Tag:

fantasy

Fantasy Life i studio announces free DLC as the “slow-life RPG” sequel gets off to a flying start

by admin May 23, 2025

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has had an unexpectedly strong start for a sequel to a fairly obscure 13-year Nintendo DS game. And developer Level 5 has now thanked fans for their enthusiasm, pledging to release free DLC in response to “popular demand”.

The Girl Who Steals Time, for context, is a sequel to Level 5’s Fantasy Life – a sort of job-focussed mash-mash of life sim and RPG – which enjoyed modest critical and commercial success when it launched for Nintendo DS back in 2012. Eurogamer’s celebrated its “abundance of features” in our 6/10 review at the time, but noted the result was often “less than the sum of its parts”.

But in this post-Stardew Valley world – where you can’t watch an indie showcase without seeing a dozen new village sims jostling for attention – the newly released Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals seems to resonated with audiences. It’s garnered a positive early critical reception and even surpassed 45K concurrents on its first day on Steam (that’s more than Doom: The Dark Ages managed) – and Level 5 is now celebrating its launch with news of more to come.

Fantasy Life i – features trailer.Watch on YouTube

“In response to the positive reception from players around the world,” it wrote in a message on its website (via Google Translate), “we have decided to release free DLC that will ‘update the world’… so that players can continue to enjoy the game for a long time to come.”

Level 5 hasn’t shared much in the way of specifics, but there’s talk of new recipes and “high-rarity weapons” that can be acquired though dungeons and “other methods”. The studio says it’s working to release the DLC “as soon as possible”, and will share more details at a later date. And it sounds like there’s more on the way; “We plan to continue updating the game,” it adds, “so that you can enjoy the world of Fantasy Life i for longer and more comfortably.”

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is available now on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Switch, with a Switch 2 version coming later this year.

Source link

May 23, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade For PS5 Gets $30 Discount At Amazon

by admin May 21, 2025

Amazon has dropped the price of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade for PS5 to only $40. The PS5 physical edition had been out of print for years, which led to some rather ridiculous prices on the reseller market. Earlier this year, Square Enix finally printed a fresh batch of the sought-after edition that bundles the base game and the Intermission DLC. Multiple retailers sold out of the reprinted copies months ago, while others still regularly sell it for its full $70 list price.

$40 (was $70)

Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a gorgeous reboot of the classic 1997 game it’s based on. Set primarily within the early Midgar chapters of Final Fantasy 7, the remake gives Cloud Strife and the rest of the Avalanche crew a massive graphical glow-up as they fight to stop Shinra Inc. from turning the planet’s life essence into a power source. Ghosts from the past threaten Cloud and his friends, and toward the end of the game, there are major changes to the storyline that shake up the status quo.

The Intermission expansion focuses on Yuffie Kisaragi and her partner Sonon Kusakabe as they work to steal a powerful artifact from Shinra. This is a short but fun add-on to the main campaign of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which also saw various technical and graphical improvements added to the game. It’s a fairly linear game overall–with some annoying padding–but if you’re looking to revisit the cyberpunk world of Square Enix’s beloved sci-fantasy game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake won’t disappoint.

It’s also worth noting that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is getting a Nintendo Switch 2 port. Though it’s not available to preorder yet and no release date has been set, we’d expect it to receive a physical edition, too.

You should also check out the official Material Ultimania book focused on the PS5 version of FF7 Remake. Published in November, Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Material Ultimania Plus takes fans behind the scenes for a look at the creation of the heralded RPG. Normally $40, the hardcover edition of the new book is on sale for $25 at Amazon. You can also save $15 on the first Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Material Ultimania book, which drops the price to $25. This 336-page hardcover focuses on FF7 Remake’s original PS4 version.

The second entry in the FF7 Remake trilogy, Rebirth, released last year and greatly expanded on its ideas while adding several open-world environments to explore. If you’re looking to grab it as well, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for PS5 is on sale for $54 (was $70) at Walmart. Rebirth was ported to PC earlier this year, and Square Enix plans to bring it to Switch 2, too.

Another reprint that Final Fantasy fans might want to pick up is Final Fantasy I-VI Collection, which contains the Pixel Remasters of the first six mainline games. This originally launched with an extremely limited print run, but new copies for PS4 and Nintendo Switch were released in October last year.

The collection includes the Pixel Remaster editions of the first six mainline Final Fantasy games and a sticker sheet of Final Fantasy character sprites. Square Enix remodeled the sprites using the original pixel art as a foundation and series composer Nobuo Uematsu oversaw the work on the rearranged soundtracks.

Final Fantasy I-VI Collection Anniversary Edition Deals:

Fans of Final Fantasy’s pixel art era should also check out FF Dot: The Pixel Art of Final Fantasy. Square Enix’s Ultimania Archive hardcover book focused on the six games in the collection is also a great read. You can get Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 1 for $26 (was $40) at Amazon.

Source link

May 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Final Fantasy 14 on mobile will release in June, but only in China

by admin May 20, 2025

The mobile version of Final Fantasy 14 will be released in June, but only in China.

Yesterday, a trailer for the game was released on Chinese video platform Bilibili including the date, while a Live Letter stream provided new details on the game.

The mobile game is being developed by the Tencent-owned Lightspeed Studio, which previously developed PUBG Mobile, hence being released in China first.

Final Fantasy 14 Mobile – Reveal TrailerWatch on YouTube

However, a global release is still expected, though its date is unknown. In the meantime, players worldwide are able to sign up for updates and news on future tests on the game’s website.

A livestream for the game provided fresh details, including its 16 gear dye layers that will allow players to customise the look of their Warrior of Light in great detail.

For comparison, the main Final Fantasy 14 added only its second dye layer with the latest expansion, Dawntrail.

Also shown, as per a reddit thread, were a new dodge button for all classes, as well as auto-pathing to quests and fates for ease of control – note there won’t be auto-combat.

Final Fantasy 14 Mobile was officially revealed by director and producer Naoki Yoshida back in November last year. He confirmed the game will be free-to-play but won’t include gacha mechanics.

A trailer at the time gave us our first proper look at gameplay, including a fully-realised version of Eorzea in the palm of your hand.

The game’s release will follow the cancellation and shutdown of a number of mobile games from Square Enix in recent years.

Just last week, the company cancelled development of mobile game Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, though confirmed Kingdom Hearts 4 is still on the way.

Square Enix’s latest financial reports showed a drop in sales of its games, particularly with mobile games owing to multiple cancellations. However, sales and profits of its MMOs have increased thanks to Final Fantasy 14 expansion Dawntrail.

It makes business sense, then, to release a version of the MMORPG on mobile as part of its multiplatform strategy.

Source link

May 20, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Alternate between 14 lives in Level-5’s latest open world fantasy RPG, out on PC this week

by admin May 19, 2025

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a “Slow Life RPG” in which you live out 14 different lives in… hold on, record scratch and/or Gru’s Plan fourth panel – let me run that premise by myself again. I have to live 14 different lives? How is that “slow”? I have a hard enough time keeping up with one life in the amateurishly designed role-playing game we call reality, with its saddening shortage of rideable dragons.

Ah, but of course developers Level-5 are merely being cute with their framing. By “lives” they really mean classes or character jobs. In this blend of open world boglin basher and island town-builder, you will switch lives like you’re, well, exactly like you’re putting on different coats and hats, going by the trailer. Those 14 lives are split between three self-explanatory categories: under Gathering Lives we find farming and fishing, while Crafting Lives include blacksmithing, alchemy and such, and Combat Lives are all about ending them.

Watch on YouTube

The game launches this week, as detailed on Steam. We haven’t covered it before, and I’m not aware that anybody currently employed at the Treehouse has played the previous instalment on 3DS. I do, however, have many fond memories of Level-5’s older RPGs – Dark Cloud and Chronicle, Ni no Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch, and let’s not forget Dragon Quest VIII. Still the Dragon Quest to beat, for my onions. Professor Layton? I’m afraid I don’t know him. Did they consult with him on Jeanne D’Arc?

In any case, Fantasy Life i seems as bright and burgeoning and basically happy to exist as any of those games – so chipper and sparkling that I’m willing to forgo murdering the studio leadership for putting that lowercase “i” in the title.

The premise is that you’re part of an archaeological expedition who discover bits of fossilised dragon on an island. In the process, you also find a portal to the distant past that allows you to unravel the mystery of the island’s downfall.

Over the course of the game, you will alternate between roaming the monster-addled continents of yore and terraforming the island in the present, adding houses and decorations and terrain fixtures such as rivers. It’s an Animal Crossing game with its foot stuck in Dragon Quest Heroes. There is talk of saving the world, but it sounds like that comes a very distant second to choosing the wallpaper.

Look out for the game on 21st May. Given the multiple Lives framing, the obvious thing it’s missing is an introspective spiral akin to the tawdry soap opera that is The Alters, in which one man clones himself in order to operate a huge rolling spacebase. If I actually had 14 different lives at my disposal, I guarantee you there would be a pecking order with the Cook at the top of it.

Source link

May 19, 2025 0 comments