Category: Video Games

Karma: The Dark World out on PS5 March 27

Hello everyone, I’m Yonghe Wang – Creative Director at Pollard Studios and today I am very excited to announce on behalf of my team and our publisher Wired Productions that Karma: The Dark World will be launching on PlayStation 5 on March 27. The game will also support PS5 Pro enhancements.

To celebrate, we thought we would share a breakdown of how the team is making the most of the PS5 Pro features to enhance the games visuals and performance – and to share the second in a trilogy of trailers – showcasing some of the surreal environments and characters in the game hinting at their relationship to you – the player. Please Enjoy!


Karma: The Dark World out on PS5 March 27

What Is Karma: The Dark World?

Karma: The Dark World is a first-person cinematic psychological thriller which takes place in a cassette future alternate timeline set after World War II. In our game, a company known as Leviathan obtained unfathomable technology that allowed them to wrestle Eastern Germany under their control, installing a regime that oppresses the citizens and places productivity and obedience as gospel.

They achieve this through a variety of means, from mass surveillance and mind-altering substances, to their secret organization of Nightcrawlers, special ROAM Agents who have the authority to investigate crime scenes and arrest citizens for interrogation and for Mind Dives – a special technology that allows them to dive into the memories of their subjects, and inhabit their memories, living and interacting with the events in their memories as they seek out the truth – dealing with the horrors of peoples pasts and twisted interpretations of emotions, guilt, and trauma from their harshest experiences.

You play Daniel McGovern, a ROAM agent tasked with investigating a theft at one of the Leviathan scientific institutes, and a job that leads to much greater investigation into love, humanity, empathy, and the complexities of morality.

Creating the Dark World

I believe creation is a profound dialogue with the human soul, transcending books or films to encompass real-life experiences and emotions. We focus on integrating philosophical reflection into game design, as reflected in the title of this work. The relationship between cause and effect is interlinked, with each moment, character connection, event, and more spirally constructing the entire world.

Through Karma, we aim to break the boundaries of traditional storytelling, crafting an experience that entertains while provoking thought. It is not just a virtual journey but a mirror to reality, urging players to seek their own answers within the game.

Our team employ stark contrasts in lighting and bold color palettes, aiming to immerse players in an experience that merges realism with surrealism—inspired by the vibes of games from Remedy (Alan Wake, Control) and the abstract nature of visual storytelling found within the works of the late, great David Lynch (Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me, Eraserhead) whose artistry profoundly influenced our game development, inspiring us to pay tribute to and learn from his works. At the core of our creation is a pursuit of a unique experiential quality—something hauntingly beautiful that lingers even after closing one’s eyes, and an effort to blur the boundaries between reality and illusion.

Within the game, we pay homage to Mr. David Lynch, and we hope players will cherish this journey.

The power of PS5 Pro

During development we had the opportunity to start utilizing the PS5 Pro kit, and further enhance the visuals and performance of the world that we have created. We’d like to take a moment to share with you the features that PS5 Pro players can look forward to – as well as some exclusive environmental footage captured directly from a PlayStation 5 Pro.


Karma: The Dark World out on PS5 March 27

PSSR integration

Our game fully leverages PlayStation’s Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) technology, delivering:

  • Superior image quality with advanced reconstruction techniques
  • Enhanced edge definition and texture clarity
  • Minimal performance overhead while maintaining visual fidelity
  • Improved detail preservation in motion

Performance metrics

Through careful optimization, we’ve achieved:

  • Native 4K resolution (3840×2160)
  • Rock-solid 60 FPS performance
  • Consistent frame pacing for smooth gameplay
  • Enhanced texture streaming utilizing PS5 Pro’s increased memory bandwidth

Visual enhancements

The PS5 Pro version delivers:

  • Higher quality texture filtering
  • Enhanced volumetric effects
  • Improved distance rendering
  • Superior temporal stability

Technical Infrastructure

Our implementation takes full advantage of PS5 Pro’s hardware capabilities:

  • Optimized memory utilization
  • Enhanced shader processing
  • Improved asset streaming
  • Advanced post-processing effects

I hope you’ve enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look into how we crafted the visual design of Karma. Whether you are playing on PlayStation 5 or PS5 Pro – we promise this is a story that will stay with you for a long time.

Karma: The Dark World launches on PlayStation 5 on March 27. And we are excited for you to step into the shoes of a ROAM agent – but remember… the mind is a dangerous place.

The stress-free logic puzzles of Is This Seat Taken? make for my favourite demo in ages

I really, really like Is This Seat Taken? It might just be that this logic puzzler stick its thumb out noticeably from the omnipresent gaggle of post-roguelite survivalyptic soulsbuilder decklikes, but I suspect it’s also down to the deeply satisfying bloopy twinkle dink that plays whenever you drop someone into a seat with your floating hand cursor.

You’ve got a limited number of seats and a bunch of jolly demand-os, and it’s your job to make them all happy. “I want to sit with Bob”. “I need a window seat”. “I forgot to shower”. “I do not like bad smells”. So you quarantine the nostril bombers in the back of your limo, make sure everyone else is happy, and drive off to the next level. There, you’ll take the role of a cinema usher. Some punters want to sit next to someone with popcorn so they can steal it, and some want to wear massive cowboy hats that block those behind them. It’s all quite simple, but robust, and just thoughtful enough to lightly tickle your synapses, like a gentle grizzly bear wielding an illustrious peacock feather.

Read more

Game Vouchers Won’t Work On Switch 2 Exclusives, Says Nintendo

See ya, savings!

Nintendo has announced that its Nintendo Switch Game Vouchers saving service will not extend to Switch 2 exclusives (thanks, VGC).

The vouchers initially cropped up in 2019 as a way to make a small saving on first-party Switch titles. Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can buy a voucher for £84/$100 and use it to redeem two Switch big hitters (Breath of the Wild, Paper Mario, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet etc.) that would normally come in at a higher combined price.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Amphora Hell is a goofy little game about failed art that refuses to become junk

During a house clearout I recently discovered a cache of creative writing from my teenage years. Naturally, I now consider most of it to be unbearable. Reading certain notebooks makes me feel as though my stomach is mounting an upwards assault on my brain. BURN IT, scream the parts of said brain that have learned the perils of starting poems with “O Muse”. BURN IT ALL. Nonetheless, I felt bad about being mean towards my adolescent self, so I popped all those misbegotten papers in a giant suitcase. It squats next to me right now as I type these words, like a mausoleum filled with dead albatrosses.

Similarly mixed emotions appear to inform Amphora Hell, in which you play an amphora (read: ancient species of vase) with legs. The amphora is the work of the Kilnmaster, a terrible Olympian force who is sort of one part Hephaestus to one part shmup villain. The Kilnmaster has just decided that he hates his amphora with legs and wishes to destroy it with flying hammers. “No evidence of my failure must remain,” he bellows in the Itch preamble. “Prepare to be scrapped!”

Read more

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1: Bloom review

Most writing tries to avoid cliché, understanding that an overused idea is one that has lost its power. It often feels as if video games take the opposite approach, gleefully piling tropes high upon their back like Labyrinth’s junk lady. Sure, they sacrifice the opportunity to say anything affecting or which feels true, but presumably the theory is that reminding you of a dozen other films, TV shows, books and games you like is just as good.

Enter Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, hunched over from the weight of all the teen TV shows and young adult novels stacked atop its shoulders.

Read more

Nintendo Music’s Latest Update Adds 3DS ‘SteetPass Mii Plaza’ Soundtrack

Here’s every song included.

Nintendo’s weekly ‘Nintendo Music’ app releases continue and the latest one to join the collection is the StreetPass Mii Plaza soundtrack, which originally debuted on the 3DS.

This album includes 39 tracks and has a runtime of 1 hour and 23 minutes in total. You’ll be able to listen to the boot up theme, the memorable main themes, the ‘Salesbunny’ song, and much more. Here’s the full tracklist:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Elden Ring Nightreign Testers Discover the Fell Omen Is Back via Morgott Jump-Scare Invasions

The Fell Omen bosses of Elden Ring are infamous at this point, so it’s nice to see that with Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware has let them loose upon the Lands Between.

Morgott, whom Elden Ring players had to fight later on in the game’s campaign, is one such infamous boss. His phantom versions can pop out and surprise you throughout the campaign, and it seems like that particular facet of Morgott made it into Nightreign, where an unnamed Fell Omen (essentially an upgraded Morgott) can jump-scare invade players.

While Morgott isn’t the only boss that can invade your squad as you run through Nightreign, he is a very fitting invader. Not only does it line up with his surprise appearances in Elden Ring, but he even gets some extra voice lines and a few new moves to throw at you. If you get to bring two pals to the fight, it’s only fair Morgott gets some new moves!

While he can invade you, the Fell Omen can also appear as an end-of-night boss, one of the conclusive fights you can face as the sun sets in the Elden Ring Nightreign test.

Plenty of early testers, including the player behind Let Me Solo Her, took on the Fell Omen during the Elden Ring Nightreign sessions that took place over the weekend. The consensus? Morgott/Margit/Fell Omen is a great hater.

One player on the Elden Ring Nightreign subreddit described Morgott’s invasion mechanic as one of their favorite features, and in more threads, others shared where they were invaded. Whether as a night boss, on an elevator, or in a tower, Morgott seems ready to appear wherever, with some potentially hilarious consequences.

The Fell Omen’s sudden invasions have hopes high for other enemies to suddenly appear and attack the players. The Pursuer from Dark Souls 2, for example, would make a great candidate. Me, personally? I’d love to see some Hunters invade and attempt to take out players, but anything Bloodborne-related feels like a distant hope at best.

There might even be deeper mechanics to Fell Omen invasions. GamesRadar detailed an invasion from the Omen that took out one of their co-op partners, and seemed to leave a curse mark branded on the slain player. It’ll be exciting to see how this game develops, especially as more players get hands-on time with it.

While the first network test was plagued by server issues, there were still a good number of players dropping into the Lands Between over the weekend. We’ll have to wait until May 30 to see how Nightreign fully shakes out, but until then, be sure to check out our own hands-on impressions with Elden Ring Nightreign here.

Eric is a freelance writer for IGN.

My new ASMR is watching Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 NPCs harvest a big pile of discarded player items

Sometimes to chill out I watch timelapse videos of ocean creatures such as starfish colonising patches of sea floor. Perhaps they’re gracefully devouring a seal’s carcass, or moving to escape a lethal descending finger of ice. Look, I’m quite a morbid guy, but ‘beauty of nature’ and all that.

It turns out there’s an equivalent in Warhorse’s recent RPG-palooza Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2: drop dozens of items in a random town square, and passing NPCs will gradually gather them all up according to preferences dictated by class. Here’s a video showing that in action, created by Redditor Mcloganator, with three thousand groschen worth of goods to harvest.

Read more

Review: Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered (Switch) – A Fascinating But Inessential Second Collection

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

It seems like an absurd notion these days, but after Tomb Raider made its debut in 1996, developer Core Design pumped out six mainline entries over the next eight years – six. It’s true that teams were able to turn projects around much more quickly in those days, as evidenced by franchises such as Resident Evil and Final Fantasy, but it was also a clear indication of just how popular Lara Croft had become, and how much publisher Eidos Interactive wanted to milk the series to within an inch of its life.

The story goes that Core Design had grown weary of Tomb Raider by the time it commenced work on the fourth entry, The Last Revelation. Though keen to wean off Lara Croft and be done with the series, the team was ordered by Eidos to press on with even more Tomb Raider games. So while one group of devs reworked scrapped ideas from The Last Revelation to produce Tomb Raider: Chronicles, another moved development to the PS2 and began work on The Angel of Darkness.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com