Legacy Of Kain with parkour? Sure, go on then

Not actually a stealth FPS hybrid of Blood and Thief – although I’d pay good money for that – Bloodthief is closer to something like Ghostrunner but also, I think, much better. The Steam demo‘s opening levels are roughly as tricky and demanding as the cyberpunk parkour series but, perhaps to due to less concern with being stylish, the movement here feels a lot more caffeinated. You only have to look at the visuals to clock that Bloodthief isn’t that sort of game that’s precious about letting you do silly things with momentum.

Also you’re a vampire, with a sword, exsanguinating armoured knights in a vaguely Germanic medieval town. Well, Vae my Victus. I do get very excited when anything reminds me, even a little, of Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain. Here’s a nice little video of the game in action. Warning: this trailer for the game Bloodthief has blood in it.

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“PlayStation are great” says Arrowhead’s CEO, but whatever the Helldivers 2 devs are making next, it’s fully self-funded

Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios are cooking. I’m not exactly sure what just yet, but there’s a faint aroma of a new game in the air, and it doesn’t seem like they’re ready to share anything about the game right now either. Still, after the runaway success of Helldivers 2, something new from the studio is still an exciting prospect. Interestingly enough though, whatever they’re making, it won’t have anything to do with PlayStation when it comes to funding.

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Here’s a morbid one: Kojima has a USB stick full of ideas for Kojima Productions to use after he dies

That Hideo Kojima is a bit of an odd chap, ‘ey? It was only recently he said that he wants to make a game where the protagonist forgets their own abilities if you, the player, take a long break between play sessions. As a reminder this comes from the guy who made a whole game about delivering packages, another game where a character can die of old age if you wait long enough, and another game that knows if you’ve played Castlevania or not. The guy likes doing things differently!

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The original Stalker trilogy is getting a free upgrade that brings in reworked lighting, full controller support, and more

Fancy a jaunt back into The Zone? GSC Game World released the long awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl last November, steadling improving it after an (understandably) rocky launch. There’s been several hefty updates for the sequel released along the way, and it turns out the developer has been even busier than expected. GSC Game World announced Stalker: Legends of the Zone Trilogy Enhanced Edition today, a revamp of the original three games, Shadow of Chornobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Prypiat, that mostly brings in some visual upgrades.

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Yet another Persona 5 spinoff is launching next month, this time a gacha game with a new group of Phantom Thieves

There’s a newish Persona game on the way next month, and it is, of course, yet another Persona 5 spinoff. I’m not sure if another cow in existence has been so thoroughly milked before, but here we are. I call Persona 5: The Phantom X (that’s its name, by the way) newish because it’s actually been available in China through an ongoing open beta for the last year. Earlier today, Atlus held a pre-recorded livestream confirming that the mobile game is finally coming westward, and that it’ll be getting a PC release as well.

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The first look at Kingdom Hearts 4 in three years isn’t a trailer, but a JPEG of Mickey Mouse is better than nothing

You know what got announced a little over three years ago now? Kingdom Hearts 4. You know what hasn’t had a single new trailer in that time? Ding ding ding! If you said Kingdom Hearts 4, you don’t win anything because the direction of this bit was pretty obvious. The game still doesn’t have a new trailer, by the way, but the series’ official Blue Sky account did oh so generously offer up a handful of screenshots today which do show off some new bits (mostly).

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This roguelite has a brilliant twist on Warhammer Quest’s dungeon crawling, and it’s out today

Into To The Restless is a roguelite dungeon crawler where you build the dungeon as you go. I really enjoyed the demo, and the full game is out today. In a show of confidence I always appreciate, the demo is also still available. Launch trailer below. It’s got a quote from one of my articles in it, although they opted not to use the phrase “like hailstones battering the word ‘bum’ into soft cement” for some reason. Perplexing times we live in.

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Gennady is a slimy anti-Mario platformer in which you harvest larvae and turn into a squirrel

Grotesque new platform game Gennady takes place in a squelchy, eminently punchable world of procedurally generated, wriggling alien cubes. Burst a cube and you’ll be rewarded with juicy, golden maggots and a shower of delightful green ooze. Sometimes the ooze spawns a grotty little janitor monster, who slinks up behind you with mop in tentacle. Yes, this is a game in which the filth tries to clean up after itself. Good luck with that, filth. Here’s a trailer.

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Ubisoft push back “some of our biggest” games and announce further cost-cutting after a “challenging” year

Stab-o-sneak merchants Ubisoft are pushing back the release of several unspecified big name projects in the wake of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which CEO Yves Guillemot says “has reaffirmed the power of the Assassin’s Creed brand”. The tactical snoop ‘n’ shoot peddlers are also looking to cut costs by at least €100 million across their organisation, following a difficult year in which they’ve partnered with Tencent to launch a new corporate subsidiary dedicated to their most popular games.

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Get in the car, loser, we’re going on an Internet Roadtrip with a thousand backseat drivers

Friends, it is my sad duty to inform you that One Million Checkboxes creator Neal Agarwal is up to more of his crowdgaming mischief. He’s published another online squabbling sim called Internet Roadtrip. It’s a roaming Google Streetview cam in which viewers vote on the direction of travel every 10 seconds. The thinking behind Saltybet applied to the experience of driving your kids to Disney Land, in short. It is possibly a commentary on self-piloting vehicles, but mostly, it is a celebration of the raucous magic of chatboxes. You can also vote to honk the horn.

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