With trends and trendy games passing by these days, I’d understand if you’d already forgotten about Suika Game. I am not here to remind you of its existence to talk about it, more so use it as genre context for Dogpile, a new game that is essentially the question “what if Suika Game actually had a bunch of dogs and was also a roguelike deckbuilder?” I know, I know, there are too many of those already, but this one’s just so charming!
Getting dark.
Hot off the back of yesterday’s Switch and Switch 2 system update, Nintendo has today released a patch for its Parental Controls app, bumping things up to ver. 2.3.0.
The big addition this time around is a new Dark Mode, which will turn on automatically according to your phone’s settings — so no more glaring white light in the gloomy winter evenings. There are also more options on the ‘Extend Daily Play-Time Limit’ menu, bonus bedtime settings and more.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Build a Bright Future* in Frostpunk 2’s Fractured Utopias!
(*definitions of ‘Bright Future’ may vary – ask your local faction representative).
Since the launch of Frostpunk 2, attention has mostly been on the ‘Story’ mode, the long-awaited follow-up to Frostpunk’s ‘New Home’ scenario, which focuses on the fate of New London thirty years after the Great Storm.
As much as we are proud of the six-part story, it somewhat overshadowed the ‘Utopia Builder’ mode. Unlike the first Frostpunk, where the ‘Endless Mode’ was added in a patch to answer the popular player demand to, well, play endlessly, Frostpunk 2 was engineered from the ground up as a sandbox to tell new emergent stories. In ‘Utopia Builder’, players are tasked with leading a new city made up of different communities and factions in pursuit of the titular, elusive ‘utopia’.
The ‘Fractured Utopias’ DLC logically doubles down on this theme, by giving each faction unique tools leading up to their ideal society. Here a peek at how it works, and how to make it work for you and your faction:
Each faction now has a ‘Utopia Tree’, with twelve unique nodes per faction unlocking faction hubs, laws, and a flurry of new perks and abilities. Move the City in the ideological direction a faction wishes and they will reward you with points to invest in their Utopia Tree. Unlock all the nodes in one tree and bring your faction’s vision to life (including remodelling the city to their liking by converting enough housing districts to their needs and building enough of their hubs), and you will forever unite your City behind their vision, solving Tension.
Whether you want to usher in the dawn of a ‘New Humankind’ with the Proteans, crave establishing a ‘Machine City’ through the power of compute with the Technocrats, or pave the way for any of the other six factions’ promised lands, ‘Fractured Utopias’ will allow you to reshape your society in fresh new (did someone say twisted?) ways.
Obviously, everyone’s utopia is someone else’s dystopia, so if you’re not quite ready to indulge factions, we have your back too The free content update we’re launching alongside the DLC adds thirteen so-called ‘moderate laws’ for you to try and tread the middle way. Pass all of them to try and appease the City.
That’s only a sneak peak of what we cooked up in Fractured Utopias. All this new content obviously comes with over one hundred new consequences and narrative events which will demand the type of difficult decisions the Frostpunk IP got you used to. And if you’re one of these people who only click on choices with blue gameplay effect text, then have fun making your bed and sleeping in it. But whatever you do, remember: the City must not fall!
11 bit studios
Each faction now envisions its own unique Utopia, structured into a tree and powered by affinities. As you earn their trust, you’ll unlock specialized laws, buildings, and abilities that reinforce their distinct identity. Unlock all nodes of the Utopia Tree to enact a singular vision on the city – binding your entire society to a single path forward and permanently resolving all the Tension.
Your city may not fall. But whose future will it serve?
Key New Features:
8 unique faction Utopias, each with new systems, tools, and endgame
12 unique unlocks (laws / new HUBs / Abilities, etc.) per faction
8 new faction hubs (1 per faction)
8 new faction-specific variants of housing district
Over 100 new narrative events
2 premium Tales: “Doomsayers” and “Plague”
1 new map
The post Build a Bright Future in Frostpunk 2: Fractured Utopias appeared first on Xbox Wire.
This is Lindsey, game director at Timberline Studio. Today, I’d like to tell you more about how the concept of flavor is integral to how we built our cooking and gameplay systems in Beastro, our upcoming crunchy-cozy deck builder, coming to PS5 in Spring 2026.
We know that’s a lot to unpack up there, so let’s get into it.
In the world of Beastro, our regions are broken up by flavor types: bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami. Each of these flavors has its own culture, creatures, and color palettes. And depending on where a character hails from, it will define their palate and what they want their food to taste like!
Over the course of our four chapters, you’ll venture into these various flavor biomes to fight off the monsters that have invaded from another realm. It’s up to you to fight them off and protect the flavor spirits in these lands.
You’ll first find yourself in The Marshlands, the nearest region of the Umami Wilds. The Umami lands, and its denizens are signified by their depth of life and heartier ingredients. Mushrooms are the foundation of this region and the mossy, mishmash of land they thrive in. This biome is full of deep greens and browns. We wanted it to feel dense, enveloping, and comforting at the same time. I often think of Umami as a big bowl of stew, and we seek to hit that energy in the characters and environment.
Word spreads quickly that ravenous monsters have arrived and that they are wreaking havoc on the flavor wilds. Heroes from the flavor factions, the Caretakers, are sent to protect everyone and quell the tide of the invasion; however, none of them are capable of battling on an empty stomach.
Soon, these Caretakers arrive in our quaint little town of Palo Pori in search of a meal, but they get more than a full stomach. The food our chef, Panko, prepares with the help of the fire god, Flambé, unlocks the power of the flavor spirits from within the ingredients, granting magical abilities to the Caretakers, allowing them to engage in unique card battles with the monsters.
Each Caretaker has their own motivation that’s driving them to defeat the monsters. As champions for their people, they all seek to leave their mark on the world and show they can save the world on their own.
The Umamis seek to bring everyone together, particularly the friendly creatures in the wilds who lack the skills to fight off the monsters. Oyshi, our Umami Caretaker, is always happy to offer a safe home to a small creature in need.
And our third playable Caretaker, Kalan, hails from the land of Bitter. The Bitters are known as the protectors of this world, entrusted with the responsibility to ensure the survival of all flavors… and they take this responsibility very seriously.
Kalan is very single-minded, looking to reinforce the Bitter’s role as the protectors. Kalan has less stamina than the other Caretakers, but his palate leads him toward the healing properties of many Bitter ingredients. It’s important to eat your leafy greens. Because of their devotion to a flavor many others would choose to avoid, they feel they’re just a little bit better than everyone else, and Kalan’s more than willing to remind you of that. They prefer their coffee black, as why would you ruin a lovely bitter thing with another flavor?
While the first Caretaker may have arrived due to hunger, Oyshi soon helps recruit the others to Palo Pori to unlock flavor magic of their own. As the chef, it’s up to you to balance their desired flavors and the magic you think they’ll need to be successful in the wilds.
Palo Pori and the restaurant in Beastro are built around a concept of: from town to table. Many of the ingredients you use are grown, gathered, or fished out of the sea to cook up the meals for the Caretakers. As you sauté, chop, boil, roast, and assemble your meals through the various mini games, you’ll find yourself developing a nice flavor profile for your caretaker as you balance and enhance the flavors of your meal.
This is all done through “mise en place,” where you place your ingredients and determine how to create the best well-rounded meal for your visitor and one that unlocks the magic and effects they’ll need to defeat the monsters, because not only does each ingredient have a flavor, it has a power level… and many of them have effects too!
You’ll have to discover, learn, and experiment with how different ingredients combine to unlock new powers that will make each caretaker stronger and allow them to battle more ferocious foes with every round.
We can’t wait to tell you more about our game, but for now, we’ll leave you with a new Gameplay Trailer that shares a bit more about the mechanics we mentioned above.
Time for me to get a snack! Thanks for taking the time to learn about Beastro!
I am most certainly the kind of sucker that has few complaints about Final Fantasy 7 Remake being split into multiple parts. Those are my guys! I love my grumpy idiot all too realistic looking Cloud, I think Midgar being so well realised helps to justify the splitting of the game, and as maximalist as Rebirth is, there’s a quality to it I can’t help but admire, even with its many flaws. Keeping things fresh is still something necessary in dividing the game up though, and in a recent interview, director Naoki Hamaguchi spoke of how he’s trying to do that with the as-of-yet untitled third part.
Games Workshop has revived the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book after scalpers descended upon its pre-orders, forcing Warhammer.com itself offline.
In June, Games Workshop pulled its own website, Warhammer.com, offline after scalpers caused chaos during the launch of pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is an anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin was a hugely exciting release for 40K lore fans, but its special edition is even more enticing. It features a leather-effect cover with gold foil details, gilt page edges, and a metal emblem of a ruined Imperial eagle.
Games Workshop had signaled the special edition would be available “strictly while stocks last,” and that it would go on sale at 10am UK time on June 10. It also told fans it planned to use a queue system “to ensure fair distribution.” Unfortunately, this queue system caused chaos, with fans desperate to pre-order the book unable to make progress. Amid frantic messages of complaint across social media, Discords, and subreddits, Warhammer.com suddenly… stopped. It was offline, and no-one knew why.
Eventually, Games Workshop issued a statement on the debacle — a rare event in of itself — to say it had brought Warhammer.com offline because it had noticed scalpers were bypassing its systems. “Scalpers attempted to use bots to bypass our normal safeguards,” Games Workshop said. “Our eagle-eyed Tech Priests caught this happening in real-time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline.”
At the time, Games Workshop promised Siege of Terra: End of Ruin would return, but half a year went by without any news. Now, Games Workshop has announced plans to sell the special edition once again — but with one key chance that has already got real fans excited.
In a post on Warhammer Community, Games Workshop said the special edition of Era of Ruin is being made available this coming weekend as a “guaranteed stock run.” Order it between Saturday and 8am UK time on Christmas Eve, and “you’ll be on the list to receive a copy of this sumptuous edition capping off the Siege of Terra series.”
This means the special edition is a “guaranteed stock product,” with Games Workshop printing the books based on demand. As a result, production and delivery can take up to 180 days.
Reaction to the news among fans is hugely positive, with some declaring it a win for real fans of the Warhammer 40,000 setting and a big L for scalpers. “Era of Ruinin’ Scalps,” declared one fan on the Black Library subreddit. “It’s the best decision they could make,” said another. “The secondhand market is 95% scalpers.” Another fan added: “Print on demand, what sweet words to read!” “Do I need this book? Absolutely not. Will I be purchasing so they see how positive this move is? Absolutely,” declared another fan.
Some are now hoping Games Workshop uses this release method for all its special editions going forward. “I’m totally cool with waiting a bit of time to get my copy if print on demand is an option moving forward,” said one hopeful. “It’s about freaking time. I’ve been saying this for five years. It’s about time they did something sensible,” added another.
“This is REALLY great news, HUGE win by GW and BL. And here I thought we weren’t going to have anything for Christmas, this is the best present. And I hope they see the potential of this kind of order, it could literally change everything. Really really pleasantly surprised.”
Games Workshop has suffered pre-order problems for years now, and special edition book launches are often plagued by scalpers who go on to sell the products at hugely inflated prices. Fans are now crossing their fingers this new method of selling books actually gets them into the hands of real fans.
Image credit: Games Workshop.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
I am not someone that thinks you can be therapied out of any kind of mental anguish. Life just doesn’t work that way! Sure, it can be a helpful tool, but sometimes you need to pick up a sledgehammer, go back to your hometown that is filled with robots, and smash it all down. Or, at least that’s the argument that Virtue and a Sledgehammer makes, the latest game from The Red Strings Club and The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood developer Deconstructeam.
Where art thou, Wesker?
Warning: this article contains scenes of explicit spoilers.
Resident Evil Requiem launches on the Switch 2 in just under three months, but even now, the game is heavily shrouded in mystery (well, a little less so after the accidental reveal of Leon).
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Can a combat game be … cozy? It may seem like a contradiction, but after spending over two years layering a cozy game on top of our existing battle royale game, Super Animal Royale, we think we have an answer. But why did we end up gambling on this approach in the first place?
When the first version of Super Animal Royale made its debut seven years ago, many players were drawn in more by the cute animals than the machine guns. For many, it was their first battle royale. This wholesome community turned our short, pre-match lobbies into surprisingly friendly social spaces. In the two minutes before each match, players chatted, danced, and invented their own rituals, including a banana-worshipping cult that’s now a canonical part of our lore.
The creativity and organic community building we saw in these tiny intervals between fights to the death made us wonder what would happen if we gave them a fully persistent social space without limits.
The result is Super Animal World, an MMO-style Social Hub layered on top of the existing game. Instead of returning to menus and two-minute waiting rooms between matches, hitting play now brings you straight to the island in a 64-player space with fishing, bug catching, hamsterball races, shops, and story quests.
You can explore the Social Hub for as long as you like, chat with characters, accept quests, and then matchmake into Super Animal Royale or our other competitive modes. When you die (or do the winner dance), you respawn back in the Hub to regroup, claim rewards, and head out again for your next battle. We call this new loop the Circle of Super Life.
Rounds of battle royale in Super Animal Royale are quick, with a winning match often wrapping up in under seven minutes, so the game has always lent itself to that “just one more round” loop. Super Animal World keeps it easy to queue right back into battle, but it also makes the time between matches more meaningful.
You can relax with friends, add to your fish collection, explore new corners of the island, or push a questline forward before your next burst of adrenaline. And for players more interested in socializing and collecting than the competition itself, the Social Hub can be the main attraction. The new structure is both more immersive and more flexible, and we are excited to see the different ways people choose to play now that it’s finally in their hands.
From the beginning, Super Animal Royale has had richer storytelling than you might expect from a multiplayer title, with every corner of the island intentionally crafted to hint at the contents of the secret lore bible we’ve maintained since 2018. Until now, all that lore has been confined to environmental details and external projects like our animated YouTube series, Super Animal Royale Tonight. Super Animal World’s new quest system brings all that storytelling front and center, with over 200 characters to meet, over 350 quests to complete, and over 140,000 words of dialogue to keep the lore hounds in our community busy.
These quests aren’t all talk, though: they’re also the best way to learn to play Super Animal Royale. From the early days, we’ve watched cozy gamers trying their first battle royale parachute onto the island without much instruction, only to be overwhelmed by experienced players. For new players, the quests offer a less punishing way to engage with our combat modes, complete with natural breaks for socializing and exploration.
Super Animal World is a big bet for a small indie team like ours, but it gives us a whole new foundation to build on for years to come. The expansion is available now on Xbox as a free update to Super Animal Royale. Xbox Game Pass members can also claim new Game Pass benefits to celebrate the release.
Layering a cozy game into a battle royale may sound like a mismatch, but we’ve found that these contrasting elements combine into a richer, more satisfying game. We can’t wait to see you give the game a try and step onto Super Animal World, the coziest place to kill your friends.
Pixile Studios
With the free Super Animal World expansion, the island has become a living Social Hub where you can relax between matches, meet NPCs, take on story quests, and enjoy cozy activities like fishing, bug catching, and hamsterball racing before dropping back into your next fight to the death. Never return to the main menu, with everything you need available in-world.
Key Features
– Survival of the Fittest: Scavenge a variety of powerful weapons, armor and items to become the apex predator in intense 64-player online matches.
– The Superest World: Explore a massive, beautifully illustrated 2D island and discover its hidden lore, by chatting with its inhabitants and scouring its rich environments for clues.
– Different Stripes for Different Fights: Collect hundreds of animal breeds and customize them with thousands of cosmetic items, weapons, outfits, and even umbrellas!
– Evolving Events & Updates: Enjoy an endless stampede of new content, including seasonal outfits, animals, and weapons to collect.
– The Fast and the Furriest: Flatten your foes while rolling dirty in a Hamster Ball, or mount a Giant Emu and peck your way to the promised land.
– Battle Beyond Royale: infect or be infected by The Cluckles in The Bwoking Dead, or join SAW Security Forces and SASR rebels to capture and control flags in SAW vs Rebellion, a control point mode.
– Cozy Life Between the Chaos: relax and explore Super Animal World with friends between rounds, with seamless matchmaking between the Social Hub and competitive modes, then respawn back to continue the Circle of Super Life.
The post Why We Added a Cozy-Life MMO to a Battle Royale in Super Animal World appeared first on Xbox Wire.
This month, stalk the streets of ancient Baghdad in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, cut down demons across a fallen empire in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, shred through hell’s underworld in Skate Story, or soar among the clouds in Granblue Fantasy: Relink. All these titles and more are available in December’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup*. Meanwhile, Soulcalibur III brings arcade action to PlayStation Plus Premium. All of these will be available to play December 16, aside from Skate Story, which released into the service December 8.
*Digital PS5 games available to stream from your library will vary over time, region, and country.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage | PS5, PS4
Play as a cunning young street thief seeking answers in this majestic Middle Eastern open world. Experience the home of the original Assassins in this exciting narrative-driven, open world adventure. In this smaller scale, back to basics Assassin’s caper, you play Basim, a young street thief seeking answers. Roam the richly-detailed, reactive and vibrant streets of 9th century Baghdad, uncovering the mysteries of the past as you fight to secure your future. Stalk the shadows and become the ultimate assassin. Enjoy 6 hours of extra gameplay with Valley of Memory, the major update that expands Basim’s story and introduces the breathtaking new region of AlUla, with gameplay improvements across the full game.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty | PS5, PS4
184 AD, Later Han Dynasty China. The land is overcome by chaos and destruction. The imperial dynasty that prospered for many years is now about to collapse. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a dramatic, action-packed story of a nameless militia soldier fighting for survival in a dark fantasy version of the Later Han Dynasty where demons plague the Three Kingdoms. Fight off deadly creatures and enemy soldiers using swordplay based on the Chinese martial arts, attempting to overcome the odds by awakening the true power from within.
Skate Story | PS5
You are a demon in the Underworld, made out of glass and pain. The Devil has given you a skateboard with a simple deal: Skate to the Moon and swallow it — and you shall be freed. Ollie, kickflip, and grind your way through the ash and smoke of The Emptylands as you take on a seemingly impossible quest. Learn to master your weight and motion to conquer the weeping concrete. Savour the ritualistic beauty as you set your feet to pop a perfect kickflip. Skate fast to destroy vicious demons, help a forgetful frog, and save other tortured souls on your journey from fragile beginner to hardened skater. Push through hell and discover The Devil’s greatest weakness: humility, perseverance, and a disgustingly sweet backside tailslide. All you need is your skateboard.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink | PS5, PS4
Explore the Sky Realm, a floating archipelago set against a great blue expanse, and battle to decide its fate in this 3D action RPG. Become captain of a skyfaring crew as you sail with a colourful cast of crewmates on your quest to find Estalucia, a legendary island said to lie beyond the sky’s end. Visit the Zegagrande Skydom and unveil a web of intrigue that will embroil you in a battle for the fate of the entire Sky Realm. Create a party of four, each with unique weapons, skills and combat styles, and master a deep real-time combat system with team-based techniques including Link Attacks and Chain Bursts. Take on quests, battle enemies and score valuable loot solo, or party up with friends for up to four-player co-op.
Planet Coaster 2 | PS5
Reach new heights of creativity, management, and sharing as you construct the theme parks of your dreams combining epic water rides and coasters to delight and thrill your park guests. Balance thrilling your guests with managing your budget – populate your park with amazing efficiently powered attractions and the right amenities to boost your rating and become a theme park master. Enhanced and improved building and pathing tools let you create spectacular, true-to-life theme parks, complete with sprawling plazas. Dive into a world of creativity with nine distinct themes, from returning classics like Pirate and Western, to exciting new additions in Viking and Mythology. With thousands of themed customizable pieces at your fingertips, every creation will be truly unique.
Cat Quest III | PS5, PS4
Play as a swashbuckling privateer in this 2.5D open-world action RPG set in a fantastical pirate-themed world, the Purribean — an archipelago swarming with Pi-rats searching for the Northern Star. a long-lost mythical treasure. Alongside your trusty spirit companion, set sail through the Purribean in your very own ship! But beware, the seas are dangerous, and a mutiny is nigh as the hordes of Pi-rats under the order of the Pirate King hunt you down… Cat Quest III is playable either solo or in local co-op.
Lego Horizon Adventures | PS5
Journey to a distant future, where the land is made of Lego bricks and lush nature has reclaimed the Earth. Join hunter Aloy as she battles to save Earth from an ancient digital demon, and a gang of sunworshippers who want to live in a world without shade so they can soak up the rays while everything burns. Hunt machines on your own as Aloy, or unlock colourful heroes Varl, Teersa, and Erend, and use their unique skills to defeat enemies and overcome challenges. Share the fun with another player online, or via innovative couch co-op on a single screen, so you’re always in the same world together.
Paw Patrol: Grand Prix | PS5, PS4
No track is too big, no racer too small! Race around Adventure Bay with all your favorite Paw Patrol pups and up to 4 players at once – but look out for the obstacles left by mischievous Mayor Humdinger! The Paw Patrol are on their fastest mission yet, to win the Pup Cup! Drive around iconic locations including Adventure Bay, Jake’s Snowboarding Resort and The Jungle to find out who will be crowned the winner. Play with friends in this multiplayer championship, where you can pick any of your favorite pups including Chase, Skye or Marshall. But watch out, because sneaky Mayor Humdinger could be just around the corner to turn your race into a crazy catastrophe!
Paw Patrol World | PS5, PS4
Explore the world of Paw Patrol like never before, in a 3D action adventure where anything is possible. Play as your favorite pups, drive their vehicles and save the day by taking on fun rescues and missions. Freely roam Adventure Bay, Jake’s Mountain, the Jungle and Barkingburg, in missions designed for pre-school players. Enjoy a brand-new story and play flashback missions inspired by classic Paw Patrol episodes, either in single-player or with a friend in split-screen co-op mode. And customize your game with countless collectibles, like emotes, pup tags, postcard stamps, costumes, vehicle stickers, and artworks for the Chickaletta Exhibition.
Soulcalibur III | PS5, PS4
Chosen by history, a man becomes a warrior. Engraved into history, a warrior becomes a hero. Enjoy this timeless tale of swords and souls, transcending history and worlds, destined to be told forever. Experience Soulcalibur III, originally released on PlayStation 2, enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters. The Soulcalibur series is a weapon-based fighting series of games where players put their mastery of their character’s weapon to the test. The game features the Chronicles of the Sword mode that fuses real-time simulation with versus fighting-style action. In Soul Arena, choose between Quick Play for relentless battles against CPU opponents and Mission mode for fights set under special conditions.
*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day.
Purchase any 12-month PlayStation Plus membership and get movie credit(s) to spend on the Sony Pictures Core app. Dive into epic blockbusters like Venom The Last Dance, 28 years later, Karate Kid Legends, Anaconda, and more***—your next movie marathon starts here****!
**Offer valid between December 11, 2025 to January 12, 2026. Offer available only where no other discount applies. Cannot combine or stack offers. Number of movie credits varies based on plan and membership status. Offer only available when purchased on PS5, Web browser and Mobile (PS App). PS Plus is subject to a recurring subscription fee taken automatically until cancellation. Terms apply: play.st/psplus-usageterms. Separate download of the Sony Pictures Core App is required to redeem Movie Credits. Must be 18+ to register for a Sony Pictures Core account. Movie Credits must be claimed and redeemed in App by January 12, 2026. Sony Pictures Core terms apply: https://www.sonypicturescore.com/termsofservice
***Titles and availability vary by market.
****Regions: Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, United States.
