver it. It does a fantastic job of mixing the classic RPG feel in its narrative and the modern direction of an MMO in one entertaining package.

There's a mix of combat and puzzle solving through the game that's inspired by the 2D Zelda games of the 90s, but with the action ramped up significantly. Using a mix of physical and ranged attacks and abilities, Lea is faced with several different enemy types, all designed to test your skills. What makes CrossCode's enemies interesting is that many of them can't be defeated with simple hack and slash tactics. Most have a specific defense you need to figure out in order to strike a critical attack that opens them up to more damage.

The system fits CrossCode's style perfectly, making each battle feel far more engaging, and it's amped up further through the game's many boss encounters. Each one has a unique move set and weakness, and it's up to you to figure that out. I do feel that some encounters go on a little longer than necessary, which is further exacerbated by having to start the entire fight again should you die, but the bosses are fun and bring a genuine sense of challenge to the game's many dungeons.

One of the most interesting elements is how ranged attacks work inside and outside of combat. In combat, your ranged attacks see you using analogue controls similar to what you would see in a twin-stick shooter. These attacks can stop projectiles, gain critical attacks, damage enemies and even bounce projectiles off walls. Outside of combat, this same system is used for many of CrossCode's puzzles, using ranged attacks to flip switches or remove barriers. Having to use the same system between both ways of playing makes you feel very efficient in how you progress.

Platforming is also an important element of each dungeon, with players having to beat the many acrobatic puzzles. This is where the Zelda influence is most noticeable. Each dungeon is filled with enemies to kill, doors to unlock and a new ability or upgrade to find. It never feels like it's ripping the Zelda series off though, more like it's paying its own dues to a series that changes gaming with its excellent puzzle design.

Much like traditional MMO games, CrossCode has a loot system which enables players to upgrade Lea with new weapons and equipment. There are also new abilities and attacks Lea can learn as you progress through the game, which are all found in her skill tree. There's plenty of customisation options for players to choose from and ways to build Lea around a specific style of play.

CrossCode's most impressive feature is the world in which it's set in. Spanning a number of zones and towns, The game within a game world is a massive sprawling collection of biomes which are an absolute delight to explore. This is where the platforming elements are most prevalent, with many items hidden across platforms. With a bit of exploration and help from the excellent level design, there's always a hidden path to find.

Review code provided by PR Hound. The boxed version of Crosscode is available here.

Sony denies cutting PlayStation 5 production numbers [Updated]

Update: Sony provided a simple statement on Bloomberg's report to GamesIndustry.biz.

The statement reads, "While we do not release details related to manufacturing, the information provided by Bloomberg is false."

"We have not changed the production number for PlayStation 5 since the start of mass production."

The original post is below:

Bloomberg are reporting that "people familiar with the matter" have suggested that Sony are facing production problems with the PlayStation 5. The problem appears to be with custom built SoC which has production yields of just 50%, or in other words, half of the chips don't work. It is reported that Sony have been forced to cut the predicted number of consoles available down by 4 million units, dropping from 15 million to 11 million for the fiscal year.

The news has "spooked" investors who fear a re-run of the problems that the PlayStation 3 faced – in that case Sony couldn't get enough Blu-ray drives so production was slow and the console release was staggered. However, it's worth remembering that 11 million is still a big step up from the 7 million PS4s that were sold in its own launch window.

The problems with the chips also leave Sony with another problem, with only half of the chips working, production costs are also higher than anticipated. That's not good news ahead of the PlayStation 5 Showcase tomorrow where we expect a price, release date and more game announcements.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Masahiro Wakasugi suggests that the full fat PlayStation 5 could be priced as low as $449, which would undercut the price of the Xbox Series X by $50, and the discless all digital version would be slightly below $400. Take that with a pinch of salt since this is in the exact same report that production costs are higher, meaning that Sony would be taking a big, big hit per console sold until yields improve.

It's not all bad news for Sony; the Covid-19 pandemic has lead to a huge surge in PlayStation Plus subscriptions.

The PlayStation 5 Showcase will be taking place on Wednesday September 16th, with the timings being 1pm PDT/9pm BST/10pm CEST. The PlayStation 5 Showcase will last for approximately 40 minutes and will include updates on the games and input from some of the development partners. Many of the developers and artists working on Horizon Zero Dawn Forbidden West have been tweeting about the showcase so expect to see more from that game, and unconfirmed rumours suggest Final Fantasy XVI may also make an appearance.

Here are the hardware specifications for the new console.

CPU 8 Zen 2 Cores @ 3.5Ghz w/ SMT (variable)
GPU 10.28 TFLOPS – 36 CUs @ 2.26Ghz (variable)
Memory 16 GB GDDR6 (448GB/s)
Internal Storage 825 GB Custom NVME SSD
I/O Throughput 5.5 GB/s (Raw), 8-9 GB/s (Compressed)
Expandable Storage Approved M.2 third party SSDs in dedicated expansion bay
External Storage USB External HDD Support for PS4 games
Optical Dirve Ultra HD Blu-ray, up to 100GB/disc
Video Output HDMI 2.1 – Up to 4K at 120Hz, 8K, VRR
Audio Tempest Engine 3D audio

Source: Bloomberg

 

Sci-fi thriller The Invincible announced for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S

Starward Industries has announced its first title and it is a sci-fi thriller called The Invincible. The Invincible has been confirmed for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X | S with a release expected in 2021. Starward Industries has developers who have worked on games such as Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3, Dead Island, Dying Light, and Call of Juarez. The Invincible is set in a retro futuristic setting upon a hostile planet, and the artwork is very evocative of that atmosphere.

Here is the full synopsis for The Invincible:

You are a scientist onboard an interstellar scientific expedition, suddenly thrown into a life-or-death rescue mission. Landing on a planet Regis III you have to find the missing crew members using some advanced space equipment, whilst relying on your brains and instincts to survive on the planet which quickly occurs to be unwelcoming. Soon you'll discover that Regis III holds terrifying secrets which are uncovered while you're piecing together the fate of your crew. And as you delve deeper into the mystery, you realise that perhaps you are not alone, and that some places like this planet are better left untouched. But it's too late to turn back.

Features

  • Retro-future atompunk setting reminiscent of the era of space race
  • Analogue yet very advanced technology allowing for drones and autonomous robots to support or spoil your mission
  • Immersive gameplay with a non-linear story shaped by your relationships, choices and persuasive skills
  • Beautiful, state of the art graphics powered by Unreal Engine
  • Intriguing story inspired by Stanislaw Lem's seminal sci-fi cult classic of the same name

Source: Twitter/Steam

Twin Mirror will be releasing this December, confirms Dontnod

Dontnod Entertainment has confirmed that its next title Twin Mirror will be released on December 1st for PS4, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store. The studio has also stated that Twin Mirror is available for pre-order via the Epic Games Store for £27.99. The soundtrack for Twin Mirror will be available as a pre-order bonus. Twin Mirror will be an Epic Games Store exclusive on PC for 12 months. The game was originally set to be released in 2019 but was delayed as more time was needed.

What we know so far of the game is that the main character Sam has woken up the day after a friend's funeral with no recollection of what happened the night before, and a blood stained shirt. Sam needs to piece together the events and uses his Mind Palace to do so which appears to mean he travels through his memories and attempts to piece them together. It's all a bit supernatural really.

In our preview for Twin Mirror, Stefan wrote:

There's much more to reveal about Twin Mirror, but signs are certainly much more encouraging from this demo compared to the last. The production values and sense of coherence to the experience have definitely improved, and the teasers of the mystery and story much more intriguing. Given their record of delivering compelling, well-written narrative adventures, Twin Mirror should be one for fans of Life Is Strange and its sequel to keep an eye on when it arrives on PS4, Xbox One and PC later this year.

You can read the full Twin Mirror preview here.
Source: Press Release

Dead By Daylight update 2.02 lands – here's what it fixed

Behaviour Interactive have risen from the crypt with yet another patch for their popular multiplayer hit, Dead By Daylight.

Dead By Daylight 2.02 dropped earlier today and is now available on consoles. For the PC crowd out there, this will be marked as version 4.2.1.

So what can horror fans expect from this fresh patch? Well, nothing in terms of new game content. Last week's 2.01 update came tagged with a new Killer – The Blight – as well as Survivor Max Richter. Instead, Dead By Daylight 2.02 makes some quick fixes since the roll out of the new chapter, Descend Below.

You can read the full patch notes below. First, here's a quick reminder that everyone who owns Dead By Daylight on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One will be entitled to a free next-gen upgrade on PS5 and/or Xbox Series X. Behaviour Interactive recently patched the game with cross-play and cross-progression on selected platforms.

Dead By Daylight Update 2.02 (PC 4.2.1) Patch Notes

  • Fixed an issue that caused the "heartbeat" sound played for Survivors in the Terror Raius to be much quieter than intended.
  • Fixed a number of issues that caused the Huntress' hatchets to have incorrect behavioir when server-side hit validation is enabled.
  • Fixed an issue that caused Survivors hooked in the basement to appear floating in the air in the floor above the basement.
  • Fixed na issue that allowed PC/console players to add mobile players as friends.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the Survivor screams trigged by the perk Dragon's Grip not being properly audible to the Killer.
  • Fixed an issue that caused an FPS drop when looking at an activated generator.
  • Fixed a post-process effect bug that was causing an FPS drop for some users.

Dead By Daylight originally launched back in 2017. Although a lot has changed here's our original 6/10 review of the ambitious asymmetrical horror title.

Cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is now available on Android

After a long, long build up and extensive beta phase, cloud gaming (formerly known as Project xCloud) is now officially a part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Over 150 games can now be played by streaming them to the Xbox Game Pass app on Android smartphones and tablets.

Here's a terrible song:

Reminds me of Chewits.

The Xbox Game Pass app is now available via the Google Play Store and Samsung App Store, and if you've been using the beta apps over the last few months, you'll likely need to switch to this newer app in order to continue using the streaming service.

Of course, all of this is only available on Android smartphones right now, with Apple blocking game streaming apps from the iOS App Store. The company released new rules over the weekend mandating that all streamed games would have to go through Apple's own certification process and have individual entries on the App Store. Microsoft said that's complete and utter bobbins, and I'm inclined to agree!

Cloud gaming has launched with Microsoft promoting all sorts of grips and custom controllers that snap onto the ends of phones, like the Razer Kishi, but some games will be optimised to work with touch controls as well. Minecraft Dungeons is leading the way here, with a redesigned UI for gaming and inventory management on a phone, touch overlays and custom layouts so you can really tailor the experience to suit your thumbs.

Here's the 22 available countries:

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Korea
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

And here's the 150 games you can stream:

  • A Plague Tale: Innocence
  • Absolver
  • Afterparty
  • Age of Wonders: Planetfall
  • ARK: Survival Evolved
  • ASTRONEER
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Battletoads
  • Battle Chasers: Nightwar
  • Black Desert 
  • Blair Witch
  • Bleeding Edge
  • Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
  • Bridge Constructor Portal
  • Carrion
  • Children of Morta
  • ClusterTruck
  • Crackdown 3: Campaign
  • Crosscode
  • Darksiders Genesis
  • Darksiders III
  • DayZ
  • de Blob
  • Dead by Daylight
  • Dead Cells
  • Dead Island Definitive Edition
  • Death Squared
  • Deliver us the moon
  • Demon's Tilt
  • Descenders
  • Destiny 2: Shadowkeep & Forsaken expansion (September 22)
  • DiRT 4
  • Don't Starve
  • Double Kick Heroes
  • Drake Hollow
  • Dungeon of the Endless
  • Enter The Gungeon
  • F1 2019
  • Fallout 76
  • Farming Simulator 17
  • Felix the Reaper
  • Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour
  • For the King
  • Forager
  • Forza Horizon 4
  • Fractured Minds
  • Frostpunk: Console Edition
  • Gato Roboto
  • Gears of War 1: Ultimate Edition
  • Gears of War 4
  • Gears of War 5
  • Goat Simulator
  • Golf with Your Friends
  • Grounded
  • Guacamelee! 2
  • Halo 5: Guardians
  • Halo Wars 1: Definitive Edition
  • Halo Wars 2
  • Halo: The Master Chief Collection
  • Halo: Spartan Assault
  • Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice
  • Hello Neighbor
  • Hollow Knight (Renewal)
  • Hot Shot Racing
  • Human Fall Flat
  • Hyperdot
  • Hypnospace Outlaw
  • Indivisible
  • Journey to the Savage Planet
  • Katana ZERO (Coming soon)
  • Killer Instinct DE
  • Kona
  • Levelhead
  • Lonely Mountains: Downhill
  • MARVEL VS. CAPCOM: INFINITE
  • Metro 2033 Redux
  • Middle Earth: Shadow of War
  • Minecraft: Dungeons
  • MINIT
  • Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
  • Moonlighter
  • Mortal Kombat X (Not available in Korea)
  • Mount & Blade: Warband
  • Moving Out
  • Mudrunner
  • Munchkin: Quacked Quest
  • Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden
  • My Time At Portia
  • Neon Abyss
  • New Super Lucky's Tale
  • NieR:Automata
  • Night Call
  • Night in the Woods (Coming soon)
  • No Man's Sky
  • Nowhere Prophet
  • Observation
  • Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps
  • Overcooked! 2
  • Oxenfree
  • Pathologic 2
  • Pikuniku
  • Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition
  • Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
  • ReCore: Definitive Edition
  • Remnant: From the Ashes
  • Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
  • Rise & Shine
  • River City Girls (Coming soon)
  • Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Edition
  • Sea Salt
  • Secret Neighbor
  • Shadow Warrior 2
  • Slay the Spire
  • Sniper Elite 4
  • Spiritfarer
  • State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
  • Stellaris
  • Stranger Things 3: The Game
  • Streets of Rage 4
  • Streets of Rogue
  • Subnautica
  • Surviving Mars
  • Tacoma
  • Tell Me Why Episode 1 – 3
  • Terraria
  • The Bard's Tale IV: Directors Cut
  • The Bard's Tale Remastered and Resnarkled
  • The Bard's Tale Trilogy
  • The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics
  • The Elder Scrolls Online
  • The Gardens Between
  • The Jackbox Party Pack 4
  • The Long Dark
  • The Lord of the Rings: Adventure Card Game
  • The Messenger
  • The Outer Worlds
  • The Surge 2
  • The Touryst
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • The Escapists 2
  • The Talos Principle
  • The Turing Test
  • The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Episode 1 through 5
  • The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode 1 – 3
  • The Walking Dead: Season Two
  • theHunter: Call of the Wild
  • Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
  • Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
  • Totally Reliable Delivery Service 
  • Touhou Luna Nights
  • Tracks – The Train Set Game
  • Trailmakers
  • Train Sim World 2020
  • Two Point Hospital
  • Undermine
  • Untitled Goose Game
  • Void Bastards
  • Wandersong
  • Warhammer Vermintide 2 (Coming soon)
  • Wasteland Remastered
  • Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
  • Wasteland 3
  • We Happy Few
  • West of Dead
  • Wizard of Legend
  • World War Z
  • Worms W.M.D
  • Xeno Crisis
  • Yakuza 0
  • Yakuza Kiwami
  • Yakuza Kiwami 2

Source: press release

Amnesia Rebirth will be releasing this October

Frictional Games has confirmed that Amnesia Rebirth will be released on October 20th for PC and PS4. A new trailer has been released for Amnesia: Rebirth which shows main protagonist Tasi wandering the Algerian desert as she looks for answers. The desert is far from empty with Tasi delving deeper and deeper into structures hidden amongst the sand. These are not the kind of places you want to holiday in either.

Thomas Grip, creative director at Frictional Games, said:

"Amnesia is not just another haunted house spook-fest, but an emotionally harrowing journey. We aim to go beyond simple jump-scares and to affect players on a deeper level. While Rebirth will contain the terrifying encounters and sights you expect from an Amnesia game, it has a lot more focus on narrative than previous entries in the series. We want the player to form a strong bond with Tasi and intimately share her tribulations. This will not be your run-of-the-mill horror experience."

Amnesia: Rebirth was announced in March. Here's the official synopsis:

Amnesia: Rebirth is a new descent into darkness in the iconic Amnesia series. Set in the desolate landscape of the Algerian desert, the game will focus on new character Tasi Trianon as she sets out on a harrowing journey through devastation and despair, personal terror and pain, while exploring the limits of human resilience. 

You can't let out a breath. The creature is only inches away. Its sole purpose – to feed off your terror. And so you crouch in the dark, trying to stop the fear rising, trying to silence what lies within you.

Retracing Tasi's journey and pulling together the fragments of a shattered past will be the only chance to survive the pitiless horror that threatens to devour you. Time is against you. Still, you must continue, step by step, knowing that if you fail you will lose everything.

The last big game from Frictional Games was SOMA, and you can read the SOMA review here.

Source: Press Release

Watch Dogs: Legion PC specs have been confirmed by Ubisoft

Ubisoft has confirmed the PC specs required to run Watch Dogs: Legion from low 1080p all the way to 4K with ray tracing. The specs also confirm the file size of Watch Dogs: Legion on PC, and it will require 45GB of storage space. As you can imagine you'll need a powerful set up to run the game at its highest settings. You can check out the full specs below.

1080p / Low Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 / AMD Ryzen 5 1400
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 290X
  • VRAM: 4 GB
  • RAM: 8 GB
  • Storage Space: 45 GB
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

1080p / High Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 480
  • VRAM: 6 GB
  • RAM: 8 GB (Dual-channel setup)
  • Storage Space: 45 GB
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

1440p / High Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060S or AMD Radeon RX 5700
  • VRAM: 8GB
  • RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel setup)
  • Storage Space: 45 GB
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

4K / Ultra Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700K
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or AMD Radeon VII
  • VRAM: 11 GB
  • RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel setup)
  • Storage Space: 45 GB (+ 20 GB HD Textures Pack)
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

Ray Tracing On – 1080p / High Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
  • VRAM: 8 GB
  • RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel setup)
  • Storage Space: 45 GB
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

Ray Tracing On – 4K / Ultra Settings

  • CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
  • GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
  • VRAM: 11 GB
  • RAM: 16 GB (Dual-channel setup)
  • Storage Space: 45GB (+20 GB HD Textures Pack)
  • Operating System: Windows 10 (x64)

Watch Dogs: Legion will be released on October 29th for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game will be released for Xbox Series X/S on November 10th, the same day Microsoft's console launches. The PS5 version of Watch Dogs: Legion will be released on launch day of the PS5, which Sony is likely to confirm in its showcase on Wednesday 16th September.

Source: Ubisoft

Rocket League will go free to play next week

Earlier this year, Psyonix announced that Rocket League would be going free to play this summer. Well, as summer technically ends next week the studio has just barely squeaked in the date for when Rocket League goes to free to play, and that will be on September 23rd. To mark this occasion Psyonix will be hosting an event called Llama-Rama though what kind of event that will be remains to be seen. More details will be given soon after the transition to free to play.

From tomorrow there will be an update to cross platform progression so players can link their Epic Games accounts to other platform accounts. Tomorrow's update will also add Heatseeker in private matches, a new bot difficulty, new quick chats, a higher number of items for Trade Up, new Merc hitbox, achievement changes, the removal of solo standard, and achievement changes.

From September 23rd, Rocket League will be available on the Epic Games Store. In addition, Season One for the free to play launch will start, competitive tournaments will begin, and new game wide challenges will be added as well. There will be two starter packs to purchase as well which are listed below.

Endo Starter Pack

  • Endo

  • Gaiden Wheels (Grey)

  • Neo-Thermal Boost

  • Friction Trail

  • 500 Credits

Jäger Pack

  • Jäger 619 (Titanium White)

  • Apparatus Wheels (Titanium White)

  • Toon Goal Explosion (Titanium White)

  • 1000 Credits

Rocket League will no longer require a PlayStation Plus subscription on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch Online subscription in order to play online on those platforms. You will, however, still need Xbox Live Gold if you're on Xbox One. This is, of course, entirely in keeping with each platform's policy on free-to-play games. Sony made and exception for free-to-play games at the start of the generation, ensuring that they don't require a PS+ sub to let people hop online and play, and Nintendo followed suit when they launched Nintendo Switch Online. Microsoft, however, has been consistent in requiring Xbox Live Gold subs for all online play.

Source: Psyonix

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Review

I've been following the development of Vanillaware's 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim for what feels like years. The latest game from the powerhouse Japanese developers of gorgeous action games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Dragon's Crown, 13 Sentinels was announced all the way back in 2015. Five years on and the lengthy delays and shift away from fluid sidescrolling combat had me doubting if Vanillaware could live up to my expectations. Thankfully it's one of the most satisfying sci-fi adventure I've ever played, blasting  away my doubts at point-blank range

So what exactly is this mysterious new Vanillaware game that's been cooking for nearly an entire console generation? Well, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a lot like other Vanillaware titles in a few ways. Much like Odin Sphere, it's a story-heavy game following multiple protagonists and has you play through each of their separate campaigns. While Odin Sphere focused on five characters, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, as the title implies, has a whopping thirteen different protagonists. It might seem like an impossible task to juggle so many different stories successfully, but the game nails it with flying colours.

While the entire game is a wide-sweeping and gargantuan time-travel giant-robot sci-fi end of the world mystery, every playable protagonist has their own sort of unique sci-fi adventure to go on that stands out on its own while also feeding into the overarching narrative really well. One character's story mirrors that of E.T., while another is an army soldier from the past stuck in the present, and yet another is a love-struck heroine trying to restore her amnesiac lover's memories.

Despite all this, the stories remain connected. Everything is focused on a small Japanese town in the 1980s, and every character finds themselves naturally weaving in and out of the local school, surrounding areas, and alternate time periods throughout their adventures. While you're running around as Natsuno Minami trying to help a mysterious robot get back to the year 2024, you might run into your amnesiac robot-piloting classmate Juro Kurabe and overhear him engaging in a conversation that you'll later see play out in his own story chapter. It adds so much immersion to the game when you happen upon other characters like this in small ways, but it helps make the bigger collisions even more impactful when seemingly unrelated character narratives start to clash.

Much like every other Vanillaware game, all of these intersecting stories are told within side-scrolling 2D environments featuring gorgeous character artwork and rich environment designs. As the story jumps between the 40s, 80s, and the 2020s, the environment artwork keeps up the pace and solidifies these varying worlds and environments incredibly well. Despite the game being rendered almost entirely with hand-drawn art, the detail in how it all comes together and the sparingly used 3D assets like giant robots and particle effects add so much depth to the world.

That presentation is matched by a killer voice cast, and a huge amount of music that mixes traditional instruments with electronic sounds and catchy melodies that are right at home in an ambitious sci-fi story game like this.

Don't get it twisted, though, because this isn't just another visual novel or an anime point-and-click adventure. Minor design elements unique to the game help to not only make it stand out from other narrative titles, but also get the dialogue-heavy experience flowing a lot smoother. Conversations take place with short chunks of dialogue appearing over characters heads, and you'll often need to press on with these interactions by either manually moving through the environment and engaging with characters to continue talking, or opening up your Thought Cloud to ponder or present key phrases and items that crop up during the game.

I'm also a sucker for flow-charts in timeline-hopping story games like this, so the included Flow Chart system in this game makes it even easier to hop around the story and dig into every last scene and interaction available.

The game isn't all story, though. Like some of the best story-driven Japanese games, the constant flow of dialogue is often broken up by action-packed gameplay. In order to progress through some character stories, you'll need to back out of the adventuring Remembrance mode and dive into battles in Destruction mode. Here, you're whisked into the final days of Japan in 2024, as your thirteen protagonists pilot giant robots to prevent an overwhelming alien force from taking over a giant spire that acts as mankind's last hope for survival.

These missions play out as an interesting fusion of real-time strategy and tower defense that is a massive far cry from the button-mashing action of the last few Vanillaware titles. As polygonal representations of aliens swarm across a wireframe top-down view of the city, you'll select your crew members and have them perform numerous attack or defence actions to destroy the threats and hold them off until the tower can activate and signal the end of the mission.

These moments are honestly a lot more fun than I figured they would be, and with three different difficulty modes, you're able to either dig into challenging tactical gameplay or breeze through them depending on your skill level or patience. My only disappointment is the way the visuals are presented in these battles. The game will flash contextless illustrations of the robots and aliens involved in these battles, but the fact that the actual fights are all rendered in simplistic glowing polygons instead of the crisp art the rest of the game presents was definitely a bummer.

Marvel's Avengers missing Pattern reward bug – is there a fix?

When playing Marvel's Avengers, you will come across bonus items and rewards alongside the loot you earn by pummeling enemies or completing specific missions.

One type of item that is highly sought after by players are Patterns. You may have some of these sitting in your inventory, wondering what they're actually used for.

For now, it's probably best to leave these Patterns where they are. Since Marvel's Avengers launched, players have reported that they aren't receiving rewards when cashing in their Patterns. More on that further.

Those who have played through most of the Avengers story campaign will know what Patterns are used for as part of a mid-game tutorial.

Patterns are similar to Destiny's Engrams. Think of them as a different kind of loot box or reward chest, though one that only contains a single cosmetic item. Patterns come in three different flavours including blue, purple, and gold, indicating rare, epic, legendary rarity levels.

You can cash in or decrypt these Patterns by visiting the Technology Lab within the Chimera Helicarrier social space. You can find this area of the ship as you head to the hangar from the War Table – it's the first room on your left. If lost, hit up on your controller's d-pad to reveal the location of the Fabrication Machine.

Marvel's Avengers – 7 tips & tricks to become Earth's mightiest hero

Cosmetic items will only change the appearance of your Avengers as well as your in-game profile. This includes costumes, some of which require hours of grinding or a hefty sum of real money to acquire. It's no wonder why players are frustrated at the current Pattern bug.

At present there is no fix or workaround for this issue. At the time of writing, we used both a rare and epic Pattern at the Fabrication Machine, neither of them being exchanged for rewards. Developers Crystal Dynamics have advised players not to use Patterns at this time at the risk of losing out on potential rewards.

According to the studio, they are still looking into the matter. It's unclear whether missing rewards will be restored retroactively but here's hoping.

For more on Marvel's Avengers, you can read our Day One review.

Marvel's Avengers – 7 tips & tricks to become Earth's mightiest hero

With Marvel's Avengers finally here, many of you will no doubt be hammering away at the super powered RPG. Whether using Mjolnir, a vibranium shield, or a pair of giant green fists, we've got some quick tips and tricks to share.

Marvel's Avengers isn't the easiest game to wrap your head around. Although suitable for casual comic book fans and core gamers alike, there's a dense web of systems – as well as some hidden nuances – you might want to take note of.

Here we'll be sharing 7 key tips to help kickstart your superhero career. In our Marvel's Avengers day one review we praised the game's technical prowess and fun combat but marked the game down for its repetitive mission design and grindy live service hooks.

1. Firstly, head into the settings menu. We found Marvel's Avengers better to play by switching the graphics mode to "performance" notably boosting the framerate for smoother gameplay. We'd also recommend switching the combat camera to "wide" as this gives you a clearer view of enemies and hazards around you. Finally, there's an option to adjust the shake sensitivity. Although we've kept this setting at its default value to add some cinematic flair to battles, other players report that reducing it to 0 helps when reading dodge/parry prompts.

2. Don't be afraid to dive straight into the online multiplayer. You can access this mode without beating the campaign, joining up to three friends or randoms in a series of missions. Simply hit the "Avengers Initiative" icon on the main menu. It's worth noting that these multiplayer missions pick up after the main story so you might want to hold off if you don't want to snag on any potential spoilers. Your progress in multiplayer will transfer into the campaign and vice versa so don't worry about losing gear or skill points.

3. Honestly, it's best to focus on one of the six Avengers first and stick with them. The more you play with one character the more familiar you'll become with the game's advanced web of combat and loot mechanics. Once you're at a decent power level then it's time to start juggling one or two more Avengers, especially if you're looking to enter the online quick match queue. Unsure which Avenger is for you? Try completing the campaign or booting up the HARM room practice missions for each one.

4. Learn to dodge. While it's true that you can get through Marvel's Avengers easiest difficulty tier by button bashing, being able to dodge, block, and counter will make you a much bigger threat to AIM. Each character has their own dodge mechanic though there is some overlap. Remember to evade attacks with a red indicator and dodge/parry those in white or yellow.
Use Tactical Awareness. You may have missed the tutorial tip informing you about this handy little feature. By pressing up on the d-pad (consoles) you can trigger a x-ray kind of visual effect. Not only will this show you where your teammates are in multiplayer missions, it will also identify points of interest as well as your next main objective.

5. Use Tactical Awareness. You may have missed the tutorial tip informing you about this handy little feature. By pressing up on the d-pad (consoles) you can trigger a x-ray kind of visual effect. Not only will this show you where your teammates are in multiplayer missions, it will also identify points of interest as well as your next main objective.

6. Like it or not, loot is the driving force behind Marvel's Avengers. Once you've wrapped up the campaign, your overarching objective will be to increase the power level of each hero and in order to do this you'll need to grind away, gathering and upgrading loot. Let's quickly touch on some loot basics to help you get started. Each piece of gear you find has a colour-coded rarity as well as a power level and assigned stats. These stats determine bonuses such as melee/ranged damage, defence, and your chance to land a critical hit. It won't matter too much at first but you should focus on raising a handful of these specific stats to match your specific playstyle per hero. As you progress through your Avengers career you'll notice that more gear will come tagged with perks as well as one of the six elements. Perks offer a range of buffs and bonuses, often requiring you to upgrade loot to unlock them. Meanwhile, elements such as cosmic and gamma will occasionally trigger effects to disrupt enemies.

7. Which missions should you play? Stroll over to the War Table and you'll be presented with a map covered in icons, each one representing a mission. Firstly, you'll see a red or green number next to them, indicating the suggested power level. Missions come in several different flavours, ranging from smaller skirmishes to larger story-driven episodes. There's no wrong answer when it comes to selecting a mission to play though you should try and prioritise those that belong to objective chains (see the objectives menu) while also hovering over them to get a better idea or the rewards on offer.

Hunt Showdown update 1.12 brings console improvements and bug fixes

Crytek have released their September 15 patch for their bayou-stalking battle royale hit, Hunt: Showdown.

Version 1.12 is now available to those who own Hunt: Showdown on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This update includes changes made to the game as part of the recent 1.4.3 patch.

Crytek have making improvements across the board with Hunt: Showdown update 1.12. For the full patch notes, see the list below.

Hunt: Showdown Update 1.12 Patch Notes

New Weapon Variants

  • Winfield M1873C Vandal

  • Winfield M1873C Vandal Deadeye

The Vandals are shortened Winfield M1873 C variants with 1 less bullet and only medium size. They can still be used for levering.

Developer Notes:
Why Vandal and not Mare's Leg? Mare's Leg is an anachronistic name for 1895, a name which came into use in 1958. So while we took inspiration from the more modern weapon, we created our universe's own version – one that would be right at home in 1895.

Aim Assist

  • Removed aim assist "snap" from all weapons

    • Snap only took effect during the short transition from "Shoulder Aim" into "Aim Down Sights"

    • Gravitational aim assist during both aim stages remains unchanged

Developer Notes:

We received a lot of productive feedback from our community and partners on what place aim assist should have in Hunt:Showdown. The notions and expectations generally vary a lot between new players and veterans but also between those who use it and those who don't. The "Snap" however was the one aspect that was deemed problematic by everybody – not only the players who put time and effort into exposing potential exploits. We decided that tweaking values would not yield the same benefits as removing it. Please continue voicing your opinions about how we can improve certain aspects of the game, we appreciate it.

New Legendary Content

"Winfield Vandal Gold Rush"

  • Winfield M1873 C Vandal

  • Description: "When the law caught up with felon-turned-prospector John Wright, he fled his Oregon hide out with nothing more than this gold-veined Winfield Vandal – made to celebrate his very first lucky strike. Wielding it, he fought his way south, lured by more glory and gold."

"Nagant Silencer Mosquito"

  • Nagant M1895 Silencer

  • Description: "Silence is golden – a truism for any Hunters whose wealth was earned through stealth – and the silent sting of this brass-inlaid Nagant 1895 Silencer strikes like a swarm of deadly insects, especially when dual wielded by Hunter duos and trios."

"Mosin Nagant Obrez Sinners Jezail"

  • Mosin-Nagant M1891 Obrez

  • Description: "The Sinners' brought far-flung customs to the bayou, and this Mosin-Nagant Obrez (not a typical rifle of the Afghan foothills) bears refined witness to that union of martial cultures."

"Lemat Mark II Last Resort"

  • Lemat Mark II

  • Description: "Adorned with a symbol of its carrier's uncanny ability to survive the most bleak landscapes and apocalyptic situations, this resilient LeMat can transform a last stand into a ghastly victory. "

New Trials (PvE)

Lawson DeltaParkour

  • Out of Their Misery – Godard Docks – Watch your steps and do not make too much noise dealing with the Hives.

  • Finish the Farce – C&A Lumber – Try not to burn down all of C&A Lumber as you clear your path through the Armoreds against the clock.

Sniper

  • Lightning Does the Work – Arden Parish – Prioritize the closer targets for maximum efficiency. The further away ones might take more than one shot to die.

  • No Vice, No Virtue – Lawson Station – Make sure to use your time-window to take out targets as they move between obstacles.

Waves

  • Flesh of My Flesh – Salters Pork – Plan your traversal wisely as you chase down targets to not attract too many Hives at once.

  • Truth Doesn't Stick to Possibilities – Windy Run – Be sure to use the Immolators to your advantage by igniting oil and Hellhounds to earn your stars.

  • Never Walk Back – Hemlock and Hide – Don't let the Armoreds overwhelm you as you force your way through and take them out one by one.

  • We Do Not Need Light, But Fire – Nicholls Prison – Use Immolators and Barrels to keep the grunts from reaching you.

Major Bug Fixes

One of the main focus of Update 1.4.3 was fixing many of the bigger reoccurring issues players have been facing.

"Ghost bug"
Description of the bug symptoms: Sometimes players would be connected to the game server but in reality their character would float above ground. Your partner would not see you move and you would be in certain cases unable to open doors, vault fences, or pick up items. Sometimes interacting with a ladder or your partner leaving/extracting would re-sync your character to a playable state.

What we have done: We have reviewed logging information you sent us and compared it with what the state of the game server. From this investigation we have concluded and implemented some tentative fixes that should prevent such situation from happening. However, it is a bug that we are not able to reproduce in-house and therefore will not be able to confirm working until the update is Live.

Game client could get stuck after vaulting.
Description of the bug symptoms: After vaulting you would not be allowed to move your character anymore.

What we have done: We have found two cases when the bug could manifest.

  • In some cases after vaulting, the game did not return the player's controls.

  • In other cases your character would vault inside an element of the map (even slightly) which would make you physically stuck.

We have looked into fixing these two occurrences by having the player controls correctly updated after the vaulting and – to fix the second case – by snapping the player to a valid position after vaulting.
The snap should be minimal and in most cases not noticeable.

Aim Down Sight weapon state could be cancelled sometimes without user input

Description of the bug symptoms: When in the aim-down-sight state the weapon would randomly switch back to hip aim mode requiring the user to re-trigger ADS action.

What we have done: In this bug and some other similar ones (I.E. Weapon was wrongfully re-selected when using a consumable and switching to another consumable) the problem was that the game client and the game server had conflicting information about which item the user selected, or in which state this item was.
We implemented a tolerance for item transition between the client and the server which should resolve this issue.

For the full list of fixes please read our Bug Fixes section.

General Updates
Audio

  • Bleeding and Burning Stop interaction now plays the recover voice sfx.

GunplayChoke Bombs

  • Occupies one tool slot instead of a consumables slot now.

  • Comes in packs of two.

HunterSerpent

  • Can now be used to start banishing.

  • Works identically to picking up bounty.

WorldGolden Cash Register

  • Players now have a small chance of finding a Golden Cash Register instead of a regular Cash Register, which will grant you 50 Blood Bonds instead of giving you Hunt Dollars.

Other

  • Smaller tweaks and updates made to various parts of Stillwater Bayou and Lawson Delta maps to improve navigation and fix clipping issues.

Store

New Weapons

  • Added the Winfield Vandals for 35 Hunt Dollars.

  • Added the Winfield Vandal Deadeye for 45 Hunt Dollars.

Spectator Mode

  • Enabled the option to spectate other teams in Bounty Hunt missions, after Player's own team had been completely wiped.

New Legendary Weapons

  • Added Winfield Vandal "Gold Rush" for 500 Blood Bonds.

  • Added Mosin-Nagant M1891 Obrez "Sinners Jezail" for 600 Blood Bonds.

  • Added Nagant M1895 "Mosquito" for 400 Blood Bonds.

Exclusive Legendary Rewards:

  • Added LeMat Mark II "Last Resort" for 90 Stars.

UI

  • Re-ordered the trials in the trial selection screen to better fit their relative positions on the map and in the selector.

Miscellaneous

  • Slightly reordered the unlock order of the Nagant M1895 Family.

  • Slightly reordered the unlock order of the Springfield 1866 Family.

  • Reduced the cost to unlock some low rank weapons.

Bug Fixes

General

  • Fixed an issue where the game client got stuck after vaulting.

  • Fixed an issue where after the start of a mission player got stuck on server side, but was still able to move and interact with items on client side. (Aka "Ghost Bug")

  • Fixed an issue where killing a burning player made him/her not lootable.

  • Fixed a bug where player completely desynced from the game until his/her partner(s) left.

  • Fixed an issue that caused the Aim Down Sight weapon state to be cancelled sometimes without user input.

  • Fixed an issue where decoys would not cause bells to ring.

  • Fixed more issues where dead hunters would not start burning on uneven terrain or stairs.

  • Fixed an issue where the Hornskin trait would not give a consistent 25% damage reduction from other players' melee attacks.

  • Fixed an issue where the bullets in the chamber of a Winfield C was misaligned and clipped through the weapon.

  • Fixed an issue where hunters could survive with all health chunks scorched.

  • Fixed an issue where hunters caught on fire too easily after they had recovered from fire damage already.

  • Fixed an issue where third person animations for the Bornheim Match were incorrect.

  • Fixed an issue where reloading occasionally lead to an infinite reload cycle.

Audio

  • Tweaked the levering sound of the Winfield animations to be better in sync with its visuals.

  • Fixed an issue where player's could hear team pings when on Death Screen.

  • Fixed an issue where incorrect audio played while healing with a med-kit and bleeding.

AI

  • Fixed an issue where some enemies could cause barrels to prematurely explode.

  • Fixed an issue where dying Horses took no damage from sticky bombs.

Trials

  • Fixed an issue where not enough Hellhounds were available at some point to finish challenges in hard difficulty.

  • Fixed an issue where not enough Armoreds were available at some point to finish challenges in hard difficulty.

UI

  • Fixed an issue where player's weapon was wrongfully re-selected when using a consumable and switching to another consumable.

  • Fixed an issue where the range of the Quad Derringer was shown as 68 meters where it always should have been 60 meters.

  • Fixed an issue where the Item wheel shows wrong info on challenge leave.

  • Fixed an issue where the sledgehammer was wrongly displayed in the store.

  • Fixed an issue where tools or consumables selection jumps in arsenal list when buying and equipping an item.

  • Added a missing shortcut in the Store to get back to the first sub tab and back to lobby.

  • Fixed an issue where the Heavy Attacks for weapons with a Bayonet displayed an outdated (and too low) number for the damage.

WORLD

  • Fixed an issue where Concertina Trip Mines would not break Hive barrels.

  • Fixed an issue where Concertina wires would not block most bullets, and instead would allow all bullets to penetrate.

  • Fixed an issue where shooting the bell in Lawson Delta would not make a sound.

  • Fixed an issue where destroyed lanterns above cages would respawn when you re-enter the area.

  • Fixed an issue where animals (such as the dying horse and ravens) would not be damaged by explosions.

  • Fixed an issue where shooting the lantern above the caged dogs will not kill all of them immediately

Known Issues

  • 'Hide statistics' can change to a broken status after an update.

  • Choke bomb may appear unusual when looked at through fog.

  • Slower texture streaming than in previous updates.

  • Rasterized lighting effect after other teams extracted from the map.

  • Hit registration of server and client might differ slightly.

  • Game may crash without a crash reporter tool.

  • Poison effect from a hive or spider can be stuck on player.

  • Players are sometimes experiencing high ping / high latency (continuous increase, ping spikes).

  • Clients might stutter during gameplay

  • Player got too many chokebombs available

  • HUD elements for swapping weapons or looting items are increasing if players recieves bleeding while looking at them.

  • Leaderboard might take very long to update when switching from 'World' to 'Friends'.

  • Player is able to lose control over character tabbing out and in again.

  • Stall may happen when starting banishment.

  • Meatheads with anchors don't spawn outside of the tutorial.

  • Sometimes not all UI elements can stream in when loading into a match.

  • Bornheim extended sometimes doesn't reload fully (one bullet doesn't get reloaded).

  • AI is able to attack players during "waiting for players" popup.

  • The Spider may attack a player more than three times in frenzy if no other player is in the arena.

  • Player can keep and win soul survivor even though he died in Quickplay (trading kills with wellspring carrier).

  • Used up tools get replaced when the player picks up a new tool.

  • Butcher can sometimes be observed walking sideways or backwards.

  • Player melees when right and left clicking during the revolver spin animation.

  • Player can sometimes still get revived if teammate dies during revive process.

  • Players sometimes experience rubberbanding during gameplay.

  • Having toggle for aim and sprint in gunslinger scheme delays the start of sprinting.

  • Using dark sight results in shadows quality worsen a lot.

  • Sometimes a hand (or both) cannot stream in and be invisible.

  • Second equipped dual wield weapon cannot be cleaned.

  • Player unable to loot weapons, 'Ammo Full' displayed on pressing F.

  • Player can get stuck while picking up clue and climbing ladder at the same time.

  • Sometimes when canceling a reload the player melees instead of shooting (while RMB is held down).

  • Weapon parts might not get rendered.

Source: Reddit

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is fastest selling game in the series

Activision Blizzard have announced that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the fastest selling game in the THPS series.

The recently released remake, which crams in both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and its sequel, has already heelflipped its way past the one million copies milestone.

Once again Activision have been rewarded for dipping into their back catalogue and reanimating older games. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was a huge success for the publisher, selling 2.5 million copies in three months, more than tripling that just seven months later.

Following 2015's much maligned Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (which scored a dismal 3/10 in Aran's review) there was an understandable air of scepticism surrounds the 1 + 2 remakes. However, developer Vicarious Visions have pulled it out of the bag, the game sitting on a triumphant OpenCritic average of 90 – making it one of the best rated video game launches of 2020.

Thomas was overjoyed to revisit both games in his review of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, awarding it a 10/10. Here's what he had to say:

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+ 2 is a labour of love and an ode to the series' glory days. Every inch of the game has been perfectly restored and updated for modern consoles and it's an absolute delight to play from start to finish. This is a must-buy for skateboarders, gamers and everyone else in between.

For years skateboarding fans have been clamouring for new video games in the popular sporting sub-genre. After a disappointing dry patch, it seems that multiple studios are now closing in with the intention of bringing skateboarding back into the mainstream.

Those searching for a more serious skateboarding experience may want to try their hand at Session which Thomas previewed last year. In a similar vein, we also have this year's Skater XL from Easy Day Studios. Once again, Thomas was waiting to pounce on this new contender, coming away mostly impressed with its trick system yet noting a lack of content.

Of course, there's Skate 4 too. It will likely be a long, long time before we see the sequel in action but at least EA have finally confirmed its existence!

Source: Twitter