Visage Review

For a game that was never released outside of a delisted tech demo, PT has had a massive influence on the horror gaming scene. It could even be argued that the cancellation of Silent Hills and demo removal directly added to a desire for a game that will never see the light of day. Since PT's removal there have been many titles that have attempted to offer its mix of domesticity and terror, ranging from shot for shot remakes to original takes on its themes. Unfortunately these have mostly been either disappointing or not much more than demos themselves.

With Visage, however, we finally have a full-length game experience that promises to expand on everything that PT offered. How did my time facing terror shape up?

Visage begins in the most shocking way imaginable, opening with a cutscene showing (in first person) your player character shooting their family and then themselves, before cutting to a later shot of them lurching zombie-like towards the door that leads to the rest of the house. It's a harrowing opening that will only be explained by finishing the game, but even then it is deliberately left somewhat ambiguous. It's obvious right from the off that Visage is not a game for the faint hearted. This is a game that focuses on some very dark and disturbing content so player discretion is seriously advised. If it sounds like your kind of game, though, make yourself comfortable and read on.

The majority of Visage takes place in a single house, though this takes a number of forms as the game develops. Getting to know your way around is the most crucial first step as it is not long before your exploration is haunted by deadly enemies. The house is a well designed environment, with a maze like basement that proves particularly challenging to navigate when you are rushing. I initially felt the lack of a map was an oversight, but it does mean that you are forced into learning your way around rather than following icons.

Graphically the rooms and contents are full of detail and everything looks good, although on first loading up I had to correct the auto-detect to get a more appropriate resolution (an RTX2060 playing at 640 x 480 is a horror that I wasn't prepared for). Much of the time your surroundings will be in darkness and Visage makes good use of lighting to build its atmosphere.

As is often the case with horror games, the audio is where Visage really stands out. Combining it with digital 7.1 positional audio was as terrifying as it was impressive. Being able to quickly locate the direction of strange bumps and groans really added to the experience, even if it often wasn't enough to save me. Visage opens up with a warning that it is a difficult game requiring careful resource management and, while resources didn't really seem an issue, I certainly died plenty of times.

In a manner highly reminiscent of Amnesia, you must make use of whatever light sources you can find. Sometimes this is simply turning on light switches and lamps, but it also takes the form of lighters, candles and a torch (flashlight for US readers). Candles are effective when left in place, while the fuel in the lighters is limited. Being left in the dark rapidly decreases your sanity and leaves you open to increased attacks from the supernatural forces. There are pills to collect that can help you to replenish your sanity and it is crucial that you always have these on hand.

Inventory management is a mixed bag here. You have four slots for usable items, as well as your two hands. At first I found myself using pills in hand when I didn't intend to due to the fact that they are mapped to the same mouse button as investigating things in the environment. This did become less frequent once I adjusted, but it was still an annoyance. There are also occasional two-handed objects that require you to put away any light source to use, but these are generally restricted to specific story moments or puzzles.

Progression through the horrors of Visage is linear to a point, but you can choose which chapters to play in which order. Each one is activated by interacting with an object in the house and the game clearly warns you when you are about to begin one. There are four chapters in the released version with the fourth being a scavenger-hunt of sorts only available once you have finished the first three. The first two are very effective ghost stories set in the house, although the second really suffers from a lack of clarity as to how to proceed. You unlock a series of mysterious mirrors that you have to travel through in a set order, but there is far too much trial and error involved in working this out. The third chapter is by far the weakest, most of it taking place in a local hospital and involving some particularly frustrating stealth mechanics.

Amazon Prime Gaming has free Fall Guys crowns and a costume, plus new free games for Christmas

Amazon Prime Gaming has a bunch of new free loot available to help celebrate the launch of Fall Guys Season 3. Log on to Prime Gaming and you will be able to claim three crowns and a natty Winter Warmer costume, described as "the snowy peak of Blunderdome fashion." The free crowns should help you unlock other costumes in the game.

The service will also be giving away extra free games this festive season with Yooka-Laylee, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, and couch co-op cooking game Overcooked available to claim on Christmas Eve.

Those games are for PC only, but console owners can still claim the Fall Guys loot and a bunch of other extra bobbins as well. At the time of writing you can also pick up the Unchained Exotic Gear bundle for Destiny 2, which includes an emote, a sparrow, and a ship, an exclusive Carolingian Dynasty Gear Pack for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a free Breton horse of your choice for Red Dead Online, and the Fenyx Shivering Character Pack for Immortals Fenyx Rising.

There are also helmets for Star Wars: Squadrons, the Thatcher Operator set for Rainbow Six Siege, and – frankly I have no idea how this works – The Boy's 'Queen Maeve' kit for World of Tanks.

Fall Guys has been a huge success and we awarded the game an excellent 8 our of 10 in our review earlier this year.

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Fall Guys was made available for free on PlayStation Plus back in August and quickly became it's most-downloaded complimentary game. It was a massive hit on PC as well, though, selling millions of copies and becoming a staggering success for Mediatonic.

Source: Press release

CD Projekt storefront GOG heel turns over release of Devotion, after "many messages from gamers"

CD Projekt are in the headlines once again, but this time it's not the company's CD Projekt Red development studio and the calamitous release of Cyberpunk 2077, but rather their digital storefront GOG.com that's getting them a bad rep.

Just hours after Red Candle Games announced that horror game Devotion would be released on GOG.com, the online store has changed their mind, citing "many messages from gamers". Digging into the game's troubled history, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this is GOG bowing to pressure, either from the Chinese government, Chinese gamers, or a combination of the two.

Devotion was first released in 2019, with Taiwanese developer Red Candle having their game published by Chinese publisher Indievent. Unfortunately, it was rather short-lived as the game was pulled from Steam shortly after its release in February, and the Chinese government decided to remove Indievent's business license. What could they have possibly done that was so bad that the government shut them down?

Well, the game featured a poster that compared Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh, a comparison that he seems to be rather self conscious about, and calling him a moron. It's a political meme that is censored in China.

The developers went silent for several months, despite having made changes and apologised in the immediate wake of the incident, but it was then discovered in July last year that Indievent's business license was revoked, though the incident was not mentioned as a reason (though we're 99.9999999% certain that it was). Red Candle returned to Twitter to issue a statement and shoulder the blame for the incident. They noted that the game would not be re-released in the near term future and that they were not taking any profits from the game during its short time on sale, with the hope that those who objected to the game's unintentional use of a politically charged poster can eventually see the game in its original light.

The re-release (obviously without any posters demeaning Winnie the Pooh's good reputation), was announced this morning, and then summarily cancelled a little over five hours later by GOG.com. While it might have been a move intended to appease any audience they have in China (which is a huge and growing market for video games), it's backfiring in the western world. It's certainly not a very cyberpunk of them to do so, anyway.

Epic giving away 15 free games starting tomorrow

Epic are gearing up for Christmas, announcing that their store holiday sale will be kicking off tomorrow on December 17th, promising savings of up to 75%.

On top of that they will be giving away 15 free games spread across two weeks. You have 24 hours to claim each game and add them to your library during the giveaway event.

Epic have yet to reveal which games they will be adding to their free games list. However, judging by the quality of recent freebies, there will definitely be a few big surprises.

Until tomorrow afternoon, anyone with an Epic account can sign into the store (via client or browser) to redeem a pair of meaty RPG favourites: Pillars of Eternity: Definitive Edition and Tyranny: Gold Edition.

You can check the full list of free Epic games below, complete with dates of availability, and reviews plucked from our archive.

Epic Games store free games list

Game Name Dates Available
Pillars of Eternity December 10-17, 2020
Tyranny December 10-17, 2020
Cave Story+ December 3-10, 2020
MudRunner November 26-December 3, 2020
Elite: Dangerous November 19-26, 2020
The World Next Door November 19-26, 2020
The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia November 12-19, 2020
Dungeons 3 November 12-19, 2020
Wargame: Red Dragon November 5-12, 2020
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 Reforged, Rogue Company, and more.

Source: Epic Games

Cyberpunk 2077 Review in Progress

It simply isn't possible to enjoy the privilege of a cold first impression of Cyberpunk 2077. After eight years of development, well over a year of frenetic marketing, and facile pre-launch discussion beaten to within an inch of its life, this is a game that's been stamped onto the gaming community's collective conscious through controversy, questionable company decisions, and its promise of unparalleled adventure through a hedonistic depiction of Night City.

I won't be the first to point out the fact that this is a game built on the foundations of a dated historical genre, and I'm not the last to define it as an experience born from a Gen-X perspective, thanks to its roots in the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG. Dragging cyberpunk into the realms of 21st-century AAA game development is a foregone conclusion, and as a result, V's Night City is tinted by a very specific rose-colored set of mirrorshades.

Night City has an enormous reach and it's an absolute pleasure to jump on a bike and ride it from one end to the other – janky traffic AI aside. The city is undoubtedly far more of a main character than either V or Johnny Silverhand. One of my greatest pleasures in the game was a series of side quests involving the sentient Delamain cab company, trying to reunite the fragments of a fractured AI personality. It wasn't just a charming bit of writing, but a welcome reprieve from the constant hustle of the street kid campaign I'd chosen, featuring a nice little cameo from Portal's GLADoS. Night City at its best meant gunning it out to the Badlands at sunrise with my radio set to Royal Blue FM, a lovely bebop/old-school jazz addition to the lineup of hard rock/EDM stations.

But after over twenty-five hours in the game on PlayStation 4 Pro, most of the experience has been painfully, almost predictably generic – this is, of course, aside from the veritable cornucopia of bugs that have plagued its launch.

Cyberpunk 2077 ticks all the boxes for an AAA title. It's got a lot to do, and a lot of places to do it in, and for a certain subset of people with the right hardware, it's a visual feast. For a game styled as an immersive playground, it's incredibly frustrating to be so consistently and frequently jarred out of that experience by relentless glitches.

There were relatively harmless Bethesda-level derps like watching NPCs levitate their drinks with the backs of their hands and people floating in the air. There was a relentless bug that forced me to slow-RP walk until I rebooted the game, a bug where quests glitched out until I rebooted the game, a bug where scripted sequences wouldn't load until I rebooted the game… you get the idea. An NPC cycled through canned flavor lines during a particularly sobering play-on-rails segment. "Pick it up, okay?" she repeated as I embarked on a high-stakes rescue mission at Arasaka HQ that ended in tragedy. There were also smaller inconsistencies like Mayor Rhyne's death plastered all over the news but the radio anchor still discussing his next term.

Hacking follows the tried-and-true matrix system that felt marginally more rewarding in Shadowrun, and even though I initially built myself out as a netrunner/tech, the baseline quickhacks didn't feel like a worthy investment. Reboot optics were useful for the mandatory stealth portions, but a spray-and-pray approach seems more in line with the street kid bravado and determination to make a name for themselves in the city. Combat feels appropriately chaotic given the context of Night City's burgeoning criminal culture, and even with all the other options – stealth, hacking, etc. – nine times out of ten, the game leans hard on fighting your way out of a situation.

What 2077 does well is expand on its roots from Mike Pondsmith's original creation, which is unabashedly style-over-substance and belongs squarely in its decade of birth for a reason. I've written at length on the historical nature of cyberpunk as a genre, and while there's nothing particularly sacred about it, 2077 has taken a very particular set of historical aesthetics and social paradigms and watered them down into something as puerile as it is comfortably, mind-numbingly addictive. Do I want to collect all the cars? Do I need all the clothes (I definitely don't need the "BURN CORPO SHIT" pants)? Not really, but there are a million other things V can do to kill time and make easy money from finding tarot graffiti around the city or checking in on a troubled neighbour, and generally working on their street cred. The glory of making a name for oneself in Night City is the main thrust of the game and it never lets you forget that.

The game's treatment of gender and culture is, unsurprisingly, not great, which isn't news for anyone who's paid attention to CDPR's botched portrayals of transgender people, especially the in-game ad for 'Chromanticore' (which is still, of course, plastered all over Night City). For all of cyberpunk's association with transhumanism, this is a game for kids who still get their kicks from seeing a dildo. Sure, sex is supposed to be ubiquitous in the future, but 2077's hypersexualized cuddle puddle isn't even interesting, and for the trans community, it's just plain demeaning. Boiling it down to a choice between penis or vagina is the most insipid take on future transhumanist possibilities ever, but 2077 would have you believe you're on Mr Toad's Wild Ride.

Then there's good old Takemura, the Ghost of Cyberpunk that nobody wanted. The cryptic eastern riddles that he sends V are probably meant to be satire, but CDPR probably aren't the right folks to pull that off well. The Alt Cunningham treatment is also a fairly tired trope, as a ghost in the machine and wronged ex rolled into one easy way out. I'm not even sure whether I'm on board with Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand – he's found the magic formula for just the right amount of abrasiveness and swagger while still remaining very much a background fixture in V's landscape.

2077 so far isn't terrible, but it definitely deserved more time in the oven. For consoles, maybe it deserved to build a whole new oven from scratch. I'm living for the small lowkey moments where V actually gets to explore their heritage in Heywood, providing a nice slice of humanity that departs from the baseline adolescence of the gameworld. V's relationships with characters like Judy and Misty are some of the stronger moments of writing and character development, but are these small moments enough?

As someone with a lifelong soft spot for the medium-specific charm of video game glitches, Cyberpunk 2077's botched launch just ain't it. Even overlooking the rushed rollout, after an eternity of being bludgeoned in the face with hyperbole, running through 2077 so far feels like five different games stitched together into an entertaining, passably decent, generic behemoth. It also goes without saying that CDPR's poor labor practices make a laughable parallel with cyberpunk's roots in the rise of neoliberalism.

Pondsmith has talked at length about how 2020 and 2077 aren't meant to be prophecies, but cautionary tales, but CDPR isn't quite the right studio to pull off a cautionary tale of this scope. I'm not sure whether dumping more hours in will yield a better takeaway, but here's hoping for more.

Paranoid, a psychological horror game from Madmind Studios, has a new trailer

Madmind Studios, the team that brought us the somewhat questionable Agony, have a new game on the horizon and it's called Paranoid. It's a first-person survival horror set in the 1980's that "combines an extensive, psychological story with dynamic and brutal combat."

The trailer shows Patrick, the protagonist, struggling with voices in head that affect his behaviour and are leading him on a dark path. Please note that this trailer is NSFW for the few remaining souls who are not stuck in their own living rooms hunched over a laptop.

Here's some more blurb:

The game tells the story of Patrick Calman, a 31-year-old man who has lost his entire family under mysterious circumstances. His parents died violently, and his sister went suddenly missing. Trauma associated with the loss of his loved ones destroyed Patrick's psyche. His own apartment became his prison.

One day Patrick gets a call, and the voice on the phone seems to belong to his sister. Thirteen years after the disappearance, she announces her comeback. To learn the truth about everything, Patrick will have to leave his secluded life, exposing himself to horrible experiences that will put him on the verge of madness.

Key features:
  • A dynamic and brutal combat system
  • Raytracing and 4k support
  • A constant struggle between paranoia and reality
  • Terrifying opponents
  • Drug abusing gameplay mechanics
  • A deep plot combining psychological horror with action and survival
  • A disturbing atmosphere that combines psychosis and surrealism
  • Realistic visual setting
  • Three endings depending on the style of the player's gameplay
  • Cinematic cutscenes

Patrick suffers from mental illness, a topic that must be delicately handled and I hope Madmind Studios are being sensitive. However, as Agony featured first person rape and babies being eaten, I am a little worried as to what Paranoid will turn out to be. As you can see from the trailer, there are already boobs-a-plenty in the game.

The game has no release date but is available to wishlist on Steam.

Source: Press release

Game of the Year 2020 – Best Remaster/Remake

As we near the end of the year, it's time to kick off our Game of the Year awards, diving into over a dozen different categories to celebrate the best of what we've seen since the start of 2020.

The last few years in particular have seen the trend of quick remasters that do a minor sprucing up of a game's visuals making way for full blown remakes of older classics. Publishers have been more than happy to mine the nostalgia that people felt for games like Crash Bandicoot (our 2017 winner) or Resident Evil 2 (our 2019 winner), but the developers have then gone the extra mile to actually make them. There's a difficult balancing act beyond simply making the graphics anew, as they judge if the gameplay still holds up for modern gamers, and where to make changes, improvements, additions.

In development for the last five years, but having been constantly demanded by fans for the last fifteen, our winner is…

How do you go about remaking one of the most beloved video games of all time? Well, you probably don't start by ramping up expectations with a graphical tech demo that you have no actual intention of following up on. It might have been a PR faux pas through the PlayStation 3 era, but the PS3 tech demo Square teased us with way back in 2005 only proved that the demand was there for a full on remake of Final Fantasy VII.

Even then, Square Enix were true to their word that this would be a vast project to undertake, not content with simply rebuilding the game's graphics, but also deciding to delve in and expand upon the underlying story and character relations. It's expanding the game to the point that this is being broken up into multiple parts, allowing Square Enix to flesh out ideas and areas that maybe weren't so fully formed in the original. It might not have been strictly necessary (and some of the changes are a little divisive), but it largely works.

Turn-based battles still have their place in the JRPG genre (hello, Dragon Quest XI) yet Square decided to shelve these for the Final Fantasy VII Remake. The combat here still has elements from that original ATB system though flows more dynamically, packing in just as much tactical nuance while admittedly looking way flashier. On the whole, this is a staggering remake and hopefully – now with the foundations in place – we won't have to wait as long for Square to deliver the next instalment.

Demon's Souls – Runner Up

Definitely revered as more of a cult classic compared to Final Fantasy VII, Demon's Souls is the precursor to one of gaming's most celebrated franchises. However, at the time of its original launch on the PlayStation 3 back in 2009 it was the definition of niche, gaining popularity through word of mouth as RPG die-hards chased down imported copies.

Demon's Souls is just as obtuse and unfriendly as it was all those years ago, Sony and the remaster… masters at Bluepoint Games thinking it would be the perfect launch game for the PS5. In some ways it is, showing off the console's raw power while also proving that Sony aren't just pandering to mainstream audiences. Although some purists have taken issue with some of Bluepoint's visuals upgrades, this remake perfectly mirrors FromSoftware's brutal fantasy RPG from its gruesome tome down to the fluid combat and oodles of character customisation options.

– Jim H

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 – Runner Up

Tony Hawks Pro Skater has been one sports franchise that's managed to ride the swiftly changing half-pipe of popularity. While Activision tried to refresh the first game in 2012 with Pro Skater HD, it wasn't the hallowed return that fans had been yearning for, but this year's Tony Hawks 1+2 was thankfully exactly what they'd been hoping for.

Drawing together the first two games in the series, this time around the visuals were given a full current-gen buffing, the soundtrack was given a suitably Hawks-ish update, and it stuffed the roster with every skater you could possibly want to smush into every obstacle out there. Add in a host of accessibility options and an enhanced endgame and you can see why this earned one of our hallowed 10/10s.

– Dom L

Honourable Mentions (in alphabetical order)

  • Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition
  • Resident Evil 3
  • Spider-Man Remastered

What was your personal favourite of the year? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to stick with us through the rest of this month as we tick our categories off one by one.

Hunt: Showdown 1.16 update drops ahead of "Blood & Ice" event

Crytek have released a new update for Hunt: Showdown for PC and consoles, bringing all editions of the game up to version 1.4.8.

Those on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (as well as PS5 and Xbox Series X|S via backwards viability) will see the patch appear as update 1.16.

Hunt: Showdown players should expect a number of key additions and changes to the popular multiplayer bounty hunting game. These include new and revised weapons as well as adjustments to the game's maps with new items to pick up and vantage points to scout out.

You can catch the full 1.4.8 patch notes down below. The Hunt: Showdown community will also want to keep their ears to the ground for today's developer livestream. This will go live at 13:30PM UK time with details on the festive "Blood & Ice" in-game event.

Hunt: Showdown Update 1.4.8 Patch Notes

Highlights

Additional Looting Options: This update brings a new looting opportunity to keep an out for on your treks through the Bayou. As with everything loot/ammo related in hunt, the "rule of two" applies to these new items.

The following items are now scattered throughout the world:

  • Envelopes that can contain one of the following:

    • 1000 Hunter XP.

    • 500 Bloodline XP.

    • 3-6 Upgrade points.

  • Small bags:

    • <25 Hunt dollars.

    • <3 Blood Bonds.

  • Trait charms:

    • These items will instantly unlock a random trait for your Hunter.

  • Blueprints:

    • These items will unlock the next available item unlock available for the currently equipped item (e.g holding a weak vitality shot while collecting the blueprint will unlock weak stamina shot.)

  • Gun oil (cosmetic only):

    • Oil that will clean your currently equipped weapon.

  • Meatheads:

    • Trait charms have a chance to drop from killing Meatheads.

Developer Note:

Looting in Hunt has always been an exciting experience. Whether it is desperately looting a dead hunter for extra supplies or trying to sneak those thousands of Hunt Dollars out while using a budget loadout, the action has always evoked the primary emotions that Hunt is built around. With this addition, we have 2 aims:

  • We want to add more value to the specific Hunters you use when ranking up (improve the risk/reward balance that we have always tried to keep prevalent in Hunt: Showdown).

  • Allow for more opportunities to explore the map and ensure there are benefits to doing so.

Additional traits have been available in quickplay for a while, but we wanted to find a good way to tie acquiring traits in to Bounty Hunt and we feel this is a good way to achieve that goal. The main difference in bounty hunt is that the charm drop shows which trait will be unlocked, so you can decide if you want to collect it, unlike in quickplay where the traits are randomly given for investigating clues. Each charm will contain a different trait, so it is up to you if you want to take one or leave it to your partner(s) ("rule of two" applies to trait charms also). This method also means that meatheads are a much more worthwhile investment in terms of time vs reward.

These new ways of levelling your hunters will mostly benefit new and low rank/newly prestiged players, as many of the traits will not be available to purchase at that early stage.

Watch Towers: A new addition to the landscape of the Bayou; Watch towers have now been added in several locations.

  • Hunters will have a chance to find supplies such as ammo/ health or weapons at the watch towers, though it will contain less than you find at the regular supply points.

  • Make sure to check the top of the tower when you pass by as there will always be something to find.

Lawson Delta:

  • Watch tower added on top of the Bunker between Sweetbell Flower and Fort Carmick

Stillwater Bayou:

  • Watch tower added in the swamp between Pitching Crematorium and Lockbay Docks.

  • Watch tower added to the hillslope north of Healing Waters.

Hunting towers:

  • Hunting towers have also received an upgrade. Hunters will have a chance to find either an ammo box, health station or weapon in the tower.

New Weapon Variants

Winfield M1873 Musket-Bayonet

  • An elongated variant of the Winfield M1873 with a Bayonet and a slightly larger magazine

  • Holds an extra +2 rounds in the elongated tube magazine

  • Levering shoots at a slightly reduced rate of fire than other Winfield M1873 rifles

Nagant M1895 Officer Carbine Deadeye

  • An Officer Carbine variant with a Deadeye scope.

  • Reduced shoulder aim accuracy due to the mounted scope.

  • Recoil is harder to control in ADS due to increased zoom.

New Legendary Weapons

Vagrant

  • Legendary Winfield M1873C Silencer

  • A vagrant known as the tin-man rattled around the city with a large bag of cans, harmless until a malicious Hunter threw them into the bay. Able to save but a few, he decorated his Winfield M1873C Silencer with the remainder, and set out for revenge – silent as a whisper.

Death Letter

  • Legendary M1895 Nagant Officer Brawler

  • Death pens no warning of His coming, and for Hunters and soldiers alike, the sound of gunfire is the only correspondence foretelling their demise. This Nagant's personalized engraving appears to reference an old Civil War ballad written by one who would later become a Hunter – delivering his own dark tidings with each deadly shot, death incarnate.

DeSalle's Silence

  • Legendary Sparks LRR Silencer

  • The favored Sparks LRR of the elder DeSalle brother, a man whose business ventures would not have been as successful without the occasional enforced silence.

Gunplay

Concertina bomb

  • Explosion delay decreased to ~0.5s (previously ~1.5s).

Melee changes – Hatchet, Talon, Heavy Knife & Machete

  • Slightly changed the attack angle of the Hatchet and Talon attachments to ensure hits are more reliable.

  • Slightly changed the attack angle of the Heavy knife to ensure hits are more reliable.

  • Slightly changed the angle of the normal attack for the Machete to ensure hits are more reliable.

Officer Carbine

  • Slightly Increased the recoil of the Nagant Officer Carbine.

Antidote shots

  • Antidote shots no longer reduces the damage taken from poison-based attacks (e.g spider bounce, stings from the Hive Swarms

  • Poison cloud damage remains unchanged and will reduce damage by 100%

Developer note:

Up until now, if you were attacked by the spider or a hive while an antidote shot was active, the physical damage that was caused was also reduced. We felt that this was a little unbalanced especially in instances like the spider frenzy, which made it possible to tank the spider far more effectively than intended so with this change, the physical damage will from attacks such as these will be applied as normal while still ensuring you remain poison free after an interaction with a spider or Hive.

Aim Assist (Consoles Only)

  • Increased aim assist strength for Water Devils

Hunter

Trait Rework: Ghoul

  • New description: "Killing grunts at close range restores a small amount of health".

  • Radius of 25m, similar to Necromancer and Serpent traits.

  • Health will be granted only if you instigate the damage, you do not have to land the killing blow to benefit from the health gain.

  • Restores 5hp per kill.

  • Price increased to 7 points (this is subject to change based on test server feedback).

Developer note:

In our opinion, Ghoul is a trait that has a lot of untapped potential (as well as a low pick rate) and could use some attention. We wanted to ensure that the trait remains true to its theme of replenishing health from the dead, however we wanted to make it less situational. In the past, players could only benefit from it if they dared to loot a hunter in combat, but in most instances that was not the main goal of looting in a fight (the main goal usually getting another consumable or tool charge to benefit the fight).

We wanted to turn the Ghoul trait into something that is more versatile and offer it as a more of a tactical option through any stage of the game. The trait can now help to preserve your health items for the important PVP fights later in the round and as a result should help hunters be less reliant on searching for health stations throughout the match.

Interaction Outlines

  • Option added to the menu to allow you to customize the highlighting outlines of interactable items (doors, windows, etc.)

  • This option does not alter the UI prompts from showing in the top right corner of the screen when in range of an interactable object.

The options are as follows:

  • All: Current behaviour – all interactable object are outlined frequently.

  • None: Turn of fall outlines for interactable objects and partner outlines.

  • Exclude Door and windows: Similar to "all", but doors and windows will no longer be highlighted (does not affect other interactable objects)

Developer note:

This change is meant to address two long standing requests from the community. Some have wanted to remove more UI elements from the game to be able to record cinematic content more efficiently.

For others, it has always been hard to track opponents behind doors or windows in certain lighting conditions. We understand that our veterans know where every accessible door and window are so we want to provide them with the option to forfeit interaction highlights for a better overview of what is going on behind the doors/windows.

Bounty Hunt

Banishing a Boss

  • Initiating the banishing process with now restore all lost health chunks as well as replenishing all your health.

Developer note:

Previously, it was unclear to a lot of players as to what was restored by the banishing process. To remove some of the ambiguity that came from using different health chunk set-ups we have made it so that all health chunks are restored, and your health pool is refilled. So, if your team starts the banish, you are in back in the fight – no questions asked!

Dark Sight Boost

  • Investigating a clue while carrying a bounty token will now restore 1 second of Dark Sight Boost. We hope this will encourage Hunters to be more inclined to run the gauntlet if there is a second target.

Extraction Points

  • Changes made to ensure that all extraction points will not spawn next to each other. One extraction point will always be at least 500m away from the other two.

Developer note:

We like challenging rounds as much as the next person, but we must acknowledge that certain randomly generated elements in the game such as the location of extraction points, can lead to unfavorable situations for those that want to focus on objective play.

With this change, we want to eliminate one of the most extreme cases that limits potential exit strategies. The available extractions may still be in roughly the same area, however, setting the distance of one to at least 500m will give better options to extract so that you may live to die another day.

Leaderboard

  • Player will be shown on the leaderboard only if they meet all those conditions:

    • Logged in within the last 30 days.

    • Have at least 100 kills in Quickplay or 100 Kills or Assist in Bounty Hunt.

    • Didn't opt out from showing their stats publicly.

    • Not banned.

    • Played at least 50 hours.

MetaUnlock Rank Changes

  • Duster is now available at Rank 1 (previously Rank 20).

  • Spyglass is now available at Rank 1 (previously Rank 24).

  • Machete is now available at rank 24 (previously Rank 12).

  • Nagant M1895 Officer is now available at Rank 12 (previously Rank 36).

  • Winfield M1873 is now available at Rank 20 (previously Rank 42).

Developer note:

In preparation for update 1.5, we are moving around some items so that we can evenly distribute the unlocks before adding the new unique Winfield M1876 and M1887 that were teased in our most recent blog post. In addition to this, some items have been moved to Rank1 to allow for more variety in the early levels and more choice when it comes to selecting preferred melee tools.

The Nagant officer family now unlocks shortly after the Caldwell Pax, which give players more choice when it comes to assembling balanced loadouts as well as adding more quality weapons around those ranks rather than having a focus on the quantity of weapons available (example combining single shot rifles or shotguns with a rapid-fire handgun and vice versa). The same applies to the Winfield, which is now sitting between the Martini Henry and Sparks LRR unlocks.

Faster Progression: XP Overspill for Equipment Unlocks

  • XP earned during a mission with any piece of equipment will now overspill into the next unlock within that equipment family.

Developer note:

Due to some technical issues. The experience from the last hit, that resulted in the death of an AI would not carry over (overspill) into the next unlock, but all XP after this was applied as normal. This has now been resolved and any overspill XP will be applied correctly going forward.

e.g. player requires 10 XP to unlock the Romero handcannon. Killing a Hive grants 20 XP, which will unlock the weapon and open the next unlock gate, but that extra 10 XP was lost.

Store

Price updates

  • Nagant Officer Carbine is now $155 (previously $80)

New Weapons added

  • Added Nagant Officer Carbine Deadeye for $211

  • Added Winfield Musket-Bayonet for $137

  • New Legendary Weapons added

  • Added Legendary Winfield M1873c Silencer "Vagrant" for 200 Blood Bonds

  • Added Legendary Nagant Officer "Death Letter" for 200 Blood Bonds

  • Added Legendary Sparks LRR Silencer "DeSalle's Silence" for 400 Blood Bonds

Roster

  • Added new possible name variations for Hunter recruits

Miscellaneous

  • Tweaked a calculation tied to the texture streaming memory budget to improve the game's performance.

  • Improvements made to the overall game stability and fixed multiple issues that was causing a memory leak with the renderer.

  • The "Rank" text has been replaced by a dedicated icon on the Lobby screen

  • A new icon representing the Traits was added onto the trait selection bottom bar in the Roster and Upgrade pages.

Bug Fixes (PC and Console)

AI

  • Fixed an issue with the pathfinding for some AI that could become stuck on corners (Meathead, Butcher, Grunts).

  • Fixed an issue that resulted in caged dogs not taking damage from a burning player.

  • Fixed an issue that meant players could receive damage from caged dogs while standing directly beside the cage.

  • Fixed an issue that resulted in crows and ducks reacting incorrectly to the sounds of the Silenced Spark LRR as if it were the regular Sparks LRR.

Misc

  • Fixed an issue where deployable items such as the Bear Trap could be placed on concertina wire.

  • Static (unlit) lanterns will now make a sound when shattered.

  • Choke bombs will now extinguish Alert trip mine flares.

  • Fixed an issue where lanterns in boxes were difficult to interact with.

  • Fixed an issue that resulted in Decoy fuses not being resupplied while having the Decoy resupply trait.

  • Fixed an issue where explosions would not influence farm bells (ding!)

  • Fixed an inconsistency in the exhausted state melee damage for the Mosin Nagant Obrex variants.

  • Fixed a crash that could potentially occur when shutting down the game.

  • Fixed an issue that could result in being attacked by an immolator during the "waiting for players" stage when spawning in South-East Lawson Delta. (they just wanted a hug!)

  • Fixed a rendering issue where certain geometry would flicker in an out at specific points in Healing Waters Church.

  • Fixed an issue where players could become stuck on some bunkbeds in Wolfshead Arsenal (no sleeping on the hunt!)

  • Fixed an issue that could cause a player to become stuck at a hut by the river near Arden Parish.

  • Fixed a spot in Catfish where hunters could become stuck.

  • Fixed an issue where a hunter could vault through a roof in Sweetbell Flour.

  • Fixed an issue where AI would pop in too close to a Hunter in Fort Carmick.

  • Fixed a number of issues that resulted in not being able to pick up hammers and axes.

Known Issues (PC and Console)

  • New "+" symbols will appear in the store and news after a game restart, even if no new items are available.

  • In some cases, on the recruitment page, an insanely high amount of hunter dollars will be displayed in the "hire" section. This is purely visual and is only visible when no recruits are present.

  • When purchasing a DLC that contains 2 Hunters, the 2nd legendary hunter pop up will not be displayed.

  • A butcher extinguished with a choke bomb can still set you on fire with the final death swing (so don't get too close).

  • In some cases, the spider frenzy will end if you leave the boss area.

  • In some cases, weapons can disappear through the floor after swapping with another weapon.

  • Some buttons in the store can disappear when selecting different filter options.

  • It is possible to dismiss all hunters.

  • Depending on the sprinting state, you may encounter some inconsistencies with movement speed while stopping bleeding/fire.

  • Some LoD transitions are delayed.

  • In certain cases, where there is a slowdown between client and backend, it is possible to reshuffle a number of times, in these cases you will use more blood bonda than intended.

  • In some rare cases, the extraction icon will show the incorrect message (such as being revived in the extraction while spectating, the revived player may still see "Your partner is down, Revive them!". This is purely visual and the timer will count down as normal.

  • In some cases, when at rank 100, the value of bloodline XP in the game summary may show double what was earned.

  • Incorrect ammo reserve details can sometimes be shown when looting a weapon.

  • In rare cases, the concertina wire will not damage players.

  • ELO arrows are not displayed in the killcard if the player that killed you has their stats are hidden.

  • In some cases, shooting at birds from a distance will not cause them to fly away.

  • Whisper indicator will stop once the Assassin has been killed.

  • Duster melee chaining may not work as intended after several melee attacks.

  • Any lootable weapon that spawns in the tutorial is not kept when leaving the mission.

  • When using Gunsligner, melee cannot be used during weapon preparation.

  • When using Gunslinger, chained (repeated) shots are less reliable.

  • When using Gunslinger, cancelling a reload can result in extra inputs needed to get back to ADS.

  • Disconnecting from the game while interacting from a metal gate will cause the action to continue.

  • Switiching firemodes while dual weilding the Lemat does not return you to the correct stance and continues to play the audio loop.

  • The Butcher will not stop its attack when extinguished by a choke bomb.

  • Thrown world axes will not damage hive swarms, but will bounce off them.

  • Buy button on the sole survivor page will show an incorrect value if no survivors are available.

  • Weapons sway may increase when landing after a jump.

  • Spectator mode: Clues may appear with a pink glow outside of Darksight.

  • Picking up a weapon can sometimes result in the weapon not being shown (showing as empty handed) if you move to far during the interaction phase. Switching the weapon again should resolve this.

Known issues (Console Only)

  • In some cases, you may encounter a freeze/stall during the start of a Trial.

  • There may be a drop of 3-4fps when exiting Darksight.

  • AI are less responsive in comparison to the PC version.

  • Pop up does not appear correctly when linking your account to be awarded 5000 hunt dollars.

  • The "sell all" function will also sell the selected items that are currently equipped to your hunter in the roster/equipment screen.

  • In some cases, you may encounter some inconsistencies in button behaviour when buying something in the roster/equipment screen.

  • Some text for the controller shortcuts may be cut off while in the lobby screen.

Source: Reddit

Among Us on Switch is a solid port, but there's work to be done before it can join PlayStation and Xbox

From relative obscurity to becoming one of the many hyped up reveals during The Game Awards, Among Us has come a very long way in a very short space of time. Released in 2018, its big break came in August of this year as numerous streamers latched onto the game's innate watchability, and before developer InnerSloth knew it, their servers were falling over as people rushed to group up with their friends and then stab each other in the back.

Available for Android, iOS and Windows for the last two years, the game has now made the jump across to Nintendo Switch. Could it soon be coming to PlayStation and Xbox as well?

Well, we'll get to that, but first: what is Among Us?

Essentially, the game is based on the social deduction game Werewolf, where you have a group of players, one of whom is seeking to covertly kill the rest while avoiding suspicion. Instead of having everyone sat round in a circle, Among Us gives all of the players tasks to complete, while the imposter(s) have to go around pretending to perform tasks and sneaking in a little murder every now and then.

It all comes to a head when a body is discovered or if someone calls a meeting to reveal some suspicious behaviour. Players debate, they interrogate, they lie, obstruct and can then vote to kick someone out or wait, if they haven't narrowed down a suspect just yet. It's a great video game adaptation, playing off social interactions exceptionally well, and a deserved (belated) success for InnerSloth.

Originally created for smartphone, the jump to Nintendo Switch is almost effortless. Roaming the map is as intuitive as it's ever been, and you have both button and touch screen support for the little task mini-games that pop up.

That said, it also feels quite rough in ways that will be both familiar to players on other platforms and new to the Switch version. The main menu, for example, includes buttons and links that will take you to Facebook or Twitter… or they would if the Switch had a web browser and didn't just flat out crash….

The Nintendo Switch release also highlights one of the continued weaknesses of the game for me: the lack of built in communication tools. While much of the game plays out in relative silence, the meetings are hives of back and forth interrogation if you play in person or use something like Discord to have a group voice chat. In-game, all you have is text chat, which can be fine, but basically just boils down to players stating a colour in the interest of time. That depends on the group you're playing with, obviously, and the game is by far best played with friends with voice, as opposed to text chat with a group of strangers.

The Switch fits in with the current workarounds quite neatly, to be honest. To put it in another, slightly more brutal way, the frankly dumb lack of a built in microphone on the Switch and the nigh on useless mobile app as a substitute for system-level voice chat and parties all mean people would be resorting to Discord and other set ups anyway.

You do still have text chat, but the pop-up keyboard on Switch covers the game entirely, meaning you cannot see the chat, and I've always found touchscreen text input on Switch oddly detached compared to smartphones and tablets.

If the game is to come to PlayStation or Xbox any time soon, it would need a rethink of the communications options. Voice chat would really need to be integrated – though PSN and Xbox Live both have robust party systems, in-game chat could automate the muting and unmuting for meetings – and a system of quick communications to relay information without a keyboard. It's sure to be a big task, and why the ports to other consoles have only ever been in consideration.

Given how much buzz there is surrounding Among Us, it's no surprise that InnerSloth have sought to bring it to console, and Nintendo Switch is by far and away the most logical first platform for them to tackle. That said, they've clearly got their work cut out for them to make it truly feel like a first class citizen on the platform, ironing out the kinks and figuring out how best to translate the game to PlayStation and Xbox.

Does Among Us need Nintendo Switch Online to play?

Nintendo and InnerSloth surprised gamers with the sudden launch of Among Us on Nintendo Switch. The console port was officially revealed during Nintendo's recent Indie World showcase broadcast.

Available now for £3.89 directly via the Nintendo Switch eShop, this brand new version of the hugely popular multiplayer hit has cross-play enabled with the PC and mobile editions of Among Us.

Although light on content (something InnerSloth is already tackling with their Airship map update) Among Us packs in plenty of replay value within that £3.89 price tag though there's also a "hidden cost" some may not be aware of.

Does Among Us require Nintendo Switch Online to play?

If you're coming over from the PC and mobile versions of Among Us, or perhaps only use your Switch very rarely, you may be unaware of the Nintendo Switch Online service. This is basically Nintendo's answer to Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, allowing you to access multiplayer and other network features within games. As long as you've got an active subscription, of course.

The same goes for Among Us. In order to play this game you will need to purchase or renew your Nintendo Switch Online membership. There are three payment options available starting at £3.49. So, if you fancy dipping your does in Among Us for 30 days, you can opt for this lowest subscription band. However, you'll be saving up to 57% if you choose top up even further – 3 months (or 90 days) is currently priced at £6.99 with a year (365 days) for £17.99.

We've been playing Among Us on Nintendo Switch – you can read our first impressions here. Although InnerSloth have done a good job in porting their flagship hit to Nintendo console, there are some initial kinks that need ironing out.

If you're on the fence about splashing money on Nintendo Switch Online, there are some added perks that may swing your decision. Not only will you be able to play Among Us and a growing catalogue of multiplayer games online via Nintendo's network, you will also be able to access cloud saves and a range of complimentary retro titles from the NES & SNES era.

WWE Undefeated Review

From the makers of Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid comes a new fighting venture featuring your favourite wrestlers in the form of WWE Undefeated, a free to play title for iOS and Android.

Now, I don't want to blow my own trumpet, but I'm quite good at fighting games, so you can imagine my surprise when I was able to apply proper fighting game fundamentals to matches that I played. I should have expected it, really – Battle for the Grid was pretty good.

It's difficult to do fighting games well on mobile, though. You just doesn't get the precision that veterans would be used to from playing stick or even a pad. Thankfully, the controls are simple. You swipe left or right to move your character back and forth – spacing is important as it always is in fighting games – and then tap on abilities once they become available to use. Easy.

Each move has a range and speed, meaning throwing your moves out at the wrong time can result in whiffing and getting a return slap. Abilities are not set in stone and made up by a battle deck which you can fully customise for each wrestler. There are three types of ability cards: Counter cards that put your wrestler in a defensive position and instantly counter an incoming melee attack, Strike cards that perform said melee attacks and Grapple cards which, as you can probably guess, perform grapples.

There's a rock, paper, scissors element to the system as well which generally see one type of card beat one type of attack but fall prey to another. Counter cards work against Strike cards, but do nothing against Grapple cards. Grapple cards are easily interrupted by Strike cards, and so on. It's a simple yet effective system where you can learn to bait your opponent into one move and then counter with another. On quite a few occasions, I've been able to dash in and quickly dash backwards, tricking my opponent into using a Strike move. I'd wait for the animation to nearly be over and then retaliate with a Strike move of my own.

Each card has a cost to use during the match. You have a bar at the bottom of the screen that fills up over time from zero to to ten and this is your pool of energy points to play with. The Flying Clothesline, for instance, costs three points of energy to use so if you are maxed at ten energy, your bar will go from ten to seven and then slowly keep refilling. You need to avoid spamming moves willy-nilly and be savvy during your assaults. If you aren't, there might be occasions where you use all your abilities and then stand there for a moment or two while your opponent is free to beat down on you.

You can also chain attacks together if timed right, making a slip up by your opponent fatal, especially if you have a Hype move banked and ready to use. The Hype meter builds up over the course of the match as you get hit and deal damage, giving you access to a wrestler's finisher once full.

At time of writing, there are a total of thirteen wrestlers in the game to unlock with three more listed as 'coming soon'. You start off with the ever popular Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and proceed to unlock more wrestlers through winning matches and moving up to the next league. It's a slightly annoying way of handing characters out, as a wrestler like The Fiend is only available to unlock when you hit league VII, and that can take a while. Then again, it's a mobile game model and the progression path is generally a given. I just feel sorry for fans of The Undertaker who will not be able to play with the phenom straight away. For now, you can unlock Adam Cole, AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, Finn Balor, Otis, The Rock, Kevin Owens, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Seth Rolins, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Fiend and The Undertaker.

One thing to note here is the lack of female wrestlers right now. It's definitely an odd choice not to include them considering how big the women's division is.

Winning battles nets you different rarity boxes that contain battle cards and tokens to unlock and level up characters/moves. If I get ten Gut Kick cards in a box, I can use that to take the move from level three to level four increasing the move's damage, for instance. Character tokens also work in the same way, leveling up a character's stats and abilities as you go.

Stats are further increased as you play by using the Talent Level bonuses that you unlock, giving say, an increase to damage by 5% when you hit level three. Unfortunately, there's no way to check what bonuses you have at this time which is slightly frustrating.

Sadly, there is only once mode to play right now, which is just labeled as 'Battle', meaning if you're looking for variety in modes, you will be a little disappointed. It's early doors for this game, and Undefeated is bound to get updates adding news modes into the mix. Right now, it's severely lacking a practice mode, because if you want to try a new wrestler out, you are forced to go into the online ranking mode. If you lose, you also lose league progression, which is not fair when you just want to try a new character out.

Once you hit a high enough talent level, you can also join a Faction. Factions right now only seem to serve one purpose and that's for requesting and donating character tokens and battle cards. It feels very strange that it was included this early on in the game's life considering there's not much you can really do with it right now.

Of course, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the microtransaction element of Undefeated. Gold is the purchasable currency of choice which can in turn be spent on things like buying more Battle Bucks, the rank up currency for wrestlers and cards. Gold can also be used to unlock boxes that are gained through battles quicker. I can see how this might be tempting as some of the higher rarity boxes can take up to six hours to unlock. It's not a deal breaker to me, and certainly not the most insidious use of microtransactions. You can still play the game and there's no major advantage of spending money at the moment.

The great dildo plague of Cyberpunk 2077 is to come to an end

There are a phenomenal amount of dildos in Cyberpunk 2077, they seem to be scattered across almost every corner of the game including places dildos should not be, throbbing sneakily from behind the counter of many cafes. CD Projekt RED have now explained why the game contains so many fake phalluses, "Where something by today's standards might be taboo or kinky is very normal and commonplace by 2077 standards."

Dildos are not taboo, and they certainly 'aint kinky. Rubber pleasure poles have been around since the 1930's and the first known sex toy was created around 30,000 years ago, and back in 2016 Phil and Holly had a feature on the best vibrators during This Morning where they discussed the 'Lovehorny Clitoral Desire Vibe'.  A big floppy silicon wang lost any sort of shock value many years ago.

It's unclear why scattering huge amounts of jiggling jackhammers across a city is meant to show sexual liberation, but apparently it does. Dildos spawn as part of the random loot items in the game and it seems that the algorithm that selects when and where a sexy toy is placed isn't working very well.

"We were still tweaking those settings, so especially during the early reviews, the amount of dildos in the game world was pretty high. We're going to adjust them so that the dildos don't appear too out of place/context and distracting and more where they should be by design," explained senior quest designer Philipp Weber to Kotaku.

This will be the first, and hopefully only time, a game gets a hotfix to patch out a plague of plastic penises.

Despite record breaking pre-orders and launch sales for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red have found themselves in hot water over the launch of the game. With myriad bugs, poor performance on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and the company issuing a public statement saying the unsatisfied users could seek refunds, all coming after a review cycle that only featured the PC version of the game, it's safe to say that public perceptions of the company have taken a nose dive.

In an emergency board call to answer questions, the company's top brass were grilled about the launch, upcoming updates, how they dropped the ball, and the fallout that they're currently seeing.

First and foremost, joint-CEO Adam Kiciński admitted in his opening statement that "After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game. We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles."

This was later followed up by co-founder Marcin Iwiński was said "It is more about us looking – as was previously stated – at the PC and next-gen performance rather than current-gen. We definitely did not spend enough time looking at that."

Source: Kotaku

EA Play for Xbox Game Pass on PC delayed until 2021

On the day of its intended launch, Microsoft have stated that EA Play's induction into the Xbox Game Pass for PC game library has been delayed until sometime in 2021.

EA Play is still, however, a part of Xbox Game Pass for console, and has been since the launch of the Xbox Series X|S on 10th November.

Writing on the Xbox blog, they say:

When we originally set out to write this blog post, which would announce the availability of EA Play on PC with Xbox Game Pass, it looked a little bit different. Unfortunately, what had been a celebratory post is now one asking for a little more patience: We made the decision to delay until 2021 the release of EA Play on PC as part of the Xbox Game Pass for PC and Ultimate memberships.

We established this partnership with Electronic Arts because they are as passionate as we are about helping people and communities discover great games, and we knew we could provide a great experience for members by working together. In order to deliver on that, we need more time to provide the Xbox Game Pass experience.

It was on the cusp of that launch that Microsoft originally announced that the tightening of their partnership with EA would extend to Windows 10 as well. While Microsoft have not gone into the reasons why, there's any number of background technical issues that could have led to this, from having to add a bunch of EA games to the Microsoft Store all in one go, to the ties back to EA's own platform that the games have.

On Windows, EA Play is available through EA themselves, but also arrived on Steam back in August. The service debuted as EA Access on Xbox One back in 2014, the PC counterpart Origin Access arriving in 2016, before EA Access it belatedly spread to PlayStation 4 in 2019. Earlier this year they rebranded it all as EA Play. Much less confusing.

Source: Xbox

Among Us announced for Nintendo Switch, is out today!

Slow burning indie hit Among Us has stealth released on Nintendo Switch and will be available to download and play today, December 15th!

There is no news on PlayStation or Xbox versions and as Nintendo are all over this announcement I would expect there's some sort of timed exclusivity deal, but the other console version can't be far behind.

Last week new map for Among Us was revealed at The Game Awards, where developer Innersloth picked up a couple of awards (and were totally adorable with their reactions and acceptance speeches).

Called The Airship, the new map is set on the Toppat Airship, with tasks like polishing diamonds and emptying trashcans. You'll have to take ladders to get around, while there's new mechanics like being able to choose your starting position after a meeting, and more.

Among Us has been one of the indie hits of the summer, despite actually having released all the way back in 2018. The game was discovered by Twitch streamers, with its paranoia-infused multiplayer making for a lot of fun and plenty of cross-channel collaborations. It helps that the game's really cheap at just £4.

The game is built for 4-10 players, with one or more players being an "imposter", and alien interloper who has to try and murder their way through the other players as they try to complete tasks. As murdered bodies are discovered, players report them and call a group meeting to bicker, accuse, and potentially kick someone out of an airlock. There's tons of options to customise lobbies and tweak settings to balance the game for your group,

In response to the sudden boom in popularity in August, Innersloth set back to work on their now very popular game. It had achieved moderate popularity originally, allowing them to start working on a sequel, but they decided to instead cancel the sequel and put more resources into supporting their now huge audience.

Source: Twitter

Katamari Damacy REROLL has us gagging for a Katamari sequel

Amidst our grim fascination with explosive, ultra violent video games, there's also that omnipresent longing for something to come and wow us, whether it be a bold new take on the familiar or something completely abstract. Katamari definitely slots into the latter category and if you've always been curious about this Namco curio, you can finally play it on modern PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Katamari Damacy REROLL isn't just a nifty remaster of a cult classic, it's a remedy. It's a silly salve that dissolves the over-seriousness of AAA gaming, an unapologetically absurd palette cleanser.

Miguel has already waxed lyrical about Namco's revival of this beloved PlayStation 2 gem when it originally bounded onto the Nintendo Switch and PC at the very end of 2018. Two years later and it has finally made it way onto other last-gen systems (and it's obviously playable on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S via backward compatibility).

If you've never heard of or touched a Katamari game before then the premise is as bonkers as it is refreshingly straightforward. As the Prince you'll drop into different levels, moving your ball-like Katamari around in an attempt to roll up as many items as possible within a set time. The bigger your Katamari grows, the bigger the objects will be that you can stick onto it.

Damacy starts you off at the small end, scooping up various articles of Japanese paraphernalia around a suburban home. By the end of the game, however, you'll be big enough to roll up people, cars, and entire cities. It's incredibly cathartic.

In another universe, there's a version of Katamari Damacy that is M-rated nightmare fuel. This game turns out to be the complete opposite, oozing with eccentric charm from every pore. Everything, from the calming pastel colours to the blocky 3D models and character designs are uniquely endearing. Just take a look at the Prince's dad, The King of All Cosmos, to get a dose of the game's fruity flavour.

Controlling your Katamari in REROLL is deliberately clunky. You'll need to move both sticks in tandem to push your big ball of rubbish in that direction. Meanwhile turning is done by pushing up on one stick and down on the other, clicking them both snapping you 180 degrees when you need to quickly pivot. The items you manage to stick onto will morph the Katamari's shape – snag a few fence panels and they'll likely jut out of one side, awkwardly catching on your surroundings as you roll along. Katamari Damacy REROLL really isn't the smoothest, most modern-feeling game to play and that could definitely rub newcomers the wrong way, but only if they've somehow not been entranced by its sheer bizarreness.

In terms of playable content, there isn't as much as other games in the Katamari series though plenty to keep you going as you bounce between a mix of story and bonus levels. There's also a score-chasing element here, as well as competitive split-screen multiplayer that helps expand REROLL's lifespan beyond its trippy main adventure.

There wasn't much Namco needed to do here in terms of visuals besides remaster everything in HD. Katamari is one of the strongest examples of games that out-flex photorealism with their gorgeous art direction. The soundtrack is top-tier work, too, to the point that Katamari mixes have long been a go-to of mine when working, studying, or in the mood for uplifting tunes spliced with some killer jazz.

Much like Miguel two years ago, I'm here to tell you that Katamari Damacy REROLL is a Japanese gaming treasure, tarted up for a new generation. You'll know just by looking at a single screenshot whether it will suit your vibe. Even if it doesn't, there's still a good chance you'll come away with the biggest grin on your face.

The Fall Guys Season 3 is now live!

Update: Fall Guys Season 3 is now live, bringing with it plenty of new levels, costumes to earn and stuff to do within a wintry new theme.

The launch of Season 3 comes, of course, with a big new update. Head here for the Season 3 update patch notes.

The original post follows.

Cuddly battle royale sensation Fall Guys is about to embark on its third season, sprinkling the game with a light dusting of wintry content to go with the festive cheer of the season.

Fall Guys Season 3 is out on 15th December for PlayStation and PC.

The winter update will bring with it 7 new levels to test yourself on, new obstacles to deal with, and over 30 new skins to unlock through wins and playing.

So what's the point in playing this weekend? Well, you can try to get through the last few levels on Season 2 with its medieval theme, which will certainly be helped by the Double Fame points that are currently being handed out. Or maybe take a break so that the winter content will all feel nice and fresh?

We awarded the game an excellent 8 our of 10 in our review earlier this year. Here's how I summed up my time with the game:

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Fall Guys was made available for free on PlayStation Plus back in August and quickly became it's most-downloaded complimentary game. It was a huge success on PC as well, though, selling millions of copies and becoming a staggering success for Mediatonic.

Fortnite gets 120Hz mode on PS5 & Xbox Series X, adds PC Performance Mode for older computers

Epic Games are pushing out Fortnite update 15.10 today, which is all about increasing performance for an ever wider group of players.

On PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S there's a new 120fps mode that applies to both Battle Royale and Creative modes of the game – you can find the toggle in the Fortnite Video settings. It's not clear what resolution and video settings playing at 120fps will result in, but expect a fair few sacrifices to be made to get there.

Epic have also further optimised the game on Xbox Series S, so that the standard 60fps mode now has a maximum resolution of 1200p, up from 1080p. That should add a touch of added clarity to the game on the lighter new generation console.

Meanwhile, over on PC, Epic have released a Performance Mode update that enables the game to run on older PC specs than before. It's an in-game setting that quite simply trades visual quality for lower memory usage and a lighter load on the CPU and GPU. It's intended to lower the bottom end specs, but also to help smooth frame rates for those that are struggling.

The download can also be reduces, with the ability to opt out of high-resolution textures through the Epic Games Launcher installation options page. This will slash 14GB from the game's size, dropping it to as little as 17GB when also ditching the Save the World mode and unnecessary language packs.

Epic have provided examples for the kinds of performance uplift that can be expected, both devices featuring integrated graphics and running the game at 720p:

Hardware Example 1: Hardware Example 2:
CPU: Intel i5-8265U @ 1.60GHz CPU: AMD A10-5745M APU @ 2.1GHz
Memory: 8GB RAM Memory: 6GB RAM
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU: AMD Radeon(TM) HD 8610G
FPS Before: 24 fps FPS Before: 18 fps
FPS After: 61 fps FPS After: 45 fps

Source: press release

Empire of Sin Review

Empire of Sin's authentic decor, swinging house band, and menu of exotic systemic cocktails can't make up for a serious termite infestation that threatens to quite literally bring the house down. It can be a real swell ball at times, but there comes a point – say, somewhere after the roof has collapsed, crushing all the guests – where you have to cut your losses and close up for renovation.

Had Empire of Sin launched in early access, I'd have called it exceptionally promising. Like a mob hitman dangling a lit cigarette over a gasoline-soaked rival business, it's constantly threatening to turn into something absolutely explosive. Its many systems are poised to coalesce into some truly fascinating results, from the micro level personalities of the individual mobsters you can hire, to the apparent nuances of the higher level strategy management game. It doesn't quite manage it, though.

I outlined most of what I felt were the game's highest and lowest points in my review in progress, and at least one hotfix later, I'm sad to say that not a great deal has changed. Truthfully, however many approaches and clever tricks the game offers in the running of your mobster empire, the AI factions are never smart enough to warrant you actually using most of them. Weak minor factions will sit right next to the more powerful opponents, and the big fish will barely ever swallow the little one, despite the clear advantages they hold. There are many small issues like this, but they all come down to a lack of aggression or manipulation on the AI's part. You have to wonder how they made it this far in the underworld with such a lack of ambition.

After several more hours with the combat that comprises around two thirds of the time you'll spend with Empire of Sin, I've grown ever more weary of it. The lack of an auto-resolve feature means you'll spend an age fighting grindy battles, and the ease of ambushing means fights are often over before they begin. This can be fun, for the first twenty or so times, but it ends up feeling like so many other parts of Empire of Sin: you're barely even playing, just going through the motions needed to progress.

Because the economy benefits so strongly from your ability to take things by force, easy combat also leads to the management layer feeling almost inconsequential. You can break it with a few clever tricks, or you can take it by force, but the only way in which you actually have to work for it is in an investment of time, never strategy or forethought.

I still want Empire of Sin to realise its full potential, because its stylings really are something. A love for the time period permeates everything the game does, from the weapons and dialogue to what is probably my favourite soundtrack this year. The few battles that force you to pull out all the stops are properly gripping, and there's a gleeful, immediate violence to finishing blows that bring to mind John Romero sneaking downstairs while his wife was asleep to add his own satisfyingly juvenile signature to the game.

I can't remember having such an unsatisfying experience with a game that I didn't end up fundamentally disliking, perhaps ever, because Empire of Sin is such a charming, and as I've said, ambitious creation. It's not a bad game, it's just one that needs more development time to realise its potential.

Empire of Sin is a promising strategy game but one that feels woefully incomplete. I can't recommend it, but I can recommend following it's hopeful transition into something genuinely wonderful.

DIRT 5 update 2.00 is rolling out – PS5 trophy issue & Xbox Series X 120Hz visuals fixed in the patch notes

DIRT 5's first major update is rolling out this week, with version 2.00 bringing with it wheel support across PC, PlayStation and Xbox platforms and a free 'Snow Limits' content pack for all players.

The update is available today for PC via Steam, but will be released for PS5, PS4, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S "in the coming days".

The Snow Limits pack includes New Playgrounds items, new liveries, new Ice Breaker circuit, new customisation items and the option for Snowy conditions in Playgrounds mode.

Meanwhile, as previously revealed, wheel support will include Thrustmaster, Logitech and a subset of Fanatec devices, with support largely following that of 2019's GRID.

The rest of the update is predominantly one of bug fixes and further optimisations. Of particular note, the visuals have been updated for Xbox Series X in the 'Prioritise Frame Rate'/120hz mode where it was oddly low quality compared to PS5, and the PS5's trophy unlocking issue has been resolved – you'll just need to complete one event and any outstanding trophies should now ping.

There's no mention of DualSense adjustments, which must be a longer term goal for Codies to address.

Here's the patch notes.

DIRT 5 update 2.00

VISUAL

  • Further general visual and performance improvements across the board, including visual updates to the 'Prioritise Frame Rate'/120hz mode on Xbox Series X
  • Further FPS improvements when using Image Quality mode on Xbox One and PS4
  • Fixed issues causing flickering lights during night-time events
  • PC: Further fixes for reports of crashes and  startup  issues
  • Fixed issue causing game freezes in the Career – Sponsors tab when selecting an Amplified Edition sponsor

CAREER 

  • Fixes for crashes occurring at the beginning of some Career events for some players
  • Added option to listen back to previous podcast episodes from a playlist
  • Fixed visual bug in Career mode that shows the player earning more than the maximum  amount of Stamps after completing Throwdowns 

ONLINE 

  • Technical changes made to the matchmaking process; search times for lobbies have been increased to improve the likelihood of live lobbies being found
  • Friends lobby size increased to eight players
  • Fixes for crashes occurring when exiting active multiplayer events 

SPLIT-SCREEN 

  • Fixed multiple bugs causing crashes and performances issues in split-screen play
  • Audio fixes for low volume in split-screen mode 

PLAYGROUNDS 

  • Leaderboard  display adjusted to show faster target times
  • Resolves occurrences of objects being available for the wrong event type 

GENERAL

  • Amplified Edition entitlements fully unlocked for Amplified Edition pre-order players
  • PS5: Fixed issue with Trophies not unlocking. Any Trophies earned during this issue should unlock for players after completing one event
  • Further improvements made to AI behaviour, particularly in races with large grids
  • Fixed instance of cars triggering a track reset incorrectly on Arizona – Merrick Butte location
  • Fixed issues causing crashes in the post-race menus
  • Sprint cars: changes made to handling model following community feedback
  • Display fixes for PS4/PS5 Trophy images and text
  • General stability and quality of life improvements across each platform to improve your  experience

Source: Dirt

Batbarian: Testament of The Primordials Review

While both Metroid and Castlevania have been largely absent from our gaming screens in recent years, the genre that they inspired has been going through a relative golden age, at least in terms of the number of games released. The 'metroidvania' is a convenient category in which to group the various kinds of gradual exploration games, from Hollow Knight to Supraland.

With the explosion of entries, however, games need to do something different to stand out from the crowd. At first, Batbarian appears to do so by literally keeping you in the dark, but once you delve deeper, it is in fact an admirable attention to accessibility that separates it from many others.

In typical fashion, Batbarian begins by throwing your character in the deep end – in this case flinging you off a cliff. You are at least accompanied by a mysteriously glowing bat that remains loyally by your side throughout the adventure that follows. This is fortunate indeed, since their light is often the only illumination to be found. This oppressively dark setting is, of course, entirely appropriate for the caves and dungeons you explore, but it can lead to moments of frustration as you struggle to see the platforms you are trying to jump on – this was especially the case on my Switch Lite. Despite this, the graphical style did work pretty well (once I upped the gamma correction a little)

The pixel art aesthetic is often a Marmite approach, but if you are a fan of it, then Batbarian is a great example. The enemies have a character that belies their simplicity, an aspect helped out a great deal by the genuinely witty writing. Batbarian is fully aware of its silliness and contains some actually funny parodies of genre expectations and clichés.

Alongside your bat friend, you also find three alternative companions across your adventure, each offering different helpful abilities, but all restricted by limited charges. These characters also have interesting parallel paths through your adventure, some of which only become clear through the occasional flashbacks that mark your progress.

The main marker of success or failure in a Metroidvania is the pleasure of exploration. This can be broken down into the screen to screen feel of the platforming and combat, and then the ease of navigation across the wider map. In the first case, Batbarian is good fun to play. The jumping is reliable with a great sense of weight and in most cases mistakes should be put down to human error. There are some screens that seem especially unfair or require a degree of accuracy that results in multiple attempts, and it's not always clear whether that's because they're a difficulty spike on the main path through the screen or an optional route to a secret.

This leads me nicely on to the second aspect: the map. On one level, the map is exemplary, as there is a brilliantly intuitive notation system where you can cycle through appropriate icons from treasure chests to question marks. This works well at the beginning of the game, but the busy work of maintaining the icons threatens the flow. I'm unsure why this couldn't be automatic as is often the case in this genre.

Perhaps my main complaint about the map is that there is no marker for your destination. Too often I was reduced to aimless exploration going from dead end to dead end as there was no real clue as to where I should head next. Equally complex maps such as those found in the Ori games manage to demonstrate how a destination marker doesn't ruin the sense of exploration, but instead avoids needless time wasting. The relative vagueness of your unlocked abilities doesn't help this issue.

As you venture deeper into the world of Batbarian you'll come across some mysterious trees with magical fruits. How these trees are growing underground isn't explained, of course, but the fruits that fall from them become your main puzzle mechanic, with your bright little bat friend seemingly always hungry. You can throw these fruits in order to send the flight-light to specific parts of the screen to either open doors, scare off enemies, and eventually freeze or burn obstacles. Some of the late game puzzles are complex and fiendish, requiring you to juggle a number of different items to progress. You also have stones to throw that can flick switches when necessary.

Batbarian is a game that balances the possibility of extreme challenge with a hugely refreshing suite of accessibility options. In doing so, it becomes a game that you can play on your own terms. From helpful extras such as a slow aim for throwing to more fundamental changes like recharging health, these options open up the game to a wider audience and ensured that I could make it through some of the more difficult areas.

CDPR grilled over Cyberpunk 2077 PS4 & Xbox One failings in emergency board call

Despite record breaking pre-orders and launch sales for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red have found themselves in hot water over the launch of the game. With myriad bugs, poor performance on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and the company issuing a public statement saying the unsatisfied users could seek refunds, all coming after a review cycle that only featured the PC version of the game, it's safe to say that public perceptions of the company have taken a nose dive.

In an emergency board call to answer questions, the company's top brass were grilled about the launch, upcoming updates, how they dropped the ball, and the fallout that they're currently seeing.

First and foremost, joint-CEO Adam Kiciński admitted in his opening statement that "After 3 delays, we as the Management Board were too focused on releasing the game. We underestimated the scale and complexity of the issues, we ignored the signals about the need for additional time to refine the game on the base last-gen consoles."

This was later followed up by co-founder Marcin Iwiński was said "It is more about us looking – as was previously stated – at the PC and next-gen performance rather than current-gen. We definitely did not spend enough time looking at that."

No… really?

It's also raised questions about the certification protocol that Sony and Microsoft have put in place for their systems. As we've seen on countless occasions, this isn't so much an additional layer of quality control, but rather ensuring that games abide conform to certain rules and work with system features like trophies and system-wide accessibility.

Iwiński says, "In terms of the certification process and the third parties – this is definitely on our side. I can only assume that they trusted that we're going to fix things upon release, and that obviously did not come together exactly as we had planned."

Speaking of the manufacturers, CDPR's suggestion that requesting refunds was an option has, in some cases, gone down like a lead balloon. We've seen reports of UK retailer GAME refusing to issue a refund, as well as both Sony and Microsoft's strict store refund policies blocking consumers because they had downloaded and started playing the game.

VP of Business Development Michał Nowakowski admitted that, while CDPR noted the ability to request a refund, they have no actual part in the process.

He said "One has to understand: Microsoft and Sony have refund policies for every product that is released digitallyon their storefronts. Despite several articles I've seen that things are being set up just for us, it'sactually not true – these policies are in place and have always been in place; they're not offeredspecifically for us. Anyone who has purchased any title on the PlayStation network or the Microsoft storefront can ask for a refund, and if it's made within certain boundaries, usually related to time, usage and so on, can ask for that refund."

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Obviously there are the forthcoming updates promised for January and February – I'm sure the whole team is thrilled that they have to crunch out significant updates like this – and the company is seeing growing satisfaction the deeper players get into the game. That will no doubt be down to the fact that 59% of the 8 million pre-orders were on PC, but it also comes from extended play diminishing the perception of bugs and issues – this could also have been a factor in some of those overly glowing review scores.

Adam Kiciński broke it down:

"Sentiment is positive. With every passing day since the release we'regetting more and more positive feedback. We started low, but we're gaining. [muffled] we started with a score of 70, but now it's 79. If you filter those who have played 10 hours or more, the score is 85 – so the more you play the more enjoyment you feel. That's the general feedback we have.

"One important point: we're discussing old-gen consoles and negative feedback there – but we also have tons of positive feedback from players playing the game on old-gen consoles, so it's not strictly negative. Of course the first impression was negative, especially after the very strong campaign showcasing the game on PCs, but now we have more and more satisfied players using old-gen consoles as well – though naturally strong PCs offer better graphics and better gameplay than old-gens."

CDPR will no doubt be hoping to turn a corner with perception of their game in the new year, but the impacts of this could be felt in the years to come. Having built a strong reputation off the back on The Witcher 3 and the strong support for that title, gamers were inclined to trust the vision that CDPR set out for Cyberpunk 2077. Through only showing the game on PC and (eventually) higher-end consoles, through the game clearly needing more time in development for polish, through pushing to release in 2020 in a move that will have satisfied investors, gamers will no doubt be more critical of what CDPR show in future.

Source: CDPR

AndaSeat Jungle Series Gaming Chair Review

Without wanting to dwell on the reasons behind it, it's a fact of 2020 that many of us are finding ourselves spending more time at home in front of a computer monitor. The great home office furniture shortage of the summer will go down in folklore alongside the toilet paper stampede and that time I couldn't find my favourite brand of coffee in the supermarket. One unforeseen consequence of the switch to working from home was that it highlighted how inappropriate many of our setups were for lengthy sessions. Unable to take my laptop to a local cafe to work I was left using the same battered old Ikea chair for work and gaming purposes. I therefore jumped at the chance to replace this charity shop pickup with a proper gaming chair. So how does the Andaseat Jungle Series shape up? Take a seat – probably not as comfortable as mine – and I'll tell you more.

Absolutely the first thing that'll hit you is the sheer size and weight of this chair. Coming in a box big enough for my 9 year old son to sleep in (his choice, I'd like to add), the first obstacle was getting it into the house! Luckily my PC is on the ground floor so I didn't have to set up a system of pulleys and ropes to manoeuvre it. There may be some comic exaggeration at play here but I was certainly surprised by how solid this unit is, and that weight leads to a sturdy chair that can support even larger gamers with a maximum load of 22 stone.

As is often the case, the chair did require some assembly, as it came snugly packaged in separate parts. The packaging was sufficient without being excessive – an important aspect as we become more and more conscious about cutting down unnecessary waste.  The assembly instructions were clear and well laid out, with no trace of the translation issues that so often plague international products. All that was needed for building were two enclosed hex allen keys, and lots of the bolts were pre-installed rather than loose packed. This meant they needed to be removed to use but, crucially, made it obvious where they needed to go back which was a really helpful touch.

Putting the chair together was a (mostly) frustration free experience, with the only issue being my own lack of concentration leading me to attach the chair mechanism upside down despite the obvious label pointing to the front. There's no accounting for basic mistakes but this was easy to remedy. I managed the build solo but holding the back and seat together for bolting purposes took some considerable strength and coordination, as did lifting the whole unit at the end so I'd recommend a helper if available.

The seat itself is excellently constructed, especially given the reasonable retail price. The steel framework, 5 star aluminium base, and PVC Leather material are all hard-wearing and durable, ensuring that this chair won't be a stopgap solution. The high quality memory foam cushion is just as comfortable as you'd expect, with detachable lumbar and neck support pillows adding that extra touch of comfort. My only issue with these is fighting my cat to get them installed so they are staying in place.

As you'd expect from a gaming chair, the design is heavily influenced by science fiction media, and you get a real Starfleet Captain feel when leaning into its generous backrest. My old chair was awkward as the arm-rests were far too low for my usual typing or gaming posture so I was pleased that the adjustable rests on the Andaseat should ensure that any user can benefit from the extra support for their typing and/or gaming. Moreover, the 90 to 160 degree tilt mechanism means that you can easily switch from upright work mode to more laid back gaming or movie watching. I'm not sure that I'll be making use of the full 160 degree sleeping mode but the option is always there.

The Andaseat Jungle Series is available here.

Destiny 2 Hotfix 3.0.1.2 is out, here are the patch notes and a cheerful badger

Good news, there's yet another patch for Destiny 2 so you're going to have to download it and then wait for half an hour while it installs. If you have a sexy next-gen console then I can confirm it does install rather more quickly but it is still a good few minutes of waiting, so please enjoy this picture of a happy badger while the patch installs.

Here are the patch notes.

SEASON OF THE HUNT

  • Adjusted the Cryptolith Lure to allow players to charge it twice as fast.
  • Increased Cryptolith Lure charge cap from 3 to 5.
  • Fixed an issue that was causing players to reacquire the Cryptolith Lure every time they launched the game.
  • Fixed an issue with the Lure exclusion description.
      • The One for All perk is incorrectly listed as a possible roll for Corsair's Wrath and has been corrected to the Unrelenting perk.

ACTIVITIES

  • Fixed an issue that was causing some players to be blocked from progressing the Forsaken campaign.
  • Fixed a location where players could get out of environment.
  • Resolved an issue that was preventing some players from progressing past the first mission of "A Guardian Rises" in the New Light introduction quest.
  • Fixed an issue where "Stasis Weekly Challenge" was translated incorrectly in some languages.
  • Fixed an issue with the Lost Lament quest not progressing from Minotaurs, Hydras, and Cyclops.

REWARDS

  • Fixed an issue where deleting a character could reset some raid rewards.

ECONOMY

  • Adjusted destination materials exchanges with the Gunsmith to reduce the chances of materials from Vaulted destinations being required.

COMBAT

  • Fixed an issue where the Freeze Tag emote was reducing incoming damage.

ABILITIES

  • Penumbral Blast:
      • Projectile range increased by 37%.
      • Minimum distance to cast ranged melee reduced by 32%.
      • This allows you to throw the ranged melee closer to targets.
  • Fixed an issue with the Glacial Quake Super where the melee attack would sometimes fail to activate.
  • Resolved an issue where players could appear to become stuck in Shiver Strike action and animation for other players.

WEAPONS

  • Fixed the issue with The Lament's Heavy air attack working when the weapon lacked ammo.

PLATFORMS

  • Fixed an issue where PSN friends list wasn't populating as expected.
  • Fixed an issue with screen tearing on some consoles.


Source: Bungie

The Fall Guys Season 3 patch notes are here

Fall Guys Season 3 launches tomorrow, December 15th, and it brings new levels including one in which you chase extremely cute penguins, new costumes, and a bunch of bug fixes.

Here are the patch notes!

New Levels:
Tundra Run: Dodge snowballs, punchers and flippers in a mad dash to the finish line!
Freezy Peak: Use blizzard fans and flippers to ascend the peak in the most epic race Round yet!
Ski Fall: Traverse a giant ice slide and dive through bronze, silver and gold rings to score points and qualify!
Pegwin Pursuit: Chase down and keep hold of the Pegwin to score points for your team!
Snowy Scrap: Roll your team's Snowball over snow patches to make it larger! Last team to hit 100% are eliminated!
Thin Ice: A spiritual successor to Hex-a-gone where players must traverse layers of breakable ice to avoid falling into the slime. Last bean remaining wins!
Roll Off: A Final round variant of Roll Out with added rising slime to make things interesting. Get grabbing!

Features:
Crown Ranks! Now the crowns you've won will help you climb through the ranks and unlock exclusive rewards.
Stay up-to-date on Fall Guys news and announcements with the new in-game Bulletin feature.
You can now link your Amazon Prime account to Fall Guys for exclusive in-game rewards.
The Show Selector will have a clear indicator for when new shows are available.
Improved in-game messaging for various errors and connectivity dialogs.
Improved performance and visuals of transparency effect when Fall Guys are occluded by geometry.
[Steam Only] Early Access release of Private Streamer Lobbies is now available! This is invitation-only for now, and requires 40-60 players to start a custom match.
[PS4] The camera sensitivity slider has more degrees of freedom

Bugfixes:
Fall Mountain: improved the issue where grabbing the crown sometimes does not end the level. We will monitor this fix through launch!
Royal Fumble: invisible platform has been removed.
Perfect Match: fixed issue with spawning next to the spinner.
Physics: Fixed ball objects being jittery or non-responsive in levels like Hoarders.
Item Shop: Fixed certain items not coming into the store.
Parties: Further improved groups stability in certain cases.
UI: Certain language fonts had missing or corrupt characters.
Show Selector: Searching for multiple shows will now correctly display the show landed on during matchmaking.
Levels: Fixed the Score and Elimination UI in-game on certain levels.
Levels: Bugfixes across most of the rounds.

Most importantly:
R I N G U S D I N G U S has arrived

We awarded the game an excellent 8 our of 10 in our review earlier this year. Here's how I summed up my time with the game:

Full of cute and cuddly jelly beans bumbling into each other in a race for the crown, Fall Guys is just about the most wholesome battle royale imaginable, and a whole lot of fun.

Fall Guys was made available for free on PlayStation Plus back in August and quickly became it's most-downloaded complimentary game. It was a huge success on PC as well, though, selling millions of copies and becoming a staggering success for Mediatonic.

Source: Twitter

Assassin's Creed Valhalla title update 1.1.0 is out tomorrow, brings festive fun, patch notes here

Fancy some festive pillaging? Then you are in luck, Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be patched tomorrow, Tuesday 15th December, to version 1.1.0 and it brings the Yule Festival. This is a time limited event which will see revellers join your village for some festive fun. and there will be some new rewards to enjoy.

As usual there's a bunch of other fixes, here are the full patch notes.

PATCH SIZES AND DEPLOYMENT TIMING:

  • Xbox Series X|S: ~6.3 GB
  • Xbox One: ~5.7 GB
  • PlayStation®5: ~2.46 GB
  • PlayStation®4: ~2.4 GB
  • PC: ~5.6 GB

Deployment timing for all platforms: 1 pm CET | 7 am ET | 4 am PT | 11 pm AEDT

Please note that these timings are estimates and subject to change.

Check out the most notable changes with 1.1.0 below.

CONTENT

Added in-game support for the Settlement expansion and Yule Festival

  • The Yule Festival is a time-limited event with several festivities to enjoy and rewards to obtain. To bring this and future festivals to life, you'll see the arrival of the revellers just east of the current settlement.
  • We'll provide more details about the Settlement expansion and the Yule Festival in our upcoming Yule Season Preview article. Stay tuned. 😊

Miscellaneous

  • Legendary animal trophies will now correctly appear in the Longhouse.

Balancing

  • Tweaked the NPC power level behaviour.
    • NPCs power will now be at a maximum difference of 51 below the player.
    • NPCs that are 51 power below the player will be highlighted in green.
    • World bosses will match the player's power level when the power exceeds the world bosses' base level. (also applies to: Alpha animals, Zealots)
    • This change applies to all difficulties.
  • Added loot-able chests to the Grand Magaester's hideout.
    • Note: This hideout is only available from a very specific moment in the game. Spoilers. :)
  • Addressed an issue where the Crit. Spark rune would not work when slotted into bows.
  • Addressed an issue where wrong weapon stats were displayed for specific items.
    • Royal Guard
    • Viper Bow
    • Death-Speaker
    • The Mark of Sol
    • Doppelhander
    • Hundtoth

GAME IMPROVEMENTS

Performance and Stability

  • Improved stability and performance.
  • (PC) Addressed some freezes when performing specific actions for the first time.
  • (PC) Addressed an issue that could cause freezes during Splash Screen.

Graphics, Audio, Animation

  • Addressed various graphics issues.
  • Addressed various character or NPC animation issues.
  • Addressed various clipping issues.
  • Addressed an issue where fish may lay on its side during the fishing animation.
  • Addressed an issue where some NPCs would cut the air instead of wheat. practice doesn't always make perfect.
  • Addressed an issue where NPCs that are being assassinated while being unconscious would sometimes get up during the animation.
  • Tattooed Mimir's head. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
  • Addressed an issue with jagged sea foam.

Quests, World Events, Side Activities

  • Addressed an issue in A Sword-Shower in Anecastre where Aelfgar didn't move to the assault location.
  • Addressed an issue where players cannot complete Honor's Hubris.
    • Note: This fix will spawn Ljufvina again, reset her position, and restart the quest.
  • Addressed an issue that caused Tarben to follow Eivor everywhere when The Baker's Plaint wasn't completed. Your watch has ended, Tarben.
  • Addressed an issue where Fast Travel wouldn't be available under certain conditions when returning to England after completing the Hordafylke arc.
  • Addressed an issue where Allies would not help Eivor opening doors at the Isle of Ely Monastery. Team work makes the dream work!
  • Addressed an issue with the Settlement Anomaly's light beams that prevented players from completing the anomaly.
  • Addressed an issue in Well-Traveled where the objective would not update under certain circumstances.
  • Addressed an issue where Fenrir could get stuck underground.
  • Addressed an issue where Eivor would sometimes be levitating during Assault outros. No more Wingardium Leviosa for this one.
  • Addressed an issue in Defensive Measures where Jotuns would be able to pass through the shield after the Bring the Invaders into the Shield objective was completed. You shall not pass!
  • Addressed an issue in Brewing Rebellion where the cutscene wouldn't trigger when the door was opened by an NPC by accident.
  • Addressed an issue in The False Ealdormancy that prevented players from completing it under certain conditions. This Hunwald ain't loyal…
  • Addressed an issue in Kingdom's End where Guthrum doesn't leave the Hamptun Blockade area after releasing the prisoners or could randomly become inactive.
  • Addressed an issue in A Sword-Shower in Anecastre that prevented players from completing the quest.
  • Addressed an issue in The Goddess of Birth that prevented players from completing the event.
  • Addressed an issue in Glory Regained where players could become stuck on the platform with the horn.
  • Addressed an issue in View Above All where the quest objective would sometimes not update after closing the gates.
  • Addressed an issue in A Rivalry for the Ages where players couldn't complete the quest under certain circumstances.
  • Addressed an issue in The Boar with the Golden Nose where players couldn't complete a world event due to Lady Trotters not spawning.
  • Addressed an issue in Defensive Measures where players would die when returning to Asgard.
  • Addressed an issue in Cruel Destiny that prevented players from proceeding to the second phase of the boss fight. Quest name checks out.
  • Addressed an issue in Madness of the Stones that prevented players from proceeding with the quest.
  • Addressed an issue in Bleeding the Leech that prevented players from completing the quest.
  • Addressed an issue where Petra would run into the opposite direction of the Elk. See this, Petra?
  • Addressed an issue where players could sometimes not get back into the room with the Norns.
  • Addressed an issue in Giants of Fimbulwinter where Eivor could get stuck inside the quest area.
  • Addressed an issue in Smashing the Compass that prevented players from completing the quest.
  • Addressed an issue in War Weary where players couldn't re-enter the church under certain circumstances.
  • Addressed an issue in War of the Collectors where the world event wouldn't be completed under certain circumstances.
  • Addressed an issue in The Big Finish where the quest objective wouldn't update further.
  • Addressed an issue that prevented players from entering Skyrmir's Mitten in The Lost Cauldron.
  • Addressed an issue in Firing the Arrow where the quest objective would sometimes not update.
  • Addressed an issue where some players couldn't progress the game anymore upon reaching England after Title Update 1.0.4.
  • Addressed an issue with the SteinnBjorn encounter.

World

  • Addressed various object or texture placement issues.
  • Addressed various instances where the player could become stuck on objects.

Gameplay, Combat, AI

  • Addressed various NPC behavior/animation issues.
  • Addressed an issue that allowed players to shoot targets through walls (without using Piercing Shot).
  • Addressed an issue with spears not being effective to destroy windows.
  • Addressed an issue where the fishing hut kid was roaming Ravensthorpe instead of being at their house. You're officially grounded.
  • Horses will now run away when being hurt with a torch.
  • Addressed an issue where Jotuns could sometimes warp into walls when shape shifting. Gidgud
  • Addressed an issue where monks would sometimes stand still and not perform their tasks.
  • Addressed an issue where hitting a horse with a Saxon boat will cause it to disappear when mounting it. Insert what.gif here
  • Sprint will now be interrupted by actions other than dodging.
  • Addressed an issue where Eivor would become invisible to AI detection when fast travelling during a dice game.
  • Addressed an issue where NPCs may randomly start pirouetting on a Saxon boat. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

Abilities, Perks, Skills

  • Addressed an issue where players couldn't perform heavy attacks with Frostruin or Sinner Skull.
  • Addressed an issue where Frostruin's perk wouldn't activate even when conditions are met.
  • Addressed instances where players were able to open barred doors with the Dive of the Valkyries ability.
  • Addressed an issue where the Level 2 Incendiary Power Trap couldn't be detonated a second time when the first trap was set off by an NPC.
  • Addressed an issue where Man's Best Friend wouldn't deal any damage to Zealots in some instances. Good boi.
  • Largely increased Mastery Points cap.

User Interface / HUD

  • Addressed various UI/HUD issues.
  • Addressed various localization issues.
  • Items that are part of a bundle in the Animus Store will now show the corresponding items in the Details Page.
  • Addressed an issue where players could sometimes lose weapons when performing a dual weapon swap.
  • Tweaked Reda's Informer icon to make it appear smaller.
  • Changed Adrenaline Fiend icon to make it more distinguishable from Adrenaline upgrades.
  • Torches/oil jars can now be dropped/put on the ground with Y/Triangle.
  • Addressed an issue that allowed players to get the beggar reward several times.
  • Addressed an issue where stats wouldn't update after leaving offline mode.
  • Addressed an issue where players couldn't interact with Reda anymore.
  • Added "OFF" to Quick-Time-Event Input type in the menu. (Turning this option off will allow the game to bypass mashing actions during some boss encounters)
  • Addressed an issue with Alpha Animals where players wouldn't be awarded the skill point when animals were not killed by the player.
  • Addressed an issue where Opals would not disappear from the map under certain conditions after collection.
  • Addressed an issue where Experienced Travelers would unlock locations for the wrong territory.
  • Addressed an issue where players wouldn't be able to create or load a manual save anymore.
  • Addressed an issue where Layla's laptop couldn't be navigated with Focused navigation.
  • Named Cloud saves appropriately.
    • Cloud saves will now be named Autosave/Manual/Episode Save CLOUD
  • Addressed an issue where Saves could be displayed as corrupt when saving when the internet connection is lost.
  • Addressed an issue on where the pathfinder setting resets to Custom after rebooting the game.
  • Addressed an issue on where cloud saves could disappear under certain conditions.

Photo Mode

  • Addressed an issue where filters reset to no filter when adjusting other values in Photo Mode.
  • Addressed an issue where the Photo Mode camera could get stuck in objects.
  • Photo Mode Frames will now function correctly.

System

  • (PC) Addressed an issue with the benchmark tool that caused the tool not to collect data for a moment after unpausing the session.
  • (PC) Addressed an issue where VRAM indicators did not correspond with actual VRAM consumption.
  • Reduced intensity and duration of the parry rumble. Controllers go brrrr.
  • (PS5) Addressed an issue on PlayStation®5 where the Season Pass wouldn't be displayed as OWNED after purchase.

Source: Ubisoft

Warhammer 40,000 Battle Sister Review

Games Workshop is a British institution, but its Warhammer worlds have found fans around the globe. The grim future and fantasy setting found in Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 remains the headline acts, but the company have allowed all sorts of interesting and unique uses of their main licenses and spin-off tabletop games, from RTS and third-person shooters to turn-based aerial combat. With the arrival of Battle Sister from Pixel Toys you're now going to be able to step into the world of Warhammer 40,000 yourself via the medium of VR. Quite simply, if you're a fan of 40K you will want to play this game.

From the moment that you start, one thing that Battle Sister gets right is the atmosphere. You're dropped into a distant planetary battlefield, with a pair of Titans duelling in front of you. I have to admit I was expecting some more drama – huge clanging tones from their immense blades clashing, and the sounds of pistons and gears working to move the mech around – but it still sets the tone well.

You're met by Viola, a Battle Sister who you've served with for ten years. She's certainly been given the motion capture treatment, and her iconic Battle Sister armour gleams with underlying power to go with her righteously clasped Power Sword.

Getting to grips with the game's combat is simple. Guns are holstered on either hip, while your ammo is stored on your belt. You press a button to eject the clip and hold the gun to your belt to refill it. It's a straightforward enough system that feels both mechanically sound and empowering, and it's swift enough to get you through the most intense of battles.

That's good, because there are some great battles to be had, starting with an epic encounter through the Sisters of Battle Cathedral ship that's been infiltrated by the forces of chaos. Framed by the maniacal laugh of zealots and the heavy gunfire of Chaos Marines, Battle Sister really puts you on the back foot, and even at this early stage it's no walkover, piling on the number of enemies. You're fortunate that your Power Sword is able to deflect incoming fire, as you'd be swiftly overrun without it.

The graphics might not wow you coming from PS5 or a high-end PC, but for a standalone headset, the game looks good and all of your weaponry looks remarkable. If you hold them up to take a look they gleam realistically in the light, and the level of detail is impressive, both here and in your allies. Up close, your enemies also look pretty good as well, though you soon see that there's very little variety in the most common cultist models. A few extra head or mask types would have really added something to the mix, as would some extra lines of dialogue. I know they're all keen on blood for the Blood God, but I'm sure they could vocalise that slightly differently during the course of the game.

They're not the only enemies you'll face though, and the steady emergence of different Chaos Marine classes, and the occasional beast, gives combat a continual sense of renewal. Things can begin to get a little samey towards the end, but overall this is a powerful example of VR gunplay with plenty of weight to it.

I love being able to dual wield all your weaponry – you can feel Pixel Toys' previous work on Drop Dead: Dual Strike Edition here – and it's true to the fiction as well. A Boltgun in one hand and a Power Sword in the other feels great, and you truly feel like a badass space nun who's capable of taking down a hulking Chaos Space Marine.

As you dispatch cultists, the blood sprays everywhere, and it was one element I wasn't initially sold on. Up close in melee combat the effect looks pretty good, and you would expect there to be some significant blood loss as you cleave your way through them. However, at distance there's still an explosion of the red stuff that simply doesn't look as good as its up-close counterpart. I know the Warhammer 40K universe is a brutal place, and Battle Sisters recreates that with aplomb, but I could take or leave the blood spray.

There are also one or two bugs in the mix that occasionally take the sheen of your experience, with textures failing to load around your feet and across some of the architecture, but ultimately I found them pretty easy to live with. They feel like the type of thing Pixel Toys will continue to work on, and hopefully they'll find a remedy for them swiftly.

Forgiving the bugs, performance in Battle Sister is largely very good, with smooth movement and gunplay keeping things engaging. Movement is controlled via your left thumbstick, and there's been plenty of work done to keep motion sickness at bay with some smart closing-in of your field of view as you move. There's an array of extra things you can tune up or down as well, depending on how well you cope in the VR space. It's exactly what you want from this kind of experience.

The story itself boasts some excellent voice acting, and while I'd be hard-pressed to call the characters likeable, you'll find yourself thoroughly involved in what's going on. From time to time you'll find yourself part of a fire squad, and they're surprisingly useful in combat, but it's the moments where you're on your own that you truly feel that the pressure is on.

Part of the atmosphere is created by the often excellent soundtrack, though once again a little more variety from the combat music would have been welcome. It's similar to Gears of War in fact, with the audio signposting that you're entering a combat situation and dying down once you've reached the end of that wave. It's definitely effective, but I found it had started to wear thin towards the end.

Monster Hunter Rise weapons showcased in new teasers

With the next Monster Hunter title due to release in just a few months' time, Capcom have been drip feeding MH fans new info on the Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Two new videos released by the Japanese publisher show two Monster Hunter Rise weapon classes in action, both of them being returning franchise favourites.

These include the deadly Dual Blades which were originally introduced in Monster Hunter 2. These offence focused daggers are designed for rapid attack chains and dealing a hefty amount of damage as players weave in and out landing successive hits.

Next up we have the Bow which favours a dynamic yet distanced playstyle. Bow players can pinpoint areas on a monster for massive damage while also applying various status effects.

As we can see in both videos, these two weapons have been upgraded somewhat for Monster Hunter Rise. It appears as though Capcom is upping the versatility of its hunting arsenal with new "Silkbind" powers. Using the grapple hook-like "Wirebug" players can also gain access to more aerial attacks.

For those Monster Hunter fans wondering, we recently discovered that Capcom won't be adding any new weapon classes in Monster Hunter Rise.

Monster Hunter Rise – 7 things you need to know

Monster Hunter Rise was announced alongside Monster Hunter Stories 2 in a Nintendo Direct showcase earlier this year. So far the game has only been confirmed for Nintendo Switch and wont be directly comparable to Monster Hunter: World. With Rise, Capcom are looking to branch off in a different direction while still delivering that same core Monster Hunter experience. A new trailer for the sequel was shown at The Game Awards 2020.

Whether or not Monster Hunter Rise will remain locked to the Nintendo Switch seems likely though we'd obviously love to see it appear elsewhere. Although unconfirmed, intel extracted from a major Capcom leak last month specifically mentions that a PC version is due to launch in 2021.

Final Fantasy XIV Starlight Celebration 2020 Christmas event now live

Once again, Final Fantasy XIV is celebrating the festive period with a seasonal event being held for its players who can swoop by for some bonus rewards.

The annual Starlight Celebration Christmas event is now live, Square Enix announcing that it will run between now (on Monday, December 14th) through until the end of the month on December 31st.

In that time, Final Fantasy XIV players can take part in festive activities to unlock time-limited items including furniture for housing and a special mount.

You can head over to the official Final Fantasy XIV event site for more details, but here's a quick breakdown of what to expect for Starlight Celebration 2020.

Characters will need be level 15 in order to begin the seasonal event quest. If you meet this requirement then make your way over to Mih Khetto's Amphitheatre in Old Gridania, one of FF14's starting areas. You will need to talk to an NPC called Amy Garanjy and accept the quest "A Festive Fiasco". Her exact location coordinates are X:10.2, Y9.4.

Ten years later, Final Fantasy XIV now rules as MMO king

Rewards include the Snowman Bell which can be used to summon a snowman mount, as well as three wintery furniture constructs to build with (the Snow-dusted tree, Unmelting Ice Partition, and Unmelting Ice Loft).

This is the tenth consecutive Christmas event Final Fantasy XIV has held since the MMO originally launched in 2010 before becoming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn three years later.

The popular online game was recently updated with new features and content as part of Patch 5.4. Even without a new expansion for fans to sink their teeth into, 2020 has still been a bumper year for Final Fantasy XIV with a major announcement planned for next February. Given how the Shadowbringers story arc has wrapped, and the typical two year gap between FF14 expansions, we'll likely get our first look at the next one in just a couple of months' time.

Source: Final Fantasy XIV

Haven Review

Haven is one of those rare games where love between the two people is central to everything that happens. The story is all about the relationship between the main characters Yu and Kay, while the gameplay is all about the two working together and getting stronger as their love strengthens their bond.

Haven is set on a planet called Source, an uninhabited and fractured world that Yu and Kay have run away to as they seek to escape the civilisation known as the Apiary. The two attempt to begin a new live in their isolation, but have to face the challenges that Source throws at them. This includes an environmental hazard that turns the local wildlife violent, and the threat being pursued by the Apiary, whose rules would rip the two of them apart. That is not to mention the day to day of taking care of each other and their relationship, with the highs and lows that come from that. The story is decent enough, but the focus is on this central pair leaving parts of the wider lore of the universe lacking in detail.

Haven's gameplay can be split into three core areas: exploration, combat, and maintenance. As mentioned, Source is a planet that has been fractured, quite literally breaking up into floating islets that you can explore. These islets contain resources such as plants for food and items to help make repairs to the Nest, the ship that the pair call their home.

Yu and Kay can travel from one islet to another through Flow bridges, which are powered by the threads of Flow that are this universe's fuel source. Each islet has Flow threads which the pair can surf across using their anti-gravity boots, opening paths to unreachable areas, and filling up Flow batteries. There is a good reason for those batteries to be full; across the majority of islets a substance known as Rust has taken hold, the only way to get rid of it is to fly over it using Flow.

One of the dangers of this strange planet, Rust has also managed to take hold and corrupt the otherwise peaceful animals of Source, chasing after Yu and Kay and making them fight together to survive.

The fight system is nice and intuitive when using a controller, the left analogue stick selecting commands for Kay, while the right analogue can be used in the same way for Yu. Both start off with four available commands – a shield, an impact melee attack, a blast range attack, and the ability to pacify enemies once they've been downed. Each battle requires different tactics, such as one of the pair shielding them both while the other fights, using a particular attack to avoid an animal's resistance, or combining the same attack type for a joint attack. Only when an enemy is downed can it be pacified and cured of its aggression. As the pair's relationship level increases attacks become more powerful.

The main complaint is that charging up an attack can feel slow, which can lead to a chosen attack not having much affect because an enemy has changed its stance. Yu and Kay can craft items from Rust, like a tonic to speed up attacks, health balms, and attack boosters, but using these takes up quite a bit of time in battle as well.

If a battle becomes too much and both Yu and Kay fall, they are transported back to the Nest or a nearby campsite to heal up, and this is where the maintenance part comes in. With the resources collected they can cook meals, synthesise medicines, and craft boosts. You will need to the medicines and food to heal up, and luckily Source has abundant resources. Food has another element to it and that is an impact on increasing the relationship link. That is one way to further the relationship, while conversations and hitting story points also increasing the relationship link.

Yu and Kay's relationship may just be the pinnacle of relationship goals. The pair are always supportive of each other, teach each other things, and relax with each other, be it through playing games or intimacy. If you want a positive relationship model then this is it.

Haven looks lovely and has a decent variety to the islet environments. Some will look similar to one another, but there is just enough difference between them that you'll know where you are. The navigation system helps as well when plotting your path from one islet to another. While the game as a kind of fast travel system it is only available on certain islets, and I was wishing for a more immediate system late on in the game.

The soundtrack of Haven is also great. It's catchy and energetic, fitting the atmosphere of Haven very nicely through each style of gameplay. Composer Danger steps out from the ensemble of artists that created the OST of Furi, The Game Bakers' previous game, and takes the spotlight with plenty of bass and exploration of electronic sounds. I just wish there were a few more tracks to break up some of the repetition that's often seen in RPGs.

Just Cause: Mobile announced, new console / PC game teased

Just Cause is going mobile with a new free-to-play multiplayer shooter set in the Just Cause universe, complete with the series trademark grappling hook action. The game has 30 person competitive multiplayer and 4 player co-op missions, all powered by Unreal Engine 4.

The game has four modes.

Story Campaign

  • Experience an all-new action-packed story set in the Just Cause universe. As a member of the Agency's secret program, Firebrand, explore large open-world locations and take on Darkwater forces and form alliances with well-known characters from past Just Cause iterations.

30-person Competitive Multiplayer

  • Compete online in a fast-paced multiplayer. Three teams of 10 players fight to secure bases and score points as they battle across a sprawling map while wielding an explosive arsenal of weaponry & vehicles. Players can also form clans with teammates to earn big rewards.

Co-op Missions

  • Team up in a 4-player squad to complete challenging missions where players will take on waves of enemies. Select the perfect loadout and blast your way through tough enemies like heavy tanks and armored mechs.

Challenge Mode

  • Looking for an extra challenge to test your skills? Challenge Mode will task you with hitting high scores across three distinct challenges ranging from causing destruction to getting the best lap time. Earn extra rewards for your agent by completing the Destruction, Wingsuit, and Race challenges.

Just Cause: Mobile is coming to iOS and Android in 2021 but is not being developed by Avalanche, and instead will be created in house at Square Enix.

As a little tease, the FAQ states "We are committed to the Just Cause franchise. Our current plans do not involve making the series mobile only," so it looks like we're getting a new console and PC game at some point.

Just Cause 4 is currently free as part of the December PlayStation Plus offerings.

Source: Square Enix / VG247