Alice Bee (RPS in peace) covered the announcement for Forgotlings back in 2003. It’s a metroidvania by ThroughLine Games, them behind Forgotton Anne – one of my favourites from 2018. Forgotlings, however, managed to completely slip by me until I recently noticed it had a Steam demo. This is such good news I’ve basically forgiven them for doubling down on the funky spelling.
I had trouble sleeping last night, due to a combination of press trip excitement, chugging too many complimentary coffees, and my hotel room being opposite a strange, insistently symmetrical building that reared over my dreams like Sauron’s penthouse. So to settle my nerves, I got up and played a game about being a horrible tree. Just the worst tree. A total shit of a tree. That game was Roots Devour – and great news, if you’re having trouble sleeping you can play it too, for there is a demo in the wilds.
Plan the ultimate heist, team up with talkative weaponry then jump and chomp your way through an island adventure with the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games lineup for February! Payday 3, High on Life and Pac-Man World Re-Pac will be available to PlayStation Plus members from February 4*.
Let’s take a closer look at the games.
Payday 3 | PS5
Revel in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist in this high-octane, co-op FPS experience for up to four players online. Step out of retirement back into the life of crime in the shoes of the Payday Gang, the envy of their peers and the nightmare of law-enforcement wherever they go. Several years after the crew’s reign of terror over Washington DC has ended, they assemble once again to deal with the threat that roused them out of early retirement.
SOL CRESTA | PS4
PlatinumGames’ NEO-CLASSIC ARCADE series carries on the spirit and fun of classic gaming using modern technology, and the first project in this endeavor is SOL CRESTA. SOL CRESTA takes the docking and formation strategies of classic shooting games Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta and elevates them with the “free-form docking” system. The flagship Yamato, composed of the fighters Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, and Susano can utilize various attacks depending on how the three ships are aligned. Docking, splitting, and reforming the ships as needed is the key to defeating the invading armies of Mega Zofer.
Pac-Man World Re-Pac | PS4, PS5
In this 2022 remake of the original PlayStation platformer, with improved UI, fine-tuned mechanics and updated visuals, Pac-Man arrives home on his birthday to find the Ghosts have kidnapped Pac-Man’s family & friends and ruined his party. Off to the rescue, Pac-Man sets out to Ghost Island. Dodge Ghosts, solve environmental puzzles, rescue the Pac-Fam, and more in this platforming adventure. Play a collection of 3D mazes in Maze mode, clear Quest mode to unlock the original Pac-Man game in Original mode.
All three games will be available to PlayStation Plus members on February 4 until March 3.
As many of our players are currently playing on PS5 and have shifted toward redeeming and accessing PS5 titles from the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit, PlayStation Plus is also evolving with this trend and will focus on offering PS5 titles through the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit starting January 2026. As we shift to PS5, PS4 games will no longer be a key benefit and will only be occasionally offered for PlayStation Plus Monthly Games and Game Catalog starting January 2026. We may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5 consoles after this date.
Please note, this won’t affect the PS4 Monthly Games that you have already redeemed from PlayStation Plus. You’ll continue to have access to games you’ve already redeemed as long as you remain a member. For Game Catalog, PS4 games will still be available to play until it leaves the catalog as part of our monthly refresh.
We’ll continue to evolve the experience of PlayStation Plus and optimize the benefits you receive, including exclusive discounts, online multiplayer access, online game save storage and more. As we shift our focus to PS5, we look forward to adding new PS5 titles monthly for you to enjoy.
*PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup may differ in certain regions. Please check the PlayStation Store on launch day for your region’s lineup.
Available until next month.
Nintendo’s been celebrating Mario Kart quite a bit recently and now it’s launched a new set of themed icons for Switch Online subscribers.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Relying exclusively on big IP would be a “big mistake”.
Former Nintendo artist Takaya Imamura has kicked off the new year with a new blog post titled “Why I Left Nintendo” more than four years after departing from the company’s Japanese headquarters.
While he goes into all sorts of history about his career, he’s also shared his thoughts about Nintendo’s future and how “crucial” talented and charismatic developers are to the success of the company and the value of its IP.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Mega news for the eleventh major entry.
Back in 2022, Capcom announced the blue bomber’s latest outing Mega Man 11 had become the best-selling entry in the series’ history.
Capcom has now delivered an update on this a few years later – with the news sales have jumped from 1.60 million units to surpass the two million sales milestone. Once again, this puts it ahead of the Mega Man 2 lifetime sales (1.51M) as well as the Mega Man Legacy Collection which has sold 1.60 million units.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
The rise of “eSlop”.
We all know that in the year of our lord 2025, the Switch eShop has its fair share of problems. It’s slow, it’s clunky and it’s flooded with games that we’d really rather not have to wade through, but what’s it like from the other side? How does the storefront hold up if you’re the one trying to sell games on it?
That was a question recently asked by IGN in a new feature that put Nintendo’s storefront (and Sony’s, Microsoft’s and Valve’s) under the microscope. Unsurprisingly, the devs are just as tired of it as we all are.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
ID@Xbox is kicking off IGN Fan Fest this year with an exciting new showcase on February 24. Get ready to see trailers, gameplay, and reveals from indie studios including Raw Fury, Team 17, Akapura, 11 Bit, and many others. Highlights include the next big collaboration for Balatro, and much, much more.
The ID@Xbox Showcase will stream on Monday, February 24, 2025 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST across IGN platforms. Along with all the new reveals, IGN’s Podcast Unlocked will be breaking down the biggest moments from the showcase in a special IGN post-show, which will immediately follow the main show.
Check out the some of the studios who will be a part of the ID@Xbox showcase, below:
While we wait for all things Xbox, make sure to check out the biggest reveals from 2024’s ID@Xbox partnership with IGN, where it shared exclusives from games including Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals, Astor: Blade of the Monolith, Vampire Survivors, and many more.
And throughout February, stay tuned to IGN for more information about the exclusive reveals, interviews, gameplay, and trailers that will be showcased during IGN Fan Fest the week of February 24 – 28. From games like Monster Hunter Wilds, WWE 2K25, and Alien Rogue Incursion, to shows including Daredevil: Born Again, Mythic Quest, and it’s new spin off Side Quest, to comics such as TMNT, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Godzilla, IGN Fan Fest will be a week full of exciting reveals you won’t want to miss!
One Punch Man has arrived in Anime Royale as part of update 5, and he’s brought new units, cosmetics, quality-of-life changes, and codes with him.
The anime-themed Roblox tower defense experience’s latest update takes players into Saitama’s superhero world with a fresh batch of additions to enjoy. Patch notes reveal everything players can look forward to when they log in, including a selection of units inspired by characters from the One Punch Man anime, such as Tatsumaki, Sonic, Metal Bat, Boros, and, of course, Saitama himself. It breaks down to two Secret units, seven Mythical units, two Legendary units, and one Epic unit, but Anime Royale update 5’s changes don’t stop there.
A new Raid, Story, and Raid Shop, as well as new cosmetics, are also accessible to those who hop into the Roblox experience. The quality-of-life changes mostly focus on tweaking Meruem but also saved some room to deliver balance adjustments to Muzan and Aizen. Additionally, players will notice that the Killua blessing bug has been fixed, too.
Anime Royale update 5 follows the release of update 4.5 last week. That patch introduced Hunter x Hunter content for tower defense fans, including even more Mythical, Legendary, and Secret units. There is currently no release date for the next update, but at this rate, Roblox players likely won’t need to wait too long to learn more.
For more, you can check out IGN’s full list of all active Anime Royale codes here. To see every new code added with update 5, you can see the full patch notes below.
Added:
– Evolution
– Drop from Strongest’s City last act
Mythical:
– Saitama
– Tatsumaki
– Atomic Samurai
– Metal Bat
– Bang
Legendary:
– Sonic
– Boros
Epic:
– Mosquito Girl
NEW Double Evo:
– Boros -> Boros Released -> Boros True Form
New Evo:
– Saitama
NEW Raid
NEW Story
NEW Raid Shop
New Cosmetics
All Units from update that are Mythic+
New Passives
– Meruem can no longer eat other Meruems
– Meruem can no longer eat buffed damage, instead only taking base damage of unit he eats
– Meruem can no longer eat Farm Units in range to prevent accidentally losing farms to it
– Muzan can no longer give Farm Units Demon Passives (Except for Pot)
– Aizen Passive now buffs 20% damage for all tower in his range (Cid and Netero excluded) like Warlord instead of enemies coming closer to him, it can stack with Warlord
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
Watch out for that falling breezeblock! It’s about to– ah, too late, you’ve been donked. A clip of loud wreckage, gunfire, and bazooka’d buildings has fallen dustily into our lap via a promotional video for Battlefield 6 (or whatever the developers plan to call the next of these large-scale first-person shooters). Mostly, it’s a lot of producers talking a big game about “levelling up” the “core experience”, which seems to remain blasting a building you don’t like with a rocket-propelled grenade. We can tell from the final 10 seconds of the video, which show some of the game’s actual running and/or gunning.
