Knight and day.
Publisher Deck13 Spotlight and developer Argonwood have announced that the medieval-inspired turn-based strategy game Rising Lords will be bringing the battle to Switch on 18th January.
Taking place in the fictional kingdom of Aubelin, Rising Lords will see you playing as a Lord who is attempting to rise (shocking with that title, we know) through the ranks and gain power over the land.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Rebel Wolves, the studio founded by a few of the CD Projekt folk behind The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, have officially titled their forthcoming dark fantasy RPG. That title is… Dawnwalker. They’ve also shared a new teaser image, which I think could depict one of two things: a) a vampiric or otherwise supernaturally-inclined hero flying through the air care of a Dishonored-style Blink teleport, sword raised and clawed fingers stretched towards an unseen foe against a blood-red backdrop. Or b) a man with his trousers aflame swinging through the window of a second floor spa while attempting to use his umbrella as a parachute, having received only half a pedicure before the building caught fire.
Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian has released yet another hotfix for its phenomenally successful Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, this time taking on everyone’s favourite magic item-gobbling wizard, Gale.
Spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3 follow.
Baldur’s Gate 3 players will know that in the early game, Gale is in desperate need of magic items in order to prevent him from suffering a grizzly fate. He’s so desperate, in fact, that if you don’t give him a magic item to consume pretty much every time he asks for one, he’ll get so fed up he’ll leave your party. What a grump!
Hotfix 17, out now, makes Gale chill out a bit when it comes to his magic item addiction. Here’s Larian describing the change in a post on Steam:
“Poor Gale – we know your pain, sometimes it’s easy to read something into a situation that wasn’t there. We’ve sat him down and explained that if someone doesn’t offer him a shoe to eat every time, that doesn’t mean they never will. You’ll find him more likely to stick around now.”
And here’s the relevant line from the patch notes:
Elsewhere, Hotfix 17 makes some promising-sounding improvements to how Baldur’s Gate 3 handles savegames.
Larian issued a warning about Baldur’s Gate 3 mods, which may stop working when new patches and hotfixes are released. “If you experience any issues after installing the latest update, please check if the issue persists with all mods uninstalled,” Larian suggested. “If it persists, please reach out to our support team with your report.”
PERFORMANCE AND CODE
GAMEPLAY AND COMBAT
UI
FLOW AND SCRIPTING
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.
I worked on the phones when I was in pension admin, years ago, and I fielded some weird ones, but nothing quite as weird as the calls in Home Safety Hotline. It’s, technically, I suppose, a horror game about manning a call line through a 90s CRT-screen PC, where people will be like “my kitchen is full of droppings that look like coffee grounds, what do?”. You look through your list of potential household hazards and select the right one, so your caller gets sent the info on dealing with cockroaches. Except as your week at HSH goes on, your calls start to be less roaches, more “my house smells like death and my dog is acting strangely” or “I can see someone looking through my window at night and hear them breathing heavily.”
Save data will carry over.
Ahead of the Fate/Samurai Remnant DLC release next month, Koei Tecmo has now made a demo of the action role-playing game available on the Switch eShop.
The demo will allow you to test out the earlier stages of the game and save data will carry over to the full game if you decide to purchase it. The full version of the title will set you back $59.99 / £54.99.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
It’s also offering free product repairs.
Following in the footsteps of The Pokémon Company, Nintendo has announced it will donate 50 million yen to the Red Cross Society after a devastating 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the country’s Noto Peninsula earlier this month.
As part of this, Nintendo has announced it will also provide free repairs to anyone in disaster zones. Here’s the official statement (via a translation of a NintendoCoLtd post on social media):
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Trade-off.
UK retailer GAME will reportedly be refusing physical video game trade-ins from February 2024. This news comes from Eurogamer, which has spoken to numerous staff across multiple branches of the county’s largest video game retailer.
GAME has yet to make an official announcement to the public, but multiple staff working for the company have confirmed that they have been told the service will be ending on 16th February. That means you have a month to pop in and trade in your games for credit.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Charity speedrunning extravaganza Games Done Quick has kicked off its first week-long event for 2024. Among the highlights are speedy plays of 2023 highlights including Starfield, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Lies of P, along with a marathon from the world’s first canine speedrunner.
Tekken 8’s first DLC character will be a familiar face: Eddy Gordo, the capoeira pro who has previously appeared in the mainline roster of the fighting game series since 1997’s Tekken 3.
Square Enix has dropped a ton of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth details alongside artwork, screenshots, and even a trailer showing off Cait Sith, Nibelheim, Junon, and lots of other additions and changes coming in the highly anticipated sequel.
A huge blog post from Square Enix akin to one from November revealed lots of new information ahead of Rebirth’s launch on February 29. It outlines how new party members like Cait Sith and Yuffie fight, Elena’s new look in the remake, the different editions of the game available to preorder, and more.
It’s unclear who’ll be unlocked first out of Cait Sith and Yuffie, though as fans got to play the latter in Final Fantasy 7 Remake: Integrade on PS5, let’s start there. Yuffie is focused on speed (with a fast charging active time battle meter) and inflicting raw damage with her large throwing star.
Magic can be applied to her weapon through ninjutsu, made even more effective by chaining attacks together. Her Doppelgänger ability also allows Yuffie to attack from two places at once and seek out enemies’ weakness.
Cait Sith, the little cat who fights atop a chunky moogle mount, also darts around the battlefield quickly or calling upon the moogle for some slower but higher damage attacks. These attacks will also fill the Moogle Meter, which once charged can apply buffs to allies.
Keeping to Cait Sith’s focus on luck from the original Final Fantasy 7, different abilities can seemingly apply random buffs or damage to enemies and allies alike. The Let’s Ride ability, however, combines Cait Sith with his moogle to attack in tandem, enhancing both his regular attacks and unique abilities. Cait Sith can also drop kick his enemies while riding his moogle friend.
Yuffie and Cait Sith also have their own Synergy Ability, which are essentially combo attacks, called Moogle Pinwheel. Square Enix didn’t share too much of what it does, but promised the pair will attack together “with a secret ninja technique”.
Fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 were surprised to see Elena left out of Remake, but the young Turks member will make her revamped debut in Rebirth.
“Though she may be a rookie, she’s as skilled with her fists and a gun as anyone else in the Turks unit of Shinra’s General Affairs Division,” reads her official description. Her involvement appears directly related to the Remake Trilogy’s multiverse shenanigans, however, as her and Rude are tasked with pursuing the black-robed figures this time around.
One brand new character is Captain Titov, who also headlines a big change from the original Final Fantasy 7. Rebirth doesn’t feature the cargo ship Cloud and friends use to sneak across to Costa del Sol from Junon, but instead a cruise ship called the Shinra-8.
“He’s earned a sterling reputation among his crew, thanks to his unerring devotion to his duties.” Square Enix said. “This is most evident during the various festivities held aboard his vessel, which he personally — and passionately — emcees.”
Speaking of Junon, the trailer and screenshots show off its Shinra parade which Cloud must infiltrate, plus other iconic locations like The Gold Saucer and even brand new ones like the aforementioned Shinra-8 ship. It’s “a Shinra cruise ship that ferries travelers between the planet’s eastern and western continents,” Square Enix said. “After departing the port of Junon, it heads for the resort town of Costa del Sol. As part of the on-board entertainment, the ship plays host to a Queen’s Blood tournament.”
Rebirth will be available in several different editions, headling by the $349.99 / £349.99 Collector’s Edition, which includes a Sephiroth statue, steelbook case, mini soundtrack CD, physical artbook, and a physical version of the full game (which Square Enix loves to point out is across two discs). It also includes a Moogle Trio Summoning Materia, Magic Pot Summoning Materia, Reclaimant Choker, and Orchid Bracelet as in-game items.
The $99.99 / £99.99 Deluxe Edition includes the game, steelbook case, mini soundtrack CD, and physical artbook with no digital add ons. The Standard Edition naturally only comes with the game and is priced at $69.99 / £69.99. Preordering either of these also grants access to the Midgar Bangle in-game item.
As for full digital offerings, the Digital Deluxe Edition comes with the game, digital mini soundtrack, digital artbook, plus the Magic Pot Summoning Materia, Reclaimant Choker, and Orchid Bracelet as in-game items. Preordering this also grants access to the Moogle Trio Summoning Materia.
Finally, a Twin Pack includes both games digitally but no other add ons. Preordering will grant access to the Moogle Trio Summoning Materia, however.
Rebirth is the highly anticipated sequel to Final Fantasy 7 Remake. A third game will wrap up the Remake Trilogy, and while no release window has been shared, it’s already in development.
Rebirth therefore follows Cloud and friends as they leave Midgar and enter the wider Final Fantasy 7 world, encountering locations like Kalm, the Mythril Mine, Junon and Costa del Sol plus brand new ones created for the remake.
Square Enix has added new playable characters, too, plus a card game akin to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’s Gwent, and impressive fast travel. An ESRB rating has otherwise teased deep cleavage, pools of blood, and a clue to Aerith’s fate.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
