Pages

▼

Star Wars Squadrons is getting free Madalorian Season 2 cosmetic DLC

Back in August Ian Frazier, Creative Director on Star Wars: Squadrons, said the following.

Never say never, so to speak, but as far as our philosophy goes we're not trying to treat the game as a live service. We don't want to say, 'It's almost done!' and then dribble out more of it over time, which to be honest is how most games work these days. So we've tried to treat it in kind of an old-school approach saying, 'You've paid the $40, this is the game and it's entirely self-contained. We're not planning to add more content, this is the game, and we hope you understand the value proposition.

Well never seems to have come around rather quickly as the game is getting some free DLC to tie in with the launch of The Mandalorian Season 2.

"We've worked with Lucasfilm to bring a few Mando-themed goodies to Star Wars: Squadrons. The Mandalorian is something that has often been a source of inspiration for us due to its close proximity to our game's timeline, so it only felt natural to pay homage to it," said EA, "But of course, we know there's a particular new cosmetic most of you are hoping for…"

"Paying homage to the iconic character, we've made sure to create this wonderful new dashboard decoration based on a "Mysterious Creature." This figure can adorn any dashboard across the New Republic's starfighters, meaning the fan-favorite Tuggtar bobblehead now has a rival! Both factions will receive one hologram, one decal, one dashboard flair, and one hanging flair, meaning eight new cosmetics in total for you to unlock."

The new cosmetics will be available on October 28th when a new patch for the game will be available.

This is the second piece of The Mandalorian Season 2 in less than 24 hours, yesterday a Mandalorian Xbox Controller & Xbox Pro Charging Stand Set was revealed.

Source: EA

WRC 9 free 'Blind Jumps' update adds more special stages, photo mode and more

Nacon and KT Racing have revealed the content of the first free update for WRC 9. The update is out today, bringing with it more special stages, a new driver and the promise Photo Mode for the game.

The six new special stages have been added to the Neste Rally Finland rally, the fastest rally of the season and particularly challenging for the number of blind jumps that they feature. Be sure to listen to your co-driver!

Alongside that, you can tackle it with the new driver in the game, New Zealand's Hayden Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, who race in the Hyundai i20 WRC.

Lastly, there's the new photo mode, which does exactly what you'd expect it would in this day and age.

A second free update will come soon, bringing with it the co-op Co-driver Mode. More details on that will be shared soon, as will the details of the timing surrounding the free upgrades to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, not to mention the Nintendo Switch release.

For now, WRC is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC via the Epic Games Store.

We rather enjoyed the game at its release in September. Tom said in our WRC 9 review:

With driving that is now on par with the competition, WRC 9 will keep sucking rally fans back in for more. Elements around the core rallying action could still do with some added finesse, but when the basic premise is so solid, those issues fade into the background. At last, Kylotonn has delivered on the promise of authentic driving experience, and for a rallying game, I think that is the single most important element.

It's going to be interesting to see how the jump from current to next-gen can further the game. At the very least, we can look forward to another set of additional stages for Rally Portugal.

Source: press release

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty Nintendo Switch Review

Despite its title, there's nothing new about Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty anymore. This 2020 Switch release is a port of the 2014 ground-up remake of the 1997 classic, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Even though it's now half a decade old, this Nintendo Switch flavour is certainly tasty. It may not have had the same level of polish as our latest 1997 remake, Final Fantasy VII, but the loving attention to detail in this game continues to shine through.

 

I remember playing Abe's Oddysee as a kid. My little brother picked up a cheap copy at a petrol station during one of our family trips to France and, along with my cheap French copy of Soul Reaver and my big brother's copy of Tomb Raider — all of which in French — provided hours of entertainment. Certainly the best 50 Francs we each ever spent.

Now, a couple of decades later, I've grown up and the original game has certainly aged in that time as well. I'm pleased to say that this facelift has helped the game's legacy age well. Built from the ground up, in much the same way as Crash Bandicoot and Spyro were more recently, New 'n' Tasty is a faithful recreation of the original, modernised for current graphics and control systems.

For those of you who missed the game the first few times around, Abe's Oddysee told the story of the mudokon Abe, a slave working at RuptureFarms meat processing factory — a dark, foreboding citadel taking in the planet's various creatures and pumping out death and smog. Our model "employee", as he defines himself, accidently overhears a board meeting detailing how his owners are going to lift profits after their latest product line has gone extinct: Mudokon Pops. Rather than profits being made of the backs of his brethren, they will be made from them.

Abe escapes and sets about on a mission to rescue as many of his kin as Mukokonly possible. What ensues is a platformy romp through more death pits and mine fields than you would think practically reasonable. Since Abe is, shall we say, less than gifted offensively, rescuing each and every one of your species from the grips of RuptureFarms becomes a challenging trawl through the world's secret areas, using your brains to not only solve puzzles but mind-control your gun-toting captors and psychically open portals to help your friends escape.

Dark though this all seems — and the subject matter is about as dark as it gets — the juxtaposition of this fumbling idiot, with his endearing "hello" and "follow me" is the perfect salve, making this game the instant classic that we all know and love. Abe's charm is such that, even today, when I greet my friends en français, the intonation of my "salut" matches that which my little brother somehow dug out of a bargain bin.

This all said, the fact that this game is a port of a remaster of a great game does not make it great in itself. So, the question is how well does this Switch port hold up?

I'm genuinely pleased to say that it holds up admirably well on Switch. Games about injustice will never go out of fashion. Slavery and genocide are as much an issue as ever before, and you could argue that it is more in the public eye than it was when the game was first released. The comic overlay of Abe chuckling at his own farts — an actual in-game mechanic — doesn't detract from that. Instead, you have someone fighting injustice while still being able to find light in the life around him. That, I must admit, is an admirable quality in anyone.

The typical question of graphical compromises hangs over all Switch ports, but there have honestly been far more challenging ports of this game to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. New 'n' Tasty on the Switch is great to look at and holds up well compared to the full fat PS4 version. Given what games looked like in 1997, any Switch port is going to look infinitely better and whether you're playing handheld or on the big screen.

The only real issue the game has is with the sticky controls. The advent of the analogue stick wasn't kind to the 2014 remake original port and this issue has not only persisted in the Switch version, but it's made worse by the Switch's notoriously drifty sticks.

Platformers invariably demand precise controls, but Abe often has other plans, and these generally involve Abe refusing to stand up (left stick) or let go of a hot grenade (right stick). Fortunately, the quicksave function makes life a lot easier here, as you're going to accidentally die quite a lot. That's only compounded if you have stick drift, and while that's obviously not the game's fault, I can't help but think that mapping movement to the D-pad would have been a much better idea.

The Mandalorian Xbox controller is very expensive and it doesn't have a share button

Microsoft's cottage industry of limited edition Xbox controller has been going strong for the last few years, and their latest effort is one of the coolest and most likely to get fans throwing money at the screen, but there's a catch. Actually, there might be a few catches for Star Wars and Xbox fans to consider while they're reaching for their wallets.

The Mandalorian Xbox Controller & Xbox Pro Charging Stand Set is a neat looking tie in to the continuing adventures of The Madalorian TV show that took the world by storm with floods of Baby Yoda memes at the end of 2019. While the show's second season will debut on 30th October, the controller will be released on 31st December.

The release date could be one catch, but the price could be another. This set will put you back an eye-watering £169.99. Sure, it's a limited edition design, but a regular Xbox controller is priced at £54.99 and the charging stand with a battery is £39.99. That's £75 for a fancy chrome paint job on a game pad.

Oh, and here's the other catch: it's not the new Xbox Series X|S pad, but the outgoing second generation Xbox One controller. While Microsoft have decided to let all Xbox One pads be forward compatible with Xbox Series X|S and next-gen games, the new pad has been subtly tweaked to better accommodate smaller hands, it's got newly textured triggers, USB-C for cabled play and charging, and a Share button in the middle to make capturing screenshots and videos less awkward. You get none of that here.

So, the Mandalorian Xbox controller is coming months after the start of The Mandalorian Season 2, it's crazy expensive, and it's the old design? I don't know about you, but I'd have other priorities when it comes to exceedingly expensive accessories at the start of the next generation.

Source: Microsoft

PS5 exclusive Destruction AllStars will now come to PlayStation Plus this February, pre-orders will be refunded

Well this is odd, Sony have decided PlayStation 5 launch game Destruction AllStars will no longer be available this November and will now be released in February. Games regularly miss their release dates, that is nothing new, however Destruction AllStars is to be removed from sale completely and will now be given away as part as the February 2021 PlayStation Plus line up .

Here's more from Pete Smith from Sony.

Hi everyone – we wanted to share a quick update on our plans for Destruction AllStars. We've decided to move the game's release from November 2020 to February 2021, where it will be included for two months in PlayStation Plus at no additional cost.

Destruction AllStars is a multiplayer game that's at its best when you're competing with gamers online from all around the world. We want as many people as possible to experience the mayhem on PS5, and what better way to do that than to provide the game to our PlayStation Plus members?

Next week, we'll return with a brand-new trailer and more details on the game, so you'll know exactly what to expect when you download it in February.

This may be disappointing news for some of you who were looking to play the game at launch, but we hope you understand the decision. For those of you that have already pre-ordered the game, be it via PlayStation Store, PlayStation.com, or at retail, your purchase will be refunded.

Thank you for your continued support, we look forward to seeing you in the arena in February!

This explains why we have seen so little of the game, it was less than a month away from launch and all that has been released to the public is a trailer. The game is being developed by Liverpool-based Lucid Games and leaves the PlayStation 5 launch window looking very sparse.

Source: PS Blog

Watch Dogs Legion PlayStation trophy list confirmed

With Watch Dogs Legion launching on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Google Stadia in just a few days, we've gotten our hands on the full PS4 trophy list.

There are a total of 40 PlayStation trophies up for grabs including the platinum. Of course, if you want to avoid any story and content spoilers then it's probably best to gloss over the list and wait for these trophies to pop naturally.

For those who have bagged the platinum for both Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2, you should already have a good idea how this achievement list shakes out. Ubisoft have a cluster of story-related trophies here as well as your usual completionist/grindy trophies along with some cool extras that should take you off the beaten path.

Trophy Name Description Rarity
Completionist Get all other Trophies Platinum
Brave New World Complete "Operation Westminster" Bronze
The Future Is Bright Complete the 404 Storyline Bronze
Long Live The Queen Complete the Kelley Storyline Bronze
Hacker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Complete the SIRS Storyline Bronze
When Good Men Do Nothing Complete the Albion Storyline Bronze
Divided We Fall Complete the DedSec Storyline Gold
The One That Got Away Complete "Finding Bagley" Bronze
In The Nick of Time Complete "Change of Heart" Bronze
A Roof Over Your Head Complete "Royal Treatment" Bronze
England For Everyone Complete "Parks and Reclamation" Bronze
A Dish Best Served Cold Complete a Revenge Mission Bronze
Making Friends Recruit an Operative after completing "Reporting For Duty" Bronze
Rise Up Turn one borough into Defiant state Silver
Take Back London Turn all the boroughs into Defiant state Gold
Hidden Trophy Continue playing to unlock this trophy. Bronze
Every Walk of Life Have a team of 20 Operatives with different occupations Silver
Meta-Gaming Recruit a Video Game Designer Bronze
Down To The Wire Perform 5 stealth takedowns with a Professional Hitman Silver
Death From Above Kill 5 Albion guards using Dive Bomb Silver
NO NOT THE BEES Neutralize 10 Albion guards using Bee Swarms Silver
Hack The Planet Propagate a hack across 8 targets at once Silver
Shaken Not Stirred Disable weapons of 5 Albion guards at once using the Spy Watch Gadget Silver
Power To The People Have your followers neutralize a total of 3 Albion guards Silver
Paint Me Like One of Your… Stun Clan Kelley members 5 times with paintball gun headshots Silver
Throw The Book At Them Perform 5 arrest takedowns Silver
The Royal Tour Enter Buckingham Palace's restricted area disguised as a Royal Guard Silver
You Don't See Me! Escape a Pursuit Level 5 doing a Statue Emote Silver
Could've Made National Complete Kick up challenge intermediate 1 Bronze
Bullseye Complete a Darts game in every Darts location Bronze
Piece de Resistance Complete a Paste Up in every Paste Up location Bronze
Bottom's Up Drink at least once in every Drink location Bronze
DedSec Delivery Complete 20 Parcel Fox Delivery Missions Bronze
All About Aesthetic Buy a Weapon Skin Silver
Re-Wrap My Whip Buy a Vehicle Paint Silver
Fresh Threads Spend 100 000 ETO on Clothes in shops Silver
Fully Kitted Unlock all Upgrades Silver
Locked And Loaded Purchase all the upgrades for every weapon Silver
Oral History Collect 50 Audio Logs Silver
Magpie Collect 15 Relics Silver

Watch Dogs Legion is the third game in the Watch Dogs franchise and will launch this Thursday on October 29th. Those who purchase a copy of Watch Dogs Legion will be entitled to a next-gen upgrade for free whether transitioning from PS4 to PS5 or Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S.

Following Legion, Ubisoft's next – and last – major release for 2020 is Immortal Fenyx Rising. Originally titled Gods & Monsters, we've spent some hands on time with the mythological adventure.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends – Assassin Class Guide & Techniques

Of the four classes Ghost of Tsushima: Legends has to offer at launch, it's easy to see why many players are drawn to the Assassin.

In stark contrast to the noble art of swordplay, you'll look to deceive your enemies at every given opportunity, embodying what it truly means to be a Ghost.

Aside from having some of the coolest headgear Ghost of Tsushima: Legends has to offer, the Assassins are the most lethal class in terms of raw damage output and, like the Samurai and Hunter, has a flashy ultimate power that can slice through small patrols like they were hot butter.

Assassin Overview

It goes without saying that Assassin players should be trying to land as many assassinations or critical strikes as possible. To initiate one of these moves you need to remain unseen by the target, a square button prompt appearing when assassinations are available.

The difficulty here is that once you've been spotted, your character will default back to sword attacks. It's not such a problem when playing the story driven two player missions in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, though survival runs are a different story.

To play the Assassin well you need to regain the element of surprise, even when locked in combat with them. Disengaging, then coming back is certainly an option though this puts pressure on your allies and gives the Oni freedom to capture control points. Instead, you'll need to rely on staggering them.

This is done by depleting the white bar above an enemy's health, leaving them exposed to sneaky back attacks. There are plenty of ways to do this including heavy katana attacks (Water stance blades work best), using various Ghost Weapons such as sticky bombs, and the Assassin's class ability, Toxic Vanish.

You'll learn to read the staggered animations for each enemy type, knowing when they're prone to being assassinated. For tougher targets – including elite Oni – you won't be able to one-shot them, instead performing a critical strike though this can dole out some hefty damage. Being able to identify and react to staggered enemies is key as you can chain together multiple strikes as long as your timing is spot on. Ranking up and assigning certain perks can make you an even more proficient silent killer – we'll talk about these below.

Assassin Techniques

Name Type Rank Required Description
Shadow Strike Ultimate 0 Enter the shadows and strike enemies from a distance
Toxic Vanish Class Ability 1 Vanish in a cloud of poison smoke that deals Stagger damage to nearby enemies
Critical Hit Perk | Slot 1 2 Inflict 30% more damage during assassinations
Experienced Assassin Perk | Slot 2 3 Stealth attacks are faster and quieter
Shadow Storm Perk | Slot 3 5 Shadow Strike gains 2 extra strikes
Super Strike Perk | Slot 1 7 Perform a stronger Stealth Attack dealing 2x normal damage
Light Step Perk | Slot 2 9 Damage of status effects increased by 25%
Explosive Arrow Class Ability 10 You are silent when running
Chain Vanish Perk | Slot 3 11
Successfully assassinating an enemy while vanished re-activates vanish and refreshes the duration
Assassin Unleashed Perk | Slot 1 14 Decrease class ability cooldown by 15%
Opportunist Perk | Slot 2 16 Deals 50% bonus assassination damage to Staggered enemies
Legendary Perk |Slot 3 18 Increases the number of Legendary items you can equip by 1

Group vanish is a handy class ability to have, acting as a free get out of jail card when trapped in a desperate moment. However, Toxic Vanish is one of the best tools in your arsenal due to its combined health and stagger damage.

Super Strike should be your first perk choice. In doing so, you'll now have a triangle button prompt when approaching an enemy from behind, doubling your damage. This can be combined with Opportunist (perk slot two) for an additional 50% damage from these attacks, making you a huge threat to those tougher Oni and Mongol fighters.

Unless you have a pair of Legendary Items you are dead set on equipping, you should be taking Chain Vanish as perk 3. As we've discussed before, your main job is to stagger enemies then follow up immediately with assassinations so having the power to pop your Toxic Vanish twice in rapid succession is a must-have, really.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends Guides & more from TheSixthAxis

Ghostrunner Review

Neon-lit lights smothered in anti-establishment graffiti flash past as you effortlessly take down five enemies before they ever knew you were there. Where most games would have such a moment play out during an action-packed cutscene, Ghostrunner gives you the tools to pull off movie quality moments of action in the run of play. It's honestly astounding.

You are Ghostrunner, a purpose-built killing machine and the last line of defence against a bloodthirsty tyrant. You and 100 of your kind are exterminated in the opening chapters of the game, but somehow you survived. Starting off at the bottom of a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk city overrun with electronically enhanced goons and robots, it's your job to climb you up out of the depths and ascend to confront the evil dictator.

Ghostrunner is really something special. The way in which it presents its combat system is incredibly freeing. Every encounter hinges on the fact that a single hit leads to death, demanding total accuracy at all times. Fortunately, movement and combat are both incredibly fluid. As the Ghostrunner, you can deliver devastating blows with your samurai sword, dodge around enemies while in bullet time, and even deflect bullets and projectiles back at them.

That's without taking into account the Mirror's Edge style first person movement which enables you to run along walls, wall jump and eventually use electronic rope to attach to anchor points around the world. The movement system is incredibly smooth, both in combat and during the challenging platform sections scattered across the city.

As you grow more confident with the game, I found myself relying less on bullet time and instead using acrobatic abilities to their full effect. In one instance, I took down a group of enemies while wall-running and deflecting their bullets back at them.

There are also occasional puzzle sections which relate to upgrades and pickups. These puzzle sections typically teach you how to use a new ability or progress the narrative, but they never take you away from the action for too long. Fortunately, the puzzles are never too difficult and usually just take a little tinkering before you solve them. Upgrades unlocked later in the game make your Ghostrunner even more formidable, improving on your arsenal and adding to it. At one point you unlock a force push ability which can deflect projectiles back at enemies, making you feel like Neo from the Matrix.

Those aforementioned platforming sections really are very fun. The freedom of movement mixed with the elevated sections of wall runs and grapple points almost feel like they should be in a cutscene, but they aren't. There are occasional issues with physics where Ghostrunner would suddenly jolt from a wall through no fault of my own. Fortunately, this rarely happened and never frequently enough to cause frustration. For those looking for an extra challenge while traversing the city, there are numerous secrets to be found in hard to reach places rewarding players with collectibles, additional lore and skins for Ghostrunner's sword.

The only real problem I have with Ghostrunner in its current form is a major lack of accessibility options. Many puzzles throughout the game require colours to solve, but there aren't any colour-blind options available. This could be especially frustrating during puzzles which include the colour yellow. I'd have also liked to see more accessibility options around the platforming and combat. Something akin to Celeste's customisable physics would have made Ghostrunner a lot more accessible to a wider variety of ability levels.

I think it's also worth noting that this is a game that really feels like it's been built for mouse and keyboard, even though it's coming out across PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch at the same time. I've tried using my Xbox One gamepad a few times and just found it a lot more difficult to do what I wanted. I'm not sure if tweaking the sensitivity could have fixed the issue, but at the moment mouse and keyboard feels like the only way to get the most out of Ghostrunner's fluid combat and traversal system.

Ghostrunner is a visual treat that runs fantastically on my PC. Playing on an RTX 2060 with DLSS (Nvidia's impressive upscaling software) I ran the game at max settings at a solid 120 FPS and upwards. If you're looking for what next gen might look like on PC, it is undoubtedly something like Ghostrunner. An excellent original soundtrack by Daniel Deluxe accompanies all the action, making the futuristic city feel even more cyberpunk than it already does.

Family Review

Family is a game that celebrates indie music in the 80's and 90s. Players are tasked with piecing together the details of the music scene by listening to as many songs and radio interviews, and by piecing together several pieces of text. Playable through web browser (via itch.io), Family is a short, but sweet experience that offers something a little different.

Music takes the centre stage in Family and for good reason. Although the game is undoubtedly a celebration of indie music from before the turn of the millennia, all of the songs are original creations by developer Tim Sheinman and have been inspired by the sounds of the scene. Each song is also accompanied by gorgeous cover art that really brings them to life. There's a tangible feel to the music in this game, something that is further enhanced by the variety of the songs. What makes this all so impressive is that Family has been created by just one person.

While listening to each of the songs, it's your task to piece together each band and figure out who is who. A sort of family tree like chart sits at the bottom of the screen, showing how each of the bands are connected. Should you figure out who the guitarist is in one band, you might pick up a clue that they moved somewhere else. Family is filled with these subtle hints and figuring them out on your own like an investigator or journalist is absolutely sublime.

As someone who has been in and out of the same band numerous times over the past few years, I can attest to just how unpredictable band life can be. Family captures that atmosphere perfectly, telling the story of how impassioned the act of being in a band is and how it is, just as the title of the game suggests, like a family. The finer intricacies of how each band started, grew, developed and eventually split up are exceptionally well written, so much so that it would be easy to believe that every band featured in Family is real.

It isn't all arguments and break ups, though. Family is a celebration of a very real scene of indie music in the late 80s and early 90s. Many of the bands of the time faded into obscurity after tasting short lived success with a few singles, but the love for that scene and those bands lives on to this day. For the past two years I've attended the At The Edge of the Sea festival hosted by one of the best indie bands of that time period, The Wedding Present. For two days in the middle of August, the scene that Family so compellingly recreates shows that it's alive and well, as other bands of the era reform in front of a crowd of forty somethings all looking to relive their teenage years.

What I'm trying to day is, Family is a heartfelt celebration of an imaginary indie music scene which is inspired by a real one. This is what makes Family so fascinating, endearing and believable. What could have been a very simple browser-based puzzle game is instead a piece of fiction which captures your passion for music and reminds you of a time before digital downloads or Spotify, a time when bands grafted and built passionate, dedicated fans within a small community.

Patches cut load times for The Last of Us Remastered, Until Dawn and more… on PlayStation 4

Sony's first party studios seem to be laying the foundations for support on the next generation PlayStation 5 with patches to a number of PlayStation 4 exclusives that, by happy coincidence, dramatically improve the loading times on PlayStation 4 as well.

One of the most notable examples of this comes from The Last of Us Remastered, where the initial loading time has dropped from 90 seconds to just a shade under 14 seconds on PS4. You can see this in action here:

Similar patches have been reported for God of War and God of War 3 Remastered, and for Supermassive's spooky adventure Until Dawn.

The speculation is that these games are being updated to be able to take advantage of the Boost Mode on PlayStation 5, detecting the more powerful hardware and enabling new performance profiles for resolution and frame rate. It's already been confirmed that Ghost of Tsushima will run at 60fps on PS5 thanks to Boost Mode, but it's something that is being selectively applied. Games that do not recognise the PS5 hardware will only be able to use the additional power to boost up to the programmed maximum resolution and frame rates available for PS4 Pro.

So how has this affected the PS4 load times? Well, it's likely that as developers are revisiting the games to add PS5 support, they're also able to implement the newer loading techniques that they've learnt through the PlayStation 4 generation – Ghost of Tsushima is noted for its short loading times already – and potentially also some newer compression techniques available to the PS5.

In general, the PS5 is almost universally compatible with PS4 games, with just a handful of games noted for not working on the newer console through backward compatibility.

There's been a lot coming out of Sony's camp around the PlayStation 5 UI reveal, which showcased the speed of the system, the Control Centre overlay that provides access to pretty much all system features while in game, the new PlayStation Activites and card-based interface, and more. A part of the change is that the PlayStation Store will be baked into the main system software and not be a separate app.

There have also been other foundational changes made over the last few weeks. The PlayStaiton 4 was updated to system software 8.00 making fundamental changes to how parties and messages work to tie into the new philosophy behind social interactions on PS5 – much to the chagrin of some users – and the standalone PS Messages mobile app is being discontinued as the feature will be integrated back into a new PlayStation App on smartphone.

The PS5 officially launches next month, arriving in the US and other select territories on November 12th, then everywhere else (including the UK) on November 19th.

Source: YouTube, Twitter via VGC

Removing your Facebook account will also wipe your Oculus games and credit

Facebook recently tied the social media platform to their VR platform, Oculus, requiring you to have a Facebook account to access the Oculus store. As the two companies are linked if you delete your Facebook account then you will also lose access to your Oculus Store games and credit.

While this may seem odd you have to remember than Facebook and Oculus are the same company, if you delete your PlayStation account then you lose access to all your games and credit as well. If you have an older Oculus device and have not linked your account to Facebook then you will not be affected but original Oculus accounts will be not be supported by 2023 so you will have to move to Facebook before then.

Over the weekend there were reports that Facebook was banning Oculus users who add more than one VR headset to their account. This stemmed from a comment from an Oculus Support Representative but has been corrected by the Oculus Support Twitter account.

In an effort to quickly respond to customer questions, we provided incorrect information about multiple device ownership, so we wanted to clarify a few points: Using the same Facebook account on two or more Oculus headsets simultaneously will NOT get your account "banned." Having the same account registered to two or more headsets is not against the Facebook Terms of Service.

Oculus recent released the Oculus Quest 2 with prices starting at $299 / £299 for the 64GB model, $100 / £100 cheaper than the original Quest. An upgrade to a 256GB model will cost $399 / £399, while there's also a Quest 2 Elite Strap available for $49 / £49, and the strap with battery pack and carrying case for $119 / £119, both of which can enhance its comfort and portability. You might want that battery, since the headset is still only rated for 2-3 hours of play time…

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

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

Source: Twitter / UploadVR

9 Monkeys of Shaolin Review

This year has seen a remarkable resurgence for the ancient and storied genre of the scrolling beat 'em up. As a lifelong fan of the genre – my first love was Captain Commando and his loveable band of misfit heroes – this is very good news indeed. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is the latest from Sobaka Studios, the team responsible for bringing the violent adventures of the viscera loving and very vicious warrior monk known as Vasily kicking and screaming to life in their 2017 game 'Redeemer'. When I reviewed that game I was left impressed by the cathartic carnage on offer, so I was understandably excited to see what Sobaka could do with the walking duff 'em up formula.

One thing is clear about Sobaka Studios from their recent output; this is a team that really love warrior monks. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is veritably filled to the brim with monks. There's more monks than you can shake a staff at. You take control of one particular monk, Wei Cheng (unless playing in co-op, where the other player takes on the role of bonus monk Daoshan). After witnessing his entire village massacred by some evil pirates, Wei Cheng becomes a monk in an effort to track down the villainous scurvy swine and attain vengeance for his recently departed pals.

And that's pretty much all the excuse you need to roam over twenty-five different levels; biffing, bopping and brawling with a veritable horde of baddies in your way. There is a story, one that is delivered primarily by talking heads that spout nonstop exposition from the beginning of a cut scene to the end. It's a rather dry yarn and one that, thankfully, can be entirely ignored in favour of getting stuck straight into the fisticuffs.

And what fisticuffs they are! Sobaka Studios certainly knows how to craft combat that feels hefty, impactful and carries a sense of real weight and momentum. Attacks are built around basic combos and charged moves, a successful flurry sending foes spiralling through the air to crunch through a pile of detritus in an extremely satisfying manner.

Unlike a traditional 2D brawler that sees enemies attack only on a horizontal plane, 9 Monkeys instead offers 3D movement within its stages. This adds a neat additional challenge when it comes to managing space and channelling enemies towards your furious fists and fearsome feet. It's an aspect of the game that is fully explored with the magic seals, a series of abilities that can suck enemies toward you or send them bouncing into the sky, ready to receive a devastating air combo. This is a game all about forcing your foes into the right position to open them up to a dizzying array of attacks.

This is not your standard scrolling brawler where the most you can expect is a couple of combo strings and an occasional special move. Instead, the developers have wedged so many attacks into the controller set-up that it's almost creaking under the pressure. There were moments when my fingers and thumbs were regularly entwined in poses that just shouldn't be possible as I tried to memorise the different attacks and powers that are regularly unlocked. But, once it clicked, I couldn't help but be impressed. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin offers some of the most deep and delightful combat systems I've ever seen in a game of its genre.

It's unfortunate then, that some absolutely daft design decisions have been made that serve to undermine this good work. First off, the visuals. Now, there's nothing initially wrong with the big, bold and chunky character aesthetic. What does become a problem is the insistence that levels take place so often at night or in dark caves where everything and everyone is obscured in shadow. Trying to tell which monk shaped silhouette is you, which is your co-op partner, and which is an enemy becomes impossible, resulting in that excellent combat turning into random button mashing and a hope for the best. Even in daylight there's an issue, the character models often blending into one. Frequently my partner and I lost track of our avatars entirely, two bald men armed with staffs and wearing robes in slightly different shades of blue are easy to mix-up it turns out. Quite why the player characters aren't highlighted in some way to distinguish them is beyond me.

Then there's the issue of the cursed green tea. Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoy a slurp of a tasty tea pig as much as the next person – so the tea itself isn't really the problem. In fact, collecting tea is entirely necessary as it helps boost your health meter or charge your Qi. The problem is that the icon that displays the tea you've collected sits in the bottom left – and bottom right in co-op – corner of the screen. I can't tell you the amount of times my monk ended up obscured by that stupid tea meter, resulting in, yet again, more uninformed button mashing.

I was also left flustered by the maddeningly inverted difficulty curve. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin starts out as a steep challenge. This is exacerbated by some torrid difficulty spikes that come out of nowhere, the second boss in particular is an absolute horror. Then, all of a sudden, as you level-up your character traits and unlock new abilities, the game becomes an absolute cake walk. The latter stages, rather than providing a culmination that matches the players heightened skills, are instead breezed through with barely an effort. Green tea drops, which in early stages are extremely limited, are soon found brewing everywhere. It's like having a fight in a trendy café; only missing a millennial with a man bun and ironic facial hair, sat at his laptop pretending to write important things.

Level design can be imbecilic. One particular stage requires a player to have to navigate a flight of stairs, despite the flight of stairs being obscured by a wall and the next flight of stairs. Resulting in much unintentional hilarity as two deadly warrior monks are unable to clamber up some stairs, repeatedly appearing on the same floor they started on. Those monks make the Daleks look like stair climbing aficionados in comparison. Then there's the issue that the game refuses to lock the borders of its screen whilst you see off the baddies. The amount of time my partner and I got stuck off screen after landing a combo was ridiculous.

And yet, despite all these flaws, I mostly, kind of, enjoyed my time with 9 Monkeys of Shaolin. Its hub area, in which you can level-up and launch into a stage, provides a welcome change to the standard scrolling brawler formula, local co-op is – as always – a joyful and welcome addition to any game, and the combat is brilliant when you can actually see what's going on. You've just got to ignore an awful lot of problems in pursuit of the good stuff.

DIRT 5 multiplayer party modes revealed

Codemasters have revealed a bunch of details about the DIRT 5 multiplayer features and modes, including a suite of party modes that should appeal to longterm fans of the series.

The core multiplayer is based around 12-player online events, and with full cross-generational support for PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5 and for Xbox One to Xbox Series X|S. There's straight up racing through all the circuits and the game's 10 locations, but as in previous Dirt games, you can break this up with some party modes, with the game featuring a few unique, purpose-built arenas for each mode.

The three objective-based events are Vampire, King and Transporter.

Vampire is just a little bit like Outbreak from Dirt 3. One play from the lobby is designated as the Vampire at the start of a round and must hunt down and make contact with other cars to turn them into Vampires as well. It's a classic game of keep-away.

King is a little like Vampire, but in reverse. Your aim is to hunt down and bump into the King in order to steal the crown, and then to run away and avoid the other players. You'll earn point for holding onto the crown, but the King also leaves a trail of coins behind for other players to snap up. Two crowns will spawn in the arena and will automatically reset if a player manages to hold onto it for a set amount of time.

Finally, Transporter is about capturing an object and then taking it to a designated place to score points, while avoiding all the other players who are trying to do the same thing. The twist? Holding onto an object for longer will score you more points, so will you risk going for a big score, or a quick and easy dunk?

It all sounds like nice and zany stuff, and comes alongside an expansive career and the user-generated content of the Playgrounds mode. Codemasters Cheshire are pulling out all the stops when filling the game with content.

Dirt 5 is out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on 6th November, with free upgrades within a console family to Xbox Series X|S on 10th November, and to PlayStation 5 on 12th or 19th November. Both next-gen consoles feature native 4K and performance modes that deliver up to 120fps gameplay, but it was recently confirmed that save data would not transfer between PS4 and PS5, but that data will transfer between Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Source: PS Blog

G.I. Joe Operation Blackout Review

There's a resurgence of games based on 80's toys going on at the moment. In the past few weeks we've had Zoids, Transformers, and now GI Joe has joined the party in Operation Blackout. The game finds Cobra attacking the Joe's across the globe, leaving the world under the jack boot of Cobra Commander and our heroes either locked up or scattered across the planet. The few remaining Joe's must team up, save their pals, and stop Cobra from unleashing the Free Will Nullifier, a large bell made from the core of a meteorite which has been melted down and moulded using ancient tablets.

The game is a third person shooter with split screen local co-op built in, each mission giving you a choice of a couple of characters who each come with their own weapons and special moves. GI Joe was one of the first toy lines to make the ladies as bad ass as the men so you get a nice mix of characters and, like the old Transformers War for Cybertron game, you get to play both sides of the story, controlling either the Joes or Cobra.

Cobra Commander, Storm Shadow, Destro, Baroness, Snake Eyes, Duke, Scarlett, Lady Jaye are all playable, as are some of the more minor characters such as Mainframe. Sadly my favourite, Snow Job, is locked up and you can't play him and giggle at his name.

The best thing about the game is the story which is told through voice acting that is delightfully over the top, and animated comic style panels between missions. It's proper Saturday morning kids cartoon fun with ridiculous missions that make no sense (Cobra already rule the world, why do they need a Free Will Nullifier?) and plenty of double crosses and surprises. While you're running about other characters keep in touch via comms to progress the story and there's some nice banter, although Snake Eyes remains stoically silent which leads to some amusing situations where team mates just assume he said something.

Sadly the actual game is rather lacking. It's a cover shooter, with plenty of barriers and things to hide behind, but no actual cover mechanic so you just have to run about and hide. Not that you need to do that much as the enemy AI is very basic, they either run straight at you or just jiggle around in a small area moving from side to side making them annoyingly hard to hit, especially with grenades.

The weapons you get to wield are equally hit and miss, some are quite effective, others barely dent the enemies and take ages to reload. Thankfully you can find other weapons in each level and swap them out. Special moves fall into the same category; some of them are very useful and launch drones which take down enemies for you, others barely seem to have any effect whatsoever.

Each character also has a melee move but they lack weight, and it's difficult to tell when you have hit the enemy. It's also disappointing that ninjas Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are lumbered with using guns rather than running about and hacking and slashing.

Boss battles are peppered throughout the game and are really quite tiresome as the bosses take a huge number of hits before they go down. Just like the grunts they either run straight at you and circle around, or do the exact opposite and continue to run away from you as you chase them. There are also a couple of driving sections in which you career down paths avoiding mines and rocket towers while taking out other tanks and flying enemies. It's fun the first time but gets repeated twice more, as do many of the locations in the game.

As usual you can find bonus items to unlock including comics and skins and there's also a stab at multiplayer. Unfortunately it's local only but supports up to four players via split screen and has death match and capture the flag modes. It's a nice addition but without online play it's severely limited.

Custom PS5 plates are being sold by third party company The Plate Station

When the PS5 launches and people get it they will be getting a console that has white faceplates. It is the only official option from Sony currently though the company has confirmed that the faceplates for the PS5 are swappable. Now, a site has popped up and it is offering four alternative colours for PS5 plates, though it has to be stated that these are all unofficial and have not been licensed by Sony. The options offered by the site called The Plate Station are Chromatic, Cherry Red, Matte Black, and Indigo Blue. These colours are similar to some of the colours that the PS4 was available in.

The prices for each one are £32/€34.95/$39.99. According to the site's FAQ the company will be shipping the plates from November 12th and delivery should take 5-7 days. The FAQ confirms that the plates will not have the PS logo on them as these are third party plates. The FAQ also states that purchasers cannot mix and match colours at ordering, as the sets come in one colour each. The matte black edition will only be available until the end of 2020, but if the company sees high demand then more will be released. The reason for the pictures being renders and not actual photos of the product is because the prototypes are being created, but Plate Station states that it will be releasing images soon.

In terms of the PS5 warranty, the Plate Station states that changing the plates should not impact any warranty players have with Sony for the PS5 as the plates are removable and can be changed. It makes sense because it is likely Sony will release their own plates eventually for PS5 owners to purchase. The Plate Station is based in the UK but the plates themselves are being manufactured in China.

Source: PlateStation

Interview: CoLD SToRAGE on the sound of future racing – from Wipeout to Pacer

Future racing has a sound beyond the distinctive hum and whine of antigravity engines. It's one that thumps, grooves and rumbles its way into your ears before snapping away in your synapses; electronic beats that lie deftly in tune with every drift, chicane, and explosion. This is of course the legacy of Wipeout, the game that defined what future racing looks, feels and sounds like. Sitting at the heart of it was the music of CoLD SToRAGE, an in-house, solo project from musician Tim Wright that stood toe to toe with the Chemical Brothers and wasn't found lacking. Now future racing is set for a glorious return to centre stage with Pacer, and alongside members of the Wipeout team, CoLD SToRAGE has returned to the genre that they helped define. We were lucky enough to talk to Tim about how it all came about, and about his work on one of the most iconic games of all time.

TSA: How are you doing today?

Tim: Honest answer? Pissed off with Covid-19 and the way it's screwing with me, my family and the World, but likewise so grateful that to date it's not affected me as much as it has so many others. I have a bulging disc in my back which means I have numb toes and tingling legs, but other than that I'm in pretty good condition for a 53 year old man! I'm trying to take better care of myself, and make good use of being at home a lot more just now… working on new music and re-working and re-mastering old tracks for release on Bandcamp and Spotify.

TSA: What did being part of the original Wipeout mean to you at the time?

Tim: At the time, it was just another game to work on. There were many great games coming out of Psygnosis ( Sony Liverpool ), and it was fun to work on most of those games. WipEout was a new experience for me, that much is true. I was not a fan of acid house, techno, trance or any form of dance music, and here I was… tasked with providing a load of music for this new game. Not only that, but my stable-mates were Orbital, Leftfield and the Chemical Brothers… no pressure then!

I worked my butt off on that music, and I never really thought I was getting it right… and then one evening, I was stood outside my studio with the door open wide – I always liked to step away from my speakers and hear the music from a distance – and my fellow in-house musician Mike Clarke came over. He said, "Is that your track?", Yeah…" I replied. "Nice job" he said, nodded and walked off. Mike is not easily impressed, so it was comforting to hear that from him.

Your question asks about being part of the team though… and truth be known, at times I felt like I wasn't really. I was sat alone in my studio most of the time, and although I'd go down and play the latest build of the game, and chat with the team there was always a bit of distance there, more so because when I was done on WipEout I was moved onto the next game, before WipEout was properly finished.

That's just how things worked out. Come to think on it, that was actually quite a good thing for me, because if a game did well and you'd worked on it, you were in-line for a bonus in your pay-packet, so as a musician I worked on many games… some didn't even get out the door, which was tough on the development team that worked on it. But because I worked on so many, my bets were hedged and overall I'd usually make good money from bonuses, but on the flip-side, I never 100% felt like I was at the core of a game's development. Swings and roundabouts eh?

TSA: Did you know early on just how impactful the game would be, and how important the music would be to its success?

Tim: Not really… not at first. But after it had been out there a month or two, and we saw how much it had changed the perception of gamers… from back bedroom geeks to after-party gamers, it was clear that PlayStation was moving into the living room and even into club lounges. The music side of things, that didn't really hit home until WipEout 2097/XL, when there was a groundswell of musicians wanting their music in the game. Getting well know artists on board for the first game had been more of a challenge.

TSA: It's been a few years since you last worked on a game soundtrack, how did your involvement in Pacer come about?

Tim: It had been about 3 or 4 years since I'd been heavily involved in a game soundtrack, and in fact PACER was already a project I'd worked on back in 2015/16, it had just taken some time to really get to the point where I was asked to contribute a lot more. I was originally signed up to just provide a single track, and maybe do some P.R. and even a live appearance on-stage as part of the launch. However, none of that came to pass, and I'd forgotten all about it, until the game was re-branded and I was approached to create more music, in-game stings and sound effects too.

The last game I was really deeply involved with was Gravity Crash by Just Add Water, and in the intervening time I'd concentrated more on my other businesses, whilst still producing audio albums like Ch'illout" and a Shadow of the Beast up-mix album.

TSA: How did it feel returning to a genre that you helped to define?

Tim: I returned to this style with a hint of trepidation. My biggest competitor when it comes to writing music "in the style" is of course me, because new works are always compared to your existing catalogue, and that back-catalogue already has a bunch of memories attached to it. But after I'd gotten over that initial worry, it was fun to just forget WipEout ever existed and just treat it as a brand new game or genre, and a brand new assignment… then I could just get on with it and blue-sky.

TSA: What kind of influences and instruments did you want to draw in this time out?

Tim: I've been using Propellerhead ( now Reason Studios ) Reason since version 4.0. I know it like the back of my hand, so it doesn't get in the way at all – I just use it like a third hand most of the time. I did purchase some new plug-ins recently, so it was fun to try those out in the mix… synths, effects and also so 3rd party VSTs too. But most of the time I find myself going back to firm favourites like the Subtractor Analog synth and just stacking up lots of those to make fat dynamic leads and bass sounds.

One thing I do enjoy doing a lot more these days, is adding noise and distortion to pads and lead sounds, just in a subtle way to give them more bite and top-end… it's sometimes hardly perceptible, but it adds to the density of the mix. In terms of musical influence, I guess whatever I'm listening to at the time might creep in, but consciously there was nothing that really pushed me in any particular direction.

One thing I didn't do was, to listen to the other artists first – I didn't want to try to fit in with some other style, because then why have me on board? Much better that there is a diverse selection of music I think.

TSA: What's changed for you and your music since the original Wipeout? Has your process changed?

Tim: Oh yes… massively! Back when I was composing the original WipEout tracks, everything was outboard, so a rack of synths, samplers, and mixing everything analogue, and only then finally sampling it digitally.

The fact that I had a finite palette to select from meant that I leant heavily on sample CD collections, to source breakbeats and spot effects.
It's fair to say, my production skills were pretty basic back then too… I would listen to my tracks and then listen to some music that I liked, or in a similar genre just to see if my music was lacking in bass, compression, top-end, variety and so on. I was pretty cautious and also constantly aware of the other well known acts that I was sharing a virtual stage with, so it was quite an exciting and adrenaline driven time.

Since then, I've slowed down with age – as we all do. I've become more confident in my mixing skills and also to a degree accepted that things will never be 'perfect' they will be what they will be – when you get to the point where you feel the music is telling it's story in the 'clearest voice' it can, then stop.

TSA: How impactful do you think music in games is?

Tim: In general? Well… that a bit of "how long is a piece of string" question. Some in-game music can stir your heart, make you cry, laugh or even get pretty mad!
Some game music is bloody awful ( not often ) and doesn't suit the game at all. If you mean, do games need music… a kind of Devil's advocate question, then I'd say that there are games with no music, just as there are films where there is title music, but none within the film, and they still work.

TSA: Beyond Wipeout, which of your game soundtracks did you enjoy working on the most?

Tim: Recently? I would say "Gravity Crash". I was given a great budget and plenty of time to develop the music and sound effects for that game. I was super proud of the soundtrack and also the additional music I composed for the associated music album – it was great fun to work on too.

TSA: Has working on Pacer reignited a love for game soundtracks? Is there a genre out there you'd still like to tackle?

Tim: I've always loved working on game soundtracks… just as much as I do stand-alone music albums, it's a different challenge, a different mind-set. As for a genre to try, yeah… I'd love to write another soundtrack in a more orchestral style, and maybe something I've never done, like Reggae maybe?

A huge thanks to Tim for taking the time to talk about his work. You can check out his latest game soundtrack endeavours in Pacer, which releases on the 29th of October for PS4, Xbox One and PC, or head on over to CoLD SToRAGE's Bandcamp page to check out some of his incredible portfolio.

The PS4 version of Night Call has been cancelled

Developer Monkey Moon has announced that it is cancelling the PS4 version of its mystery title Night Call. The reasons for this is that Night Call had poor sales on the other platforms it was released for, there were issues with porting, and that has meant the studio cannot afford to make the PS4 version. The confirmation of this cancellation of Night Call on PS4 came via a statement on Twitter, and you can read what Monkey Moon had to say below.

"Dear Playstation players, we're super sorry to announce that the PS4 version of Night Call is officially cancelled. Given that the game didn't sell quite well on other platforms + issues we encountered with our porting partners we won't be able to deliver Night Call on PS4. Please note that we're probably as disappointed as you are. But we just can't afford it."

The game is set in Paris with the main character being accused of being a serial killer as they were the last person seen with the most recent victim. You need to find the actual killer before the cops close in and pin the entire affair on the main character. The character is a taxi driver and each passenger may offer clues as to what has actually happened, and how to clear your own name from the mess. There are over 70 characters in the game and through each playthrough the killer's identity will change so you can never be 100% certain that the person in your cab isn't the killer.

Night Call was released in 2019 for PC via Steam, GOG, and Xbox Game Pass for PC. Night Call was then added to the Xbox Game Pass for consoles earlier this year.

Source: Twitter

Ghostrunner will have free PS5 and Xbox Series X|S upgrade, trophy list revealed

505 Games and All In! Games have announced that the wall running combat title Ghostrunner will be released on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2021, with those buying the game on PS4 and Xbox One getting a free upgrade to the next gen version. The game itself is being developed bynOne More Level, 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks. Ghostrunner will be released on Tuesday, October 27th for PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Switch. The trophy list for Ghostrunner has also been confirmed, and you can check out the list below. Beware that they do contain spoilers.

  • GR Project Complete (Platinum) – Obtain all the other trophies
  • R is for Running (Gold) – Complete a level without dying
  • Finish Line (Gold) – Complete your climb up the Tower
  • Out of Order (Silver) – Decommission Tom
  • Back to Hell (Silver) – Defeat Hel
  • Artificial Selection (Silver) – Defeat the Keymaster
  • About Adam (Silver) – Collect all audiologs
  • One Man's Trash (Silver) – Collect all story items
  • A Fine Addition (Silver) – Complete your sword collection
  • Junkrunner (Gold) – Collect every single collectible item in the game
  • Longrunner (Bronze) Run 42 kilometers
  • Where Are My Keys? (Bronze) Kill 1000 enemies
  • Triple A (Silver) – Kill 4 enemies with a single use of Blink
  • Wave of Mutilation (Silver) – Kill 3 enemies with a single use of Surge
  • Control Freak (Silver) – Force enemies to kill 4 of their allies using Overlord
  • Unstoppabel Force (Bronze) – Kill 3 enemies with a single use of Tempest
  • Hit Me If You Can (Gold) – Block Warden's attack 5 times in a row
  • I Call It Luck (Silver) – Block 5 projectiles in a row using your sword
  • Sword to a Gunfight (Silver) – Kill 30 enemies with projectiles reflected using your sword (Reflect module required)
  • Strike (Bronze) – Kill 3 enemies at once witah a falling Drone
  • Homerunner (Bronze) – Kill an enemy with a projectile reflected by Tempest
  • Push It To The Limit (Bronze) – Fill up GR-SCP so that there are no empty slots left
  • Sword Runner (Silver) – Kill 5 enemies within 10 seconds using just your sword
  • Why Not Both (Silver) – Use 2 different special abilities within 10 seconds
  • Pre-empative Strike (Bronze) – Kill a Splitter before it manages to split itself
  • Running Out of Breath (Silver) – Save the residents of Sector Five
  • Upgrades Not Mandartory (Silver) – Kill 10 enemies in a row without using Sensory Boost
  • Wallrunner (Bronze) – Kill X enemies right after jumping off a wall
  • Improvise, Adapt, Overrun (Silver) – Kill a sniper without getting near him
  • Dead In The Air (Bronze) – Kill 3 Sluggers using Blink, while they are in the air
  • More Than Human (Silver) – Kill 23 enemies in a row without dying
  • Can't Run, Can't Hide (Bronze) – Kill 5 enemies with your special abilities, while they are protected by a Beacon Shield
  • Perfection (Bronze) – Unlock your full potential!
  • Running Wild (Bronze) – Use dash, wallrun, slide and gap jammer within 1 second

Source: Press Release/PSNProfiles

Mark Wahlberg seems to have given us the first glimpse of his take on Sully from the Uncharted movie

Mark Wahlberg appears to have given people a first glimpse of his take on Victor "Sully" Sullivan from the Uncharted movie, and it does not seem like Sully is happy in this moment. If this is a line from the movie then he is telling someone not to ask, and who wants to bet the line is directed at Nathan Drake? The clip below follows our first look at Tom Holland as Nathan Drake from last week, and you can see the image of that here.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mark Wahlberg (@markwahlberg) on

According to Tom, Uncharted 4 will give a lot of inspiration for the story but the film will very much be its own thing. As Tom is portraying a younger Nathan Drake in the movie this will be a prequel of sorts, which avoids the issue of having to adopt a game directly. Ruben Fleischer is attached to direct the movie having recently worked on Venom and Zombieland: Double Tap. Previous people attached to direct the project include Travis Knight, David O. Russell, Dan Trachtenberg, Shawn Levy, Seth Gordon, and Neil Burger. Each left for their own reason with Travis Knight apparently leaving due to Tom Holland's own filming schedule clash.

The Uncharted movie has been in development for so long that Mark Wahlberg has gone from originally being considered to play Nathan Drake, and now he is Victor Sullivan. Sony recently announced it had pushed back the release date of the movie to October 2021 after previously announcing a March 2021 and December 2020 release date. Though with COVID-19 currently having a major impact that date will not be set in stone.

Source: Instagram

Zombies Onslaught is a PlayStation exclusive Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War game mode

Just as with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Sony have secured a timed exclusive game mode for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Zombies Onslaught will be exclusive to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for the first year after the game's release.

A spin-off from the main Zombies mode, Zombies Onslaught is a two player co-op experience that takes place across several locations based off the game's Multiplayer maps. You'll be able to take your own custom loadouts into the level, with the two of you then confined to a specific area by a Dark Aether Orb until you've killed a certain number of zombies and it moves. Step outside the Orb's area of influence and you'll start taking damage.

You're powering up the Orb as you battle, but each surge will bring tougher zombies to battle, and you'll be trying to score points by targeting the Elite enemies.

You'll be ranked through each season of the game's multiplayer and Warzone mode, which will unlock rewards, while each season will then bring new maps to play and rewards to earn.

Zombies Onslaught will become available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC on 1st November 2021.

PlayStation owners who pre-ordered Black Ops Cold War have also enjoyed early access to the string of public beta tests that have run through the end of the summer and into the autumn. Then again, Sky broadband and TV customers in the UK were also been able to snag access, so it's not like Sony are the only ones cutting deals!

The mode's exclusivity follows on from the PlayStation 4 exclusive Survival Mode in Modern Warfare, which was similarly focussed around two player co-op. The mode recently became available for non-PlayStation platforms on 1st October.

In recent years Sony have pursued a number of in-game exclusives, both timed and untimed, with the one that's garnered the most ire being the upcoming PlayStation exclusivity of Spider-Man as a DLC character for Marvel's Avengers.

Immortals Fenyx Rising might be Breath of the Wild X Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but you still need to play it

Despite being a game that feels as though it's been designed by committee, Immortals Fenyx Rising seems, on first impressions at least, to be more than the sum of its parts. Here is a game that's remixes Assassin's Creed Odyssey with Breath of the Wild in such a blatant way that it's a wonder that someone from Hyrule isn't sending them a summons. That obviously won't happen – perhaps it should be a Greece and desist letter? – but Nintendo should be feeling particularly flattered right now.

Originally known as Gods and Monsters – a Ronseal of a game title if ever I heard one – Immortals Fenyx Rising is Ubisoft's attempt at an open-world adventure that's steeped in mythology and doesn't involve repeatedly stabbing people with blades hidden up your sleeves.

After Assassin's Creed Odyssey did such a remarkable job of transporting us to the mythologically rich period of Ancient Greece, I'd worried that Immortals Fenyx Rising would feel like a childlike rehash, an attempt to wring some more money out of a setting that had gone down so well. That might still have been the underlying motivation, but I needn't have worried; based on the Google Stadia demo, it's clear that Immortals is its own thing, a brighter, lighter caricature that leans hard on the mythology and the mirth to create something that feels wholly different.

Despite carrying around the legacy of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Immortals has had a rather lovely, anime-esque makeover. Here's where you'll find the first, and most obvious, connection to Breath of the Wild, as there's definitely more than a couple of visual flourishes that Ubisoft have copied straight from Nintendo's homework. It might be pretty cheeky, but it's also bloody lovely, and the idyllic Grecian image of the world – mostly alabaster columns, shipwrecks and urns – is immediately a pleasure to spend time with.

This being a third-person action adventure title, there's lots of running, jumping, climbing and fighting to keep Fenyx busy. Once again, her range of abilities will have gamers raising all of their eyebrows in unison at the sheer swagger of Ubisoft as they've ripped off carefully replicated rather a lot of our Link's repertoire. There's sword play of course, and a bow, while miraculous wings let Fenyx float from great heights, or be whisked along by air currents.

Fenyx, a lesser god herself, then has a batch of Godly Powers. While some of them remain hidden away for the main game, the demo gives you Herakle's Strength, letting you lift, throw and manipulate large objects using a sort of magnet-like energy field. You'll have to remind me at which point imitation and flattery become plagiarism.

It feels unfair to continually namecheck other games, but Immortals puts little to no effort into hiding them, whether it's the Assassin's Creed style inventory page or the Breath of the Wild-esque potion mixing. I rather hope there's more to the cauldron and ingredient collection elements as they seemingly only allow for you to mix four types of potions together, but perhaps there's a lot more to see in the main game.

I've made it sound as though I don't like the game, that it's a local newspaper Zelda-spot-the-difference competition come to life. And yet, it's not. It's certainly familiar, and that's being kind, but I want, no need, to see where it's going.

For one thing I hadn't anticipated laughing quite as much as I did during my time with it. Elder Gods Prometheus and Zeus bicker their way through an imperfect narrative where you're fairly sure that Zeus is just making the whole thing up, and it carries a lightness of tone that I simply wasn't expecting. Sure, Assassin's Creed can be witty, but this has just the right level of sarcasm and silliness that it plays out like a Grecian Roald Dahl short.

The combat feels just right as well, action-packed and intuitive. There's a host of different difficulty settings from Story through to Insane so you can peg the difficulty just right, which will be perfect for younger gamers, those short on time, or those that want to whimper into Zeus' robes at the brutality of it all. The impressively ugly Cyclops that you face off against at the end of the demo is no slouch on normal difficulty, so I dread to think what he'll do higher up the scale.

Unexpectedly, Immortals Fenyx Rising has Trojan-horsed its way to the top of my winter wishlist. It's easy to dismiss the egregious mimicry of other game series, but tonally it is something else entirely. Cheeky, charming and characterful, this could be a Titan-sized success come December.

Something for the Weekend – 24/10/20

Another week down, and another week closer to the next-gen consoles we've been waiting all of 2020 for. I'm sure some people are getting itchy fingers and thumbs just thinking about it, but personally I'm just getting a little antsy waiting to get stuck into reviewing them!

As always, it was the next-gen machines that dominated the headlines, but we can throw in some rather odd brand partnerships as well.

In the News This Week

And in weird and totally unnecessary partnerships:

Games in Review

We raced through a bunch of game reviews this week, and were clearly quite impressed with a number of them.

And we reviewed a headset that comes with a prancing horse on the front:

Thrustmaster T.Racing Scuderia Ferrari Edition Gaming Headset– 8/10

Featured Articles

After that metric ton of reviews, I got to look at some upcoming games that deserve some attention. A little bit ahead of the spookiest day of the year I played the creepy and deeply atmospheric Little Nightmares II, and I also got to spend a few hours colonising Mars in Per Aspera.

I also backed up Thomas' preview of The Falconeer. He tried the game out on PC, while I soared through the skies on Xbox One X. It's one of the much hyped next-gen launch games, especially as it's set to push the Xbox Series X to 120Hz at lovely high resolutions, thanks to its gorgeous and stylised art direction.

Finally, What We Played included Genshin Impact, Transformers Battlegrounds and Mario Kart Live.

Trailer Park

It's showtime in the Balan Wonderworld opening movie

Watch 14 minutes of Scorn gameplay captured on Xbox Series X

Rambo goes to war in his Mortal Kombat 11 gameplay debut footage

Zombie Army 4: Dead War DLC Season Pass 2 starts today with a trip to Damnation Valley

Your Achievements

Here's what you in our community has been up to this week:

  • willbuchanan sntched the Pic a Pix Classic platinum yesterday and rounded off the Reignited trilogy with the Spyro 3 platinum as well. He's now starting A Winter's Daydream while daydreaming about what his next "proper" game will be.
  • Also grabbing platinum trophies was Crazy_Del (as usual). It was PGA Tour 2K21 this week, but he's well on the way to the Star Wars Squadron one as well, having rounded out all the online trophies from that game. Next up are Astro Bot Rescue Mission VR.
  • hornet1990 has only just figured out that you can fast travel while mounted and craft your own fast travel packs in Horizon Zero Dawn. He's at 56% complete after 40 hours, but I'm sure the last 44% won't take him quite so long!
  • MrYd was annoyed by halloween bobbins in Red Dead Redemption 2, has continued to enjoy Genshin Impact and a little Rogue Company, and been playing lots and lots of Star Wars Squadrons.
  • And having returned from holiday, Andrewww is quarantining at home. His internet's down though, so he's been playing The Last of Us Part II and revisiting The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion on PS3 to play with his son.

Have a good weekend (and wrap up warm if you're going out) and we'll see you on the other side!

Gears 5 will get New Game+ in November's Series X update & Hivebusters story DLC in December

The Coalition have announced that Gears 5 will receive fresh content through the end of the year, starting with a New Game+ mode alongside the Xbox Series X|S update, and continuing with a fresh serving of story with a Hivebusters DLC in December. Hivebusters will be available for the game on all platforms, from Xbox One through to Xbox Series X|S and PC.

The expansion is named after the Hivebusters, a squad of three characters who appear in the game's co-op Escape mode, and whose origin story has been told through the Gears of War: Hivebusters comics.

Speaking to IGN, Gears 5 principal lead producer Zoe Curnoe explained that the estimated playtime will be 3-4 hours, but did not reveal if the DLC will be free or a paid expansion.

While story DLC was not previously on the cards, it seems that The Coalition have made an exception to the rule, possible as a way to show off what the next-gen consoles can manage. While the game has been enhanced for Xbox Series X|S, studio technical director Mike Rayner said that it will be the first Gears content that's been reviewed, tuned and polished for the new consoles, instead of being upgraded after.

He told IGN, "So the things that we're doing with global illumination and constant mapping I think are a good example, and we've made sure that the content is really set up to take advantage of that. The ultra-res textures are now there and we can kind of tune them and make sure that they really show up in 4K resolution with the additional memory we have on these consoles and the ability to stream them in super fast."

That's in addition to the big update that will arrive on 10th November alongside the new consoles. This will bring two new difficulty modes – a single-life Ironman mode and an Inconceivable difficulty higher than the original top difficulty – new character skins for Kait, Del and JD, weapon skins, mutators like big head mode, the ability for Jack upgrades to carry over between plays, and new achievements to go along with it all.

If you really want, you'll also be able to replace Marcus with a Dave Bautista face.

That's all alongside the previously announced visual and performance upgrades. On Xbox Series X the game runs at higher quality settings, such as to add contact shadows and have screen space global illumination. There will also be a 120fps mode for multiplayer, and even at 60fps they have improved input latency through the Series X|S system.

Gears 5 was met with mostly positive reviews when it released last year. It serves up a familiar cocktail of blood, gore, and shooting at enemies behind waist high walls. However, a more interesting narrative hook and some smart new modes and gameplay changes push the franchise in a promising direction with The Coalition no doubt readying the final part in our second Gears trilogy.

In our Gears 5 review, Nick said:

Gears 5 is a brilliant experience which can be enjoyed alone or with friends in equal measure. It keeps much of the series' core gameplay and feel, but also takes it in some new directions. It's great to see Gears evolving, opening the door for even more positive changes in the future.

Source: IGN

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends – Hunter Class Guide & Techniques

Ghost of Tsushima is a game that seamlessly blends together three complimentary playstyles. As Jin Sakai, you'll ruthlessly hunt down Mongols with a cocktail of well-timed swordplay, cunning stealth tactics and precise marksmanship.

In the newly introduced co-op multiplayer mode, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, this applies to the four playable classes though each excels at a specific combat role.

As you might have guessed just by looking at her, the Hunter is a proficient ranged fighter who favours the bow. Initially, she is the only character able to use weapons in the longbow category. While not quite as tank-y or durable as the Samurai or Ronin, she can quickly navigate the battlefield, supporting her allies with a deadly barrage of arrows.

Hunter Overview

Switching to the Hunter from another role can be a tough transition to make. Using bows in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends requires a lot more skill than in the singleplayer campaign where you can use Jin's concentration skill to slow time and line up headshots. This makes the bow less desirable in Legends, especially in the hands of a Samurai, Ronin, or Assassin.

In truth, the same applies to the Hunter – well, until you hit those later ranks. Her bow attacks become far more deadly as you level up, allowing you to pinpoint those tougher targets as well as rain down on larger enemy groups.

When playing the Hunter you should try and maintain the high ground, giving yourself a better view of the battlefield and easier access to grapple points in order to travel the map faster. In story missions you need to memorise vantage points and patrol patterns whereas in survival you should be locking down enemy routes, chokepoints, and the best places to drop explosive barrels.

When tweaking your Hunter loadout, you'll want to balance bow damage with abilities that refund ammunition. The latter may be more useful if you're not so great with landing headshots. It's important to remember that the Hunter isn't just a reliable sniper – use Staggering Arrow and Explosive Arrow to disrupt groups of enemies, leaving them disorientated and buying your allies some extra time.

Hunter Techniques

Name Type Rank Required Description
Eye of Uchitsune Ultimate 0 Target 3 enemies and fire a guaranteed headshot at each target
Staggering Arrow Class Ability 1 Fire an arrow that stuns enemies in a small area
Executioner Perk | Slot 1 2 Increase headshot damage by 50% for targets within 12 meters
Resupply Perk | Slot 2 3 Refill 30% of all ammo types
Pinpoint Perk | Slot 3 5 Body shots with the bow have a 50% chance to deal headshot damage
Scent of Blood Perk | Slot 1 7
Increase draw and reload speed by 100% for 30 seconds after attempting an assassination
Status Damage Perk | Slot 2 9 Damage of status effects increased by 25%
Explosive Arrow Class Ability 10 Fire an arrow that explodes after a short delay
All-Seeing Eye Perk | Slot 3 11 Eye of Uchitsune can target 2 more enemies
Hunter Unleashed Perk | Slot 1 14 Decrease class ability cooldown by 15%
Piercing Arrow Perk | Slot 2 16 Unlock Piercing Arrows for your bow that can penetrate shields
Legendary Perk |Slot 3 18 Increases the number of Legendary items you can equip by 1

Perk choices largely depend on your precision with the bow. Having Executioner as in your first perk slot is great if you're nimble enough to headshot enemies at close range. Scent of Blood can be hugely appealing to, but only if you disengage often enough to land stealth assassinations.

For perk 2 you have another pair of similarly matched options though which one to take depends on your playstyler and current loadout. Status Damage is brilliant if combined with frequent explosive attacks though Piercing Arrow can be a boon when your team is pressed in by shielded enemies.

Finally, we have another toss up for perk 3. Pinpoint massively increases your damage output if your the kind of Hunter who prefers landing as many hits as possible instead of focusing on headshots. However, All-Seeing Eye is bound to be a favourite, boosting the power of Eye of Uchitsune – combo this with the Stone Skipping Bow Legendary Item and you're laughing.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends Guides & more from TheSixthAxis

Pumpkin Jack Review

Despite the vast range and variety of protagonists available in games, it's still surprisingly unusual to play as a villain. Most of the time you're tasked with saving the world, or at least temporarily postponing its downfall. Pumpkin Jack, however, is not a good guy. Summoned by the devil to foil the annoying plans of a heroic wizard, the soul of the trickster Jack is set within a pumpkin and sent out to do his master's bidding. Such dastardly deeds certainly make for a different background, but does the game really let you do bad things?

It is clear that solo developer Nicolas Meyssonnier has been hugely influenced by the adventures and aesthetic of the hapless Sir Daniel Fortescue, as Pumpkin Jack looks and feels like a spin-off from Sony's series. This has both positive and negative consequences though, as it immediately faces comparison with the recent remake of Medievil. On the whole it comes off surprisingly well here, although it lacks the particularly British sense of humour that is so characteristic of its influence. Rather than abusive gargoyles, Jack is accompanied by a magical crow and an expositional owl.

For a single developer title, Pumpkin Jack is a beautiful looking game. The gothic aesthetic and Tim Burton-esque characters are well designed and animated, although some more variety would have been welcome. Dark and spooky surroundings are balanced nicely with colourful magic effects and there's an impressive use of DLSS and Ray Tracing in the PC version. The latter is a massive plus, especially when you consider how few big studio games are taking advantage of this technology. If you have a compatible graphics card, these effects give everything an extra layer of shiny and the cartoony graphics really pop with everything turned up to maximum. Although this was a little buggy in the first build, everything is running nice and smoothly after a series of pre-release updates.

I did encounter a few issues with controlling the camera in-game, and this led to some frustrating platforming sections, which was an aspect of the inspiration that perhaps would be better left in the past. This same problem was present in the far bigger budget Medievil remake however, and it's probably just part of the classic, and ever-so-slightly-dated gameplay. This was my only real complaint, although there were some overlong endless runner sections which stood out for all the wrong reasons. Level design is good, with optional collectables scattered around the environment for completionists. Collecting these allows you to purchase different skins for Pumpkin Jack, a nice old-school approach to cosmetics that is refreshing in these days of DLC and microtransactions.

Much like Medievil, Pumpkin Jack is a third-person platformer with combat and light environmental puzzles. I genuinely meant it earlier when I said that this feels like a spin-off, and everything here will feel familiar to fans of Dan. The aforementioned runner sections, which see you riding in a mine cart, on a ghostly horse, or kidnapped by a gargoyle, are regularly featured but can be a tad annoying. The latter, in particular, controls like a 3D Flappy Bird, a reference that is almost as dated as the camera. These aren't gamebreakers but they felt too much like trial and error and dying meant having to do them all over again. I certainly wouldn't have missed them not being included at all.

 

To foil the plans of the noble wizard, Jack must take arms against an assortment of human and monstrous foes. Beginning with a simple spade and then working up to more magical and effective weapons, combat is a fairly simple but enjoyable affair. Dodging and swinging your weapon is smooth and arcade-y -this is no Dark Souls-like – and you also have your magical crow to send into battle like a feathery guided missile. This attack is particularly well suited to picking off enemies from afar and is a nice addition to the melee focus. Bosses generally require a combination of ranged and close quarters combat with the usual timing, avoidance, and pattern recognition.

The six levels of Pumpkin Jack take you through the usual swamps and graveyards before you end up in a surprising location that I won't spoil here. Suffice to say that you have to defeat an enemy by being far more naughty than nice before you finally meet up with the object of your quest. The levels are fairly sizable but this isn't a sprawling epic of a game; instead what you have is much closer to the length of traditional action adventures. I finished in around 5-6 hours which, to be honest, felt about right for this kind of title. The relatively short runtime does mean that I'll be replaying to find all of the collectables, something which I often struggle to find motivation for with longer games.

Epic are giving away two big games to celebrate Halloween

Epic are adding two big titles to their growing free games list next week, both of them perfect for a spot of spooky Halloween gaming.

What's more, both of these free games are relatively new having launched in 2019. They include Blair Witch from Bloober Team (developers of The Medium and Observer as well as the Layers of Fear series) alongside Ghostbusters The Video Game – Remastered.

These two new additions can be claimed next Thursday on October 29th. Adding them to your Epic Games Store library before November 5th will give you permanent access.

While you wait, this week's offering include another seasonal duo of games – Layers of Fear 2 and Costume Quest 2. For the full list of free Epic games, keep reading:

Game Name
Dates Available
Ghostbusters The Video Game – Remastered
October 29-November 5, 2020
Blair Witch
October 29-November 5, 2020
Layers of Fear 2
October 22-29, 2020
Costume Quest 2
October 22-29, 2020
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
October 15-22, 2020
Kingdom New Lands
October 15-22, 2020
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam
October 8-15, 2020
ABZU
October 8-15, 2020
Pikuniku
October 1-8, 2020
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

The Epic Games Store also hosts a growing number of online free-to-play hits including Fortnite, as well as Rocket League, Dauntless, Rogue Company, and more.

Source: Epic Games

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends – Gear & XP farming guide

Like most online games nowadays, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is loot driven. Although there's plenty of fun to be had in slicing and dicing Oni, you'll soon focus on farming gear, piecing together the ultimate class loadouts.

However, with gear drops being random, Ghost of Tsushima: Legends will have you grinding a lot to chase the game's most coveted prizes. Luckily, you'll earn resources along the way including Essence, Honor, and Blessing, which can also be gained from dismantling unwanted gear.

Before we dive into the best gear farming techniques, it's best to get a proper understanding of how gear works in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends.

Understanding gear stats and Ki

Completing missions – as well as certain bonus objectives – will reward you with weapons and charms that are level-appropriate, their "Ki" slowly rising as you move from bronze up to gold tier difficulty, then onto Nightmare. Your Ghost's Ki is calculated by taking the average value from your five equipped items. Your Ki wont influence your raw stats such as damage and defence though it does limit which modes you can participate in, locking out higher difficulties.

As your Ki approaches 100, this number no longer holds much relevance. Instead, you'll be paying attention to individual pieces of gear – their stats, traits, perks, and rarity. This is also when Legendary Items will begin to randomly appear in drops, offering unique powers that can really spice up a loadout. You can view a list of the game's Legendary Items here.

Those resources you've been accumulating (and likely holding onto) will now come in handy as you spend them on modifications. Pressing square while hovering a piece of high level gear will allow you to reroll traits and perks. This is randomised and if you choose to only reroll one stat then this prevents you from rerolling the others.

Best gear farming techniques

In order to get the best gear as quickly as possible, you'll want to play missions that offer plenty of gear drops but don't require much time to beat.

We'd strongly recommend playing the first story mission in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, Severed Hearts, on gold difficulty. Of all the story missions available this is by far the quickest and easiest for farming tier loot. Split into three stages, you'll attack a small Mongol warband, then chase down a caravan before conquering a war camp. Depending on which modifiers Ghost of Tsushima randomly throws into the mix, Severed Hearst on gold should take between 10 and 15 minutes.

For each of the three parts you complete you'll earn one gear chest with another awarded for completing the entire mission. You can farm an extra piece of loot onto every run by finding the Oni treasure. In total that's 5 bits of gear every quarter of an hour.

In comparison, playing survival on gold will shower you with 7 gear drops. However, this demands that you beat 25 waves, relying on the competence of your three allies. Not only is this risky, it can take in excess of an hour, making it a far less efficient farming technique.

Playing on gold difficulty, the max Ki level you get on gear caps out at 105. If you want ever more powerful weapons and charms you'll need to dip your toes in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends' Nightmare mode. Grinding for gear that is Ki 105+ is brutal and hugely time consuming but could help you get a leg up on the game's three-part Raid.

Ghost of Tsushima: Legends Guides & more from TheSixthAxis

Travis Scott joins PlayStation as a strategic creative partner

PlayStation are total hep-cats and down with the kids for sure as they have announced that rapper / producer Travis Scott has joined PlayStation as a strategic creative partner. Totally tubular!

"Travis is an artist who is incredibly innovative, constantly surprising, and continues to push boundaries, very much like the PlayStation brand – so we think this is a perfect fit. When we embarked on this collaboration, the most important thing was to keep it as open as possible, to allow space to explore interesting, creative ideas," said Eric Lempel
Senior Vice President of PlayStation Worldwide Marketing.

"Travis' deep knowledge and fond memories about PlayStation as a brand, our products, and games will inspire his work with us from start to finish. He is an amazing creator, and we strive to work with the best creative minds inside and outside of our industry to continue to surprise the world in a way that only PlayStation can."

Right on Eric! Schwing!

"I'm really looking forward to being able to showcase everything that Cactus Jack has worked on with Sony and the PlayStation team," adds Travis. "Most importantly I'm excited to see how the PlayStation fans and family respond, and I look forward to running some games with everybody very soon!"

Totes amazeball news, I am sure you cool kids will agree. In case you are like, totally uncool, and don't know who Travis is, here is is hit song "Sicko Mode" in which he raps about 'hos' and taking prescription drugs whilst surrounded my lots of women in their underwear jiggling their arses at the camera.

I'm sure that's exactly how PlayStation should be represented.

Source: PS Blog

UPDATE: EA's servers are coming back online

UPDATE: It seems like things are coming back online!

Original story below….

EA have temporarily disabled match creation in FIFA 21 due to 'connectivity issues', rather unfortunate when they are about to release the Rulebreakers event for the Ultimate Team mode.

There are reports that other games are suffering online problems including Apex Legends, Madden 21, and NHL 21. The good news is that EA have identified the source of the problem and are working to fix it.

FIFA 21 scored an impressive 8/10 in our review.

On the pitch, FIFA 21 is an incremental improvement over FIFA 20, but doesn't address some of the biggest issues with defending and the high-scoring matches this leads to. With Volta still missing a certain spark and Ultimate Team not really changing much, it's the Football Manager-inspired Career mode that takes the biggest step forward. It's still a good football game, but it feels like the real focus is on next-gen.

You can read the full review here.

You can read the full FIFA 21 review here. FIFA 21 has also had some updates released for it. You can find the patch notes for update notes for 1.01 and 1.02 here, while 1.03 can be found over here. The full trophy list for FIFA 21 is also available to look through by following this link here. 
Here's more on Rulebreakers:

Rulebreakers players will be available in FUT over the course of the campaign, with the first group released on Friday 23rd October. Rulebreakers leave behind their previous styles of play and transform into different kinds of stars with game-changing stat updates.

Now you can play in new ways with some of your old favourites, creating variety in squad building like never before. Keep your eyes peeled for additional FUT 21 Rulebreakers to be made available through upcoming Squad Building Challenges and Objectives.

In addition, for the first time, by completing select Objectives during a limited-time Live FUT Friendly event, you'll be able to obtain an exclusive Rulebreakers player reward. Finally, Halloween and Day of the Dead also return to FUT with Squad Building Challenges and Objectives featuring themed kits, stadium items, and pack rewards beginning Thursday 29th October.

What We Played #472 – Genshin Impact, Transformers Battlegrounds & Mario Kart Live

As the internet lights up to the distant sound of fresh consoles in the wild – they're nearly here folks! – I've been having a great time with my old consoles and my old games. I could be playing umpteen things, and yet I've returned to Breath of the Wild and Valkyria Chronicles, both of which are my gaming happy place, and I needed some digital comfort food. I did manage to play Mario Kart Live as well as the demo for Immortals Fenyx Rising though, which is so new it's not even out yet, and that was on Stadia so I'm not completely stuck in the past.

Jim has only found time for one game this week and that's Ghost of Tsushima, telling us "I'm still a little way off the ending and will probably have to wrap up Jim's story on PS5. The reason why I haven't finished is because of the new Legends multiplayer. Considering this is Sucker Punch's first punt at a proper multiplayer mode for a big AAA game it's damn good and they've already promised more challenging content to come."

Thomas Hughes was next up and he's been playing The Red Lantern, saying it "is an excellent narrative survival adventure that takes players through Alaska with a pack of adorable huskies." He's also spent some time with The Falconeer, one of the launch titles for the new Xbox. "It's a very solid dogfighting game with more under the hood than first appears. It's also absolutely stunning."

Jason has been playing a lot of Rocket League and a lot of Genshin Impact. Apparently that doesn't leave a huge amount of time for anything else though. Sounds pretty good though.

Steve meanwhile has been playing all the things! Having played through the "super interesting" Amnesia: Rebirth over the weekend, he's now exploring the wonders of his shiny new Switch Lite with a few review titles. Alongside those, he's been hugely enjoying the excellent Mummy: Demastered on PS4, telling us it "is just a perfect self-contained little Metroidvania. Almost made me want to watch the film despite it's atrocious reviews and reputation (this is the Universal reboot, not the fun 90s one). Looking to spend Halloween immersed in spooky forest games for an academic article I'm working on so that should be suitably terrifying."

Aran has played Space Crew for review and also a bit more Yakuza 4. I do enjoy how Yakuza basically whips from super serious drama to complete out there scenarios. I'm trying to complete all the Yakuza games ahead of Like A Dragon but I believe that won't be possible unless I stop sleeping

Nic B shouted at me once again, but this time to say "GENSHIN IMPACT!" which when shouted sounds very much like a move from Street Fighter II. Anyway,  he's also played some Double Pug Switch, which was "very disappointing", and some Oddworld, Nice & Tasty.

Reuben has ended up in the same Gacha prison as the rest of them having been playing Genshin Impact too, but he's also found time to play Scourge Bringer for review, and been tearing up the Bozjan Southern Front in Final Fantasy XIV. Gareth has played Torchlight 3 this week and one game of Rocket League, which he did at least win.

Ade has been playing through the duff 'em up delights of 9 Shaolin Monkeys for review, as well as the easily mis-read title Monster Prom XXL. Miguel has been on it this week with 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim, Apex Legends, Animal Crossing, Ghost of Tsushima Legends, Smash Bros aaaand a little bit o' the Minecraft filling up all of his time.

Nick P has mostly played Transformers Battlegrounds for review this week, as well as the new Night Mode in Warzone "which has been pretty cool. It's almost like a different game."

Finally, Tef has been flitting back and forth across Xbox Game Pass, checking out games like Tell Me Why, The Touryst, Gonner 2, and even returning to Forza 7 for some of that brand of racing. He's also been on the review and preview path, getting to sample some of Little Nightmares II, backing up Thomas' PC playtime of The Falconeer on Xbox One X (where it looks fantastic), colonising Mars in Per Aspera, and dropping into the weird and wonderful bullet circular saw hell of Disc Room

What about you? What have you played?