Why did I wait so long to play Undertale?
Have you ever been too intimidated to play a video game? I think I'm mature enough to say that I have been on multiple occasions. Usually, it's with a survival horror title. I'm a sucker for the stories of those games, but a massive coward when it comes to the actual scares. To give you an idea of how easily I frighten, I barely made it through Gone Home. I'm sure there are many great games and narratives I've missed over the years because the expectation of jump scares and pure dread intimidated me too much to actually give it a go.
Undertale was another title that intimidated me. Not because of its content, of course. I've known since before it released it was an RPG inspired by the likes of Earthbound and Moon: Remix RPG Adventure, which are both right up my alley. But every time I approached the possibility of popping the game into my Switch, I'd have people giving me a reason not to. Namely, the fanbase.
We are long past the point when Undertale was at the center of the gaming zeitgeist, but at the height of its popularity, some fans on the internet took their obsession with it way too far. A cursory Google search of "Undertale fans toxic" will bring up a wide variety of articles and videos on the problem. I was warned that I shouldn't talk about the game on Twitter if I wasn't doing a pacifist run, lest I invoke the wrath of strangers with an internet connection and way too much time on their hands.
In hindsight, I should have realized nobody gives a shit about my Twitter account and just done it anyway. But at the time, that was enough for me to never open my Switch copy. It's sat on my shelf ever since, accumulating dust and hopefully, a respectable resell value on eBay. As the years passed and the frenzy over the game subsided, the itch to play it stayed with me. Seeing Sans appear in Smash Bros. only added to that desire, but it was after I went through Moon last year that I realized I'd waited long enough. I made a pact with myself to play the game within the year, and when it was added to Xbox Game Pass back in March, I knew the time had come.
Konami's Time Pilot '84 is this week's Arcade Archives release
Another week, another classic shmup from Hamster's Arcade Archives, bringing the quarter-munchers of yesteryear onto today's platforms. This week sees the return of Konami's space shootin' sequel Time Pilot '84, now available to download on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Released on the arcade scene in — unsurprisingly — 1984, Time Pilot '84: Further into Unknown Worlds is the sequel to Konami's own Time Pilot, but chooses to switch out the timezone-hopping, bi-plane piloting, horizontal gameplay of the original for a free-roaming, top-down perspective, a spaceship, and a more structured "futuristic" setting.
Players guide the vessel as it fends off hordes of enemies attacking from all directions. A deft hand for evasion and pixel-perfect aiming are required if the player wishes to stay alive, destroy the baddies, and combat each stage's Silver Space Boss. Honestly, the game bears little to no relation to its predecessor, suggesting that this was a separate project adapted to capitalize on the original's success.
Time Pilot '84 is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, priced at around $8. Check out the action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber Old Classic Retro Gaming.
Review: Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World
Wonder Boy is a bit of a wonderful mess. The series never seems to stick to one style, developer, or nomenclature. Here we have a remake of Monster World IV, which is a sequel to Wonder Boy in Monster World, or, as it's known in Japan — and I'm not kidding here — Wonder Boy V: Monster Land III.
Recently, we've received a bit of a revival recently: Wonder Boy Returns, an upgrade of the original, developed by CFK; Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, a remake of Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap (not to be confused with Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair) by Lizardcube; Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, a completely new entry by Game Atelier; and this title, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World, which is perplexing, because boy isn't even in it.
Confused? Perfect. That's how I like you.
Miis...I miss 'em!
It feels like just yesterday that I was using StreetPass to accumulate an endless amount of Mii friends. Remember Everybody Votes? Ah, we're past our nostalgia limit for the day.
It's time to look to the future! Or the past, in the case of Miitopia on Switch.
Maneater on Switch isn't quite jawsome, but is worth a bite if it's your only option
You all know me... know how I earn a living. I'll review Maneater for you. But it ain't gonna be easy. Switch port. Not like booting up the PC to go down to Resident Evil Village. This port report embargo... swallow your weekend... a little eyestrain, a little finger cramp, and down you go.
I'm gonna keep it quick, that'll bring back the players, put all your eShop customers on a paying basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value free time more than your gaming Twitter clout, Chief. I'll check out your Switch port. I'll install it for 3,000 clicks, but I'll play it — and review it — for 10. Carter got no volunteers, and I've got no mates. But you gotta make up your minds: 10,000 clicks... For me, by myself.
For that you get the screencaps... the summary... The Whole Damn Thing.
Last year, EA released Rocket Arena, an online multiplayer competitive shooter from developer Final Strike Games. If you don't remember it, I don't blame you. It dropped off the gaming radar faster than its price dropped in stores.
When Knockout City was first revealed earlier this year, I was pretty pompous in my assurance that it would face a similar fate. It just didn't seem like something anybody would be talking about after it dropped. But now that I've played it, along with at least two million other people, I don't think that's going to be the case. I think this one has staying power.
Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was an embarrassing 15th birthday present
This may sound peculiar, but I don't necessarily pick games for this column and expect to hate them. Spelunker, for example, I legitimately like, despite its reputation. So I went into Sonic the Hedgehog '06 with a little bit of history with the title. I figured I'd mostly be picking it apart for its mediocrity; a disappointing release for the new generation of consoles. I'd probably make fun of the typically daft Sonic plot.
But after I sat down with the game for a little while, I got this feeling of betrayal. I was warned, sure, but someone should have intervened. The person who sold it to me should have first demanded a psychological evaluation. My PS3 should have just obliterated the disc. Why does no one care that I do this to myself?
What I'm saying is Sonic '06 is shockingly bad. I thought I knew what I was in for, and I was wrong.
Dragon Quest at 35: What are your memories of this legendary series?
Cblogs of 5/22 to 5/28/2021
-Gamingnerd writes an excellent retrospective on the Dragon Quest series on its 35th anniversary.
-Flegma talks about maps in video games and the importance of "orienteering" in development.
-Exber reviews Pandora's Tower on the Wii.
-Humantofu wonders if there is really a proper way to play The House of the Dead today.
-RiffRaff writes about the history of the Adventure genre by focusing on some key examples.
-Black Red Gaming continues their playthrough on Sir Brante's Life, According to Myself and Others.
-Skeet warns Sega that a riot is coming if they don't release Daytona USA on the Switch.
-My Enormous Hairy Downstairs Kitchen writes about the magnificent speed of Wipeout 4.
-GamingDino introduces the Raptor in ARK: Survival Evolved.
-TheBlondeBass wants to makes some "Weapon Stories" for Nier: Automata.
-ChronoLynxx opens this week's TGIF thread for open community discussion.
For the past few years, a speculative question has been buzzing around as we get closer and closer to summer: Is E3 dying? By the mid-2010s, game studios started to pull their booths and presentations out from under the E3 banner because of costs, and the event started selling tickets to the public when it was usually known for being more exclusive for those in the industry. The writing was on the walls that something was up, and the global pandemic causing cancellations of any in-person events seemed like the final nail in the coffin.
Now that E3 2021 is finally here, it got me reflecting a lot on my own experience — I was able to attend the convention for the first and only time in 2018, when my career in games was just beginning, and I didn't quite yet know what I was getting myself into.
I started getting back into gaming again when I was in college, and attending E3 immediately became a new bucket-list item for me. Part of that was because I felt so isolated in my small town and going all the way across the country was a huge deal, but also because in any coverage I saw of the event... it just looked so cool. The lights, the game demos, the booths — not to mention the presentations with huge, roaring audiences, were more excitement than I had seen in my entire childhood.
Here's Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown's roster in all their boxy, retro glory
Earlier in the week, we revealed that Sega's upcoming slugger Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown was getting an amusing DLC bundle, offering players the opportunity to play as the entire Virtua Fighter 5 clan in a fashion recalling their old-school, polygonal roots.
The "Legendary Pack" DLC, which launches June 1 for $10, features two skins for each of VF 5's pugilists, reflecting each character's P1 and P2 regalia. Best of all, latter-day characters such as Brad Burns and El Blaze also receive VF 1-style skins, giving us a glimpse of what might have been had they appeared in the formative projects of Sega AM2.
For funsies, I took an in-game shot of every roster member sporting the new skins. They all look pretty great and some, such as Brad Burns and Vanessa, have two distinctly different looks to choose from. Sadly, the faces are not animated, so we don't get to see Lau's creepy, eyebrow-raising sneer. The Legendary Pack also includes an option to replace the redesigned U.I. with that of the original release in this classic series. Now all we need are a full range of Figmas. Make it happen, Good Smile Co.!
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown launches June 1 on PS4. It will be included in June's PlayStation Plus selection, or can be purchased separately for $30, which includes the DLC.
The open-world genre gives me hesitation these days; it's almost a bad word. I blame Ubisoft. Not another waypoint! Not another tower to climb! Not another cathedral to parkour through! I'll get to the main plot soon, I promise! Just a few more collectibles!
It's not that I'm entirely down on the genre. I'll readily admit to enjoying it. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Spider-Man have captured my attention and drawn me in, but to me, it's like eating a bag of chips; my brain tells me I love it while it's happening, but almost as soon as I'm done, I feel empty. The expanse of the vacuum varies, but I think even the best open-world games have given me this feeling.
What gave me further pause about Biomutant was its protracted development time. It was announced back in 2017, I pre-ordered it in 2019, and here is finally in 2021. Its feature list has always struck me as over-ambitious, especially for a small team like Experiment 101. It was billed as this fully adaptable game that let you make all the decisions in what you do and how you approach the game's main objectives. I had my doubts that it would deliver, and now that it's finally here, I can firmly say that no, it doesn't quite make it. It's a bag of chips. Delicious, delicious chips.
Whatcha been playing this week, Destructoid?
Something wicked this way comes. It starts with an "E" and it ends with a "3". Except it doesn't end, because that is the way of modern gaming media. What was once a half-week of constant excitement, reveals, news drops, and hard work has become a drawn out, months-long gala of constant streams, hours dedicated to individual games, and 160-minute PC showcases.
Still, it's hard not to feel the vibe as we approach gaming's biggest week. Who knows what we will see? I guess it comes down to what you want to see. Regardless, the best part of E3 is spending it with y'all, and we hope that this year you'll join us in the comments once again with your takes on this year's industry offerings. You'll make it all worth the effort. You always do.
Destructoid is live on Twitch to finish The Evil Within
Tonight we wrap up The Evil Within 1 and 2 on Destructoid's Twitch channel starting at 9:00 p.m. ET.
I had played through most of the sequel before launching the first Evil Within cus I didn't really mind any spoilers and it was sitting in my Steam library, but the first game was so gripping that I fully paused my other playthrough to knock this one out.
We've been happily chipping away at The Evil Within for a few weeks now, and I'm super excited to see how it plays out before revisiting where we left off in the sequel. These games are my personal peak of survival horror (cool twists, RPG aspects, immersive story, and so many details); I'm thoroughly enjoying experiencing them to their fullest with you.
Hope to catch you there!
Miss the last stream? Catch up with the archive for part one and part two of The Evil Within.
Come catch me live at Destructoid's Twitch channel every Friday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern! Let's chat it up about anything and everything while playing cool games! I hope to meet you there. :)
Unreal Engine 5 demo's robot dabs if you input the Konami code
Games have all kinds of hidden secrets, and few are as infamous as the Konami code. It's so pervasive that it's become the input to trigger Easter eggs in other games, and even demos like one for Unreal Engine 5.
Discovered by Jon Terp and shared on social media, and confirmed by an Unreal engineer at Epic, inputting the Konami code during the UE5 demo Valley of the Ancients makes its giant robot dab. And it dabs a lot.
Apparently if you enter the Konami code in the @UnrealEngine 5 demo project the big robot dabs. Forever. 10/10 pic.twitter.com/o8eYHvPaKc
— Jon Terp (@JonTerp) May 27, 2021
Unreal Engine 5 has been pretty remarkable to see in motion already, but this adds another layer. Hopefully someone ends up recreating this moment in Dreams as well.
Strangeland - Review in 3 Minutes
In this 3 Minute Review, The Escapist's Jesse Galena covers Strangeland, a dark point-and-click adventure from Wormwood Studios, the team behind Primordia. I have a phobia of creepy carnivals.
There's only so much time each week to check out new games, much less play them — much less fully review them! — and inevitably, plenty of interesting games are destined to slip through the cracks as many of us move onto the next shiny thing. To supplement Destructoid's usual coverage, we're teaming up with our sister site The Escapist to fill in some of these gaps with their helpful 3 Minute Reviews.
Microsoft Flight Simulator patch brings down its base file size
Video games are big, and they've kept getting bigger. So it's always nice to see devs find ways to make a reduction in their storage imprint like the Microsoft Flight Simulator team has with v1.16.2.0.
In its release notes for an update on May 25, the Microsoft Flight Simulator team notes it has performed some optimizations for the initial full download of the game. Now, the base game should be only 83 GB in size, rather than over 170 GB.
That's a boon for anyone trying to save on storage space right now, especially as storage solutions can be fraught. Microsoft Flight Simulator hasn't hit the Xbox Series X or S just yet, but when it does, having a smaller impact on the file storage will be pretty handy. Those expansion cards don't grow on trees, you know.
Microsoft's beefy flight sim has been getting steady updates since its launch last year, adding crafted locales and, of course, virtual reality. I'm absolutely terrible at flying anything in it, but the tech behind the sim has resulted in some amazing things, like tracking real-life storms from a virtual cockpit.
Gamer Girl Spotlight: PikaChulita
Twitch partner Katie Robinson, who streams games as PikaChulita, is a vocal Womanist and advocate for diversity in gaming. She's a Black Girl Gamers team member, and has been quoted and interviewed for sites like The Verge and Gayming Magazine. After coming across her engaging streams and Twitter, I reached out to Robinson for the first installment of Gamer Girl Spotlight, a series highlighting women doing great things in gaming.
Keep reading for Robinson's thoughts on activism, what the gaming community needs to change, and her advice to anyone too intimidated by the seemingly male-dominated gaming space.
Beam Software's Shadowrun is a hot summer night you can stick in your SNES
The world of the Shadowrun tabletop RPG is the best, stupidest, most tantalizing mash-up ever. High fantasy meets cyberpunk. Elves, mages, and dragons, all mixed amongst political turmoil and megacorporate conspiracies. I get goosebumps just describing it.
It's just a shame that we haven't gotten what I'd consider the perfect Shadowrun game. I'll grant you that the games developed by Hairbrained Schemes are fun on a bun. I love them, but at the same time, I'm not in love with them. They certainly tick a lot of my boxes, but there's something confining about them.
However, I can always go back to the Shadowrun titles produced around the birth of the tabletop game. Both just titled Shadowrun, there was one on Genesis in 1994 and one on the SNES in 1993. Released about a year apart, these two games were completely and entirely different, but both are worth playing. The Super Nintendo title was the one I first played and I hold it a smidge closer to my heart. I first picked it up as a child and was completely and utterly confused, yet somehow it made an impact. Now, with adult grey matter at my disposal, I can unwind its unfriendly exterior and eat at its nutritious innards. Have a taste!
Little Nightmares is free on Steam right now and it's yours to keep
It's time to finally play Little Nightmares — it's free to claim and keep on Steam.
Now, I won't lie: you're probably going to get frustrated with the tiny-character-in-a-big-zoomed-out-world camera and controls in certain spots, and some of the exciting horror-action chase scenes can be weirdly finicky, but Little Nightmares has such a rich, bleak, effed-up world. The three-part side-story DLC isn't included, and that stuff is worth playing too, but don't miss this chance. The sequel's great.
Steam is also giving out the full version of Company of Heroes 2 and the American Armed Forces standalone single-player campaign Ardennes Assault. Real-time strategy fans should look into this series even if World War II games typically fall outside of your wheelhouse. CoH can break through.
According to Steam's fine print, the deadline to grab Little Nightmares is May 30 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, while Company of Heroes 2 will be offered for free until May 31 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific. Go get 'em.
If you're not opposed to spending a bit of money in the name of bargain binning, Steam is currently hosting an Open World Sale with discounts on sprawled-out worlds. Kind of. It's a huge swath of games.
But yeah, Little Nightmares. I never recovered from that tidal wave of contorted bodies.
[Thanks, ZelosXT]
PSA: Scarlet Nexus' demo is live on Xbox and PlayStation
[Update: The Scarlet Nexus demo is now playable on PS4 and PS5.]
Action-RPG Scarlet Nexus is just a little over a month away, but if you've got an Xbox console handy, you can try it out today.
A new demo for Bandai Namco's stylish anime action game is out today for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. In it, you can play as either of the two main characters: Yuito Sumeragi or Kasane Randall. According to Xbox, you'll also get some in-game rewards for playing the demo.
PlayStation owners won't have to wait long to try it out, as Bandai Namco says the Scarlet Nexus demo will come to PlayStation 4 and 5 on May 28, one week from today. If you're looking for something flashy and filled with combat to eat up some time this weekend, sounds like Scarlet Nexus might be able to make that happen.
Scarlet Nexus is coming to PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PS5 on June 25, 2021.
Crystal Dynamics has opened new digs in Austin, Texas
Crystal Dynamics has announced the founding of a brand new studio in Austin, Texas. Officially dubbed Crystal Southwest, the studio has already set to work on multiple projects, with the fledgling studio expected to be "a major part of all current and future Crystal Dynamics titles."
Crystal Southwest is headed up by the fantastically named Dallas Dickinson, a 20-year industry veteran who has previously worked as a producer at Sony, as well as BioWare's Head of Production. Crystal Dynamics has already transitioned several staff members into the new offices, but is also currently recruiting for multiple company roles.
It's good news for the long-time developer, currently on the backfoot a little following the less-than-stellar reception to Square Enix' Marvel's The Avengers. Expected to be a long-term, service game title, the comic-book epic struggled to find its intended audience, failing to meet its publisher's expectations and seeing its next-gen editions hit with an unfortunate delay. Hopefully the new studio expansion will signal an upswing for the developer's future.
Backbone brings its anthro-noir mysteries to PC next month
For those who like their grizzled, hard-boiled, detective fiction a little on the fuzzy side, you're in luck, as publisher Raw Fury has finally offered up a street date for its anthropomorphic noir adventure, Backbone, which will raise the curtain on its sinister mysteries come June 8.
Developed by international indie outfit EggNut, Backbone is set in an alternate Vancouver, all foggy streets, flickering neon lights, and shadowed alleyways that play house to life-threatening dangers. Into this miserable, burned-out cityscape city steps raccoon private-eye Howard Lotor who, after many years of bum-deals and dead-end cases, is about to embark upon a job like none other.
Far Cry 6 ignites the revolution on October 7
Ubisoft has locked in the date for its next Far Cry game. Far Cry 6 will kick off the revolution in Yara on Oct. 7, 2021.
Set in the fictional country of Yara, Far Cry 6 will focus on a modern-day guerrilla revolution against the regime of dictator Anton Castillo (played by Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito). Playing as Dani Rojas, you can use a variety of weapons, both standard and improvised—from machine guns to a compact disc launcher.
Far Cry 6 was delayed off its February launch earlier this year due to the impact of COVID-19 and work-from-home development. Now, it looks like Ubisoft's latest shooter is all set to launch this fall.
You'll have animal companions like the tiny little Chorizo to help you out, rides ranging from horses to tanks, and a giant city to explore. Essentially, it's Far Cry—but it's Far Cry coming to the new consoles. We'll see how the open-world mayhem works out in Yara when Far Cry 6 launches for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC, Google Stadia, and Amazon Luna on Oct. 7, 2021.
Channel your inner action hero with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War's free weekend
If you have the itchiest of trigger fingers this weekend, then you might want to exercise those digits in the ridiculous mayhem of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Developer Treyarch has kicked off another free-to-play weekend, opening up multiple game modes on all platforms to all players.
From now until Tuesday, June 1, players can jump into Cold War's competitive multiplayer mode, or pop armies of decaying corpses in the great, region-hopping "Zombies Outbreak" mode. Cold War is also currently entertaining its destructive "'80s Action Heroes" event, complete with dynamic sound effects and cock-rock soundtrack. "Rambo Gun Game" in particular offers a crazy, non-stop-action experience.
Monster Hunter Rise hits seven million shipped, edging it closer to Capcom's all-time top five list
Monster Hunter Rise has been doing well for itself, with steady gains since launch.
Now it just hit a new milestone: seven million shipped. While "shipped" is often a point of contention, it's the only number that matters to Capcom, and they're celebrating it with another free item pack. If you log on now and head to the mailman you can snag "Kamura Pack 3," which nets you 30 Mega Potions, 20 Well-done Steaks, 10 Large Barrel Bombs, five Mega Demondrugs and five Mega Armorskins.
So where does that put Rise in regards to the all-time seller conversation? Well, Capcom's "Platinum Title" list has just six games ahead of it. Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is the next milestone to beat with 7.7 million, followed by Resident Evil 6 at 7.8m, then RE5 at 7.8m.
Rise still has a ways to go until it bests that cluster, but if it keeps the momentum, it could easily end up in the top five. That's not including any sales from the PC version that's due in 2022. In other words, this is going to happen at some point.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale will color your world June 10
Publisher Finji has announced that Greg Lobanov's cheerful Chicory: A Colorful Tale is finally ready to open its big box o' paints. The watercolor-based fantasy adventure will launch on PC and PlayStation platforms on June 10, a mere fortnight away.
Gearbox says it was 'required' to remove Borderlands 3 cross-play for PlayStation consoles
"Borderlands 3 supports cross-play" is now a statement that will need a major asterisk next to it, seemingly through no fault of the game's publisher.
Speaking publicly on Twitter, Gearbox box Randy Pitchford openly sheds some light on Borderlands 3's cross-play feature, giving us "good and bad news." The good news is that an update is being prepped now that will "allow cross-play." The bad news is that cross-play will not include any PlayStation consoles.
In a move that isn't replicated by many industry players, Pitchford notes that "for certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove cross-play support for PlayStation consoles." This mirrors rare cases where studios openly spar with Sony on the issue. Note, however, that this could be a classic publisher dispute, and 2K and Sony didn't come to terms (though Sony requiring caveats for cross-play doesn't help). We've reached out to both parties for clarification.
We do have a little insight, though. As Forbes points out, this was former PlayStation's head of global second-party games Gio Corsi's response to cross-play, which came to light during the Epic v Apple trial: "As you know, many companies are exploring this idea and not a single one can explain how cross-console play improves the PlayStation business."
Yikes! That same trial also brought to light a Sony policy that requires "compensation" for allowing cross-play, as a sort of "hazard pay" for theoretically removing money from Sony's pockets. This is why some games have PlayStation cross-play and some don't.
This whole saga feels years-old at this point, and you'd think that Sony eventually caving and allowing cross-play in some form would be the end of it. Nope! There's still plenty of battles to be waged, like this one Pitchford just inserted himself into.
Randy Pitchford [Twitter via Forbes]
Shiva joins the playable roster of Streets of Rage 4: Mr X. Nightmare
The super dev squad of Guard Crush Games, Lizardcube, and Dotemu have revealed the third character headed to their fantastic scrolling brawler Streets of Rage 4. In what is unlikely to come as a surprise to the fanbase, it is the high-kicking martial arts expert Shiva, who will arrive as part of the upcoming Mr. X Nightmare DLC expansion.
That newly-teased Sonic game might be called 'Sonic Rangers'
Did you catch the Sonic stream yesterday? No worries, we recapped the whole thing.
Of note, we got confirmation of the Sonic Colors remaster under the "Ultimate" moniker, as well as a tease for what is likely a new Sonic game due in 2022. Now, thanks to information from the game's teaser and Sega itself, we know a little more about the project.
According to Eurogamer, an early version of Sega's press release called the game "Sonic Rangers." Destructoid did not get the same press release, as there is no mention of "Rangers" anywhere. It's entirely possible that Sega's UK arm got some wires crossed, and the US one was able to keep it under wraps.
This also lines up with datamined info from the teaser, which also confirms the "Rangers" name. Folks are also bringing up old rumors from January regarding an "open world Sonic game" that allegedly has elements of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Ubisoft titles. Take that last bit with a grain of salt, but given that Rangers came from an official source, the moniker at least seems accurate.
Sega mentions Sonic Rangers in its own press release [Eurogamer]
New Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night game referenced in financial report
A new financial report from holding company Digital Bros. makes brief mention of a possible sequel to 505 Games' gothic adventure Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, with development of the new title apparently already underway.
Page 25 of the report, (which you can check out right here), celebrates the success of Koji Igarashi's mythical metroidvania, which launched on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in the summer of 2019, before receiving a mobile port last winter. Among the plaudits listed — including sales past the one million mark — Digital Bros. notes that a "second version is in development".
It has to be said that "second version" is somewhat odd terminology over simply saying "sequel", so who knows quite what is being referenced with this statement. Bloodstained found a dedicated audience of lost Castlevania fans upon launch, with Shardbinder Miriam winning the hearts of many players worldwide. I am absolutely up for a potential Bloodstained sequel. With E3 season on the horizon, perhaps the details will become a little clearer in the coming weeks and months.
Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown's netcode is reportedly based on Final Showdown's
While Sega offered a variety of details pertaining to its upcoming release Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown yesterday, one aspect of the game went mysteriously unspoken: the all-important netcode. The silence has been deafening, as Ultimate Showdown is a title that has been literally designed specifically for competition, thus a stable online experience is a must.
In an email to Kotaku, Sega has stated that Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown will use delay-based netcode technology adapted from 2012 release Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, essentially using decade-plus-old technology to run the remake in an online capacity. The news has caused Virtua Spit-Takes from fans, who were hoping for more precise tech — such as the much-vaunted "rollback" — to make an appearance. Honestly, I wasn't expecting rollback netcode at all, but I was at least expecting freshly built technology.
New DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power trailer highlights fighting, fashion, and fixing up the city
Nintendo has a very busy June ahead of itself with E3 and a handful of significant new releases, like Game Builder Garage and Mario Golf: Super Rush. That may be where all the attention is now, but there's another game set to launch next month that you might want to keep an eye out for.
As revealed in the last Nintendo Direct, DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power is set to hit Switch on June 4. Earlier today, Nintendo — which is publishing the title — released a new overview trailer highlighting the different aspects of Batgirl, Supergirl, and Wonder Woman's fight against Toyman.
Total War: Three Kingdoms gets one more substantial patch as team moves on to new game
Creative Assembly has announced a big patch for Total War: Three Kingdoms, which will also be the last big one it gets. Patch 1.7.1 will be the end of the content rollout for Three Kingdoms, but Creative Assembly isn't done with the setting just yet.
In a new Dev Diary today, Creative Assembly confirms the team is transitioning to another project based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. More will be shared in the future, but the team said that they will be increasing their focus on the novel's cast of characters and individual narratives.
Today's 1.7.1 patch contains a number of community-requested fixes, as well as changes to the campaign map and additional improvements. You can find the full patch notes here.
It seems like Three Kingdoms was a solid entry in the Total War series, and it definitely garnered a good response from fans. While the sun may be setting on one entry, Creative Assembly seems to have found some solid ground in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
KeyWe, a kiwi mailroom game built for co-op, is out August 31
[Update: KeyWe's summer launch window has been narrowed down to August 31, 2021.]
I'm always on the lookout for charming co-op adventures, and for a while, I've had my eye on KeyWe, a puzzle-platformer about two bumbling birds who must somehow work in sync to run a postal office.
KeyWe was announced as a PC game — far from my preferred co-op platform — but the launch plans have grown more ambitious than just Steam. With an assist from Sold Out, developer Stonewheat & Sons will also release KeyWe on Nintendo Switch (yay!), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
The release date trailer shows the chaotic nature of kiwis zipping around to deliver mail, label shipments, and send messages one button-hop at a time. It's a neat premise in and of itself, but the creative and super-detail-packed environmental work seals the deal for me. I can already tell I'm going to need to customize the look of my bird to be as disgustingly bright and noticeable as possible.
As for multiplayer options, the game has online and local support, so you should be covered. I have a spot reserved in my mind for "the next co-op game I've gotta play," and right now, KeyWe is it.
Horizon Forbidden West didn't get a release date, but here's flashy PS5 gameplay
That's a wrap on today's State of Play for Horizon Forbidden West, and... no release date! Drat.
The highlight of the mostly gameplay-focused presentation was some decked-out environmental art that spanned a jungle, beach, and a couple of moments underwater near the Golden Gate Bridge. I know the Tremortusk was meant to be the showpiece, but I'm stuck on those beavers. What's their story?
The brief narrative setup for Horizon Forbidden West is that a "strange red blight" has been "spreading across the land," which Aloy will need to try and stop using tech artifacts scattered among the ruins. During the PS5 gameplay showcase, she had to rescue Erend from his raptor-riding captors.
I wouldn't say the familiar armor-stripping action-shooter gameplay blew me away or anything, but I do think the combat looks a bit more fun than my memory of Horizon Zero Dawn. I'd fight that mammoth for sure — and I am partial to hovering across sprawling worlds, in this case with a Shieldwing.
Horizon Forbidden West is also coming to PS4, but when? Sony isn't ready to say.
"We don't have an exact release date just yet, but development is on track and we will have an update for you very soon," tweeted Guerrilla Games. "Thank you as always for your ongoing support!"
PowerWash Simulator snags a publishing deal with Square Enix Collective
A very soothing simulator has secured a new partnership to keep its development going. FuturLab has announced a partnership with Square Enix Collective to publish PowerWash Simulator under Square Enix on Steam.
This collaboration will allow FuturLab to continue developing PowerWash Simulator, which recently launched on Steam Early Access.
"Our original vision for PowerWash Simulator was to expand the game in ways that would appeal to a large audience, with the potential of licensed content," said FuturLab founder and creative director James Marsden in a press release. "Square Enix Collective is the perfect publishing choice as we share a united vision regarding the future of the game."
This soothing simulator really captured our attention here in the first GIF we saw, and it sounds like Jordan has enjoyed his time with the Early Access version of the game. Hopefully this collaboration leads to even more, and possibly some wild crossover content too. I'd like to imagine Midgar needs powerwashing too, right?
PowerWash Simulator is currently available in Early Access on Steam.
Horizon Forbidden West's State of Play starts soon, so settle in
With Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart almost here, it's time for PlayStation to start spotlighting the next head-turner: Horizon Forbidden West. That's right — another stream today. The dam is about to burst.
The State of Play stream for Horizon Forbidden West starts at 2:00 p.m. Pacific today.
Guerrilla Games said to expect "14 minutes of brand new in-game action" from the PS5 version in this presentation, with the total runtime taking up about 20 minutes. That I can handle. In and out.
We always enjoy hearing the Dtoid community's thoughts as they spill out of your minds and tumble into the comments during live news streams. Horizon Zero Dawn resonated with so many of you, and it's only natural for expectations to rise with this (presumably) even more confident adventure.
I'm looking for oohs and aahs from this State of Play. I want some Beast Wars-tier machines.
[Update: If you're here for a release date, no news on that front. Just gameplay today!]
Dying Light 2 Stay Human arrives this December
The City will be filled with zombies this holiday season. Techland announced today that Dying Light 2 Stay Human will arrive on Dec. 7, 2021.
Developer Techland showcased more gameplay of Dying Light 2 today during a previously teased livestream, featuring some hints of story and a whole lot of gameplay. The sequel will keep the first game's use of parkour for traversal, utilizing even more verticality in a city that builds up over the dangerous streets.
The first Dying Light also had this interesting mix of zombies and Mirror's Edge, though this new game seems to be taking things even further with more parkour options and tools like the glider that appeared in a previous gameplay preview. It also comes with the subtitle Stay Human, indicating the thin line between staying human and becoming infected, as well as more emphasis on choice and consequences. You can hear more from the Techland devs in today's panel segments here, where they talked about the world and mechanics of the new game.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human will be coming to PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on Dec. 7 in three retail editions—a standard, deluxe, and Collector's Edition.
Want a free copy of Among Us? Hit up the Epic Games Store this week
It's all right there in the headline — if you haven't gotten Among Us yet and you'd like to, you can play it for free. The Epic Games Store is giving away the mega-popular social game until June 3, 2021.
I probably don't need to explain the appeal of this cartoonish sci-fi imposter-deducing game, and you probably don't want to hear it at this point, so let's just say that some players are cut out for "all in good fun" deception and some aren't. I'm not! As for the Epic Store freebie, hey, five bucks is five bucks.
Among Us was teased as a "mystery" giveaway, and next Thursday's free game will be one too.
Let's watch this mysterious Dying Light 2 stream
It's time to (hopefully) get some more details about the parkour zombie action game Dying Light 2.
Following a mysterious tease earlier this week that had me pointing a small UV flashlight all over my apartment, we're getting a new stream today at 3 p.m. ET that will hopefully give us a few more details about what's to come for Techland's zombie series. You can watch along here.
It's been quite a while since Dying Light 2 was first unveiled at E3 2018. Its E3 2019 gameplay demo was fairly impressive, but the studio went quiet for a while following an indefinite delay.
No doubt there are hopes for something concrete here, but I'm personally eager to see more gameplay, and if the lofty ambitions of that 2019 preview are still holding strong in 2021. We'll find out together during today's stream, I suppose?
Dragon Star Varnir for Switch is headed west this summer
Dragon Star Varnir will soon be heating things up for Nintendo Switch owners this side of the pond. As announced by Idea Factory International, the scaly anime JRPG, which launches on the Nintendo platform in Japan today, will be winging its way west in time for the summer season.
It's been a hot minute since we last talked about Dragon Star Varnir, which launched on PS4 in 2018, before receiving a PC port a year later. The high-fantasy adventure tells the story of a world where witches and dragons have been outlawed, and are being summarily hunted down by the kingdom's knights. One such knight has a change of heart, however, after being saved from certain death by a coven of young witches, who bestow upon him the powers of our fire-breathing friends. Now working alongside the coven, our hero fights to protect the witches from their oppressors, while coming to terms with his powerful new abilities.
Nintendo Download: World's End Club
World's End Club is the big focus this week on the Switch eShop, and one of the few featured games in a sea of oddities.
The oddest is easily Spy Alarm, which gives off extremely '90s "your sibling will get caught breaking in your room" vibes. For $10, "Spy alarm transmits an invisible infra-red beam from IR Camera at the bottom of the right Joy-Con, if someone or something crosses the beam, the beams bounce back to the IR Camera which then sounds the alarm."
It's from Sabec, the same publisher who did the Switch "calculator."
Resident Evil Village hits four million shipments and sales in just 19 days
Resident Evil Village is on its way to becoming one of the fastest-selling titles in Capcom history. The super-grim sequel has already raked in over four million shipments and digital sales in its first 19 days, comprised of figures taken from PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Stadia platforms.
For the sake of comparison, previous sequel Resident Evil 7: Biohazard popped the four million mark around 10 months after its release, while 2019 remake Resident Evil 2 rolled out five million copies in just under a year. While the quality of each title is subjective, there's no denying that Village enjoyed far more viral/pop culture global marketing than many of the series' recent releases, which has no doubt paid off in spades for Capcom.
Here's everything that happened at the first Sonic Central stream
Well that was fast! Haha, get it?
Sega promised new announcements today during their Sonic Central stream, and that's just what we got. The big news? A Sonic Colors revival and a tease for the first new Sonic game in years, which will be coming in 2022.
Beyond that, Sega touted how it can throw its weight around and get Sonic into basically any game it wants, including a very brief "blink and you'll miss it" Minecraft split-second clip. We're also getting a free Sonic concert with some big names, more merch (of course), and another retro compilation.
Never underestimate Sonic's ability to make everything that's old new again. Here's a full recap.
House of Ashes is a descent into madness with a 'very real' threat stalking you underground
Supermassive Games is finishing up the third horror-adventure game in The Dark Pictures Anthology this year, and while I was a little late to Man of Medan, I'm hooked now. I want to play all of these games right when they come out, even if they can't quite live up to the fan-favorite legacy of Until Dawn.
From a ghost ship labyrinth in Man of Medan to a foggy witch town fever dream in Little Hope, there's always something out there slinking around in this spooky character-choice-driven series. In the next standalone chapter, House of Ashes, we'll be stalked by an "inhuman enemy threat" in a buried temple.
Surprisingly, the game is set in Iraq in 2003 — the United States is looking for chemical weapons, and this can only end badly. But while the conflict rages above ground, something ancient stirs below.
Sonic Central's 'one more thing' is a new Sonic game tease for 2022
Oh Sonic Central. You were about to leave us with "here's a remaster" and "a bunch of merch and collaborations," but you just had to give us one more tease!
Right as the stream was about to end, Sega gave us that classic "one more thing." For a few seconds Sonic ran through a forest and presented the below symbol for us all to speculate on. Folks noticed this earlier this week when they saw a not-quite Sonic Colors tease in the recent fan appreciation video. As it turns out, it's a new project.
The year "2022" and the platforms PS4/PS4, Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, and Switch was the only info provided beyond the symbol.
Sonic Origins is another compilation coming to new systems
Can't get enough Sonic retro compilations? Well, Sega can't either!
Later this year Sega will release Sonic Origins, which packages together Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic CD. "More info will be coming later in the year," but for now, we just know it exists. Sonic Mania and Team Sonic Racing are also available now on Amazon Luna, and Sonic Forces and the aforementioned other two games are coming to PlayStation Now.
That's basically it! Now you can argue about which classic Sonic game was the best all over again with new people in your life.
Sonic Colors is making a triumphant return on modern systems
It's Sonic stream day, and does it feel like E3 is here already? Because it's kind of here.
In what might be the biggest news of the week, Sega has announced that Sonic Colors is getting a remaster. Described as "better than ever," the re-release is called "Sonic Colors Ultimate," and will arrive on September 7. It's slated for PC (Epic Games Store) PS4, Xbox One [Series X], and Switch: and will have "baby Sonic keychain" physical order bonuses.
Oh, and it's also getting an animation collaboration! It's called "Rise of the Wisps," and the first episode is coming this summer. Roger Craig Smith is returning to reprise his role, as we learned recently.
Hearthstone's next card set is Wailing Caverns
If you didn't experience World of Warcraft's Wailing Caverns dungeon back in the day, odds are you got a chance to see what all of the fuss is about in WoW Classic.
It's an early dungeon, to be sure, but it's one of the more memorable labyrinthine layouts in WoW history. Back when dungeons were basically mazes the players had to figure out as a meta-puzzle, for better or worse. Now it's coming to Hearthstone.
Announced today by Blizzard, this 66-card "mini-set" will contain four legendary cards, one epic card (x2), 14 rare cards (x2), and 16 common cards (x2). It hits the store on June 3, and will go for either $14.99 (at which point you can buy the set) or 2000 gold.
One big gimmick of the set involves summoning an army of 2/2 tokens with various abilities, but spell schools will also be involved, and the legendary cards are drawn straight from Wailing Caverns lore.
Note that this mini-set isn't going to be resetting the season (or the tavern [season] pass). It's part of the same formula as past years, where mini-sets just shake up the meta in a minor way without completely disrupting it. You still have some time to finish your pass.
It's time to watch what I am basically just calling the 'Sonic Direct'
"You're too slow!" Wait, I'm right on time!
In just 30 minutes we'll see what the future of Sonic the Hedgehog entails. The official teaser for what Sega calls "Sonic Central" involves: "upcoming projects, partnerships, and events." The occasion is Sonic's 30th anniversary, so hopefully the publisher has something interesting up its sleeve.
The unveiling of a Sonic Colors re-release project is undeniably in the cards, as well as a potentially new Sonic game altogether, on top of whatever other merch Sega is going to peddle us. Maybe we'll see footage of the new Sonic Prime Netflix show? Or a film teaser? Sonic is wrapped up in all sorts of cross-media projects these days, so anything is possible.
You can catch the stream here on YouTube or here on Twitch. We'll embed it once it's live (Sega seemingly hasn't figured out the whole "scheduled video" thing).
