Black Ops Cold War snipers will be nerfed following PS4 alpha

Treyarch have confirmed that they will be nerfing sniper rifles following the recent Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War alpha test. This comes after feedback from players during this past weekend when PlayStation 4 gamers were able to get some early hands on time during the exclusive preview period.

The long-time Call of Duty developers haven't given any specifics, though Black Ops game designer, Tony Flame, did reveal that the sequel's spread of sniper rifles will be subject to balance changes. This could affect the time it takes to aim down sights, their handling/mobility, clip size, among other stats. Treyarch could also rework the buffs and nerfs that are granted via the many attachments available for these guns.

Here's what Flame said when addressing Black Ops Cold War alpha players:

Hopefully, we'll get sample these weapon balance changes in an upcoming beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. With the game due out in a couple of months' time there's still plenty for Treyarch to tweak and fine tune before unleashing the latest annual entry in Activision's power-selling series.

Black Ops Cold War featured heavily during Sony's big PlayStation 5 showcase last week. Not only did Treyarch unveil the PS4 exclusive alpha, we also got a look at the hotly anticipated shooter running on PS5. The footage was taken from Cold War's singleplayer campaign with Mason and Woods infiltrating an airbase, blending stealth and all-out action with plenty of trademark set pieces.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on November 13th. The PlayStation 5 version will follow shortly after on November 19th

Fans will be able to upgrade their copy of Cold War between current and next-gen systems – we've got a handy guide to explain how this works.

Source: Twitter

Microsoft is buying Bethesda – Bethesda to still publish games, but they could be Xbox Series X|S & PC exclusives

In a huge move, Microsoft have just announced that they are acquiring ZeniMax Media, the parent company of publisher Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion in cash. This means that when Microsoft complete the acquisition they will own a slew of new major franchises that include Doom, Fallout, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, Starfield, Dishonored, Prey and more.

Update: In a blog post by Pete Hines of Bethesda, he has clarified that the publisher will still publish games independently of the Xbox Game Studios brand. We have amended the story below. Additionally, the deal is expected to close by the end of June 2021, which is the end of Microsoft's fiscal year.

Update 2: Speaking to Bloomberg, Phil Spencer has confirmed that existing deals will be honoured, so Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo  will still have timed exclusivity on PS5, but that future games will all be on Xbox and PC and "other consoles on a case by case basis."

The acquisition signals a vast expansion of Microsoft's game development business, as Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog and Roundhouse Studios all join the company.

Bethesda games will be added into Xbox Game Pass over the coming months, and future releases will be added to Game Pass on day one, as with all other Xbox Game Studios titles. With the rising cost of games on next-gen, it's yet another massive draw into Microsoft's game subscription.

What's not clear is what this means for their games on other platforms. Bethesda's Pete Hines explains that Bethesda's studios "are still working on the same games we were yesterday, made by the same studios we've worked with for years, and those games will be published by us."

This will certainly mean that existing partnerships and deals will continue, so Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo will remain PlayStation 5 timed exclusives when they launch in 2021, while The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 will continue as cross-platform games. The real question is whether or not the next Elder Scrolls game, the next Doom, the next Wolfenstein or the highly anticipated Starfield will shift to being Xbox and Windows 10 exclusives.

Phil Spencer wrote in the announcement:

Bethesda's games have always had a special place on Xbox and in the hearts of millions of gamers around the world. Our teams have a close and storied history working together, from the amazing first DOOM, and its id Tech engine, innovating games on PCs to Bethesda bringing their first console game to the original Xbox, the groundbreaking The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Over the years I've had many deep conversations with the creative leaders at Bethesda on the future of gaming and we've long shared similar visions for the opportunities for creators and their games to reach more players in more ways.

Just as they took the bold first steps to bring The Elder Scrolls franchise to the original Xbox, Bethesda were early supporters of Xbox Game Pass, bringing their games to new audiences across devices and have been actively investing in new gaming technology like cloud streaming of games. We will be adding Bethesda's iconic franchises to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. One of the things that has me most excited is seeing the roadmap with Bethesda's future games, some announced and many unannounced, to Xbox console and PC including Starfield, the highly anticipated, new space epic currently in development by Bethesda Game Studios.

Source: Xbox, Bethesda

Another retailer has listed the Mass Effect Trilogy for Switch, PS4 and Xbox One

Czech retailer HerniSvet is the latest store to list the still-doesn't-officially-exist-yet Mass Effect Trilogy remasters. Once again the game is listed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch, with a release date in October, the same as the previous leaks, however a user on Reddit translated the text and it seems to indicate that multiplayer will be included which is something new. The other thing it has in common with previous leaks is that it was rather quickly deleted, but we have a screenshot.

Last week Portuguese retailer GamingReplay also listed the game, although they had different box art.

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.

Source: Twitter, thanks to Posem for the tip.

Worm Jazz Review

Meet Mr Mark. He's a funky earthworm who loves a good hat, food, and a bit of smooth jazz. He's basically me!

Worm Jazz is a very cute puzzler that sees you guiding Mr Mark around small mazes to gobble up food and reach the golden apple at the end of the level. There's one catch: whenever you eat a piece of food, you grow bigger in a manner similar to the Nokia phone classic Snake. There's no time pressure here, but it still quickly makes getting around levels pretty difficult, and it soon becomes clear that it will never just be a straight shot from start to finish. You'll soon find yourself struggling for space as you run out of it, having to backtrack on yourself using the handy undo button. Get used to that button, it's about to become your best friend!

As you progress, more obstacles will present themselves to you, the most common being mines. If you touch mines, you die. Simple. Thankfully, green food laying around the place enables you to survive the blast, removing your head and growing a new one in place. Good old Mr Mark. This is also where eat order comes into play. If a green piece of food is eaten followed by ten regular pieces before you run into mine, you'll lose ten pieces of your body, but if you eat ten pieces before the green and run into a mine, you'll just lose the one piece. Depending on the situation, you'll need to decide when to eat that tasty green food.

But what if you like a bit of spice in your diet? Enter the spicy red food. These cause secondary explosions when you hit a mine, if eaten after a green food. That can be handy when coming up against destructible walls, but means you need to figure out the eat order so there's the exact amount of spaces between where you hit the mine and where the explosion occurs. One particular level stuck out was have to tie together eighth explosions in a chain, meaning I spent about 20 minutes counting what I was eating, going forward, measuring my body against the rocks and then undoing all my progress if I was wrong. It required some serious brain power to figure out.

Later, the game is changed once again when you get to the portals. If things weren't complicated enough, now you have to work your way through space and time in order to eat all the delicious food. These portals split your worm and give rise to some really inventive ways of completing levels, squeezing your body into as much space as possible. Some levels get especially tight, using every single empty space to complete, and you'll eventually have multiple pairs of portals on screen at once making for levels that require an insane amount of big brain energy to complete.

All of the mechanics are introduced gradually, giving you time to get to grips with each one. I'm not usually great at puzzlers like this, so I appreciated the length I was given between introducing new mechanics. It felt like the right amount of time, even if I struggled with many of the levels.

That doesn't stop you from encountering a number of difficulty spikes, and there were quite a few moments where I just sat there in despair as I couldn't work out what I was doing wrong. The undo button was getting sick of me, I reckon! That said, I respect the puzzle design. They all adhere to some very sound logic and utilization of the space around you. Can you squeeze into this tight space? Try it, it might be the solution you are looking for. Experimentation is massively encouraged. When you can't quite see a solution, try new things. You might surprise yourself. Solving a puzzle that you've been stuck on for ages makes you feel like you've ascended to a higher plane of consciousness.

Each level can be completed with a one star rating fairly easily. This normally only requires you to collect a small number of food. If you really want to shoot for that three star rating, you'll need to collect everything. I often found myself simply punting for a one star rating and then coming back later once I'd gained some brain power, to clean up.

It helps that you have very smooth jazz playing in the background. I always joke that the perfect evening is chilling in a lounge chair, playing something casual, sipping on a rich coffee with a smooth jazz medley playing in the background. Worm Jazz comes pretty close to that, its mellow soundtrack taking the edge off the stress of trying to figure out quite intense puzzles. To add to the class even further, you can even unlock new hats for Mr Mark as you play. A worm in a top hat is certainly a sight to behold.

The second goose in Untitled Goose Game's new co-op mode has a different honk

No two naughty geese are quite alike, which is going to be handy with the launch of the big co-op update for Untitled Goose Game later this week.

Doubling the trouble, you'll notice the subtle differences between the two geese visually with the new, second goose having a pinker beak and feet, as well as what's known as a basal knob at the base of their bill (yes, I did spend the last 5 minutes looking up the correct term). This could actually be an indication of domestication, not that this will help the little village it's about to terrorise. There's also a new and distinctive timbre to the tone of their honk, as you can see below.

While it should probably be re-untitled as Untitled Geese Game, the update for Untitled Goose Game will be a free update to the game on 23rd September for all platforms. It's also at this time that the game will arrive on Steam and Itch for purchase, in addition to the Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.

Untitled Goose Game was one of the indie hits of last year, racking up over 1 million sales in its first few months on sale. It spawned a bunch of memes and saw geese appearing at The Game Awards, among other memeable places.

The Goose was also one of the few gaming characters to reveal their political allegiance and urged gamers to vote Labour during the 2019 general election. Unfortunately, despite his popularity the Goose's powers were still limited when it comes to politics.

"At the end of the day – the long hard day of being a naughty little goose – Untitled Goose Game is something truly unique and special," we said in out 9/10 review. "It's a beautifully clean and simple puzzle game which will have you howling with delight, both when you play it through for the first time, and when you pass the controller to your partner saying, "You absolutely need to play this game where you're a naughty little goose…"

Source: Twitter

Bandai Namco acquire the studio behind next-gen action adventure Unknown 9: Awakening

With one of the splashier cinematic reveals for a next-gen game, Unknown 9 is set to be a multimedia experience with the third-person narrative-driven action adventure Unknown 9: Awakening a key pillar. Now Bandai Namco have given the game a major vote of confidence by acquiring Canadian developer Reflector Entertainment.

The acquisition is a part of Bandai Namco's overarching goal of broadening their portfolio to be a 50:50 split between Japanese and Western games. This won't see their strong anime-heavy line up diminish, but will expand to include more games like The Dark Pictures Anthology and Unknown 9.

Unknown 9 has already grown a bit of a following, including a mystery-thriller novel from bestselling author Layton Green entitled Unknown 9: Genesis, a podcast called Unknown 9: Out of Sight and a comic book called Unknown 9: Torment. Fans can delve even further into the world's lore via Unknown9.com where there's Unknown 9: Chapters, an "interactive, community-driven experience" whatever that might mean.

Then there's Unknown 9: Awakening. The game will follow the exploits of Haroona, a street urchin raised in Kolkata, India who's haunted by visions of her own demise. She doesn't let these overpower her, and is soon set on a path that sees her growing to understand her innate abilities while accessing the mysterious dimension known as The Fold.

Unknown 9: Awakening is expected to release for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S and PC in 2021.

Source: press release

Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Definitive Edition Review

I was pretty excited to play Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It's based on the ruleset of the tabletop RPG Pathfinder, which I've never played, but the fact that I've never actually played Dungeons and Dragons hasn't stopped me playing countless other CRPGs based on that ruleset either. The game promises an epic story, dungeon crawling, loot, countless spells, even political intrigue! Anything that has both political intrigue and giant spiders is always worth a look, in my opinion.

Originally releasing on PC almost two years ago now after being crowd funded in 2017, the Definitive Edition release for consoles comes with expansion packs and other DLC that was added after release, making it somehow even bigger. Make no mistake, Pathfinder: Kingmaker is gargantuan. The world map is split up into 13 regions and I spent all of chapter one (which took me five days to finish) in just two of them. That might give you an idea of just how big it is, but even outside of the actual size, the ambition behind the game is staggering.

On top of the whole RPG thing, which some might say is plenty complex already, there's the management of a kingdom to think about as well. If you want to and you know what you're doing, you can conquer and rule the whole continent. Thankfully, its difficulty is customisable, so if you don't want to spend time managing your kingdom you can make it easier so it doesn't take up so much time, or just set it to automatic and focus on the combat. It's worth giving it a try though, as it is very rewarding, both in regards to acquiring cash or loot and it gives you a unique perspective on how the overarching storylines are playing out compared to other games.

Kingmaker comes with 16 classes that include all the usual suspects and then some. The more unusual of these are the Kineticist, who channels elemental energy, or an Alchemist who can throw area of effect explosives. Each class then has four archetypes, so instead of a "standard" Rogue you can have a Eldritch Scoundrel, who can not only use a rogue's finesse weaponry to score sneak attacks, but can actually channel touch spells like Shocking Touch through it as well. I settled on an Eldtrich Archer, who does the same with ranged touch spells like Ray of Frost and his bow, and proceeded to immediately make mistakes in designing my character. Thankfully there is a respec option available, which now works after a game update.

Character creation is detailed and flexible, provided you know what you're doing. Occasionally the game neglects to tell you certain things during creation, such as when I was making a cleric with a side of fighter to gain their armour proficiencies, only to learn that the archetype of cleric I'd chosen couldn't wear any armour at all. Much like kingdom management, if you're a bit overwhelmed by managing the stats and skills of your character and all your companions you can set them to automatically level up, which will do just fine for a playthrough on standard difficulty.

Soon after you start playing, you're booted off to the Stolen Lands on a quest to defeat its current ruler, bandit leader The Stag Lord, and then take over the region. This initially seems like the main story and it could be in another game, but in Pathfinder it turns out to be the very beginning of a much grander plot.

The gameplay really opens after conquering the Stolen Lands, letting you roam the world map and even capture resources in your territories. Mercifully, it is an actual map that you use to travel between locations rather than just a gigantic world to walk around, though you're open to random encounters whilst travelling. Once you enter a location, combat will start once an enemy sees your party, and here's where things get a little odd as Kingmaker has two combat systems.

Either you can let your party of up to six characters manage themselves in real time, pausing and giving orders when necessary, or you can slow things all the way down and play turn-based. The turn-based mode was added after release, though the game apparently simulates the turns under the hood when you are playing real time anyway. It feels far more tactical and gives you more control, so I actually stuck with it, but you can swap between real time and turn-based at will.

The only real issue I've had with combat is that harder battles tend to manifest their difficulty by having your characters constantly miss; you can go through multiple rounds where multiple characters will fail to hit with every attack. It's obviously down to the luck of the simulated dice rolls, but it's immensely frustrating. There's also a bug I kept bumping into where I occasionally give an order to a character to attack, so they should walk to the target, then attack, but the character just wouldn't attack after approaching, despite the UI telling me that it was within distance. Sometimes they wouldn't even move, but either way you basically miss out on a turn for that character whenever it happens. You can remedy this by not trusting the game's UI and manually doing the walk and attack separately, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Eventually you will unlock kingdom management, at which point you basically find a decent strategy game in its own right layered on top of everything else. Events appear that can affect the wellbeing of your kingdom, dignitaries from other kingdoms will visit to play politics or throw barely-veiled insults, and you even build upgrades in settlements that receive bonuses based on how you arrange the buildings, which then all has knock on effects on the kingdom as a whole. You assign party members and other characters to advisor roles, then assign those advisors tasks and jobs, each of which takes a certain amount of in-game time. Then you wander off and go adventuring whilst they're doing it, hopefully returning just as they finish but more likely a week after them and… Oh! Now the kingdom is on fire. It's deeper than it has any right to be and it is honestly a little overwhelming, but as mentioned earlier, it can be customised to be easier or just be automatic. Just don't neglect it entirely, because if your kingdom falls, it's game over.

That's where I have a bit of an issue, though. The timing of those advisors' tasks against the length of in-game time spent in dungeons is often just a bit annoying. You can't manage your kingdom from a dungeon, so you'll just have to hope nothing serious happens while you're busy fighting 20 trolls. It takes more than a few in-game days for your entire kingdom to fall into ruin, but you never know, you could just be mid-quest when the weight of all your poor decisions comes crashing down upon you. Those last few days could make the difference and having a game over on the end of many hours of involved strategy and seems like it could result in a save file that's in an unwinnable state. Thankfully, you can make your kingdom invincible in the difficulty settings to ensure that doesn't happen.

What's not so great are the continuing reports of broken save files and progression halting black screens, despite a recent update aimed at fixing them. Personally, a respec bug has now been fixed, but I've lost progress through game crashes after the patch, and taken to saving before leaving areas and accessing kingdom management. We shouldn't really have to fight against the game to experience it properly.

Perhaps the most important element in this genre is the writing and Pathfinder really doesn't disappoint. Kingmaker is good at making characters seem like people, rather than lore libraries and quest givers, but I also enjoyed how funny it can be at times – the alchemist Jubilost has made me genuinely laugh aloud at his wry comments, which is a nice change of pace. Should you need a little help tracking the conversation, there's a glossary that you can access during dialogue to explain any bolded words and provide background information on other territories, history, or factions.

Outside of all of this, Kingmaker makes many of the sacrifices typical of the genre: a fixed camera that can't be rotated, graphics that could run on an integrated GPU, and dialogue that isn't part of the main story remaining unvoiced. Whilst the occasional storm looks pretty good, after playing Divinity: Original Sin and its sublime sequel, returning to a CRPG that makes those sacrifices just feels like a step back. The music, however, is quite a bit better, especially battle music which is full of fast, deep strings and excitement to go along with all the troll punching and skeleton raising.

Katamari Damacy Reroll is coming to PS4 and Xbox One this November

It's taken it's time, almost two years in fact, but Katamari Damacy Reroll will finally trundle on to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on November 20th. The game is a remaster of the fifteen year old PlayStation 2 game Katamari Damacy and also includes a new local two player mode in which you battle head to head.

If you've never played a Katamari game then all you need to to know is that you have to roll a sticky ball around scene, picking up sheep, buckets, people, cars, spoons, hotdogs, and a million other objects, all of which increase the size of your Katamari ball. Make the ball big enough, win the level, easy.

Featuring truly unique gameplay that's easy to pick-up and play and backed by a whimsical soundtrack, Katamari Damacy Reroll will transport players to a magical world of delight and fun where anything and everything can be rolled up into a Katamari ball.

The King of All Cosmos has knocked out all the stars in the sky after a particularly rambunctious night of fun. Realizing his mistake, The King has tasked his young son, The Prince, to go to Earth and roll up as many things as possible to recreate the missing celestial bodies. Paper clips, books, cars, buildings, mountains, and continents, nothing is too big or too small for The Prince and his adhesive Katamari ball. For players looking to challenge their friends to a "roll-off," Katamari Damacy Reroll will feature a head-to-head local multiplayer mode where the player who rolls up the biggest Katamari ball wins praise from the King of the Cosmos.

We reviewed the Switch version of the game back in December 2018 giving a magnificent score of 9/10.

"Whenever there's a conversation about video games and if they can be considered art, Katamari Damacy needs to be involved," said Miguel. "15 years ago, it arrived on PlayStation 2 touting an absolutely unheard of style of gameplay, art and music. 15 years later on the Nintendo Switch, and it remains one of a kind. Katamari Damacy is a wholly unique video game, and it is an unabashed love letter to the copy-and-paste pop aesthetic of Japanese 1990s pop culture. It's bright, weird, silly and cute, and is a must play for anyone, anywhere."

Source: YouTube

Monster Hunter Rise – 7 things you need to know

During last week's Nintendo Direct Mini showcase, Capcom showed off not one, but two new Monster Hunter titles.

Naturally it's Monster Hunter Rise which has fans talking, Capcom confirming that this latest entry in the popular franchise will launch exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.

The above trailer gives us a pretty in-depth look at Monster Hunter Rise, showing off some of the new creatures and features being introduced to the series. However, those who stuck around after the Direct may have watched the follow-up panel explaining what was shown in this debut footage.

Monster Hunter series producer, Ryozo Tsujimoto and Monster Hunter Rise director, Yasunori Ichinose, touched on a number of core elements we'll go into now.

1. First up, we have the dual inspiration behind Monster Hunter Rise. The name, according to Tsujimoto, reflects the enhanced verticality Capcom have woven into the game with new movement and traversal options. The publisher also see this as a return to Monster Hunter's roots as a primarily handheld gaming series and one best played with friends.

2. In Monster Hunter Rise, players can climb and run across surfaces, scaling cliffs and using the new Wirebug tool to gives themselves mid-air grapple. Think of it as a Spider-Man swing, which can be used in combination with weapon attacks or with a dodge manoeuvre in combat.

3. Much like the sublime Monster Hunter: World, this new game will feature large scale open maps. Instead of being broken into sections separated by small loading screens, in Rise you can seamlessly travel and pursue monster between areas. Along with the verticality, this helps beef up the game's sense of scale.

4. As well as Felyne Palico companions, you can also train your own Palamute. This wolf-like Canyne allows you to ride, moving faster without depleting your stamina. While mounted you can also use certain items, the Palamute being an aggressive attacker during combat encounters. Capcom confirmed that you can take up to 2 companions on a hunt in solo play, or one each in multiplayer.

5. Let's talk about the new monsters. Capcom wasn't shy in revealing a handful of the creatures from its updated bestiary including Rise's flagship monster, the Magnamalo. We also copped a look at the bird-like Aknosom, the Great Izuchi, and the Tetranadon. Where the Great Izuchi will attack in co-ordination with smaller monsters, the Tetranadon is a large amphibian which changes its attack pattern as it inflates, sucking up earth.

6. One feature Capcom mentions is the improved interaction between monsters. We saw of this in Monster Hunter: World with monsters attacking one another in set piece struggles. There's more of that to come in Rise though the developer also teased something related which they're not willing to show off just yet.

7. Of course, Monster Hunter Rise has its own base where hunters will socialise as well as craft/upgrade gear, purchase items from vendors, and prepare for their excursions into the surrounding wilderness. Kamura Village also plays host to a number of characters that will help guide the game's story – you'll notice they also have English voiceovers.

Monster Hunter Rise launches next March and is currently available to pre-order via the Nintendo eShop with a pricier deluxe version cramming in some bonus items. We also know that a new range of Nintendo amiibo will be launching alongside it with additional cross-compatibility with Monster Hunter Stories 2.

There's still plenty Capcom has yet to show including monsters and environments, as well as the "rampage" they keep mentioning. Perhaps this is a new quest-type: maybe one that will involve a party of more than four hunters? We'll have to wait and see!

Tamarin Review

Tamarin really should have been awesome. A nostalgia fuelled love letter to the Rare classics of yesteryear, it effortlessly evokes fond memories of cult hit Jet Force Gemini from the N64. There's good reason for this too, with developer Chameleon Games made up of several key members from Rare's much beloved Nintendo glory days. There's clearly a ton of talent behind the scenes, from Banjo-Kazooie character designer Steve Mayles through to Donkey Kong Country composer David Wise, which is why I'm absolutely baffled that Tamarin kind of, well, sucks.

The set-up for Tamarin is refreshingly simple and devoid of backstory or world building. It can very easily be summed up: an army of evil industrial ants have invaded and destroyed the home of the Tamarins. The fowl Formicidae have kidnapped three members of the Tamarin family and so it's up to the player, as the sole surviving monkey, to launch a rescue mission. That's it, there's no further rationale required for the third person platforming and shooting that follows.

Tamarin is really a game of two halves. The first is a 3D Platformer that see's the player exploring and navigating a Metroidvania styled environment, gathering a plethora of collectables to unlock further progress. The second is a more traditional corridor shooter, as the Tamarin uses a very limited selection of weaponry to gun down the ant overlords. Despite their mechanical differences, both sections of the game are united by the fact that they are undermined by some poor design decisions.

But first, before the negativity apocalypse begins, let's cheer ourselves up by discussing the positives of Tamarin: the character and audio design. The Tamarin is without doubt the cutest and most loveable fluffy wuff I've ever laid my eyes on. It has fur so lovingly animated that it immediate invites comparisons to Sully, the fluffed up blue titan of Monsters Inc., which is a massive compliment. The soundtrack is similarly brilliant throughout, achieving the enviable balancing act of being both upbeat, distinctive and insanely, brain-scratchingly catchy. It's the equivalent of an entire soundtrack being made up of the LEGO Movie anthem Everything is Awesome. The battle music, in particular, is a funktastic highlight.

Right then, so that's the positives done.

The exploration segments of Tamarin are undermined entirely by some of the worst signposting I've seen in a video game… because there isn't any. The player is lobbed into a level with very little idea of where they are going. Eventually, after wandering aimlessly, you'll find a hedgehog who will ask you to find some collectables in order to unlock progress. The problem is, the hedgehog could be literally anywhere and the only visual identification of his possible location is a tiny pile of leaves. The game provides no visual or audio clues as to the path you should take.

On one particularly painful stretch of the game I spent forty minutes searching until I finally found that stupid hedgehog in a random corner of the map. He then demanded I wander the map some more to find fruit to feed his insatiable berry addiction so that he might give me a power-up for my trouble. You're lucky I was playing the game for review Mr Hedgehog, as were that not the case I'd show you exactly where you can stick those berries.

All that meandering is exacerbated in its tediousness by a series of repetitive environments that offer little variety in their appearance, causing the player to quickly get turned around and utterly lost. Worse, there's no landmarks to identify where you are and where you should be going; everything is composed of identical bushes, trees, rivers and rocks that make for some rather pretty screenshots (especially when cherrypicking the best-looking locations), but all end up blurring into one. There's one particular mountain that sticks out for just being a big mound of muddy brown textures.

If all that doesn't drive you to drink, then the 'super jump' mechanic will surely have you chaining shots of tequila. For certain jumps the Tamarin can inexplicably jump further. Only on very specific jumps, mind you. How do you know when he can jump further you ask? Well, when you reach the edge of certain platforms, and only when you reach the edge, a little yellow arrow will appear on the opposite platform that you can leap to. It means you have to check every accursed bit of a level just in case a yellow arrow appears. Why can't the Tamarin use his super jump to get to any of the other hundred odd platforms he can't reach? Your guess is as good as mine.

As I already said, the gunplay doesn't fare much better. At the start of specific closed environments, the thrice hated bundle of spikes will bestow upon the Tamarin some weaponry, which the little monkey can then used to go full Duke Nukem on a contingent of villainous ants. Here's where the game thematically really doesn't know what it wants to be. Up until this point everything has been a cutesy and fluffy collectathon, the Tamarin rolling into or jumping on the occasional beetle or dragonfly that simply disappears upon defeat. Now that same Tamarin is totting an Uzi and proceeds to eviscerate an army of ants.

Limbs are blasted off, heads are severed and ants explode in a giblet shower. You can even shoot and kill the cute Disney-esque birds you're meant to rescue. It's just plain weird and sits at odds with the rest of the game, like the exploration and shoot 'em up sections were designed by entirely separate teams and then quickly stitched together at the end of development.

I'd say there's moderately more fun to be had blasting ants than exploring the environment, but not by much. There's a handful of unit types to battle, but you foes are essentially the same ant foot soldier in a variety of different colours. Signposting is even a mess in these brief shooting episodes, with more aimless wandering to be had. One section in a factory was a particularly joyless experience that finally came to an end with no build up at all. There's no pacing to the combat, no peaks or troughs, just blast a couple of ants and move on.

Aiming is woolly and indistinct, with no-lock on function and a camera that is slow and sluggish in its response, except for when the Tamarin is shooting at ants above ground level. In that instance the Tamarin can lock on to the target like a pro. Why can you lock on to some ants and not all the others? I'll be honest and state that by this point I'd entirely ceased to care.

Xbox Series S backward compatibility could double Xbox One frame rates with as few as "three lines of code"

Backward compatibility has been thrown into the spotlight again after the announcement of the Xbox Series S, with the lower powered console able to play all the same games as Xbox Series X can, but questions raised over if and how it can enhance those games compared to the Xbox One S and Xbox One X.

Microsoft have now detailed (via Digital Foundry) just what the Series S will be capable of across the whole range of backward compatible titles.

For original Xbox and Xbox 360, the Series S will be able to meaningfully upscale and enhance those games. In a similar fashion to the Xbox One X and Xbox Series X, the emulation layer will be able to up the game's rendering resolution on select games – the same ones already listed as Xbox One X Enhanced.

This will be done in line with the Xbox Series S' 1440p target resolution from Microsoft, so enhanced Xbox games running at 480p will be given a 3x boost on both axes (giving us 9x the resolution), while Xbox 360 games will have their 720p resolution doubled. In both cases this results in a native 1440p. These can then be further upscaled by the Series S to 4K resolution.

Much more interesting is the situation with Xbox One backward compatibility. As was previously confirmed, the Xbox Series S will not be able to take advantage of Xbox One X Enhanced modes in games. Though the biggest benefits here came from resolutions up to 4K and performance modes for higher frame rates, games could also have higher detail game assets that make use of the Xbox One X's larger amount of RAM. In other words, Series S backward compatibility will play games in One S mode, restricted to any resolutions and frame rate limits that developers coded for – often this could top out at 900p instead of 1080p – but able to use the power to stabilise dynamic resolutions and frame rates at their highest setting.

However, there's still the possibility to meaningfully enhance games beyond that. On a system level, the SSD will reduce loading times and Auto HDR can will add HDR to games that don't natively support it, but Microsoft have talked up the ease with which developers can add Series S specific resolution and frame rate modes.

System architect Andrew Goossen told Digital Foundry, "We made it easy for existing Xbox One S games to be updated to run with double the frame-rate when played on Series S as well. When games are updated, existing games can query to determine whether they're running on the new console. And in terms of the performance, the Series S provides well over double the effective CPU and GPU performance over the Xbox One, making it pretty straightforward for the games to do this. And in fact, the Series S GPU runs the Xbox One S games with better performance than the Xbox One X."

Because of that, "There's no real perf tuning necessary when you do this, and so often it's just as easy as changing three lines of code, and then the game works." Sometimes it's not quite that simple and some elements in games can be tied to certain frame rates, but Goossen emphasises that these should be simple to fix as well.

As for which games will be enhanced? Well, games with large communities and active development will likely be enhanced like this, sp even if the developers don't plan to make a dedicated version for Xbox Series X|S they could be improved, but Microsoft are working with as many developers as possible to try and have games enhanced.

Microsoft's compatibility team could also take over, as they have for the process of enhancing Xbox and Xbox 360 games. As in those cases, there's ways to override a game's coding to enable different texture filtering, modify resolutions and so on, but it seems that Microsoft will continue to do this in collaboration with developers instead of making unilateral changes.

It's quite a fascinating proposition, but will really depend on how widely it's adopted by developers. I'm sure that more recent games still being patched will likely roll such changes into their next update, and some legacy games that had Xbox marketing partnerships like the Assassin's Creed or Tomb Raider series could be nudged to have such changes made, but don't expect something like F1 2017 or Black Ops III to get tweaked.

Source: Digital Foundry

Sony apologises for PS5 preorder issues, confirms more consoles will be available

The PS5 pre-order process could have been a lot smoother. Sony had stated that it was going to give people plenty of warning for when pre-orders would start, but that did not happen. Instead, after the PS5 Showcase Sony stated pre-orders would start the next day but did not communicate times, nor which retailers would have them at what time. While we tried to keep on top of notifying people of where pre-orders were happening there was still a lot of confusion, and a lot of disappointment as people missed out due to Sony's poor communication. Now Sony has apologised and confirmed more pre-orders will be going live soon.

Even though Sony has confirmed there will be more PS5s available it is leaving the details up to retailers to spread, so buyers will have to track down the console themselves. Counter this to Microsoft's approach who have confirmed the date, times, and the retailers of Xbox Series X|S pre-orders. The full details of those are:

  • UK (8AM BST): Microsoft Store, GAME, Amazon, Dixons, Currys PC World, Argos, John Lewis, Smyths Toys, VERY, AO, Tesco, Simply Games, ShopTo and other participating retailers
  • United States (8AM PT / 11AM ET): Microsoft Store, Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, Target, Sam's Club, Newegg, and other participating retailers
  • Canada (8AM PT): Microsoft Store, Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, EB Games, The Source, and other participating retailers
  • Australia (8AM AEST): Microsoft Store, JB Hifi, EB Games, Telstra, Harvey Norman, and other participating retailers
  • New Zealand (8AM NZST): Microsoft Store, JB HiFi, EB Games, Spark, and other participating retailers

It gets trickier in other regions though. For Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, you pre-orders start at 9AM CEST at Microsoft Store, Amazon, MediaMarkt, GameStop, FNAC, Elkjøp/Elgiganten, and other participating retailers. These will differ from country to country.

Source: Twitter

Next Epic free game confirmed, get Football Manager 2020 now

With all the next-gen announcements popping off, it seems we're definitely knee-deep in peak video game season. Amidst all this madness we still have a comforting constant in Epic Games and their weekly giveaways.

For a while now, Epic has been doling out free games to its users – from AAA new releases to older indies. This week you'll be able to redeem two hefty titles including Ubisoft hack 'em up sequel, Watch Dogs 2, and Football Manager 2020.

Just last week it seemed as though the only free game we'd be getting is Stick It To The Man! so it's great to see these two extra freebies thrown on top as a bonus for Epic users. The company have also confirmed its next free game, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition, will be touching down next Thursday. Originally released in 2004, we can't wait to strap in for a breakneck dose of theme park management nostalgia.

Want to know more about which games Epic have offered in the past? Here's the complete list, tagged with our reviews.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition September 24-October 1, 2020
Football Manager 2020 September 17-24, 2020
Watch Dogs 2 September 17-24, 2020
Stick It To The Man! September 17-24, 2020
Railway Empire September 10-17, 2020
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine September 10-17, 2020
Into The Breach September 3-10, 2020
Hitman August 27-September 3, 2020
Shadowrun Collection August 27-September 3, 2020
God's Trigger August 20-27, 2020
Enter the Gungeon August 20-27, 2020
The Alto Collection August 13-20, 2020
Remnant: From the Ashes August 13-20, 2020
A Total War Saga: Troy August 13-14, 2020
Wilmot's Warehouse August 6-13, 2020
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP July 30 – August 6, 2020
Barony July 30 – August 6, 2020
20XX July 30 – August 6, 2020
Next Up Hero July 23-30, 2020
Tacoma July 23-30, 2020
Torchlight II July 16-23, 2020
Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition July 9-16, 2020
The Escapists 2 July 9-16, 2020
Killing Floor 2 June 9-16, 2020
Hue July 2-9, 2020
Stranger Things 3 June 25-July 2, 2020
AER Memories of Old June 18-25, 2020
Ark: Survival Evolved June 11-18, 2020
Samurai Shodown NeoGeo Collection June 11-18, 2020
Overcooked June 4-11, 2020
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection May 28-June 4, 2020
Civilization VI May 21-28, 2020
Grand Theft Auto V May 14-21, 2020
Death Coming May 7-14, 2020
Crashlands April 30-May 7, 2020
Amnesia: The Dark Descent April 30-May 7, 2020
For the King April 23-30, 2020
Just Cause 4 April 16-23, 2020
Wheels of Aurelia April 16-23, 2020
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments April 9-16, 2020
Close to the Sun April 9-16, 2020
Gone Home April 2-9, 2020
Drawful 2 April 2-9, 2020
Hob April 2-9, 2020
Totally Reliable Delivery Service April 1-8, 2020
World War Z March 26-April 2, 2020
Torment x Punisher March 26-April 2, 2020
Figment March 26-April 2, 2020
Watch Dogs March 19-26, 2020
The Stanley Parable March 19-26, 2020
A Short Hike March 12-19, 2020
Mutazione March 12-19, 2020
Anodyne 2 March 12-19, 2020
Gonner March 5-12, 2020
Offworld Trading Company March 5-12, 2020
Inner Space February 27-March 5, 2020
Faeria February 20-27, 2020
Assassin's Creed Syndicate February 20-27, 2020
Aztez February 13-20, 2020
Kingdom Come: Deliverance February 13-20, 2020
Ticket to Ride February 6-13, 2020
Carcassonne February 6-13, 2020
Farming Simulator 19 January 30-February 6, 2020
The Bridge January 23-30, 2020
Horace January 16-23, 2020
Sundered: Eldritch Edition January 9-16, 2020
Darksiders Warmastered Edition January 1-9, 2020
Darksiders 2 Dethinitive Edition January 1-9, 2020
Steep January 1-9, 2020
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair December 31, 2019
Hello Neighbor December 30, 2019
The Talos Principle December 29, 2019
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun December 28, 2019
Hyper Light Drifter December 27, 2019
FTL: Faster Than Light December 26, 2019
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator December 25, 2019
Celeste December 24, 2019
Ape Out December 23, 2019
Little Inferno December 22, 2019
Superhot December 21, 2019
Towerfall Ascension December 20, 2019
Into the Breach December 19, 2019
The Wolf Among Us December 12-19, 2019
The Escapists December 12-19, 2019
Jotun: Valhalla Edition December 6-12, 2019
Rayman Legends November 29-December 6, 2019
Bad North November 21-29, 2019
The Messenger November 14-21, 2019
Ruiner November 7-14, 2019
Nuclear Throne November 7-14, 2019
Costume Quest October 31-November 7, 2019
Soma October 31-November 7, 2019
Layers of Fear October 24-October 31, 2019
Q.U.B.E.2 October 24-October 31, 2019
Alan Wake: American Nightmare October 17-24, 2019
Observer October 17-24, 2019
Surviving Mars October 10-17, 2019
Minit October 3-10, 2019
Metro 2033 Redux September 26-October 3, 2019
Everything September 26-October 3, 2019
Lego Batman Trilogy September 19-26, 2019
Batman: Arkham Collection September 19-26, 2019
Conarium September 12-19, 2019
ABZU September 5-12, 2019
The End is Nigh September 5-12, 2019
Celeste August 29-September 5, 2019
Inside August 29-September 5, 2019
Fez August 22-29, 2019
Hyper Light Drifter August 15-22, 2019
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden August 15-22, 2019
GNOG August 8-15, 2019
For Honor August 2-9, 2019
Alan Wake August 2-9, 2019
This War of Mine July 25-August 2, 2019
Moonlighter July 25-August 2, 2019
Limbo July 18-July 25, 2019
Torchlight July 11-18, 2019
Overcooked July 4-11, 2019
Last Day of June June 27-July 4, 2019
Rebel Galaxy June 20-27, 2019
Enter the Gungeon June 13-20, 2019
Kingdom: New Lands June 6-13, 2019
City of Brass May 30-6, 2019
Rime May 23-30, 2019
Stories Untold May 16-23, 2019
World of Goo May 2-16, 2019
Transistor April 18-May 2, 2019
The Witness April 4-18, 2019
Oxenfree March 21-April 4, 2019
Slime Rancher March 7-21, 2019
Thimbleweed Park February 21-March 7, 2019
Axiom Verge February 7-21, 2019
The Jackbox Party Pack January 24-February 7, 2019
What Remains of Edith Finch January 11-24, 2019
Super Meat Boy December 28, 2018-January 10, 2019
Subnautica December 12-27, 2018

 

Source: Epic Games

Something for the Weekend – 19/09/20

Just a week after Microsoft lifted the lid on the new Xbox, Sony have revealed the all important details about the PS5 in a short but snappy presentation on Wednesday night. Since then, trying to get your hands on a pre-order has been a bit of a kerfuffle, but let us know below if you've been one of the successful ones!

In the News This Week

First up, here's everything about the PlayStation 5:

And here's what else happened:

Giveaways

If you're into your Battle Royales, we've got a pretty snazzy giveaway this week, with 10 Spellbreak PS4 Founder's Packs worth a whopping £99.99 up for grabs!

The contents include a Keymaster Outfit, Bughunter Outfit, Mystic Outfit, Master Badge, Battlemage Badge, Mage Badge and 15,000 Gold, with the giveaway running until Friday 25th September.

Games in Review

It felt like quite a hit-or-miss week for the reviews, but there's some near essential games in the mix.

Featured Articles

Turning our attention to the previews, Jim's initial scepticism was brushed aside once he went hands on with Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time – and you can also try out the Demo if you pre-order. Meanwhile, Steve enjoyed Remothered: Broken Porcelain, saying that it's certainly improved – in fact, it's "just the sequel that I was hoping for".

Elsewhere, Jim asked whether For Honor was still worth playing in 2020, as Stefan questioned whether the disclosure that several PS5 exclusives would be coming to PS4 prove that Microsoft were right with their approach to cross-generational gaming.

Last up, the What We Played crew gathered round to discuss what next-gen console they will be buying.

Trailer Park

Deathloop gets a brand-new PS5 gameplay trailer

Watch the new Spider-Man: Miles Morales gameplay video

Resident Evil 8: Village has a new trailer from the PS5 showcase

Some new Oddworld Soulstorm gameplay shown for PS5

Your Achievements

Instead of asking the community what you've been playing this week, we asked what your plans were for the next generation.

Already having secured PS5 pre-orders are TSBonyman, doomsday619, Andrewww and beeje13, while Matthijs, MrYd and a few others are hoping there'll be a second batch down the line.

Ico, seems to be the only one planning to grab an Xbox on day one, the value of Game Pass hard to pass up, but others are tempted by the Xbox Series X or S sometime down the line.

Meanwhile, tactical20 is holding out for a souped up Nintendo Switch, the plucky hybrid having rekindled his love of gaming since its release.

Have a good weekend and I'll see you again soon!

Marvel's Avengers update 1.07 fixes over 1000 issues

After teasing a huge upcoming Marvel's Avengers patch in their latest War Table blog, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have deployed it just in time for the weekend.

Marvel's Avengers update V1.3.0 (which will show on consoles as 1.07) is now available to download and will be needed in order to access online features. The PlayStation 4 file size for this patch weighs in at just under 4GB.

With over 1,000 fixes this latest post-launch patch is quite the whopper and includes remedies to platform-specific errors while improving other areas of the game including gear, combat, and online mtachmaking.

For more on Marvel's Avengers, you can check out the new missions, challenges, and marketplace items from the weekly reset. Make sure you also read our day one review of the game.

You can review the patch notes in full below, which also includes a number of known issues Crystal Dynamics are working to resolve.

Marvel's Avengers V1.3.0 Patch Notes (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia)

REASSEMBLE CAMPAIGN & AVENGERS INITIATIVE

Various Reassemble Campaign & Avengers Initiative fixes, including:

  • Fixed an issue where A-Day would not progress if the player started the campaign from the War Table after selecting Avengers Initiative first.
  • Fixed infinite loads when reloading the game during "The Light that Failed" and "To Stand Alone".
  • Resolved bad save states for an infrequent bug where players are unable to progress with the campaign due to an infinite loading screen.
  • Fixed an issue where a strongbox in "House Call" was sometimes not usable.
  • Fixed an occasional bug with the bridge in the mission "House Call" that prevented progress. This should also fix bad save states.
  • Fixed an issue where Pause and Character menus were blocked during "Testing… 1, 2, 3".
  • Fixed an issue where you would be teleported out of world when attacking the boss between fight phases in "To Stand Alone".
  • Fixed an issue where steps 1 and 2 of the "A Global Offensive" mission chain were not tracking properly.
  • Fixed an issue where combat would not progress when defeating both Assault Adaptoids at the same time in "By Force of Mind".
  • Fixed a hole in geometry in "Dogs of War".
  • Fixed an where players could fall out of bounds in "Along came a Spider"
  • Fixed an issue where players could get stuck inside geometry in "Rocket's Red Glare" after enabling the teleport to space.
  • Fixed an issue where sometimes an enemy could be stuck behind a closed door during "Task at Hand".
  • Fixed an issue in "Bad Blood" where the Final cinematic would sometimes not play audio.
  • Fixed an issue preventing "Interrogation Anxiety" from being completed. This should also fix bad save states.

MULTIPLAYER & MATCHMAKING

Various fixes to multiplayer & matchmaking systems, including:

  • Reduction of cooldown after leaving a strike team before the user could matchmake again (from 30 second down to 4 seconds).
  • Matchmaking now stays enabled during mission launch countdown to give more time for players to join.
  • Fixed a bug where the "Searching for Heroes" UI would not always match the actual matchmaking status.
  • Fixed a bug where multiple host migrations would prevent the player from matching successfully again.
  • Fixed "Quick Match – Launch with any Hero" failing when two Quick Match players joined another match simultaneously.
  • Fixed losing Quick Match status when a player failed to join another match.
  • Fixed a bug where leaving an existing Strike Team would prevent the next Quick Match attempt from working properly.

ART & ANIMATION

Various art, animation, and character fixes/polish, including:

  • A variety of minor graphical issue fixes including clipping and popping.
  • Fixed several areas where players could see out of world.
  • Fixed many minor graphical errors and transitions.
  • Fixed several ragdoll issues.
  • Fixed a visual issue where enemy shields would pop in.
  • Fixed Captain America character model bug in "Front Line" outfit.
  • Fixed an issue where Thor would appear in the "War Cry" outfit in the Main Menu before unlocking it.
  • Fixed an issue where Tony appeared in the incorrect Iron Man armor during the "Alone Against AIM" cinematic.
  • Fixed Faction NPCs having no facial animation and freezing upon interact.
  • Fixed Sprint Heavy Attack sticking to ground during certain combat scenarios.
  • Fixed an issue with Black Widow's grapple that launched her off trajectory.
  • Fixed an issue where Iron Man would play the incorrect animation when doing laser Heavy Attack.
  • Fixed an issue with Monotronic Exo Takedowns in multiplayer where the animations would get out of sync.

USER INTERFACE

Various UI fixes & polish, including:

  • Fixed an issue that would cause damage numbers to appear on destroyed objects.
  • Fixed an issue with Faction prisoner rescue, in which cell destruction markers would sometimes show the wrong icon upon Reload Checkpoint.
  • Various Skill Menu videos updates for Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man.
  • Various localization and text fixes.
  • Approaching hackable terminals with a Hero that lacks that ability now displays a tutorial explaining why it cannot be accessed.
  • War Table icon now has different appearance when there is a new Mission available.
  • Reward icons for some Missions have been corrected to display the actual rewards.
  • "Cancel" label added to the push-pull piston UI when interact option is set to "tap".
  • "Inhuman Sanctuary" mission chain thumbnail now better reflects being a Pym-centric activity.
  • "Inhuman Sanctuary" mission chain notification no longer appears in campaign if it has already been shown in the Avengers Initiative.
  • Talisman Artifacts now display correct thumbnail images.
  • Faction Rank reward tutorial on helicarrier no longer displays before the Faction Vendor is available.
  • Vault sequence tutorials now allow players to access the Character Menu while active.
  • Based on player feedback, players can now see progress when being revived.
  • Based on player feedback, we have implemented a 0-10 Motion Blur slider. When set at 0, Motion Blur is completely disabled.
  • Fixed issues of objectives not displaying after player death.
  • Fixed an issue where UI elements would show up during the introduction of Dropzones.

COMBAT

Various combat fixes/tuning, including:

  • Fixed an issue where "Control Point" events would continue to spawn new enemies after completing the control requirement.
  • Fixed an issue in "Defend" events where the battle would sometimes stall until Heroes got closer to defenders by increasing participation radius.
  • Improved an issue where sometimes the "Secure the Area" portion of some Sabotage encounters would not register completion due to enemies becoming inaccessible or hidden during battle.
  • Fixed an issue where at higher difficulties, enemies would hack rescue cells silently, causing mysteriously inconsistent activation times.
  • Fixed an issue in a small number of encounters where some stronger enemy types would spawn too many at once.
  • Fixed an issue which could prevent lock-on from working when the Warbot is downed.
  • Fixed some navigation issues that would allow flying enemies to go out of world.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause Dreadbots to become unable to move.
  • Fixed an issue that would allow the final stage of the Warbot to be skipped.
  • Fixed multiple issues where some attacks were not able to damage the Warbot when it is downed.
  • Fixed an issue causing some enemies to spawn without proper portal FX.
  • Fixed an issue where rarely a hero could still be controlled after being defeated by Adaptoids.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause Kamala to unintentionally throw grabbed enemies at her feet.
  • Fixed an issue which would cause Kamala's arm to stay stuck in front of her when doing in-air attacks.
  • Fixed an issue where Widow's Bite could get shot out of the air by enemies.
  • Fixed an issue where Widow could not move on stairs while aiming the High-Caliber pistol.
  • Fixed an issue where player would get stuck when triggering Hulkbuster near other interactable items.
  • Fixed an issue where certain Hulkbuster moves cause double vision on another player's machine.
  • Fixed an issue where Hulk could become stuck interacting with the world while holding an enemy.
  • Fixed an issue when in high framerates, Hulk's Sprint Heavy Attack would fall short.
  • Fixed various issues with Captain America's "Mirror Shield" skill.
  • Fixed an issue where Captain America's shield could become stuck in Iron Man's Energy Barrier.
  • Fixed an issue where Iron Man could become stuck when evading while flying low to the ground.
  • Fixed an issue where Ironman's Unibeam Heroic ability could be used infinitely during his combat on the Golden Gate Bridge.
  • Various Iron Man lock-on improvements.
  • Iron Man's "Hyper Coils" skill now grants the intended 10 second duration increase.
  • Iron Man's Laser Specialization reduces the intrinsic cost of aimed ranged attacks.
  • Invulnerability frames when entering Hulkbuster have been extended.
  • Improved enemy spawn positions in 2 encounter locations.
  • Minor tweak to turret activation in "The Inhuman Condition" AIM bunker.
  • Reduced difficulty for Embiggened Kamala to revive downed allies.
  • Reduced difficulty of "Secure the Asset" in the "Alone Against AIM" missions.
  • Reduced aggressiveness of turrets and enemy ranged attacks.
  • Adaptoid laser attack is easier to avoid.
  • Assault Adaptoid tuning, including:
    • Less aggressive in multiples.
    • Less aggressive when the fire shield is active.
    • Triggers a smaller hit reaction when Heroes are hit by the laser.
    • The laser attack is easier to avoid in combat situations.
    • Fireball visuals were updated to make them easier to see in combat.

GEAR, CHALLENGES, & REWARDS

Various Gear, Challenges, & Reward fixes/tuning including:

  • Fixed an issue where the Fabrication Machine would occasionally not reward an outfit (or units if a duplicate pattern).
  • Fixed an issue where resources in a player's inventory – including Units – would disappear if they reached a total of 32,000. We have capped all Units and Resources at 65,000 for storage and ensured they will not disappear moving forward. If you lost a large number of Units due to this bug, please contact Square Customer Service.
  • Resolved bad save states and returned missing campaign outfits to users from a bug that was reverting them to a locked state. Note: Iconic Outfits may still be missing or locked, but we are investigating.
  • Increased Gear power cap for Threat Sectors, Drop Zones, and Hives to 130 to align with their max mission power.
  • Exotics gear now have higher attribute points. Power Level 130+ Exotic gear now always has better attributes than other rarities.
  • Gear that was erroneously being awarded at Power 1 and Uncommon rarity has been fixed in all activities.
  • Activity-specific Gear earned in Elite Heroic Hives is now awarded at correct power and rarity.
  • Gear with hero-specific perks can now be awarded at Epic, Legendary, and Exotic rarities with the correct number of perks; previously Legendary gear items of this type had too many hero-specific perks and Epics were not awarded at all.
  • Faction XP is awarded to the entire strike team when rescuing Inhumans in War Zones.
  • Hulk's "Fractured" outfit now appears in the Appearance Menu when awarded through a Rare Pattern; will display item correctly in inventory of players who have already collected this outfit.
  • A Rare Pattern is now correctly awarded at the start of the 'More Assembly Required' mission.
  • Various Hero Challenges that were incorrectly tracking progress or not advancing under certain conditions have been fixed.
  • Based on your feedback, we are moving to a single global content refresh and challenge reset time and day. Starting with this V1.3.0 patch, challenges will reset every Thursday at 10:00 AM PT. As a token of our appreciation we will provide 22 challenge points per hero with the refresh to account for the shortened challenge period. These points will be available to claim until Thursday the 25th at 10:00 AM PT.

PLATFORM-SPECIFIC FIXES

Additional PlayStation Fixes:

  • Fixed bug where players would not join an existing lobby if 'Quick Match – Launch with any Hero' was selected while set to the same Hero as a player in the lobby
  • Optimized matchmaking filters to reduce matchmaking search times
  • Changed matchmaking algorithms to reduce server load and further improve matchmaking search times
  • Generally improved matchmaking invite functionality and bug fixes.

Additional Xbox Fixes:

  • Fixed bug where a lobby would become unjoinable if a host migration occurred during an active mission.
  • Fixed a bug where invites would not work if a player had the "Show as offline" privacy setting enabled.
  • Update from V1.2.5: We have confirmed that "New Girl Makes Good" will retroactively grant on Xbox if you had earned it prior to Patch V1.2.5. "Tentative Peace" will not retroactively grant. Both have been properly registering progress since V1.2.5.

Additional PC Fixes:

  • Various stability fixes based on collected crash reports.
  • Additional error messages for failure cases based on collected crash reports.
  • Various CPU performance improvements.
  • Reduce number of CPU cores used for Direct3D shader pipeline compilation.
  • Overall reduction to memory usage.
  • Added Backup Save menu in Settings -> Gameplay.
  • Fixed Kamala and Thor HARM tutorials when Defense Mode was set to Toggle.
  • A number of mouse/keyboard UI improvements.

Additional Stadia Fixes:

  • Added Backup Save menu in Settings -> Gameplay.
  • Added ability to erase all save-data in Settings -> Gameplay.
  • Improved performance for 30fps High-Resolution display mode.
  • Fixed Kamala and Thor HARM tutorials when Defense Mode was set to Toggle.
  • A number of mouse/keyboard UI improvements.

Known Issues & Workarounds

THE MISSION "INTERROGATION ANXIETY" CANNOT BE COMPLETED

  • Presentation: Rarely this presents as an inability to continue in the mission Interrogation Anxiety due to not being able to interact with specific characters.
  • Status [9/18]: We identified and addressed one major scenario that should fix this bug and resolve bad save states, and we are still investigating other potential causes.

VARIOUS PS4 TROPHY BUGS

  • Presentation: Reported issues with an array of trophies, including:
    • Former Glory: Complete the "Iconic Avengers" mission chain
    • Old Fashioned Beat Down: Complete HARM Challenges I to V
    • The Best Defense: Defeat any 20 different enemy types
    • Tentative Peace: Complete 15 Villain Sectors
    • Gold Star Success: Complete 100 assignments
    • Holding it Down: Complete 30 War Zones at Challenge III or higher rating
  • Status [9/18]: Fixed several known issues around PS4 Trophy bugs. We are actively investigating the remaining.

UNABLE TO ACCEPT DAILY FACTION MISSIONS/VILLAIN SECTORS

  • Presentation:  Missions show up as already completed and do not refresh, which does not allow users to accept new ones in order to play them, causing them to miss out on rewards.
  • Status [9/18]: We are actively investigating

VARIOUS SKILL POINT BUGS

  • Presentation: This presents one of several ways, including:
    • Hulk having an extra skill point at 50
    • Kamala missing a skill point at 50
    • Thor missing a skill point at 50
    • Black Widow missing a skill point at 50
  • Status [9/18]: We are actively investigating.

Source: Avengers

Social Links – the value of friendship in video games

I've never been great at making friends. Blame it on me being a shy introvert at a young age then carrying a misanthropic streak in my adulthood, but being a gregarious social butterfly is not one of my strong points.

That's not to say I'm a totally aloof and unapproachable grouch. I'm generally a friendly person who doesn't like to cause conflict. In my time, I've met many like-minded people, colleagues, acquaintances, and peers, but the one nagging thing in the back of my mind is always, 'but are they friends?'.

What does that even mean in the social media age of so many casual swipes and requests, where being mutuals on Twitter can assume a familiarity that may or may not be genuine? Given reports that consider Millennials and Gen Z the loneliest generations, it's clearly not just something that's been on my mind.

That's probably why I get fascinated by games that incorporate a social or friendship system. We know that a lot of games are about player power fantasies, but games where you can be charismatic, popular, and everyone wants to be your friend? That's surely a super power we can all relate to.

To some extent, the power of friendship is a well-spun theme in party-based JRPGs where victory against evil forces rests on a collective group of heroes, or indeed Saturday morning cartoons, but the first game that really brought this down to earth for me was Persona 4, which I was recently replaying with via the Steam port.

As a transfer student who starts off knowing nobody in the small rural town of Inaba, you soon make friends with fellow classmates who get caught up in a kidnapping and murder mystery that involves fighting shadows from another dimension. Integral to the story is how each teammate has to confront their shadow, a manifestation of a repressed side of themselves. It follows that friendship forged-in-fire trope where bonds grow stronger after facing your worst demons together. But alongside this you also have the opportunity to strengthen your bonds through the game's Social Link system.

These aren't limited to party members but also fellow classmates like Daisuke and Kou from the football and basketball clubs or those beyond your school or age range, like elderly widow Hisano or even your own uncle Dojima. Between your investigating and dungeon crawling, you're balancing a normal life of a high school student and can choose how often you meet up with your acquaintances. It feels natural and meaningful how it takes time for bonds to increase over time, as conversations get deeper, your Social Link ranking up once you've reached a new scene in a character's arc, as opposed to some games it just takes showering someone with items to get that relationship gauge to rise. Take Harvest Moon for instance, or Stardew Valley.

There's more to Persona 4's Social Links than just proving you're Mr. Popular. A lot of these arcs are about these character's own personal anxieties and struggles, such as Dojima's fraught relationship with his daughter Nanako. Or Yumi from the school drama club who's having a hard time reconciling with her estranged father on his deathbed. More importantly, while you do need to spend time with them to advance their arc, you're not magically solving their problems either – sometimes you're just there to hear them out and offer them the emotional support they need. Isn't that what friendships are all about – being there for one another in the good and bad?

Through many of these heartwarming stories, culminating in you maxing out your Social Link, I find myself contemplating where my own friendships would rank – do any even go beyond Level 2 or 3, let alone max out as an everlasting bond? Sure, I can be friendly and get on with people, but how well do I ever get to know them? Who would I reach out to when I have something I need to get off my chest? Or rather, would they choose to confide in me? In contrast, I've had acquaintances who met each other through me first who then go on to become besties while at my last workplace, colleagues who started around the same time as me went on to marrying each other.

There's an inherent problem with trying to evaluate your friendships with how good a friend you are – though isn't that what happens when affix labels like 'close' and 'best' friends? – because surely real friendships aren't quid pro quo.

That also quickly reveals just how video games fail to portray the complexity of human relationships when so many are quid pro quo in design. That's fetch quests in a nutshell. Sure, the characters of Persona or Fire Emblem may be attractive, charming and well-written, but you're also conscious that you're spending time to level up a friendship because there's something in it for you, whether it's increased battle proficiency or Persona 4's Social Links that grant XP bonuses when fusing personas.

That crosses over not just to NPCs but also IRL. Just think of the times you've been compelled to add or follow someone either as a nicety or to increase your own social currency. And how many times have you added a friend on your Switch purely so you can trade rare Pokemon or turnips (I also can't quite articulate the anxiety when I've seen requests from people to be my 'best friend' on Animal Crossing).

Making friends is easy in Judgment, the Yakuza detective spin-off, but then it would be when you have the charisma and boyband good looks of Yagami. In his Kamurocho there's scores of NPCs just waiting to become your friend and it all entails in speaking to a character, hearing out their requests and then fulfilling it in order to boost the friendship meter. That's not to say there aren't some genuinely wholesome encounters, like when you get to play matchmaker between two baristas working alternating shifts at the same coffee shop. These friendships also serve to boost your detective agency's reputation, therefore increasing business by way of more clients.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons probably goes some way of providing a nuance to the relationships between you and your fellow animal friends. For a start, they're not necessarily friends, but more like neighbours you can greet every so often. Yet how you get to know them happens more organically.

It's not a one-way street in interaction because they'll sometimes be the one to approach you with a gift, or run towards you excited to teach you a new reaction. More touching is when you unexpectedly receive a letter from one of them offering anything from words of encouragement to whatever random thought that pops up, much like a friend's unsolicited Whatsapp musings at 3am.

A more unexpected surprise is Sable at the Able Sisters store. When you first approach her, she's quietly beavering away with her sewing, but if you keep going to speak to her, she eventually opens up to you. Sure, there's a kind of reward element in there where she'll offer you additional patterns for you to customise your furniture, but what's more touching is how she comes out of her shell, opening up about her deceased parents while also occasionally teasing her sister Mabel.

Nonetheless, there is still a quid pro quo element, mainly the attention or lack thereof your islanders get. If you've been away for a long time, they may mention that they were worried why you hadn't been speaking to them, while entirely ignoring an islander is also how you're supposed to get someone to leave. Then again, maybe it's not too dissimilar to real-life anxieties about a friend not responding to a text, or just losing touch because of a lack of contact.

This anxiety is actually conveyed not in the game of Persona 4 but rather its anime adaptation, where your protagonist (known as Yu in the anime) is ultimately afraid of losing his bonds and being left alone. In the anime's finale, we discover he's stuck in a Groundhog Day time loop, a way of suppressing his fear of having to move away and lose his friends. It honestly resonates too as I have often found myself quickly losing touch with everyone from each phase of my life, whether from school or work, and the opportunity to meet and foster friendships becomes increasingly more difficult as you get older, especially when working from home.

Yet if games don't always best represent friendships, video games can still be a way to maintain and even rekindle them. I'd like to conclude with a story about one of my oldest friends Josh, who I've known since the early years of primary school. While we weren't always close back then and lost touch for most of our twenties as our lives took different directions, we always had a shared love of video games, especially as I was responsible for getting him hooked on Halo. So it was almost by fate that shortly after I did get back into games after a long hiatus, he reached out with an email and we quickly fell back into recounting our love for gaming and the latest trends.

We don't really get the time to catch up face-to-face or for an online gaming session, especially when he has his own family and obligations, but it's great to be back in contact again being able to easily touch base on our shared interests. More recently, he completely surprised me out of the blue as he said he had to downsize his home office to make room for their new baby and had something left over for me I could find useful. That turned out to be his old laptop he wanted to donate to help me with my freelancing career – by 'old', I actually mean a pretty damn cutting edge gaming laptop that he could've easily traded in for over a grand. That kind of generosity still blows my mind. I mean, I shouldn't really put a value on acts of kindness, but isn't that what friends are for?

JETT: The Far Shore has been delayed until 2021

Superbrothers A/V Inc. and Pine Scented Software Ltd have confirmed that the PS5, PS4, and PC game JETT: The Far Shore has been delayed until 2021. The reason behind the delay is that the development team simply needs more time to get JETT into a state that is good enough for release. When in 2021 is unknown so it could be early on not for another 12 months, all depending on how development continues for the game.

In a statement the studio wrote:

"Revealing JETT: THE FAR SHORE in June 2020 was an absolute thrill, and it has been a delight to uncloak after so long in stealth.

The JETT squad has been moved and motivated by the love, curiosity and support directed our way. We're glad to report we've come a long way in a brief while, and that JETT is shaping up to be something pretty special.

However, as of now it seems we're in need of more time in order for JETT to soar, and for the squad to complete this interstellar trip in good condition. JETT: THE FAR SHORE is now fixin' to deploy in 2021 on PlayStation consoles and PC on the Epic Games Store. Hectic times, so we've revised our trajectory. It'll be stellar, when it alights.

While we'll be on the quiet side for a while longer, look to @jettxyz where we're regularly surfacing JETT gifs.

Meanwhile at JETT.fyi you can subscribe to the JETT email bulletin, where we'll eventually shed some light on JETT and its all-star squad, and where we'll exclusively debut occasional a/v tidbits (such as today's tidbit "Soak In Brine")."

The features of JETT: The Far Shore includes:

  • EMBARK on an exploratory single player adventure presented in five captivating acts encompassing monumental moments, laid-back exploration, occasional white-knuckle action, moments of heartfelt companionship, and a helping of existential dread.

  • SOAK in an sea of music and 3D sound, with a breathtaking score by Scntfc.

  • DEPLOY to the surface of a mythic ocean planet: skim up undiscovered coastlines, inspect indigenous flora and fauna, adapt to new perils, and problem-solve tough obstacles using your jett's array of scientific tools.

  • INVESTIGATE the source of 'the hymnwave', an interstellar invitation that propelled a people to look beyond their troubled skies and across the sea of stars, for salvation.

  • RENDEZVOUS at 'Ground Control' and get to know fellow scouts in relaxed first-person sequences, as the scouts struggle together to "satisfy 'Jao's directives'" and acquit themselves with honor.

  • ENDURE hardships, evade pursuers and grapple with massive 'kolos' creatures by navigating hazards and out-pacing or out-smarting adversaries.

  • DELVE DEEPER after the campaign's culmination to explore a robust mysterious endgame where the open-world immersive sim elements flourish.

Source: Press Release

Hogwarts Legacy is not a new story from J.K Rowling

Warner Bros. Games has confirmed that J.K Rowling is not directly involved with the development of the Harry Potter RPG Hogwarts Legacy, and that the story has not come from her. The information comes via an FAQ that Warner Bros. Games put out to give more information about Hogwarts Legacy, where the setting and gameplay types are confirmed.

In a brief statement, Warner Bros. Games wrote this about J.K Rowling.

J.K. Rowling is not directly involved in the creation of the game, however, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World. This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling.

Hogwarts Legacy was announced during the PlayStation 5 Showcase, but it is not a PlayStation or next gen exclusive. The game will also be released for  PS4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One and PC at some point in 2021. You will also not be running into Harry and friends as Hogwarts Legacy is set during the 1800s, but you will have access to similar magic as you will be a student at the wizarding school. Players will not be limited to exploring the halls of Hogwarts though, as other locations in the wizarding world will also be available to explore through the open world.

David Haddad, President, Warner Bros. Games said, "Hogwarts Legacy gives players control over their own experience with RPG gameplay unlike anything else in the Wizarding World, which will continue to build fan appeal in the Portkey Games label. Avalanche has brought to life this rich and deep world, full of action-packed magic, as well as a detailed, mysterious story to engage fans and gamers alike."

Portkey Games is the development label behind Hogwarts Legacy, and it is being developed by Avalanche Software. This is the Avalanche that worked on Disney Infinity, not the Avalanche that worked on the Just Cause games.

Source: Warner Bros.

Amazon have started emailing customers to say they may not get their PlayStation 5 on launch day

You'd think it's an obvious thing to state, but John Lewis, Very, Argos, and now Amazon all seem to be trying to sell things they just haven't got, in particular PlayStation 5 consoles.

Amazon have started sending out emails to customers who thought they had bagged themselves a PlayStation 5 to tell them that they cannot guarantee it will arrive on launch day. The text reads as follows:

We're contacting you about your order of a PlayStation 5 Console to let you know in advance that you may not receive his item on the day it is released due to high demand.  We'll make every effort to get the item to you as soon as possible once released.

One of the people who may find themselves PlayStation 5 free come November is industry spokesperson and The Games Award host, Geoff Keighley.

It's rather hard to tell but this does seem to be Amazon.com in the United States rather than over here in the United Kingdom, but keep an eye on your email just in case.

PlayStation 5 preorders have been rather disastrous with retailers websites crashing and orders being cancelled. Those who ordered through Argos have been told that if they have not received the confirmation email within two hours after placing the order then they will not get a console, but they won't get their money refunded for 3-5 days.

Online retailer Very has also messed things up and been cancelling preorders, sending unhappy customers the message below.

Hi thank you for your recent order on 17/09/20 for PlayStation 5 console / accessories. Unfortunately, due to extremely high demand and limited availability, your order has been cancelled. We apologise for any disappointment caused. More stock will be made available on the site as it is allocated, so please come back and check. Please be aware, any stock will be VERY LIMITED and will only be available for a short time. Thanks

Source: Twitter / Twitter

Gears Tactics Xbox Series X|S trailer reveals new playable character

Microsoft has reconfirmed that Gears Tactics will be available on November 10th for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox One X, and Xbox One S. Gears Tactics is now available on Game Pass to preload.

Its console release will come alongside a brand new update for Gears Tactics that will add a new playable character, the droid Jack who will bring new skills such as being able to hijack enemy units. There will also be new enemies that will prove a challenge, new Supreme equipment, and optimised support for controllers. Gears Tactics will run at 60 FPS and 4K on the Xbox Series X.

A brand new Locust Horde Limited Edition Controller and Pro Charging Stand has also been announced, and it will be compatible with the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox One X, and Xbox One S. You can check out the picture below.

In our review for Gears Tactics, Dom wrote:

There's a sense that this is Splash Damage and The Coalition playing to the crowd with Gears Tactics. It undoubtedly captures the look and feel of the Gears universe, squeezing it into a slick turn-based tactical game, but while I can see a few genre fans attracted to its more cerebral form of warfare, it's the series fans who are going to get the most out of it.
You can read the full Gears Tactics review here.
Source: Microsoft

Ubisoft give update on Beyond Good & Evil 2 as Michel Ancel announces retirement from video games

Legendary video game creator Michel Ancel has decided to call time on his career in the games industry, nudging Ubisoft to give fans a long, long overdue update on Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Michel Ancel announced his decision today on Instagram, deciding to turn in his mouse and keyboard to focus instead on the real world and the preservation of animals. "My new project takes place in the real world and consists in a wild life open sanctuary dedicated to education, nature lovers and… wild animals," he wrote.

It's a fantastic and truly worthwhile endeavour at a time when climate change and the impact mankind is having on our planet is seeing vast number of species becoming endangered and going extinct. We wish Michel well in his endeavour.

That said, it obviously leaves question marks over the two concurrent projects he had been involved with over the last half decade – the independent production Wild, and Beyond Good & Evil 2 – however he said that both teams have been working without his direct input for quite some time.

Still, it's somewhat concerning for the future of Beyond Good & Evil 2, which was a cancelled project revived for E3 2017, just when it seemed that Ancel was on the way out and leaving Ubisoft. It seems that his passion project will continue on without him.

A statement from BG&E2 Senior Producer Guillaume Brunier reads:

For years, Michel imparted his creative vision and helped us remain faithful to BG&E's incredible universe. His uncompromising passion pushed us to redefine what was possible in crafting an expansive, multicultural, and futuristic science-fiction world. As we move forward, we are all committed to remaining true to this vision.

As Michel noted, he hasn't been directly involved in BG&E2 for some time now, as the team have been hard at work building on top of the solid creative foundation he helped shape. The team's collective strength has us well on our way to developing a flagship next-generation action-adventure game. We recently passed an important internal milestone, delivering a build that proves our Space Pirate Fantasy and offers hours of gameplay and an incredible level of freedom in a seamless online sandbox, building upon the promise of our tech demos shown at E3. I'm incredibly proud of the team's perseverance, dedication to each other and ongoing commitment to developing an amazing game.

We still have a lot more to do to, and we're ramping up the size of the team to help. We recently added Ubisoft Paris as a partner studio, and in the past six months many new people have joined us here in Ubisoft Montpellier. If you're interested in being part of the team, visit our careers site and search for keyword "Beyond Good & Evil 2."

Next milestone: We are aiming to share more and show you the game in action sometime next year, once we pass our next internal production milestones.

We know many of you are eager to hear more from the team, get more detail on the story and universe, and try out the gameplay. We're equally excited to share all of that with you, but we will take the time needed to get it right. We want to go beyond the high expectations you have of us, and that we have for ourselves.

Thank you for your patience, and remember we're always happy to have your feedback, whether through the Space Monkey program, by collaborating and contributing with other fans via our HitRecord partnership, or by chatting with us in the forums.

Source: Ubisoft

Cyberpunk 2077 PC minimum requirements revealed

As CD Projekt Red close in on the release of Cyberpunk 2077, they've reached a point at which they can share the minimum and recommended specs you'll need to play the game on PC. Luckily, with the game targeting current gen consoles, they're really quite low, but if you want all the finery that the game can produce in gameplay videos, you'll need to be going way beyond even the recommended specs – you won't get ray tracing on a GTX 1060!

Here are the Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements, with Minimum described as being able to play at 1080p on Low settings and Recommended for 1080p at High Settings.

Minimum Specs Recommended Specs
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 10 64-bit windows 10
CPU Intel Core i5-3570k or AMD FX 8310 Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
RAM 8GB 12GB
GPU Nvidia GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470 Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB or AMD R9 Fury
Storage 70GB 70GB SSD

 

Cyberpunk 2077 is out for Xbox One, PS4 and PC on 19th November. It will be playable on Xbox Series X | S at that point – the consoles coming out on 10th November – and on PlayStation 5 whenever that console releases later this year, but next-gen enhancements will not be there on day one. The game could take some advantages next-gen beyond simple backward compatibility, but for ray tracing and other more integral enhancements, we'll have to wait.

There won't be any waiting on PC though, where CDPR have a pretty tight relationship with Nvidia. At the time of its announcement at E3 2019, CDPR Head of Studio Adam Badowski said, "Ray tracing allows us to realistically portray how light behaves in a crowded urban environment. Thanks to this technology, we can add another layer of depth and verticality to the already impressive megacity the game takes place in."

You'll need a GeForce RTX 20 or RTX 30 series card, with Nvidia rolling out the newer GPUs over the next few months, no doubt hoping to steal away some purchases from the new consoles in the process. AMD have yet to reveal their ray tracing compatible RDNA 2 GPUs, but have announced the event to do so will be held on 28th October.

Source: Twitter

Microsoft Flight Simulator patch 1.8.3.0 is out now, read the patch notes here

Microsoft Flight Simulator patch 1.8.3.0 has arrived on PC with a number of adjustments and changes. Loading times have been optimised, as have CPU and GPU loads in certain key areas.

A lot of the planes visuals and animations have also been upgraded, and so have general aviation systems in them too. The multiplayer servers have been updated too, and there have also been changes to the world too. Oh, UK houses will not appear in the US anymore, which is sure to be reassuring for our friends who might have suddenly questioned their independence.

You can read the full patch notes below.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.8.3.0 update patch notes

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

  • Optimized cockpit screen display when screens are not displayed on screen.
  • New option available to control cockpit screen update frequency.
  • Tweaked CPU thread priorities to reduce interruption of frame critical threads.
  • Optimized loading system to reduce overall loading times.
  • Optimized heavy airport scenes impact on CPU.
  • Reduced the amount of GPU overdraw to improve GPU performance.
  • Memory optimizations to reduce software memory footprint and improve performance on memory limited computers.
  • Overall performance optimizations.

ATC

  • Incoming ATC Azure speech has now three different voices.
  • ATC voice gender is now based on the avatar of the pilot/copilot.
  • Fix for the incorrect voice pack being used if the game is not localized in English and if the Windows Offline Text-to-Speech option is used.

UI

  • Filters and sorting have been improved in the marketplace.
  • Manual cache layout has been improved and the download estimated time should now be correct.
  • Improved support for gamepad navigation in many menus.
  • Case sensitive search is now working properly in control screen.
  • Search by axis in control screen has been fixed.
  • Active pause button has been added in the toolbar.
  • Pause button has been fixed in the Content manager.

AERODYNAMICS

  • Improved wind turbulence simulation to reduce horizontal turbulences.
  • Added simulation of low rpm piston engine vibrations on cockpit.
  • Added simulation of water particles (rain/clouds) density in aerodynamics => generates vibrations flying through clouds or rain.
  • Fixed wet surface friction and braking distances.
  • Fixed live weather wind offset in higher latitude areas (America, Asia…) that was causing the 3kts Wind bug.

AIRCRAFT

COCKPITS VISUALS AND ANIMATIONS

  • Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX: AP buttons animations have been fixed.
  • Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX, Beechcraft Bonanza G36, ICON A5: placards have been updated.
  • Cessna 172 Skyhawk : compass texture have been improved.
  • Zlin Savage Cub : tail wheel blur effect is now correctly triggered.
  • Zlin Shock Ultra : arcs on airspeed indicator is correctly set.
  • Zlin Shock Ultra : turbo mode has been removed from dashboard.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : MCP buttons visual improvements.

GENERAL AVIATION SYSTEMS

  • Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX : propeller sound has been improved when RPM is changing.
  • Cessna Longitude : AP altitude and speed management improvements.
  • Cessna Longitude : auto throttle is now inhibited during take off and until 400 feet AGL.
  • Daher TBM 930 : yaw damper is now automatically turned on when the AP is enabled.
  • Beechcraft King Air 350i : windshield deicing is now working.
  • ICON A5 : « incorrect heading indicator » notification is now correctly triggered.
  • Zlin Shock Ultra : flaps now operate mechanically instead of electrically.
  • Zlin Shock Ultra : trim management improvements.
  • Cessna Citation CJ4 : reverse thrust has been removed.
  • Cub Crafter X Cub : IAS AP mode is now working properly.
  • Daher TBM 930 and Cessna 208 B Grand Caravan EX : PT6 engines shutdown duration has been increased.

GENERAL AVIATION AVIONICS

  • Cessna Longitude : several knobs of the G5000 are now working.
  • Beachcraft Baron G58, Beechcraft Bonanza G36, Cessna 172 Skyhawk G1000, Diamond DA40 NG : fixed missing ALT knob.
  • Beechcraft King Air 350i : « menu » key is now working properly.
  • Cessna 152 and 152 Aerobat : avionics state have been fixed using Honeycomb device battery switch.
  • GNS 530 : flight plan display alignment has been fixed on the Garmin GNS 530.
  • G1000 : automatically switches from NAV to LOC when needed.
  • G1000 : ETE and ETA fixed wrong values.
  • G1000/3000/3x : AP setup is no longer reset when enabling AP.
  • G1000/3000/3x : fixed missing flight plan when the selected departure is coordinates on the world map.
  • G3x : text size in « approach box » has been increased.
  • G3x : approaches can now be selected and loaded.
  • G3x : fixed bad information in nearest VOR page when unknown VOR is selected.

AIRLINER SYSTEMS

  • General : AP behavior improvements.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : rear wheels steering has been fixed.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : pressing the battery button now always display the ON part.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : improved flaps deployment and retraction sequences.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : fixed auto–throttle not giving back control to the pilot when disabled.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : center tanks drain first when decreasing fuel quantity via fuel and payload menu.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle is now automatically disengaged when landing.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle now engages correctly during take off roll when conditions are met.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : alt intervention no longer needs to be pressed again when not needed.
  • Airbus A320neo : automatic speed management improvements.
  • Airbus A320neo : alpha floor condition is now correctly triggered.

AIRLINER AVIONICS

  • General : weight is better taken into account for V speed calculations.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : FMC now allows to activate approach without going to route page.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : approach VREF speeds are fixed.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : empty rectangles no longer displayed on the FMA.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : runways are now displayed in correct order in the FMC.
  • Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental : cruise altitude no longer automatically filled in the FMC.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : LNAV and VNAV correctly displayed as armed in FMA when conditions are met.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : altitude target on MCP can no longer be set to negative values.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : auto–throttle mode no longer displayed on FMA when auto–throttle is disabled.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : fixed wrong flaps value displayed in the FMC take off page.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : target heading line on ND is no longer reset while in heading mode.
  • Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner : direct-to flight plans can now be entered in the FMC.
  • Airbus A320neo : target altitude can now be changed when AP is disabled.
  • Airbus A320neo : armed modes no longer appear in boxes on the FMA.
  • Airbus A320neo : flaps « FULL » indication instead of « F » on ECAM.
  • Airbus A320neo : FMGS message « INVALID ENTRY » replaced by « NOT ALLOWED ».
  • Airbus A320neo : FMGS now only displays arrival procedures corresponding to the selected runway.
  • Airbus A320neo : FMGS now correctly displays ETA for approach points.
  • Airbus A320neo : removed remaining waypoints on ND after selecting different approach procedures.
  • Airbus A320neo : fixed heading bug alignment offset issue.
  • Airbus A320neo : fixed missing runway in the perf page of FMGS when a departure runway is already selected.
  • Airbus A320neo : fixed constraints flickering on ND.
  • Airbus A320neo : FMGS block fuel indication now correctly initialized.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Fixed freezes caused by glass cockpits.
  • Travel to feature no longer disengages autopilot when used.

WEATHER

  • Fixed 225°/3kt issue with inconsistent wind in game.
  • Fixed issue with weather persistency on flight restart.

SERVICES

  • Upgraded multiplayer servers.

MARKETPLACE

  • Rating display on bundles has been improved.
  • Performance drop after downloading an item in marketplace has been removed.
  • An addon purchased outside of the marketplace no longer has an impact on the "Installed" filter in the marketplace as it is considered as a "community" content.

CONTENT MANAGER

  • Addon purchased outside of the marketplace now also visible in the Content manager when online, and offline if downloaded in the community folder.
  • 3rd Party content thumbnail display improved.
  • Pause download during installation is fixed.

LOCALIZATION

  • Various typo fixes in multiple languages.

ACCESSIBILITY

  • Subtitles are now enabled by default.
  • Subtitle option has been moved from Sound menu to Accessibility so users can set it during initial install.

CAMERAS

  • Remove rotation clamp on "Instrument cameras".
  • Pilot camera position can now be saved or reset.

BUSH TRIPS

  • Fix leg completion trigger.
  • Completionist achievement should now unlock when all activities have been completed.

WORLD

  • Detected buildings that intersect roads are now excluded.
  • Longer bridges are less prone to having a gap.
  • UK city houses models should no longer appear in US suburbs.
  • "In The Wild" Achievement can now be unlocked

Source: Flight Simulator official site

Observer: System Redux will be a PS5 and Xbox Series X|S launch title

Bloober Team has confirmed that Observer: System Redux will be a launch title for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, launching on November 10th for Microsoft's consoles as well as PC, and November 12th for Sony's console. Observer: System Redux will be priced at $29.99 or €29.99. That will likely put it at around £24.99 in the UK.

Piotr Babineo, Bloober Team CEO, said:

"Making Observer: System Redux available for next-gen console players has been a huge focus for the team. Now that both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 release dates are out there, we can finally share our release date news. We know next-gen pricing is a major concern for our fans and we feel that releasing all the new content and upgrades in Observer: System Redux at the same cost as the original Observer is a great way to stay close with our community."

In our review for Observer, Tuffcub wrote:

If you don't like 'walking sims' then Observer isn't going to change your mind, even if it does include some rudimentary detective work. However, if you like to be swept away by a story and pulled in to a world where every door has a new experience behind it, then close the curtains, turn off the lights, crank up the surround sound and immerse yourself in this great cyberpunk horror tale.

You can read the full Observer review here.

Source: Press Release

No Man's Sky Origins update coming next week

Hello Games has announced the next major update for No Man's Sky and it is called Origins. Not too much is known about what Origins will bring, but the name has been chosen as it will be the start of a new phase for No Man's Sky. The image for No Man's Sky Origins shows three characters standing in different environments. There are differences in creatures and plant life across the three environments, but what this points to is not clear.

In a statement Hello Games wrote:

Four years ago we announced FOUNDATION, our first major update for No Man's Sky, we promised "It won't be our largest update, but it is the start of something". Those words were true at the time, and they ring true for Origins. We called it Origins because it is the beginning of something new, as No Man's Sky continues to grow and evolve.

Beyond came out last year, bringing VR and hugely expanded Online play, and since then we have focused on releasing more regular updates. SYNTHESIS, BYTEBEAT, LIVING SHIP, EXO MECH, CROSSPLAY, and DESOLATION have been some of our most popular, surprising and transformative updates – leading No Man's Sky to have its biggest year to date.

We know there is a huge appetite in the community for No Man's Sky content, and the team has worked our socks off this year to deliver in difficult circumstances. We have been quiet, but we are always listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.

The studio will be releasing more details and the patch notes for No Man's Sky Origins next week when the update goes live.

Source: Hello Games

What We Played Presents: What Next-Gen Console Will You Buy?

Given the week we're having, we thought we'd take a week off from asking you what you've played, and instead ask that searching question – What Will You Buy? Of course we mean what console you're going to get, not what you're off to pick up from Sainsbury's in the morning. Now that we know the prices, and the release dates for both the Xbox Series X | S and the two versions of the PS5, which have tickled your fancy? All of them? None of them? Are you going to laugh into the sleek fan recesses of your RTX 3080? Let us know!

Obviously, with pre-orders for some things already having been and gone, there's also the potential that you've valiantly failed to secure what your heart desires. Hopefully those that wanted a pre-order have managed to get one.

Predictably, I'm probably picking up an XSX and a disc-y PS5 (and the Oculus Quest 2 for good measure), but then again, I write about games, and frankly these will keep me writing about them for a good seven years or so, so that's probably a pretty good investment. I've also pre-ordered Demon Souls, as it looks incredible, and am slightly interested in Destruction All-Stars. My launch title for Xbox Series X? Well, that'll be Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Yes, I know.

Aran is getting a PS5 with disc drive and the XSX, because he can afford to do both for the first time. "I'm going all in this gen. My games will be Spider-Man Miles Morales, GoW2, Deathloop, The Falconeer, FFXVI, Halo Infinite, and so many more. I'll also jump onto Xbox Game Pass to catch up with titles I have missed so far." Hold on a sec, I don't think most of those are coming out this year!

Jason will be getting the PS5 at some point, but "if it wasn't for this job I'd be getting the Xbox Series X or just upgrading my PC. Unfortunately, I'll need a PS5 for work, where as the Xbox Series X|S, despite being amazing value, isn't essential because of my PC."

It's also a PS5 with a disc drive for Tom Lord. "The slate of exclusive games at launch and upcoming games for 2021 are exciting to me. That's it. The games. I buy the box for the games and Sony's appeal to me more. Strength and depth. Spider-Man and Sackboy are two that pique my interest for day one, and looking forward to Gran Turismo 7 at some point."

Ade won't be going for either at launch, since they cost, you know, money, though money is slightly less of a thing though if, like Tom Hughes, you go for Xbox All Access with the XSX, to buy yourself some time before looking at the PS5 next year.

Nic B will be picking up the full-fat PS5 at launch so he can play Resident Evil VIII, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and FFXVI (Again, I hope he knows they're not all at launch…). He tells us "the price of games means that, overall, in the long term, the disks will probably save me money. I'll probs grab an semi-skimmed Xbox once more games are announced; it looks like a good console, but there's just not enough for me right now to justify the spend." He'll have to watch out that Drea doesn't come round and steal it.

Steve meanwhile is carrying on with his plan to pick up a decent GPU for now as that gives him the most flexibility and doesn't need more space. "I will pick up a PS5 for the exclusives but that'll be in a while when I've built up enough trade-in from current gens. Can't trade my PS4 as it has a broken eject sensor (electrical tape home fix ftw) either. So I'll be playing WiiU and 3DS games this autumn and then trading them. Will go full fat as the just digital tax will really mount up. Series X is mostly redundant for me as I'll be PC gaming and it's another box to find space for."

Tuffcub is going for a full fat PS5, but he says "I must say for the first time ever, the Xbox looks tempting. However, I spend the few hours a week gaming time I have on Destiny 2 so I don't have time to play hundreds of other games, if i had more time an Xbox and Game Pass would be on the list."

It's also full fat PS5 time for Jim, who also said, "I will no doubt get an Xbox Series X at some point though I can't imagine that will be for another couple of years. As always, it comes down to the lineup of games, as good as Microsoft have been on the service side of things. Final Fantasy XIV, Ratchet & Clank, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and God of War: Ragnarok… like a lot of people I don't care about the box itself or the cutting edge innards, I just want the console that has the best, most diverse catalogue of next-gen titles."

Reuben is another going for the big boy PS5 because "I'm all about that" – so not paying extortionate digital game prices then? He continues "I'll be getting the Xbox Series S down the line, but that isn't a priority. In terms of games, I'll be getting Demon's Souls and Miles Morales at launch, and am looking forward to the Playstation Plus Collection to play some of those PS4 games I missed. Long term though, I will happily sell my body for Final Fantasy XVI and that is not a joke."

Gareth is going to see if he can scrape together enough for some flavour of PS5 somehow for launch, but they're not cheap, so "One day in the distant future, when we are no longer worried about viruses, cars can fly, and I've got money, I'll own both." And Nick P has managed to snag a pre-order for a full PS5, with Demon's Souls and Spider-Man Miles Morales looking "chef kiss!"

Miguel wasn't interested in new consoles yesterday – and rightly so. After the Monster Hunter Direct he said, "I'm prepared to simply buy another Nintendo Switch and play Capcmo games until the heat death of the universe. But besides that, I'm definitely leaning more toward the PS5. I already have a beefy PC that I'm also hoping to upgrade with a 3070 (aaaand a new power supply and new processor, woof) so I can play all of the big interesting Xbox first-party stuff on my PC just fine. Plus with a PS5, most of my friend group primarily plays on PS4 so thats where almost all of my multiplayer gaming happens."

And finally, Tef will be getting and disc PS5 and Xbox Series X because he kind of has to. One pre-order is in, another will come on Tuesday, but truthfully, if money, space, games, graphics power and everything else weren't an issue, he'd quite like an Xbox Series S, because it's pretty cute.

What about you? Did you get a pre-order in? Or are you waiting for the Xbox Series X | S ones to go live on the 22nd? Or just sitting out the start of the next generation? Let us know in the comments below.

Giveaway – Win a Spellbreak PS4 Founder's Pack worth £100

Having just launched on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, Spellbreak is the latest battle royale contender yet one with a magical twist.

One part Fortnite, one part Harry Potter (or Avatar: The Last Airbender, if you like) this free-to-play title will have you scrapping to survive in a world where you can cast hexes and control the elements.

We've partnered with developers Proletariat Inc to give away 10 Spellbreak Champion Packs. Priced at £99.99, this huge bundle of Spellbreak swag will help you rise through the ranks and includes the following content:

–       Keymaster Outfit
–       Bughunter Outfit
–       Mystic Outfit
–       Master Badge
–       Battlemage Badge
–       Mage Badge
–       15,000 Gold

As always, entering our competitions is simple – just complete the form below to enter in a variety of different ways, including via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. There are 10 codes up for grabs including 5 EU region codes and 5 US region codes.

We'll be running the competition for one week with entries closing at 11.59PM UK time on Friday 25th September. The giveaway is open to everyone though codes will only work in EU/US territories. Winners must respond within three working days of being contacted, and if they do not another winner will be drawn. Our usual terms and conditions apply, and decisions are final. Good luck!

Win a code for a Spellbreak Champion Pack | EU Region

Win a code for a Spellbreak Champion Pack | US Region

Nic reviewed Spellbreak at launch, scoring the game a decent 6/10. Although inventive in its approach to the genre, it can be a tad chaotic, though there's potential here for Spellbreak to morph into a top flight battle royale experience.

Is For Honor still worth playing in 2020?

Originally released back in February 2017, For Honor is easily one of the most underrated games of the current console generation and has only gotten better over time. With Year 4 Season 3 having started this week, we're here to answer the big question: is For Honor still worth playing in 2020?

In the past Ubisoft have been given some stick for their somewhat homogenised approach to AAA game design, building brilliantly vast worlds yet smearing them with the same kind of repeated in-game activities.

However, you only need to look at For Honor (as well as the mega popular Rainbow Six Siege) to see that Ubisoft is an innovative force in the multiplayer space. Both of them are standout examples of what live service games should be – early pioneers, paving the way for the entire gaming industry to follow.

As a result, multiplayer games no longer have that one or two year life cycle they did during the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 days. Balance patches, content drops, and live events have kept For Honor feeling fresh and relevant even if it doesn't have the huge playerbase of other popular games.

I'm new to For Honor

Arriving late to the party can be daunting with any multiplayer game, especially in the fighting genre. It's true that the For Honor servers harbour plenty of regular, experienced players, but you shouldn't be put off.

There's definitely a learning curve though Ubisoft have continued to make For Honor as accessible as possible, making changes to the core combat design while introducing more robust tutorials and training tools.

It's a fighting game like no other with full 3D movement, stance based combat, and game modes that wouldn't feel out of place in an online shooter. However, it shares the same DNA as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and many of the genre's mainstays.

What makes For Honor particularly inviting is the low entry price. Chances are you probably own a copy already via PlayStation Plus, Xbox Games With Gold, Uplay, or Epic. If not, you can grab the base game at a heavily reduced price.

Although this core version doesn't tout the full roster of 27 heroes, it includes a huge wealth of content that has steadily grown over time with more maps, modes, features, and gameplay improvements.

Returning to For Honor – what's changed?

There may be some of you who purchased For Honor at launch then bounced off after a few weeks or months, having gotten your fill. Over time you may have felt that itch to dive back in, but maybe there's been something stopping you. So, what's changed since you last played?

Ubisoft have rehauled their online infrastructure for a start. One major issue that turned players away from For Honor was the regular server issues and forced disconnections whenever someone left a match. Since introducing dedicated servers, matches now run flawlessly.

On the whole, combat is also much more versatile than it was back in 2017. Ubisoft have continued to rebalance its diverse cast of heroes, going one step further this year with their core combat redesign. In a nutshell, For Honor now favours more offensive, creative playstyles instead of those that are defensive and reactionary (boring, in other words).

Of course, since release there's been loads of new content added to the game. In its first year of post-launch support we saw eight heroes thrown into the mix, then in 2018 we got Marching Fire. This premium expansion added an entire new faction, the Wu Lin, with four new heroes, a solo/co-op Arcade mode, and Breach. This new match type has been very popular among the community, staging 4 v 4 siege battles spread across multiple phases.

The content pipeline has slowed since with four heroes in 2019 and two planned for 2020. While it's clear that Ubisoft aren't dedicating as many resources to For Honor as it did a few years ago, the game is still constantly being updated and expanded with a vibrant player community.

We find ourselves dipping in for some melee action every couple of months, checking out the new battle pass season, and maining a different hero. It's one of those games we refuse to uninstall, and hopefully we'll see For Honor make that next-gen jump to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X as well.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain refines and continues the series' descent into horror

Remothered: Tormented Fathers was one of my favourite new horror titles of the past few years, combining some well considered stealth with an unusual and compelling narrative. While it showed its relatively low budget in terms of presentation, there was a lot to love about it. So I've been looking forward to the next title in the series with great anticipation – especially as it has seen a number of delays. Now scheduled for an October 20th release, I have had the chance to play a preview build and am happy to say that, for the most part, Broken Porcelain is just the sequel that I was hoping for.

The storyline for the first game was convoluted and labyrinthine, so my tired old brain was pleased by the summary of events at the beginning of the demo. This was static text here, but promises to be fully rendered as a video ready for the full release. Either way, it's great to see that Stormind appreciates that their audience may well have not played the first title – or have forgotten the details over the three years. The summary reminded me how much the game owed to the likes of Psycho and how challenging its portrayal of a troubled mind was. I'm not in a position to fully comment on the way it incorporated a complex representation of traumatic gender dysphoria (as opposed to trans identity) but it is worth highlighting that this is an aspect of the original's story.

The preview content saw us playing as a young girl, Jennifer, who turns out to have a key link to the events of the previous game. Taking place in 1973, Jennifer is a young runaway living in a shelter for troubled girls. A rapid series of events transforms her life as she needs to escape from The Ashmann Inn using stealth and puzzle solving in traditional survival horror fashion.

The historical setting and grimy aesthetic fits with the Giallo-esque feel of the original – a comparison cemented by the fact that the titles are set and developed in Italy. Beneath that grime, you can still see an increased level of polish and refinement over its predecessor, and the final build promises even greater things.

Stealth is the name of the game here, and you will spend the majority of your time sneaking around, hiding from sinister foes and solving a range of puzzles. Some of these are basic key fetch-quests, whilst others become more elaborate. The majority of the preview build focuses on the sneaking, however, and this mostly works well. I did find that the controls (playing on keyboard and mouse) were a little clunky, and there were strange moments where Jennifer wouldn't move through gaps that she was visually able to. There were also a few issues with interacting with objects as the cursor wouldn't always align with items that were highlighted, which didn't help with rummaging through the many cupboards and drawers in search of items. In fact the preview build featured an almost overwhelming number of crafting ingredients and weapons. I lost count of the number of knives, screwdrivers, or sharp trowels I was somehow carrying in my pockets. It remains to be seen how this pointy bounty squares with the usual survival horror focus on scarce resources.

There was one main enemy featured in the preview, and they featured the same grotesque appearance and persistence of those in Tormented Fathers (although the lack of saggy old man butt was welcome here). The musical and audio cues for being discovered were particularly effective and there was a genuine sense of dread and unease.

As a taster for the full game, this preview worked really well. It is clear that Stormind Games have listened to fans and critics in refining the central mechanics, and the initial hints at the storyline certainly have me intrigued. I hope that the object interaction and QTEs are tightened up in the full release, but am looking forward to spending some dark autumn evenings exploring the horrors of The Ashmann Inn and whatever other locations the game includes. Look out for our full review just in time for Halloween.

UK retailer Argos is having problems with PS5 preorders, Very and John Lewis cancelling preorders

Hundreds of people on Twitter are reporting that they have managed to purchase as console from UK retailer Argos but have not received the confirmation email for the order. Many others are saying the money has gone out of their bank account but is in a status of 'pending'.

A screenshot from an online chat with Argos suggests that if the purchasers have not received the email within two hours then they will not get a console.

Those whose consoles have been cancelled are very annoyed that they can't get the money back straight away.

The Argos website also seems to be struggling and crashing half way through orders

There are also reports of Very cancelling preorders. Here is the message that was posted on HotUKDeals from Very.

Hi thank you for your recent order on 17/09/20 for PlayStation 5 console / accessories. Unfortunately, due to extremely high demand and limited availability, your order has been cancelled. We apologise for any disappointment caused. More stock will be made available on the site as it is allocated, so please come back and check. Please be aware, any stock will be VERY LIMITED and will only be available for a short time. Thanks

This message was also reported on Twitter.

It seems that John Lewis are also cancelling preorders, this screenshot was posted on HotUKDeals

It seems that the retailers were not aware that there would be huge demand for the console and many have sold far to many in advance. We are trying to keep on top of where you can buy a console, for more information on that click here.

At present two retailers still seem to have not opened pre-orders.

  • CoolShop – Has a page for the PS5 and lists some accessories and games for pre-order, but no consoles.
  • Carphonewarehouse – Register your interest, nothing on sale.

Source: HUKD / HUKD / Twitter / Twitter / Twitter / Twitter