Category: Video Games

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Steam Deck sitrep: it still doesn’t work, sorry

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is, as a game per se, very good! It’s creative and intelligent and lets you fill other players’ worlds with recruitable humanoid versions of your pet cats. Still, a technical masterclass it is not. In my performance analysis, I touched on DD2 being particularly unplayable on the Steam Deck, suffering from sub-10fps framerates and a bunch of broken settings. Since that was based on pre-release code, I had quietly hoped that Capcom could pull something – anything – out of the bag to salvage handheld PC play in time for launch day, but now the time has come, I’ve checked again, and nope. This RPG adventure simply doesn’t work on the Steam Deck, and probably never will.

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 Breaks Capcom Steam Records Amid Microtransactions Furore

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has enjoyed a huge day-one on PC, but it has also sparked a vociferous debate about microtransactions.

The fantasy action adventure game has 21 separate microtransactions available day-one, ranging in price from $0.99 to $4.99. Offerings include an Explorer’s Camping Kit for $2.99, a gaol key that lets you escape from gaol for $0.99, a Portcrystal warp location marker for $2.99, and Wakestones that restore the dead to life for $0.99 each.

These microtransactions have sparked a controversy not just for the sheer number available day-one, but because they make parts of the game deliberately designed to challenge players in certain ways either easier, less frustrating, or quicker. Players have already pointed out that these microtransactions help with fast-travel. Dragon’s Dogma 2 and its predecessor are unique in that they do not allow unrestricted fast-travel. Both games require expensive and rare Ferrystones to teleport to designated Portcrystals. Dragon’s Dogma 2 lets players buy a Portcrystal with real money. This can be set at a destination of your choice, and you then use a Ferrystone to instantly transport your party to the Portcrystal’s location. (For more, here’s How Fast Travel Works and How to Get Ferrystones.)

Ahead of the game’s release, director Hideaki Itsuno told IGN why the development team wanted players to travel normally and experience the world around them. “Just give it a try. Travel is boring? That’s not true. It’s only an issue because your game is boring. All you have to do is make travel fun,” Itsuno said.

“That’s why you place things in the right location for players to discover, or come up with enemy appearance methods that create different experiences each time, or force players into blind situations where they don’t know whether it’s safe or not ten meters in front of them.”

“We’ve put a lot of work into designing a game where you can stumble across someone and something will happen, so while it’s fine if it does have fast travel, we decided to design the map in a way that the journey [itself] could be enjoyed. In the same kind of way [in real life] that you may deliberately choose to go by bike or on foot when traveling [instead of taking faster options].”

The Explorer’s Camping Kit microtransaction has also raised eyebrows. In Dragon’s Dogma 2, camping kits are used to make camp while out exploring, and offer you and your party brief respite from combat to recover and prepare. Elsewhere, the $1.99 Art of Metamorphosis lets players edit their character’s appearance or the appearance of a pawn. It can be used only once when visiting a barberie. You can edit character appearance in Dragon’s Dogma 2 without buying this microtransaction, but it costs a sizeable chunk of in-game currency.

Exacerbating matters is the fact Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a $70 single-player RPG (it’s Capcom’s first $70 game), with some questioning whether it should have microtransactions such as these at all.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has launched with a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam after an initial ‘mostly negative’ rating, with most of the negative reviews hitting out at the monetisation. However, there are players defending the microtransactions, explaining that the items you can buy are available to obtain in the game itself through gameplay. It’s also worth pointing out that each microtransaction is limited to one purchase only. Here’s a snippet of the reaction:

Despite the row over microtransactions, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has launched big on PC (console player stats are unavailable). According to official figures, Dragon’s Dogma 2 hit a peak of 184,724 concurrent players on Steam on launch day, breaking Capcom’s highest concurrent user peak record for a single-player game and beating out both Resident Evil 4 and Village. That number will no-doubt increase over the weekend as more people log in to play.

PC players are also reporting performance issues, even on powerful rigs. Capcom told IGN that performance issues with the PC version of Dragon’s Dogma 2 may be linked to the heavy amount of CPU demanded from NPCs in the game. In response, some fans planned an NPC murder spree in a bid to boost the game’s frame-rate.

If you’re getting stuck in to Dragon’s Dogma 2, be sure to check out Which Vocation to Choose, Things to Do First, Things Dragon’s Dogma 2 Doesn’t Tell You, and our Walkthrough hub.

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.

Shadows Of The Damned: Hella Remastered Confirmed For Switch

Launching later this year.

Grasshopper Manufacturer has confirmed that Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will be making its way to the Switch in 2024.

As covered by Gematsu, the game is now currently playable for attandees at PAX West in Seattle. For the uninitiated, the original game launched back in 2011 and was written by Suda51, known best for his work on titles like No More Heroes and Killer7. It was also produced by Resident Evil veteran Shinji Mikami.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Princess Peach: Showtime’s Director, Developer Have Finally Been Revealed

Nintendo has a history of being unusually tight-lipped about disclosing the names of actors, developers, and directors behind its games until after their official release. This tradition of sorts also includes its upcoming Peach-centric action-adventure romp, Princess Peach: Showtime, which releases on the Nintendo Switch on March 22.

But, after rolling the credits on Princess Peach: Showtime (read our review!), IGN has confirmed that Goemon designer Etsunobu Ebisu is credited as its producer and director and Good-Feel served as the game’s developer.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Ebisu’s involvement in Princess Peach: Showtime marks the first time in over 25 years that he’s directed a video game. The last game Ebisu directed was 1997’s Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon for the Nintendo 64. Aside from serving as the director for a bulk of the Goemon series, Ebisu also worked as a programmer and game designer for Konami on Castlevania and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness before becoming the CEO of Good-Feel in 2005. Good-Feel was the developer behind Nintendo games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Wooly World, and Wario Land: Shake It, to name a few.

In any other circumstance, Ebisu and Game-Feel’s illustrious assortment of gaming credits would warrant a mention in the announcement or reveal trailer of Princess Peach: Showtime to drum up hype for players —
familiar or otherwise — with their previous works. However, Nintendo instead opted to keep this piece of information a secret — going so far as to embargo information from Princess Peach: Showtime’s credits and preventing anyone reviewing the game from revealing its co-creators in their reviews — until after the game’s launch.

Last year, Nintendo inversely created an air of secrecy surrounding Mario’s new voice actor following the retirement of long-time Mario voice actor Charles Martinet. The company was also cagey about revealing the developers behind the highly-anticipated remake of Super Mario RPG.

In our review, we wrote “Princess Peach: Showtime! is a simple, cheery romp with a variety of neat styles and a fun theater-inspired setting.”

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.

Switch Online’s ‘Missions & Rewards’ Adds Princess Peach: Showtime! Icons

The first wave is now available.

Nintendo is celebrating the release of Princess Peach: Showtime! this week. In the leadup to the game’s launch it’s released multiple trailers, a demo, and now to top it off it’s added a new batch of icons to the ‘Missions and Rewards’ scheme for the Switch Online service.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

So, Will You Be Getting Princess Peach: Showtime! For Switch?

Step into the spotlight.

Well, this week marks the arrival of Princess Peach: Showtime! on the Nintendo Switch and it seems to have got off to a reasonably positive start receiving plenty of respectable scores so far.

In our own review, we labelled Peach’s latest outing a “high-class production” – awarding it 8/10. Her new title has plenty of creativity and style, and levels are packed full of all sorts of secrets, outfits, and mechanics to keep the action feeling fresh.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Resident Evil Director, Hi-Fi Rush Producer Shinji Mikami has Seemingly Started Another New Studio

Shinji Mikami has seemingly started his own studio called Kamuy Inc. Mikami left Tango Gameworks back in February 2023, a studio he founded in 2010.

This info comes from the official website for Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered. Under the “Creators” tab, an image of Mikami is shown alongside a short biography. The last sentence of it reads, “After leaving Tango Gameworks, he established KAMUY Inc.”

Mikami has not officially revealed what his next plans are following his departure from Tango Gameworks. However, he teased his return to game development back in October 2023, stating that his non-compete clause had ended.

Mikami first gained prominence in the video game industry while at Capcom, where he was the director for the original Resident Evil in 1996. He directed a number of other games during his stint at Capcom (including Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 4, and God Hand) and was producer for a string of other Resident Evil games, the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series, and the original Devil May Cry. Between leaving Capcom and founding Tango Gameworks, Mikami also directed Vanquish for PlatinumGames.

As the founder of Tango Gameworks, he directed The Evil Within, as well as produced The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush.

Mikami was the creative producer for Shadows of the Damned, which was released in 2011 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The remaster, officially titled Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, is set to launch later in 2024 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.

When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey

Round Up: Every Switch Announcement From Future Games Show: Spring Showcase 2024

Every game, trailer, and release date.

The first Future Game Show presentation of the year is here. The Spring Showcase 2024, which was broadcast earlier today, gave us a look at over 40 different games across all genres and platforms.

Broadcast live at PAX East 2024, the showcase was hosted by Samantha Béart (Baldur’s Gate 3) and Ben Starr (Final Fantasy XVI) — or Mama K and Mama C, if you prefer.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Harold Halibut Hands On: A Heartfelt, Handmade Tale About Fish, Friendship and Finding Home

From the moment you set eyes on it, it’s clear that Harold Halibut is a particularly intricate labor of love. A narrative adventure set under the sea, the game places you in the squeaky shoes of its titular protagonist Harold, a lab assistant working aboard an underwater spaceship. 

As Harold, you’ll bimble around the confines of the (admittedly, quite large) spaceship, cleverly separated into different districts by the game’s water tube system, which essentially fires humans through little pipes to their destinations. Along the way, you’ll encounter a quirky cast of characters, all busy with their existences but ready to involve Harold in their wacky goings-on, whether it’s looking for a lost pet bird or helping the local shopkeeper win back his wife’s love. The characters spread around Harold Halibut are written brilliantly and bursting with a quintessentially British humor. 

The premise of Harold Halibut is equally as fascinating. Without giving too much away, Harold descends from a small colony of explorers that ventured out to find a new planet to inhabit. The ship ended up stranded underwater, and generations of humans have managed to survive and thrive there. As you progress, Harold starts to uncover stories about the history of humanity, the fate of Earth, and the people he’s surrounded by, all while proving to himself that he’s capable of bigger things. 

The delightful writing is encased in Harold Halibut‘s most obvious quirk – the game is physically made out of clay, every asset you see in game is handcrafted and then digitally scanned into the game, which is an utterly incredible process. This method makes Harold Halibut feel pleasantly retro, harking back to 90s point-and-click adventure games like The Neverhood, but with a slick, modern feel. 

Harold Halibut‘s stunning retro-futuristic aesthetic is also complimented by some incredible audio design; every interaction, conversation or environmental noise comes with a satisfying crunch that makes you feel like you’re really in the room with Harold. The pairing of the sound and handmade visuals together gives Harold Halibut a super unique visceral joy, making even an empty corridor or quiet room feel immersive and interesting. 

You’ll visit most of the game’s environments and speak to its cast of characters repeatedly to uncover their stories, but stopping to explore these gorgeous environments never feels like a chore. The game is filled with lovely little puzzles and mini-games too, which adds a pleasing level of interactivity to the walking and talking you’ll do each in-game day. Harold Halibut wants you to pay attention to the little things, its quirky set dressing, subtle, silly jokes, and the thought that has gone into those things is truly rewarding. 

I only spent a few hours with Harold, but I’m already enthralled with where the narrative is going, and what weird and wonderful creatures I’m going to encounter on Harold’s journey to resdicover Earth. Harold Halibut is shaping up to be an incredibly special game, and one I can’t wait to play more of.  

Harold Halibut is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S and via Game Pass on April 16. 

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