Friday, June 28, 2024

Could Riot have left clues for what the next 2XKO character is?

With 2XKO finally getting an alpha playtest announcement (which you can sign up for right now), a tempting trail of breadcrumbs has been left for the community to follow, leading to a new character reveal. Keen-eyed viewers of this announcement have found a hint towards who exactly this new character may be.


This new character, that was outright hinted towards in the alpha playtest announcement and will be playable at Evo this July, got no outright hints from either Sajam, Tom Cannon, or Shean Rivera, but the footage itselfs reveals plenty.


If you look at the video and fast forward to the 3:40 mark, you'll notice a gap in the character select screen between Ahri and Darius. In addition, the characters are listed in reverse alphabetical order. As such, many are speculating that the next character's name will start with either A, B, or C.

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Thursday, June 27, 2024

Batman: Caped Crusader's first full trailer promises more than just a nostalgic return to Gotham

Batman: Caped Crusader is coming to Prime Video on August 1, and its first full trailer promises more than just cheap animated nostalgia.

The series, which comes from executive producers J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Bruce Timm, was envisioned as a spiritual successor of sorts to Timm and Paul Dini's beloved Batman: The Animated Series (1992-95). After being in development for a long time and being scrapped by HBO Max (despite it being a WB Animation production), Prime Video picked it up, and we're finally close to its single-drop, ten-episode release.

The new animated series, which seemingly has no ties to previous Batman projects besides its distinctive art style, comes from Warner Bros. Animation, Abrams' Bad Robot Productions, and 6th & Idaho. Eyebrows were raised from the get-go due to Abrams and Reeves involvement, and Timm's inclusion instantly made it one of the most anticipated animated DC projects in a while.

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Wednesday, June 26, 2024

2XKO gets its first round of alpha playtests this August

It's finally time. 2XKO alpha playtests are coming this August, and you can sign up right now on this link. The playtest will be available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.


This announcement came via an announcement video posted on social media, which you can watch in its entirety below. This alpha test, the "first of many" tests, will offer those who gain access to the alpha a single invite code to share with one friend. It will have both local play and online play available.


This alpha test will have some changes compared tot he previous public demos, including an altered kit on Ahri, a new fuse, and other smaller changes. As such, those up to date on all the 2XKO info will find some surprises in store.


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One of the most interesting Xbox Game Pass titles of the last year will soon be free to play for anyone with a Netflix account

Annapurna Interactive is on a roll. Over the past few years, the publisher has proven itself as the place to look if you’re after innovative, interesting, and slightly irreverent games – curated and presented by developers all over the globe.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably seen the fawning coverage of games like Donut County, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, Neon White and Stray over the last few years. And with good reason.

But one of the best examples of Annapurna’s recent output is 2023’s Thirsty Suitors, a narrative action-adventure game about culture, relationships, family pressures and food. The game feels like a South-Asian spin on Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, by way of Persona (yes, it’s quite unique). Very early on, you get a taste for what Thirsty Suitors is trying to do, wherein you decide your "Thirstsona" via online quiz, eventually landing as a Heartbreaker, Star, or Bohemian. Just like real life.

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Helldivers 2 players are headed back to the bug front, as Arrowhead teases giving Game Master Joel more tools to mess with Super Earth

Helldivers 2 is back at it again with another Major Order about keeping a bunch of planets under control, with the Terminds as the foe this time. However, don't worry if you're hoping Arrowhead will throw some more interesting wrinkles into the Galactic War, as it sounds like Game Master Joel might be getting some new tools soon.

Aside from that bit of nice child saving and some tree climbing it's been in bit quiet for Super Earth on the war from since the Meridia black hole became a thing. Thankfully, reading the tea leaves, it seems like folks could soon get the pick-up in action they crave.

First, this latest Major Order tasks players with establishing control of five planets - Erson Sands, Acamar IV, Pandion XXIV, Phact Bay, and Bore Rock - by the time it it expires. Why? Well, as Arrowhead community manager Baskinator explains, even though the Automatons have been temporarily pacified, the bugs' "hunger to infest and consume new worlds is as endless as their Tyranny".

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Yep, you guessed it: The Fantastic Four is set in the '60s, and it sounds like some multiverse shenanigans are going on

You probably already theorised that the MCU's Fantastic Four film was going to be set in the '60s - and you'd be right!



Early this year, to commemorate Valentine's Day, Marvel finally announced just who it had cast in its Fantastic Four film. Right off the bat, based on the art that was released alongside the announcement, people were questioning whether the film might be set in the '60s, given the overall mid-century vibe, and helper robot that looks like something out of an old sci-fi movie. As it turns out, everyone who had that idea was right, as MCU head Kevin Feige confirmed as such in the first episode of the new Official Marvel Podcast (yes, everything does have a podcast these days, I know). Not only that, after another piece of art was shared of the Human Torch flying through New York City, some fans noticed that the city looked a bit futuristic, and not at all like the NYC they're familiar with in the MCU.



In turn, fans then also wondered if that meant the film was going to be set in another universe, and Feige seems to have been hinting that that might be the case in the same podcast episode. "So it is a period piece," Feige shared. "There was another piece of art we released with Johnny Storm flying in the air and making a Four symbol and there was a cityscape in the corner of that image. And there were a lot of smart people who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or the New York that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are some smart, smart observations."


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Didn't watch Furiosa in cinemas? The first 10 minutes are free to watch online so you can see if you made a mistake

If you're one of the many people that didn't watch Furiosa in cinemas, but are still curious about it, you can watch the first 10 minutes for free right now.



While Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is still generally in cinemas, even if showings are starting to dwindle, earlier this week the Anya Taylor-Joy led prequel arrived on video on demand, meaning you don't have to make the local trip to your cinema to check it out. But of course, whether you are thinking about going to the cinema to watch director George Miller's latest, or you're happy to watch it at home, it'll still cost money no matter what choice you end up making. Lucky for you, US movie ticket company Fandango is letting you watch the first 10 minutes completely for free.



Conveniently enough, those entire 10 minutes (or 9 minutes and 53 seconds if you want to be annoying about it) are available to watch right on Fandango's Twitter, so you don't even need to sign-up for anything. It is Twitter though, which isn't exactly known for its high quality video service (as much as a certain CEO might want it to be for some baffling reason), but you could always pretend it's kind of like the good old days when people would upload five minute clips of anime in 360p on YouTube.


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Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Finished Hades 2? There's now a Baldur's Gate 3 mod that turns it into a fully-fleshed out roguelike

Modders add a lot of cool stuff to their various games of choice, and this might be one of the coolest additions I've seen for any game in a while. A relatively new Baldur's Gate 3 mod casually gives the RPG an entire new mode, which allows you and your party to battle through waves of foes roguelike-style.

Yup, while we've still got a little bit to wait until Patch 7 brings the full release of BG3's official modding tools, along with a heap of other stuff, folks are already doing things that make you go 'what...really?'

'Trials of Tav - a roguelike mode', by modder Hippo0o, is definitely one of those things, given that it adds an entire standalone roguelike mode to the RPG. As you'd expect, the "combat-only mode lets you fight waves of enemies in progressively harder encounters. Doing so will net you random loot with rarity-based drop rates as well as a RogueScore and currency used to unlock powerful power-ups".

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Andor season 2 will feature a familiar but not particularly friendly face from Star Wars: Rogue One

There's still not too many details out there for Andor season 2, but it appears that Ben Mendelsohn will be reprising his villainous role from Star Wars: Rogue One.



Right now, we're all waiting to hear more about Andor season 2, but there just isn't that much info out there just yet. It does seem unlikely that it will be out in 2024, but if that's what it takes to get a second season, so be it. However, the show's star Diego Luna appeared at ACE Superhero Comic Con this weekend, where he shed a bit of light on the upcoming season. "“I can tell you, Rogue One is coming, so there will be characters there that you will recognize," Luna said. "There will be cool stuff. For those who love Rogue One, this season is going to be very special."



While he didn't specify who it will be that Rogue One fans will recognise, The Playlist reports that it will be none other than Ben Mendelsohn, who will reprise his role as that film's antagonist, Orson Krennic. It's believed that he'll be appearing sometime towards the end of season 2, as The Playlist notes that series creator Tony Gilroy told the outlet that the second season would lead into the events of the original film. "Our final scene of the show is no secret," he said. "It’s going to be [Cassian] walking across the tarmac to get in the ship to go to the Rings of Kafrene to go meet Daniel Mays, he's going there."


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Ian Higton's bum guffs: The Best Games Ever podcast episode 103

There's now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247 paid subscriber - check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don't worry if that's not for you, the main show will always be free.

Still inspired by last week's topic, we thought we'd flip it on its head an ask perhaps an even more pertinent question in an age of decade-long marketing campaigns: what's the best rubbish game that had a great reveal trailer?

Baffled by the concept of how a rubbish game can be "best"? Listen, don't worry about it. Games media is full of this contradictory rubbish. We often say things like, for example, "a good 7/10 game is better than a bad 9/10 game". And it makes a perverse sort of sense. Except when it doesn't.

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The first trailer for The Lighthouse director's Nosferatu wants to remind you vampires didn't always sparkle in the sun

The first trailer for Robert Eggers' Nosferatu is finally here, and it's looking like a real throwback to early 1900s horror.



Eggers, best known for directing 2015's The Witch and 2019's The Lighthouse, has been working on a remake of the 1922 classic horror flick Nosferatu since around 2015, and yesterday after some hiccoughs here and there, the first teaser trailer for it arrived. The film has quite the stacked cast, as Eggers is once again reuniting with Willem Dafoe, who's portraying Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz, which is quite the title. Leading the film is Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, a woman the titular Nosferatur is apparently obsessed with, while The Menu's Nicholas Hoult plays her husband, Thomas Hutter, a real estate agent whose latest client just so happens to also be the famous and centuries-old vampire.



In the titular role is regular weirdo-player Bill Skarsgård, who you will have seen as Pennywise in the modern It films, and is set to star in the upcoming (and quite controversial) remake of The Crow. The rest of the cast includes some other big names like Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick Ass), Ralph Ineson (Final Fantasy 16), and Emma Corrin (Deadpool & Wolverine). An official logline for the film explains that it's a "gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake," which certainly sounds like a horror film from the early 1900s.


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Yes, Shrek 5 is still happening, and now so is a Donkey movie nobody asked for

A fifth Shrek movie has supposedly been in the works for a while now, and co-star of the original movies Eddie Murphy has confirmed that it is on the way.



Most of you out there are probably too young to remember, but once upon a time, the Shrek series was the top dog in the world of animation. Hell, to this day it's still the second highest-grossing animated franchise of all time, beating out several Disney film series by a big margin. But outside of 2022's spin-off movie Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (which was honestly really great), there hasn't been a new Shrek movie since 2010, with Shrek Forever After. It's sounding like that's all about to change though, as in a recent interview with Collider, Donkey himself Eddie Murphy shared that he has recorded lines for Shrek 5, and that it's due out next year.



"We started doing Shrek 5 months ago," the actor said. "I did this, I recorded the first act, and we'll be doing it this year, we’ll finish it up." However, this isn't the only Shrek-related news he had to share, as he went on to say "Shrek is coming out, and Donkey's gonna have his own movie. We're gonna do Donkey as well. So we're gonna do a Shrek, and we're doing a Donkey [movie]." That's right, Donkey, a character literally no one has asked to get a solo film, is getting his very own spin-off. It's not entirely surprising, as Murphy did previously say he thinks there should be a Donkey movie, so perhaps it was a push from him.


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Monday, June 24, 2024

Helldivers 2's latest Major Order has the Automatons coming for Malevelon Creek, and naturally it's already reignited the real war

Helldivers 2's just gotten a fresh Major Order and everyone who's not busy chilling in the trees on Garcrux is already all over it. The problem - that Automatons are coming for Malevelon Creek. The other problem - there's a bit of disconnect between hardcores and casuals when it comes to plans that might stop them.

Having saved some human kids, you'll be glad to hear that the allure of a fresh biome didn't stop the helldiver masses from killing enough Terminid kids to succeed in the last MO. Now though, the issue of getting everyone on the same page is rearing its head again, in a slightly more familiar form.

Informing folks that the last order had resulted in "an elevated (but completely unharmful!) degree of Terminid spores having been measured around the most heavily hit planets", something I'm sure won't come back to bite Super Earth in the future, community manager Twinbeard relayed this new one in the following terms.

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Who cares about the new Street Fighter movie, because the original '90s classic is still making bank, apparently

Capcom might be working on a brand new Street Fighter film, but it turns out the original one still makes a surprising amount of money.



Have you seen the original 1994 Street Fighter movie? I have, and let me tell you, if I was being real, I would admit it's not that great a film. But life is boring if you just weigh things up against other, better things, and sometimes you just need to take a movie as it is: horrifically miscast, mostly mediocrely performed, but genuinely hilarious at times (on purpose even), and home to the coldest bad guy line in any piece of media ever. The thing is, when the film initially released, it didn't really do mind-blowingly. It did manage to make back its $35 million budget, with a global box office figure of around $99 million, but it wasn't exactly anything to write home about in the greater scheme of things. And yet to this day, the film continues to be profitable for Capcom (thanks, Automaton).



According to an attendee at Capcom's June 20 shareholder meeting, the live-action adaptation of Street Fighter continues to make 10s of millions of yen per year. To put that into dollars, depending on how many 10s of millions we're talking about here, that could easily be a few hundred thousand. Chump change compared to what Capcom's making on the video game front, but for a film that was not received well critically in the slightest, how could you possibly complain about a revenue stream that'll at least cover a few employees' salaries?


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GAME denies report that it's set to stop selling physical, er, games, aside from pre-orders

UK retail chain GAME, somewhere you've probably bought at least one title from over the years if you live in Sadness Island, has denied a report that it's set to move away from actually selling physical games in-store.

The report in question, from Gfinity Esports, claimed that the move would see folks only have the option of picking up physical games or hardware that they've already pre-ordered, or have bought online via GAME's website and elected to have shipped to a nearby store.

Frasers Group, GAME's current owner, has denied the report's contents in a statement to VG247, saying: "This reporting is categorically not true. GAME continues to support the physical gaming market, offering a wide-range of physical games, hardware, software, accessories and digital gift cards, in stores and online."

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If you're having a tough time even starting Shadow of the Erdtree, some Elden Ring veterans are offering their services

Struggling to beat Radahn and Mohg, but desperate to play Shadow of the Erdtree? Some helpful Elden Ring players might be able to sort you out.



One of the best things about Elden Ring, outside of the game, is the community itself. It's led to legends like Let Me Solo Her helping hundreds of players take down Malenia, one of the toughest bosses in the game, for one. The ability to summon other players is easily one of the most helpful parts about Elden Ring, as the right player can really come in clutch in a difficult boss fight. And now, as spotted by TheGamer, players are coming together on the r/BeyondTheFog subreddit to help those who really want to play the DLC, but can't quite manage to beat the prerequisite boss fights.



There's plenty of players out there who haven't beaten Mogh, more than 60% of them on Steam in fact (thanks, GamesRadar), though most have fared a touch better against Radahn, where 54.5% of players have actually managed to beat the giant foe. So some players have taken to Reddit to offer help with the game's various foes, several other users asking for help with Mohg, Radahn, and the like. The subreddit is filled with other calls for help, as well as offers, so if you're someone that's currently stuck on either of the bosses required to play the DLC, that might be your best bet.


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Struggling with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree? A new mod update should make your life easier

If you're having a tough time with Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, there's a mod that just got an update that should help you out.



To the surprise of many, as it turns out, Elden Ring's first and only bit of DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is actually quite hard. So hard, in fact, that many players have been leaving the expansion negative reviews on Steam - though that's partially down to performance issues as well. Even as difficult as the DLC is, you might still want to see all it has to offer. After all, it is a beautiful game, and while the story might be a bit obtuse, there is still a narrative to uncover, and it's more fun to actually play something than just watch a let's play. Lucky for those of you playing on PC, there's a cheat mod that lets you tweak different parts of the game to your heart's content.



The mod in question, titled Syyke's All In One Cheat Version, comes from the titular modder, and over the weekend it was updated to work with the latest version of the game, version 1.12, meaning it now has DLC support. There is one caveat to this, as some of the cheat's allow easy access to all of the game's items, though these haven't been implemented with the new DLC items just yet - the update is mostly so that it works with the most recent patch.


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Sunday, June 23, 2024

The original release of The Thing video game didn't entirely work, but Nightdive Studios promises it will "fulfil the original vision"

The Thing video game adaptation was an ambitious but flawed title, so Nightdive is hoping to help realise what it could have been.



John Carpenter's The Thing was originally released back in 1982, but 20 years later Computer Artworks opted to make a sequel to the classic movie in video game form. It sold well at the time, and while reviews were generally favourable, it wasn't exactly perfect, but the whole concept of any of your teammates being able to potentially turn into the titular Thing was an incredibly cool one. Earlier this month Nightdive Studios announced that it's remastering The Thing, and in a recent interview with GamesRadar, the developer spoke of its hopes for its work on the game.



"[Computer Artworks was] really, really pretty happy, and justifiably so, with the game that they produced, but they were also aware of limitations, of things that they could not do simply because the technology, the game engine, did not support it," business development director Larry Kuperman explained. "And, without going into too much detail, without providing any spoilers, there are some things that, we were able to fulfil the original vision of the developers. That's something that's really important to us."


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Dragon Age: The Veilguard might not be as cool a name as Dreadwolf, but BioWare says the change is because the game isn't all about Solas

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf's name change to The Veilguard came as a small surprise, but BioWare didn't do it just for the sake of it.



Look, no matter what you say, The Veilguard just isn't as cool a subtitle as Dreadwolf. The Veilguard sounds like a piece of DLC at best, but the decision has been made, so there's not much we can do about it now. But the decision wasn't just because of some marketing reason, or worse, an irrational hatred for wolves in text form or otherwise. Game Informer recently spoke with various team leads on The Veilguard, and asked each of them the reason behind the name change.



While talking about how the Dragon Age games are "reflections of the teams that make them," game director Corinne Busche explained that BioWare "quickly learned and realized that the absolute beating heart of this game are these authentic diverse companions. When we took a step back, as we always do, we always check our decisions and make sure that they still represent the game we're trying to build. It just felt like we needed a title that represented what this game was truly about."


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Hoping to play Palworld on PlayStation? A recent tease suggests you might get your wish

Palworld isn't currently available on PlayStation, but a tweet from the game's community manager appears to be hinting its arrival.



Right now, if you want to play Palworld, the only way to do so is either on PC or Xbox Series X/S. That's not been a problem for the game, as it reached a massive amount of players in just a short period of time after launch, but it's always nice when games can be played across multiple platforms. There have been plenty of users online expressing the desire to play the Pokemon inspired game (I say inspired loosely, here) on PlayStation, but there's no official word on the game being ported to the platform just yet. Yesterday, though, Bucky, Palworld's community manager, shared a tweet that sure seems to be hinting at a PlayStation release.



In the tweet, Bucky wrote the game's name in between black, green, and white heart emojis, following that up with "I want to add more hearts, but not sure what colour would fit...hmm...how about...." again writing Palworld between the same emojis, with the addition of a blue heart emoji either said. "Looks good I think!" they continue, adding on a suggestive eyes emoji at the end. Blue is quite obviously the main colour used in PlayStation's branding, with black, white, and green being the main colours used in Xbox's branding, so it seems pretty clear what Bucky is suggesting here.


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Oh dear, Sony is reportedly cutting funding for PS VR2 titles, with apparently only two titles currently in development internally

The PlayStation VR2 is only a little over a year old, but it's sounding like Sony is already winding down its investment in VR titles.



A lot of companies have made a range of attempts at virtual reality, but it hasn't really taken off in the way some might have hoped. The Meta Quest is pretty successful, but that's in one part because there's no annoying cables to deal with, but also because it's comparatively affordable (and you don't need an expensive PC either). Sony continued its attempt to have its own slice of the VR pie last year with the release of the PS VR2, its follow-up VR headset designed specifically for the PS5. But, it doesn't seem to have gone all that well, with a report earlier this year claiming that Sony paused production on the headset because it needed to shift a backlog of them first.



Now, a new report from Android Central claims that Sony appears to be making cuts to funding for VR games, according to one source that spoke with the outlet. The report paraphrased the source, but distilled it to: "there will be very few opportunities for VR game development at Sony going forward." Another source apparently claimed only two PS VR2 games are currently in development at Sony, which isn't exactly confidence inspiring for the future of the headset.


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Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is sitting at a "mixed" rating on Steam because it's just too dang hard

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has done well critically, but Steam reviews are painting a different picture.



After a long, long wait, Elden Ring's highly anticipated DLC Shadow of the Erdtree arrived, and critics were generally a big fan of it - our own James gave it full marks, and plenty of other reviews were equally strong. But despite all that critical praise, the DLC is currently sitting at a "Mixed" rating on Steam. There are plenty of positive reviews, but there are several users that are finding a lot of issues with it. One review notes that there are constant "micro-stuttering and frame drops" and suggests waiting for performance improvements before picking it up. Another reviewer also noted the DLC's performance issues, despite the base game working fine, with one particular enemy feeling "more like a slideshow."



However, it wasn't just the performance issues that people had a problem with. Everyone knows that FromSoftware games are tough, that's kind of their whole thing, but a lot of players seem to be finding this particular bit of DLC just a little bit too hard. A player who left a lengthy negative review of the DLC wrote that the game's combat just doesn't work for the fast-paced boss fights that would fit better in something like Sekiro or Bloodborne, but Elden Ring's slow-paced Dark Souls style combat just doesn't work for it.


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Saturday, June 22, 2024

Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be escaping Baldur's Gate 3's shadow by leaving its heritage behind

Dragon Age: The Veilguard (God, I really dislike that title change) is almost here, finally. After an early scare because of a slightly confusing first trailer, that gameplay demo quelled many of our worries, but can it really escape Baldur's Gate 3's shadow?

I'm of the striking opinion that it already has... kind of. It's hard not to think about Larian's near-flawless RPG whenever the new Dragon Age is brought up (in fact, I already linked the two last year), yet all the in-depth previews and the gameplay presentation released to the public suggest we're looking at an entirely different breed of RPG, one that's doing its own thing.

In our own hands-on preview of the game, Alex already teased that "Dragon Age: The Veilguard is going to be a lot of things to a lot of people." And I think that's sums up the unorthodox series as a whole quite nicely. Anyone who claims Dragon Age hasn't evolved (or devolved) with each new entry is either lying or urgently needs to revisit not only Inquisition, but also Dragon Age 2 and Origins.

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Friday, June 21, 2024

League of Legends' new summer event is a loving send-up of Vampire Survivors that you've got to play

Heads up, League of Legends players and survival game fans! For the first time in history, you'll be able to come together in harmony thanks to the latest summer event coming to the MOBA. For a limited time, you'll be able to try out the Anima Squad PvE swarm mode, a loving send up of Vampire Survivors and other survival games.


Here's how it works. There are four stages in total, and you're given a starting roster of two characters from the Anima Squad (a specific skinline for League of Legends champions that's getting a major expansion alongside this event). Your job is to jump in and survive as long as you can, unlocking permanent upgrades, achivements, and new characters as you go. You can tackle it solo, butI was able to try out the mode earlier this month and I've got to say, it's a wicked fun co-operative side attraction away from the rift.


For those who haven't played Vampire Survivors or games of its ilk, they generally see you go into a top down arena and are tasked with surviving against waves of incoming enemies, each with their own attacks and quirks. Your basic attacks go out automatically, but in the League's swarm mode your champions also have two active abilities: one special attack and an ultimate ability. As you kill enemies and collect XP you level up, providing new upgrades and automatic attacks to help with the increased difficulty of incoming waves. Each stage has an end boss, and each finished run allows you to take coins you collect while playing and spend them on character-wide permanent upgrades that'll push you forward through the content.


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Still Wakes the Deep would be better without the monsters: worse things have happened at sea

I liked Still Wakes the Deep so much I gave it a four-star review, but with a change of focus it could have been so much more.

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Wondering why Xbox shut down Hi-Fi Rush's studio? Matt Booty says he won't say, then implies leadership change might be a factor

Following Microsoft's shuttering of a bunch of studios last month, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall studio Arkane Austin, Xbox's execs have been asked a few times - as you'd hope - which that call was made. Matt Booty's the latest to talk about it with regards to Tango in particular, and his answer's an interesting one.

Prior to Booty, the current head of Xbox Game Studios, saying the stuff below, the console maker's big cheese Phil Spencer had put the closures down to the need to "run a sustainable business" meaning that "sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make".

Now, asked specifically about Tango's shuttering during an interview on Variety’s Strictly Business podcast, Booty seems to have implied that the change in leasdership at the studio necessitated by founder Shinji Mikami's departure in 2023.

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Elden Ring director Miyazaki is interested in making a traditional JRPG, but it wouldn't be an Enchanted Arms sequel

A whole bunch of folks are currently busy digging into Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree expansion now that it's out, but if you love a good JRPG, it might be worth pausing your trip to the Land of Shadow to absorb what director Hidetaka Miyazaki recently said about digging the idea of him spearheading development on one.

Yup, in an interview with Rolling Stone, the developer touched on the fact that he'd like to make a traditional JRPG at some point in the future, but wouldn't feel comfortable reviving one of the IPs that make up FromSoft's previous flirtations with the genre. If you're not an expert on the studio's history, 2006's Enchanted Arms is the main game being alluded to, though a return to FromSoftware's first ever game was also ruled out.

"I don’t think there’s a scenario where I myself would make a King’s Field. The same can be said about Otogi and Enchanted Arms," Miyazaki said, explaining: "I think a lot of these games are so intertwined with the directors who almost invented that style of game."

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Thursday, June 20, 2024

You should care a great deal about Skate Story, it's one of the best indie games in development right now

Skate Story is currently my most anticipated indie game. Having played around 45-minutes of it at Summer Game Fest 2024, in a small dark room installed in sunny California, it matched every expectation I had for it. Scratch that, it surpassed them, leaping over my initial hopes for the title with a little kickflip, leaving me genuinely astounded. Skating fan or not, it's a game you absolutely have to have on your radar.


It has been on my own radar ever since its reveal during Devolver's digital showcase in 2022. Its striking visuals and otherworldly soundtrack captivated me. It looked to be a game attempting to capture the spirit of skate videos in a mythical, post-modern box. But how that game actually played, whether that trailer magic transferred well to a tangible play experience, was a mystery. Devolver Digital, after all, is a master of presentation, of nurturing a particular style of cool subversive game and presenting it in a funny, earnest package. Tempting to video game lovers like MSG is to the tongue.

My discovery that Skate Story is astounding was like building a dream PC and booting it for the first time, cheers escaping your mouth as all the lights turn on like they should. Whoever signed the game at Devolver must have felt like they found buried treasure. And they may have actually done so.


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Zenless Zone Zero teases collaboration with one of the greatest DJs of all-time

Zenless Zone Zero has just teased a collaboration with one of the greatest DJs of all-time, Tiesto, as well as notable duo Lucas & Steve. This came via a short cinematic released on social media, which displayed the artists in-engine. The current scope of this collaboration remains unclear, although it's absolutely music focused (surprise, surprise).


The official press release notes that more information on this collaboration will be released on July 2, ahead of the game's launch on July 4, so for now we'll have to sit and wait to hear more about what's in store for roughly two weeks.


We're inching closer to the much-anticipated release of Zenless Zone Zero, and with the game surpasing 40 million pre-registered players it's safe to say we're due for an explosive launch. If you've not signed up yet, there are some slick rewards up for grabs in case you didn't know, which are well-worth snatching if you're planning on jumping in later this year.


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PlayStation Portal finally gets major feature it somehow launched without

Sony’s $200 PlayStation Portal has never been a device that fully made sense. The handheld is specifically designed so players can stream games from their PS5 consoles to it. It doesn’t function without a console, and only really helps you take your games to bed while leaving the TV off - or for someone else to watch something on it.

As much of a limited use as that is, PS Portal was even more limited by its own software than people initially realised. The big omission was the handheld’s lack of any ability to deal with public Wi-Fi networks, such as those found at hotels and cafes.

PS Portal simply couldn’t work with the sign-in portals that require you to enter a room number and so on, so anyone who took it out of their home needed to connect it to a hotspot from their phone or laptop. This all changes today.

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Will Smith set to join sci-fi thriller Resistor following Bad Boys: Ride or Die's breakout success

Audiences haven't turned their back on Will Smith, who's just had a huge comeback with Bad Boys: Ride or Die earning over $220 million during the two first weeks following its release. Now, he's joining another high-profile sci-fi thriller at Sony Pictures.

The news was dropped on June 18 by Deadline, which also pointed out that the project, currently titled Resistor, is adapting Daniel Suarez's book Influx.

The 2014 novel is a sci-fi thriller "that follows physicist Jon Grady and his team, who have discovered a device that can reflect gravity — a triumph that will revolutionize the field of physics and change the future." The problem is that "a covert organization known as the Bureau of Technology Control" shows up to lock down the laboratory and seize the device, also throwing Grady into "a nightmarish high-tech prison." The goal of Grady and other prisoners isn't only to escape, but also to expose the truth about technological advancements that have been kept from humanity by a hidden enemy.

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Marvel Rivals is just a drab Overwatch-like in an eye-catching costume - hands-on preview

I played a few games of Marvel Rivals at Summer Game Fest 2024 earlier this month, and came away thoroughly disappointed. It's a competent enough team-based third-person shooter, and one with real appeal for Marvel fans, but it's a shadow on the wall compared to other competitors in the same genre.


Let's break down how, and why, it made me feel so disappointed. First, I'll tackle the elephant in the room. Marvel Rivals - created by Netease Games - is an Overwatch-like. It has various differences that help differentiate it; the setting and characters are clearly different, and there are clear gameplay differences, too, such as its third-person approach.

But for the vast majority of players who'll actually touch the game, it is Overwatch's skeleton with a comic book skin draped over it. This is either wonderful news for those who just can't get enough of this particular genre, or boorish sludge for those already fatigued with this kind-of product.


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Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Shadow of the Erdtree is an almost perfect expansion, but one thing keeps bothering me

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion has a tall legacy to live up to. It is, after all, building on the basis of one of the greatest games of all time. As I said in my preview and James reiterates in his review, ‘more of the same’ isn’t so bad when ‘the same’ is a true all-timer.

The new adventure across the DLC’s Land of Shadow isn’t all entirely ‘the same’, of course. There’s new bosses, new weapons, and a new feeling - the structure of the new map feels a little different, a higher degree of density leading to what certainly feels like it forces the player into more lateral thinking and navigational puzzle solving, particularly to unlock and fully explore all five segments of the shadowy realm that makes up the expansion’s map.

Honestly, it’s pretty close to perfect, as expansions go. And yet… there are elements of it that left me feeling just a tiny bit hollow as I watched the DLC’s final boss fall beneath my blade. In honesty, that might very well be the feeling FromSoftware was going for - if any developer is good at hollowing players out, it’s them - but it’s curious.

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The original Elden Ring manga is going on hiatus because the author is taking some time off to play Shadow of the Erdtree like the rest of us

The original Elden Ring manga is on hiatus for this month, as the author is… going to be busy playing Shadow of the Erdtree.



Earlier this month, you might have seen that a new Elden Ring manga was in the works. The original manga, Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, by Nikiichi Tobita, is still ongoing, except there won't be a new chapter next month. As spotted by GamesRadar, Tobita took to Twitter to explain why they won't be releasing a chapter next month (which typically releases on the 19th, a new chapter just dropped today), and it's pretty simple: Shadow of the Erdtree is out this week. Yes, that's right, Tobita is just like the rest of us, and appears to be taking some time off of working on a manga about playing Elden Ring, so that they can instead play Elden Ring. I mean, this surely has to count as research right?



In the tweet from Tobita above, you can see a drawing of someone sleeping in a bed dreaming of those funny glowing worms seen in the first Shadow of the Erdtree trailer, that person presumably being Tobita themself. I do love those weird little worms too, even though I know they'll end up kicking my ass, despite how cute they are. Still, there'll likely be a new chapter come August at the very least, and you'll have Shadow of the Erdtree to keep you busy while you wait!


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Universal sets the perfect date for Mike Flanagan's take on horror classic The Exorcist

The Haunting of Hill House creator Mike Flanagan is set to reboot The Exorcist, and Universal has landed on a release date.



If there's any one date that horror films love to land on, it's Friday the 13th. That's exactly the date that Universal has chosen to release Flanagan's take on the classic horror series, specifically March 13, 2026, so almost a good couple of years away (via Deadline). The reboot was announced last month, where Flanagan said that he's aiming to make something "fresh, bold, and terrifying within its universe." According to the original press release, the film is "an all-new story set in The Exorcist universe and is not a sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer."



That last bit is clearly an important one for Universal to bring up, as you might not have realised that a new Exorcist film was actually released last year, the aforementioned Exorcist: Believer. It only grossed $137 million at the box office, which on a budget of $30 million normally wouldn't be too bad, but Universal had acquired the rights to the series in 2021 for a costly $400 million. So, you can see why it might not have been happy with how the sequel turned out. The Exorcist: Believer was actually meant to be the first part of a trilogy, but that's since been scrapped in favour of rebooting the franchise, which is why we now have Flanagan's film in the works.


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Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is getting both a digital and physical release on the PS4 and Switch, but nothing on Xbox

Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection - one of the games announced at yesterday's Nintendo Direct - is getting a physical version on the Nintendo Switch as well as PlayStation 4. However, bad news Xbox fans, there's no planned released for any Xbox console, including the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. It is also coming to PC via Steam, of course.


This information was first brought to light after folks payed attention to the official press release that came out alongside the reveal, which stated the game would be have "digital and physical versions for PlayStation 4". This led to some confusion, as some were worried a physical version wouldn't be coming to the Switch, but thanks to Ethan Gach from Kotaku this has been clarified by Capcom.


"Capcom PR just confirmed to me that Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection will get a physical release on Switch as well as PS4." Gach posted on Twitter, clearing up any confusion. There was of course no further word on Xbox versions at all - so again - back luck Xbox heads.


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What’s the best game that had the worst reveal trailer? The Best Games Ever Podcast episode 102

There's now a premium, extended version of this podcast that you can get as a VG247 paid subscriber - check out our Support Us page for more info. Doing so helps ensure that we can keep making the show! But don't worry if that's not for you, the main show will always be free.

Many great games have suffered from poor marketing. Sometimes they’re advertised to entirely the wrong demographic. Other times, they’re partnered with uncool or problematic brands. A lot of the time they’re just hard to explain, and need to be experienced to properly understand, so unless you can get a significant number of people to try a demo you’re going to struggle. This, incidentally, is why our much maligned profession still has value for consumers in the age of YouTube. At least that’s what I tell myself at night when the existential dread kicks in.

But sometimes there are good games that are just hobbled by a botched first impression. A pre-rendered reveal trailer, perhaps, that contains no actual scenes or assets from the game in question and doesn’t even work as a tone piece. The recent reveal trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which inspired the theme of this episode, seemed like one of these. Indeed, some people initially wondered if it was some kind of Fortnite tie-in, given how removed it felt from the Dragon Age they knew. However, a proper twenty minute gameplay reveal the following day has, thankfully, eased a lot of people's concerns. Phew.

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Tuesday, June 18, 2024

It may have taken Nintendo 37 years, but Zelda finally gets her own game in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

If you've been hoping for a solo Zelda game, the time is finally here, as Nintendo just announced The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.



Zelda fans have been hoping and praying that Nintendo would give Zelda her own game, and the developer has finally done it. Done in the style of the Link's Awakening remake, Echoes of Wisdom makes it so that Link is the one that needs the rescuing. Strange rifts in space are appearing across the land of Hyrule, sucking people and bits of land into them, leaving Zelda to save the day. She meets a fairy called Tri, who gives her a special rod that lets her create duplicates of various different objects, and even enemies, all across the world.



It's looking like she'll be much more puzzle oriented rather than the action focused Link, and she can use the things she clones to fend off bad guys in different ways. It's also how she'll get around Hyrule, as she can create tables to help her get up cliff sides and hard to reach regions like that.


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A Deadpool and Spider-Man film isn't in the works, but Deadpool & Wolverine's director sure would love to make one

It's just over a month before Deadpool & Wolverine hits cinemas, but its director is already thinking ahead to future projects.



Deadpool & Wolverine exists as a film in one part because Marvel likes making money, but also because the pair of characters are good friends (kind of) in the comics, and stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman seemingly wanted to bring that relationship to the live-action screen for the first time. But Wolverine isn't the only relationship of Wade Wilson's that is a fan favourite, as the merc with a mouth is also often paired up with the web slinger himself, Spider-Man. There is a fourth Spider-Man in the works for the MCU, but on the live-action front, he's not had the opportunity to meet Deadpool just yet. But like a lot of fans, Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy is interested in bringing them together too.



Speaking in an interview in the most recent issue of Total Film (via GamesRadar), Levy shared that he would love to bring Deadpool and Spider-Man together. "The thing about Deadpool is I think he makes everything more interesting because of his audacity," he said. "But, boy, I'd sure love to see Deadpool and Spidey. That's a movie I'd love to make. I feel like Tom Holland would run circles around everyone else."


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Forget that controversial 300GB figure: even senior CoD developers don’t actually know how big Black Ops 6 modes will be

Since the reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 at Summer Game Fest 2024, many online have been gawking at the roughly 300GB storage requirement listed on the game's store page. However, the truth behind this figure is a bit of a mystery, even to some of the senior developers.


As many familiar with the modern Call of Duty series will tell you, that 300GB figure encompasses more than just the base game. It contains the single player campaign, multiplayer, zombies, Warzone and more. During a roundtable interview I was present at following last week's reveal I asked how large each of the individual major game modes will be, so players only interested in a portion of the package can get an idea of how much space they'll need to set aside. Both associate design director Matt Scronce and senior director of production Yale Miller couldn't actually share a rough figure.


"I don't know exactly what we're going to end up at" states Miller. "We continue to look at it from an optimisation perspective, but we don't actually know where we're going to end up." Another writer present - Brodie Gibbons from Press Start Australia - followed this up by asking if players could disable texture streaming and just download the entirety of the game. To this, both Scronce and Miller responded that they didn't know. Though Miller, following this admission, stated the following,


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Watch today's Nintendo Direct here

Nintendo is putting on the summer Nintendo Direct that'll sort of cap off Not-E3 showcase season today, June 18, and you can can watch it with us!

Yep, you've not had enough video game blasted into your skull via shows like Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Showcase, and Ubisoft Forward so far this month, it's time for more. Though, if you're expecting to have the Switch 2 pop up and blow your socks off, you're out of luck.

You can watch today's Nintendo Direct via Nintendo's official YouTube channel above when it airs at 3PM GMT/10AM ET/7AM PT. Seriously, just click play on that video once the right time rolls around, and you'll get to take it all in..

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Life by You has been cancelled by Paradox, just weeks after it was described as being "ready for early access"

Life sim fans are feeling decidedly less full-of-life than usual after Paradox suddenly announced the cancellation of Life by You. The highly anticipated Sims rival was announced last year with much fanfare, with the newly-formed studio Paradox Tectonic working on the game under the leadership of Rod Humble, formerly of EA and producer of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.

Games get cancelled all the time, of course, but Life by You was described by its developers as "ready for early access" back at the end of April - a confident assertion that was quickly negated by the announcement of its indefinite delay less than a month later. It had been planned for a June 4 launch, although this was the third early access release date that had been named and then retracted.

Now, a blog post on parent company and publisher Paradox Interactive's website confirms that the game has been canned altogether. "For a long time, we’ve held hopes for Life by You and the potential we saw in it, but it is now clear that the game will not be able to meet our expectations," Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester wrote. "A version that we’d be satisfied with is too far away, and therefore we are taking the difficult decision to cancel the release. Moving forward, we should perform at a much higher level, and it’s obvious that we have work ahead of us."

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Monday, June 17, 2024

There's good fan service, and then there's Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero

Let's cut to the chase. Dragon Ball fans, you're going to be eating good with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. I was able to sit down and play around an hour of the game at Summer Game Fest 2024 earlier this month and it was a surprise hit for me. A platter of syrup-sweet desserts specially made for the Dragon Ball palate. It is the word hype fully capitalized, and the H is glowing and screaming at you.


I, like everyone else present, was presented with the features before getting to try out the versus mode. As such I can only really write firsthand impressions of the standard battle system, but for what it's worth I feel the full suite of modes looks fantastic. A story mode allowing you to sit down and power through decades of Dragon Ball story arcs is something we've seen done before, but certainly not with this level of graphical fidelity. The game is a stunner, blasting vivid colours and nostalgia at you in a constant stream.


The team responsible could have left it here and people would have probably been content, but the addition of alternate scenario endings - special non-canon story moments that players can either opt into willingly or unlock through their performance in fights - is truly enticing. It's a fun solution to a genuine problem with Dragon Ball games that goes back through the series' history. You can only have fun seeing the Frieza saga so many times. Everyone knows what happens. But, add in a little spice, a little what-if, and suddenly there's a whole new reason to do it.


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The Diablo 4 PTR is coming back for Season 5, and we're gonna find out why this Friday

Loot Reborn may be one of Diablo 4’s most successful seasons yet. It’s largely been well-received by players. Though it doesn’t bring any major new content to the game, the systemic and mechanical changes it implemented have clearly made players stick around for longer.

Part of that success is owed to the Public Test Realm (PTR), which Blizzard brought to Diablo 4 for the first time prior to the launch of Season 4. And, it looks like the developer wants to do the same with Season 5.





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Elden Ring's Miyazaki isn't fussed if you use that seamless co-op mod - and FromSoftware might even "consider ideas like that" for future games

A lot of Elden Ring players like to use a seamless co-op mode to help make playing with friends less of a pain, and director Hidetaka Miyazaki says that's ok with him.



To say that playing online with your buds in FromSoftware games isn't the simplest thing in the world is possibly a bit of an understatement. You can't just send a request to your friend and stay playing together without any interruptions (bar internet troubles), instead you need to summon one another with certain items. If one of you dies, you have to do that all over again, so it's not exactly a smooth experience. That's why Elden Ring's seamless co-op mod exists, just to make playing with your friends a little bit easier. And in a recent interview with PC Gamer, Miyazaki was asked about his thoughts on the mod, and that particular way of experiencing the game.



"It's definitely not something we actively oppose or want to downplay, wanting to go through the whole game together," Miyazaki responded. "In terms of where we were with Elden Ring, it was simply a case of wanting that more loose, casual style - drop in, defeat a boss, drop out. It doesn't put any technical restrictions on the player, it just sort of lets them complete this focus and then move on, so to speak." Essentially, if you ask FromSoftware, you're in the clear (though hopefully publisher Bandai Namco doesn't have any intention of getting rid of the mid, given previous actions towards Tekken mods).


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Sunday, June 16, 2024

Final Fantasy 14's Yoshi-P isn't remaking FF9, but no matter what you think, he wouldn't turn it into an action game even if he was

As rumours about a Final Fantasy 9 remake continue to swirl, Final Fantasy 14's Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida says one thing's for sure: he's not making it.



Back in March, some Final Fantasy 9 themed items were revealed to be coming to Final Fantasy 14 alongside the MMO's latest expansion, Dawntrail. He wouldn't say why there will be Final Fantasy 9 items, out of all the games, only that the reason behind them is a secret. With it being Not-E3 season and all, there's of course been more discussions about those Final Fantasy 9 remake rumours, but Square Enix hasn't announced anything just yet. However, during a recent Final Fantasy 14 Letter from the Producer, Yoshi-P outright denied that he's involved in the project, and also said he knows nothing about it.



Important to note that this isn't him saying there is one - he's just saying he's not making one. To be clear, the reason he's addressing the rumour at all is because of fan comments saying that they wouldn't want him to handle it because he might change the game's combat into real-time action as opposed to turn based. However, even if he isn't working on it, he did say "If we were remaking FF9 people would complain we'd turn it into an action game! But I'd make it turn-based," so at least you don't have to worry if Yoshi-P suddenly does end up remaking it for whatever reason.


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Dragon Age: The Veilguard is "almost the total inverse" of Mass Effect in one key way

BioWare is known for its RPGs, though where titles like Mass Effect lean into the action, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be more about the roleplay.



After years of waiting to see actual gameplay, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (formerly known as Dreadwolf) finally got a full reveal, with a big gameplay trailer promising an exciting-looking adventure. While it didn't start as particularly action heavy, the Dragon Age series certainly has headed more in that direction over the years, with The Veilguard looking no different. But in an interview with RPG Site, The Veilguard director Corinne Busche did make it clear that the game will focus more on the RPG side of things, unlike its more action-laden counterpart Mass Effect.



"I really view Mass Effect as an ARPG," Busche said. "Big action, minor RPG. We're almost the total inverse of that." Busche goes on to explain how, much like many games these days, The Veilguard does have a skill tree, described as "absolutely enormous and it is bespoke for your class… when it is unlocked, imagine almost a gigantic spider web-like visual. And if I'm a mage right at the very center is the core of the Mage kit." RPG Site took a second to briefly interrupt Busche in the explanation of the skill tree, comparing it to Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid, which apparently is a partial influence on The Veilguard's skilltree, though more in organisation - apparently Final Fantasy 12's ability selection and passives are closer to what you can expect from the new Dragon Age game.


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The Until Dawn movie's first batch of casting shows us a small selection of potential future victims

The live-action adaptation of Until Dawn has started the casting process, with several up-and-comers joining the project.



While it seems like a bit of an odd choice overall, back in January it was announced that Supermassive Games' Until Dawn was getting the ole live-action treatment, as is the trend in Hollywood at the moment. The odd part isn't that it's a video game adaptation, but that Until Dawn is a game that features lots of different endings and paths along the way to them, so how that'll work as a film is a bit unclear. Still, the film is pressing on, as Deadline reported earlier this week that the film has completed its first round of casting, bringing aboard four actors to the David F. Sandberg (Shazam!) directed project.



The cast includes Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Michael Cimino (Love, Victor), Ji-young Yoo (Sweet Home), and Odessa A’zion (Hellraiser 2022), all people you've maybe seen something in somewhere along the line, but haven't been propelled to stardom/ household names just yet. Head of PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash said in a statement, "At PlayStation Productions, we are always looking to find creative and authentic ways to adapt our beloved games that our fans will enjoy. Alongside Screen Gems, we've assembled a fantastic cast of new characters that builds upon our already stellar filmmaking team and their vision for the adaptation. We're excited to reveal more about the movie soon."


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Elden Ring might have received universal praise, but Hidetaka Miyazaki says he's yet to make his "ideal fantasy RPG"

Elden Ring has widely been accepted as one of the best games ever made, yet director Hidetaka Miyazaki is apparently still searching for his "ideal fantasy RPG."



When I say "Elden Ring is…" it's quite likely that your response is "a perfect video game." Whether that's actually true or not isn't for me to decide, but it is undeniably an incredibly beloved game. But the game's own director, Miyazaki, is still working towards making his version of what a fantasy RPG. The game maker recently spoke with PC Gamer, where he spoke about all manner of FromSoftware related topics (including whether he wants a Bloodborne PC port or not).



While talking about old TTRPGs from the '80s like Dungeons & Dragons, Miyazaki said that "you might say that trying to capture the excitement of those old tabletop games and game books was one facet of making Elden Ring." When asked if he felt Elden Ring was an extension of those old RPGs, he explained, "I think more than anything, it's just my personal preference when it comes to RPGs and exploring those fantasy worlds, so you might see some of my personal idiosyncrasies come into play with Elden Ring there.


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"Sorry bro" but a Helldivers 2 story mode is "not happening"

Those of you hoping for Helldivers 2 to get a dedicated story mode are out of luck, as Arrowhead has absolutely zero plans for one.



Helldivers 2 is obviously one of 2024's biggest games, in part because it's just good fun, but also because of the way its story has evolved over the past few months. It's a story that could only be told in a live-service game, because of the collaborative nature of its various tasks and missions. That hasn't stopped some players wanting a dedicated story mode, though, with one player even asking Arrowhead's brand new CEO Shams Jorjani if such a thing could be created to play with friends. Jorjani had a quite blunt but understandable response: "Not happening. Sorry bro. That's like building an entirely new game."



I can't blame Jorjani for such a response, having to create entire missions with their own unique narratives, on top of maintaining a live-service game, is a tough task for any team, but especially so for a studio like Arrowhead, which really didn't expect the game to blow up as much as it has. Besides, the whole appeal of the game is really the stories you get to tell your friends when you kill a bug in a cool way.


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Could Riot have left clues for what the next 2XKO character is?

With 2XKO finally getting an alpha playtest announcement (which you can sign up for right now), a tempting trail of breadcrumbs has been lef...