PCGamesN Sunday, July 7, 2024 8:06 AM  In the years after Beyond Good and Evil's launch and subsequent flop, it's taken on a legendary status as a shining example of originality in the action-adventure space. In 2003, following the success of the Rayman games, Michel Ancel turned his hand to a new IP, moving to a darker, more young-adult-oriented universe inspired by the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and late '80s to early '90s animation. Now, Ubisoft's newly remastered 20th-anniversary edition offers some quality-of-life improvements, bumps up the visual fidelity, and presents an easy entry point to one of the most charming videogame worlds yet created. Continue reading 20 years later, Ubisoft's smallest world is still its best MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best platform games, Best story games, Best old games |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 7, 2024 7:37 AM  By all accounts, medieval Steam city-building game Manor Lords can be considered one of the big successes of 2024. It might not have soared to quite the highs of Palworld, Helldivers 2, or free games like The First Descendant, but it's tough to complain about two million sales in its first three weeks, a peak player count of 173,000, and a very positive Steam review score of 88% across more than 43,000 user responses. Responding to a criticism of the game's early access launch, its publisher Hooded Horse says the team is "thrilled beyond belief" with its performance so far. Continue reading Manor Lords publisher rejects early access concerns as "distorted" MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Manor Lords early access review, Best strategy games, Manor Lords system requirements |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 7, 2024 6:28 AM  Who doesn't love smashing things? From Command and Conquer to Battlefield, the simple satisfaction of setting a symphony of destruction in motion has long been one of gaming's ultimate pleasures, and the best sandbox games are a fantastic place to do it. The arrival of the Besiege: The Splintered Sea expansion in May was a great excuse to return to one of the most satisfying building games on PC, and now developer Spiderling Studios announces a big upgrade to its campaign that's set to challenge you even more. Continue reading Besiege's excellent Splintered Sea DLC is getting longer and harder |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 7, 2024 6:17 AM  July 7, 2024: We've added two new Monopoly Go dice links to get 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 July 2024 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best board games, Monopoly Go events, Monopoly Go dice |
PCGamesN Sunday, July 7, 2024 3:00 AM  Team Suneat's Dragon is Dead is - and stop me if you've heard this one before - a stylish 2D roguelike currently in early access on Steam. Yes, there are a few of those about right now, but if this specific combination of buzzwords still has the power to pique your interest, there's plenty to like in Dragon is Dead, from its gorgeous pixel-art graphics and tricky combat to its strong build variety and killer boss fights. MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best roguelike games, Best platform games, Best indie games |
Rock Paper Shotgun Latest Articles Feed Sunday, July 7, 2024 6:00 AM  Sunday's are for being mildly optimistic about the future for a few short hours. Before something bad happens, let's read this week's best writing about games (and game related things!) For The Baffler, Noah Caldwell-Gervais wrote about games that employ repetition, both cynically and transformatively. Ed Zitron wrote about shareholder supremacy, nihilistic capitalism, and the legacy of Jack Welch. It's a massive read, but well worth it if, like me, you lack the words and historical context to articulate why these things make you angry. I'm still going to refuse to elaborate on my "men in suits bad" stance, though, because it annoys people. |
Twinfinite Sunday, July 7, 2024 4:44 AM  |
Siliconera Sunday, July 7, 2024 9:00 AM
While there are exciting, thrilling moments in the lives of spy Loid Forger, assassin Yor Forger, and telepath Anya Forger, a lot of the series is a day-by-day, slice of life experience. Spy x Anya: Operation Memories, the first major Spy x Family game, really gets that by putting the focus on Anya attempting to complete a school assignment. While the nature of getting every photo does mean a bit of repetition and there is an awkward launch into it, it ended up being a fun little sim about family and photographing Anya at key moments like she's an ever-present Pikachu in Pokemon Snap.
I was actually a bit thrown when Spy x Anya: Operation Memories began, since there was no introductory story setting the stage for the Spy x Family game. Rather, Anya Forger was in her class at Eden Academy and a tutorial went over controls right away. It didn't even explain the whole purpose of the game until I went through learning how to move Anya, the camera, talk to people, and head home. It's only once she was back home with her parents Loid and Yor that the whole purpose of the game was revealed in a flashback. One of her latest assignments is to create a diary. Because she wants to make it awesome and impress "Second Son" Damian Desmond to help her actually-a-spy father with his mission involving Donovan Desmond, her family agrees to help her with outings to create memories.
It's an awkward choice, to be certain. I'm very familiar with Spy x Family, thanks to reading the manga and watching the anime, so I had no problem immediately catching up with what's going on in the game. However, people who don't have that familiarity are going to be completely left in the dark. Something as simple as a brief introduction with Anya explaining who she is, her telepathic powers, why her "father" Loid created the fake family, and that her "mother" Yor is actually an assassin, would be a big help and would help make the transition into the experience easier and smoother.
Once you get past the many tutorials, it becomes fairly clear that Spy x Anya: Operation Memories is a Pokemon Snap sort of game that mixes minigames and opportunities to socialize with the cast of Spy x Family with dress-ups and photo ops. Anya will take part in a family meeting, during which the destination of the next outing will be selected. While waiting for that day to come up, she'll go to school and spend time at home. At both locations, there are opportunities to talk with members of the series' casts to form relationships with them and chances to make memories. There will also be chances to interact with items Anya finds especially interesting for a photo for her diary.
Said photos are their own minigame. You need to get the shot in focus, ensure the angle is correct to be able to catch all people or points of interest, then nail the timing to get the perfect shot. A visual indicator of three light-up frames let you know when that moment arrives. That's also paired with multiple opportunities to repeat the moment, so you can be assured you'll get a perfect three-star picture photo for the diary showing the focus, angle, and timing is just right. You get to do one of these at school each day, and another one at home every evening.
In the case of the outings in Spy x Anya: Operation Memories, those are a bit more involved. You get a chance to buy items from the in-game store with points earned from photos and minigames. These can be used at certain points in outing locations for special memories and photo ops. It also makes the prospect of purchasing or earning extra raffle outfits and accessories more appealing, since everyone's appearance changes when you do. There are missions with rewards like raffle tickets for completing certain tasks. Plus taking photos with all three special items assigned to an area unlocks an additional shot.
Unlocking actually comes up quite a bit, but it's handled in such a way in Spy x Anya: Operation Memories that it doesn't feel too burdensome. New outing prospects open up as you get through the tutorial and view existing ones. More clothing, accessories, and items do as well. Though honestly, in the case of the cosmetics, they're more of a nice bonus than a requirement. Given how cute Anya is and how faithful Loid and Yor's appearances are, it's totally fine and doesn't feel terribly limiting if you don't completely splurge.
The additional outings and such also unlock new minigames, which Anya can play in the evening to earn Play Points to put toward items in the store if she uses earned Eurekas. The qualities of these vary, to be honest. I wasn't a fan of the Cooking with Yor experience, as the timing seemed awkward for cutting vegetables. I did enjoy the rudimentary beat'em up involving Thorn Princess taking down waves of enemies as she headed toward a boss. Dodgeball Day at Eden College and the Loid's Escape stealth minigame also weren't too bad. I appreciated there was an attempt to offer more variety and experiences tailored to the series than in most minigame collections.
I suppose where Spy x Anya: Operation Memories succeeds is that the game really does feel like a true Spy x Family experience. It's cozy in its way, mimicking what daily life is probably like for the Forger family. Anya is allowed to ham it up as a character, and her personality helps carry it. It also looks spot-on, with some fantastic recreations, and the voice acting helps sell it as well. The only downside is the repetitive nature, since you will need to repeat outings and go through a lot of the same minigames and motions to unlock everything for Anya's awesome diary.
Still, I enjoyed Spy x Anya: Operation Memories more than I expected, even though this Spy x Family game occasionally feels a bit awkward and repetitive. I would have appreciated an easier introduction to the experience and less hand-holding, but it's thoroughly pleasant and true to the series its based on. As long as you're not trying to speedrun it or marathon it in a single weekend, I think it'd be a lovely game to play at a relaxed pace.
Spy x Anya: Operation Memoriesis available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. The Spy x Family anime is streaming on Crunchyroll, while Viz Media handles the manga outside Japan.
The post Review: Spy x Anya Is a Spy x Family Pokemon Snap Game appeared first on Siliconera. |
Siliconera Sunday, July 7, 2024 8:30 AM
Crunchyroll has announced a 2025 release window for Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc. This will be a direct sequel to the current Public School Arc.
You can watch the trailer for Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc here:
The trailer, which is a minute long, opens with dogs barking in a forest with fallen trees. A pair of riders pull up, confused as to their dogs' reaction, before it reveals a monster emerging from the woods. It then ends with narration from Sebastian. As we can see from the end of the trailer, Maaya Sakamoto and Daisuke Ono will reprise their roles as Ciel and Sebastian, respectively.
Currently, the Black Butler anime is covering the Public School Arc. A relative of Queen Victoria, Derrick Arden, has refused to return home or write letters from Weston College, which is very uncharacteristic for him. Ciel and Sebastian infiltrate the school in order to investigate. The anime covering this arc ran from April to June 2024, with eleven episodes in total.
Black Butler is a long-running and highly influential anime and manga series from Yana Toboso, who also worked as a character designer on Twisted Wonderland. It covers the story of Ciel Phantomhive, who inherited the position of Queen's Watchdog from his father. His butler Sebastian is actually a demon with whom he'd formed a contract with, with the reasons behind this a rather dark mystery in the series.
Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc will appear in Japan and on Crunchyroll some time in 2025. More information on it, as well as a longer trailer, will appear before then.
The post Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc Announced for 2025 appeared first on Siliconera. |
WGB Sunday, July 7, 2024 9:03 AM A recent leak suggesting an LA Noire sequel or spiritual follow-up has been debunked by the developers themselves. |