Looking to dig into some of the best computer RPGs ever made? You won’t find a better opportunity than the RPG Masters Humble Bundle. Right now, you can pick up a collection of eight classic and contemporary CRPGs, along with a fat stack of add-ons, for just $35 at Humble — a savings of 90% for a collection of games that normally costs $346. But you’ll have to act soon, as this deal ends Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 9 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. PDT.
Finally, while it isn’t a true RPG, you’ll also get an 85% off coupon to purchase the co-op roguelike MythForce from Steam, giving you the chance to add this Saturday morning-flavored hack-and-slash to your library for just $4.50.
Humble Bundle always sends a portion of each sale to benefit a nonprofit — in this case, your purchase will support the Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund, which works to create spaces for girls to explore the world of video games and close the gender gap in game development. Just remember you can always use the “Adjust Donation” drop-down menu to fine-tune how much goes to the publisher, the charity, or Humble.
Life Is Strange: Double Exposure simultaneously serves as a welcoming return and an exciting leap forward, as fan-favorite protagonist Max Caulfield steps back into the spotlight with new friends, a fresh mystery, and reality-bending abilities. I took the game for a spin during Gamescom and the demo revealed, to my surprise, that Double Exposure may be the series’ most mechanically intriguing entry yet.
With the game set a decade after the events of the original Life Is Strange, the now-adult Max has left Arcadia Bay and works as an artist-in-residence at Caledon University in upstate Vermont. She’s formed a new friend circle in Moses, a science enthusiast, and Safi, daughter of the university’s president. Since the cataclysmic events at Arcadia Bay, of which both endings will funnel into this narrative, Max has sworn never to use her time-rewind power again. However, her new peace becomes shattered when Safi is mysteriously murdered, prompting Max to attempt to save her by winding back the clock for the first time in years. For reasons unknown, the lengthy period of inactivity has caused Max’s power to evolve, and she manages to tear through the fabric of time and space to access an alternate timeline where Safi still lives but remains in mortal danger. Thus, Double Exposure becomes a double murder mystery with players utilizing Max’s newfound Shift power to jump between timelines to discover the identity of the killer in one reality while preventing Safi’s murder in the other.
The Gamescom demo takes place shortly after Safi’s murder. I won’t spoil the narrative details, but Max must retrieve Safi’s camera from a classroom while avoiding detection by a snooping detective. While the room is locked in her current timeline, the same may not be true in the alternate reality. Keeping track of which timeline you occupy is easy thanks to an icon in the upper-left corner labeling the reality as “Living” or “Dead,” referencing Safi’s fate in that world. Using Max’s Pulse ability, another new trick that lets her detect and reveal ghostly elements from the other timeline without doing a full swap, I find a glowing weak point between realities where switching timelines becomes possible. Making the jump sees Max pull apart the current reality like she’s opening a pair of curtains to instantaneously cross over to the other side. The snappiness of this transition makes for a cool visual.
Getting my hands on Safi’s camera becomes an involved exercise in exploring the two-story room, finding clues and hitting dead ends that can only be circumvented by switching to the other timeline. Elements such as the room’s layout, the characters’ current activities and moods, and the location of important items differ in each timeline, and the crux of puzzle-solving involves figuring out how gathering information in one world answers a question in the opposite one.
What begins as a simple search for a safe spirals into using an astronomy chart to find a vital constellation referenced by Moses, then activating a projector to overlay a star chart on a classroom mural in such a manner that the orientation of the constellation reveals the hidden location of the safe’s item. Solving this single puzzle requires several timeline shifts to unravel smaller riddles that logically build toward the solution.
Upon solving this puzzle, the detective forces his way into the classroom, triggering a stealth sequence where I need to escape the room undetected. Simply sneaking past him isn’t enough; I need a loud object to create a distraction, and it can only be found in the Living reality. Since the patrolling investigator blocks certain routes in the cluttered, box-ridden room, getting past him requires a few strategic uses of Shift, as he’s not present in the Living timeline.
While Double Exposure seems to test your noodle more than previous entries, it still heavily emphasizes managing character relationships and steering the story through dialogue choices. However, timeline hopping adds some spice to this formula. While a character may be hesitant to reveal a crucial personal secret in one timeline, their counterpart may be more forthcoming, offering information that can give Max the upper hand. Resorting to using knowledge Max technically shouldn’t possess may not go over well, though, adding a thoughtful wrinkle to conversations.
The Double Exposure Gamescom demo sold me on Shift as a fun mechanic, and I’m excited to see how the game further leverages it to tell its tale. Tack on the return of Max and I’m itching to see how this multiversal murder mystery unravels.
Before sitting down to play three hours of the Silent Hill 2 remake at a recent Konami-led press event in London, we were shown a new trailer. Like the previous trailers, it left me skeptical. Although I’m not opposed to the project of remaking Silent Hill 2, I’m wary of any modernizing instinct that replaces the aged, the weird, and even the off-putting with the same glazed genericism of the 2020s AAA game.
After getting my hands on it, I think some of that skepticism is warranted. I also think that the original Silent Hill 2 is a very, very good video game.
In the opening section, James jogging around the streets could be any game with a multimillion-dollar budget that you can pick up on the PS5. Yes, it’s foggy, but other than that it is bland. The switch to an over-the-shoulder camera, the breaking windows to search through drawers for health items, and the white cloth marking places that are interactable all feel unspecific.
Image: Bloober Team/Konami
The latter two mechanics also point to the game being bigger, potentially significantly so. We were told the game is 12+ hours, while the original clocks in around eight. As an example, Neely’s Bar — once a small, flavorful spot with a clue marked on a map — becomes a quest location that involves visiting another new part of the town to pick up an item before running back to solve a puzzle. We were told that these new puzzles add to the lore of the franchise, a promise that will excite some — but I know I am not alone in being exhausted by them.
I don’t think this will do good things for the pacing. Konami PR recommended several times that we spend only an hour in the opening of the game before using a pre-set save point to jump ahead to the apartments section. I did that, so I can’t tell you what lore might have been buried in the Neely’s Bar puzzle. I also can’t tell you how it feels to have to spend a long stretch in the modern version of that town before getting to anything else, but the suggestion that we not do it speaks for itself, to some extent.
Image: Bloober Team/Konami
On the other hand, skipping ahead to the apartments wiped away the generic feeling. They’re claustrophobic, labyrinthine, and tense. Their design highlights some of what made Silent Hill 2 great in the first place but which isn’t common practice in modern AAA games. Gradually exploring with James’ scribbled-on map, for example, feels incomparably better than any game with a minimap or a tagged overhead compass.
This section also brings the remake’s improvements to the forefront. Watching a YouTube video of the original apartments segment after playing, I was taken aback by the difference in the sound design. The original James clunks with every footstep, but he hits enemies with a kind of silent disregard. In the remake, he sounded frightened and horrified when he swung into a mannequin creature. The combat changes aren’t anything stunning, but actor Luke Roberts deserves the credit for selling them.
Roberts and the other voice actors were apparently also key in finalizing the script for the remake, says Maciej Głomb, lead producer at Bloober Team. “These were all professionals,” he says. “So they often had ideas on how to sell a scene or a specific dialogue line. As long as they were in line with the tone we wanted, we usually [trusted] their experience and their proficiency.”
The script has also been reworked slightly to be more “understandable,” says Głomb, and edited with regard to how newer technology such as face motion capture has allowed the team to “show and not tell” certain aspects like emotional beats. But, while many of the mechanics have been updated for the remake, it’s the narrative that Bloober Team is trying to keep “as close as possible” to the original, says creative director Mateusz Lenart: “The characters of the original game, their specific arcs and endings, and what those characters are.”
Image: Bloober Team/Konami
There will, however, be additional endings. “I think that was one of the first requests from Konami, at the very beginning,” says Głomb. The original endings will all be present — “even the funny ones,” although “with our own twist for a little bit of an expansion.” But in new game plus runs, there will be the possibility to get other outcomes. Although Bloober Team wasn’t about to spoil anything directly, Głomb did say that the devs would be “adding something from the different worlds; from the different game,” presumably hinting at overlap with other Silent Hills.
In my last question for Głomb and Lenart, I ask whether they brought any outside inspirations to the remake. Silent Hill 2 is famous for drawing on film — Jacob’s Ladder and the work of David Lynch — and paintings by artists like Francis Bacon. I’m hard-pressed to think of another game with 2024 Silent Hill 2’s budget that reflects that kind of influence, and in particular I want to know if there’s anything in the last 20 years of art that’s contributed to the way the game has been updated.
The answer is mostly no. Lenart mentions the work of Italian painter Nicola Samori and French artist and performer Olivier de Sagazan as having ongoing impacts on his work, beginning as far back as Layers of Fear. But this project has mostly involved returning to the original game’s inspirations. “For the whole team, going back to those movies was the first thing that we wanted to do,” says Lenart. But “there was no need to look for much more,” he says. “We didn’t feel the need to look for modern references because the game is kind of stuck into that era.”
At the time, I was again skeptical of this. As I’ve said, the remade Silent Hill 2 is very much a product of its time in how it’s been modernized. It often looks and mostly plays like any other AAA game; it did not have to. But then I saw Pyramid Head for the first time.
Image: Bloober Team/Konami
Like in the original game, you first run into Pyramid Head lit up in ominous red behind a flimsily barred-off corridor in Wood Side apartments. Unlike in the original game, you already know who Pyramid Head is.
I cannot overstate the dread that I felt at seeing Pyramid Head for the first time. Despite not having played the game before, cultural osmosis had, unbeknownst to me until this exact moment, put a fear of being chased and killed by this creature deep in my bones. I stood there, looking at Pyramid Head through the bars, being looked at through the bars. And then the person next to me coughed, and I almost jumped out of my skin.At its best, Silent Hill 2 (2024)’s biggest inspiration is Silent Hill 2 (2001). And, again, Silent Hill 2 (2001) is a very, very good video game. It is, in the most crystalised sense of the word, iconic. Where the remake can make that iconism work, and draw on what made it that way, it will also be very, very good. That won’t be all the time, but it might be for enough of it.
Silent Hill 2 will be released Oct. 8 on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC.
Disclosure: This article is based on a preview event held by publisher Konami in London, England on Aug. 12. Konami provided Polygon’s travel and accommodations for the event. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
Gourdlets is like the retirement stage of building sims.
The game tells you via a text tutorial at the beginning that any town you make in Gourdlets doesn’t have any money and the little anthropomorphized gourd creatures will be content no matter what you build them. “We tried explaining capitalism to the gourdlets but it made them feel too tired, so you don’t have to worry about managing currency or resources,” the text reads.
Learning to play is a breeze. I played on Windows PC and the tutorial introduces you to a column of buttons, each with its own function: The build menu pulls up a little catalog of objects you can use to build out your town; the “bulldoze objects & fences” lets you demolish stuff you’ve built. It probably took me five minutes to begin the game and get to work making a little town square for the little guys.
You play the game from an isometric view, which you can rotate by 90 degrees to see your pixelated creations from different angles. Little touches, like a toggle that allows you to draw straight lines with decorative tiles or the ability to edit the number of tiles you want to place when you make a path, make building the crunchy pixelated paths and objects super satisfying. Loads of items — like benches, buildings, and cobblestone paths — come in a variety of rainbow pastel colors right from the get-go with no grinding. I could build the Candy Land cottagecore town of my dreams.
True to its promise, you can really putz around and do whatever. The game uses a system where you invite gourdlets to town, seemingly as many times as you want. (The game didn’t stop me, but I imagine there’s a limit at some point.) You don’t manage the gourdlets, so you can sit back and build as the creatures play and grow up. Once you get more mature gourdlets, you can unlock more items.
I started with making a town square, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as designing some nature areas, so I switched to making forest campgrounds complete with glowing critters, mushrooms, and string-lit paths. I didn’t feel like the game incentivized either way of playing — regardless of whether I chose to make them a more formal town or focus on building nature areas.
According to the studio’s Steam page, this is the debut game from AuntyGames, and it’s an absolute gem. Whether it’s taking a moment to appreciate a gourdlet watering a garden or finding the perfect placement for a shell on the beach, I’m obsessed with this sleepy little sim.
Gourdlets was released Aug. 24 on Windows, Linux, and Mac. The game was reviewed on Windows using a pre-release download code provided by Future Friends Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
Originally released in 2006, Dead Rising quickly solidified itself as a zombie fan favorite, spawning multiple sequels and a following ready to rival The Walking Dead. Now, 18 years later, Capcom has rewarded us all with a remastered update of the game that started it all.
Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite
It is safe to say that the biggest update in the game is the graphics. With 18 years comes incredible advancements in animation, and Capcom did not skip out on making sure we could see every reaction and emotion on not only Frank’s face, but on every NPC’s too. While the original game still holds up well, the graphics overhaul was well worth the time and makes the gore that bit more visceral, which you definitely want in a modern zombie game. Especially when taking them down with a skateboard or golf putter is still very much an option.
Another significant change is the improved NPC AI. A common criticism players had with the original game centred around NPCs and the questionable decisions they made that often led to their untimely demise. This time, the NPCs are smarter, making more rational decisions and adding a layer of realism to the game.
Capcom also proves with the remaster that not only can the years improve graphics, but it can also change gameplay entirely. Frustratingly, there used to be no option to move while aiming a weapon, but you now have free reign over all actions Frank can make while fighting a horde. We have been spoiled over the years with games like GTA where dodging and weaving can be a useful, sometimes necessary, component to staying alive. It is refreshing to have the option in Dead Rising now.
Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite
However, if you’re feeling nostalgic or simply want to make life a bit harder for yourself, you do have the option to play in ‘Classic’ mode. This mode gives you a style closer to the original gameplay, with its unique challenges and limitations, providing a throwback experience for long-term fans.
Once upon a time, you would go into a fight, hoping and praying your weapon would withstand the button mashing. Now, you can clearly see an item’s durability and how much it has degraded before deciding whether to tackle those particular problems. For example, now you know whether your gun or shopping cart will fall apart after coming into contact with an opponent. This certainly makes surviving a bit more helpful. It also saves Frank’s fists should the worst happen!
Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite
On the topic of Dead Rising’s resident photojournalist, many fans were dismayed to learn that numerous voice actors were not returning for the remaster, including TJ Rotolo, who voiced Frank West in the original and its sequels. Capcom has given no solid reason for the recasting, but for those who really liked Rotolo’s performance as Frank, a new voice will certainly be something to get used to. The new voice work fits Frank’s demeanour very well, adding a fresh perspective to the character.
Something that is very welcome is that, finally, Otis has a voice! Even with the previous remaster, Otis remained the only character without one. Having that remedied is a nice touch, especially when interacting with him over the radio. This addition not only enhances the game’s immersion but also helps with understanding the game’s narrative and objectives. It adds a new layer of depth to the storytelling and character interactions.
Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite
Small but significant changes for many are more behind the scenes. For streamers or those wanting to post gameplay online, there is the option to turn off the iconic background music from the original 2006 game, meaning copyright is not an issue. Also, for those who simply like the atmospheric noises of their surroundings, this is appreciated.
Another is the ability to hide the heads-up display (HUD), which can get overwhelming after a while when tasks, missions, weapons, and NPCs pile up on screen. It is a very welcomed change and makes the game more playable.
Amusingly, at the beginning of the game, you can find the closet in the Security Room, where unlocked costumes and clothes are kept for you to change into. For fans who miss the original Frank West look or would just like to see a piece of the past in a remastered world, the Steam pre-purchase offers the ability to change into the 2006 Frank. You can certainly see all the work that has gone into this remaster when putting the two versions side by side.
Image Source: Capcom via Twinfinite
Also, in keeping with the game’s goofiness is the chance to play as the Willamette Parkview Mall mascot Bee – because who doesn’t want to rampage a zombie horde dressed as a giant bee?
As the bee costume suggests, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster does not disappoint when it comes to the goofiness we all expect and love. The updated graphics are incredible, considering the time between remasters, and the playability is certainly better with the new controls and fully-voiced characters. After playing, even for a short time, it would be hard to imagine going back.
So set your watches. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster will be released on September 19, 2024. For now, why not check out the scarier horror games coming your way in 2024?
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In a news release, Krafton said it “intends to collaborate with Xbox and ZeniMax to ensure a smooth transition and maintain continuity at Tango Gameworks, allowing the talented team to continue developing the Hi-Fi Rush IP and explore future projects.” Krafton added that it “intends to support the Tango Gameworks team to continue its commitment to innovation and delivering fresh and exciting experiences for fans.”
The move from Microsoft to Krafton will not impact Tango’s existing game catalog, which includes The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the original Hi-Fi Rush, the publisher said. Hi-Fi Rush is available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
Tango Gameworks was founded in 2010 by Shinji Mikami. The studio’s first release, The Evil Within, was a survival horror game in the vein of Mikami’s work at Capcom, where he had overseen survival horror games Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and Resident Evil 4 as game director. Tango Gameworks became part of Xbox’s stable of studios when ZeniMax was acquired by Microsoft in 2021. Mikami left Tango in 2023.
The studio found great critical success with Hi-Fi Rush in 2023. The rhythm-action game was a surprise release through Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription, and markedly different from the dark and violent games Tango Gameworks had come to be known for.
Microsoft announced in May that it planned to close three studios under the Bethesda Softworks umbrella: Redfall developer Arkane Austin, Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog Studios, and Tango Gameworks. A fourth studio, Roundhouse Games, had its staff reassigned to other duties.
It’s an almost daily occurrence that gamers talk about the crushing weight of their backlog. Especially considering seasonal price cuts like the Steam Summer Sale, these ballooning libraries of games are not getting any smaller, and have caused games to miss out on some genuinely phenomenal titles.
However, the holiday season is hyped up with upcoming releases from the big three console manufacturers. As such, there are already so many titles – from indie passion projects to AAA blockbusters – that have slipped through the cracks. Through combing through the last half-year of titles, we have crafted a list of the top 15 games that you’ve already slept on in 2024.
15. Alone in the Dark
Image Source: THQ Nordic
Alone in the Dark is a franchise that – despite its unshakeable place in video game history – has struggled to find its own place in the market. Its 1992 3D horror design inspired the likes of Resident Evil. However, Alone in the Dark has been rebooted not once – in 2008 – but now twice, in its 2024 adaptation.
Despite the acting chops of Stranger Things star David Harbour, this title was panned by gamers and critics alike. As such, many gamers seemingly decided to give it a miss. Its so-so combat and slower pace were widely disliked. Beyond that, the core puzzle gameplay of the title was widely seen as the title’s saving grace. However, not even some dastardly challenges could save Alone in the Dark from the clutches of its biggest adversary – instability.
“2024’s iteration of Alone in the Dark is a full reboot of the series, loosely adapting the 1992 original … If the Resident Evil series stuck to the original’s survival horror roots during the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, this is exactly what it would look and play like.”
While the game itself was not perfect, not every game has to be a 10 out of 10 experience. However, the state in which it launched was not even remotely excusable. In the months since its May release, THQ Nordic has released multiple patches for the game. These have not only vastly improved stability but actively tackled almost every bug that plagued the game. Beyond that, features such as a photo mode and New Game+ mode have been added to the game.
What remains is a game that is no longer another botched attempt at reinvigorating a leviathan of the horror genre. Instead, players stand in the wake of a powerful statement about the long-standing quality of this quintessential IP.
With the rise of the ‘Cozy Games’ genre, the blending of rural and urban landscapes of Minami Lane is a perfectly portioned dose of serenity, especially considering its $4.99 price tag.
There are no massive narrative shifts, or overly complex systems in Minami Lane. Instead, you are tasked by an anthropomorphic Tanooki with sprucing up the eponymous street. Due to its slow pace and cutesy charm, it’s understandable that some gamers decided to miss it. Players must choose the stores and stalls that occupy the sidewalk while managing the items they sell. Beyond this, players must also decide on the ramen they serve, and the prices everything goes for.
“As a cozy gamer, I immediately put Minami Lane on my Steam Wishlist due to its Japanese-inspired art style and intricate gameplay mechanics … but this entry goes further by customizing the inventory and pricing of ramen shops, bookstores, and boba cafes.”
All of this is in the constant drive to provide the human inhabitants of Minami Lane with what they want. This is so that players can earn good grades and continue to improve the street. With an Animal Crossing-esque use of twinkling motifs and ambiance, it may be a short experience but it is a chance to stop and take a breather at a little slice of the Japanese vista you can call your own.
With the upcoming high-profile release of another two-word titled IP with Astro in its name – Astro Bot – it’s not surprising that many gamers’ minds immediately went to PlayStation’s cutesy platformer. However, those who are able to peel their eyes away from Sony’s much-hyped upcoming release will find themselves in the pixel-perfect world of Astro Pig – a title gamers shouldn’t miss.
This 2D platformer holds a cutesy yet introspective tone similar to games like Celeste. However, while such titles focus on grueling difficulty, Astro Pig is a game that doesn’t ask much more of you than just letting it naturally move forward.
“A 90’s nostalgia inspired lo-fi adventure with a relaxing atmosphere and wholesome story, paced between tiny planet platforming and puzzle-solving.”
Players are tasked with collecting keys to open up the way forward. Yet, while an increase in the challenge does exist, through new gameplay elements like portals and switches, Astro Pig never even begins to approach hair-pulling levels of frustration.
Circumnavigating the individual push-and-pull of a planetoid’s atmosphere is strikingly similar to what Super Mario Galaxy pulled off in 2007. In this respect, Astro Pig is unashamedly alike. Of course; only if Mario Galaxy was 2D, and had a chiptune lo-fi soundtrack, and the titular plumber was a spacefaring pig.
When the gaming landscape shifted from the fourth to the fifth generation, games turned from 2D experiences to polygonal affairs. It stands to reason then, that if golf enthusiasts hope to inject the sport with more creativity then all that is needed is another dimensional leap.
In that sense, 4D Golf is less of a sports title and more of a puzzle game. The game does include traditional and fictional obstacles to overcome, such as divots and moving surfaces. However, the main roadblock for golfers is navigating the fourth dimension.
“4D Golf is a mind-bending golf game unlike any other because it’s set entirely in a 4-dimensional space. Complete fun and unique golfing challenges as you gain hands-on experience of the 4th dimension and beyond!”
While it may sound overwhelming, Code Parade is well aware of its title’s steep learning curve. As such, it gives the player the ability to easily spot the hole and their own ball through keyboard prompts. As a result, things shouldn’t get too mind-meltingly complicated all at once.
Words simply won’t be able to properly explain the process of playing golf in 4D, but don’t miss out on this reality-bending sports game – especially if playing Golf With Your Friends was starting to become a little samey, then be prepared to take a leap into a new dimension.
KinnikiNeko: Super Muscle Cat is a title that – even just by looking at some key art – you’re already halfway to enjoying its unique charm. Its Sailor Moon-esque intro cinematic is cheesy enough to instill an immediate sense of bonkers enjoyment.
Gamers interact with the anime-inspired world by playing as a blue cat. This eponymous feline can then be transformed from its cat form into that of a glistening bodybuilder. This allows for some genuinely creative platforming design as both styles of play afford varied approaches to levels that complement one another.
“Get ready to enjoy this crazy 2D platformer adventure starring KinnikuNeko! A cat with the body of a bodybuilder who will fight against a big alien army that has invaded planet Earth and captured all its inhabitants.”
Your bulging abs may be competent at prying doors open and boffing enemies. However, you’ll have to transform back into a kitten if you’re to traverse up walls or over plunging chasms. The gameplay is varied enough even just with the two playable forms, but the platforming challenges also give way to autoscrolling levels, rhythm games or even challenging a foe to an arm-wrestle.
Yet, if the anime-inspired absurdity of it all is something you’re not quite sure about, then you’re in luck. Don’t just give it a miss, gamers can play a free demo of the bonkers title that is available on its Steam page.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was not beloved by gamers, as many snuffed their excitement at its adherence to the series’ 2D platforming roots rather than the 3D action-platforming of more recent titles. However, as a AAA experience, it’s seldom going to be lost to time like some of the other titles on this list.
The move of the franchise back to the series’ 2D roots enamored those who played it. The problem is that not many people gave it the time of day, and decided to give it a miss. It may not have been the route many fans wished for the series.
However, its lack of commercial success is a shame, especially as it may impact publisher Ubisoft’s confidence in taking similar creative leaps in the future.
“All in all, the game is a welcomed surprise that still holds onto the original’s core fundamentals. Though it doesn’t look it, it feels like a Prince of Persia game with all of its challenges and unique powers.”
Many 3D Prince of Persia titles forgo much of the series’ puzzle-platforming core in favor of all-out action. In contrast to those third-person titles, effectively every leap in The Lost Crown requires a unique strategy. Retaining the quick loading following a failed jump or combat encounter, the time-warping origins of the series are also still intact for this soft reboot.
As such, if the franchise has ever been of interest to you, and you don’t feel comfortable venturing into the series’ past, then The Lost Crown is a great place in the series to jump into.
It’s a common turn of phrase that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. In the challenge to be the best of 23 other writers vying for the top spot, you’ll find out if you have what it takes.
“24 writers, and you’re one of them. Challenge yourself to become the best writer in the world. Write books, create characters, choose endings, team up with rivals, answer letters from readers, and don’t let other authors beat you!”
In Writer’s Rush, players create their own stories by selecting themes, plot devices, and target audiences from a limited selection. Gamers then rattle through the editing and marketing process to out-sell their competitors.
If you feel like writing a gritty noir mystery set in the Renaissance, then that’s doable. If you want to make it a kid’s book, go ahead. Perhaps there may be a hidden market for a 16th-century Bugsy Malone.
Lil Guardsman is a title that can be succinctly described by just four words; a cutesy Medieval Papers, Please.
Players control 12-year-old protagonist Lil who has taken over her drunkard dad’s place at the guardpost at the city’s border. The game’s silly and metanarrative comedy makes sure that while effectively all you are doing is questioning a selection of fantasy applicants day after day, you’re constantly engaged.
“Question humans, elves, goblins, cyclopes, and other fantasy creatures using your powers of deduction to determine who to admit or deny … but be careful: who you let through the castle gates will determine the kingdom’s fate.”
The hand-drawn aesthetic of the title does a lot to convey who the ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ are. The challenge then comes in using the varied selection of tools at your disposal. You use these to assess what they are telling you and make sure you don’t miss anything.
Despite the laid-back atmosphere, you do have a limit of three questions, so you’ll have to make the best use of them before you need to give a binary yes or no answer.
Although you don’t have to balance resources to keep your family alive like in Papers, Please, there is still plenty to do in between sections of active gameplay. In your downtime, you can traverse the city’s establishments and even enjoy a few minigames on your well-earned time off.
Like Bushido Blade or Nidhogg, First Cut: Samurai Duel is a game where swords are actually as deadly as they should be.
It may, at first, seem like a weird concept to have to spell out. However, in a sea of titles where enemies can sponge multiple high-explosives to the face, it’s a necessary one. Similarly to games like For Honor, you can attack from any direction but if you and your enemy’s blades cross then your attacks are blocked.
While First Cut: Samurai Duel allows you to parry and dodge, the rest is up to you.
“A high-intensity arcade sword-fighting game where every strike is lethal. Slash, clash, parry, dodge and watch limbs fly in the atmosphere of historical feudal Japan. Choose your move carefully – the first cut is also the last.“
It may take some time to get used to the controls, especially as the game is more than happy to just throw you in the deep end. However, the result of mastering the combat is a truly unique and satisfying experience.
Despite the gore seen within the game, it is a genuinely beautiful title. First Cut: Samurai Duel shows just how expressive and emotive pixels can be in the right hands.
If it sounds like a cut above the rest, then the original game, simply named ‘First Cut’ is available free on itch.io. The full game, First Cut: Samurai Duel – can be found on its Steam Store page here.
6. Still Wakes the Deep
Image Source: The Chinese Room
Still Wakes the Deep was a big win for Microsoft. Coming from a massively popular initial reception, they were able to get this much-hyped eldrich-horror game on their Game Pass subscription service day and date with its worldwide release
The title was seen by gamers as a particularly competent title, with some genuinely spine-chilling environmental storytelling. However, Still Wakes the Deep did struggle to keep its pace moving. While players were seemingly engaged in their first run-through, the title didn’t provide much reason to return to it.
“It’s a great sign that even without the monsters, the game would still stand on its own two feet … you’ll find yourself revisiting some areas over and over again, but the gradual destruction of the Beroa means they often feel unfamiliar.”
The Lovecraftian horrors of the rig, along with the deafening isolation of the North Sea create a Bioshock-like atmosphere. Alongside the Scots tongue of many of its characters, it retains its place as one of the most engaging titles of the last half-year. However, it’s just a shame that not so many gamers have engaged with it as perhaps should have.
It appears that the 2020s are seemingly a hallmark decade ear for claymation to make a comeback. On the feature-film side of things, Aardman is back in the creative pipeline with releases like Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, and a new Wallace and Gromit film coming this year.
A similar amount of creativity and passion is on display from Slow Bros. in their claymation game, Harold Halibut. Although this project is, of course, in interactive form.
“a handmade narrative game … Harold Halibut takes place in a city-sized spaceship that left Earth 250 years ago, but is now stuck underwater on an alien world … also, that part about the game being handmade is pretty literal, as the clay-looking in-game models were actually created by hand”
The slow pace and fixed angles of Harold Halibut are akin to the very best scenes of The Grand Budapest Hotel and Fantastic Mr Fox. Light puzzles and interactivity are the name of the game, as the dense atmosphere of the title starts to unravel around the player.
After escaping a desolate Earth, humanity has crash-landed on a new planet with a choking atmosphere. Yet, after 250 years, tightly wound order starts to fall apart and show the cracks beneath.
There are too many games to count that are absolutely superb experiences that would be a shame to be missed. However, a game that mixes genres and introduces multiple playable instances of the player-character in real-time? Well, that’s definitely something to talk about.
Timemelters isn’t just a third-person defense game, an army-builder, or a time-bending experiment gone wild. It’s all of these things and more.
Set in 16th-century Scotland, where many innocent women were being rounded up and tried for the crime of supposedly being witches, Timemelters doesn’t leave its narrative behind in its dedication to its gameplay. Although, its gameplay is certainly the central focus of the experience.
“a strategy and hero defense hybrid game that allows you to unleash the power within and become a time-warping witch … rewind time and fight alongside yourself, not as an AI, but in a fully deterministic fashion. Plan out truly custom strategies and play to your own style!”
Players can create instances of themselves to distract enemies while your past itself attacks them as they run. Beyond that, players can shift genre from a third-person title. By floating above the battlefield, gamers can bring trees and elemental spirits to life to protect characters or settlements. As such, gameplay changes on a dime to be more akin to a 4X strategy title like Total War.
Considering Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II‘s development team, Ninja Theory, is a Microsoft-owned Xbox Games Studio, to call this game even remotely indie would be a lie. However, it’s seemingly nigh-on impossible that so few people have played this title when it had the opportunity to be played by millions of Game Pass users. It’s extremely disheartening that its AAA release has seemingly just moved right past a vast swathe of them.
As arguably the most graphically impressive title in the video game industry this generation, Hellblade II needs to be seen to be believed. Its slow pace and focus on character and atmosphere may not be for everyone. However, its critical and user reception has been that of admiration and adoration.
As with the first game, audio is – once again – a pivotal sense in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. The Furies are voices in Senua’s head, however, they constantly create shades of doubt and self-loathing in the original game. It seems that they too have even matured for the sequel; they not only provide context-dependent combat notification but apply their multi-voiced narration to almost everything Senua sees or does.
“Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is intense, captivating, and breathtaking. From the moment I began to play, the beauty and quality of this game has enthralled me. It was difficult at times to even consider it ‘just a game’.”
Read Only Memories: Neurodiver is not just a visual novel with puzzle elements, as its genre is almost the least important aspect you can use to describe it.
It’s a visually stunning game with a cyberpunk aesthetic straight out of something like Neon Genesis: Evangelion or Ghost in the Shell. In keeping with this inspiration, many of the core themes of the cyberpunk genre are here, with conversations surrounding body modification, personal freedom, and technological evolution.
“2064: Read Only Memories looked beautiful too, but the next installment features even more detail than the first … this simultaneously gives Read Only Memories: Neurodiver a retro and modern art feel to it, making for some really unique visuals.”
Read Only Memories: Neurodiver lets gamers take control of a psychic detective. In this role, players are tasked with, jumping into memories and combing through the witness’ innermost thoughts. In them, you scour for the truth hidden behind layers of mental blockage.
The cyberpunk, anime-inspired narrative throughline is engaging and has as many twists and turns along the way. While there are enigmatic antagonistic forces at play, they hardly steal the limelight as Read Only Memories: Neurodiver is a game that is as audibly and visually engaging as its genre-defining inspiration.
Point-and-clickhorror is not a niche genre, and not a style of game that ever seems to struggle with creating dark, twisted atmospheres around their slowly maligning narratives.
With a tone and theming similar to other Brothers Grimm-inspired stories, Tales From Candleforth tasks gamers with controlling Sarah. At 16 years old, Sarah is tasked with keeping the family apothecary afloat when her grandmother goes missing. As Tales From Candleforth is imagined as the starting block from which a series of macabre tales are bound, of course, things start to go awry.
“Tales from Candleforth is a collection of fairy tales that were written on top of a forbidden book many years ago to hide its content. Years later, the dark text is bleeding out and onto the pages of the tales, mixing with them and twisting the stories.”
A hauntingly catchy orchestral soundtrack and some genuinely head-scratching puzzles flesh out the gameplay and atmosphere of the title. However, in the end, the priority was clearly on atmosphere and gameplay. In this respect, Tales From Candleforth succeeds valiantly.
As Sarah slowly unravels the world around her, she ventures into the depths of the occult and comes out scarred but stronger from her ordeal.
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One of the more notable missing elements from the Harry Potter prequel game Hogwarts Legacy was the high-flying sport of quidditch. Publisher Warner Bros. Games will address that exclusion later this year with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, a new single-player and online competitive multiplayer game based on the wizarding sport.
Developer Unbroken Games revealed the first gameplay from its Harry Potter quidditch video game this week, showing off some familiar faces, like Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. There’s also a glimpse of multiple arenas, including the Quidditch World Cup Stadium.
Quidditch enthusiasts will also be able to create the young wizard of their choice. Unbroken Games shows off the Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions character creator in the video above, highlighting the choices in houses, clothing, broomsticks, and more. Publisher WB Games says there are “no plans for microtransactions in the game at this time,” which hopefully means what you see is what you’ll get, forever.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions will be released digitally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Sept. 3. A physical deluxe edition will be available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X on Nov. 8. A Nintendo Switch version is also coming, and will be released sometime this holiday season, WB Games says.
PlayStation Plus subscribers will get Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (and a Firebolt Supreme Broom Skin) as part of September 2024’s downloadable games. The game will be available to keep from Sept. 3-30, if you have an active PS Plus membership of any tier.
Sometimes, turning a linear game into an open world just makes sense. Whether it’s Elden Ring or Breath of the Wild, plenty of franchises have found that their core gameplay loops map well to an open world iteration. With Elden Ring, you can disperse the intense FromSoft difficulty across a map that invites players to “git gud” at their own pace. With Breath of the Wild, the entire world is now a dungeon, every hill and valley a puzzle. Playing both, it almost feels as though each franchise and its mechanics were just waiting to be spread across a sprawling map. They just feel right.
By contrast, Isles of Sea and Sky, an open-world Sokoban game, isn’t quite as obvious a fit. But just because something isn’t immediately obvious doesn’t mean it won’t work.
Released in late May, Cicada Games’s Isles of Sea and Sky employs Game Boy Color-era Zelda aesthetics in pursuit of a genre mashup that produces harmony and dissonance in equal parts. The game makes a great first impression. It evokes that feeling of playing Link’s Awakening DX (pre-remake), to the point where you’d be forgiven for mistaking one of Isles’ beaches for Awakening’s. Moving from screen to screen is a nostalgic joy, with a Vocaloid-infused soundtrack that imbues the game with even more personality, which is good, because at its core, open world or no, this is a Sokoban-ass Sokoban game.
You will push blocks in Isles of Sea and Sky. You will push many, many standard-issue blocks into standard-issue holes, allowing you to cross over those holes in order to push more blocks. You will also push things that aren’t blocks, like little boulder dudes (definitely not Gorons) who roll as far as they can in the direction you push them, crushing any boxes they encounter. Or little water guys, who can extend riverways if you push them downstream. The puzzles start simply, easing you into the game’s increasing difficulty one screen at a time, until eventually you find yourself stumped. And, in being stumped, you will find yourself pushing up against the contradictions inherent to Isles’ mixture of freedom and linearity.
Image: Cicada Games
One of the pleasures of Sokoban games is the underlying conceit that, though you may feel frustrated by an individual puzzle, you always have the necessary abilities to get through the level. Each stage is then simply a matter of thinking and working through what things you have tried and not yet tried. You’re stuck, sure, but you’re not lacking anything you need to achieve the solution.
Not so in Isles of Sea and Sky. Early on, you will be presented with puzzles you are not yet able to complete until you unlock a new ability. While plenty of games include this kind of lock-and-key design, where you must first unlock an ability before you can access certain areas, this runs contrary to genre expectations for Sokoban titles. Going into Isles, the player might reasonably expect that, if they’re stuck, they just need to keep trying different solutions. Such a mentality will get you through similar games like Baba Is You or A Monster’s Expedition. The solution is there. You just need to keep at it. By contrast, in Isles, you are often meant to move on, to travel elsewhere in the game’s map and overworld. In short, you are meant to give up when you get frustrated.
At first, I found myself stymied by this dynamic. How am I meant to know when I am failing to understand a puzzle versus lacking the ability to solve it? When is my frustration an intended element of the solution and when is it futile? To its immense credit, Isles goes out of its way to reduce some of this frustration by allowing the player, at any point, to rewind their actions step-by-step, or to reset the entire puzzle, each with the press of a button. But you cannot rewind the real-life time you are putting into the game. You cannot undo the minutes spent bashing your head against the wall, stubbornly trying to solve something you are simply unable to solve. Encountering this, I found myself asking why anyone would design a game in this way, when they must know that players will get stuck like this.
That’s when it hit me. They know players will get stuck like this.
Full disclosure: I can be a bit stubborn. I like to think of myself as a creative problem-solver, but my general approach is to stick to something until it’s done. This can be a good trait (sticktoitiveness and all that), but it can also be a problem (see: my description above of bashing my head against the wall). Traditional Sokoban titles are designed with this kind of player in mind — someone like myself, who will spend hours trying out different things until finally they figure something out. The folks at Cicada Games clearly love this genre, as is evident by the sheer number and variety of puzzles they’ve crammed into Isles, but what they clearly don’t love is that feeling of being stuck without any recourse, of being unable to move on.
Not to quote a meme, but to quote a meme: Isles of Sea and Sky is here to say “Just Walk Out. You Can Leave!!!” What began for me as a frustration with the game turned into a bit of self-reflection when I stopped to consider why, exactly, I felt the need to stay frustrated, when, at any point, I could simply leave, or, to quote our generation’s preeminent philosopher dasharez0ne, “hit da bricks!!!” Sure, there are some areas you cannot access before completing at least a certain number of puzzles, but in general, you can well and truly leave behind most anything that’s too frustrating in Isles and find something you’d rather be doing. The challenge, at least in my case, was in allowing myself to do so.
As I’ve argued, Sokoban games are not an obvious fit for an open world iteration. Their inherent linearity rubs up against a style of game best known for its variety and, well, openness. The focus required of the player feels categorically different than the desirable distraction of asking, “What’s over that hill?” With Isles of Sea and Sky, specifically, there’s an immediate dissonance between how you expect to play a block-pushing puzzle game and how you’re meant to play this block-pushing puzzle game. But dissonance can resolve into consonance, to harmony and stability, and in Isles’ case, you’re pushed not only toward accepting limitation, but toward the inclination to free yourself.
For me, it was difficult, at first, to see moving on as a valid strategy, having become so accustomed to the habit of pushing through mental blocks, both in Sokoban titles and in life. But once I did, I found that mentality extending beyond the game. Is stubbornness helping or hurting here? Do I have to sit in this feeling? Why do I think of moving on as giving up?
In the end, I was happy to play a game that inspired this kind of self-reflection. Isles of Sea and Sky challenged me to take a step back, to reassess, and to move on. Maybe it’ll do the same for you.
Isles of Sea and Sky was released May 22 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed with code provided by Cicada Games. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
The mercury is rising, but Humble is providing the ideal way to beat the heat.
Through July 25, Humble is offering discounts on a variety of AAA and indie games with its Heatwave of Hits sale. Titles include Dragon’s Dogma 2, Cult of the Lamb, Resident Evil 4, and more. There are dozens of games to choose from, but if you need some suggestions, we’ve highlighted some of our favorites below.
Image: Ironwood Studios
If you ever wondered what it might be like taking a road trip through the Upside Down from Stranger Things, you should definitely check out Pacific Drive. Pacific Drive is currently on sale for $17.99 at Humble (was $29.99).
Image: Hooded Horse
A bold title that blends elements of city-building and real-time strategy with roguelite elements, Against the Stormdistills the typical marathon of management sims into two-hour sessions. This title is currently on sale for $18.99 from Humble (was $29.99).
Image: Devolver Digital
Sniping a bunch of unsuspecting targets can get a bit tricky when you only have one bullet. Children of the Sun lets you artfully string together headshots by curving your bullets, allowing you to eliminate several foes with one sublime shot. Children of the Sun is on sale for $11.99 at Humble (was $14.99).
Image: Devolver Digital
Pepper Grinder combines a vivid, and deliciously chunky aesthetic with innovative and fluid movement to produce what is easily the best platformer of 2024. You can pick up this title for just $11.99 at Humble right now (was $14.99).
Image: Mimimi Games
Take control of an undead crew of pirates as you attempt to stealthily shank and shiv your way across the Caribbean. This stealth tactics game is witty, charming, and full of interesting tactical puzzles for your to dissect. You can pick up Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew from Humble for $29.99 (was $39.99).
Image: Hadoque
With every frame looking like a living blacklight poster, Ultros is perhaps the artistic antithesis of Hollow Knight. If you’re hunting for another awesome Metroidvania to tide you over until we get more Hollow Knight: Silksong news, you should take Ultros for a spin. You can pick up this title from Humble for $14.99 (was $24.99).
Attention, gamers! It’s Amazon Prime Day, which means it’s your time to grab all the goodies. Amazon Australia has launched its longest Prime Day ever, running from July 16 to July 21. That’s six full days of unbeatable savings, exclusively for Prime Members. If you’re all about scoring amazing deals on top brands, this event is your ultimate treasure hunt. Below, find the best Amazon Prime Day gaming deals to shop right now.
Ready to level up your gaming setup? Well, now’s your chance. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a casual adventurer, Amazon Prime Day 2024 is packed with incredible discounts. Snag that new console you’ve been eyeing, upgrade your gear, or stock up on the latest titles – all at unbeatable prices.
We’ve got the lowdown on the hottest deals across consoles, PCs, VR headsets, games, accessories, and more.
The cat’s finally out of the bag; eight years since the world was treated to a colorful and entertaining world of theme park management and roller-coaster building with Planet Coaster, Frontier Developments has finally unveiled the highly-anticipated sequel. The appropriately titled Planet Coaster 2 has had plenty of time to gestate, and from what we saw as part of a hands-off preview with the developers, the ultimate coaster park experience has found a way to whet the appetite of aspiring park owners even more.
Image Source: Frontier Developments
That’s primarily down to the addition of all-new water park gameplay, giving players yet another dimension of thrills and spills to oversee as part of their purview. If the depth of the simulation was impressive before, with all sorts of rides and amenities to keep your guests happy, then there is even more to look forward to when water is involved.
There was a quaint sense of nostalgia as we saw what looked like a typical theme park, before we panned over to a towering waterslide with eager parkgoers queuing to land with a splash. With even more attractions to pick from, players will be pleased to know that plotting these rides down remains an easy and intuitive experience. Everything that worked with land rides will translate over to the underlying systems for the new addition, and if you are thinking of coasters that make water a core element, you are in the right place; just make sure you have those new changing rooms and lifeguards on duty to prevent any mishaps.
As senior executive producer Adam Woods shared with Twinfinite, the water park elements were a “natural progression” for the game, increasing not just the “fun” involved in management but also all the “strategic challenges” that players will face as they engage in the various modes of the game. It is always fun and games when you have new rides to play with, but with power and cleanliness just some of the factors to take into consideration, smart management is always the preferred option.
Image Source: Frontier Developments
It remains to be seen just how expansive the selection of new rides would be, but one thing’s for sure, Planet Coaster 2 remains committed to the idea of allowing players to stretch their imaginations and creativity, be it in replicating real-life parks or creating their dream parks of endless amusement, something that Woods was keen to emphasize. As big fans of the various theme parks, it remains a surreal experience for the team to be able to use their tools to bring these inspirations to life within the context of the game, and for their loved ones to enjoy the fruits of their labor and be equally impressed.
Anyone who has tried creating aesthetically pleasing paths and found themselves suffering will also be glad to know that Frontier Developments has heard the pleas, with enhanced pathing tools making it possible to create the kinds of plazas that we have all probably stepped on in reality. Gone are the days of isolated rides that guests will find it difficult to get to, and the less grass or sand I see, the better it is. And the excitement doesn’t just stop with plazas.
The amount of customizability showcased by the team places the power firmly in the player’s hands. You could easily get by with just the stock rides and decorations, but for those really into making things your own, there is little room for disappointment. Almost every aspect of the park and the rides themselves can be tweaked and adjusted, with the latter in particular getting plenty of love and attention.
Image Source: Frontier Developments
With every base ride, players can play around with colors, set decorations, and even constructs of their own making, selling a truly immersive experience for park visitors where every single piece of the ride can be changed. You can top it all off with the enhanced event sequencer tool, putting together unforgettable displays that can include the use of animatronics, fireworks, smoke, and more, all timed to your specifications.
“As we showed during the demo, we are giving players all the tools to unleash their imagination in Planet Coaster 2. Building has never been easier with the intuitive system of putting things together piece by piece, and the added themes are only the tip of the iceberg, as you can customize further to create a truly unique ride experience,” said Woods. Players will definitely have a great time with what’s already in the game when it comes to authentic and inspired rides, but this added freedom to make things truly their own takes things to another level.
All of the new bells and whistles, as well as the overall quality-of-life improvements being made for the sequel, can be enjoyed in three different game modes. Career mode will remain the de facto way of easing players in and putting them in various situations to challenge them, while Franchise mode lets players take the first steps in establishing a global park network. Lastly, being able to go all out in Sandbox mode will only lead to epic parks.
Image Source: Frontier Developments
Set for an Autumn 2024 release, Planet Coaster 2 looks to be every bit the sequel fans want and more. The very idea of having water parks cross over with their on-land counterparts will undoubtedly create a new synergy, and elevate what has already been an impressive management simulator to the next level. And with more to come from the team at Frontier Developments, we are definitely excited and strapped in for the ride
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To earn the “Timely Assistance Medal IV,” Officer Mewmew tells you to investigate a “suspicious shadow” byWaterfall Soup at night in Zenless Zone Zero. However, there are two nighttime options to pick from, and the target only appears during one of them.
Below, we explain where to find this suspicious shadow in Zenless Zone Zero.
How to find the ‘suspicious shadow’ at Waterfall Soup
The time will need to be set to evening (the symbol with the moon, not the moon and cloud) to find our target. You can change the time by resting on the sofa or by clicking/tapping the time in the top left and selecting “rest.” If you’ve already rested that day, you can spend some time in the Hollow Deep Dive System or Combat Simulations to make more time pass. Completing side quests will also make time pass.
Once it’s evening, head over to Waterfall Soup (the ramen shop pictured at the top of this post) to find a Treasure Hunter Bangboo chilling on the side behind the delivery moped. Interact with it, solve the puzzle, and that’s all you need to do to fulfill Officer Mewmew’s objective.
For your efforts, you’ll get 10 Polychrome, one W-engine power supply, and 5,000 Denny.
Hoyoverse just wrapped up theGenshin Impactversion 4.8 preview livestream, showing off all sorts of details about the upcoming patch. Most importantly, there were several codes that award Primogems and other rewards shown during the stream.
Our Genshin Impact 4.8 livestream code list provides you with the three stream codes for rewards and explains how to redeem them.
It’s summertime! So that means the next Genshin Impact patch will be the massive summer event, where there’s a limited time map, new skins for Nilou and Kirara, and — if it follows the same pattern as previous summer events — a hint about the upcoming region, Natlan. The stream also showed off Emilie, an upcoming Dendro character who will make her debut in version 4.8.
Genshin Impact version 4.8 livestream codes
The codes are as follows:
You’ll want to redeem these codes quickly, as they expire on July 6 at 12 a.m. EDT.
They not only reward Primogems, but they also give Mora and Adventurer’s EXP to level up your characters.
How to redeem Genshin Impact gift codes
To redeem codes, you can log in and input them on the code redemption website. You can also input them in-game through the settings menu, but copy and pasting them in a browser is much easier. You can also click the links above, if you’re logged in on whatever device you’re seeing this post on.
Once you redeem the codes, you’ll get the rewards via in-game mail shortly after that.
The Abyssal Woods from Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is a land of horrors and madness. Frenzied Flame followers inhabit the woods and nightmarish creatures skulk about. It can be quite tricky to reach as you’ll need to do a bit of exploration, but should you find its entrance, you’ll be warned to turn back whence you came.
Should you heed their warnings and retreat? Or should you continue on face the madness? Read on to find out how to get to the Abyssal Woods in Elden Ring.
How to get to the Abyssal Woods in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
To find the Abyssal Woods, you’ll first need to reach the Ruins of Unte, which is hidden behind an illusionary wall in the Shadow Keep.
Graphic: Johnny Yu | Source images: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Jeffrey Parkin
Starting from the Storehouse, First Floor Site of Grace, head down the elevator behind you, which will lead you back towards the main gate of the Shadow Keep.
Defeat or run past the Fire Knight, and turn to the left towards the golden boats. On the left side of the path, you’ll find a ladder leading down to a lower level of the Shadow Keep. Climb down the ladder and walk into the waterfall to reveal a hidden space.
Graphic: Johnny Yu | Source images: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Johnny Yu
Go down the ladder ahead of you and follow the path to find a room with the “Domain of Dragons” painting. On the southwestern wall, you’ll spot two torches and a seemingly ordinary wall between them. Hit the space between the two torches to reveal an illusionary wall.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Johnny Yu
Follow the path to find a stone coffin that will take you to the Castle Watering Hole Site of Grace.
From the Castle Watering Hole Site of Grace, head southeast to find a pathway along the rockface, which has the Recluses’ River Upstream Site of Grace. Follow the path and jump over the gaps until you can cross over to the path on your right.
Graphic: Johnny Yu | Source images: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
Continue along the path and drop off the southern end to find the Recluses’ River Downstream Site of Grace. Look over the eastern edge of the cliff to find gravestones that lead to the bottom of the waterfall. Hop your way to the bottom and head southeast to find another set of gravestones at the edge of the cliff.
Graphic: Johnny Yu | Source images: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
Make your way to the bottom of the cliff and cut through the woods to the east to find the entrance to the Darklight Catacombs. Progress through the Darklight Catacombs and defeat Jori, Elder Inquisitor to make it to the Abyssal Woods.
At first, Thiollier is just a vendor for poison-related items, but his full story — along with St. Trina’s — will take the rest of your time in the Shadow Realm to play out.
Our Elden Ring DLC guide will walk you through where to find Thiollier and St. Trina, and all the steps you’ll need to take to complete their questline.
Thiollier and St. Trina locations
You’ll meet Thiollier first near the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace in Gravesite Plain. You can reach him there before you take on Castle Ensis.
Later, after you enter Shadow Keep, you’ll be able to find St. Trina in the Cerulean Coast at the Garden of Deep Purple Site of Grace, and Thiollier will move to be with her there.
Thiollier first meeting in Graveyard Plain
There’s not really a rush to go find Thiollier at his initial location by Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace, but, since his questline overlaps with Moore’s, it’s probably best to get that initial meeting out of the way early before things get complicated. You can get there before tackling Castle Ensis by crossing Ellac Greatbridge, and then just taking the right inside the solider camp.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
Once you reach the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace and Miquella’s Cross, chat with Thiollier and exhaust his dialogue.
Check in with Moore after meeting Thiollier
After you have your first talk with Thiollier, head back to the Main Gate Cross Site of Grace in front of Belurat. Check in with Moore and talk to him, and he’ll give you some Black Syrup for Thiollier.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
Head across to Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace to give the Black Syrup and then ask about the Black Syrup. Choose I’m tired of life next, and Thiollier will hand you Thiollier’s Concoction. This is an item you’ll use with the Dragon Communion Priestess on Igon’s questline.
Break the great rune (and the charm)
Before you can make any more progress, you need to break a great rune that’s blocking your path. You probably haven’t even seen it yet, but it’s time to get it out of the way.
To break it, you need to approachShadow Keep. Just before you reach the front door, you’ll get a pair of messages — “Somewhere, a great rune has broken…” and “And so too has a powerful charm.” These both generally relate to Miquella and the NPCs you’ve met so far. For Thiollier and St. Trina specifically, the great rune was blocking a path you’ll need to head to now.
Reach the Stone Coffin Fissure and defeat the Putrescent Knight
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
All the way at the southern tip of the Southern Shores, there’s a fissure you can climb (fall) down. That’s your next stop. At the bottom, you’ll find the The Fissure Site of Grace at the entrance to the Cerulean Coast and the Stone Coffin Fissure — this is where the rune we broke was blocking your progress.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco
A bit further along, you’ll face the Putrescent Knight and unlock the Garden of Deep Purple Site of Grace. Once you do, you’ll be right near where St. Trina has been hiding.
Head into the tunnel by the Garden of Deep Purple Site of Grace to meet St. Trina. She’s not very talkative. Don’t do anything with her yet. Instead, leave and then go check in with Thiollier.
Tell Thiollier about St. Trina’s whereabouts
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
Go back to the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace and speak with Thiollier. Tell him St. Trina’s whereabouts, and he’ll relocate.
Imbibe the nectar
The next part of their questline is a little confusing (and dark). Head back to the Garden of Deep Purple and go chat with Thiollier.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
Ignore his warnings, and go talk to St. Trina. When you have the option, choose to imbibe nectar. Just like Thiollier said, this will kill you immediately. That’s the plan, though, so trust the process.
Keep respawning at the site of grace and then imbibing the nectar over and over — four times in a row — until you start hearing St. Trina’s voice on the black screen before you respawn.
Defeat Thiollier
Once you hear St. Trina’s words, head back and try to pass the message on to Thiollier. It’ll take two tries, and he won’t be receptive.
Imbibe the nectar (and die) again. You’ll hear a bit more from St. Trina in the darkness.
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
When you respawn, you’ll get invaded by Thiollier. Defeat him to pick up the St. Trina’s Smile talisman.
Pass on St. Trina’s words
Head into the cave and talk to Thiollier again. Drink the nectar again. Die again.
This time, when you respawn and speak to him again, Thiollier will finally hear you out. Pass on St. Trina’s words to him.
Burn the Sealing Tree
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
St. Trina and Thiollier’s questline won’t come to an end for a while. You’ll have to finish Shadow Keep, cross the Rauh Ruins, defeat Romina, Saint of the Bud at the Church of the Bud, and then finally use Messmer’s Kindling to burn the Sealing Tree.
That will open the Tower of Shadow and teleport you to the Enir-Ilim: Outer Wall Site of Grace in Enir-Ilim. Before you explore too far, though, it’s time to check in on Thiollier one last time.
Talk to Thiollier
Head back to the Garden of Deep Purple and talk to Thiollier — he won’t have much to say. Imbibe St. Trina’s nectar again, hear what she has to say now, and then return to Thiollier.
He probably still won’t have anything to say, but this will ensure you can summon him for…
Summon Thiollier to fight Leda and her allies
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
After you make it all the way through all of Enir-Ilim, you’ll come to a large arena where you face off against Needle Knight Leda and her allies — Redmane Freyja, Dryleaf Dane, and, possibly, Sir Moore.
You can summon Thiollier and, if you’ve followed his questline, Sir Ansbach to aid you in the fight.
Thiollier’s fight isn’t over yet.
Summon Thiollier for the final boss fight
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
After defeating Leda, you’ll make your way up to the Divine Gate for the game’s final boss fight. Before you step through the fog wall, there will (might) be summon signs for your allies, Ansbach and Thiollier.
No matter how the fight goes down, rest at the new Gate of Divinity Site of Grace. After, you’ll find Thiollier dead nearby where you can pick up Thiollier’s Hidden Needle and Thiollier’s set of armor. (Ansbach may be here as well.)
Receive St. Trina’s Blossom
Image: FromSoftware/Bandai Namco via Polygon
With the fight done, head back to the Garden of the Purple Deep one last time. You’ll find St. Trina dead as well, but she left you the St. Trina’s Blossom (quite fetching) headgear.
Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree DLC poses one big question, the type of earthshaking query that can rattle the philosophical foundation of any gamer’s mindset: “What if Elden Ring, but more?”
In truth, you’re the only person who can answer that question for yourself. But if you’ve played a bunch of the base game — and hit all the pre-requisites for accessing the DLC — one look at Shadow of the Erdtree is likely enough impetus to sigh, sit down, and recognize it’s time to do it all again.
As with all things Elden Ring, there’s no need to brave this expansion alone. Start with our guide on the recommended level for Shadow of the Erdtree, then see what to do first in the Elden Ring DLC, or get lost in our interactive map. From there, if you find yourself stuck on any of the byzantine legacy dungeons, check out our walkthroughs for Belurat, Castle Ensis, and Shadow Keep.
Yes, “more Elden Ring” might sound like a daunting proposition. But Shadow of the Erdtree retains one quality that made the base game such a standout: It’s way easier (and way more fun) when you phone a friend.
Last week, I posited that the Xbox showcase on June 9 would be the most important in the history of Microsoft’s gaming division. If it wasn’t, that could be because this slick prerecorded show couldn’t possibly compete for historical impact with, for example, the garbage fire that was the 2013 Xbox One reveal event, or the bungled E3 show that followed it. It was confident and smooth in its orchestration, impressive in a way that was almost calming after the awkward anticlimax of Summer Game Fest two days earlier. But it was still immensely significant: for its indication of the seismic publishing power Microsoft now holds, for the questions it answered about Xbox’s future, and for the questions it didn’t.
In fact, the two most telling bits of news emerged outside the boundaries of the show itself. The first was the confirmation, more than a week before the show, that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6will be released on Game Pass on day one. The second, which was not mentioned by Microsoft during its showcase but slipped out in a press release alongside it, is that Doom: The Dark Ages (one of the biggest first-party reveals of the event) is also coming to PlayStation 5.
Between them, these two facts spell out Microsoft’s strategy quite clearly: Game Pass is everything, and Xbox consoles aren’t. Microsoft is doubling down hard on its subscription service, and bringing its new, almost terrifying might as a game publisher to bear on the Game Pass catalog. But the company had little to say about Xbox hardware, and its attitude to console exclusivity for Microsoft-owned games remains ambivalent at best.
Doom: The Dark Ages’ PS5 version was quietly the most significant news of the night.Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
After the shock release of four former Xbox exclusives on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch earlier this year, many Xbox fans were looking to Sunday’s showcase for explicit reassurance that Microsoft was still investing in Xbox consoles by getting its vast army of first-party studios to make exclusive games for them. That reassurance did not come. In fact, Xbox console exclusivity was not mentioned once. The words “coming to Xbox Series X and PC” appeared as much at the end of trailers for games in storied Xbox franchises like Fable and Gears of War as they did for multiplatform releases from third-party publishers like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There was no attempt at differentiation on this score.
Reports indicate that Microsoft has “no red line” internally when it comes to which of its games it will consider for release on other platforms, and the wording (or lack of it) used on Sunday shows that the company is keen to keep its options open. It’s striking that Microsoft chose to open the showcase with two heavy hitters that’ll be available on PlayStation: Black Ops 6, which was already slated for PS5 (per Microsoft’s Call of Duty deal with Sony), and Doom: The Dark Ages, which wasn’t.
The Dark Ages’ PS5 release is a clue to how Microsoft intends to handle exclusivity in the short term, at least as far as games from Bethesda, Activision, and Blizzard are concerned. Speaking to IGN after the showcase aired, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said, “Doom is definitely one of those franchises that has a history of so many platforms. It’s a franchise that I think everyone deserves to play. When I was in a meeting with Marty [Stratton, id Software studio director] a couple years ago, I asked Marty what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to sell it on all platforms. Simple as that.”
Spencer’s explanation — as well as Microsoft’s handling of Minecraft — suggests that Microsoft does not intend to make previously multiplatform game series exclusive. It’s a strong indication that Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 6, for one, will get a PlayStation release. For everything else, it’s an open question. It might seem unthinkable that Gears of War: E-Day or Fable will come out on PS5, but nothing said (or unsaid) on Sunday indicates that that’s off the table.
Microsoft is keen to ram home Game Pass’ value to subscribers.Image: Xbox
As far as Game Pass goes, however, Microsoft could not have been more emphatic. “Play it day one with Game Pass,” boomed the stinger on the end of trailer after trailer after trailer. Of the 30 games, expansions, and updates featured in Sunday’s showcase, 20 will go straight to Game Pass. Of those 20 Game Pass titles, 13 come from Microsoft-owned studios; nine are scheduled to debut in 2024, eight in 2025, and three have no release windows yet.
Call of Duty, Doom, Gears of War, State of Decay, Perfect Dark, Fable, Indiana Jones, STALKER, Flight Simulator, Avowed… all coming to Game Pass as soon as they’re released. There are blockbuster shooters and role-playing games, strategy and sim games, wistful indies, and, thanks to partnerships with companies like Kepler Interactive and Rebellion, a good helping of AA Eurojank (perhaps the ideal kind of Game Pass game).
In a way, it’s more illustrative to look at what from the showcase won’t be coming to Game Pass. Those 10 titles include big third-party franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Assassin’s Creed; a handful of smaller third-party games; and expansions for Starfield, Diablo 4, The Elder Scrolls Online, and World of Warcraft. Selling DLC for Game Pass-included titles like Starfield, Diablo 4, and TES Online is a big part of the Game Pass business model, so you could still consider those titles under the Game Pass umbrella. (World of Warcraft is the outlier here as the only Microsoft-owned game featured that isn’t on Game Pass at all — and indeed, the only one not available on Xbox consoles.)
If Microsoft has doubts about the commercial viability of console-exclusive releases in the long term, it certainly doesn’t seem to have those doubts about Game Pass. With subscriber numbers seeming to have plateaued (according to Microsoft’s rarely released figures), and with the presumed considerable loss of revenue resulting from rolling a guaranteed seller like Black Ops 6 into a subscription service, many were wondering if Microsoft’s “Netflix for games” approach made economic sense. It’s possible that this debate has been ongoing in Microsoft until recently: Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch told Game File’s Stephen Totilo “it wasn’t that long ago” that the studio was informed that the game would launch on Game Pass. But taken as a whole, the showcase was a resounding vote of confidence in the service, and an indication that it will go on to provide great value to subscribers through 2025 and beyond.
New Xbox console variants with more storage were announced with little fanfare.Image: Xbox
After its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is now the third-biggest gaming company in the world by revenue — and arguably the biggest in terms of intellectual property and publishing might. Sunday’s showcase demonstrated quite convincingly how it intends to fill those massive boots: dozens of solid-looking games in famous, fan-favorite franchises, stretching far into the future. Quality and quantity. The surprise inclusion of a few long-gestating titles that had reportedly been stuck in development hell, like Perfect Dark and State of Decay 3, seemed like a pointed message that Microsoft can be trusted to keep all these projects on track, despite its spotty record in studio management.
But Xbox hardware only got the briefest mention, in the form of three new console configurations and a promise that “we’re hard at work on the next generation.” The rumored handheld announcement did not materialize. And exclusivity remains a glaring open question.
Regarding Microsoft’s position in the broader game industry, it seems we have our answer: It’s now a publisher first, a subscription platform second, and a console hardware platform a distant third.
We are so back. And by “we,” I mean video games. At a half-dozen slickly produced promotional events over the next week, games will be teased in the form of captivating cinematic trailers with promises to push the medium forward.
The annual Summer Game Fest extravaganza, host Geoff Keighley’s replacement for E3, kicks off the promotional activities on Friday, June 7. The rest of the weekend is also filled with similar hours-long events from Xbox, Activision, Ubisoft, Devolver Digital, and other organizers who have rallied smaller, indie-created games for a combined show of force.
There’s an expectation that the annual parade of trailers for exciting new games will include plenty of games that won’t be out for many months, if not years, after their unveilings. To be clear, that happens every year. And I’m here to remind you that there are countless unreleased games that were announced with gusto at similar events in years past — some of which have slipped from the public consciousness, and we’re convinced that if they don’t show up in a meaningful way over the next couple weeks, it’s so over.*
*It’s not really over, especially given the volatile state of the video game industry. But we’re getting pretty worried/impatient about the following games and honestly hope they show up, look great, and will be critical and commercial successes — all of them.
Monolith’s Wonder Woman game
Announced in 2021, developer Monolith Productions promised to bring its patented Nemesis System from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor to a game based on Wonder Woman. We were excited about it, even with the taste of Wonder Woman 1984 relatively fresh in our mouths, but haven’t heard a peep about the game since then. DC’s approach to video games based on its characters has changed since the announcement of Wonder Woman, and we remain hopeful that Monolith can capture the magical feeling of battling wisecracking Orcs in a game that gives us control of Diana Prince and her golden lasso.
Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell remake
Another announcement that dates back to 2021? Ubisoft Toronto’s plan to remake the original Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. The new Splinter Cell promises to take advantage of 20 years of technical innovations and to rework parts of the game’s story “that may not have aged particularly well,” creative director Chris Auty said in 2022. Showing off the Splinter Cell remake at Sunday’s Xbox Games Showcase would go a long way to appeasing longtime Xbox fans, with a deeper dive ideally poised for Monday’s Ubisoft Forward event. Just sayin’.
Skate. (Skate 4)
Credit to Electronic Arts: The publisher and development team, Full Circle, has been very transparent about the development of the next Skate game — which is called skate., not Skate 4, officially — and opened up playtesting to in-progress versions of the game. But please give us the new Skate already! How about a release date? Barring that, can I get a beta key? I want to flump, too.
Capcom’s Pragmata
It’s been four years since Capcom revealed Pragmata at Sony’s big unveiling of the PlayStation 5. Pragmata’s been delayed several times since then, and the last we heard about it was when Capcom pushed it back indefinitely. Is Pragmata joining the increasingly long list of games coming in 2025? It’s starting to feel like it.
Rare’s Everwild
We’re nearing the five-year anniversary of Everwild’s unveiling. Eighteen months later, we learned that developer Rare had reportedly rebooted the game with “a complete overhaul of the game’s design and direction.” Frankly, we just want to find out what Everwild even is — especially since Rare has proven that given the right development resources, it can turn good games into great games.
Transformers: Reactivate
Call me an idealist, but I’m always willing to give a Transformers game the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes you get an unexpected surprise — a Transformers: Devastation, if you will. So when Splash Damage teased Transformers: Reactivate in 2022 with a moody cover of Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive,” I was immediately on board. But we haven’t heard much about the cooperative online action game since, and that’s a shame. I’ve been in transform-and-roll-out mode for the past 18 months and I’m concerned.
Perfect Dark
Announced at 2020’s The Game Awards, developer The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot promised to revive a long-dormant franchise and serve as a cornerstone of the Xbox Series X’s lineup of game exclusives. But the studio and owner Microsoft have said very little about their new Perfect Dark and what we can expect from Joanna Dark’s return. We continue to wait for it, alongside Xbox Game Studios’ Avowed, Contraband, Fable, The Outer Worlds 2, and State of Decay 3.
Kingdom Hearts 4
We’re now two years out from the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 4, a reveal timed to the Square Enix-Disney role-playing game franchise’s 20th anniversary. It increasingly looks like we’ll have to wait for Kingdom Hearts’ 25th birthday to actually get our hands on Sora’s next adventure. Given how long it’s taken Square Enix to realize its Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy — to say nothing of its next mainline Dragon Quest game — we don’t actually expect to see Kingdom Hearts 4 showing up any time soon. There’s a painful dose of reality.
Hollow Knight Silksong
It’s not happening, is it? Any time soon, I mean. That’s fine. Everything’s fine.
Wildermyth is an incredible procedurally generated RPG that leads players through a series of narrative quests. As you build bases, battle foes, and learn more about the world, you’re able to build up your cast with new decisions and sacrifices. A hero might die, marry another party member and have children, or turn into an increasingly feral beast. It’s a tremendously cozy, satisfying RPG experience.
Wildermyth has a core campaign, and additional adventurers that introduce new stories and new enemy factions. The game’s first DLC pack was focused around new cosmetic skins and armors for heroes, whereas the upcoming Omenroad expansion includes a roguelike-style challenge mode and a new story campaign called Walk in the Unlight. While Omenroad brings lots of new bosses and challenging fights, it also represents an end to development for Wildermyth. Worldwalker Games announced the conclusion on May 29 on the game’s official X account.
“We will continue to support the game and fix critical bugs, but don’t expect new content going forward,” co-owner Nate Austin wrote. “We will be saying farewell to many of our team members. Worldwalker Games is going into hibernation for now.”
Austin clarifies that the team still intends to port Wildermyth to other platforms, and the hibernation does not affect that “in any way.” He also commits to continuing a Kickstarter that will record the game’s music live and integrate it into the game, French and Spanish translations for Omenroad, and to maintain the game’s Discord, wiki, support email, merch store, and social media.
“Wildermyth has been wonderful, but nothing goes on forever,” wrote Austin. “We wanted to ship Omenroad, and having done that, we’re ready to move on. This was the plan, and it doesn’t have anything to do with how well Omenroad is doing. (It’s doing well! We’re extremely proud of it.)”
He added, “I’m pretty sure we’ll eventually find something else to pour our passion into, and we’ll let you know about it when the time comes.”
It’s sad to see an end to Wildermyth, which has become one of my staples when I want to play a narrative RPG adventure. But it’s also a tremendous game, and it’s good to see the studio end on a high note and walk away from the project of their own choice. While we may never see another title from the Worldwalker team, I’ll treasure Wildermyth and the stories it effortlessly spins for years to come.
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