Many attempts have been made to recapture the JRPG’s glory days. In Tokyo RPG Factory, Square Enix founded a whole studio dedicated to the craft, and more recently Squeenix’s “HD-2D” style has come to define both their own retrowork and that of others. But it’s arguably the RPGs from outside Japan that have been doing a better job of propping up the SNES nostalgia tent. Last year’s Jack Move and Chained Echoes were both infinitely more refreshing to me than the slightly tired Bravely Default and Octopath Traveler sequels, for example, and now we have The Messenger studio’s latest, Sea Of Stars, which is probably one of the few Japanese-inspired RPGs I’ve played in the last decade that’s even come close to bottling the mighty Chrono Trigger and lived to tell the tale. If you’re the sort to cry, ‘They just don’t make ’em like they used to anymore’, well, you can dry your tears, because Sea Of Stars is the one that is.
The upcoming Bloodborne-inspired Soulslike Lies of P features three endings for players to experience, just like Bloodborne itself.
Speaking to IGN at gamescom 2023, game director Ji-Won Choi said players will encounter different endings depending on the decisions they make throughout the game. Lies of P, perhaps unsurprisingly, features a lying system, and the extent of players’ lies throughout the game will determine which ending they receive.
“The lies in the game are not only lies that you are fooling others [with] but also white lies you have to do to make others feel better,” Choi said. “You have to understand others’ emotions to make a decision so [we] want users to feel how they would as a human in the game, and it will show in the ending.
“There are three different endings and if you get to the end of the story there’s a big surprise, a twist, waiting for you. The decisions that you made throughout the game will lead you to endings, so it’s not something that you have to pick at the ending, it will lead you throughout the game.”
Choi also suggested there won’t be obvious story paths for players to follow to achieve each ending, but instead there will seemingly be unclear consequences to players’ decisions that won’t unfold until later.
This is perhaps most similar to Bloodborne’s hidden ending, where players must make a series of decisions during the game that don’t have an obvious purpose at the time. Its other endings are more cut and dry, with players simply choosing between two options at the game’s close.
In our preview of the game, which launches September 19, IGN said: “Even if Pinocchio’s story in Lies of P isn’t being manipulated by cosmic old gods that turn people into slugs, the attention to detail in recapturing Bloodborne’s magic has got [our] full attention.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
About five years ago, a no-name studio called Sabotage wowed audiences when it put out The Messenger, a creative and innovative action platformer that quickly set itself apart from the deluge of similar retro-flavored titles releasing in the indie space. Empowered by that game’s deserved success, the team then began work on its dream project, a retro JRPG called Sea of Stars inspired by the likes of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. Some doubted the small studio’s ability to deliver such a different experience from its debut release, but we’re happy to report that any such doubts can be resolutely put to rest. Sea of Stars ticks all the boxes and executes its vision near-flawlessly, presenting players with a fun, engaging, and thoroughly excellent new entry in the JRPG genre.
Sea of Stars opens in an ancient library, where a mysterious archivist tells you a story that takes place in the same world as The Messenger, thousands of years before the events of that game. An evil god called The Fleshmancer created a few monstrous Dwellers before disappearing, and each of these creatures could turn into a World Eater and cause the apocalypse if allowed to grow to maturity. To oppose this, a powerful order of warrior mages called Solstice Warriors was formed to exterminate the Dwellers, which are vulnerable to magic during an eclipse.
But you know. In a good way. My waking hours are, currently, beset by stress and anxiety from a number of different directions, and I’ve only had time to play about about an hour of Mediterranea Inferno so far. It’s quite a short game, though, and I’m sort of transfixed. It’s about three men in their early 20s who, pre-pandemic, were the toast of their party scene in Milan, and after a couple of years apart enforced by a lockdown they’re reuniting for a summer mini-break. Having blazed through my early 20s I no longer really remember that unique, potent mix of feeling simultaneously fragile and invincible, but it’s captured in this almost occult, yet hyper-real visual novel.
I may be playing on a Steam Deck on a rainy day, but the bold colour contrasts and the desperate enthusiasm of the dialogue really get over the feeling of a too-hot summer, of trying to force fun and recapture a friendship when you all want different things. The most intense segments of Mediterranea Inferno are the Mirages, visions that merge past and present and metaphor, giving explicit form to each character’s wants and anxieties. It’s unreal and yet a distillation of reality. It’s quite an intense ride so far, but it’s a good one.
FromSoftware’s Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is off to a flying start on Steam, with publisher Bandai Namco saying it’s “thanks to Elden Ring”.
As reported by PCGamesN, the epic mech battling game from the Dark Souls developer topped Steam’s best selling games chart over the weekend, and while it now sits at fifth place, its launch day performance knocked the critically-acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3 from its throne.
Fires of Rubicon arrives as the first Armored Core game in 11 years but more crucially as the first after FromSoftware released the likes of Elden Ring, Dark Souls 3, Bloodborne, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Bandai Namco had higher expectations for this game as a result.
“This is an opportunity for us to truly widen the audience of the Armored Core games,” Bandai Namco Europe CEO Arnaud Muller told GI.biz. “My ambitions are not on par with Elden Ring, but our ambitions are way bigger than the previous Armored Core games.
“Thanks to Elden Ring, FromSoftware has become a seal, a guarantee of quality, and therefore people will see that the Metacritic of this game is great, [that] it’s challenging but very rewarding, [and say] ‘I wanna try that game’.”
In our 8/10 review, IGN said: “Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’s stellar customization options feed into its excellent mecha combat, and the result is challenging combat puzzles that kept my attention all the way through its 15-hour campaign and beyond. It’s let down by a dull story, but lands direct hits where it counts.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Alongside the launch of the Marvel collection, Pinball FX has now ventured to the final frontier with an all-new DLC package containing Williams’ legendary Star Trek: The Next Generation table.
The package is now available to download from the Switch eShop for £8.99 / $9.99 and you can get a taste of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s long-awaited arrival to the virtual-pinball realm by checking out the above launch trailer.
Starfield is just about here and Bethesda has revealed its global release times alongside the minimum and recommended PC specifications ahead of its early access release date of Friday, September 1.
Bethesda Game Studios shared the details in a blog, giving important details to those of us still living on the “old neighborhood” called Earth. First up, it shared the release timing for those who will get access to Starfield via early access.
If you pre-ordered or purchased the premium edition, premium edition upgrade, or the Constellation Edition, you will be able to take off into the great beyond on September 1 (or even earlier!). If you have the standard edition, you will have to wait until September 6.
You can see the image below for the full global release times, but those in Eastern and Pacific time zones will be able to play Starfield right at 5pm PT/8pm ET on August 31. That translates to September 1 at 1am BST/10am AEST.
Starfield PC Specs
As for Starfield’s PC specs, both the minimum and recommended options require an SSD and will require 125 GB of avaialble space. Check out the full minimum and recommended specs for Starfield below;
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 10 version 21H1 (10.0.19043)
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, Intel Core i7-6800K
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700, NVIDIA GeForce 1070 Ti
While we don’t know the exact performance on PC, Bethesda’s Todd Howard previously confirmed that Starfield will run at 4K and 30 FPS on Xbox Series X and 1440p and 30 FPS on Xbox Series S. The decision to lock the game to 30 FPS was to ensure a “consistency” of performance.
While the PS5 version of Armored Core 6 runs very well and mostly at 60 FPS in performance mode, the PS4 Pro version run on a PS5 appears to give you a locked frame rate of 60 FPS, much like it did for Elden Ring.
As noted by Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) and confirmed by IGN, the PS4 Pro version of Armored Core 6 will run with a locked framerate of 60 FPS on PS5 despite Namco Bandai saying it maxes out at 30 FPS at 1800p resolution. While it takes a small resolution hit, those looking for the best performance may want to give this a shot.
Despite Bandai Namco telling us that the PlayStation 4 Pro build of Armored Core 6 maxes out at 30fps at 1800p resolution, just like Elden Ring, if you boot up the PS4 Pro build on a PlayStation 5 the framerate locks to 60fps. Much smoother than the PlayStation 5 native build. pic.twitter.com/diDRmDVQcA
“One nice benefit of the PlayStation 5’s backwards compatibility mode is you can also play the PS4 version, or in this case the PS4 Pro version, which provides a reduced image quality of 3200×1800 (likely a reconstructed method as per Sekiro) and some graphical cutbacks,” IGN’s Michael Thompson wrote about Elden Ring. “The reward is a perfectly locked 60fps readout from all tested sections. This offers the absolute best way to play if performance is your main priority, and that includes the PC due to the current patched version experiencing heavy prolonged stutter and slow down when it happens.”
McDonald went on to say that the PS5 version of Armored Core 6 runs “GREAT almost all the time, but it does have moments of slowdown that aren’t hard to see whatsoever. They mostly happen in cutscenes but also when exploring areas with heavy weather effects. (Yes, this is Framerate-priority mode).”
The PlayStation 5 version of Armored Core 6 runs GREAT almost all of the time, but it does have moments of slowdown that aren’t hard to see whatsoever. They mostly happen in cutscenes but also when exploring areas with heavy weather effects. (Yes, this is Framerate-priority mode) pic.twitter.com/mxK0sGGjNy
In our Armored Core 6 review, we said its “stellar customization options feed into its excellent mecha combat, and the result is challenging combat puzzles that kept my attention all the way through its 15-hour campaign and beyond. It’s let down by a dull story, but lands direct hits where it counts.”
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
gamescom 2023 was filled to the brim with some incredible cosplay, and the official gamescom cosplay contest showed off some of the best of the best and rewarded these incredible people with some fantastic prizes.
While there were obviously a ton of people in cosplay at gamescom, 30 of them competed for the ultimate prize in the official gamescom cosplay contest. All of these cosplayers deserve recognition for their fantastic work, and there is a good chance you’ll find representation from your favorite game somewhere in there.
As for the winners, you can see a full list below alongside a video of their cosplay in action. The overall winner was Pockyy Neko Cosplay’s Valkyrie from Apex Legends, but all are worth a look. You can also see some of the best cosplay from gamescom in the slideshow below, and be sure to check out our tour of gamescom’s incredible Cosplay Village.
Best Costume – 1st Place: Pockyy Neko Cosplay (Valkyrie from Apex Legends)
And 1st place goes to… Pockyy Neko Cosplay 🥳
Proving once again to keep on doing what you are passionate about!
Dogs are considered to be mankind’s best friend. Pokémon that look like dogs, however, make even better companions than normal dogs. No offense to the dog reading this with you.
Since the dawn of time, dogs have stuck with us through thick and thin, helping us track down our missing loved ones by sniffing the items they’ve left behind, sensing the auras of good people to trust and bad people to stay away from, and even detect when we are sick so that they can help us. Dog Pokémon are able to do all those things, but with enhanced abilities.
If you’re looking for a trusty canine to join your Pokémon team, here’s a list of the 10 best Pokémon dogs we believe will always be a good fit. You can also check out our list of the best video game dogs if you’re looking for more pups.
Lucario
Lucario may not look like a dog because it stands on two feet, but it does possess some of the best canine qualities. This Pokémon is well renowned for its ability to sense aura, which many dogs in the real world read from the magnetic field emanating from humans with positive energy.
Lucario evolves from Riolu when you give it tons of love during the day, something many dogs require from their human companions. In battle, it stands on tiptoes instead of having its feet fully planted on the ground, which some dog breeds tend to do. The one advantage it has over every dog on the planet is it can enjoy chocolate without dying after eating an entire chocolate bar.
Arcanine
The evolved form of Growlithe via the Fire Stone, Arcanine is a classic Pokémon known for its majesty, beauty, and speed. It can run 6,200 miles in 24 hours with a flighty grace. That’s giving the Siberian husky a run for its money, as it runs for 100 miles daily.
Arcanine’s bark is so loud and commanding that any person or Pokémon who hears it grovels before it. It’s rarely seen in the wild, but when it is found, it can be seen living either in prairies like Lassie or in active volcanoes, as seen in the Hisui region in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, where it takes on a different form thanks to the constant volcanic activity of its environment. It can also stash food in its mane and carries it to its nest for its young.
Houndoom
Evolved from Houndour, Houndoom live in packs just like wolves. You could tell it leads its pack by the horns raked sharply across its back. Houndoom determine leadership by fights within the pack, which are vicious given its dark nature. After all, it’s the Dark Pokémon, and the skull designs let you know it.
The toxins in its gut allow Houndoom to create a boiling fire mixed with poison, inflicting burns that will never heal no matter how much you try to treat it. Better watch out!
Stoutland
Inspired by the Scottish Terrier, Stoutland is as famous for its giant mustache that touches the ground as it is for its bravery, having a penchant for rescuing people who are lost at sea or in the mountains. If it rescues anyone in cold environments, its fur is thick enough to protect itself and others from freezing temperatures.
Stoutland makes a good partner of choice for many Pokémon Trainers, as it loves spending time with humans and can warm up to them in just three days after being introduced to them. That’s what we call loyalty.
Yamper
Aside from being one of the best doggos in Pokémon history, Yamper is the only known Pokémon that can have Ball Fetch as an ability, which is helpful for catching failed Poké Balls. Like most dogs, it tends to chase after fast-moving things, including people, other Pokémon, and even vehicles — as long as it doesn’t get run over by a carl anyway.
Yamper can’t store the electricity it generates, so it will only give off sparks of electricity when it is running, thanks to an organ that produces it from the base of its tail. Its design is inspired by Queen Elizabeth’s band of royal Corgis, which fits the UK-influenced landscape of the Galar region, where it’s a popular choice for herding other Pokémon, like Wooloo. Just as Scooby-Doo helps solve mysteries for Scooby Snacks, Yamper will only help people in exchange for treats.
Snubbull
Snubbull has a pronounced underbite just like pugs, shih-tzus and bulldogs, to name a few breeds, but its jaws give off a powerful bite. Despite its frightening appearance, it’s a very playful and affectionate Pokémon, so it gets sad when others run away instead of giving it the love and attention it deserves.
In battle, Snubbull prefers to scare its opponent rather than fight it. Like most dogs, it uses its keen sense of smell to track things down. It will gladly find your cell phone if you drop it somewhere you shouldn’t have. It’s also the perfect companion for women, who will dress it
Furfrou
Furfrou may not evolve to or from other Pokémon, but it can have its fur trimmed into nine different styles: Star, Diamond, Heart, Pharaoh, Kabuki, La Reine, Matron, Dandy, and Debutante. However, it will only allow those it trusts to cut its hair.
Having a haircut allows Furfrou to move swiftly when battling other Pokémon. If you go five days without trimming it, its hairstyle will revert to a regular trim — any pampered poodle’s worst nightmare! Furfrou used to guard the King of Kalos in the region’s medieval times, so every aristocrat worth their salt competes to see which Furfrou hairstyle is fit for a king.
Fennekin
Before you fight me on why Fennekin is on this list despite being classified as the Fox Pokémon, foxes belong to the Canidae family of the animal kingdom. Fennekin is a mix of a fox and a small dog, but it leans toward the fox side as it chews on twigs.
It’s as temperamental as any other small dog, but with a tendency to set things on fire, using its ability to vent hot air from its ears to scare away opponents. Fennekin having the best of both worlds makes it the most popular Kalos starter Pokémon ahead of Froakie.
Rockruff
Rockruff looks to be the most normal-looking puppy in the Pokémon universe, and that’s saying something. People often recommend it to beginner Pokémon Trainers because its friendly disposition allows it to bond with Trainers very easily, but its wild and independent nature makes it tougher for most Trainers to raise.
Rockruff never forgets an odor after smelling something once, having a keen sense of smell that spurred stories about it reuniting with its Trainer after getting separated by following the faintest traces of their scent. The rocks around Rockruff’s furry neck make it look like it’s wearing a necklace, which makes it the cutest doggo that even Paris Hilton would fawn over.
Smeargle
Smeargle is a beagle-like Pokémon that’s a born artist — and perhaps a better artist than Snoopy. The top of its head is designed like a beret, and its tail acts as a paintbrush, with the color of the paint depending on the individual Smeargle. The paint could be green, red, blue, yellow and brown, with the hue changing with its emotions.
Smeargle uses paint to mark its territory with over 5,000 different markings — a more creative method than peeing everywhere — and uses Sketch to copy the moves of other Pokemon it fights. If you’re an artist who wants a creative Pokémon for a partner, Smeargle is it.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. She has contributed her work to various publications, including Digital Trends, TheGamer, Twinfinite, Mega Visions, and The Escapist. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal.
