Tony Pankhurst, the UK actor who became a recognizable face in Supermassive’s horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology, has passed away aged 67.
Supermassive’s X/Twitter account revealed that Pankhurst had passed away. In a tribute page published by his family (spotted by GameSpot), it was revealed that Pankhurst had passed away on May 9, with Supermassive Games learning of the news today and providing a recent donation to the family. As the tribute page reveals, any donations would be provided to “Hospice in the World,” as the organization “provided such love and support to [Pankhurst] in his final weeks.”
We are all saddened to hear of Tony Pankhurst’s passing. He was the face of The Curator, and we loved working with him. đ€ pic.twitter.com/ZZQbeViE8S
“We are all saddened to hear of Tony Pankhurst’s passing. He was the face of The Curator, and we loved working with him,” Supermassive said.
Pankhurst is best known for his work on The Dark Pictures Anthology series. Although Pip Torrens has done both motion capture and voice work for The Curator, Pankhurst’s likeness inspired the fictional character’s appearance. Pankhurst even played the character in a live-action trailer for 2021’s The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes.
The Curator is a recurring character in The Dark Pictures Anthology series. While he appears polite and calm, his presence, combined with the dark and ominous room he is in, is unsettling. He records players’ stories as they endure horrific and supernatural events throughout each game.
The Curator has appeared in every installment in the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology, starting with 2019’s Man of Medan, and most recently appeared in a cameo in the 2023 PlayStation VR2 spinoff The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR.
The Dark Pictures Anthology series concluded its first season following the release of The Devil in Me in 2022. A second season is planned, and the first entry in season two, Directive 8020, is currently in development.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
How do you like your survival games? A nice bit of wood chopping while the birds chirp? Gathering some mushrooms while you deflect a little goblin’s swings? Stumbling parched through a desert as a bed of scorpions prick your ankles with deadly venom? Well, Enshrouded may provide some or none of these experiences, but what its latest update does is capture their spirit. You’ll now be able to choose from several difficulty presets to dampen or spice up the game’s challenge. Otherwise, there’s new customisation options and some quality of life tweaks, too.
Astro Bot is getting a limited edition PlayStation 5 controller, Sony has announced.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Nicolas Doucet, studio head at developer Team Asobi, offered a first look at the Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense Wireless Controller.
PlayStationâs upcoming platforming celebration, due out September 6, features over 50 planets, new powerups, lots of enemies, secrets and PlayStation-infused characters to collect. It also features a DualSense wireless controller turned into a living character in the game.
The controller design features Astroâs blue accents on the handles and buttons, carved-in, sci-fi lines, and Atroâs pair of eyes on the touch pad.
Starting Friday, August 9 at 7am PT in the U.S. and 10am local time in the U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Portugal, players can pre-order the DualSense wireless controller â Astro Bot Limited Edition through direct.playstation.com, as well as from select retailers, priced $79.99/ âŹ79.99 / ÂŁ69.99 / „11,980. It launches alongside the game itself on September 6.
In the blog post, Doucet outlined how Astro Bot uses the features of the DualSense.
âFirst, as many of you expect from an Astro game, you can feel the surfaces that Astro runs and slides on, from grass, sand, metal to more squishy textures or water,â Doucet said. âThat was already the case with Astroâs Playroom, but we have increased the number of textures you can feel through the controller.â
âNext, we doubled down on the adaptive triggers combined with haptic feedback, by tying them tightly to Astroâs new powers. For example, when using Barkster, the bulldog Jetpack, you can feel the thruster ratting against your finger in synch with the animation, giving a very dynamic and immersive feeling. Every new power up has been given that same special treatment so you will be able to experience various expressions through your fingers.
âFinally, given the number of enemies and boss battles we added to this new adventure, it was important to work on battle and impacts by combining all of the above. Whether itâs stretching, pounding or pummeling hard surfaces, there are many new types of impacts that can be experienced in Astro Bot.
âAnd of course, we could not finish this post without mentioning the Dual Speeder, one of Astroâs most recurrent gadgets, allowing him to fly into various planets. The Dual Speeder makes full use of motion control, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.â
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Back in the days of the Nintendo 3DS eShop, some of you may remember the Denpa Men trilogy, which offered a series of cheap and approachable RPG adventures that felt like a great fit for the portable. However, there was a fourth title released only in Japan in 2014 which experimented with a free-to-play structure that proved reasonably popular. That game died with the ending of online services for the 3DS, so Genius Sonority has seen fit to retool it for the Switch era and release it worldwide as The New Denpa Men. It may not be one of the best free-to-play games available on Switch, but New Denpa Men still proves to be modestly enjoyable.
The narrative in New Denpa Men is hardly in line with the epic and occasionally drawn-out stuff that JRPGs are known for. Here, you command an army of Denpa Menâcharmingly weird little dudes that look like a cross between a Mii and a Teletubbyâto go on various quests geared towards helping various cutesy yellow creatures with long noses. The episodic structure works well with the bite-sized gameplay design, though it must be said that the localization here is NES-era levels of atrocious. Yet funnily enough, the broken English honestly adds to New Denpa Menâs quirky charm, as it feels strangely in line with the awkward vibe of the characters and world.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming RPG and the first release from French development team Sandfall Interactive. The gameâs unique design combines fantasy and the French historical period of Belle Epoque. Currently, the stylish game is slated for a 2025 release on PS5, check out the reveal trailer if you havenât already.Â
To get a deeper dive into whatâs going into this promising game, I spoke with Guillaume Broche, founder & creative director at Sandfall Interactive about the gameâs unique approach to classic, turn-based RPG gameplay, classic inspirations, and even the unqiue game title itself.
Whatâs in a name?
One aspect of intrigue for the game is its title, so I asked Broche about the inspiration behind it.Â
ââClair Obscurâ refers to the real-world artistic and cultural movement in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,â says Broche. âIt influenced the gameâs artistic direction, and also refers to the overarching world of the game.âÂ
âExpedition 33 reflects the Expedition group led by the protagonist Gustave to destroy the Paintress,â says Broche. âThe members of Expedition 33 are the protagonists of the game, and players will get to know each member of the Expedition in their journey. For years, the Paintress has painted a number on her monolith and erased everyone of that age in an event known as the Gommage, and each year a new Expedition ventures out to try to destroy her and stop the cursed cycle.âÂ
Other characters, such as the mage Lune, the genial warrior Sciel, and the young explorer Maelle are also part of the team, and youâll be learning a lot about them and their histories throughout the game.Â
Respecting the classics
In the reveal trailer we got a glimpse of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33âs eye-catching graphics. Broche explains that the graphics are one of the focal points for the developers.Â
âThere hasnât really been any attempt at making a turn-based RPG with high-fidelity graphics for a good while,â he says, âand that left a deep hole in my gamer heart. We took it upon ourselves to make something to fill that void.â
Broche doesnât hesitate to tell us about the many classic games that have served as inspiration for this effort from both a visual and gameplay standpoint.Â
âAt Sandfall Interactive we all have a love for JRPGs like Final Fantasy, the Tales series, Lost Odyssey, and Persona with its awesome UI, rhythm, and dynamic camera,â he says. âWe all have a lot of nostalgia and love for these kinds of games, but also want to see something fresh done with the genre.â
âIn terms of narrative, we also took inspiration from a French novel called La Horde du Contrevent, which is a fantasy novel about a group of explorers traveling the world,â says Broche. âIn general, stories about venturing into the unknown despite incredible risks, like the anime/manga Attack on Titan, have always been very appealing to me.â
One thing that sets Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 apart from the games that inspired it is its implementation of real-time elements into turn-based combat.Â
âWe were inspired by action games like the Souls series, Devil May Cry, and NieR, and their rewarding gameplay was something we wanted to bring into a turn-based setting,â says Broche. âWhen you play those games, you have to learn the attacks, timings, and weaknesses for each enemy encounter, and we wanted to translate that challenge into a new genre.â
Getting into the rhythm of battle
Combat is one of the elements that Broche and his team are most proud of, so we discussed some of the unique mechanics they implemented and the inspiration behind them.Â
âThe battle system is what we call reactive turn-based,â he explains. âYou can take time during battles to establish your strategies, but during the enemyâs turn, you will have to react in real-time to dodge, jump, or parry enemies to trigger a powerful counterattack. You will also be able to increase the effectiveness of your skills by mastering attack rhythms. Players will also be rewarded for their skillâitâs even possible to do a no-damage run if you master all the enemiesâ patterns.âÂ
âI kept thinking about ways to make turn-based battles more engaging,â Broche continues.âThe attack rhythm system is a mix of different inspirationsâwe wanted to make something fast paced to fit the vision we had for battle. As soon as I finished the first prototype of the defense system, I knew it was something special.â
Broche also dives into what players can expect when they jump into the game themselves.Â
âIâd say dodging and parrying are the most common things players will need to get to grips with as they play,â says Broche. âThe timing is pretty important, but the payoff is always really rewarding. Also, you can aim your ranged weapons at enemies tooâhitting exposed weak points to do some extra damage, for example. Expedition 33 features some huge boss battles too thatâll really put playersâ skills to the test. And, just like any great RPG, you can also build your character to take advantage of different things in battle, including these real-time mechanics. Weâre all looking forward to players finding out more about how the game feels as we work towards the gameâs launch next year.â
Finally, I asked if Broche had any messages for future players.
âWeâre glad to see so many fans are excited for the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! As our first title, weâre thrilled with the reception weâve seen so far and we canât wait to show more in the lead up to launch next year.â
A new Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League cutscene has sparked a debate about the direction the story is going in, as the latest season teases the next playable character.
Mrs. Freeze was added to Rocksteadyâs controversial live service shooter last week as part of the launch of Season 2, and with it came a cutscene thatâs set tongues wagging within the gameâs small but loyal community.
Warning! Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League Season 2 spoilers follow:
The new cutscene shows the return of The Flash after the Suicide Squad save him from captivity by killing yet another post-launch Brainiac as part of Season 2. The Suicide Squad had killed The Flash alongside other corrupted members of the Justice League in a bid to save Metropolis from destruction at the hands of Brainiac in the base game’s main story.
Some have called the story development a surprise, while others have said a post-launch plot twist that saw the return of âgoodâ Justice League members was always on the cards. Either way, players are wondering about the exact nature of the Flashâs return, what it means for Brainiacâs masterplan, and raising the possibility that other characters apparently killed by the Suicide Squad, including Batman, Green Lantern, and Superman, could also be set to return.
One of the most controversial story beats in the Suicide Squad base game is the death of corrupted Arkham trilogy Batman, who is unceremoniously executed by Harley Quinn. Some criticized the death, saying it failed to give the character, voiced by the late Kevin Conroy, the sendoff he deserved.
But could Batman now be set to return alongside more voice work from Kevin Conroy? This new cutscene suggests the Suicide Squad killed clones of the original Justice League members during the main story, with Brainiac holding the real deals hostage. However, some suggest the Suicide Squad did in fact kill the original Justice League members, but Brainiac has since revived them, and it is now the task of Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark, to save them.
Whatever the case, in the cutscene The Flash sees the Suicide Squad and wonders why theyâre not in jail, before collapsing. The characterâs return is not mentioned further.
Perhaps more revelations, and real Justice League members, will show up in Season 3, which looks set to add Lawless as a playable character. While the list of post-launch DLC characters was already leaked via a datamine, Rocksteady has teased their inclusion with changes to Metropolis that clearly indicate whoâs up next. Season 1, for example, teased the arrival of Mrs. Freeze with a chilly change to Metropolis, and now players have spotted another change that suggests Lawless is coming soon. After Lawless, Deathstroke is expected to round out the year one list of playable characters.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was of course panned by critics upon launch and has extremely low player numbers on Steam. Some of the frustration stems from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League not being another Batman game from Rocksteady, despite being set within the Arkhamverse. The developerâs single-player Arkham series is much-loved by fans, with 2011âs Batman: Arkham City in particular held up as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, superhero video games of all time.
Last month, Warner Bros, told IGN that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will see out its first year of support, but declined to comment on what happens afterwards. The question is, will Rocksteadyâs apparent post-launch plan to have the Suicide Squad pivot to saving the Justice League after killing them be fully realized?
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has posted a lengthy blog on Steam about the transition from 6v6 player matches in the first Overwatch to 5v5 in the poorly received free-to-play sequel. It’s a juicy read for armchair designers and lapsed Overwatchers like myself, packing in analysis of class roles and the shift from the free choice of heroes to single hero picks and enforced team compositions.
In broad strokes, Keller summarises how the Overwatch experience has drifted away from “player freedom and creativity in order to create a more balanced, consistent and competitive experience for players”. It’s possible, however, that Overwatch 2 will swing back in the other direction, as Blizzard are now “exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results”, with a view to restoring some of the joyful chaos that saw entire teams of Reinhardts charging the objective in formation.
The main Assassinâs Creed subreddit has warned users against debating the historical accuracy of the upcoming video game Assassinâs Creed Shadows, specifically protagonist Yasuke’s status as a samurai.
Moderators of r/assassinscreed, which has over 700,000 members, locked down a post titled âThere is no âdebateâ – Yasuke was a Samurai. If you disagree, you can do that somewhere else,â due to âbrigadingâ in the comments.
The post followed a controversial statement issued by Ubisoft to Japanese fans in which the company apologized for promotion materials it said âhave caused concernâ among the community.
The four-page message, posted in both English and Japanese, explained that Assassinâs Creed Shadows is not intended to be a factual representation of history. Instead, it is described as âa compelling, historical fiction set in Feudal Japan. Ubisoft added that it hoped Shadows would âspark curiosityâ in players who then research the historical period the game is inspired by.
In addition to the apology regarding the marketing materials, the message also discussed Yasuke, one of Shadowsâ two protagonists: âWhile Yasuke is depicted as a samurai in Assassinâs Creed Shadows, we acknowledge that this is a matter of debate and discussion. We have woven this carefully into our narrative and with our other lead character, the Japanese shinobi Naoe, who is equally important in the game, our dual protagonists provide players with different gameplay styles.â
While Yasuke has often been presented as a samurai in popular media, both in Japan and beyond, his depiction in Shadows has given rise to debate regarding the historical truth. The argument has lived side-by-side with criticism over Ubisoftâs decision to feature a Black man as a lead protagonist in a Japan-set Assassinâs Creed game â a backlash Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot alluded to while condemning âmalicious and personal online attacks.â
The statement noted that the Assassinâs Creed series has always taken âcreative license and incorporated fantasy elementsâ into its historically-inspired settings. âThe representation of Yasuke in our game is an illustration of this. His unique and mysterious life made him an ideal candidate to tell an Assassinâs Creed story with the setting of Feudal Japan as a backdrop.â
The mod team behind r/assassinscreed said Ubisoftâs statement âexacerbatedâ what it called âthis tedious discussion that has been endlessly talked to death,â and gave users of the subreddit a âfinal reminderâ of what the Assassinâs Creed franchise entails.
Hereâs the r/assassinscreed mod teamâs statement in full:
With the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, there has been an influx of certain individuals spilling into various communities online such as this subreddit and raising arguments about “historical accuracy”. As we are all exhausted of this tedious discussion that has been endlessly talked to death, not to mention exacerbated by a recent official statement from Ubisoft, we would like to give a final reminder to those participating in these debates as to what exactly this franchise entails, and why there was never any point to these discussions to begin with outside of thinly veiling bad faith intent.
Assassin’s Creed is historical fiction. This means that while certain locations, events and figures may be based on reality, and can even have a slight focus on accuracy, their depictions are largely exaggerated for the sake of a more enjoyable video game. While all of our player protagonists have been fictional to date, the introduction of Yasuke has given some people the false impression that the above rule does not apply. It still does. Yasuke, who is a samurai as confirmed by multiple reputable historians around the world including from Japan, may not have held as large as a role in the real world as he does in Shadows. This is okay. It is a video game. You are not meant to use Assassin’s Creed as a sourcebook for actual historical knowledge – it is meant to compel you to do your own external research after immersing you in a glimpse of authenticity.
We are not here in this community to debate on historical record. Most of us understand as fans that while these games provide us a great look into what historical settings could have felt like and have fun comparing them to actual record, we do not chase accuracy within this franchise and primarily play for other reasons. So if you are specifically here to leave comments about your displeasure about Yasuke’s inclusion or various other inaccurate details that have been pointed out in Ubisoft’s depiction of Feudal Japan, it is time to understand that this is not the place for this discussion and it never will be. Feel free to take your displeasures elsewhere, away from this franchise and its communities.
Any further comments attempting to dispute Yasuke’s societal status, disparage his inclusion in game or containing statements bordering on concern trolling for historical accuracy will be swiftly removed and met with a ban.
The mod team also provided a list of links to reddit posts explaining how the Assassinâs Creed series has handled historical accuracy in previous games.
The post outlines the subredditâs firm stance on Shadows, and is a clear attempt to draw a line under what has become one of the big talking points around the game. As Eurogamer pointed out, this debate has spilled over into the real-world, with a fringe Japanese politician requesting the Japanese government comment on the matter. But so far there has been no meaningful result.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
A time capsule is a boxful of objects from today’s world, buried or otherwise hidden away so that people from the future can rediscover and understand current Hot Trends such as wearing mismatched socks or electing washed-up businessmen with fascist tendencies. Unless, that is, it’s a time capsule in sci-fi ocean survival game Subnautica, in which case it contains: THE FUTURE. Developers Unknown Worlds have been sneaking pictures of the forthcoming Subnautica 2 into the original game’s time capsules, offering glimpses of its flora and fauna.
Xbox fans are waving goodbye to the Xbox 360 Marketplace, which shuts down today nearly 19 years after it launched.
The Xbox 360 Marketplace hit the internet alongside the Xbox 360 in November 2005, and brought with it a storefront that would become familiar to a generation of gamers.
Microsoft shuts down the Xbox 360 Marketplace today, July 29, not only marking the end of an era and the true end of the Xbox 360, but making a long list of video games and add-ons that were exclusive to the digital storefront impossible to buy. That list includes the likes of Aegis Wing, Meteos Wars, and Crimson Alliance.
Fans have taken to social media to reminisce about the Xbox 360 Marketplace, including former Microsoft employee Larry âMajor Nelsonâ Hryb, who for years would write posts about sales and updates for the Xbox 360 Marketplace and became the face of Xbox for so many fans.
âAlmost 19 years on, all good things must come to an end,â Hryb tweeted. âIt was my pleasure sharing all the thousands of marketplace sales and updates Iâve given over the years. Thank for having fun, playing fair and filing feedback.â
This is the final weekend for the Xbox 360 Marketplace.
If you don’t purchase in these last 2 days, you’ll lose your chance forever. End of an era to my favourite system of the 7th Generation. pic.twitter.com/tqZo06NFXx
â no context nostalgia (@nostalgiaooc) July 28, 2024
Before the marketplace closes on Monday, here’s a showcase of my final Xbox 360 digital library. I’ll still be collecting physical games, but it’s sad to see my childhood console have it’s support finally dropped. pic.twitter.com/J9or5CPrcX
WARNING: TONIGHT IS THE FINAL NIGHT YOU CAN GET THE $1 SOUR BILL AVATAR SHIRT FROM THE XBOX 360 MARKETPLACE, THIS IS NOT A JOKE pic.twitter.com/qRdsg4SKZr
Itâs worth noting that despite this shutdown, you can redownload previously owned titles and DLCs, buy backwards compatible games on the Xbox One and Series storefront, and still play online on Xbox 360. So, only games unavailable via backwards compatibility on Xbox One / Series and Xbox 360-era content such as avatars, icons, and themes are gone forever.
Alas, digital preservation evangelists are again proven correct.
Ahead of the shutdown, Microsoft-owned video game developer Double Fine offered Xbox 360 owners free digital codes for Kinect Party, the sequel to Happy Action Theater. The Psychonauts and BrĂŒtal Legend developer warned Xbox 360 players that they should download any games ahead of the closure. Because Xbox 360 Kinect is not supported by subsequent Xbox hardware, Kinect Party is one of the games lost forever amid this shutdown.
And in a nod to concern from some quarters that Microsoft’s closure of the Xbox 360 Marketplace would have a significant impact on video game preservation, Double Fine tweeted: âAlas, digital preservation evangelists are again proven correct.â
X/Twitter user @Kalyoshika provided a helpful list of video games that havenât survived the shutdown. It includes the likes of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Death Tank, and Diabolical Pitch.
Alright alright people want it so here it is. The Xbox 360 store is being obliterated from orbit on July 29, 2024 so I’ve written a non-exhaustive thread here of a few interesting games/DLC that will not survive*. Some are on sale others…not on sale.𧔠pic.twitter.com/a8Mn2pIX09
Do you have any fond memories of the Xbox 360 Marketplace? Did you buy anything last minute before it was lost forever? Let us know in the comments.
Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
