Category: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

How many times has Hayabusa village burned down? Some Ninja Gaiden freaks out there must know. This aged series has changed a lot in the decades since its NES debut, but that blazing home village has become a running gag. Ninja Gaiden games are slicey-dicey outings of varying quality in which Ryu Hayabusa must kill everything he dislikes yet again. But in the upcoming Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, it’s going back to 2D, largely without Ryu. I scuttled along to a demo session to play the “neo-retro” action platformer, and found that the familiar hero does show up as a tutorial mentor you can battle. You might, unlike me, even be able to defeat him. But it won’t matter. Your village will be burnt to the ground anyway.

“Because what would be a Ninja Gaiden game without it?” jokes game director David Jaumandreu of The Game Kitchen, who’ve been hired by Team Ninja to render those flames in old-school pixel art.

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I now own the Razer Viper Ultimate because I needed something that actually works without making a big production out of it. It’s $69.99 right now on Woot, down from the usual $99.99, and that includes the RGB charging dock. No extra add-ons, no fine print. Just the mouse and the dock, ready to go. Or, if you’re a first time buyer, you can even save an extra $10 and pick it up for just $59.99 with code TENOFFRAZER. Here’s why I recommend doing just that.

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When I inherited – pardon me, founded Endless Bear Studios at the flickering end of the Roaring Twenties, I had a dream. And that dream was to film Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy 30 years before Peter Jackson was born. Its one of many will-be classics I hope to “pre-make”, as it were. But ugh, these writers. There ain’t a single Jackson amongst ’em. I’ve got four on staff right now: one is a gambler, another likes to drink, the third is an incorrigible slacker, and the fourth is a recent hire who can barely use a typewriter. I spoonfed the gambler the rudiments of Spartacus, and he came back with some rancid applesauce about a knight and a criminal mastermind and a village of pixies. I told the tippler to write The Hobbit, and he cooked up a leaden three-hander with no wizard.

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FromSoftware, in their eternal quest to avoid giving us the damn moon already, have released a new character trailer for Elden Ring: Nightreign. This time, it’s the Raider – a decidedly unsubtle chap wielding a large stone lollipop and fond of devastating uppercuts, headbutting knights, and problem drinking. He also has the ability to summon walls. One is used in the trailer as an archery platform slash plunging attack allower. Here’s that trailer.

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Last month, “Mark Corrigan’s Oblivion” Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 got a free barber mode update, and now with yesterday’s release of Patch 1.2.4, you can finally have those RPG barbers shave Henry of Skalitz boiled butter bean bald. Did baldness signify nail-hard bastardry in medieval times, or simply some kind of maledicted scalp leprosy? Hopefully it’s the former. Henry’ll need to look tough to survive the new Hardcore mode.

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I feel like all I’ve been seeing the past few days is people asking if Marathon will be the game that finally brings extraction shooters into the mainstream. No one seems to be quite sure, mostly because it isn’t done or out yet. The thing is, it’s not the only extraction shooter due out this year that’ll put that question to the test, as Arc Raiders is one the way still too. It comes from former Battlefield devs after all, who have found success with their other shooter, The Finals. And earlier today, developer Embark Studios announced that another playtest for Arc Raiders is on the way this month.

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It’s been a little over a year since Palia had its proper launch, and its next big update, the Elderwood Expansion, received a little reveal today. This update is mostly focused on a new area, the titular Elderwood, and it’ll be free for everyone. That doesn’t mean everyone will be able to play it right off the bat though, as it’s designed for higher level players that have already beaten the main story (you can still head there beforehand if you’re impatient).

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RuneScape: Dragonwilds was announced just a couple of weeks ago, and today developer Jagex hosted a livestream where they showed a deep-dive of the game and revealed the game’s release date. Turns out, it’s today! As in right now, today, as in you can go to Steam to buy the game in early access if that’s something you’d be interested in.

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Dear reader, allow me, if you will, a moment of honesty. I truly, wholly did not know that Skull and Bones was still going. Not only is it still going, but yesterday Ubisoft shared a look at the game’s impending second year of updates, so I really missed the boat on this one – pun intended, of course. The first season of the pirate game’s second year has already kicked off, introducing a few new features.

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It turns out you won’t actually be spicing up your life next month, as Funcom have announced that Dune: Awakening is getting a delay. The survival MMO was originally supposed to be launching this coming May 20th, but a Steam post was shared today sharing that its release date has been pushed to June 10th. Those that have the deluxe or ultimate edition on order will still be able to play it a few days earlier, now June 5th.

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