At intervals in our relentless battles with the Maw, we lose people. Sometimes, it’s because those people have succeeded in levelling up out of games journalism, or found their way into another echelon of the craft. Other times, the losses are more abrupt and arbitrary. In each case, one short term response is intensification. Those of us who remain must be rockier, paperier and more shotgun than ever before. With that in mind, here are this (four-day) week’s new PC games of note.
Zenless Zone Zero, the hotly anticipated new game from the makers of Genshin Impact, launches globally on July 4, 2024, across PC, PlayStation 5, iOS, and Android. The game is not available on Nintendo Switch or Xbox Series X and S.
HoYoverse said its anime-inspired “urban” fantasy action role-playing game will support cross-progression and cross-play upon release when it goes live. The final closed beta ends today, May 28, with the game having reached an impressive pre-registration total of 35 million players worldwide. At 40 million, a figure Zenless Zone Zero will surely hit before launch, HoYoverse will give players in-game rewards including up to 20 Master Tapes, which can be used to obtain rare characters, the playable Agent Corin, 30,000 Dennies, and Boopons, an in-game item used to obtain rare Bangboo.
Here’s the official blurb on Zenless Zone Zero:
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where supernatural disasters called “Hollows” have destroyed modern society. However, New Eridu, the last remaining city, has risen against the odds during this devastating catastrophe and has become the last remnant of contemporary civilization. In the story, players assume the role of a “Proxy” who guides adventurers in the unpredictable Hollows. Together with unique characters encountered along the way, players will explore Hollows, face enemies, complete commissions, and unravel the mysteries behind New Eridu.
HoYoverse will be hoping to replicate the enormous commercial success of gacha game Genshin Impact with Zenless Zone Zero. Be sure to check out our Zenless Zone Zero guide to get yourself well acquanted with the game’s sprawling lore and ensemble cast of anime-inspired characters.
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.
Learn from the “paper plane expert” John Collins.
To celebrate the launch of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on the Switch last week, Nintendo called on “the paper airplane guy”, expert and former world record holder John Collins to teach fans of Mario how to make a paper plane.
All you have to do is download and print out the free paper airplane template and then follow John’s steps above to create the ultimate glider.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
A new camera option and “many other new features”.
If you haven’t already seen it, N64: Recompiled is revolutionising the Nintendo 64 emulation scene and native PC ports.
Wiseguy, the creator of this project, is already rolling out updates for Zelda 64: Recompiled, and the latest version (1.1.0) has now arrived – adding a new (dual) analog “free camera”, improved motion blur at higher frame rates, and multiple other features and fixes to The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It’s not much but it’s something…
Square Enix is currently celebrating ‘Dragon Quest Day’ and while there’s been an update on Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, there’s been no announcements related to the next major entry in the series Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate.
Instead, series creator Yuji Horii has provided a brief update which seems to indicate the project is still on track. Here’s what he had to say (via Gematsu):
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Konami has announced that a Silent Hill Transmission will take place on Thursday, May 30, at 4pm PT/7pm ET that will reveal game updates, a “deeper look at the film,” and new merch.
This second Silent Hill Transmission was announced on X/Twitter with no further hints as to what we’ll see, but thankfully our wait for answers isn’t too long.
“Consider this your invitation letter to Silent Hill,” the official Silent Hill X/Twitter account wrote. “Tune in May 30 at 4 p.m. PDT to our SILENT HILL YouTube channel for the second installment of the #SILENTHILL Transmission where we’ll share game updates, a deeper look at the film, and new merch. #SILENTHILL”
The first Silent Hill Transmission took place on October 19, 2022, and included such big reveals as the Silent Hill 2 Remake, the spinoff from No Code Studios called Silent Hill: Townfall, a narrative driven spinoff set in 1960s Japan called Silent Hill f, the immersive project called Silent Hill: Ascension, and the movie titled Return to Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2 Remake is being developed by Bloober Team and it was given a new trailer back in January 2024 but no release date. Sony may have, however, revealed in a separate trailer featuring a few of its upcoming games that it would be arriving sometime in 2024.
We haven’t been given any updates on the other two games, but Silent Hill: Ascension did come out in 2023. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the “triumphant return to Silent Hill we’ve been longing for.”
As for Return to Silent Hill, we just got a look at the film’s version of Pyramid Head back on May 16. This new film that is an adaptation of Silent Hill 2, is being directed by the director of the original Silent Hill movie from 2006, Christophe Gans.
The film will follow “James (Jeremy Irvine), a man broken after being separated from his one true love (Hannah Emily Anderson). When a mysterious letter calls him back to Silent Hill in search of her, he finds a once-recognizable town transformed by an unknown evil” and “terrifying figures both familiar and new.”
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
All the Paper Mario games, ranked by you.
Updated with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for Switch, the HD remake of the 2004 GameCube original. Enjoy!
The Paper Mario series began two decades ago when Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64 launched in Japan on 11th August 2000. Since then, we’ve seen five more mainline Paper Mario games of different flavours, plus a 3DS crossover with AlphaDream’s Mario & Luigi series.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It’s been three years to the day since we learned that Square Enix planned to remake Dragon Quest 3, unveiling a revamping of the seminal 1988 JRPG in Octopath Traveler’s HD-2D engine. Three years have passed since then, but we’ve finally had an update on the remake – and it’s raised a few questions, to say the least.
The next Doom game – the first new instalment in over four years, after Doom Eternal – is reportedly taking a leaf out of Evil Dead: Army of Darkness’ necronomicon by transporting the Doom Slayer back to a medieval world to presumably battle hellspawn. According to a new report, it’s subtitled The Dark Ages and we’ll get an official reveal next week.
The director of Baldur’s Gate 3 and CEO of developers Larian has revealed that the studio experienced crunch in order to get the sprawling Dungeons & Dragons CRPG finished. While Swen Vincke admitted that “it would be a lie to say that we didn’t [crunch]”, he insisted that it was less than on past Larian games such as Divinity, staff were paid for the overtime and it seemingly didn’t go as far as working late nights or weekends (for the most part, anyway).
