Category:

Game Updates

Hollow Knight: Silksong Launches On September 4
Game Updates

Hollow Knight: Silksong Launches On September 4

by admin


After years of waiting, today’s Hollow Knight: Silksong presentation gave fans what they’ve been clamoring for: a release date. The long-awaited sequel will launch on September 4.

The brief showcase presented an impressive gameplay montage showing off protagonist Hornet’s solo adventure. Check it out below. 

 

Hollow Knight: Silksong was first announced in 2019, originally envisioned as paid DLC for Hollow Knight before developer Team Cherry expanded its scope to a full-fledged sequel. Silksong stars Hornet, a hunter and supporting character in the first game, as she explores a new kingdom boasting over 150 new enemies to slay. The game has spent years quietly coming together, with only the rare trailer or update during this time, lending to its near-mythical status. After suffering several delays, Xbox announced this summer the game would arrive by this holiday season; turns out they were correct. 

Silksong is currently playable for attendees at Gamescom, and senior editor Wesley LeBlanc has played it. You can read his impressions of the game’s first level here.

Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch. 



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Overwatch 2 is getting a Persona 5 crossover event alongside brand new hero
Game Updates

Overwatch 2 is getting a Persona 5 crossover event alongside brand new hero

by admin



Overwatch 2’s eighteenth season launches next week and is bringing a Persona 5 crossover alongside a brand new hero.


The trailer for Season 18 ends with a tease of Joker from Atlus’ beloved JRPG, who will likely appear as a skin for an existing hero. No further details are known at present, but hopefully more character skins and references will make their way into Blizzard’s shooter.


The new hero joining this season is Wuyang, a Chinese “aquatic prodigy” who fights with a Xuanwu Staff and various water abilities as a support character.

Season 18: Stadium Quick Play Official Trailer | Overwatch 2Watch on YouTube


Elsewhere, the biggest additions in Season 18 include:

  • Stadium Quick Play for shorter match times, along with Winston, Brigitte and Pharah joining Stadium at season launch (and Tracer mid-season)
  • A new stadium mode called Payload Race
  • A PvP refresh and perks update, with 50 new hero-specific perks, rebalanced options for certain heroes, and a full rank reset
  • Two new Mythics: one is a character skin offering four tiers of visual upgrades, the other is a weapon skin with flaming effects
  • A brand new battle pass full of cosmetics to unlock


More details can be found on the Overwatch 2 blog.


Season 18 of Overwatch 2 launches on 26th August.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set With PS2-Inspired Case Gets $150 Price Cut
Game Updates

Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Set With PS2-Inspired Case Gets $150 Price Cut

by admin



Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Graphic Novel Box Sets are on sale for 60% off at Amazon. Fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s superb series can get the remastered full-color or black-and-white collector’s edition set for only $100 (was $250). The full-color edition is temporarily out of stock, but Amazon is still letting customers purchase the deal (for now).

Both of these deals are shipped and sold by Amazon. If you’re interested in the full-color version, you probably should pick it up soon. Amazon often turns off the ability to buy out-of-stock products. There are a bunch of reseller listings on Amazon for these collections, but with such a pricey set, it’s wise to ensure it ships from Amazon, just in case you have an issue when it arrives.

The 20th Anniversary Box Sets were revealed back in 2023 and released at Amazon and select bookstores in the US last August. Barnes & Noble is still charging $200 for the color edition and the full $250 for the black-and-white set.

Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Box Sets:

  • Available in full-color or black-and-white
  • All 6 Volumes of Scott Pilgrim, redesigned with new artwork by Bryan Lee O’Malley
  • Clamshell Collector’s Box with new artwork by Bryan Lee O’Malley
  • “Making of Scott Pilgrim” comics compilation and other comics
  • Collectible sticker sheet
  • Mystery collectibles from the world of Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim 20th Anniversary Graphic Novel Box Sets

More Graphic Novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley

If you love Scott Pilgrim, we highly recommend checking out O’Malley’s other two graphic novels. Notably, you can get the hardcover edition of Seconds: A Graphic Novel for only $13.55 (was $30). Written and illustrated by O’Malley, Seconds was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller in 2014. Another great one to check out is Lost at Sea, which O’Malley wrote before Scott Pilgrim. It was published months before Scott Pilgrim’s debut. Lost at Sea’s 10th Anniversary Edition is available for $18 (was $25) in hardcover.

To help you compare Scott Pilgrim’s 20th Anniversary Box Sets to other editions, we rounded up all of the Scott Pilgrim hardcover, paperback, compendium, and box sets Oni Press has published over the years. We focused solely on Scott Pilgrim editions that are still in print and readily available for retail price or less.

Scott Pilgrim: Color Collection Paperback Compendiums

In 2019, Oni Press published the Color Editions as paperback compendiums with two volumes each. The Color Collection is in print today, but the slipcase box set edition is only available from resellers. All three compendiums would cost you roughly $72 (was $90) right now.

  1. Vol. 1-2 (368 pages) — $17.69 ($30)
  2. Vol. 3-4 (414 pages) — $24.22 ($30)
  3. Vol. 5-6 (430 pages) — $30

Scott Pilgrim: Precious Little Slipcase Collection (B&W)

Scott Pilgrim Precious Little Slipcase Collection

If you’d like to read Scott Pilgrim’s black-and-white editions in their original format, the Precious Little Slipcase Collection is a great choice. Oni Press published this box set way back in 2010, but it has remained in print ever since. This one pairs well with the 20th Anniversary Color Edition Box Set, because it’s cool to compare O’Malley’s original pencil sketches to the remastered Color Editions. This set comes with an awesome slipcase with exclusive case art and an exclusive poster.

Scott Pilgrim’s original black-and-white digests are still in print and retail for $15 each. With Amazon’s current prices, all six volumes would cost you about 10 bucks more than the Precious Little Slipcase Collection.

Scott Pilgrim B&W Editions (Paperback)

  1. Precious Little Life (168 pages) — $12.49 ($15)
  2. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (200 pages) — $10 ($15)
  3. Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness (192 pages) — $12 ($15)
  4. Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together (216 pages) — $15
  5. Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe (184 pages) — $6.81 ($15)
  6. Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour (248 pages) — $10.46 ($15)

Scott Pilgrim Print Collection (2004-2024)

Scott Pilgrim Print Collection 2020-2024

Shortly after publishing the 20th Anniversary Box Sets last year, Oni Press released the Scott Pilgrim Print Collection 2004-2024. This commemorative collection includes 21 full-color art prints measuring 9 x 12 inches each. All of the illustrations are printed on cardstock and are designed to be displayed with or without frames. Amazon has the Scott Pilgrim Print Collection for $23 (was $30).

More Graphic Novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley

If you love Scott Pilgrim, we highly recommend checking out O’Malley’s other two graphic novels. Notably, you can get the hardcover edition of Seconds: A Graphic Novel for only $13.55 (was $30). Written and illustrated by O’Malley, Seconds was a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller in 2014. Another great one to check out is Lost at Sea, which O’Malley wrote before Scott Pilgrim. It was published months before Scott Pilgrim’s debut. Lost at Sea’s 10th Anniversary Edition is available for $18 (was $25) in hardcover.

$16.36 (was $25)

Scott Pilgrim’s 2010 movie adaptation is available for cheap on 4K Blu-ray, 1080p Blu-ray, and DVD.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Editions:

Like the graphic novels, Scott Pilgrim tells the tale of Scott and his quest to win the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. The only problem? Her seven Evil Exes, former partners of Ramona, who stand in his way. Along the way, both Scott and Ramona come to terms with their past as their relationship grows stronger and they become more mature.

As usual, the source material is better, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a really well-made adaptation that captures the tone and aesthetic of O’Malley’s series. Directed by Edgar Wright with Michael Cera in the lead role, the 2010 movie has spectacular visual effects and cinematography. It’s one of the best examples of a movie that genuinely feels like you’re flipping through the pages of a comic book. There’s nothing quite like it, which also sort of explains why it performed so poorly at the box office.

The film has garnered a dedicated fan base over the years, and the same could be said about the tie-in beat-’em-up video game that released the same day as the movie. After the game was delisted in 2014, an outpouring of support from fans undoubtedly helped make the 2021 Complete Edition for modern platforms a reality.

Most recently, Scott Pilgrim was adapted into an animated Netflix series. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off tells a different story than the graphic novels and movie adaptation, but all of the actors in the movie voiced their characters in the show. The series was co-developed and co-written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. As a Netflix original, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off isn’t available on Blu-ray.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Silksong will get DLC and "some of the plans for that stuff are kind of ambitious as well"
Game Updates

Silksong will get DLC and “some of the plans for that stuff are kind of ambitious as well”

by admin



Hollow Knight: Silksong began life as a DLC expansion, but then developers Team Cherry decided the concept was “too large and too unique”, and upgraded it into a full game. They spent six years working on the thing in almost total silence, while fulminating legions of the terminally online quietly drove themselves bonkers hunting for release date clues. We now have a Silksong release date – it’s just two weeks away – so in theory, the nightmare is over. Except, oh dear – Team Cherry are planning post-launch content for Silksong, and they’re already calling it “ambitious”.


All that’s from this week’s breakout interview with Press X To Jason Schreier, the person who considerately does all the investigative reporting in games journalism so that humbler souls like myself can spend our days taking the piss out of him. According to Schreier, “they’re already making big plans to add extra content to Silksong in the months and years to come.” Then there are some snippets from Team Cherry’s founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen.


“Launching it is obviously quite exciting,” Pellen said. “What comes after for us is equally as exciting.”


“The most interesting thing now is what can we add to it next,” interjected Gibson. “We got a plan. Admittedly, some of the plans for that stuff are kind of ambitious as well, but hopefully we can achieve some of it.”


Those monsters! I look forward to revisiting this post in 2030, assuming RPS hasn’t been turned into sausages by then, while writing up the latest rumours about Hollow Knight: Polyestertune or Satinmelody or whatever they end up calling the third one. In fairness, Hollow Knight did get actual DLC expansions before Silksong that launched at a regular rate.


In any case, the DLC tease is perhaps better interpreted as show of kindness. Earlier in the interview, Gibson and Pellen fret that by actually releasing Silksong, they’re spoiling things for players for whom the real Silksong is speculating endlessly about the release of Silksong.

“It’s nice that people are passionate about the game, and that they’ve obviously formed their own strange or very exciting communities around it,” said Gibson, diplomatically. Added Pellen: “Feels like we’re going to ruin their fun by releasing the game.” I guess their tantalising talk of “ambitious” post-launch material is a bid to keep the dream alive, then.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
NBA 2K26's Highest-Rating Players Revealed, New MyGM And MyNBA Features Detailed
Game Updates

NBA 2K26’s Highest-Rating Players Revealed, New MyGM And MyNBA Features Detailed

by admin


NBA 2K26 is right around the corner, and as is often tradition for sports games before launch, developer Visual Concepts is continuing to share what’s new with this year’s entry. A couple of weeks ago, we learned about a host of presentation upgrades coming to NBA 2K26, and today, 2K released a new post detailing the changes arriving in MyGM and MyNBA, the series’ long-term franchise mode. On top of that, we learned who the top-rated players in this year’s game at the start of the season will be.

This year, GMs have a wider array of scenarios that can play out in the 2025 offseason. Once you pick a team, you can choose between three goals that are distinct to that team’s roster and history. The tasks can include picking draft picks, signing free agents, or leading your team to the NBA Finals. Some of the scenarios involve building around a number-one draft pick, while others force you to choose between trying to make one more run with your aging superstars or holding a fire sale and starting the rebuild process.

As you play through MyGM and MyNBA, your achievements will be chronicled through dynamic banners that accurately update based on when you win championships. The experience is also highly customizable, thanks to Unranked MyGM, which lets you edit players, use custom rosters, import custom draft classes, and adjust sliders however you want. With MyPlayer DNA integration, you can even bring your MyPlayer into your franchise experience regardless of your Era. 

If you’re more on the managerial side, the simulation mechanics have received various improvements based on player feedback, including giving players greater control over strategic decisions. As GM, you also start each season by meeting with your team’s governor to set the budget, goals, and core directives for the upcoming season. These will shape how secure your job is, as well as influence top free agents’ decision-making processes. Updating your team facilities can also go a long way to attracting top talent, and you can allocate Facility Points to update team training and recovery facilities, luxury box amenities, and perform arena renovations. Budgets have also been updated to accurately reflect the budgets of specific eras of teams.

On top of these announcements, we also got a list of the top 10-rated players in NBA 2K26 at the season’s start. 

  1. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets – 98 OVR
  2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder – 98 OVR
  3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks – 97 OVR
  4. Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers – 95 OVR
  5. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves – 95 OVR
  6. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors – 94 OVR
  7. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers – 94 OVR
  8. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics – 94 OVR
  9. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs – 94 OVR
  10. Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets – 93 OVR

NBA 2K26 arrives on September 4. To read our review of last year’s game, head here.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Surprise! Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater's secret mode was developed by the studio behind Bayonetta
Game Updates

Surprise! Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater’s secret mode was developed by the studio behind Bayonetta

by admin


Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater has brought back the secret Guy Savage mode within the remake. But it turns out this mode wasn’t made by Konami alone – Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Astral Chain) is responsible for the surprise action minigame.

The Guy Savage mode can be played by saving the game and exiting to the menu directly after the torture scene deep into the game. When you re-launch the game, the Guy Savage minigame will start. Alternatively, beat the game and the minigame will be accessible.

Guy Savage was originally based on a cancelled prototype for Zone of the Enders 3 / Anubis 2 which was snuck into the original Metal Gear Solid 3. In Delta, every little Easter egg and trick has been recreated. The same goes for minigames, with Snake vs Monkey coming back (with a surprise appearance from Astro Bot).

Check out the launch trailer for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater here!Watch on YouTube

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is an incredibly faithful recreation of the original game. Eurogamer’s review states: “Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is faithful, it’s a church dedicated to one of gaming’s best stealth games. Updates to how the game plays are subtle, and in regard to the new gameplay style, totally optional. So much is left untouched, and that’s for the best. Add in some original art, some obscure modes, and let her loose.”

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Peacemaker looks at something off-screen.
Game Updates

Peacemaker Season 2 Removes Snyder’s Justice League From DCU

by admin


John Cena has a brief cameo in this summer’s Superman as Peacemaker, the foul-mouthed mercenary the wrestler-turned-actor has played since 2021’s The Suicide Squad. That movie was part of the old DC Comics shared universe (DCEU), so it seemed odd that Cena’s character would appear in James Gunn’s new take on Superman, considering he was, ostensibly, part of a different multiverse. Well, Peacemaker’s second season premiered last night, and through a reshot scene, has plucked the antihero from one universe into another without making a huge stink about it.

In Peacemaker’s first season finale, Cena’s character met up with the Justice League from the previous film universe, including Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash. The rest of the team was mostly obscured in shadows and only seen as silhouettes, but Momoa and Miller’s presence makes it clear they’re likely accompanied by Henry Cavill’s version of Superman, who portrayed the superhero from 2013 to 2023. This ties Peacemaker to the old continuity, which again complicates Cena’s appearance in Superman. 

Season two’s premiere episode, “The Ties That Grind,” addresses this with an opening sequence called “Previously in the DCU,” which recaps the previous season with one major change. Rather than calling the Justice League for help as he did in the finale, this section is reshot and redubbed to instead show the Justice Gang featured in Superman arriving on the scene. Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced reprise their roles as Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl, while silhouettes of Superman, Supergirl, and Mister Terrific are also shown but obscured in shadow, like in the original scene.

In a roundtable interview with outlets like IGN, Gunn said that while fans might have expected a more convoluted multiversal explanation that pulled Peacemaker from one continuity to another, the director said he’d rather go with a simple approach.

“Could I make it so that Peacemaker is the DCEU Peacemaker, even though he’s not really the DCEU Peacemaker, and he walks through that portal, and that’s where the DCEU Peacemaker is?” Gunn said. “I could have, but people are like, ‘How are normies going to understand it?’ And no, the answer is, normies don’t give a shit. Normies don’t care about all this canon stuff so intimately.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not completely consistent in the past. So I thought the simple way was really the best, which is just saying, yeah, this world is a little different. We know there’s universes, and this is the universe in which everything was exactly the same as Season 1, except for the Justice League.”

Some fans might be annoyed at the handwavey nature of this change, but it’s probably a good thing Peacemaker didn’t have to spend a whole episode throwing its hero through the multiverse to justify him showing up in future projects. Now it can just get back to what it actually wants to do rather than wasting all those precious, costly minutes of runtime, not to mention the precious time of us viewers. New episodes of Peacemaker premiere on HBO Max on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. Eastern.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Peak Is Now Steam Deck Verified And The Cannon Glitch Is Fixed
Game Updates

Peak Is Now Steam Deck Verified And The Cannon Glitch Is Fixed

by admin



Steam darling Peak’s latest patch changes the game for Steam Deck players and speedrunners who love nothing more than a good glitch.

Peak version 1.25.a makes a few major changes and a bunch of minor ones. The biggest alteration is that the game is now Steam Deck Verified.

“Finally…..the game is good on Steam Deck,” the team wrote in the patch notes. “Deck players will know it’s been good for a while! The Mesa Update added the last of controller support needed and with this patch we’ve added some text adjustments needed to get the Verified badge.”

There are a whole bunch of fixes and adjustments as well. Most prominently, it’s much harder to glitch your way to the top of the mountain than it has been over the last couple of weeks.

“Made fog walls taller so you can’t shoot over them to win the game in a minute with the Scout Cannon exploit,” Team Peak wrote. “A lot of you asked us not to change the Scout Cannon but no promises were made about the map.”

Previously, players could use the Scout Cannon to blast themselves so high that they were able to clear all five of the game’s biomes and reach the goal at the peak. With the fog wall change, cannons can still send players ridiculously far under the right circumstances, but they’re now much more likely to smack into the wall of shifting fog that separates each biome and fall to their deaths. That said, we did manage to use the cannon to clear at least a couple of biomes before crashing back to earth when testing the update, so ridiculous cannon stunts remain possible.

Interestingly, this patch also added the ability to toggle off The Looker, a character who could randomly appear behind certain rocks, and who would disappear if you got too close or looked at them for too long. Even if you do leave the feature enabled, the character’s appearance will be more rare moving forward.

One issue many Peak players have run into is that a bunch of the game’s merit badges, tied to its Steam achievements, don’t seem to unlock, even after doing everything required to earn them. Those issues have been resolved for the Cool Cucumber, Plunderer, Clutch, and First Aid badges.

Other issues addressed in this patch include problems with beehives (insect phobia textures work now, and you can’t put beehives into your backpack anymore), alongside several balance changes (hot rocks in the Kiln now damage players correctly, the Cure-All item can cure some thorns in the Mesa biome, and the Magic Beanstalk is faster to climb).

Peak is the latest and one of the best examples of the genre that gamers have began to lovingly (or not-so-lovingly) as “friendslop”–relatively simple co-op-first games that include an element of humor, such as R.E.P.O. and Lethal Company. Getting to the top of Peak’s mountain requires skill and knowledge, but things like exploding spores, the fact that you can lose consciousness and fall off the mountain, and lots of other hazards, are undeniably meant to cause laughter.

Peak has sold over 10 million copies on Steam according to Geoff Keighley, and has recently added features like a Mesa biome, cannibalism, and more.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
There's a new Platinum game hidden in the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake that's actually a remake of a rework of a Zone of the Enders 3 prototype
Game Updates

There’s a new Platinum game hidden in the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake that’s actually a remake of a rework of a Zone of the Enders 3 prototype

by admin


Did you know that the original Metal Gear Solid 3 on PS2 had a reworked Zone of the Enders 3 prototype hidden in it? I didn’t. The secret minigame in question is “Guy Savage”, a barebones hack-and-slasher featuring hook swords, bestial transformations and zombie coppers. It’s framed as a dream of Naked Snake’s – triggered by a combination of torture and an unhelpful reference to Dracula from radio contact Para-Medic during a codec conversation before saving.

The original Guy Savage was directed by long-time Metal Gear Solid writer Shuyo Murata. The dreamy minigame returns in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, an Unreal Engine remake which launches next week. It’s a lot glossier this time, however, because the new version has been contracted out to Bayonetta studio PlatinumGames. They’ve gone to town on the visuals, trading the old jailhouse backdrop for a moonlit graveyard, though the spinning and gouging looks pretty much as before. Here’s a video of the PS2 version, and here’s some footage of the updated one from Gamespot.

Learning about Guy Savage gives me the heebie jeebies, somehow. Delta Snake Eater is Konami’s latest bid to show that Metal Gear Solid has a future after Hideo Kojima, but it’s also a fawning tribute to the guy, a careful recreation of every eccentric flourish that took root under his eye, whether it truly came from Kojima or no.

As I attempted to articulate last August, Delta Snake Eater feels stranger than the average blockbuster remake project because Kojima has built up a brand for bespoke designer’s asides – brilliant or silly titbits born of Kojima’s own proudly brandished fan obsessions, that create a feeling of closeness to the auteur, even if they were executed by one of his underlings.

Konami have extracted all those wonky fossilised organs and sent them off to be rehydrated and plumped up, then pushed them back into the game’s body while grafting on new skin. In the case of the Guy Savage, the fossilised organ is also the aborted stub of another game, the Zone of the Enders threequel Konami cancelled in 2013. Apparently, Kojima wanted the minigame to be Gradius initially, but decided an original game would be better.

It’s just weird! Video games are weird! They are the ultimate haunted houses. This is probably the only thing I’ve discovered about Delta Snake Eater that seriously interests me. We’ll hopefully have a review ourselves before the remake’s release next week, on 28th August.



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
A composite image shows the protagonist from Void/Breaker shooting at an enemy, Cybil Bennet from Silent Hill, and the protagonists of Shadow Labyrinth engaged in battle.
Game Updates

Hollow Knight & 3 More Great Games We’re Diving Into

by admin


Hello! Here we are at the end of yet another week, and that means we’re taking a look at our gaming shelves, physical or digital, with an eye for something appealing to spend some hours with on our time off–something which may inspire you as well, should you be at a loss for what to play.

This week I finally got to share what I’ve been working on behind the scenes: Kotaku’s review of the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3, as well as a deep dive into what makes this reimagining tick. Long story short: I think the game rocks and it’s been the most fun I’ve had with an MGS title in many years. But it’s not out yet, so it won’t be mentioned in this week’s rundown. Expect me to have some more to say about it next week.

Read More: Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater: The Kotaku Review

We also had Gamescom kick off this week with Opening Night Live, and what a packed show it was, especially if you’re like me and enjoy torturing yourself with horror games–seriously, I’m avoiding RE9 trailers and gameplay footage because it’s going to spark too much excitement in me and might throw the universe out of balance or something.

Anyway, let’s get on to our picks for the weekend–and please let us know what games you’re rocking because, in case you didn’t know, comments are back! So be nice, but also please let us know what’s got you glued to your controllers and keyboards.

Void/Breaker

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Unknown”)
Current goal: Finish more runs and get out of the simulation

When I saw a trailer for VoidBreaker during Gamescom Opening Night Live, I was intrigued. So I hopped over to Steam to play it for a bit and accidentally put, like, three hours in, despite having dinner plans that night. We weren’t late for dinner, but any game that can hook me that fast has my attention.

I’m not a big roguelike guy, but VoidBreaker’s gunplay is so satisfying and the combat so hectic that upom dying, I’m instantly starting a new run through the game’s twisted cybernightmare. And I keep finding new power-ups, mods, and other features as I do so. I need to put more time into VoidBreaker before I can say it’s on my Game of the Year list, but I like its odds.

Shadow Labyrinth

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: Venture deeper

It’s just all so strange and mysterious. The “memories” I find are cryptic and bizarre, the backgrounds otherworldly, the Metroidvania-style labyrinth itself full of things I can’t make heads or tails of. Well, I can. I know a Pac-Man maze when I see one. But my in-game character can’t, not yet.

What captivates me so far about Shadow Labyrinth is its willingness to be so dauntingly strange. I mean, video games don’t get any more mainstream than Pac-Man. Pac-Man was a game for everyone, and that broad appeal was crucial to it becoming a colossal arcade smash that fleetingly invaded every aspect of American culture in the early 1980s. And yet here is a game that is deliberately inscrutable, and sometimes even offputting. Pac-Man, or this game’s equivalent of him, sometimes devours foes in a display that’s genuinely unnerving, and the story, thus far at least, is a jumble of strange names, awkward, rambling notes, and vague gestures at lore you don’t know enough about to process. And I love it. Each night this week, I’ve been determined to make at least one good little chunk of progress, find another save point, see what strange new landscapes await me, and hopefully start finding the keys to understanding just who I am, where I am, and what it is I’m really doing.

Shadow Labyrinth has integrity. It’s committed to doing its thing, and it doesn’t go to great lengths to make you feel welcome. “Stay, or bounce off,” it seems to say. “It makes no difference to me.” I find that confidence intriguing, and hard to resist. For now, at least, I’m staying. I’m venturing deeper. – Carolyn Petit

Silent Hill

© Screenshot: Konami / MegaBezel / Claire Jackson / Kotaku

Play it on: PS3 via PSN store, original disc, or emulation
Current goal: Get the hang of these darn controls!

Last weekend I dove into the lovingly retro horror experience that is Silent Hill. This weekend I’m doing it again as I anticipate talking a whole lot more about this exquisitely disturbing PSX title in the near future, and, after all, it was one of the classics of the era that got away from me.

I didn’t get terribly far in my first playthrough as I was short on time (I was neck-deep in the digital swamps of Snake Eater’s remake) and also because this game is hard! I mean, it’s me, so I naturally jumped into it on the game’s hard difficulty.

That might’ve been a mistake. The game is already pretty lethal as is and, oof,these controls are of a sort we’ve long since left behind–and maybe for good reason? I’m not sure yet. I’m usually okay with tank controls, but I’m finding these particularly difficult to contend with for some reason. Maybe I’m just out of practice? In any case, they’ve made me rethink my choice to do my run on hard mode.

I’m gonna knock the difficulty down. That should help me focus on the atmosphere of this game which, if you know anything about Silent Hill, I probably don’t need to tell you about. But still, if it’s been some time since you’ve played this 1999 release and you tend to play modern games more often, know that elements we might consider graphical limitations or poor design decisions today– the gloomy fog, the non-player-controlled camera– really sell the bizarre and haunting experience that is this game. Even just walking down one of the game’s opening alleyways, I was reminded that it wasn’t just creepy monsters that terrified me as a child; it was the whole framing of this gorgeously dreadful horror experience. And I’m so ready to strap in for more this weekend. – Claire Jackson

Hollow Knight

Play it on: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, Windows PCs (Steam Deck: “Verified”)
Current goal: See what the fuss is about

I wrote about Hollow Knight: Silksong quite a few times this week, but I’ve never played Team Cherry’s original Metroidvania. I hear it’s one of the best, most challenging action platformers out there. It must be if the internet has been losing its mind about the sequel for all this time, right? I’ve always been curious about Hollow Knight, but it had become such a meme in my head that it almost made me forget that it was something I could actually download and play at any point in the past eight years. Now, we’re two weeks out from Silksong, and I guess it really is on me for waiting so long after observing the fervor from afar all this time. But there’s no time like the present to jump in, lest I fall even further behind on what is supposedly one of indie gaming’s crown jewels. — Kenneth Shepard

And that wraps our picks for the weekend! What are you playing?



Source link

0 comments
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Close