Kotaku Friday, March 21, 2025 8:30 AM  The disappearance and unavailability of classic titles is causing an existential crisis in all of video gaming. Last November, in response, online PC games store GOG announced a Preservation Program, where over 100 games are promised ongoing support to be sold and run on modern machines forever. It was announced last… |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 9:52 AM  March 21, 2025: Eyes may be back on Blade Ball Arena test, but our eyes are only attuned for new Blade Ball codes. What are the new Blade Ball codes? Those who want to stand out while playing this dodgeball game can splash out on new weapons, skills, and even explosive effects. To get them, though, you need coins, and there are ways to instantly get a small amount of coins to roll the dice while getting a chance to open crates and maybe pull a rare sword skin. There are other similar games on the Roblox platform, so be sure to get all the latest Arm Wrestle Simulator codes to get yourself ripped or learn the secret of Berry Avenue codes if you'd rather live a calmer virtual life. Here are all the latest Blade Ball codes, how to enter them, and where to find more. Continue reading Blade Ball codes March 2025 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Roblox games, Roblox promo codes, Roblox music codes |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 9:51 AM  March 21, 2025: World Book Day may have been and gone, but there's still time to represent the written word with a new Berry Avenue code for this week. What are the new Berry Avenue codes? Rather than being a conventional Roblox game that uses tower defense, RPG, or shooting game-style mechanics, Berry Avenue is a playground where you can buy a house, work a job, or drive around without a care in the world looking fabulous. However, you may have noticed that everyone else looks much more stylish than most Roblox experiences. Is this because of the time they spent playing the roleplay sandbox game or perhaps linked to how much they paid in real-world money? While you're here, you should know that we also keep lists of Blox Fruits codes, King Legacy codes, and Anime Adventures codes to get you some free items and rolls for those games. Continue reading Berry Avenue codes March 2025 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Roblox games, Roblox promo codes, Roblox music codes |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 9:54 AM  March 21, 2025: Annoy your whole friend group and a server full of strangers with our choice new Brookhaven code. What are the new Brookhaven codes? Brookhaven is one of the most popular sandbox games on the Roblox platform, allowing you to meet up with friends and explore the town's bustling streets and sleepy suburbs. Our Brookhaven codes can put a little pep in your step as you act out different scenarios with some free music for your portable speakers. Brookhaven offers a ton of freedom, so there are no pesky limitations to sidestep – you can snap up new houses and tear up the tarmac with various cars and bikes. Our Brookhaven codes grant you access to a whole playlist of popular tunes to serve as your soundtrack while you're at it. We've also got Doors codes, King Legacy codes, and Anime Adventures codes if you're searching for all the best goodies available across the Roblox platform. Continue reading Brookhaven codes March 2025 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best Roblox games, Roblox promo codes, Roblox music codes |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 9:06 AM  Where do you get legendary gear in Assassin's Creed Shadows? You can gain access to powerful passive abilities with certain pieces of legendary gear, capable of drastically changing the way you approach combat. Legendary gear can be found inside legendary chests scattered throughout Japan, or earned through clearing content like quests and Projects in the Animus Hub. If you want to find specific pieces of equipment, we've got you covered with our comprehensive Assassin's Creed Shadows legendary gear location list. Here, we'll show you where exactly you'll find some of the best AC Shadows weapons, AC Shadows armor, AC Shadows Amulets, and Trinkets you can get your hands on, what each piece of equipment does, and how to upgrade your gear. Light spoiler warning. Continue reading Assassin's Creed Shadows legendary gear locations and how to upgrade MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Assassin's Creed Shadows review, Assassin's Creed Shadow weapons, Assassin's Creed Shadows skills |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 8:53 AM  If the launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Rise of the Ronin's arrival on PC have you clamoring for a less combat-driven approach to feudal Japan, open-world RPG Sengoku Dynasty is eager to catch your eye. A combination of survival game, city-builder, and management sim with support for up to four-player co-op, it lets you live out your period fantasy, and the new 'Mono No Aware' update brings additional family features and more intense weather and environmental hazards. |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 8:47 AM  March 21, 2025 We added a new Borderlands 3 Shift code. What are the new Borderlands 3 codes? Gearbox's chaotic shooter has plenty to offer, but we can never say no to even more free loot. Redeem codes are released regularly and include keys to open loot chests and other trinkets to expand your arsenal further. Some Borderlands 3 codes are permanent fixtures, while others are only available for a limited time. We've collected all the latest codes so you never miss out. You can even redeem these codes in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands if you just can't get enough of the FPS game series. Now you're all set, gear up for new Borderlands 3 updates with the latest promo codes below. Continue reading Borderlands 3 Shift codes March 2025 and how to redeem MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Borderlands 3 Shift codes, Borderlands 3 legendary weapons, Play Borderlands 3 |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 8:40 AM  What are the best Marvel Rivals skins? Marvel and NetEase is continually building out the spandex-filled wardrobes of Rivals' vibrant cast of heroes and villains, to the point where choosing which skin to go for next can be a dizzying task. Fortunately, we're here to help. Marvel Rivals skins and their associated bundle can set you back a pretty Unit, so having that extra affirmation that your costume of choice is a banger can help strip away any post-purchase regrets. Whether your fave Marvel Rivals characters sit atop the Marvel Rivals tier list doesn't matter, what's important is that you're slaying in looks in the FPS game, even if you're not slaying on the scoreboard. Continue reading The 32 best Marvel Rivals skins MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Marvel Rivals codes, Marvel Rivals characters, Marvel Rivals tier list |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 8:15 AM  If you're quick, you could grab yourself an incredible bargain on an OLED gaming monitor with an impressively low price. The Acer Predator X27U is now on sale on Amazon for just $499.99, saving you 50% and making it one of the cheapest OLED monitors you can buy right now from a reputable brand. For your money, you'd be gaining yourself a 27-inch, 1440p OLED display with a 240Hz refresh rate. OLED displays such as this one have become the go-to choice for serious gaming setups, with several joining our best gaming monitor guide thanks to high speeds and superior image quality compared to older LCD panels. This particular Acer display continues that tradition, but with a price that's $200-300 cheaper than other OLED alternatives currently available. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best gaming monitor |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 8:05 AM  Who can you romance in Assassin's Creed Shadows? Naoe and Yasuke are more than proficient at stabbing their foes through the heart, and they can work on filling their own with love while venturing across Japan. Ubisoft is bringing back romance once more in Assassin's Creed Shadows, offering our dual protagonists the opportunity to put the 'game' in 'open-world game' as they rizz up various AC Shadows allies. Spotting an opportunity to strike up an AC Shadows romance during the AC Shadows quests is simple work, as dialog options leading down that route are denoted with a love heart - how lovely. To find out who the lucky recipients of your affections are and how their character arcs pan out (major spoilers ahead), read on. Just to note, Canon Mode will not let you select romance options, so keep it turned off. Continue reading All Assassin's Creed Shadows romance options MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Assassin's Creed Shadows review, Assassin's Creed Shadow weapons, Assassin's Creed Shadows skills |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 7:43 AM  Preliminary FF14 7.2 patch notes reveal some very nice quality-of-life improvements for the critically acclaimed MMORPG. The next update for Final Fantasy 14 arrives Tuesday March 25, and will bring the next chapter of the Dawntrail story with it. While we'll have to wait a little longer for the arrival of major features such as Cosmic Exploration and the Occult Crescent, which arrive over the coming months, there are some very welcome upgrades that will make your life easier across the entire game. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best MMOs, FF14 Dawntrail review, FF14 Island Sanctuary guide |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 7:43 AM  Who are the Assassin's Creed Shadows allies? A journey wrought with deception, vengeance, and redemption can be a bit much for Shadows' dual protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke. Fortunately, there are some friendly faces jotted about Japan who are rooting for their success, and join the shinobi league once certain requirements are met. Your allies do a lot more than just sit in your AC Shadows Hideout and look pretty. Some may assist you on the battlefield, while others serve as AC Shadows romance options - how thrilling. Below we'll teach you all you need to know about each ally, including how to recruit them in Assassin's Creed Shadows, any abilities they have, and more. We do reference quest names in this guide, so keep our AC Shadows quest list open as you go. Continue reading All Assassin's Creed Shadows allies and how to recruit them MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Assassin's Creed Shadows review, Assassin's Creed Shadow weapons, Assassin's Creed Shadows skills |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 7:27 AM  What are the best RPGs on PC? Roleplaying games can have everything from interplanetary exploration, lightsaber duels, and bloodthirsty vampires to irradiated mutants who need to be beaten with golf clubs, lizards who can talk to cats, and a whole lot of dice rolling if that's your jam. It's a pretty diverse pool. The scale and scope of RPGs are like never before, with tech finally catching up to developers' ambitions, enabling vast, open worlds previously unseen. As a result, some of these adventures are among the best PC games ever made. So, dear traveler, gather your party and head out. We're about to bear witness to the best RPGs available on PC. Continue reading Best RPG games on PC 2025 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Zenless Zone Zero review, Zenless Zone Zero codes, Zenless Zone Zero banners |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 7:23 AM  March 21, 2025: We've added the latest Monopoly Go dice links for free dice rolls. How can I get Monopoly Go free dice links? The household favorite board game has been reimagined as a free-to-play app on smartphones, allowing everyone to experience the thrills of Monopoly on practically any device. Everything that makes the board game special is here in Monopoly Go, so you'll be collecting properties and building hotels as you go around the board, and there are a variety of multiplayer minigames to get through along the way. You're going to need to get your hands on Monopoly dice rolls, but they are difficult to come by no matter how far you are into the board game. There are ways to earn additional dice rolls, including logging into the game every day to collect daily bonuses, progressing further in the game, and inviting friends to try Monopoly Go. While you can also spend real money to unlock more dice rolls, you may want to give our list of Monopoly Go dice links a try instead, especially if you're waiting for the next Monopoly Go Golden Blitz event. Take a look at all the currently active Monopoly Go free dice links for today. Continue reading Free Monopoly Go dice links March 2025 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:54 AM  What are the Palworld system requirements? Palworld is still a hit with gamers and is averaging more than 40,000 concurrent players each day, but its basic PC system requirements haven't been adjusted since launch, which is a pain for AMD gamers in particular. Palworld doesn't ask a lot from your gaming PC - at least for minimum specs - meaning everyone can find a new cute but deadly pal without needing the best graphics card on the market. Unfortunately, no AMD specs are listed, and while the game obviously runs on AMD hardware, it's annoying for no alternatives to be listed. Continue reading Palworld system requirements MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:39 AM  What are the best settings for The Finals? Season six of The Finals is here, and over the last year, this free-to-play shooter has undergone to massive changes to gameplay, but very few to PC optimization. Fear not, however, as The Finals performance on PC is still fantastic, provided you've got the hardware to meet its demands. Continue reading Best The Finals settings for PC MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best graphics card, Best gaming PC, Best SSD for gaming |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:21 AM  What are the new Genshin Impact codes? Gathering Primogems and Mora in Genshin Impact can be quite the grind. Fortunately, developer Hoyoverse occasionally sends out gifts in the form of Genshin redeem codes. Most codes only work for a limited time, so it's best to redeem them as soon as possible to avoid missing out. Genshin Impact codes are released periodically, frequently appearing in Hoyoverse special programs: regular video updates detailing future updates to the free PC game. Redeem codes can also drop to celebrate milestones or to coincide with new Genshin Impact events. You can find all the active Genshin codes for March 2025 below, and we also detail what they get you, how to redeem them, and where you can look for more. Continue reading Genshin Impact codes March 2025 and how to redeem MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Genshin Impact codes, Genshin Impact character tier list, Genshin Impact leveling guide |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:14 AM  Last week in videogames, we saw two actors from HoYoverse's Zenless Zone Zero replaced outright, allegedly a result of their involvement in the ongoing SAF-AFTRA strikes. Then we saw Baldur's Gate 3's Neil Newbon launch The Pixel Pack, a collective of triple-A VAs who have banded together to remind the world that "game actors are actors." The headline image, coordinated as part of a deep dive from Entertainment Weekly, includes everyone from icons like Matt Mercer and Troy Baker, to Newbon's Baldur's Gate 3 co-stars. It oozes power and defiance. But for Masumi, Assassin's Creed Shadows is her videogame debut, so in an exclusive interview I asked her about her views on AI voiceover. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Assassin's Creed Shadows review, Assassin's Creed Shadow weapons, Assassin's Creed Shadows skills |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:13 AM  How do you make money in Assassin's Creed Shadows? Heading up and expanding a shinobi league across Japan doesn't come cheap, and you're going to need plenty of coin to pay for it all. Whether you're training your AC Shadows allies, buying up Kakuregas, or upgrading that sweet piece of AC Shadows Legendary gear you just found, Assassin's Creed Shadows makes you work hard for it. Below, we lay out the main methods of making AC Shadows Mon - the open-world RPG game's clipped currency - so you can begin building your feudal empire. Continue reading Assassin's Creed Shadows Mon - how to make money fast MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Assassin's Creed Shadows review, Assassin's Creed Shadow weapons, Assassin's Creed Shadows skills |
PCGamesN Friday, March 21, 2025 6:08 AM  When is the Diablo 4 Season 8 release date? A much-loved feature from Diablo 3 returns in D4 with the (re)introduction of seasons, adding everything from new questlines to items, gameplay mechanics, and more. Expanding on the rich, gothic world of Sanctuary, Blizzard makes sure players have plenty to sink their teeth into, whether you're a fresh-faced player taking their first steps into Sanctuary or a grizzled veteran of the Burning Hells. We're currently at Season 7, with a promise of four seasons a year. Given that there is at least one more DLC planned for Blizzard's action RPG game, we can assume there are also more seasons to come. While it's still too early for the confirmed date of Diablo 4 Season 8, we can estimate a release date based on preceding seasonal content. Continue reading Diablo 4 Season 8 release date estimate MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Diablo 4 builds, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred review, Diablo 4 classes |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, March 21, 2025 10:00 AM  The villagers of Wyndham are miserable. Stuck in a military cordon with little to do except look up at the exploded power plant that put them there, escape made even less feasible by the bandits and forest cultists on the other side, even the stiffest upper lips are starting to sag. One such fed-up chappie moans that it's so bad, he'd rather be back in Swindon. First off, way to disrespect our towering cultural contributions, philistine. He'd have a much better time if he actually did make a break for those big metal gates to the outside, because while Atomfall is an unexceptional FPS and only a decent survival game, its sheer openness and barrels upon barrels of on-tap intrigue make it worth poking your head in. If, that is, you're able to go looking for answers unprompted. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, March 21, 2025 6:49 AM  Six years ago Nightdive Studios announced they were doing a remaster of sci-fi sequel System Shock 2, which they were calling System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. But back then they were also busy working on a full-blown remake of the original System Shock. Turns out that first outing to Citadel Station took priority. But now that they're done with that, the studio has finally revealed a release date for the sequel's remaster, which they've sneakily renamed System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster. |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Friday, March 21, 2025 5:13 AM  I have recently immersed myself in the pleasantly numb Monster Hunter Wilds loop of smashing Arkvelds to bits. They are, as far as I can tell, the most profitable creature to bully, and I now find myself skinny dipping in the gulf of meaning that lies between the regal, resentful, mildly sassy chains hanging from the creature's armour set, and the deeply sad and laboured motions with which it swings its bodily inspiration for those chains. I get the sense that the series' solution to the uncomfortable implications of its lizard bashing has been, over the last few entries, to evil-fy its creature design to the point where it engenders less easy empathy. There's a lot of ugly, bugly bastards in Wilds, is what I'm saying. Less deep, sad lizard eyes and more chittering chitin and fuck-you dragon stares. The Arkveld's design is so threatening that it invites nothing if not: look mate, if four of us manage to take you down with scissors whittled from Original Recipe Chatacabra marrow, it's your own fault here, ya bish. |
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Siliconera Friday, March 21, 2025 10:00 AM
The Pokemon Company International announced the new Pokemon TCG Pocket expansion is called Shining Revelry, and it will add new cards of shiny Pokemon. That will debut on March 27, 2025. The "packaging" for the new set also features the shiny versions of characters like Charizard, Lucario, Beedrill, Pachirisu, and Wugtrio.
All of the new Pokemon, shiny or not, in Shining Revelry are ones you can find in the Pokemon Scarletand VioletPaldea region. This explains the appearances of characters like shiny Wiglett, shiny Wugtrio, and shiny Varoom. Other confirmed characters from the region include Tatsugiri, Sprigatito, and an Iono Supporter Trainer card. Ones not limited to that one location include Charizard, Lucario, Beedrill, Pachirisu, Pinsir, and a Red Supporter Trainer card.
In addition, there will be a new event appearing the day after the new expansion appears in the game. The Pokemon TCG Pocket ex Starter Deck Missions begin on March 28, 2025. These will involve the prebuilt decks we can access and use in-game. They'll be available for about a month until April 27, 2025, and there will be different rewards for taking part.
Here's the full trailer for the Pokemon TCG Pocket Shining Revelry expansion with new, shiny Pokemon cards and the ex Starter Deck Missions event teaser.
The last expansion was Triumphant Light, and it debuted in February 2025.
Pokemon TCG Pocket is available on mobile devices. The next Shining Revelry expansion and its cards appear on March 27, 2025.
The post Shiny Pokemon Cards Join in New Pokemon TCG Pocket Expansion appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Friday, March 21, 2025 9:30 AM
It's been a while since there's been a Rune Factory spin-off game, but Marvelous is bringing that idea back with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. This installment features a new setting, new gameplay elements, and a whole new region that feels inspired by Asian cultures. To learn more about what to expect from this installment, Siliconera spoke to Producer Fujii Hisashi about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, its development, its world, its characters, and what it's like to romance a love interest and have children.
So when did development on Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma begin?
Hisashi Fujii: Development started in September 2021.
How did the different regions and cultures in Japan help shape depictions of the regions in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?
Fujii: Specific examples aren't coming to mind, but there are, of course, areas in the game that were inspired by specific areas in Japan. And, I'm sorry, just to help clarify, while there's undoubtedly influence from Japan, it's not intended to be Japan. It has a lot of Asian influences. It isn't meant to be one-to-one with Japan.
In the case of the monsters, how did you ensure that the new ones would fit in with the new region while still blending in with existing Rune Factory monsters from past games that make an appearance here?
Fujii: Regarding the monsters that are new to the game, many of them were inspired by classic yokai from Japanese folklore, such as the kappa and the karasu tengu, the crow tengu. And so that's kind of where the inspiration for the new monsters came from.
Are there any regional variants of returning monsters? Like, is there a new version of the Buffamoo based on the new locations in the game and the new seasons? Or is there just one type of Buffamoo, one type of Wooly, and that kind of thing.
Fujii: It's a mixture of both. There are monsters in the game, such as the Woolys, that are, essentially, globally the same between Azuma and the world of the previous Rune Factory games, and then there are some monsters that have slight variations based on being in Azuma, such as color variations or slight appearance variations.
In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, there's a really big city management and building element. How did you come up with that idea? What kinds of challenges did you face when implementing that and keeping it balanced with all the other farming and fighting elements?
Fujii: Regarding the village building elements in the game, a core theme in the Rune Factory series is the idea of the Earthmate using their power to restore the Earth. And a big part of that, and part of the reason why we created this feature, is because we wanted a part of that to be not just restoring the Earth, but restoring the villages that the characters live in. Also to give players the ability to restore them as they see fit or to customzie them to their liking. So that was the impetus for creating the feature.
A number of the bachelors and bachelorettes of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are gods and goddesses. How did mythology shape their specific designs, abilities, and personalities?
Fujii: There are marriage candidates who were inspired by existing Japanese myths and gods, but that's really not all there is to it. There's really a lot of influence in various elements of their design. To give one specific example, the god of summer Matsuri. Her outfits are inspired by traditional Okinawan outfits, and her motif is the Okinawan hibiscus flower.
In the Rune Factory series, there are always a lot of romance options and opportunities to have relationship events when you're starting to get together, when you're dating, and when you're married. Is that going to happen with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma where there will be romance events continuing to happen even after you make a commitment?
Fujii: Pre-dating and post-dating, the scenarios are clearly divided. Before you start dating, you have the events to build your bonds with various characters. And the way of building these bonds is different from after you confess and actually start dating. And once you start dating, you'll have date events. So that's clearly demarcated within the scheme. And then also, of course after you get married, there are events around having a child. But there's not a specific post-marriage scenario outside of just living together, having a child, and sort of the daily interactions.
Speaking of having a child, considering how you can assign people to work in town, can you put your child to work when they grow up and come of age in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma? Since you can have multiple people with you going into dungeons now, can your child become one of your allies? Can it be like a whole family trip?
Fujii: You can have up to two children in the game. The children can't be put to work in town. You can't assign them tasks, but you can bring them on adventures with you as party members. And as with the other major NPCs in the game, you can raise your bond level with your children and through interactions and gifts. And also, bringing them with you will raise their bond level. As their bond level goes up, there will be certain skills that are unlocked that they can use in battle. And that's true of all the NPCs you can bring with you.
I noticed when you have your allies in battle, there can be party banter. Are there going to be romantic rivals for the player in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma if there are characters who seem like they kind of get along like in older Story of Seasons games' rival marriage?
Fujii: There is no rival marriage in Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, but as you noticed, there are many different variations on battle dialogue that can play depending on which characters are accompanying you into battle. If a character has a good relationship with another character within the game setting, then there may be a very specific dialogue that will play between them in battle. So we think that really players of the game can enjoy experiencing just how many kinds of variations on these battle dialogues there are.
Also, which characters are friends with other characters is something that's set within the game. It's not something that the player can necessarily influence.
How did Rune Factory 5 feedback shape Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?
Fujii: As the development team, we took the feedback we received from users on Rune Factory 5 very seriously and made our best effort to improve some elements in Guardians of Azuma.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025.
The post Interview: Developing Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Friday, March 21, 2025 9:00 AM
There's a lot going on with Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma! It's a new entry in the series, but also a spin-off. It's adding a new type of gameplay, given we actually build up towns. There's also the whole thing of the previous entry experiencing some issues. However, this new game seems like a new opportunity and, after some hands-on time with it, makes it seem the team learned learn from past missteps and mistakes.
In Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, players step into the shoes of an Earth Dancer. It's a special kind of warrior not unlike an Earthmate. They are connected to the land and able to heal and foster its growth. Which is good, as a blight hit Azuma affecting many villages there. This means using sacred treasures to grow crops, banish corruption, and fight foes.
When I first stepped into Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma for the demo, town management and farming were the focus. You'll need to get necessary items to build up a village and place buildings or plots of land for farming. These affect the Earth Dancer, for example increasing HP. It can also mean new items are available to buy or access, and adding fields provide chances to grow crops. After land is cleared and places are built, citizens who returned to the area can be assigned jobs or roles to help out. They may have abilities or traits that make them specifically suited to certain tasks.
As part of this prep, the sacred treasures came into play. For example, an umbrella could be used for water-based attacks in a fight or to gently glide from one elevated landmass to another, or you could use it to water crops. A drum? It could be used to attack and heal or to speed up growth by one day. There's a sense of connection, so I could see how everything's purpose could change and provide different benefits based on context. It also seemed great for ensuring there was no clutter among the tools. Especially since each piece of equipment would also be used to banish a certain type of corrupted growth, indicated by color.
When it comes to fighting, these treasures are more of a prized resource due to needing energy to be used. As such, every Earth Dancer relies on one of those equipped pieces alongside a secondary weapon that doesn't require any type of saved stamina to use. These can be melee ones, like the traditional swords from past Rune Factory games, or new ones like a ranged type of talisman like a Touhou Project danmaku. I got to test out these, as well as see how a full party of four worked in-action, in a cleared dungeon. You can have up to three people join you in your quest. In this case, the Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma romance options Murasame, Iroha, and Ulalaka were by my side. Each is designed to take on certain roles based on their personality, so Murasame was an aggressive warrior and Iroha was more of a tank-type. Heading in meant facing various monsters inspired by yokai, as well as facing an equine boss. Said boss could also be staggered and temporarily stunned by exploiting weaknesses, with the sword sacred treasure and its fire attack proving critical for that.
While developing the land and quickly running through a dungeon were the initial focuses of my Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma demo experience, romance with some characters came up as well. The two scenes I got to see involved the bachelor Murasame and the bachelorette Iroha. He's a warrior who ended up needing to survive on his own in the wild for a time, and the event with him focused on that. Meanwhile, Iroha runs a teahouse, and hers ended up being a mix of making it a success and luring in more people to the town she loved. In each case, it felt like the characters got to be the focus, which is exactly what I feel we want from these heart events. Also, I appreciated the quality of life adjustment tied to finding them. When both were available, I could see special icons on the map highlighting that I could get to know them better and further our relationship.
It seems like ensuring the four core gameplay elements of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma are well-balanced could prove critical to ensuring this entry's success. We aren't just farming, fighting, and finding love anymore. A whole region's success depends on us managing rebuilding efforts. It should prove interesting to see how well that goes.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma will come to the Nintendo Switch and PC on May 30, 2025.
The post Preview: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Combines a Lot of Elements appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Friday, March 21, 2025 8:25 AM
We're looking for even more feedback on Siliconera, what you want to see from the site, and just things in general that you enjoy! We've started up a whole new survey so we can get your thoughts. Our goal is to constantly build on the site's foundation to continue to make it (and our newsletter) bigger, better, and more able to cover everything you like!
With this latest survey, we hope to get your insights about the site and things you like to check out online. That means answering a handful of questions about topics that matter to you. If you could please spare 5-10 minutes of your time, we'd really appreciate it! And in the end, your responses could really make a difference!
Thanks you all for visiting Siliconera and taking the time to fill out this survey.
The post Shape Siliconera by Taking Our New Survey appeared first on Siliconera. |
Destructoid Friday, March 21, 2025 9:01 AM
Kaiserpunk is a weird game, starting with the genre. Like the hot new strategy game from the timeline where Civilization merged with Sim City, Kaiserpunk distinguishes itself from both city builders and grand strategy. The strangeness continues with the daily grind of ruling an early 20th century city where workers riot when their town of 100 illiterate souls doesn't receive the daily newspapers.
Running the city, big or small (and they all invariably become big), is an act of balance run with the sensibilities of slapstick comedy. Completing a chain of production means overextending your reach and destabilizing the whole economy, the only cure being overextending in the opposite direction. You'll fix a crisis among laborers by building a factory and hiring a bunch of manufacturers, who need fancy new luxuries, or they will literally riot. You do what you can to keep them calm and begin production on gramophones, which require new factories and new manufacturers.
Congratulations, you just made the problem worse! Now you'll definitely have to find that oil to refine into rubber, mix it with other materials in new factories, and make lots and lots of radios for the worker class that now dominates your city. Trying to satisfy the needs of a group multiplied its members tenfold and made the tax revenue penalty for not meeting their extra needs a death sentence.
Kaiserpunk (PC, [reviewed])
Developer: Overseer Games
Publisher: Overseer Games
Released: March 21, 2025
MSRP: $29.99
The chain of production
You might think, based on the scenario above, that that this is a city building game about society and its need, not just workers and resources, like so many tabletop strategy games. You couldn't be further from the truth. Anything regarding humans in Kaiserpunk is laughably abstract. Let's look at the basic worker: the laborer. They only need two luxury goods to be happy and max out their tax output, clothes and newspaper. Let's ignore clothes for now, or we'll be here all day.
How do you make a newspaper? Of course, the answer changes depending on what you mean by "newspaper," the kind of population it will serve, and the technology available. But this is Kaiserpunk, so of course we use an early 20th century industrial process to serve a population of 100 people who presumably can't even read.
So, how do you make a newspaper? Well, first you need paper. Actually, first you need cellulose. Actually, first you need wood, and to make wood you need a forester. Not a lumberjack; a whole building dedicated to harvesting and cutting down trees. You'll then need electricity (a miraculously effective windmill, in this case), then a cellulose factory, then a paper mill, then a printing press, and finally a… wait, the printing press makes newspapers? How do you make books, then? That's the best part, you don't!
What about the distribution and the writing of the newspaper? That's not part of the industrial process, so in Kaiserpunk, it might as well not exist. To be fair, making a newspaper is already complex enough and I'm not asking for it to be even more complex. But it seems strange to keep the cellulose factory and not the part where you infuse a lifeless material with what makes it valuable. Cellulose is here only because the game is very interested in how one resource slots into the complex system of industrial production. Cellulose is an essential component in the production of newspapers, but also ammunition. To make newspapers and not weapons is to throw away precious synchrony between the two production systems.
That's also why workers are here, as a resource with extraordinary needs and functions that encompasses the entire economy. They're present in farmland and industry, they're both producers and consumers of the luxury goods that make up many of the resources in the game, but they don't feel human at all. The ostracization of the workers' involvement in industry from their humanity permeates the entire game. You unlock jazz clubs long after gramophones and radios because jazz clubs seem more modern, even though live music obviously predates those technologies. Drinkable water serves no role in your city until you introduce chemical processes, even though people (and crops, and forests) need water, too.
In a way, the strangeness is part of the fun, and Kaiserpunk is in on the joke. The few cinematics in the game make fun of it constantly. What's not fun is trying to stay behind this Jenga tower of an economic system with the few tools that Kaiserpunk gives you and within the strict time/performance ratio it expects.
Chasing perennial growth
Kaiserpunk expects great things from you. Ever greater things, always improving until you're so far ahead, you might as well cut the game short. You'll always have a need for growth, even if you make the enemy AI completely incompetent. Let's go back to our newspaper example from before and take a closer look at cellulose. This material is extracted from wood and is used to make the paper used in magazines, but it's also one of the ingredients that go into creating ammunition. Every few in-game hours, those two chains of production consume five cellulose each. In the same timeframe, a cellulose factory makes 24 bits of cellulose.
Once you build a cellulose factory, it will consume lots of money and electricity to make way too much cellulose. The only way to justify the expense is to make lots of paper and ammunition, then feed the first to the workers and the second to soldiers. To not waste newspapers you need more workers, and those new workers need a job and other goods to satisfy their other needs. To use ammo, you need to go make militias, and to not waste militias you need war, which requires many interconnected chains of production, each as intricate as the one of cellulose.
Reaching a balance is extremely difficult and, more importantly, inefficient. You're always propelled forward by a new type of worker with needs you can't satisfy, or a surplus of material that's going to waste. If you approach Kaiserpunk as a grand strategy game with intricate production lines and conflict that mimic the war of attritions of the early 20th century, you'll find yourself right at home. If you were looking forward to a city builder set in the second industrial revolution, where internal politics and worker morale is tracked by social class, this might not be for you.
What Kaiserpunk is missing
I didn't personally enjoy chasing the ever-faster growth of my city and empire as much as Kaiserpunk would want me to, but I can see how someone could love this constant pressure to improve. I can't imagine anyone so much as tolerating the tools available to chase this kind of efficiency.
Many of those problems are small things that could be fixed in the future, from unwieldy menus with no sorting or search ability to the tiny thumbnails acting as resource icons (you try to distinguish a laborer from a manufacturer when the portraits are 20 pixels squared). Individually, those would be missing quality-of-life features. Together, they make it genuinely difficult to act on the simulation with the type of control and carefulness that Kaiserpunk demands.
The occasional crashes and weird audio bugs don't exactly sell the fantasy of a well-oiled system, either. Had it not been so punishing and intricate, it would be easier to forgive those issues. On the other hand, perhaps the grueling process of learning the ins and out of this system through imperfect information is the point, and it does fit a game about building a new empire in the interwar period.
There's a lot to do in Kaiserpunk, but dealing with it won't always be pleasant. It's up to you to decide if this bump in the road to complete mastery of the system is a problem or the point of the game.
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