Chrono Trigger writer is “starting to contemplate” a remake after all

Rumours of a Chrono Trigger remake briefly bubbled up before being swiftly pin-popped last week, following a mistranslation of the JRPG‘s writer, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii at a panel. The potion-swilling public were understandably chuffed (you still can’t Google Horii’s name without being served videos of pog-faced excite-os screaming “Chrono Trigger Remake Confirmed!!!”), but it soon turned out that no such remake was actually planned.

Based on a recent interview with Gamereactor at the same event, it sounds like Horii has been considering doing something with Chrono Trigger after all, which isn’t too surprising after Square Enix said they planned to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary with “various projects” back in March. From Gamereactor:

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Europa Universalis 5 won’t launch with a subscription – but it might get one later

Grand strategy country crusher Europa Universalis 5 was announced yesterday, revealing a complex century-spanning historical sim. But one thing we still don’t know is the price or how it’ll be sold. If you want to buy the previous game in the series, Europa Universalis 4, you’ll find a slew of subscription models and a big library of DLC alongside the base game. Which might cause some fans to worry that the sequel will launch with some sort of similar subscription model. But this won’t be the case, say developers Paradox Tinto. They’re going to sell it normally. At least for now.

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Eric Barone, the guy who can’t stop updating Stardew Valley, says the words “I might eventually make a Stardew Valley 2”

Did you know that Stardew Valley is the 21st best-selling game of all time? It’s sold more than Skyrim! At least by the numbers we currently have, anyway. I don’t care all that much about sales figures, but if creator Eric Barone cared more about money, I can only imagine that a sequel would be all but guaranteed. As it turns out though, the developer could actually see himself making a sequel to the beloved farming sim.

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Doloc Town is a self-described cosy post-apocalyptic farming sim platformer, and it’s out in early access now

I’m not sure if the words cosy and apocalypse are generally ones that go hand in hand together, but Doloc Town is positioning itself as just that. Specifically, it’s a quite lovely looking pixel-art farming sim set in a post-apocalypse, and it just launched in early access today. Like in many farming sims before it, there’s the usual thing of tending to and growing your crops, cooking them up, fishing, that sort of thing. Where it differs is it’s all on a 2D plane, obviously meaning you’ll have to think about space quite differently.

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Helldiver 2’s next warbond will let you look even more fascist than normal, adds in a literal sword

Helldivers 2 is, very obviously, a game where you roleplay as space fascists. Like, the game explicitly treats you as fodder for a war against various supposedly evil species all in the name of colonising other planets. It’s not subtle! But it’s also silly as hell, so the shooter more or less gets away with it. Arrowhead just announced a new warbond though, and I’ll be honest: the new outfits are probably the most fascist looking yet.

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I just picked up 15 Doom and Wolfenstein Games for only $28 / £21 from Humble

I think this Doom and Wolfenstein Mayhem Bundle from Humble is an easy win if you’re even remotely interested in first-person shooters. For $28 / £21.16, you get fifteen titles spanning decades of FPS history. From the original DOOM to the more recent Wolfenstein reboots, this is a complete collection of mayhem. It’s also the lowest price I’ve seen for a bundle with this much legacy and content in one place.

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Frostpunk 2 brings in a map literally called The Pit, a revamped heating system, and a lot more in its first big update

What do people that play Frostpunk call themselves, frostpunks? Feels too obvious, but I’m going to do it anyway. Breaking news frostpunks! There’s a new big Frostpunk 2 update that’s just arrived in the game, adding some pretty big additions and changes,so let’s jump into them. First up, The Pit! No, it’s not just some hole to chuck things in, it’s a large new map with a “distinctive ‘proto-crater’ pit counted as mountain terrain,” to be found within.

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The next grand strategy game from Paradox is Europa Universalis 5

Paradox have announced grand strategy game Europa Universalis 5, following some teasers last week. It’s the next big entry in the series of complex globe-spanning historical simulations, and having played a little as the hapless ruler of Korea in the 14th century, I can confirm that it is so far as chunky, complicated, and deep as usual. The changes in this sequel won’t look wild or revolutionary to a dabbler, but seasoned tyrants might find a lot to pique their interest. Come see a trailer below.

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Death Stranding 2 is as much a rebuttal of Death Stranding’s theme of connection as a sequel

Earlier today there was a mighty eruption of Death Stranding 2: On The Beach previews, featuring commentary on the new game’s themes and social relevance from erstwhile Metal Gear Solidifier and Kojima Productions boss Hideo Kojima. Themes and social relevance, eh! Kojima is one of the few bigwigs who will engage openly with such things, which is perhaps less praise of Kojima than a judgement upon the hesitant and anodyne way other blockbuster game creators discuss the impact of their work.

In this case, Kojima has talked at some length about how Death Stranding 2 builds on and, at times, resists the first game’s theme of connection, based on his experiences of the Covid pandemic and his dislike of the “metaverse” – that ageing umbrella term for a newly monetisable “web 3.0” fauxtopia of networked technologies, ranging from VR to cryptocurrency, which many large video game publishers have sought to normalise in their hunger for profit growth.

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Elden Ring: Nightreign has a solution to stale strategies, says director

“Attacking is the most consistent element of Elden Ring Nightreign’s gameplay,” says director Junya Ishizaki in a new PlayStation blog, explaining the choice to have players revive each other by hitting wounded mates with swords – a famously crucial tenet of the hippocratic oath. “We tested to see if it would work for resuscitation, and we discovered a wide variety of tactics depending on range, frequency, and probability, so we formally implemented it. We also found it quite amusing (laughs).”

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