I was a few days late with the news when I wrote last week that Football Manager 2025 had confirmed its release date for this November. Now I know that I shouldn’t have bothered: Sports Interactive have now delayed FM2025 until March 2025.
Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima was released in 2020 and introduced players to the world of samurai and stealth in the 13th Century and after four long years, PlayStation has finally announced a sequel, Ghost of Yotei. Featuring a female protagonist, a new mountainous landscape to traverse, and all set in a new time period 300 years after the events of the first game.
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The exact release date is still unknown, but Sony has confirmed that Ghost of Yotei will arrive on PlayStation in 2025. Sony tends to favor fall release windows – see God of War, The Last of Us 2, Spider-Man: Miles Morales – and it wouldn’t be a shock for Ghost of Yotei to follow the same pattern. Expect the game to be a PlayStation 5 exclusive at first, but as with big Sony titles like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Zero Dawn, it will almost certainly get a PC release at some point in the future too.
The Ghost of Tsushima sequel will start a new origin story with Atsu, a young woman seeking revenge. Details on her story are few and far between, but the trailer did reveal some interesting clues about the newest warrior to take on the mask of The Ghost.
For a start, Atsu can dual-wield katana, a talent that was never available to Jin Sakai in the first game. It could suggest that Atsu might prefer the direct approach to the stealthy methods that Jin could use to avoid and assassinate enemies. For all you accuracy fans out there, this detail actually lines up with historical records that suggest dual wielding wasn’t a common practice in Japan during the time period in which Jin lived, but in Atsu’s 17th-century world, the swordsman Miyamoto Musashi created the “two heavens as one” niten’ichi technique with two blades.
While some fans reacted with surprise at the gender of Ghost of Yotei’s new samurai, female warriors called Onna-musha appeared in Japanese history as early as 1180. You can read more about on how Ghost of Yotei gets history right here.
The name gives away the new setting for the game, but for those of us that skipped a few geography classes Yotei refers to Mount Yotei – translated somewhat unglamorously as “sheep-hoof mountain” – a volcano located in northern Japan. Specifically on Hokkaido, the second-biggest Japanese island, which would have been called Ezo in Atsu’s time.
“When we started working on a sequel, the first question we asked ourselves is ‘What is the DNA of a Ghost game?’” Creative Director Nate Fox told The New York Times. “It is about transporting the player to the romance and beauty of feudal Japan.” The Sucker Punch team visited a number of locations in Japan for research, including Shiretoko National Park where Fax made recordings of the ambient sounds to take back to the studio.
“Inside the park, you have to watch a video telling you about the dangers of bears,” Fox said. “Being in this incredibly beautiful park with jagged cliffs and water, yet all the time being aware there were dangerous bears, was electrifying. We strive to bring that into the video game — that feeling of danger.”
Ghost of Yotei is set in 1603, according to the PlayStation Blog. That’s 300 years after the events of Ghost of Tsushima and a period when Ezo was home to the indigenous Ainu people and still outside the control of Japan. Perhaps not coincidentally, 1603 is marked the Tokugawa shogunate becoming the government of Japan after the Battle of Sekigahara.
Ghost of Tsushima was notable for the way its incredible landscapes looked and felt as you explored the island, and it sounds as if we can expect the same from Ghost of Yotei.
“This is also Sucker Punch’s first game built from the ground up for PlayStation 5, and we’re excited to build on the visual foundation we established in Ghost of Tsushima by making the world feel even more real,” said Andrew Goldfarb, Senior Communications Manager at Sucker Punch Productions in a blog post.
“We have massive sightlines that let you look far across the environment, whole new skies featuring twinkling stars and auroras, even more believable movement from wind on grass and vegetation, and more improvements we’ll share in the future. Our new setting also gives us the opportunity to introduce new mechanics, gameplay improvements, and even new weapons.”
Rachel Weber is IGN’s Managing Editor.
Fight for the United Citizen Federation in Starship Troopers: Extermination, a 16-player online co-op FPS set in the universe of the 1997 cult classic film Starship Troopers. As a member of the Deep Space Vanguard, it’s your duty to defend the Federation’s planets from Bug incursions by establishing bases and battling swarms together with your fellow Troopers.
With the game’s launch on Xbox Series X|S, we’re thrilled to reveal two new ways to crush Bugs: by rubbing shoulders with a Starship Troopers legend in single-player, and together with many more Troopers in online campaigns.
Welcome to the Special Operations Group
The Special Operations Group (S.O.G.) is a boot camp designed to introduce core mechanics like Bugs, resources, base building, and this expansive universe to new Troopers in a thrilling and engaging way. The single-player campaign features 25 missions starring the hero of planet P himself, General Johnny Rico — a role reprised by Casper Van Dien from the original Starship Troopers film.
The first chapter of the S.O.G. — ‘Answering the Call’ — has you following General Rico’s orders through a gauntlet of underground missions, winding down the infested tunnels and caves of Valaka that lead to an Arachnid hive.
Three original characters form the rest of your squad and will help you learn more about the importance of combat roles. Jackson “Moose” Callahan is a Demolisher, a master of explosives who believes force can be overcome with greater force. Taral “Scorch” Ashcroft is a Ranger, nimble and effective in close-range combat. Rounding it out, Olivia “Jensen” Jensen is a quick-thinking Medic who’s always got her fellow Troopers’ backs.
More chapters will be released in the future, so even if you’re a veteran Trooper, you’ll want to stick around to see what happens next!
Storm the Galactic Front
Remember the mission: everyone fights, no one quits! There’s a wider galaxy waiting for you in the Galactic Front, a brand-new online campaign where many players can work together to overcome threats too big for your usual Trooper squads. Join a Company of players and enlist in Company Operations, where you can work together to achieve collective goals.
The first Galactic Front revolves around Boreas, a newly discovered ice planet in an unexplored system. It’s rich in resources that could turn the tide against the Bugs, so make sure you beat the Bugs to it.
Unique rewards await, including special cosmetics, and your actions may impact the ongoing story of Starship Troopers: Extermination. Check back often for new phases of the Galactic Front, and make sure you’re doing your part in this galactic struggle!
Come on Trooper, you wanna live forever? Starship Troopers: Extermination is now available on Xbox Series X|S.
The post Go Solo or Team up in Starship Troopers: Extermination appeared first on Xbox Wire.
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Hey folks! We’ve got a full house for this week’s pod, with the team talking news, next week’s releases, and all the spooktacular games we’ve been playing this month, including Until Dawn and Silent Hill 2.
Stuff We Talked About
Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE
Tim Turi – Content Communications Manager, SIE
Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE
Thanks to Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music.
[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]
“Post Void is a masterpiece of compulsive motion and hypnotic, irresistible sounds,” wrote Sin of YCJY Games’s “orgiastic” shooter. “It does something to my brain that I’ve never experienced before.” The developer’s just-announced Keep Driving seems a lot less inclined to scramble your grey matter, though it’s partial to the old rose-tinted goggles. It’s a droll, backward-glancing and slightly ominous 2D management RPG in which you drive to a music festival on the other side of the country. Along the way, you will pick up hitchhikers, upgrade your car, fill your boot with random junk, and participate in turn-based, non-lethal “combat” with dawdling children and obstinate tractors. Here’s a trailer.
Right now, Amazon is offering Amazon Prime members this Baseus Blade 20,000mAh 100W USB power bank for only $49.79 after you clip a 10% off coupon and also apply promo code “SGH4BTPY” during checkout. This TSA-approved portable battery features a generous 20,000mAH capacity and a powerful 100W charging rate with Power Delivery 3.0 and PPS. It’s the perfect backup for a Steam Deck or Asus ROG Ally. Baseus hasn’t been long around enough to develop the same reputation as Anker, but its power banks have been steadily racking up favorable reviews and recommendations. They’re also a lot less expensive than a comparable Anker power bank.
Amazon Prime member exclusive
The Baseus Blade features a slim and lightweight form factor that measures only 0.7 inches thin and weighs in at 17 ounces. It has four ports: two USB Type-C ports and two USB Type-A ports. The USB Type-C ports deliver a combined total of 100W of power output (charging your devices) and 65W of power input (charging your power bank). The USB Type-A ports deliver up to 18W. The power bank can be brought onto airplaines since it is well below TSA’s 27,000mAh threshold. Despite the thin profile, the Baseus Blade is able to pack in a digital readout that displays a lot of useful real-time information like remaining battery capacity, power input, and power output from each port.
This is a great charger for gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and Switch. Both the ROG Ally and Steam Deck suffer from a short battery life when gaming on the go. During our Steam Deck review, we found games like God of War or Spider-Man would tap out in under two hours. At the end of the day, you’ll never get the full potential out of your Steam Deck or ROG Ally if you’re not equipped with a decent portable charger. The Baseus Blade can fast charge all three at their maximum rate. It supports up to 100W of charging over USB-C, which is more than enough for the Steam Deck’s charging rate of 38W, the Rog Ally’s charging rate of 65W, and the Nintendo Switch’s charging rate of 18W.
The ROG Ally and Steam Deck both consume about 40Whr going from full to empty. The Baseus Blade has a 20,000mAh capacity or 74Whr battery. If you factor in 80% power efficiency, then you should expect the Baseus Blade to charge either gaming handheld about 1.5 times. That’s why it’s better to get a larger capacity like this than a 10,000mAh power bank, which cannot charge these handhelds from empty to full even once.
This is easily one of the best Steam Deck deals and Nintendo Switch deals available right now, and absolutely worth considering if you find yourself short on power all too often. If you want to compare other options before making the plunge, check out the best power banks of 2024.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn’t hunting for deals for other people at work, he’s hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
After a hard day’s editing articles about three Disco Elysium spiritual successors – each more politically outspoken than the last, in a kind of Sophisticated Pooh collage of escalating Marxism – I like to kick back with a nice chill game about Lovecraftian space monsters.
That game is Konafa Game’s Starless Abyss – a roguelite tactical deckbuilder published by Descenders and Yes, Your Grace outfit No More Robots. It puts you in command of a fleet of upgradeable spaceships, who must chase away invading Eldritch aliens hex by hex… and also, hex by hex. This is both hex-based and a game in which you can cast hexes, you see. Oh, don’t look at me like that. I had to distil several manifestos into an article half-an-hour ago. I need this.
Can Hyrule’s destiny really depend on such a lazy boy?
Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, one of Nintendo’s most perplexing yet delightful products in recent memory, was announced and launched simultaneously on Wednesday 9th October.
We’ve managed to bag ourselves one, so if you’re wondering whether this curious new device is worth the whopping $99.99 / £89.99 / €99.99 asking price, then you’ve come to the right place.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
To celebrate the release of Metaphor: ReFantazio, Katsura Hashino, Director of the fantasy RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio, hosted a 30-minute livestream yesterday to dive into the everything from the game’s setting, the United Kingdom of Euchronia, the monsters you’ll face, and how you can fight to see another day. Read on to learn more about Euchronia before jumping into Metaphor: ReFantazio, available now on Xbox!
Hashino-san kicked off the livestream by giving us a quick rundown of where our story begins. The United Kingdom of Euchronia hangs in the balance as usurpers vie for the throne and political upheaval swells. Amidst this chaos, our story follows a young protagonist and his fairy companion Gallica as they embark on a secret mission that could determine the entire nation’s fate.
After setting the scene, Hashino-san gives us some advice on how to take on the variety of creatures you’ll face on your journey. When approaching potential threats, you can use Gallica to help scan an enemy’s danger level so you can strike down easy foes or prepare for more challenging opponents. Hashino-san also recommends leveraging surprise attacks and enemy weaknesses to increase your number of actions. However, the United Kingdom of Euchronia is not for the faint of heart – the enemies in Metaphor: ReFantazio were made to pose a challenge to even the most experienced RPG fans. Keep this in mind as you set your difficulty at the start of the game, or adjust the setting as you play through your journey if you find yourself overwhelmed.
While advantages and weaknesses are vital to coming out on top, the greatest tools in your arsenal are the Archetypes – special powers that awaken in various forms. Fourteen core Archetype lineages branch into over 40 total Archetypes, each with special powers that can be swapped across your party based on your combat strategy – and which will dictate which weapon is selected in real-time combat. You’ll need to interact and create bonds with followers throughout your journey to awaken and strengthen these Archetypes.
As you learn the ins and outs of combat and Archetypes, keep an eye on the in-game calendar. The story is tied to a day and night cycle, which is progressed by your choices and actions, so choose your next steps wisely. How you spend your time is completely up to you – move through dungeons, interact with friends, improve virtues – but time is always limited.
This is just scratching the surface of all there is to do in Metaphor: ReFantazio, but now you can jump into the race to the throne yourself! Metaphor: ReFantazio is available now on Xbox, and for those who want to try it before they buy it, a free Prologue demo is available. The demo gives you a chance to experience the early hours of Metaphor: ReFantazio, with all progress carrying over to the full game.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a commemoration and culmination of Atlus’ 35-year history and accomplishments, and we are so excited to share our next creative endeavor with you. Our game is currently sitting at a 92 on Metacritic for Xbox and we are thrilled about the response from all our fans. We hope to see you in Euchronia!
If you want to learn more, please watch the full livestream on the Atlus YouTube channel or purchase the game here on Xbox. Also stay tuned to the Atlus West official channels Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
SEGA
1. Archetype EXP Chest Set
・10x Hero’s Incenses (Increases Archetype Experiences by 100)
・5x Hero’s Fruits (Increases Archetype Experiences by 500)
2. Adventurer’s Journey Pack
・30,000 Reeve (In-game currency)
・5x Expensive Medicines (Restores 200 HP to one ally)
・5x Revival Medicines (Revives an ally)
・3x Magical Breads (Gradually recover MP while in dungeon)
・2x Stale Blackbreads (Deals 300 Almighty damage to one enemy)
*Available as the story progresses.
*Available for purchase through October 10, 2024 at 23:59 Local
From the creative minds behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 comes Metaphor: ReFantazio, a unique fantasy world, where your protagonist will journey alongside his fairy companion, Gallica, to lift the curse from the kingdom’s lost prince. Control your destiny, face your fears and awaken magical Archetype powers that lie dormant in your heart. By awakening to an Archetype, you will unlock the power to channel and combine the abilities of unique job classes. Strengthen your bonds and build your party to take down powerful foes and discover the kingdom’s true nature.
Key Features:
-Go on quests, dungeon dive, & hunt for treasures by day. Strengthen relationships, build bonds, & increase virtues by night. Choose your actions wisely, time management is key to achieving your goal.
-Ride your gauntlet runner to faraway dungeons & towns across an expansive world. Discover beautiful landscapes accompanied by captivating music, immersive UI, & anime cutscenes.
-An exhilarating turn-based combat system with a blend of real-time action. Party customization through “Archetype” powers provides the freedom to personalize your adventure.
-A mysterious & exciting story unfolds in a world where people must fight their own anxiety. Join the high-stakes Royal Tournament that promises hours of captivating exploration and discovery.
From the creative minds behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 comes Metaphor: ReFantazio, a unique fantasy world, where your protagonist will journey alongside his fairy companion, Gallica, to lift the curse from the kingdom’s lost prince. Control your destiny, face your fears and awaken magical Archetype powers that lie dormant in your heart. By awakening to an Archetype, you will unlock the power to channel and combine the abilities of unique job classes. Strengthen your bonds and build your party to take down powerful foes and discover the kingdom’s true nature.
The post Play Metaphor: ReFantazio Today! Here’s What You Need to Know Before Heading In appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Last week, we asked you to venture into spooky gaming settings and share hair-raising locations using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights:
call_me_xavii shares James wandering through the foggy streets of Silent Hill 2.
m_nt_13 shares a wall of eyeballs peering out in Stray.
JLunarTraveler shares skeletal figures rising in a graveyard from Hogwarts Legacy.
wingsforsmiles shares Alan rushing away from an evil force in the subway tunnels of Alan Wake 2.
DexM_ds shares body bags hanging in a waterlogged cellar in Resident Evil Village.
FranTGP shares an ominous chained up figure in A Plague Tale: Requiem.
Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week?
THEME: Scared
SUBMIT BY: 11:59 PM PT on October 16, 2024
Next week, we’re ready to be frightened. Share moments where characters looks scared from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured.
