Category: Video Gaming

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has been delayed to next year following recent rumors that it wasn’t going to make its May 26 release date. 

The superhero co-op shooter will now launch on February 2, 2024. Developer Rocksteady posted a short message on Twitter stating it wants to “take the time needed” to ensure the best possible experience. Check it out below.

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We have made the tough but necessary decision to take the time needed to work on getting the game to be the best quality experience for players. Thank you to our amazing community for the continued support, patience and understanding. There is much more to share in the months ahead and we look forward to seeing you in Metropolis next year. 

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League puts players in the shoes of Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark as they fight to rescue Metropolis from an invasion by Brainiac. The villain has hijacked the minds of the Justice League, meaning the Squad has to take down Earth’s greatest protectors to save the day. The game has received a hefty dose of fan vitriol since its last gameplay demonstration in February confirmed an always-online requirement as well as live service elements, such as a cosmetics-only battle pass. Other fans have found its cooperative loot-based shooting to be an uninspired fit for the property.

Although we don’t know the specifics behind the delay, sources told Bloomberg in its original report last month that Rocksteady was only pushing the game to add polish and did not plan to overhaul the game’s existing framework. Even though a nearly-year-long delay is a lot of time, it’s still very unlikely that it’s enough for the team to make the sort of dramatic changes some fans are hoping for. We’ll have to wait and see how Rocksteady spruces up the Suicide Squad and hope it results in a quality experience when the dust finally settles. 

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What do you think of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s delay? Let us know in the comments. 

At Flashbulb Games we have built on the success of Trailmakers by making a DLC titled Trailmakers: Airborne — a mission-based campaign bringing the biggest map in the Trailmakers universe, new parts, NPCs and enemies, launching April 27th, 2023

Before jumping into the new and exciting Airborne world let us give a brief explanation of what Trailmakers is to those unfamiliar with the title.

Trailmakers is a block-based vehicle building game. Vehicles can be used in many ways: to complete the main campaign, ”Stranded in Space” – to fool around in sandbox-mode – to battle each other in PvP,  or just to be uploaded to the public workshop for everyone to download and use.

Trailmakers: Airborne

With Trailmakers: Airborne we are preserving the element of creativity and engineering that made the base game succeed, while at the same time introducing a full fledged single player campaign complete with friendly NPCs, enemies and a grand world to explore.

In Airborne you will be transported to the Chirpo homeworld that is undergoing a devastating invasion by Robot Pirates. It will be your job to fend off the invaders and restore peace.

Meet the Chirpos

NPCs named Chirpos occupy vast areas of the new Trailmakers map. They are friendly, they are fuzzy and ironically they are flightless.

They hold up in villages. Each village has a Mayor who will ask you to bring back the local Chirpos that have been kidnapped by Robot Pirates. By doing so, the Mayor will reward you with new parts you can use to make an even bigger, badder and more agile aircraft that you will need in your challenging endeavors.

From ground speeders to blimps, agile dogfighters and flak cannons — they will use anything at their disposal to ground you and maintain their iron grip on the Chirpo Homeworld.

In a Nutshell

Trailmakers: Airborne is a natural step for our most beloved title. Our community’s top engineers will have new parts to use for their increasingly impressive workshop builds and those who thirst for adventure are in for a treat.

Fight Robot Pirates

What’s more intimidating than Pirates? Robot Pirates, obviously. Unlike their human, wooden-legged predecessors, these guys have a vast range of technologically advanced and equally dangerous weapons. Get ready to save the Chirpos planet and live a unique adventure on April 27th!

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Time Magazine has named Dark Souls and Elder Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki as one of the most influential people of 2023.

The magazine puts out its list of the 100 most influential people annually, and this year, the FromSoftware boss made the list with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann adding comment.

“Miyazaki’s games make the player feel accomplished and smart—and it’s all thanks to his and his team’s uncompromising approach,” said Druckmann. “He refuses to overexplain the mechanics or the lore, but rather puts his trust in the player to figure it out on their own.

Miyazaki joined FromSoftware in 2004 as a designer for the Armored Core series before taking over a failing internal project that would later become known as Demon’s Souls.

After the game’s spiritual successor, Dark Souls released in 2011, Miyazaki was promoted to company president in 2010. He wears many other hats, as he is also the firm’s creative director, one of its designer, a scriptwrter, and representative director.

Father of the Soulslike genre, other games directed by Miyazaki include the critically acclaimed Bloodborne, Sekiro, and multiple Game of the Year award winner Elden Ring.

It can’t be easy to spend years working on a game, get pumped to finally announce it, and be met with the resounding “lmao” from every corner of the internet, but such was the case of XDefiant (opens in new tab), Ubisoft’s take on Call of Duty’s 6v6 arena multiplayer, when it was unveiled two years ago.

“It’s fast-paced firefights meet punk rock mosh pits,” proclaimed Ubisoft in its first trailer drenched in cel-shaded models and colorful graffiti. It was an awkward and incongruent tone for what was supposed to be the next Tom Clancy game, a label usually reserved for modern spec-ops action games. Roping in Clancy classics like Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell for a caffeine-laced free-to-play CoD clone didn’t go down well—with longtime fans calling blasphemy and everyone else thinking Ubisoft was trying way too hard to duplicate its only live service success (opens in new tab), Rainbow Six Siege.

The moment you virtually step into the vibrant, mysterious world of Aveum, everything feels simultaneously new but extremely familiar. It looks like a landscape that you’ve stepped into, the characters talk to you in a way that feels commonplace, but this fantasy setting is nothing the worlds you’ve experienced before. In a recent preview, we got to take a first look at Immortals of Aveum, and chat to two of the game’s designers about the inspiration behind this magical new realm.

Immortals of Aveum is an upcoming single-player magic FPS set in the titular land of Aveum. You’ll assume the role of Jak, a Battlemage learning to harness the magic coursing through his world. As an Unforeseen, Jak discovers his abilities later in life, and Aveum’s most powerful kingdoms are at war. It’s up to Jak to unlock his power, and work alongside the Immortals to help save Aveum from destruction. 

What makes Immortals of Aveum feel unique at first glance is the combination of two things. First up is the studio’s backstory; Ascendant Studios is led by Bret Robbins, Creative Director of Dead Space, and former Creative Director at Sledgehammer Games on several Call of Duty titles. This best-in-class FPS design shines through Immortals of Aveum’s combat; it’s a first-person shooter but the weapon that you wield is magic. We’ll delve more into that in a bit.

The second component is that Immortals of Aveum is inspired by a seemingly endless smorgasbord of magical realms, but it’s this dense mixture of inspiration from countless places that makes it stand out. Dave Bogan, Art Director at Ascendant Studios, tells us that from the very get-go, the team set out to create a “new look” for fantasy.

Bogan cites a handful of the creative influences he grew up with, including Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and “cartoons with cool Japanese robots” to name a few. The team starts by selecting several references from their own preferences — visual inspiration that they would like to bring into the game, and examples of ideas that they don’t want to include.

“It’s really about subconsciously drawing inspiration and influence from all those things, and letting it come out in interesting shapes and languages, while keeping an eye on things that exist out there and trying not to replicate anything,” he says.

Julia Lichtblau, Associate Art Director at Ascendant Studios says that Immortals of Aveum’s unique feel comes from the juxtaposition of old and new. A lot of the structures in the world are inspired by oppressive, medieval forts of old, and the villages are brimming with rustic, pastoral charm often seen in old Europe. This design is mixed with the presence of magic, which allows the inhabitants of Aveum to combine antique settings with advanced crafting.

“Magic is essentially their technology,” Lichtblau explains. “They’re able to use it to bend the rules of architectural design, so you’re seeing big sweeping shapes and giant white skyscrapers that could have been built by advanced magic users of that time. That dichotomy makes it feel a bit unexpected.”

This combination of familiar and futuristic goes beyond the world design, seeping into character styling, dialogue and language, giving the inhabitants of Aveum a unique edge. Bogan points to Jak’s design, the cut of a motorcycle jacket giving sci-fi vibes with chainmail stitched to it for an medieval fantasy flavour.

“Aveum is always binding elements from different worlds and times that are helping it feel otherworldly,” he adds.

Ascendant Studios’ background in Call of Duty shines prevalently through Immortals of Aveum, but the team has opted to embrace those elements rather than shy away from it. Robbins asks a simple, but idea provoking question in the preview: “What if instead of a helicopter,  you’re fighting a dragon?”, and it’s that line of thinking that has allowed Immortals of Aveum to feel familiar to FPS players, but fresh and exciting to fantasy fans too.

The shooting mechanic in Immortals of Aveum consists of three main types of magic. Jak harnesses his powers through his Sigil, and can fire Force (blue), Chaos (red) and Life (green) magic. Each of these types have different ranges and fire rates, giving you the opportunity to mix it up depending on your playstyle. There’s over 25 spells and 80 Talents to unlock throughout the game, so combat can be deeply customised for every brawl and battle.

Bogan explains that there’s a lot of direct correlation between the Sigils and a regular FPS with guns. The Sigils all have crystals, which allow the spells themselves to act like projectiles with different properties, similar to traditional weapons.

“It was important for people that play first person shooters to feel the relation and to understand, ‘oh, this is the type of weapon I use for this or that’,” Bogan says. “But it’s a little bit more unhinged in visual design, which is cool.”

Lichtblau adds that this framework means anyone that loves first-person shooters will be able to jump into Immortals of Aveum, and says that the combat is “really easy to pick up and really satisfying to master.”

Immortals of Aveum promises a unique new magical world to explore and a robust combat system that allows for much more freedom than your standard shooter, but Lichtblau says that it’s the game’s story that sets it apart from games of its ilk.

“The way the characters are written, the way they interact with each other, it feels incredibly fresh,” Lichtblau says. “It’s hard for me to even pick a favourite because they all have such nuance, and that’s something I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Immortals of Aveum is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S July 20. Pre-orders are now available on the Microsoft Store for Xbox.

The realm of first-person shooters is largely inhabited by games with military and sci-fi themes. In recent years, FPS games with other themes—particularly fantasy—have somewhat fallen by the wayside. Enter Immortals of Aveum, a big, bright, and beautiful techno-fantasy shooter from EA and the San Rafael-based developer Ascendant Studios. Focusing on a single-player campaign in a carefully-crafted, lore-rich world, Immortals of Aveum is looking to give this beloved genre a magic jolt of new life. We had a chance to look at the game and talk to the game’s director, and we’ve come away spellbound.

You may not be familiar with Ascendant Studios, but you’re likely familiar with some of the past games the staff has made. Ascendant CEO and Immortals of Aveum director Bret Robbins has a legacy of work on numerous titles, including the Legacy of Kain series, the original Dead Space, and several Call of Duty titles. It was while developing CoD that the idea of Immortals was birthed: when looking at a level design for CoD, he thought about what the scene would be like in a big, bombastic fantasy setting instead.

A world of fantasy

The world of Aveum features a land torn apart—quite literally—by a millennium-long Everwar for control of magical leylines. As the conflict continues, a bottomless rift called “The Wound” grows ever-larger, with a mysterious, towering statue at its center seemingly staring down on everything. Here, you take control of Jak, an aspiring Immortal who was plucked from life as an orphan in the slums to become a Magnus battle mage. He has the rare ability to wield all three “colors” of magic: A Triarch, as he’s called. With these skills, he battles the forces of the almighty magic forces of Rasharn, a superpower warring for leyline control with Jak’s homeland of Lucium. But what long-buried mysteries and secrets is this Everwar obscuring?

What exactly is an Immortal? Despite the traditional definition, these Immortals do not possess eternal life. It’s a name meant to strike fear in the hearts of foes—after all, who is less afraid of death than a person the concept wouldn’t apply to?

“Basically, they’re like the Navy SEALS of our wizard world,” says Robbins. They’re taking on the forces of Rasharn, but human soldiers are far from the only threat they’ll face: Elementals, magically-animated Constructs, and terrifyingly resilient Archons. But some of the most memorable encounters will be battles against other expert spellslingers. According to Robbins, “When you have a wizard-on-wizard battle, that’s when things really get crazy.”

Tools of the Immortals

The setpieces in Aveum are stunning in visuals and gameplay intensity. You aren’t going to be a back-row wizard slinging spells behind a bigger, buffer unit—you’ll need to get up close and personal with waves of fierce enemies, all eager to maul an enemy Magnus. While the fantasy setting is different from the genre norm, longtime FPS players will find a lot of familiar-feeling skills in Jak’s arsenal of magic. For example:

• Breachfire acts similarly to a shotgun.
• Stormshards are rapid-firing homing projectiles.
• Javelins are chargeable projectiles you can hurl at enemies.

“The more you get to play with them and see how they work, the more depth, surprises, and fun you’ll find,” says Robbins. “The challenge (in design) was making these spells feel as good, or even better, as shooting a gun.”

Jak also has lots of ways to move around with panache, as Robbins explains. “You can double jump,  hover over enemies, use a Lash spell where you can latch onto anchors in an arena or pull enemies closer, and even teleport dodge.” Jak also has a shield spell for when you need some extra defense. “I didn’t want to make a cover shooter, where you’re hiding and shooting—I want players to feel more powerful, like a gunslinger,” Robbins continues. “You can walk into an arena, really assess it, and own it.”

The depth of magic

Augmenting these magical abilities is an in-depth gear and character enhancement systems. Jak can find or buy Sigils, a crucial focus for his magical power. These Sigils grant stat boosts and buffs and can also alter how certain spells work, effectively changing loadouts. Totems are another piece of magical kit that apply various boosts, though they’re focused more on movement abilities. Magic Rings augment and transform the grenade-like Fury spells. Finally, there are Bracers, gauntlets that boost Jak’s defensive abilities. Combine all this gear with a Talent Tree to power up different magic colors, and you’re looking at a considerable amount of customization.

But finding everything will take careful exploration—the stages are packed with secrets, puzzles, and hidden areas, so you’ll want to take time to look around. Robbins was eager to tell us all about Aevum’s hidden treasures. “When you get a new spell, you can return to previous areas and unlock new things. We’ve also got the Shroudfanes: mini-dungeons hidden throughout the game that have specific challenges or unique bosses—they have some of the best gear in the game.”

Ultimately, all of the gameplay and story elements are in service of creating a unique fantasy gaming experience unlike anything else. “I want players to really fall in love with the world,” says Robbins. “We’ve created a great story and a great combat system, all wrapped under the umbrella of Aveum. I truly hope the players will come to enjoy this world and the story and characters we’ve written.”

Look forward to becoming the slickest spellcaster around on July 20 when Immortals of Aveum launches on PlayStation 5.

Since its unpretentious launch in mid-2022 on Game Pass for PC, poncle’s Vampire Survivors has ridden wave upon garlicky wave of critical and commercial success. Most recently, the game received not one, but two accolades at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards: Game Design and the biggest prize of all, Best Game.

It’s the decadent core loop of shoot, survive, die, repeat that has left countless Vampire Survivors players — including Xbox boss and superfan Phil Spencer — utterly enamored. Its early presence on Xbox and PC Game Pass also ensured millions could immediately get involved with this surprise hit new title.

But Vampire Survivors was not initially built to accommodate for this scale of greatness. The brainchild of creator Luca Galante was initially built for PC platforms using web technologies, specifically JavaScript. Poncle Tech Director Sam McGarry tells us that the launch version of Vampire Survivors was “basically a browser game.”

The build wasn’t running very well on platforms different to PC, players were running into issues across different devices, and addressing those problems quickly became a priority for the team. Once it became the smash hit we know it as now, it became clear it needed a new engine – something fans asked about from early on. It turns out, the team made that happen so seamlessly, many didn’t know it had even happened.

“The overall goal was for players not to notice,” McGarry says. “Even to this day, there are still players that don’t realize that the engine is already out there and has been since launch on Xbox, so we still have differences to sort out, but I think we did a pretty good job.”

Xbox was the first platform that poncle launched the engine-enhanced Vampire Survivors on, and McGarry tells us that one of the main challenges the team faced, and still faces, is maintaining level parity between different versions of the game in parallel — the new engine on Xbox and the original Javascript version on PC.

“Making sure that players can actually go between Xbox platforms and continue their game is very important to us,” McGarry says. “And we’re also trying to maintain that quality so you can jump between two different versions of the game without feeling like you’re playing different copies of the game, without having any technical issues or anything.”

All that effort has been worth it, however – McGarry says the game’s addition to Game Pass has been crucial in how it became a word of mouth success. “If you look at a screenshot of Vampire Survivors, you might not get drawn into the game just by the way it looks,” McGarry says. “And we find often that early game players don’t always get the hook of it until they’ve gotten further in. That’s when we really see that people are like, ‘ah, okay, I get the game now. People will also often play it, bounce off, and then come back. The presence on Game Pass helps us bring a lot more players in through the doors and lets them experience the game.

“The other great thing about [Game Pass] is that it was available via the Cloud as well. So people are able to play not just at home on their console or on their PC, but out and about or… on the toilet on their phone. That was relatively painless process too; we put the game out, and ticked a box, and then it was available on the Cloud just like that basically.”

A development team building two versions of the game across Xbox and PC is leagues away from the before times of Galante working independently on Vampire Survivors. In the last twelve months, the poncle team’s development has mirrored that of a Xenomorph — emerge quickly and grow fast. But despite that rapid expansion, the actual workflow hasn’t really changed all that much, testament to the game’s solid foundations.

“Ultimately, it’s just that we have more people in the process now,” McGarry explains. “So it still starts at Luca and filters through, he’s doing that work on that PC version alongside writers and other teams helping with the creative side of things. We are then taking that work and replicating it in the new engine. Having that dual engine setup has helped us keep that same workflow in a sense, without disrupting the creative part of the very start of the chain.”

Poncle is keen to highlight that while Galante still sits atop of the creative tree and the majority of the game’s increasingly wild ideas come from him, Vampire Survivors is now created by a team that all provide input and feedback.

“The more people that we bring on board, the more we can take off Luca’s plate,” says poncle Lead Game Developer Adam Goodchild. “Throughout last year, everyone tried to take as much as they could so Luca could focus on the creative side.

“The original goal of what Luca set out to make hasn’t changed at all. It’s just the pace at which we can do it is a lot different because there’s more of us, and everybody’s got a role now.”

Vampire Survivors is still dishing out updates and content regularly. The first premium DLC, Legacy of the Moonspell, launched in December, and the second, Tides of the Foscari, launches today.

These paid DLC packs are thematically based in their own worlds — Moonspell took us to the snow-kissed mountains of “the east,” while Foscari promises a lush, vibrant forest concealing a magic academy with absolutely nothing unusual about it. This was always the plan for Vampire Survivors, however, Galante and the team still firmly believe that any content that changes or enhances the core gameplay loop should just be included in free content updates, delivered to every player that has either bought the game, or is playing via Game Pass. We can’t say too much, but the team has plenty in store in that department too.

“For anyone that can’t or doesn’t want to get the DLC, you’re still getting other updates at the same time,” McGarry adds. “We’re also constantly adding little things to the base game, adding more achievements… if only to give Phil Spencer something new to finish off.” 

Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari is available across Xbox and PC platforms today.

Right off the bat, Immortals of Aveum gave me major Destiny vibes. It was all there. The magicky sci-fi setting, the mesh between medieval clothing and the polished sheen of futuristic metal. Really, the only thing that was missing was the guns, and the distinct absence of multiplayer, and maybe that really does make all the difference.

Developed by Ascendant Studios and published under the EA Originals project, Immortals of Aveum has been billed as a futuristic spell-slinging first-person shooter game, except with fewer gun pew pews. In a hands-off presentation last week, I got to check out an extended preview of the game and got a better sense of what to expect with Ascendant Studios’ big outing. Immortals of Aveum has been in development for the past five years, and while I wasn’t necessarily blown away by what I saw of the combat and story, the fact that this is going to be a single-player, story-driven adventure is actually pretty exciting.

Aesthetically, it’s hard not to compare Immortals of Aveum to the likes of Destiny, Anthem, and Godfall. All multiplayer-focused games with an emphasis on loot, grinding, and whatever other arbitrary numbers and stats slapped onto a piece of gear designed to kick your lizard brain into overdrive. You’ll play as Jak, an Unforeseen, which is really just another word for Muggle, or someone born with no magical abilities. But of course, due to plot reasons, he eventually gains magical abilities and becomes a Triarch — a person with the power to wield all three colors of magic.

It’s not long before he joins up with the titular Immortals, a group of spellcasters committed to ending the Everwar, a long-lasting conflict between three major factions over magical control. Aveum has been ravaged by war for thousands of years, and the world itself is as fractured as it is beautiful. Truly, this game’s cinematics are pretty darn impressive, with stunning glowing leylines sprouting everywhere, all of them leading down to the Shrouded Realm, an entire world that lies beneath the surface.

The world isn’t just there to look pretty, of course; there are plenty of environmental puzzles to take on, and tons of optional routes to explore. As you’re adventuring, Jak will learn new abilities and spells to help him tackle more puzzles and defeat his foes in more interesting ways. At its core, though, Immortals of Aveum’s combat system seems to operate around a color-based mechanic similar to what we saw in the recently released Hogwarts Legacy.

There are three spell colors: blue, red, and green. At some point, you’ll start encountering enemies with color-coded shields, and you’ll need to break them with an appropriately colored spell. It all seems rather basic, but the combat is made more interesting with various tools that Jak has at his disposal. He has a whip-like spell that lashes out and pulls enemies towards him, along with a personal shield that he uses to defend himself, that also lets him shoot through it.

The basic spells are also kept fairly simple; while Immortals of Aveum certainly isn’t your traditional first-person shooter with guns, the spells bear strong similarities to regular pistol fire, automatic rifles, and shotgun blasts. From what I saw in the presentation, Jak’s movement is also slower and a little clunkier than you might expect. You need to be a little more deliberate with the way you move your character, and while there is some verticality to look forward to in combat, it’s pretty clear that the game wants you to rely more on using your shield to block rather than zip back and forth like a teleporting warlock.

The shield is instrumental in making Immortals of Aveum feel less like a traditional cover shooter, as you’re literally taking your cover with you and using it in interesting ways that haven’t been explored in other games in the genre.

Towards the end of the presentation, we also got a glimpse of a griffin/dragon-like boss fight, where Jak had to be methodical in dodging its fiery breath while blasting spells at it. The sequence was short, but as simple as the combat looked at first blush, it’s hard not to be taken in by the whole spectacle of it.

Ascendant Studios went on to reiterate that Immortals of Aveum is meant to be a single-player experience, and that even if there was going to be any form of co-op or multiplayer content, they aren’t ready to talk about that just yet anyways. The developers were quick to impress upon us that the goal is to make the player feel powerful, and with how crunchy the combat looks and feels, I found myself unexpectedly excited to get some proper hands-on time with it, especially since I’d gone into the presentation with virtually no expectations whatsoever.

I won’t lie to you and say the characters were all that compelling or interesting. Sure, we only got a brief glimpse of the main players, but on the surface level, they seemed like your typical video game side characters. The stoic leader, the joker who makes wisecracks from time to time… you know what I mean. I’ll admit that the characters giving off a less-than-stellar first impression does give me pause, especially for a game that’s supposed to be all about the story, but given how polished everything else looks so far, I might even be willing to overlook that.

A lot of care and attention to detail has gone into the world-building, and just the overall feel of the world. From the insanely clean UI and seamless transition between cinematic cutscenes to first-person view, to the immaculate enemy designs (at one point, I spotted a very daunting looking enemy that I could only describe as a “sci-fi Sauron-looking motherfucker”), Immortals of Aveum is one of the more visually impressive games I’ve seen this year, and that’s saying something, considering the graphical leaps and bounds we’ve seen in the industry over the past decade.

Immortals of Aveum is set to be released for PC and consoles on July 20.

News

Casting a spell upon you.

Developed by Ascendant Studios, which comprises of several veteran developers who have worked on games like Dead Space, and published by EA, Immortals of Aveum is a new magic first-person shooter that got originally unveiled at The Game Awards last year. We didn’t see too much of it back then, but it finally has a release date, as well as a reveal trailer that shows off exactly what combat is going to look like.

You can check out the reveal trailer for yourself down below:

The game has been set for a July 20 release later this year, and players take control of Jak, a battlemage and Triarch who has the ability to wield all three magic types in the world of Aveum. It’s worth noting that this is primarily a single-player, narrative-driven game, with little to no focus on multiplayer or co-op elements.

In a hands-off presentation that we got to check out last week, we found the world itself to look really visually impressive, with a gorgeous blend of medieval fantasy and sci-fi aesthetics. It certainly brings up some Godfall vibes, but with a much more crunchy-looking combat system that also looks very in-depth and complex.

Immortals of Aveum is set to be released for PC and consoles on July 20.

PS VR2 owners itching for tense, high-stakes multiplayer gameplay should keep upcoming 4v4 competitive and combative shooter Firewall Ultra on their radar. Developer First Contact Entertainment gave us a first taste of its tactical action in a recent hands-on. First stop: the pre-match safehouse to find our feet and to get to grips with weapon loadouts at its firing range. 

Each loadout comes stocked with two weapons, two items, running the gauntlet of full assault to support weaponry and all paired with a choice of two items that walk the line between explosive and defensive. These presets will be fully customizable. With multiple clips spent (and weapons reloaded with a button press) we were promptly deployed into a series of three round matches. 

As with the original Firewall Zero Hour, teamwork is still key, with sides switching defender and attacker roles as matches progress. The core experience is retooled with player feedback from Firewall Zero Hour (dedicated servers, new skills, contractors, maps, weapons and more) and gameplay and visuals are rebuilt thanks to PS VR2 features and a switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. 

The eyes have it 

4v4 competitive matches are still the heart of Firewall. But First Contact has confirmed a PvE mode is also in the works that will be included come launch. More to come on that soon. 

PvP matches now play out as best of three rounds, with the PS5 SSD shifting players from safehouse to match map and back again in a near-blink of an eye. Eye-tracking makes weapon selection from an on-screen wheel swift and grants greater precision to your aim when closing one eye or looking down sights, subtly repositioning your gun to mirror exactly where you’re looking. 

Flashbangs will blind you if you look at them, but so will flashlights when shone directly in your eyes: in both instances your screen will go all-white for several seconds. Even with your sight restored you’ll briefly have double-vision if your blindness was caused by a flashbang. This, coupled with better hand tracking due to the Sense controller, teases a potentially brilliant strategy: a gun-mounted light’s beam can be hidden by putting your other hand in front of it. Hug a corner and hide your beam until an enemy approaches, then uncover to blind them. Closed eyes or averted gazes are the only deterrent – an inherent risk when bullets can come from any direction. 

And even if you’re benched in death before your teammates, you’re not out of the game. Perspective switches to a small number of security cameras stationed around the map which you can freely rotate around. Spot an opposing team member and keep your gaze locked on them: you’ll mark them with a red outline until they move out of sight. It’s an outline that can be seen by your team regardless of how many walls or stairwells are between them.

Loadouts for every occasion 

Every weapon has tailored haptic feedback so each feels distinct. A cool little detail (that you may want to check when in the safehouse rather than battle) is in the weapon triggers: the resistance to your virtual finger replicate the real-world analog to the gun you’re holding. 

Sharp eyes and quick wits are necessary skills to win matches in Firewall Ultra, but they’re not the only ones. Teams take turns to either defend or hack intel, and with maps ranging from claustrophobic offices with banks of computer desks and labyrinth like oil rigs, knowing the right balance of loadouts and team deployment are key. Known commodities like grenades, flashbangs are a must in an intense firefight, but carefully placed proximity mines and signal modifiers can turn any area into a trap or blind the opposing side’s tracking devices to keep them guessing. 

Keep an ear out 

Contractors will be a mix of returning faces and new characters, each boasting a unique skill. Couple that with an unlockable secondary skill that be equipped as part of your loadout and you’ve extra customization to your firefight approach. 

First Contact is flexing the strength of 3D Audio in Firewall Ultra. More immersive? Of course. But also potentially strategic. Honing in to footfalls helps you place exactly where an enemy is sweeping in from. That goes both ways, however. It grants an eclectic rhythm to rounds, attackers and defenders sneaking along low cover then charging across open ground or piling in as weapons go hot. You’ll need your ear to pick up exactly where a signal jammer is. The small black boxes emitting a tell-tale ping is easy to identify, not so easy to place. With maps dense with detail they can be placed in tight confines. Scouring can be rewarding in itself: Crypto make a return, these rare collectables grabbable on a first come, first serve basis. You can also earn this in-game currency through completing missions, doing well, as well as winning, matches. Collect and cash these in to unlock cosmetics, new guns, attachments for upgrades and new contractors. 

Along with those cosmetics and weapon attachments unlocked by players as they progress, First Contact promises a level of post-launch support similar to what the studio rolled out for Firewall Zero Hour. The shape of those things will come into focus in the next few months. But for now, PS VR2 owners can look forward to another round (or three) of tactical action. Bring a friend. Bring three. And make sure they’re all packing quick wits and fast trigger fingers.

Nintendo unveiled the final pre-launch trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, giving fans one last look at the hotly anticipated sequel before it releases next month. 

The three-minute video provides a cinematic look at never-before-seen locations, puzzles, and enemies, including the newly returned Ganondorf. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases on May 12 for Switch. To learn more, check out the game’s previous trailer as well as its special edition Switch OLED. 

As I was pleased to let you know earlier this week, the next free game for RPS premium supporters is roguelite citybuilder Against The Storm. This is your reminder that you can log on to claim your copy today, April 13th, from 4pm BST/8am PT. That should be around the same time as Against The Storm gets is new free update, Sentinels Of The Forest, which adds Foxes as a playable species, along with new buildings, abilities, and porridge – the most sensible of all the breakfast foods

We don’t have infinite codes, so this key drop, kindly provided by publishers Hooded Horse, is on a first come, first served basis until we run out.

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It’s go time! Take up arms in Season 4 – Ballista, now available for Gundam Evolution! This newest season celebrates the half year anniversary of the game and includes a new mode, character, and map.

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New Mobile Suit: Gundam Dynames

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Mobile Suit Gundam 00 fans may recognize this notable mobile suit from Season 1 of the anime. Gundam Dynames, piloted by none other than Gundam Meister Lockon Stratos, is joining the Gundam Evolution roster! Just like in the anime, Gundam Dynames will utilize its excellent marksmanship skills using both the GN Sniper Rifle and GN Beam Pistol on the battlefield. You’ll be able to provide your team cover from a variety of ranges – perfect for a shifting battlefield!

Let’s go over the skills of the newest addition to the team:

• Weapon Swap – Swap between your GN Sniper Rifle and GN Beam Pistol – with the weapon in reserve reloading automatically!
• GN Missile – Fire a missile that explodes for damage and pulls nearby enemies towards the impact point – even pulling them out of cover!
• Recovery Gun – Inject repairs directly into your allies from a distance and ensure they don’t fall!
• G Maneuver: Trans Am – Activate your GN Drive’s hidden potential to hyper-charge your next few shots!

You’ll be able to unlock Gundam Dynames by purchasing Evo Coins or completing challenges to earn Capital in-game.

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New Game Mode: Headquarters

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A new game mode just dropped with Season 4 – Ballista. Headquarters is a fully dynamic, multi-stage game mode that truly tests your team’s coordination and abilities. Teams who can do this and keep up the momentum will be rewarded with sweet, sweet victory. Check it out!

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New Map: Buried City

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A new area to hone and show off your skills is here! This new map will be in rotation for both Casual and Ranked matches. Buried City has a variety of corridors and pathways for you to intercept your opponent and surprise them with an attack! It also has sections for your team to take advantage of the high ground and relentlessly assault the enemy with a barrage of projectiles.

We’re excited to see how you play on this new map!

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Prepare for success!

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With such a huge roster of Mobile suits you may be asking, what’s the best start? While we can’t give you the win, here are a few pointers to give you the edge on this new battlefield.

The first point has multiple routes.

To start, you can slip around or underneath the first objective to take your enemy from behind or hit them on an exposed flank. This is great for fast units who can quickly cause confusion, such as Zaku Ranged or Heavarms Custom. Maybe you’re more of a ranged player who wants to make the most of the distance. On one side of the first objective is a lift with a window that gives you the height advantage, which is perfect for preventing a capture or holding down the line. Sounds perfect for a unit like Gundam Dynames that just released as part of Season 4.

Use your full armaments.

When you eventually reach the core, take note of the multiple entry points to keep your enemy on their toes. Certain Mobile Suits like Asshimar have Active Skills with an area of effect that can also harm the core while keeping the enemy at bay. Guntank has a cannon that can be used to deal extra damage to the core. Make use of each Mobile Suits’ strengths to chip away and get yourself those extra points.

As always, support your team!

After dealing enough damage, a mobile suit will be in a broken state before it eventually destructs. The walk back to the objectives can mean the difference between getting that last percentage of damage, so do your best to provide your team with a quick pick-me-up so they can get back into the fight and win the round.

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Time to Jump In, Pilots!

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Gundam Evolution is an immersive, fast-paced 6v6 team shooter where you’re able to pilot iconic Mobile Suits from the smash hit “Mobile Suit Gundam” anime series. Jump into combat as Gundam Dynames, Heavyarms, and more from this expanding roster.

Gundam Evolution now has four different game modes that allow you to show off your teamwork and tactical skills: Point Capture, Domination, Destruction, and Headquarters. Coordinate with your team and align your G-Maneuvers to come out on top!

Season 4 is out now! Can’t wait to start piloting your own Mobile Suit? Download Gundam Evolution for free on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S now and experience these exciting Mobile Suit battles firsthand.