Against some very big games, Vampire Survivors was the most-played game on Steam Deck in August.
Among a list of the top games played by Steam Deck owners, Valve highlighted excellent bullet hell-roguelike-RPG-thing Vampire Survivors as the top game last month, in terms of hours played. It's quite an achievement for an indie game that’s still in Early Access after an early release in December last year.
The game entered early access late last year, with player numbers dwindling in the months since according to Steam Charts, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped it from surging in popularity last month on the Steam Deck.
An update earlier this month added a handful of new achievements as well as the new playable character, Queen...
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Xbox boss Phil Spencer has confirmed that Call of Duty - along with the likes of Diablo and Overwatch - is eventually coming to Game Pass but it'll still be released on PlayStation on the same day.
Announced in a Microsoft blog post, Spencer confirmed that Activision Blizzard's library of games is coming to Xbox Game Pass once the acquisition deal goes through, which includes Call of Duty and other blockbuster titles like Diablo and Overwatch.
Spencer said that Xbox's goal was to bring games to as many people as possible, and therefore reaffirmed alongside the Game Pass news that Call of Duty would arrive on PlayStation the same day as it launches elsewhere.
"We intend to make Activision Blizzard’s much-loved library of games –...
There’s a majesty in Elden Ring that few other games can contend with. Its world is densely packed with a thousand waiting discoveries, its combat systems are richly layered, and its lore begs to be chronicled by a dozen YouTube scholars. But every now and again I can’t help but wonder what Elden Ring would be if it were not so beholden to FromSoftware’s own rules. What if it had the sense of cinematic spectacle that fuels Sony’s blockbusters? A story-rich narrative with the flashy, ability-augmented combat of God of War? The answer, it seems, may well be held in Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.
At Gamescom 2022 I sat down with a couple of developers from A44, the New Zealand-based developer behind Ashen, to watch them play around 30...
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection has seen a decent discount at Amazon, dropping to just £27.95 from the list price of £34.99. If you've got some vouchers built up at Amazon, this is a great chance to drop them on the classic collection.
Other deals today include Battlefield 2042 is down to just £9.99 on Xbox and PS5 right now, alongside £5 off a £15 spend or more for select Amazon users, or even an extra £5 when you top up £60 at Amazon right now as well. PS5 SSDs are also down to some great prices right now, with the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB dropping below £100, a tremendous deal for anyone looking to expand their PS5 storage.
TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection Down to £27.95 (was £34.99)
Free Money To Claim at Amazon Right Now (Select...
Let's celebrate your Thorsday with a God of War Ragnarok price that's been hammered right down. Will it go cheaper than this? Doubtful. But if it does, that Amazon price guarantee will mean you'll benefit from whatever dip comes along between now and launch. In other bargains, be sure to take a snoop through the cavalcade of cheap 'collection' discounts on Humble Bundle. Whole shebangs for the cost of a single.
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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays at ludicrous difficulties on YouTube.
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The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was infamous for its difficult levels, none more than its infamous dam level. It was a stopping point for many frustrated Turtles fans, including one of the franchise's own creators.
In an interview with IGN to promote the new Cowabunga Collection, which brings together more than a dozen of the Turtles' most famous 8 and 16-bit adventures, TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman admitted that he was never quite able to clear the original NES games' second stage.
"[A] lot of times when we would go to conventions back in the day, people would come up to us and be angry with us because they thought we made the game that hard," Eastman remembers. "And we're like, 'We can't win either. We've tried.' I never...
Ubisoft has delayed the shutdown date of several multiplayer servers for some of its games. The shutdowns were supposed to go into effect on September 1, but now they will stay up for an additional month, shutting down on October 1 instead.
"Decommissioning online services for older games is something we do not take lightly, but it is also a necessity as the technology that drove those services becomes obsolete," Ubisoft says in an update to the original post. "Over the last month, our teams have been hard at work exploring what is possible to reduce disruption."
The games which will continue seeing online services include:
Assassin’s Creed II
Assassin’s Creed III
Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed Revelations...
Team Reptile has announced that it has delayed the release of its Jet Set Radio-inspired game, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, to next year.
“About the release: We are convinced that releasing the game this year will not take it to a level where we would be personally satisfied with,” Team Reptile says in a statement on Twitter. “To create a fulfilling and unique game we are extending the development time of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk to summer 2023.”
However, the studio followed up by saying that it will release more visuals of the game this week to show people how development is going.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk was first revealed in 2020 as a successor to Jet set Radio. It will also have music composed by Jet Set Radio's Hideki Naganuma.
In this game...
Upcoming survival horror Sons of the Forest has been delayed until next year.
According to developer Endnight Games, the upcoming sequel to The Forest has been pushed back to allow the team to polish the game.
“Due to the scope of our new game Sons Of The Forest, it has been hard to pinpoint an exact release date, and today we have to delay one last time” they stated via Twitter. “Giving us time to complete the polish we feel is needed, we will release Feb 23, 2023, priced at $29.99USD.”
Sons of the Forest promises more unnerving gameplay as a direct sequel to The Forest – the 2014 survival horror that follows the story of Eric LeBlanc – a plane crash survivor who’s forced to fight off cannibalistic monsters while searching for his...
Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus games for September 2022 are Need for Speed Heat, Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and Toem. Revealed on the PlayStation Blog, all three games will be made available at no extra cost to all PlayStation Plus subscribers on September 6.
Need for Speed Heat is the third game in the reimagined series that kicked off in 2015, taking players to the roads of the fictional Floridian metropolis of Palm City. Heat centres around a day and night cycle that brings out different style of racing, with the player required to master both clean street races and gritty battles with rogue police.
We much preferred this one to Need for Speed 2015 and its sequel, Payback, as in our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Need for Speed...
As part of our visit to Warner Bros. Games Montreal, we got to see a lot of Gotham Knights being played, but we weren’t able to go hands-on with the game ourselves. That makes a traditional preview a little difficult - without having had a controller in our hands, it’s hard to say how combat, working through missions, or making gear choices feels.
With that in mind this preview will be a little more structural - with the help of the game’s developers, we’ll walk you through how the game is put together, revealing brand new information about the open world, how supervillains fold into the fabric of the wider game, the game’s neat approach to a day-night cycle, and more.
Gotham City and Its People
As we’ve spoken about previously this...
You almost have to admire the hedonism of looking at The Last of Us Remastered, which is still visually impressive eight years later, and saying, “Yeah, that looks pretty good, but we can do better.” There’s very little left to be said about the original The Last of Us, a potent, post-apocalyptic cocktail of stealth, survival, and slaughter that’s revered for its haunting storytelling in an amazingly well-crafted world. You almost certainly knew that. It’s widely lauded as one of the best games of all time and one of the few to get a 10 from IGN, but I reckon you knew that, too. In fact, it’s a game so nice they built it thrice, which is where we find ourselves with The Last of Us Part I – now the third version of Naughty Dog’s 2013...
When the Digital Eclipse team at Konami boasted that they’d put a lot of care into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cowabunga Collection I wrote it off as the standard marketing line we see around any repackaging of beloved games. However, this may be the first instance where we really have gotten a truly excellent collection of these 13 games, many of which hold up well and are exceptionally difficult and expensive to get hold of in their physical forms. Not only does Cowabunga collect some fan favorites, but tucked away in the Turtles’ lair are 2,000+ items for fans to explore, including (previously) rare pieces of concept art, soundtracks with newly revealed track names added, nostalgic magazine advertisements we ‘90s kids were...
Naughty Dog has returned with a reimagining of arguably its greatest work to date. Not quite a ground-up remake but much more than a remaster, The Last of Us Part 1 on PlayStation 5 is an extremely effective meld of the old and the new.
The story of Joel and Ellie needs no introduction, and nothing has changed here on that front. What has changed is the experience, thanks to the updated Naughty Dog engine that powered the sequel. This reinvigorated PS5 version has benefited greatly – but it is not a case of simply porting things over, as this is likely based on the PlayStation 4 Remastered code, which has been updated with the latest rendering technology within the updated Sequel’s engine. Today we’ll be digging into the improvements...
When I first took the controls of Tchia in my hands-on preview at Gamescom, I immediately took control of a fish in a river and propelled myself through the water, shooting out and up into the air above to do a flip, then back down into the stream. I eventually ran out of stamina to possess the fish, so I returned to human form and recharged while jogging toward a small settled area, where I resumed possession by leaping into an empty beer can and flinging myself all over the place. Later, I possessed a cow and was able to drop a large turd on the ground, before hopping into a bird and soaring through the sky.
These are the contrasts of Tchia, which swings elegantly between Prop Hunt-like sandbox and Wind Waker-like island adventure...
Sony and Tencent have increased their stake in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, now owning over 30% of the company between them.
Sony now owns 14.09 percent of the company while Tencent, via its Sixjoy subsidiary, now owns 16.25 percent. FromSoftware clearly aims to capitalize on this increased investment, with majority stakeholder Kadokawa issuing the following statement:
“FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in...
Now, this may signal an imminent addition to Xbox Game Pass and EA Play, but it's a tremendous deal if you want to own the game outright as well. Battlefield 2042 is down to just £9.99 on Xbox and PS5 right now at Amazon. A new update for the game has recently launched to some success, and overall it might not be a bad shooter to own for just £10.
Other deals today include the Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda dropping to just £29.99 at Amazon, down from its £50 RRP. There's also a great trade-in deal at GAME right now, where you can pick up an Xbox Series X for just £350 when you trade in your old PS4 or Xbox One consoles.
Battlefield 2042 Down to Just £10 (was £59.99)
Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is Down to £29.99 (was...
Many Half-Life projects have never come to fruition, from Half-Life 2: Episode 3, to spin-offs that never reached development. Thanks to some new concept art, we at least know what they could have looked like.
2K developer and Half-Life fan David McGreavy (via Kotaku) has released a selection of never-before-seen images from the long-awaited Half-Life 2: Episode 3 – confirming some previously-released plot points – not to mention a game idea that never saw the light of day.
Although McGreavy never worked on Half-Life 2, he has become a an avid collector, and found himself in possession of concept art that give us a glimpse into the chapter of Half-Life 2 that never came to be.
Back in April, McGreavy teased the never-before-seen...
August is almost done and now must end the winter of my discounts sent. That said, it's a seasonal time to spring early into some great bargains. If I didn't already own them, I'd totally score the under-loved Titanfall 2, BioShock: The Collection and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. Also, that Trine: Enchanted Edition provides some of the best three-player co-op ever devised. That's absolute fact. Not trine to fool you.
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Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays at ludicrous difficulties on YouTube.
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IGN's Kat Bailey joins Destin and Ryan to discuss the latest leak surrounding Microsoft's seemingly imminent Xbox Game Pass Friends & Family subscription plan. We speculate what it might cost, and how it further adds to Game Pass's already-amazing value proposition. Plus: we talk Madden NFL 23 and sports video games, debate what we want out of the just-announced new Mafia game (including when we want it to be set), and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 download of this week's episode. For more awesome content, check out our recent interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:
For more next-gen coverage...
As a 12-year-old Christian Cantamessa sat in bed and read The Lord of the Rings, he never imagined having the chance to one day create his own story set in Tolkien’s world with Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Nor could Brad Kane, as he walked down the aisle on his wedding day to the Game of Thrones theme tune, picture himself writing a Westerosi tale of his own through the Telltale series. And the same goes for CD Projekt Red’s Marcin Blacha and Magdalena Zych, who as kids read Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher books - Wiedźmin in the original Polish, where it’s practically required reading.
These writers have each created video game stories set in established and beloved fantasy epics, but despite the opportunities to do so being fantasies...
SNK producer and director of King of Fighters 16 Yasuyuki Oda has confirmed that a new SNK vs. Capcom game is drawing interest from "both parties."
Speaking to VGC, Oda began talking about a potential new game after referencing promotional posters for 2022's EVO fighting tournament that featured artwork from both SNK and Capcom games. While it may not be much of a surprise, this collaboration was a hit for fans, and it "reconfirmed" the interest in that partnership going to the next level once more.
"Definitely in the future, that’s something that I think everybody on all sides, in both parties, are interested in making a reality," Oda said when asked if he was interested in being part of the team to bring a new SNK vs. Capcom game...
A week after Gamescom kicked off with Opening Night Live on August 23, it’s pretty clear that the unexpected hit of the show on social media was High on Life from Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland’s Squanch Games. Set for release on December 13 for PC and Xbox, it’s a first-person shooter wrapped in the same kind of darkly-comedic weirdness seen in Roiland’s previous games like Trover Saves the Universe and Accounting. Squanch Games’ creative director Mikey Spano describes it as “Bladerunner if Jim Henson did it,” and compares the bounty hunting gameplay to Metroid Prime. Tonally, it’s an acquired taste, and honestly it wasn’t on our Gamescom bingo card of games we thought we’d be talking about right now.
On IGN channels alone...
Microsoft has revealed September 2022’s Xbox Games With Gold, including Gods Will Fall and the gaming classic, Portal 2.
As revealed over at Xbox Wire, next month’s offerings include some stone-cold classics with the likes of Portal 2 leading the lineup. Gods Will Fall is also included alongside Double Kick Heroes and the theme park designer, Thrillville.
The four Games With Gold titles will be available in September for anyone with Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Starting on September 1, Gods Will Fall and Thrillville to kick things off.
Gods Will Fall is available for Xbox Series X|S – a dark fantasy action game allowing you to lead a band of Celtic warriors against the gods themselves, taking on monsters and deities...
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is set to plug in on September 13, and Netflix has released a new trailer and images to hype up the insane anime adaptation.
Adapted by famed anime studio Trigger, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells an original story set in the Cyberpunk universe. The series is centered around a young street kid who dreams of becoming an edgerunner, or a mercenary outlaw. He seemingly teams up with Lucy, a skilled netrunner looking to escape her past.
While the synopsis might be typical, the trailer is anything but. The art style leans on the abstract and it's very clear that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will have a different tone and vibe from the more serious Cyberpunk 2077 RPG from CD Projekt.
You can check out the NSFW trailer here as...
FIFA 23 seemingly leaked today, briefly making the entire game playable - and it may even have revealed some real-life kits that hadn't yet been shown to the public.
According to some players, a pre-load that was sent to those who pre-ordered the game was accidentally made live, allowing Ultimate Edition players to launch and play the upcoming FIFA 23 game. Additionally, the EA Play trial may have gone live early, allowing others to access the game, too.
FIFA 23 isn’t supposed to be playable until September 27.
A number of players were able to load and play the game, with Twitch user mexico07dan1 (via Eurogamer) streaming FIFA 23 before his account was swiftly banned. However, several gameplay clips of the upcoming game remain...
Victoria 3 is the latest grand strategy game from Paradox Development Studios, parking you on the throne, presidential seat, parliament, or oligarchic junta meeting table of a nation from 1836 to 1936. I recently had a week-long hands on with a development build of Victoria 3, and though aspects like user interface and AI weren't finished, what I found was a promising new paradigm for Paradox's niche strategy series.
At its heart, Victoria 3 is like many other grand strategy games: It's for people who like to watch numbers go up. The trick is that this is a game that focuses on building a society and building an economy—it's about the last explosive stage of the industrial revolution that brought on modern wonders like streetlights...
Warner Bros. has filed a trademark for the Bugs Bunny meme, Big Chungus, and many think it's for an addition to fighitng game MultiVersus.
Per VGC reporter Andrew Marmo, the company has filed a trademark claim for the image of an inflated Bugs Bunny under the name “Big Chungus” – the very name given to him by an unknown Gamestop employee as per the original meme (based on a term coined by games critic Stephanie Sterling).
The trademark, filed on August 26, 2022 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office covers the use of “Big Chungus” and his image across video games, including “video and computer game programs." However, it also includes the use of Big Chungus in motion pictures as well as toys and merch.
MultiVersus...
The Callisto Protocol features a lot of different ways to die - and will reward you for being punished with every single one.
During an interview with IGN Japan, developer Mark James revealed that there’s actually an achievement for seeing every single possible death the game has to offer.
“We’re working on our achievements and trophies at the moment, and we actually have an achievement in there for seeing all of the deaths,” he said. “You are gonna die in our game. A lot of people ask how long the game is, and it’s like, how many times are you going to die? Also, the variables are huge in the way they attack you or you attack them, so you might actually die more or less. Even things like backing into a fan, it’s a mistake and it...
It would appear that the recent decision by Warner Bros. to scrap the release of its near-completed Batgirl movie was motivated entirely by boring old tax reasons, but what if there was something far more sinister at play? Such is the setup for Immortality, the latest investigative thriller from the makers of Her Story and Telling Lies, which had me scouring through an archive of FMV footage from three unreleased films in an attempt to discover exactly why they never saw the light of day. In spite of some surprisingly shallow search tools what followed was a thoroughly absorbing undertaking that began as a sort of jigsaw puzzle but morphed into the motion picture equivalent of a Magic Eye poster, and I sat completely transfixed as each...