Alan Wake Remastered Launching on October 5 – Rumour

There have been strong rumours in recent months that have suggested that Remedy Entertainment's beloved horror title Alan Wake could be making a comeback in the future, and there have been more new developments that have reinforced that. Earlier this year, Alan Wake Remastered popped up on the Epic Games Store backend, and now it seems like that could be happening soon.

Over on Twitter @Wario64 recently spotted listings for Alan Wake Remastered on PS5, PS4, and Xbox on Rakuten Taiwan with an October 5 launch date. According to Windows Central, the listing is real and the release date is accurate, and Alan Wake Remastered is indeed going to be announced very soon.

Remedy Entertainment recently began full production on its next major AAA game, which is being funded and will be published by Epic Games. According to leaks, that project is Alan Wake 2. Read more on that through here.

Next Mass Effect Could Use Unreal Engine 5 – Rumor

BioWare's next Mass Effect, which was announced at The Game Awards 2020, could see the developer opting for Unreal Engine over EA's Frostbite engine. A listing for technical director on the Mass Effect franchise mentioned "experience with Unreal Engine [or higher]" and GamesBeat's Jeff Grubb spoke to various sources that said everything was on the table for the next Mass Effect. The reasons for this are pretty wide-ranging, starting with BioWare's experience developing the first three games on Unreal Engine.

Issues that emerged with Frostbite in Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem could also have motivated the studio to look elsewhere. Of course, the game's release date is also a factor. Dragon Age 4 is currently slated to release in 2023 as per Grubb's sources, leading him to believe that the next Mass Effect would arrive in 2025. Unreal Engine 5 would look substantially better than Frostbite by that point.

Regardless, BioWare is looking into various cutting-edge features that could be used in the next Mass Effect and wants to have technical parity with the industry, even if it ultimately goes with Frostbite. The title's platforms and official name have yet to be revealed so there's a ways to go yet. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Overwatch League 2022 Will Use Early Build of Overwatch 2

Overwatch League will begin its 2022 season next April and be played on an early build of Overwatch 2. VP Jon Spector announced the season's starting month on Twitter and confirmed a report by Dot Esports' Liz Richardson about it being played on the sequel. This is following reports that Overwatch 2 could skip 2022 due to development taking time (with Activision-Blizzard sources subsequently promising a release before Summer 2022).

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that Overwatch 2 will be available to the general public. It's likely just the PvP component of the sequel – which offers 5v5 matches with only one Tank – that the next OWL season will use. This isn't too different from the closed beta days of Overwatch which was used for competitive esports tournaments before its official release.

But if nothing else, it means that development on Overwatch 2 is proceeding along and a full release for all players could happen next year after all. The sequel is currently in development for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

10 Big Announcements We Expect To Happen At Sony's PlayStation Showcase 2021

Sony's having a lot of misfires in terms of its public perception, thanks to some boneheaded business strategies that border on self sabotage and result in totally self inflicted wounds, but the PS5's momentum cannot be stopped. And for good reason – when it comes down to it, the reason these gaming systems manage to sell like they do or generate the loyalty among their fans that they do is because of the games they play host to. Sony, for all their other failings, are now at a point where they are routinely delivering industry defining games. Even the PS5's launch year, a period which is traditionally dry for exciting new games, has seen Sony deliver Demon's Souls, Spider-Man Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Returnal, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.

And now, Sony is about to show us the next wave of PS5 software. For far too long, PlayStation fans have complained about Sony's silence, and how the company won't share what's in the pipeline for the $500 machines they have just bought on faith – the good thing is, now Sony is about to show us what's behind the curtains, with their upcoming PlayStation event.

Obviously, it's hard to know exactly what we can expect from this show, but there are some predictions we can make – based on rumours, educated guesses, precedence, and just plain old wishful thinking at times. Honestly, if even half this list shows up at Sony's even, we'll be satisfied – if they manage to pull through with all of them, we'll be ecstatic. So, without further ado, here's what we expect.

horizon forbidden west

HORIZON: FORBIDDEN WEST

Horizon: Forbidden West got a huge State of Play back before E3, and it's spent the last few weeks in the news cycle, with the confirmation of the official release, date, as well as pre-order details, and the snafus associated with Sony's boneheaded cross-gen strategy. But what we haven't gotten in a while is a new look at the game itself – which we probably will at Sony's event. To be honest, we probably won't see a lot of it, and Sony will presumably not want to linger on it too much, since it has been in the news cycle (and since Sony will probably want to talk about stuff we don't have as much details on), but Horizon being there is a pretty safe bet. Hopefully we get to see more of a look at how Guerrilla plans on evolving their well-received, but flawed, first attempt at an open world action RPG.

THE LAST OF US REMAKE

From recent, well sourced reports, we know that Sony is supposed to be working on a remake of the seminal The Last of Us. Whether or not this is a considered decision is now water under the bridge – no matter what one thinks of whether the excellent 2013 game which still holds up needs a remake, it is, apparently, getting one. And if it is, we might get to see it at this event. It'll be really interesting to see what changes, if any, the game has over the original – The Last of Us is one of the most beloved games of all time, and out single handedly defined Sony's entire first party approach from there on. It also holds up remarkably well – so what will the remake bring to the table? Are we looking at it adopting Part 2's amazingly realized sandbox style encounters? Will there be any changes made to the story? We're pretty excited to see what comes of The Last of Us's remake at this point, and we hope Sony brings the goods.

THE LAST OF US PART 2: FACTIONS

Of course, The Last of Us Remake will probably not be the only new entry in that franchise we see at this event. Sony and Naughty Dog have been teasing the multiplayer component to Part 2, which was expanded in scope to be a standalone product, for a while now, and we still haven't seen anything of it. We've barely had official acknowledgement for it. So, the time has come – if this thing is still happening, this PS event is where Sony should take the curtains off and finally reveal how The Last of Us multiplayer will be evolving in the next generation. Personally, given how mechanically sublime The Last of Us Part 2 is, I can't wait to see what a multiplayer game based off of it will be like.

FORSPOKEN

Final Fantasy 16 is not going to be at this show – as much as I'd want it to be, Square Enix pretty much confirmed earlier this year that it's unlikely to be shown off for the remainder of 2021. But we already know that Forspoken, the new game from the development team of Final Fantasy 15, is supposed to release before Final Fantasy 16 – so perhaps we get a new look at that? There are a lot of questions about this game, which is promising to deliver an open world action RPG unlike any Square Enix has ever attempted in the past – and maybe a deeper dive into what the game might deliver will help stoke the fires of hype.

forspoken

GRAN TURISMO 7

This one is honestly a bit of a crapshoot as to whether or not it shows up at the event. Gran Turismo games are notorious for having protracted development cycles, something that 7 is probably especially struggling with given COVID-19 is still a thing, and that apparently the PS4 version for it was added later in development. Past GT games have often skipped showings at events until nearer release – depending on the state of the game right now, there's a possibility that Gran Turismo 7 is a no-show here as well. However, presumably we will get something for the game here – a short trailer or a gameplay demo around one track, perhaps? Like I said, it's hard to nail this one down. But Gran Turismo is Sony's oldest active franchise – and I am sure there are many who would be delighted to see it.

BLUEPOINT GAMES

Is Sony actually acquiring Bluepoint Games? Who knows anymore? When announcing the acquisition of Housemarque earlier this year, PlayStation Japan's Twitter account accidentally also shared news indicating Bluepoint had been similarly acquired – but that was quickly deleted, and Bluepoint continues to be independent, with no official acknowledgement of that goof since. Was it a goof? Who knows? Maybe Sony announces Bluepoint joining the PlayStation Studios family at this event. Maybe there is no acquisition, but at the very least we get to see what game they are working on next – whether it be a remake of some other classic Sony property, or something new entirely.

NEW GAMES FROM SONY'S NEW PARTNERSHIPS

Over the last few months, Sony has been announcing new partnerships for exclusive games with newly set up studios, most prominently, Jade Raymond's Haven Studios. We haven't seen or heard anything from these new games these studios are supposed to be working on, even though we do know that Sony is apparently relying on their expertise with multiplayer games to compensate for the weakness of those styles of games in their own first party lineup. Once more, if these games are anywhere close to being shown, this Sony even is as good a place as any. Hopefully we see at least one of them soon.

BLOODBORNE REMASTER

People have been trying to will a Bloodborne remaster into existence for almost half a decade now (ever since the PS4 Pro in fact). They have good reason to – Bloodborne is an amazing game, but it suffers from being technically fairly, shall we say lacking. Framerate drops and frame pacing issues are the biggest problems the game suffers from, and a re-release that does literally nothing else except ironing those out will probably be able to charge a $70 premium and get away with it for its contingent of loyal and devoted fans. Bloodborne as a remaster – for PS5 and PC – has been rumoured variously for a while now, though to be fair, none of those rumours really seem to have much backing them. But again, if it's true that this game is getting a remaster, or re-release, or update of any kind, we should hopefully see it next week. And if we don't… well, sometimes it's best to just make your peace with how things are.

NEW FROM SOFTWARE GAME

In the PS3 and PS4 eras, Sony partnered with From Software to deliver a generation defining game each time that would drive core gamers to their consoles – Demon's Souls for PS3, Bloodborne for PS4. Recent reports indicate they are teaming with From Software again for a hat trick, which sounds extremely exciting – although a lot of questions remain about whether or not there is any veracity to this rumor. For starters, given that all of From has been pulled into trying to get Elden Ring out the door, who exactly is working on this new game? Secondly, given that Bloodborne and Demon's Souls were both FromSoftware and Sony Japan co-productions (a fact that tends to often be forgotten), who exactly is working with From on this game? Sony Japan is closed now, because Sony in their infinite wisdom decided to shut down their oldest internal development studio. Is there even any truth to this rumor? I really hope so, because as I said, the last two times Sony and From joined forces delivered among the greatest games of all time. I'd love another one of those.

WIPEOUT

Something that somehow feels even unlikelier than a new From Software partnership is a new Wipeout game, and yet, a new Wipeout game was part of a lot of the same reports that reported on the new From title. Unlikely, why? After all, Wipeout was widely loved, and is Sony's oldest IP. But the thing is, the genre it is in hasn't delivered a hit in over two decades, the studio that made Wipeout (industry legends Pygnosis, acquired by Sony before the release of PS1, rebranded later) has been shut down, and there is no indication that Sony really has any other studio with the know-how to make a futuristic arcade racing game. Maybe Polyphony Digital could give it a go (and they would probably do it well), but they seem to be all wrapped up in Gran Turismo 7 right now, so… how can this game exist? Why would it even exist, given how poorly Wipeout has done since the late PS1 era? Those questions are not for me to answer, they're for Sony to. And if this game is real, hopefully Sony answers those questions at this event, and reveals a new Wipeout game worthy of the moniker. 

God of War 2

SPIDER-MAN 2

We literally got Miles Morales not even a year ago, and Insomniac delivered Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart just a couple months earlier this year – so it might seem foolish to expect the studio to reveal another new big budget tentpole game already, given how long games take to develop now, and that Miles is so new (and still selling so well); but Insomniac works really efficiently, and it's actually not unrealistic to expect them to have a full-fledged Spider-Man sequel out by 2023. It's also a game they have talked about a fair few times in the past. We are probably not going to get much of a detailed look at Spider-Man 2 at the PS event, if we get any look at all to begin with – but at the very least, I think we can expect an official announcement trailer.

GOD OF WAR

You knew we were going to save this for the end, because that's probably what Sony is going to do as well. God of War 2018 was an incredible reimagining of a beloved franchise, and one of the most acclaimed games of last generation – and a direct follow up that builds on it and addresses its shortcomings is an exciting prospect by definition. Sony originally announced the game for a 2021 release for PS5 only – obviously, they weren't being exactly truthful there, because the game is a cross-gen title, and it's not coming this year, but neither of those things is really enough to dampen the hype at the prospect of a real, new God of War game running on the PS5. If we see nothing else at this show, we are guaranteed to see what happens in the story of Kratos and Atrues now that Ragnarok has been initiated – and how the sequel builds up on the tease at the very end of the 2018 game. We cannot wait, frankly, and a new look at God of War will be enough to make this event worth it all on its own.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Aragami 2 Dev Says Game Represents Everything They Wanted The First One To Be

The first Aragami was a solid title, and one that focused heavily on stealth elements. It was largely well-received and now a sequel is planned to hit this month. Aragami 2 looks to be more story-driven than its predecessor as well as adding things like co-op and armor customization. It's looking to be a bigger and better version of that first title, and that is largely by design.

In an interview with Wccftech, Aragami 2 Game Director and Co-founder of developer Lince Works, David León spoke about the ambition level of the second game. He said there was a lot left out of the first game due to the lack of multiple things, including resource and budget. With the second game, those issues are less of a worry. Now with things like customization, wider and more replayable levels, co-op and an improved combat system, the game is much closer to the vision of the original title the developer had hope to make.

"For the first Aragami game, we had to leave out a great deal of features and other more grandiose ideas, simply because we lacked the experience, resources, and budget. So, Aragami 2 represents everything we wanted Aragami to be.

"The technical leap in this sequel is evident. Aragami 2 has significantly larger levels with a wider spread of vertically at the core, which means more freedom and replayability for players. Paired with highly polished and agile gameplay, you will truly feel like a ninja in the shoes of Kurai.

"Since Aragami 2 can be played by 3 players in online co-op, we placed special attention to the composition of clans and clan identity. It must feel like your clan carries its own style and, within it, each player has a singular appearance. We included a greater variety of character customization features for personalizing your looks and equipment.

"Finally, the team set out to develop a new combat system from the ground up. This was indeed one of the most ambitious and challenging tests for us. In Aragami 2, you decide how to engage enemies, whether you stay hidden or fight them straight on. You choose your own playstyle. All in all, we feel we achieved a good balance, making the combat optional, yet hard to master, so it wouldn't be overused by players."

Aragami 2 will release on September 17th for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. You can read an interview we did with the game's developer around this time last year about other aspects of the game through here.

Battlefield 2042 Trailer Showcases Specialist Gameplay and Traits

DICE has released some new gameplay for Battlefield 2042's Specialists via Twitter, detailing the traits and roles for each character in combat. It starts with Webster Mackay, an Assault class Specialist that uses Grappling Hook to flank enemies and reach new heights. He also has the Nimble trait, which provides increased agility while ADSing and ziplining.

Maria Falck is a Support class and is armed with an S21 Syrette Pistol. This heals teammates from afar and can also heal one's self. Her Combat Surgeon traits allows her to revive fallen teammates to full health. Next is Pyotr "Boris" Guskovsky, an Engineer that can use SG-36 Sentry System. This turret spots and automatically fires on enemies while the Sentry Operator trait allows standing near a turret to boost its accuracy.

Wikus "Casper" van Daele is a Recon Specialist suited for sniping and can use the OV-P Recon Drone to reveal enemy positions and disrupts electronics. The Movement Sensor trait detects incoming threats, usually flankers, and allows van Daele to react accordingly. Battlefield 2042 is in development for Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and PC with a beta rumored to be going live on September 22nd. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

The Outlast Trials is "More Like a TV Series" – Red Barrels

Red Barrels' The Outlast Trials made a brief reappearance at Gamescom Opening Night Live, showcasing the game's survival horror atmosphere and gameplay. Unlike previous games, this will be a co-op experience with up to three players surviving the experiments of the Murkoff Corporation in order to escape. In a new interview with PlayStation Blog, studio co-founder Philippe Morin discussed the title and what set it apart from the last two games and also other horror titles.

"If the previous games could be compared to movies, The Outlast Trials is more like a TV Series. Your journey to freedom will be a long one." This seems to imply some kind of episodic approach to the story, one that could continue post-launch, but it's not certain. One thing is for sure though – the sequel is being developed on Unreal Engine 4 which helped to "test new ideas and iterate pretty quickly."

While it wasn't announced for PS5, it seems that The Outlast Trials could come to the platform eventually. When questioned about PS5 gameplay features like DualSense, Morin said that, "We haven't thoroughly investigated all these options, but we're definitely excited by the possibilities. Hopefully, we'll have more to announce soon."

The Outlast Trials is currently in development for PC and is slated to release next year.

505 Games Agrees Control's Upgrade Options Weren't The Best

Control publisher 505 Games recently revealed in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz about how the handling of an upgrade path could have been much better. In the interview, Neil Bralley also mentioned that the publisher would be looking towards better ways to get it right for future games.

As fans might already know, owners of Control's base version weren't entitled to a free upgrade path, and the only way to get those options were to invest again in the game's Ultimate Edition which released post-launch. 505 Games states that options like Smart Delivery weren't the industry norm previously, and both the developer and publisher made several decisions that made using those features difficult.

"Every transition from one generation to another creates challenges for both development and publishing," Ralley said. "The Smart Delivery option, if I can use that term to generalise, was something we hadn't faced before as an industry."

"For Control, we made certain decisions restricted how we could perform Smart Delivery for the next-gen version of Control. They were the correct decisions at the time, but they created those blockers."

The publisher has already made several improvements to its future games, as titles like Ghostrunner and the upcoming Assetto Corsa would be making use of Smart Delivery features. Developer of Control Remedy Entertainment is already hard at work on CrossfireX, and rumors of a possible Alan Wake sequel have been doing the rounds lately as well.

Apex Legends Developer Comments On Removal Of Tap-Strafing From The Game

Respawn Entertainment recently took to Twitter to reveal that it would be removing "tap-strafing" from Apex Legends in a future update. Following quite a bit of fan-outrage on the matter, the studio's associate live balance designer John Larson also took to Twitlonger to give an explanation about the whole ordeal.

As mentioned in the original report, tap-strafing is an exploit which is little or no counterplay tactics which by extension makes it overpowered. Furthermore, performing this trick on a controller is near impossible – which unevens the playing field in cross-platform servers.

"A monkey would be a better MnK player than me, but I took some time to experiment with scroll-wheel strafing in particular. I felt the dopamine rush, I thought about the outplay opportunities, and I love tuning into streams to see flashy plays. However, my designer brain started to churn, and the more I saw, the more I felt this mechanic seemed like forbidden fruit," Larson wrote.

Apex Legends might be old, but hasn't lost much of its charm yet. The game received a new legend in the form of Seer, which has allowed for more stealth options for the game. On the other hand, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall 2 and the original Titanfall have continually been embroiled in a flurry of controversies surrounding hackers within the game's servers.

Gotham Knights Key Art Revealed, New Info To Drop At DC FanDome

A new press release for Gotham Knights has just been well, released and includes new key art for the game. Details on other fronts remain scant for now, but more information is sure to be dropping soon – with a confirmed appearance at DC FanDome this year.

The keyart showcases the key characters of the game – Red Hood, Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl. A gameplay section was shown off last year, however – the game was delayed to 2022 later following that event. This year's DC FanDome wil be streaming live in October 16th, so stay tuned for more details on that front.

In addition to Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will also be making an appearance during the event. Suicide Squad and Gotham Knights are cross-gen titles and will be releasing on PS4, Xbox One, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. Marvel also has two confirmed video games in development – Eidos Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy and Firaxis' Midnight Suns.