Category: PlayStation

Every year, the team here at THQ Nordic puts months into crafting a Digital Showcase we think you’ll love, filled with news on previously announced games and teases of what you can expect from our dev teams in the future.

Variety defines what we do, and that has never been truer than in our 2024 broadcast – including a gorgeous hand-drawn adventure, a fender-bending destruction racer sequel, the much-demanded return of a legendary action-adventure series, and a whole lot more.

The Eternal Life of Goldman

We opened this year’s stream with the debut of an all-new 2D adventure platformer from Weappy Studio, developers behind This Is the Police. 

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As Goldman, with your trusty cane in hand, navigate a mysterious archipelago brought to life with painstakingly handcrafted 2D animation, each frame bursting with the passion that the team have injected into the game they have always wanted to make.

A sense of wonder and freedom to experiment are at the core of Weappy’s design philosophy, with a focus on rewarding players for their inquisitiveness about the world and platforming sections that are challenging but fair. The Eternal Life of Goldman begs you to discover the archipelago’s further reaches, each new ability and artifact you find adding new dimensions to your gameplay.

We can’t wait to tell you more later this year – for now, make sure to follow and wishlist the game at PlayStation Store to be among the first to receive updates.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

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The time has almost come to pick up your brush and decide the fate of Wasteland! When Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed releases on September 24, the power to shape the world with paint and thinner will be in your hands.

Take control of Mickey Mouse in 3D platforming action, exploring a land peppered with beloved characters to meet and secrets to discover, including classic side-scrolling levels inspired by Mickey Mouse’s history.

Rebuilt from the ground up by the team at Purple Lamp, and for the first time on PS5 and PS4, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a must-play for Disney fans of all ages, whether this is their first venture into Wasteland or a journey down memory lane.

Wreckfest 2

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Create the car of your tire-screeching dreams, show it off online, and smash it to pieces in the ultimate range of wrecktastic events. Whether it’s giving it your all to be first past the finish line, hurtling through obstacle courses, or crushing your rivals in a destruction derby free-for-all, Wreckfest 2 is about letting loose in the ultimate playground of vehicular carnage.

PS5 hardware has given the team at Bugbear Entertainment the freedom to model higher crash fidelity than ever, with each chassis-crinkling impact realized in real time. 

At the end of each event, your beaten-up vehicle will tell its own unique story – of traded paint, twisted steel, and grudge matches settled on the track.

Titan Quest II

Last year, we announced Titan Quest II with a trailer that set the stage for the battle against rogue goddess Nemesis and her hordes. Millions of views and thousands of comments later, we’re ready to show you more of the rich, verdant world that the team at Grimlore Games have been hard at work bringing to life. 

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In our debut gameplay trailer, you can get your first glimpse of the adventures that await you in the sun-drenched landscapes of Ancient Greece, and the godly powers you’ll claim as you take your place amongst the greatest legendary heroes. The team are hand-crafting an experience that encourages you to rise to the challenge, with epic battles against beasts of myth rewarding players with unique loot that changes the way you play.

This is your tale to tell, with deep customization options – from your hero’s appearance, to their combination of a vast range of modifiable skills and equipment loadouts. Whether you choose to embark on this odyssey alone or with friends, Titan Quest II will lead you on an unforgettable journey across a land unlike any other in the ARPG genre.

Gothic 1 Remake

Since we announced development of Gothic 1 Remake in 2020, the outpouring of support from Gothic fans around the globe, as well as the RPG community at large, has been immense. Every positive comment, each cry of “For Gomez!”, has bolstered the team at Alkimia Interactive as they work to deliver a game that is both a faithful love letter to the Gothic fandom and a welcoming experience full of wonder and fresh discoveries for newcomers.

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In today’s trailer, we delved into how Alkimia are crafting a world that is an organism unto itself, with a thriving ecosystem and powerful factions competing for dominance – a world that seems to exist beyond the player, but is ripe to be shaped by your decisions.

Visuals and gameplay have also been completely rebuilt to meet modern standards, with more rewarding progression, more impactful combat, and diverse NPC routines and interactions.

Whether you join the ore-rich Old Camp in league with the King, the New Camp who plan to destroy the magical barrier surrounding the Valley of Mines, or the Brotherhood of the Sleeper who put their faith in a mysterious new deity – the dark world of Gothic 1 Remake will soon be yours to explore.

Way of the Hunter: Lintukoto Reserve

For the second year in a row, we’ve released a DLC for Way of the Hunter on the same day as our Digital Showcase. 

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Whereas last year we took the hunt to lush African grasslands, today’s release will let you explore a stunningly-realized Scandinavian landscape populated with lynx, arctic foxes, and a range of other unique wildlife, all with their own realistic behaviors.

Wander through vast magical forests that shimmer under gentle rain, sprawling meadows teeming with life, and snowy hilltops that inspired folklore of ages past. With each tranquil moment that passes in this fictionalized Scandinavian wilderness, so lovingly sculpted by the team at Nine Rocks Games, your harmony with your surroundings increases.

Way of the Hunter: Lintukoto Reserve is out now on PS5.

A new tale from Tarsier Studios

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From the creators of Little Nightmares I & II comes an entirely new vision, unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Find out more at Gamescom Opening Night Live, Tuesday August 20, 11am PT/8pm CEST.   

Of course, it wouldn’t be the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase without just one more thing to tantalize you as we close out the stream…

The future of Darksiders

The ominous rumble of a chamber impossibly old. Scorching ash suspended in the air, spewed forth by roiling lava. 

Three colossal stone heads, suddenly set ablaze with otherworldly flames. The Charred Council awake, and roar a single word in unison: Horseman.

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We’ll have more news to share on where the world of Darksiders is going soon, but for now, know this… the Four Horsemen will ride again.

That’s it for the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase 2024! From all of us at THQ Nordic, as well as our dev partners spread around the world – thank you so much for joining us. We can’t wait to share more with you on each of these titles in the near future and see you soon in our digital worlds.

Last week, we asked you to share moments when game characters find themselves playing a game using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:

lovers_nero shares Leon racking up the points in the shooting gallery from Resident Evil 4 Remake.

MrioMoreno5 shares Joel watching as Ellie stops to admire an arcade deck in The Last of Us Part I.

vp_louie shares Tim Drake spending some time at an arcade game in Gotham Knights.

Lny_Trpr_EE7 shares a game of dominoes being played across Abigail in Red Dead Redemption 2.

WarDaddyPlatine shares May and Cody about to journey across a ball pit in It Takes Two.

secondcapture shares Gary riding a mechanical bull-type machine in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?

THEME: Running
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on August 7, 2024

Next week, we’re stretching our legs and going for a run. Share moments where your favorite characters are running in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.

They say you can’t start a fire without a spark…

Well, Helldivers, we’re about to spark a galactic-scale inferno. Your new Premium Warbond is deploying to all active patriots on 8 August – codename Freedom’s Flame.*

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Incinerate everything standing in your path with new weaponry almost too hot to handle; survive the heat of battle with lifesaving armor; and burn brightly across the cosmos with fresh emotes, capes, and skins.

Right now, swarms of disgusting bugs and packs of mechanized monstrosities are invading innocent worlds.

Stop them… destroy them… cremate them.

Let’s cook, Helldivers. Light it up in the name of liberty!

Firepower

Primary:

SG-451 Cookout
Burn, baby, burn! A pump action shotgun that unleashes a burst of incendiary phosphorus pellets at your helpless enemies.

FLAM-66 Torcher
A lightweight flamethrower shooting pressurized fuel through a nozzle into a roaring, open flame. Sounds safe. It isn’t. Watch where you’re standing.

Secondary:

P-72 Crisper
A flamethrower that fits in your pocket for the Helldiver on the go! What will those guys think of next? This lovely compact handgun projects a jet of freedom flames over short distances.

Booster:

Fiery Drop – Firebomb Hellpods
Scorch the earth (and anything else) below as you touch down with attitude and ignite the dropsite.

Armor:

I-09 Heatseeker
Proudly display the burnished blood-red plates that were forged in righteous fire, like the heroes they were wrought to protect — a true vision of democracy.

I-102 Draconaught
Ah, there’s nothing quite like those satisfying screeches as the enemies of freedom burn. Enjoy it all in this 14-cm sheathed silica fiber foam armor with an exclusive tube-to-ear feature.

Armor Passive
Inflammable! Enjoy 75% damage resistance to fire as you run head-first into danger like the unstoppable legend your mum said you’d be.

Title: Fire Safety Officer
You can now call yourself a Fire Safety Officer. Doesn’t come with a certificate.

Skin: Safety Orange
Repaint your Shuttle, Hellpod, and Exosuit in striking Safety Orange.

Capes & Cards

Purifying Eclipse
A heartfelt tribute to the Liberation of Choepessa IV in the First Galactic War, in which so much orbital ordnance was detonated that its sun was occluded by ash for an entire lunar cycle.

The Breach
The final mission of the 361^st Freedom’s Flame saw this storied unit deploy into the heart of a Supervolcano in a mission of heroic sacrifice. Triggering a huge eruption, this act of incredible bravery wiped out a massive Terminid swarm. As documented in the bestselling graphic novel ‘The Breach,’ it is available at all good book shops on Super Earth.

Emotes

Big Stretch, Deep Reflection, and Thoracic Collision Exultation Manoeuvre Co-emote. If you’re going to win. Win in style.

Freedom’s Flame is rolling out to your Destroyer’s Acquisitions panel on 8 August.

So ramp up the temperature to fry up some tasty justice, served with a side order of delicious grilled democracy.
Tonight, we dine – and dive – in hell.

See you planetside.

*Requires base game, paid purchase of Super Credits, and game progression to unlock. PSN account required.

Hi everyone! It’s a pleasure to be back here to make another Astro Bot-related reveal.

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If you have been following Astro news as of late, then you know Team Asobi have been hard at work on a brand-new game coming out on September 6. The game features over 50 planets, new powerups, lots of enemies, secrets and PlayStation-infused characters to collect. And it also features a DualSense wireless controller turned into a living character and helping Astro on his mission.

Today, it is an immense pleasure to announce that you will be able to charge into Astro’s new supersized adventure along with the cool new DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition.

We know many of you were hoping for this after seeing the game trailer. So, we quickly asked our lovely bots to engineer this beauty and tada! No, no, I’m just kidding; it had been in the making for some time, carefully crafted by the amazing teams at SIE. And what splendid work they did.

The controller’s design features Astro’s signature blue accents on the handles and buttons, carved-in, sci-fi lines as well as the trademark playful pair of eyes on the touch pad.  It is a true work of art, and we could not be happier with the end-result at Team Asobi. 

With this dynamic addition to your set-up, a supersized space adventure awaits… 

The DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition will be available in limited quantity in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam for SGD 114 / MYR 399 / IDR 1,449,000 / THB 2,690 / PHP 4,590 / VND 2,299,000 and will launch on September 6, day-in-date with the launch of Astro Bot

Pre-orders will be available through local retailers starting from Friday, August 9, 2024.

I will take this chance to summarize some of the cool things this new Astro Bot game does with the DualSense wireless controller

First, 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. That was already the case with Astro’s Playroom, but we have increased the number of textures you can feel through the controller.

Next, we doubled down on the adaptive triggers combined with haptic feedback, by tying them tightly to Astro’s 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.

Finally, 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 it’s stretching, pounding or pummeling hard surfaces, there are many new types of impacts that can be experienced in Astro Bot. 

And of course, we could not finish this post without mentioning the Dual Speeder, one of Astro’s most recurrent gadgets, allowing him to fly into various planets. The Dual Speeder makes full use of motion control, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Here is a piece of very early concept art and how it looks in the final game.

That’s all from us! We’ll be back soon for more news around Astro Bot. Until then, please tell us in the comments what you think of this cool DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition!

Astro Bot is out on PS5 on September 6, we are waiting for you all to join Astro for his first big new adventure.

Team Asobi out.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming RPG and the first release from French development team Sandfall Interactive. The game’s 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 haven’t already. 

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To get a deeper dive into what’s going into this promising game, I spoke with Guillaume Broche, founder & creative director at Sandfall Interactive about the game’s unique approach to classic, turn-based RPG gameplay, classic inspirations, and even the unqiue game title itself.

What’s in a name?

One aspect of intrigue for the game is its title, so I asked Broche about the inspiration behind it. 

“‘Clair Obscur’ refers to the real-world artistic and cultural movement in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,” says Broche. “It influenced the game’s artistic direction, and also refers to the overarching world of the game.” 

“Expedition 33 reflects the Expedition group led by the protagonist Gustave to destroy the Paintress,” says Broche. “The 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.” 

Other characters, such as the mage Lune, the genial warrior Sciel, and the young explorer Maelle are also part of the team, and you’ll be learning a lot about them and their histories throughout the game. 

Respecting the classics

In the reveal trailer we got a glimpse of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s eye-catching graphics. Broche explains that the graphics are one of the focal points for the developers. 

“There hasn’t really been any attempt at making a turn-based RPG with high-fidelity graphics for a good while,” he says, “and that left a deep hole in my gamer heart. We took it upon ourselves to make something to fill that void.”

Broche doesn’t hesitate to tell us about the many classic games that have served as inspiration for this effort from both a visual and gameplay standpoint. 

“At 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,” he says. “We all have a lot of nostalgia and love for these kinds of games, but also want to see something fresh done with the genre.”

“In 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,” says Broche. “In general, stories about venturing into the unknown despite incredible risks, like the anime/manga Attack on Titan, have always been very appealing to me.”

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. 

“We 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,” says Broche. “When 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.”

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. 

“The battle system is what we call reactive turn-based,” he explains. “You can take time during battles to establish your strategies, but during the enemy’s 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 skill–it’s even possible to do a no-damage run if you master all the enemies’ patterns.” 

“I kept thinking about ways to make turn-based battles more engaging,” Broche continues.”The attack rhythm system is a mix of different inspirations–we 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.”

Broche also dives into what players can expect when they jump into the game themselves. 

“I’d say dodging and parrying are the most common things players will need to get to grips with as they play,” says Broche. “The timing is pretty important, but the payoff is always really rewarding. Also, you can aim your ranged weapons at enemies too–hitting exposed weak points to do some extra damage, for example. Expedition 33 features some huge boss battles too that’ll really put players’ 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. We’re all looking forward to players finding out more about how the game feels as we work towards the game’s launch next year.”

Finally, I asked if Broche had any messages for future players.

“We’re glad to see so many fans are excited for the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! As our first title, we’re thrilled with the reception we’ve seen so far and we can’t wait to show more in the lead up to launch next year.”