Sad news my fellow BioWare game-enjoyers: they don't have anything to show at EA Play Live this month. Truly, can EA even do a livestream without showing some rocks from Dragon Age 4? How could they just whack Liara in the trailer for Mass Effect 5 and leave us hanging like that? Oh well. I had been holding out hope that they might announce Mass Effect 3's multiplayer for Legendary Edition, but I guess we'll just watch more Battlefield 2042 gameplay again. Sigh.
]]>When WitcherCon was first announced last month, I very much thought it would be some silly thing to capitalise on the success of Netflix's The Witcher series (and, I mean, it still kinda is). But now the full schedule has been revealed, it actually sounds like a pretty good time. On the 9th and 10th of July, the virtual Witcher-themed event will hold panels with the likes of Henry Cavill, chatting about deep lore, trivia, quizzes and updates on the upcoming Witcher TV shows.
]]>EA Play Live, Electronic Arts' NotE3 event, will take place next month on July 22nd. Last year's event was pretty disappointing, all we saw was a tiny glimpse at what we now know to be Battlefield 2042, and a couple of rocks from Dragon Age 4. Hopefully this time around we'll get some more detail on both of those (pls BioWare, I beg you), and it's rumoured the publisher might have a Dead Space remaster up their sleeves too.
]]>A couple of months ago, Imogen asked if we need E3 anymore. And I have been thinking about this question a lot. It comes up pretty regularly, and has done basically since E3 started, along with whether E3 is going to last for much longer. It's been nearly 30 years now. But, as Alice0 pointed out to me as we surveyed the smoking wreckage of our desks after E3 2021, this industry is loathe to let things die if it can help it. Even if E3 did eventually end it would be repackaged as a spiritual successor a few years later, possibly called Two Point Expo or similar. So perhaps another question to think about is: will E3 ever be as fun as it used to be?
]]>Bobbing onto our screens in 2018, Sea Of Thieves was perfectly timed to provide the jovial, ultimately unthreatening ambience of Pirates Of The Caribbean, just as that film series became a lot less fun due to the allegations against leading man Johnny Depp. How unfortunate, then, that 2021 should bring a massive Pirates Of The Caribbean crossover to the game, with Captain Jack Sparrow plastered all over it.
]]>On this episode of Ultimate Audio Bang, Imogen and I comb through the shrapnel left by the E3 explosion. There is lots! A charred Randy Pitchford, lots of games like Left 4 Dead, and shooters like Stalker 2, which we have no history with, but it sure look nice.
]]>E3 is finally over for another year, and golly there were a lot of new games announced, weren't there? Having waded deep through the flood of streams from practically every publisher under the sun, we've emerged with our filleted highlights of the best games of E3 2021. With this year's show taking place soley online, we haven't played as many of these as we'd normally do during E3, but these are the games that excited us the most and whose trailers we've had on repeat ever since we clapped eyes on them.
]]>Countless livestreams, announcements and gameplay reveals later, E3 2021 is done and dusted. While it was most certainly an improvement on last year's months-long mess, there was still a lot shown off in a very short space of time. If you missed or completely forgot that Breaking Badman Giancarlo Esposito mentioned Adolf Hitler last Thursday, this recap video is exactly what you need in order to catch up.
E3 2021 was a weird one. There were some cool reveals like Arkane's Redfall, and people lost their minds over Elden Ring, but it was definitely light on WOW moments. Also, there were a few strange things, like that bit where Randy Pitchford bothered celebrities on a movie set for half an hour. Still... Forza Horizon 5 looks great, doesn't it?
]]>When Jeff Goldblum delivered the news that we'd be getting a sequel to Frontier's 2018 park builder Jurassic World Evolution sometime in the next six months at the Summer Game Fest last week, I was immediately raised from my E3 slumber. While not perfect by any means, JWE is pretty much the best option out there right now for people who love dinosaur games that don't involve any combat. Sure, the trailer for Jurassic World Evolution 2 only revealed a very slim portfolio of facts about the game, but using my sordid credentials as a giant Jurassic Park nerd, and a sinker of many hours into Frontier's park games, I reckon I can offer some reasonable assumptions as to what you can expect.
]]>One game which caught my eye during all of the E3 everything is one I'm apparently late to notice: surreal RPG She Dreams Elsewhere. A new trailer with mock VHS effects showed off its shopping mall level with a CGA-ish palette and sure, that was interesting enough, but then it hit a battle and WHAT HELLO THIS IS GORGEOUS.
]]>Elden Ring exists! I'm still in a state of perpetual delight having read that I can turn my enemies into summoned sidekicks and that it has vases which are cute lads. And now I've learned that your enemies leave "trails" that are more visible at night, how curious.
]]>After snooping around offices in The Occupation and memories in Ether One, developers White Paper Games will soon offer the opportunity to snoop around a neighbourhood . During E3 they announced Conway: Disappearance At Dahlia View, where we'll play a former detective in 1950s England who falls into spying on his neighbours after the disappearance of a young girl. The announcement trailer remind me a bit of Hitchcock's Rear Window, spying on people out his flat window. Have a look for yourself below.
]]>Given how many cyberpunky games are around these days, it takes something particularly interesting in that style to stand out to me now. But Minds Beneath Us has really caught my eye. It's an upcoming sci-fi thriller set in a futuristic world where humans have been integrated with AI. It has cool skylines, excellent use of neon signs, and you play as a character who might occasionally turn into a murderous zombie-thing.
]]>Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! is a HD remaster of the cute anime visual novel (which is also a psychological horror game) coming out on June 30th. Unlike the old game, this one won't be free, but it's adding a bunch of new stuff that I'm sure will have plenty of spooks for us. It's bringing six new side stories, loads of new music, and a visual upgrade with higher-resolution artwork.
]]>Songs Of Conquest was one of the most exciting trailers I saw at E3 2021. It's a turn-based strategy game in which you stomp around a world map, triggering hexy battles against fantasy factions, and levelling up and expanding your kingdom in between. It also has lovely pixel art. Watch the trailer below.
]]>Here's an interesting one: a Fatal Frame game is headed to PC. Announced during today's Nintendo Direct (not traditionally a source of PC games news), Fatal Frame: Maiden Of Black Water, which was originally released on Wii U in 2014, is being re-released on nearly every platform, including Steam. You can find a trailer of its polished-up horror photography below.
]]>Rare were at Microsoft's E3 pressblast this weekend, but only to show off a Sea Of Thieves crossover with Pirates Of The Carribean. Certainly no sign of Everwild, the beautiful and mysterious game they announced back in 2019. Which was a shame. Rumours say that the English studio best known for the NES version of Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat have gone back to the drawing board for a big old rethink of Everwild. According to rumours, anyway.
]]>If the gruesome look of cyberpunk RPG Death Trash doesn't quite do it for you, then perhaps the more grungey style of Mechajammer will. It's an upcoming open-world game influenced by 80s action films, and it's set in a cyberpunk city surrounded by killer jungles on an alien planet. In the trailer I've spotted: cool motorbikes, very good eyepatches, and futuristic guns that make very good "pewpewpew" noises.
]]>If you're looking for a game like Rimworld that zooms you up to the stars to organise a space station, rather a land colony, then you might be interest in Starmancer. Developed by Ominux Games and published by Chucklefish, Starmancer is a space station management sim in which you play as an AI tasked with looking after squishy humans. It's heading to early access on August 5th.
]]>It was a weird E3. A lot of video games we already knew about, and more CG trailers than we might like, but there were still some notable announcements and gameplay reveals. While Kevin Hart didn't seem too pleased with his involvement in the festivities, those watching at home had an alright time.
]]>I'm not here for discussions on what "wholesome" means or the limits of its definition when applied to video games. What I am here for is to list every single PC game that was shown at this year's Wholesome Direct at E3 2021. There were a lot of great looking games this year, from bee conservation sims to beautiful puzzle games about putting things in order, to loads of games about witches for some reason.
]]>During Capcom's E3 stream last night, they showed new footage of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which is coming to PC next month. Some of it will be fairly familiar to those of you who've dabbled in Ace Attorney, though they did reveal a couple of new gameplay mechanics: Dance Of Deduction and Summation Examination. I can't get over how that first one sounds like Herlock Sholmes has been spending a bit too much time on AO3.
]]>Piranha Bytes are returning to their post-apocalyptic sci-fantasy world with Elex 2, announced today. The sequel to their 2017 RPG will continue the story of Jax, trying to reuinite factions against a new threat and all that. Point is: yes, you still have a jetpack. Check out the cinematic announcement trailer, which has real 'angsty anime music video' vibes, below.
]]>This E3 had a lot more zombies than I was expecting, but you know what? I'm always down for more co-op zombie shooter shenanigans. World War Z developers Saber Interactive have announced a new version of the game, World War Z: Aftermath, which will arrive later this year. It will add new zombs, a new melee system, first-person mode, cross-platform multiplayer, and a bunch more. Aftermath will cost $40 for the whole thing, or $20 if you already own WWZ.
]]>In addition to announcing their brand-new Blade 14 laptop last night, Razer also used their E3 2021 presser to give us an update on their Project Hazel smart face mask, which was first announced earlier in the year at CES. After listening to community feedback, Razer have added some new features to their upcoming N95 respirator, including a new anti-fog coating and, my favourite, interior RGB lighting. Oh yes, folks. It's CHROMA TIME.
]]>It's the future and you're living on a space station in the great beyond! But the future is bad, and you're only a human consciousness in an failing artificial body owned by a corporation who want you back. That's how it goes in Citizen Sleeper, a sci-fi slice-of-life RPG announced this week by the creator of In Other Waters. I am certainly up for visiting a distant lawless space station to eek out a living, thwart a corp, and maybe even make some friends. Check out the announcement trailer below.
]]>Capcom have kicked off their E3 presentation for 2021 by leading with some hot, sizzling, not at all surprising news. They are in fact planning to develop DLC for their newest and shiniest RE game. That's right, Resident Evil Village is going to have some DLC at some point. When? They didn't say. What? They didn't say that either. It sure is coming though. Oh, and so is the free multiplayer deathmatch mode Re:Verse. That's launching next month after it was delayed.
]]>So far, E3 2021 has all been about games, games, games and more games, but those green snakey folks over at Razer have also taken the opportunity today to show off some of their new gaming hardware today, including their all-new Razer Blade 14 gaming laptop. Not only is this the world's thinnest 14in gaming laptop, but it's also their first such device to come with an AMD CPU - and it looks rather lovely, if I do say so myself, especially when this super slim laptop is also going to be available with one of Nvidia's RTX 3080 graphics chips inside it, too.
]]>Cyberpunk action RPG The Ascent is queued up to launch next month and it's just popped up with a fresh trailer. Developers Neon Giant have let on an extra quick look at some more co-op cyberpunk shoot 'em upping here in the new video. Good news for the subscription service fans as well. The Ascent has announced that it will be joining Xbox Game Pass for PC on its launch day in July.
]]>Cheekily-named Happy Game is the next puzzle-y adventure romp from the same folks that created point and click 'em ups Creaks and Chuchel. This one is about a little boy having an absolutely messed up nightmare. Here I thought my nightmares were bad. This kid absolutely has me beat. Happy Game is still looking terribly swell, but Amanita Design have announced alongside the trailer that it's being moved back to release in autumn of this year.
]]>Upcoming "tiny MMO" Book Of Travels, has finally made that big decision. I've been itching to get my hands on this smaller, gorgeous online game by the studio behind the Shelter series and the time has nearly come. Might And Delight have announced that Book Of Travels is setting out on its early access journey in August.
]]>Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls VI way back at E3 2018, then promptly started saying "Sorry, what, I can't hear you, gotta go" and leaving whenever anyone raised it again, or making beeping noises with their mouth then saying "Excuse me, I have a phone call". They did not show TES6 at E3 2021 either, instead focusing on Starfield, but their new sci-fi RPG's trailer might possibly be hiding a clue to TES6's setting. You see, tiny marks on one spaceship console do look like a map of High Rock and Hammerfell.
]]>Oh Elden Ring, now that we've seen a proper trailer, and a large handful of screenshots, it's time to comb both for clues about what's old and new compared with From Software's past Souls joints. One of the neatest new bits, which I think will actually impact how I play, is how From have expanded the summoning system for Elden Ring. Souls games have previously let you summon NPC characters and other players to fight beside you. According to an interview with game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, Elden Ring will also let you summon your enemies, and I'm simply thrilled by the idea of turning baddies into my sidekicks.
]]>RPS have been writing about the upcoming hellish, meaty, yet gorgeous-looking RPG Death Trash for years, and now we finally know when we'll get to play it. It's coming out in early access on August 5th, inviting players to a cyberpunk wasteland full of pure disgusting stuff - like giant flesh monsters and collecting your own puke. But honestly, it looks great.
]]>You know, I've never been massively into Square Enix's games, but this time, I have to hand it to them. In an E3 week that's otherwise been a fairly tame affair, it took some real chutzpah to announce not just a big-budget original property, but one that's a direct lampoon of one of the biggest licenses in Hollywood. Gordon Galaxy And His Funny Space Mates is the sort of genius you might usually expect to come from the very fringes of the indie market. A whipcrack satire, thrown together by a lone hobbyist with nothing to lose, and looking to get a few laughs before the cease and desist orders come in. But no: this is a full-on, big budget, triple-A endeavour - and crikey, are Squeenix ever playing with fire here.
]]>Bethesda's upcoming space RPG Starfield bagged itself a release date last night (November 11th 2022, in case you missed it), but we still don't know a whole about what we'll actually do in it. In a recent interview, executive producer Todd Howard said "it's like Skyrim in space", though I doubt that means exploring draugr-filled asteroids. Slightly more interestingly, Bethesda's managing director Ashely Cheung compares it to Star Wars.
"For me, Starfield is the Han Solo simulator. Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff," he says.
]]>Somehow I'd missed that Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong, unlike most of the other VTM games these days, is not interactive fiction. Nope, apparently a 3D walking-around sort of "narrative RPG", made by the studio behind 2018's curious The Council. Huh! I'm interested. A new trailer out E3 introduces us to one of the three protagonists we'll switch between, Leysha - a Malkavian. Her fashion is truly great.
]]>I've been after a shooter that'll loosen my grip on Call Of Duty: Warzone and I think Battlefield 2042 might be it. Having watched the gameplay trailer at Microsoft and Bethesda's E3 showcase, it's large-scale shooty bang in areas exclusively ravaged by tornadoes and storms. Clear skies and an easy shot? Nah mate, not any longer. Have a tornado.
]]>There was a moment over the E3 weekend where Alice0 pointed out that a lot of people are remaking Left 4 Dead - apart from Valve. I have mentioned this before, but playing L4D2 accounted for about 60% of my time at university. I have a tattoo of the safe house symbol on my ribs (it is terrible).
The Left 4 Dead formula is simple on paper - small team of co-op players vs monster horde, getting from point A to point B with potential incidental side objectives on the way - but is tough to nail. You need to get the mix right. And this year's E3 has revealed a lot of people are rolling up their sleeves to have a go. Let's have a look.
]]>I get a childlike sense of glee from playing games that let me run around as a miniature human in a world that's far too big for them. Add a dash of Pikmin to that, and you've really caught my interest. The newly announced puzzle platformer Tinykin seems to provide exactly that: it's about a very small astronaut exploring a giant house with the help from lots of little one-eyed alien pals.
]]>"Get in a ship, explore the galaxy, do fun stuff": that's Bethesda's Starfield in a nutshell, according to executive producer Todd Howard. The first time I read that neat little triptych in yesterday's Washington Post interview, my brain skated over it. It's one of those broad, sweeping statements that promises something so big you end up disregarding it by default. But then I went back to it, and after forcing my mind's eye to hover over the words like a fat hawk, the words really sank in. The middle three, in particular.
Explore the galaxy. That, right there, is a premise that space games have always tended to fall short on over the years, and I'd forgotten how badly I wanted it fulfilled. Speaking bluntly, science fiction is one of the biggest things in my life. Exploring the galaxy is a big deal to me, and yet, the experience space games have delivered in the past has never quite been the one I've been after. Now, I'm daring to ask myself how I'd feel if this time, it was.
]]>In 2022, Fallout 76 will let players explore beyond the reaches of Appalachia for the first time. Bethesda are adding Expeditions to their post-apocalyptic MMO, which will allow former vault-dwellers to adventure in other areas of the Fallout universe. The first one might be familiar to folks who played some of Fallout 3's DLC too, because it's sending us back to The Pitt (that is: radiation-ravaged Pittsburgh).
]]>The studio behind Northgard and Evoland are jaunting into yet another genre, this time an open-world RPG with turn-based tactical combat. Shiro Games last night announced Wartales, a game about leading a band of mercenaries in the aftermath of an apocalyptic plague. It looked like an unfatastical medieval world in the trailer until I saw a colossal crest of black fur rolling through a forest and OOH what is this. See for yourself in the trailer below.
]]>As revealed at the Xbox and Bethesda E3 showcase this weekend, Rare's multiplayer open world pirate 'em up Sea Of Thieves is about to have 100% more Jack Sparrow than it previously did. Sea Of Thieves: A Pirate's Life is a new Pirates Of The Caribbean-themed story campaign featuring five Tall Tales, and it's coming free to the game on June 22nd. Why, that's quite soon!
And look, I'm not saying that the Pirates Of The Caribbean films do not form a billion dollar franchise, but when you tell me that Sea Of Thieves is getting the "Why is the rum gone?" man, I know what sort of feels like the better get for whom.
]]>I've not yet watched the trailer for Wizard With A Gun, announced during last night's Devolver Digital stream at E3. But I bet you my entire house I can tell you what's in it. If I guess wrong, I'll email you my house. If I guess right, you have to read the rest of this post. Deal? Sorry, too slow. Reading the word "deal" counted as agreeing to the deal, I'm afraid, so let's play.
I'm guessing the trailer will feature a Wizard, who possesses a gun. Here's the trailer. Let's see if I am correct, or if I have ruined my family's life by promising to email their house to loads of strangers.
]]>As E3 2021 starts to wind down as quickly as it wound up, tonight we got the PC Gaming Show. Down here it's our time! It's our time down here. We got new trailers for a few things we've seen announced over the weekend already, but also some brand new announcies for some very cool looking things - like the glorious melancholy of Far: Changing Tides, the unbearable cuteness of being in Tinkykin, and the cybergrim of Mechajammer
]]>I've longed for a new SSX snowboarding game for years, and recently the closest thing I've had to look forward to is Riders Republic. Shredders, shown during tonight's Microsoft conference, might take its place, though. For one, its a dedicated snowboarding game.
]]>Okomotive, the makers of Far: Lone Sails, have announced their next game is moving away from sandy deserts and getting into the sea. Far: Changing Tides is an exploration game where you're stuck on an abandoned ship in the middle of a drowned world, searching for safety. The world looks bleak, but the art-style is lovely. Its predecessor is an RPS fave too, so this will be one to watch.
]]>After spending several years making vintage Final Fantasy games look worse with remastered re-releases toting blurry graphics and ugly menus, Square Enix might give people what they actually wanted in the first place. During their E3 showcase today, Squeenix announced a "Pixel Remaster" series of Final Fantasies I through VI. Information is vague right now but they sure do look like ye olde FF games with ye olde pixel art.
]]>Obsidian's Honey I Shrunk The Kids-like survival game Grounded has many wonderful creatures, including some excellent ants that Sin said she would die for. Unfortunately, it also has terrifying spiders, and the developers thought it would be a good idea to add an even bigger one. The game's Shroom & Doom update drops on June 30th, bringing with it new mushroomy structures, and the Broodmother.
]]>Microsoft's Xbox and Bethesda Games E3 showcase was chock full of incredible-looking games, but the one that stood out the most for me was Sad Cat Studios' stunning debut, Replaced. It's a 2.5D sci-fi action platformer set in a grim dystopian city, but heavens to betsy, it has the most gorgeous pixel art I ever did see.
]]>If you missed Square Enix's E3 2021 showcase this evening, worry not, as we've rounded up all the important news, trailers and PC announcements right here in handy list format. While not super heavy on big new exclusives (alas, still no news on FF16 or when Final Fantasy VII Remake might be leaving the console realm for PC sadly), but we did get to see the world premiere of Eidos Montreal's new Marvel Guardians Of The Galaxy game, as well as the first gameplay footage of Team Ninja's hotly rumoured Final Fantasy Origin game. Whether you need a recap or just plain missed it in all the E3 excitement, here's everything you need to know.
]]>Who could forget dear Rat Boy? As revealed at the Xbox and Bethsda E3 2021, next year brings us A Plague Tale: Requiem, the further adventures of rat-whisperer Hugo and his sling-wielding sister Amicia.
Little is yet known about this sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence, except that it is a direct sequel and will once again feature the medieval French siblings "doing whatever it takes to survive a brutal, uncaring world."
]]>The larger part of the Microsoft Flight Simulator announcement at tonight's Microsoft E3 showcase was that it's coming to Xbox Series X|S. There was a brief glimpse of something for us at the end of the trailer, though: there's a free expansoin coming later this year to tie-in with Top Gun: Maverick.
]]>Take one fun-loving Final Fantasy party in lively outfits, add an angry protagonist in murderdad casualwear with a tendency to growl about CHAOS, and you have yourself one weird spin-off. Square Enix today announced Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin, a "mature" stabby RPG made by Team Ninja, the studio behind the Nioh and Ninja Gaiden games. Huh. Check out the announcement trailer below.
]]>Normally, when I watch shows or play games with superheroes in, I always end up thinking about how cool it'd be to have their powers, but I don't get that with Life Is Strange. In the latest trailer for Life Is Strange: True Colours, we see new character Alex Chen putting her empathy abilities to the test. She can feel other people's emotions, which must be so mentally taxing! Albeit, useful in Life Is Strange's angsty teen stories.
]]>Babylon's Fall was first revealed back in 2018 and has been MIA ever since. It was re-revealed tonight at E3 2021, and looks more or less as I remember it. It's a live service hack-and-slasher from Platinum Games, and developers during Square Enix's E3 showcase basically pitched it as a Nier Automata that never ends.
Find the trailer below.
]]>Today at Square Enix's E3 2021 stream we got a first look at the upcoming Marvel's Guardians Of The Galaxy game. It's a third person action game where you play as Peter "Star-Lord" Quill. There's rootin', shootin' and jet bootin', and friends? I am stoked for the surprisingly close October 26th release date.
]]>Everything about Slime Rancher is so colorful and squishy and adorable, and I am so ready to see more of its excellent creatures when Slime Rancher 2 comes out next year. Announced during the Microsoft and Bethesda E3 showcase, Slime Rancher 2 takes players to a new island with all new slimes to meet - bunny slimes, butterfly slimes, and importantly, bat slimes! I've never needed a plushie of a delightful round beastie so much as I do now.
]]>Microsoft had said Halo Infinite would finally launch this year, and they're cutting it close. They announced today that Hinfinite will arrive this holiday season (November, that usually means) with the first season of its free-to-play multiplayer and its not-free story campaign. The campaign continues the adventures of Torode-117, the Master Chef, with the fight against a spacegorilla who cuts a mean WWE promo. Oh, and he has a new tamagotchi.
]]>If you don't want to play a Halloween-y game at Halloween, now you can play a new Age Of Empires game instead. Age Of Empires 4 is set to release on October 28th, and during Microsoft and Bethesda's E3 stream we saw some new footage of some mighty battles. Joan of Arc is there, as are many horses, sieges and a handful of elephants.
]]>E3 2021 is the first E3 since Xbox acquired Bethesda and shuffled the studio into its deck of game assets. Accordingly, tonight's Xbox E3 livestream was in fact an Xbox and Bethesda Showcase. Twice the game content! Here's a round up of everything that happened during this year's show (that is pertinent to PC players).
]]>Arkane Austin, the studio behind 2017's Prey, revealed their next game as part of tonight's Microsoft E3 conference. It's called Redfall, and it's an open world game about a gang of magic-users co-operatively slaying vampires in a Massachusetts town shut off from the world around it.
It looks rad as heck and the reveal trailer is below.
]]>Playground Games have announced Forza Horizon 5, the next instalment of their series of open-world racing games. Moving away from FH4's sunny British streets, FH5 will take players to actually-sunny Mexico. It's coming on November 9th, and you can catch the trailer from Microsoft and Bethesda's E3 showcase below. As always with these games, I'm a huge fan of the environments - it looks like they drive up to a volcano at the end!
]]>The next game from the co-creator of Inside and Limbo is coming next year, Microsoft announced today during their Xbox and Bethesda Games E3 Showcase. Somerville was first announced three years ago with a very small teaser trailer, but today's melancholic gameplay montage finally gives us a glimpse of what we can expect when it arrives in 2022. And from the looks of things, it's got big Inside vibes.
]]>Microsoft today announced The Outer Worlds 2 and I for one will be delighted to probe the many mysteries of another solar system stuck in a time loo- oh god damn it, not again. Right, right, not Outer Wilds, it's Outer Worlds, the Obsidian Entertainment RPG that's kinda like a space version of Fallout: New Vegas. Another one of those. Here, watch the trailer.
]]>Oh hey, that time loop puzzle game about the husband, wife and policeman finally has a release date. During the Microsoft and Bethesda E3 showcase, they revealed that Twelve Minutes will come out on August 19th. It's about a husband (voiced by James McAvoy) and a wife (Daisy Ridley) who experience a home invasion over and over again. Only the husband knows it's repeating, though.
]]>Sci-fi shooter Atomic Heart got a new 're-announcement' trailer this evening courtesy of Microsoft's Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase presentation. The supernatural post-apocalyptic shooter first burst onto the scene back in 2018 around the time Nvidia first revealed their ray tracing capable RTX 20 cards, and they kinda haven't stopped talking about it since. Despite the hype, though, Atomic Heart still isn't out yet, and sadly we aren't any the wiser this evening, either. Still, it sure looks pretty. Let's have a looksie at its 'new' trailer, shall we?
]]>Reader dear, you have three months to put your life in order and prepare to revert to a larval state of Nightmare Baal runs. Blizzard today confirmed that Diablo II Resurrected, the remaster of their fantastic action-RPG from the year 2000, will launch on September 23rd. I'll see YOU on the Blood Moor.
]]>Avalanche Studios, the makers of Just Cause, have announced their next game is about smuggling in the 1970s. Contraband is an open world co-op game that invites players to a "smuggler's paradise". I hope there are heists. Catch the trailer below, it features a delightful bit of music by Steely Dan, as a camera sweeps across what appears to be a smuggler's hideout.
]]>Microsoft have confirmed the release date for Double Fine's upcoming brain-hopping adventure, Psychonauts 2 - and it's coming much sooner than I was expecting. August 25th, in fact. That's like, two months away! And to celebrate, why not have a gander at its rad new gameplay trailer?
]]>Microsoft showed off a lovely big chunk of Stalker 2: Heart Of Chornobyl gameplay during their Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase this evening, showing us the game's 4K ray tracing chops in action as well as confirming its release date. The gameplay trailer saw protagonist Skif recounting his adventures to his comrades around a fire, and there were gun battles aplenty, plus a lovely little balletic interlude, too. We'll have to wait a while before we can play it for ourselves, though, as it won't be arriving on PC until April 28th 2022.
]]>Bethesda Studios, the developers behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, have announced that their upcoming space epic Starfield will grace our screens next year, on November 11th. During tonight's Microsoft and Bethesda E3 stream, they revealed a brand new trailer featuring an astronaut, a robot and a rather dusty planet. Man, I am very ready for a big new space RPG.
]]>Somehow, I hadn't seen any of Devolver Digital's E3 presentations until last night. I'd heard them described as "wacky", which usually means "complete mind poison" in the world of PR, and so never bothered to find out what all the fuss was about. Reader, I was a damned fool.
Last night's Devolver show delighted me more than every trailer so far this week put together, quite frankly. It was a brilliant bit of cinema, and an unexpectedly sharp note of satire, too. If you haven't seen it already, then please take this as my stern recommendation to go and watch it immediately. In this year's ever-escalating narrative about the chilling figure of Nina Struthers, Devolver took on NFTs - and not in the way you might expect.
]]>Today's the second official day of E3, and Microsoft will take the stage with their large corporate son, Bethesda, at 6pm UK time (10am Pacific). What to expect? Well, games we know Microsoft are working on include Hellblade 2, Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, a Perfect Dark reboot, a new Forza, and State Of Decay 3. Plus presumably some games we don't know about? As for Bethesda, we know they're making an Indiana Jones game, Ghostwire Toyko, and Deathloop, and maybe they'll finally reveal their mysterious sci-fi game Starfield or even invent a new system expressly to release Skyrim on it.
]]>I thought that the 2009 film Avatar, of big blue cat people fame, was a bit underwhelming. Speaking as a massive speculative exobiology nerd (which is to say I think theoretical aliens are well cool), I found it baffling that with a budget of 237 million big ones and a brief of "create a convincing alien planet", they couldn't have let their brains rip just a little bit harder. The beasts were all very spectacular and that, but every design basically boiled down to "a normal animal, but it's bigger and more brightly coloured, plus we've stuck a bit from another animal on it". Same goes for the floating mountains and, if we're honest, the entire story.
Unsurprisingly, then, when Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora was announced at Ubisoft Forward last night, I shrugged. Weird flex, etc. But in the course of watching the trailer, I changed my mind. It told us nothing about what the actual game will be like, but it made me realise there's at least a lot more potential here than I might have thought. Here's why.
]]>The looter-slasher action-RPG Godfall is getting its first paid expansion later this year, adding a fiery new realm, new story missions and - yeah, you get it, all the usual DLC things. Much more importantly, it's also adding a bunch of shiny new fashion. From the looks of things we're getting some stylish animal helmets that we'll be able to strut around in amongst the flames. The DLC, aptly named Fire & Darkness, is coming out on August 10th.
]]>If Devolver have a type, it's definitely the topdown shooter. You know, the Nuclear Thronelike. At tonight's Devolver E3 showcase, there were two such games: Death's Door, which got a release date, and the reveal of Wizard With A Gun.
Its name is descriptive, but there are other words to add. You can watch the reveal trailer for Wizard With A Gun And A Co-Op Pal And Ammo Crafting below.
]]>As well as brash shoot-o-stabber Shadow Warrior 3, developers Flying World Hog are apparently also making a far more sedate swordy game. Publisher Devolver Digital today announced Trek To Yomi, a black-and-white tale of a young samurai's quest to avenge his master, being made by the hogsquad in collaboration with filmmaker and game developer Leonard Menchiari. Check out the announcement trailer below.
]]>Nothing is dying and so the creatures of the world need to be reaped - of course the crows are the ones who do it. During Devolver Digital's E3 stream, they announced the dark fantasy action-RPG Death's Door is coming out on July 20th. Developed by Acid Nerve, the folks behind Titan Souls, Death's Door puts players into the shoes (talons?) of a small crow who is also the grim reaper. It looks gloomy yet charming, and you can catch the new trailer below.
]]>How do I love you reader? Let me count the ways. 1) I have rounded up all the new trailers from the Guerrilla Collective stream tonight, The second official night of E3 2021. 2) I refer you to point 1; that should, quite frankly, be enough for you. This doesn't cover everything shown on the stream, but it is everything that had a new trailer with bits we hadn't seen before. There are also some surprises in there, like a release date for Sable - finally! - and reveals for new weirderies like Firegirl, Demon Mirror and Arietta Of Spirits.
]]>Devolver's E3 showcase was broadcast earlier tonight, at which they announced a few new games but also, more importantly, continued the story of executive Nina Struthers. The indie publisher's strange and violent keynotes have been a highlight of the last three E3s, and so it was again. You can watch the full broadcast below.
]]>We saw a peak at some extended gameplay during Day Of The Devs earlier this week, but during Devolver Digital's Stream tonight Phantom Abyss bagged itself an early access release date. Arriving on June 22nd, this action-adventure game will have players racing through treacherous temples to nick artifacts, and trying to escape alive. If you die, you can never go there again, and only one player in the world can ever beat each temple.
]]>The more Trackmania games are released, the more I forget that Trackmania exists. I had even forgotten that the most recently was called, simply, Trackmania.
Perhaps my increasing apathy is what prompted the creation of Trackmania Royal mode, which adds spinning pads on plastic platforms which knock you into water, and which looks a lot like Fall Guys.
]]>E3 2021 continues apace, and tonight we saw Ubisoft's own stream, Ubisoft Forward, featuring the new Rainbow Six game, a deeper look at Far Cry 6, and a peek at Ubisoft's upcoming Avatar game, a thing that exists now. We've rounded it all up here so you don't have to go back and watch it all yourself when you wake up tomorrow.
]]>Hot off the heels of Eivor's Irish tour, Assassin's Creed Valhalla will be shuffling us off to Paris this summer. We got a new look at the upcoming DLC The Siege Of Paris at tonight's Ubisoft Forward event, and it seems Ubi have even more viking adventures planned for us over the next year too. From a Discovery Tour that'll let you see how the regular folks in viking times lived, to more DLCs next year (that might be taking us to Muspelheim).
]]>Ubisoft today revealed Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora, a video game based on the film which made a colossal splash for two months then was entirely forgotten by anyone who ever saw it. Due to arrive in 2022, Frontiers Of Pandora is a standalone story starring a new smurf who's also fighting against the villainous forces of an allegory for the invasion of Iraq. Check out the trailer below.
]]>Ubisoft really like their Far Cry villains. At this evening's Ubisoft Foward, we got another cutscene featuring the big bad of Far Cry 6, Castillo, played by Giancarlo Esposito. They then showed the game's post-launch plans, which includes new story missions in which you play as Far Cry 3's Vaas, Far Cry 4's Pagan Min and Far Cry 5's Joseph Seed.
]]>Ubisoft today detailed their plans for cross-platform multiplayer and shared progression in Rainbow Six Siege, and the news for PC players is probably not surprising. While we will get to share progression with all other platforms, we won't be able to play together with people on console. Though, uh, we will get to play with those on Stadia and Luna? Sure, okay.
]]>If you're one of the people who's picked up an instrument to learn over lockdown (like me), and haven't quite made the progress you'd have liked (hello), then you might be pleased to learn that Ubisoft just announced Rocksmith+. It's a new version of Rocksmith, Ubi's music-learning game, and it's arriving as a subscription service later this year.
]]>I've mentioned preview that Riders Republic was one of the game's I'm most looking forward to, and the "deep dive" trailer at tonight's Ubisoft Forward didn't change my mind. It's got hang-gliders with jets on them? And big mountains to fall down? What else are games even for.
]]>Videogames' most famous uncle returns in Watch Dogs: Legion's first major story expansion, Bloodline. Yes, it's Aiden Pearce from the original Watch_Dogs, who heads to London for a job (and perhaps to visit his nephew, who is namechecked in the new trailer below.
]]>Ubisoft today announced a release date of September 16th Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction, the cooperative monster-mashing FPS formerly known as Rainbow Six Quarantine. It will pit familiar R6 Siege operators against a parasitic alien goop that's taking over cities - and people. Check out the first gameplay trailer below.
]]>E3 has officially started, and the first big stream of the marketing blast will be Ubisoft, coming up at 8pm UK time (noon Pacific). It's preceeded by a wee pre-show that's now live. Ubisoft say to expect the recently re-announced Rainbow Six Quarantine, Far Cry 6, Riders Republic, and news on For Honor, Trackmania, Watch Dogs: Legion, Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Plus surprises?
]]>As much as Brendy shouted how great OlliOlli is and as much as I trust him on virtual skateboarding (not on real skateboarding, not after he broke his collarbone), I never really put time into it. The look just didn't grab me. Yeah, I know, okay, but don't pretend part of your interest in skating isn't how cool it looks. So hooray that the upcoming third game in the series, OlliOlli World, looks totally wikkid sick, rad nasty, and other such terms skaters don't actually say. Nice. It looks really nice. Check out the new trailer below.
]]>The Tribeca Film Festival has nothing to do with E3, aside from the fact that it's going on right now. Oh, and they invited eight upcoming narrative-focused games to be involved this year for their first game award category. Several of the bunch, Sable, Harold Halibut, Kena: Bridge Of Spirits, and more are games we're quite looking forward to around these parts. Regardless of opinion on video games at film festivals, Tribeca put together a neat showcase with some new trailers and developer interviews for all eight of the entries.
]]>Netflix are hot for video games lately, with their number of animated and live-action adaptations now into double digits. Their E3 stream today brought news of even more, including announcements of a Far Cry: Blood Dragon cartoon and casting for their live-action Resident Evil. It has Lance Reddick! But by and large, their stream was a weird shrug with so little information that all they had on one show was a logo. But hey, here's what they had on Cuphead, Castlevania, Splinter Cell, League Of Legends, and others.
]]>We're sure spoiled for upcoming skating games right now, but as a person who doesn't know the first thing about skating, there's only one that speaks to me. Yup, SkateBird, the one where "pulling off tricks is nice, but doing your best is really all that matters," is the only one for me. The little winged skaters have just announced a release date with a new trailer full of tricks. SkateBird is launching in August, which gives me just enough time to study up on my skate sesh before school's back in sesh.
]]>On the list of E3-like summer events you didn't know you were getting, go ahead and write down WitcherCon. CD Projekt Red and Netflix have just announced that they're partnering up for their own online event to talk about all things Witcher in July. Well, not all things Witcher. They won't be announcing The Witcher 4 or anything like that, they've already warned. This all came out alongside a rather tiny new teaser trailer for Netflix's The Witcher season 2. Perhaps WitcherCon will reveal a longer one of those, at least.
]]>E3 is a time for marketing, and this year even E3 has an E3 trailer to remind you that E3 will be at E3 when E3 starts Saturday during E3. Perhaps the ESA are worried about their diminishing profile and relevancy, given that a raft of other events sprung up to replace the show after they skipped 2020. So, uh, this is E3's E3 trailer? Look, just see our E3 schedule, which includes events they won't tell you about because they're not officially part of E3.
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