2024-03

The Alters is a fascinating new sci-fi survival game from 11 Bit Studios, makers of Frostpunk and This War of Mine. First revealed last October, the game stars a man named Jan shipwrecked on a desolate planet with no one to rely on but himself. And by "himself," I mean multiple versions of himself. Jan is a miner who crashlands on a hostile planet closely orbiting a star, resulting in deadly hot sunrises. His only method of survival is a high-tech mobile base that requires multiple people with various skills to operate. Thankfully, he harnesses a resource called Rapidium that allows him to create several copies of himself, each their own sentient being with independent specialties and personalities reflecting the "what if" scenarios of Jan's life. These copies, or Alters, also have their own ambitions and fears, which will lead...

Framed developer Joshua Boggs has revealed Sleight of Hand, a third-person stealth action sim and deckbuilder coming to Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Game Pass next year. Developed by RiffRaff Games, a new studio helmed by Boggs, Sleight of Hand debuted during today's Xbox Partner Preview, showcasing the game's "hardboiled" occult noir leaning in the stealth genre. While today's reveal was strictly cinematic, RiffRaff says players will wield "cursed cards to cast a smoke-based menagerie of magic" while navigating around "patrolling ruffians by evaporating into smoke."  Check it out for yourself below in the Sleight of Hand reveal trailer:  "Step into the gumshoes of Lady Luck (voiced by Debi Mae West, Metal Gear Solid's Meryl Silverburgh), a revered former occult detective fated to return for one final job: taking down her former Coven," a press release reads. "Her departure...

Ghost of Tsushima is finally riding to PC. The game’s Director’s Cut is making its way to Steam and the Epic Games Store on May 16 and includes PC-specific enhancements.  In terms of content, the Director’s Cut includes the full game, the Iki Island story expansion, and the co-op multiplayer Legends mode. Pre-ordering the PC version also earns the following unlocks: New Game+ Horse, Traveler’s Attire, and Broken Armor dyes from Baku’s shop.  Developer Sucker Punch has partnered with Nixxes Software on this PC port. The game has been optimized for PC with unlocked frame rates, custom mouse/keyboard controls, and various graphical settings. Per the PlayStation Blog post, “NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3 are available with both upscaling and frame generation options. Intel XeSS upscaling is also supported and if your hardware has headroom to spare, you...

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the third-person live-service shooter from Batman: Arkham developer Rocksteady Studios, debuted last month to mixed reviews from both critics and fans alike. However, Rocksteady is looking to pump something new into the game with the release of Joker as a playable character.  Teased back in January as an Elseworlds version of the popular villain, this Joker, notably not the same voiced by Mark Hamill in the Arkham games, goes live on March 28. Rocksteady revealed this release date the same day its parent company, Warner Bros., announced it is doubling down on live-service and free-to-play games.  Warner Bros. CEO of global streaming and games JB Perrette explained at a Morgan Stanley conference, "We think the opportunity for us, which again, this is a multi-year [opportunity], because games is certainly a bit of a...

Developer Arrowhead Game Studios has released the first major patch for Helldivers 2, and it adds additional environmental challenges to the game alongside mission changes, updates to weaponry, bug fixes, and more. It's live as of this morning and arrives less than a day after the team teased the incoming arrival of mechs as usable vehicles for players.  Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Minor Patch 01.000.100 is the addition of new environmental challenges that appear at random on many of the game's various planets. Arrowhead says that includes fire tornadoes, meteor showers, "and many more." The other big change affects Eradicate missions, which task helldivers with killing a specified amount of bug enemies in a small area. Eradicate missions now require more kills and enemies spawn more often, but the time to complete these types of missions is longer. ...

8 Sonic games have been released on the Switch....

Dragon's Dogma 2 hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 22, and when you boot it up for the first time, you might learn it only has one save file. TheGamer reported on that news after an IGN Japan preview from earlier this year revealed console players will be stuck with just one single save file, making things like reverting to old saves all but impossible.  After playing the game myself for about three hours – read Game Informer's Dragon's Dogma 2 preview impressions here – I could definitely feel a friction with just one save file, but it's one I came to appreciate. Yes, Dragon's Dogma 2 is hard, extremely so in some ways. Dying can set you back some, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want for the ability to revert saves (after saving right in front of...

With Dragon's Dogma 2 hitting PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC later this month on March 22, I visited Capcom's San Francisco, California, office to play the game for several hours. You can read my preview impressions of Dragon's Dogma 2 here, but I also had the chance to speak with director Hideaki Itsuno, too.  With more than a decade between the first Dragon's Dogma and its sequel, I was curious if he and his Capcom team approached the size of player offerings differently. If you stick to mostly the golden path – the main story campaign – of Dragon's Dogma, you're looking at around 37 hours, according to HowLongToBeat, which aggregates players' playtime for an average. Itsuno says to expect a similar length in the main narrative of Dragon's Dogma 2.    "For players that only focus...

Dragon's Dogma 2, the long-awaited sequel in Capcom's fantasy RPG series, is right around the corner, hitting PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on March 22. I visited Capcom last month to play the game for about three hours, and you can read Game Informer's Dragon's Dogma 2 preview impressions here, but I also spoke to director Hideaki Itsuno about how the game will run on consoles.  Sitting in Capcom's San Francisco, California, office, just 30 minutes to go until my interview with Itsuno, I saw that he tweeted about Dragon's Dogma 2's framerate. Specifically, he revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that Dragon's Dogma 2 will release with an uncapped framerate. It was an interesting announcement, considering "uncapped framerate" is typically something I associate with PCs – not the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.  ドラゴンズドグマ 2 は可変フレームレートに対応していますよ！ Dragon's Dogma 2 will...

In August 2023, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem arrived in theaters, and, much to the delight of both longtime and newer fans, it was a terrific and fun watch. Just over a month after its theatrical debut, Paramount and Nickelodeon announced that publisher Outright Games and developer A Heartful of Games would be releasing a follow-up video game set in the Mutant Mayhem universe. While it hasn't had a name to this point, Game Informer can now exclusively confirm that the title is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants Unleashed. Warning: This article contains spoilers for the 2023 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.   The 3D brawler/platformer picks up after the events of Mutant Mayhem; the Turtles have been accepted by society following their heroics against Superfly and his band of mutants. Unfortunately, their dream of attending high school as average, everyday students is suddenly interrupted...