SSD prices are trending upward for 2024, but there are still some excellent deals to be found if you’re vigilant. Today, Amazon is offering the PS5-compatible TEAMGROUP 2TB PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 Solid State Drive (SSD) for only $104.99. You’ll need to supply a heatsink, but you can easily get a PS5 heatsink for under $10. All of the other best PS5 SSDs cost $140 or more.
TEAMGROUP 2TB SSD (PS5-Compatible) for $105
The PS5 is an outstanding gaming console, but the 1TB SSD is a real bottleneck. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, for example, can exceed 200GB alone. NBA 2K23 weighs in at 150GB and even older games like God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West require 90GB of space. Future games like Grand Theft Auto VI will undoubtedly demand even more space. The advantage of a PS5 console over the Xbox Series X is that the SSD slot is not proprietary; you can install most third-party PCIe Gen4 x4 SSDs as long as they are fast enough. Slower drives WILL work, but they may bottleneck the original SSD.
Although TEAMGROUP isn’t as well-known of a brand as SanDisk or Samsung, this brand has been around for a while and is a legitimate manufacturer of flash-based storage. This particular model has plenty of good reviews on Amazon. This particular SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 upgrade. This is a PCIe Gen4 x4 SSD with an M.2 2280 form factor and transfer speeds of up to 7,400MB/s read and 6,500MB/s write which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. It also makes an excellent boot drive for your gaming PC, especially with its 2TB storage capacity.
The age-old question of “Can it run DOOM?” now extends to poker roguelikes, it seems. And if you have ever wondered “Can Balatro run DOOM?” (and why wouldn’t you have wondered that?) the answer is yes. Yes, it can (thanks, Eurogamer).
Reddit user UwUDev took to the official Balatro forum to share footage of their latest project which sees the iconic first-person shooter running on the game’s Joker collection screen, albeit very, very slowly.
We are delighted to invite Xbox Insiders on Xbox Series X|S consoles to join the Hell Let Loose Update Preview. Team17 is working on new and exciting features for this epic World War II, first person shooter and would love for you to try them out and get your feedback! To participate in the Hell Let Loose Update Preview, you will need to either own Hell Let Loose OR have access to the title via an active Game Pass subscription.
What’s New:
Join the preview today and Xbox Insiders will be able to use the console server browser! This will allow you to select and join any server you want from the Enlist menu. This means that you have more control over what maps you play and who you play with.
About the Game:
Join the chaos of war and be a part of the most iconic battles of the Eastern and Western Fronts, including Carentan, Omaha Beach, Stalingrad, Kursk and more. Hell Let Loose drops you into the action, where you will have to fight across fields, bridges, forests, towns and more war-torn environments! Lumbering tanks will be dominating the battlefield and crucial supply chains fueling the frontlines, you are essential to the colossal, combined arms warfare.
Sign-in on your Xbox Series X|S console and launch the Xbox Insider Hub app (or install the Xbox Insider Hub from the Store first if necessary)
Navigate to Previews > Hell Let Loose
Select Join
Wait for the registration to complete and be directed to the Store and install Hell Let Loose
NOTE: To participate in the Hell Let Loose Update Preview, you will need to either own Hell Let Loose OR have access to the title via an active Game Pass subscription.
NOTE: This playtest is only available on Xbox Series X|S consoles.
NOTE: If you already have Hell Let Loose installed, please restart your console after the registration has completed to ensure you get prompted to update to the Hell Let Loose Update Preview version.
NOTE: If you wish to revert to the publicly available version of Hell Let Loose, you will need to leave the Hell Let Loose Update Preview via the Xbox Insider Hub. This will prompt an update reversion to occur.
How to Provide Feedback:
If you experience any issues while playing Hell Let Loose, don’t forget to use “Report a problem” so we can investigate:
Hold down the home button on your Xbox controller.
Select Report a problem.
Select the Games category and Hell Let Loose subcategory.
Fill out the form with the appropriate details to help our investigation.
For more information: follow us on X/Twitter at @XboxInsider and this blog for announcements and more. And feel free to interact with the community on the Xbox Insider SubReddit.
In Unholy Alliance, the next major update for Cult of the Lamb, we’re giving our holy hero a playmate: the Goat. Summoned by blood and born in corruption, this wicked new ally can join the Lamb in local co-op. Crawl dungeons, slay heretics, build your cult, and seek new powers—together.
In co-op, one player will inhabit the role of the Lamb and the other will take on the mangy mantle of the Goat. Together, this unholy pair can indulge in new two-player twists on existing minigames like fishing and Knucklebones, as well as discovering and equipping a selection of corrupted weapons, tarot cards, curses, and relics to aid them on their epic cooperative crusades.
That alone is worth your undying worship, but there’s more to Unholy Alliance than just co-op. The update also introduces a vast array of new follower traits to the game, making your flock more diverse, charismatic, and unpredictable than ever before. Cultists can be insomniacs, bust law-breaking friends out of prison, enter a catatonic state after the trauma of a resurrection, wake everyone up with their demonic snoring, or become afflicted with a curse.
Followers sent on missions may return with their mental state altered. They could be inspired by their success, spreading positivity among the flock. Or the horrors they’ve endured may have been too much, leaving them frozen with fear. Followers can even be polyamorous, meaning they’ll never get jealous if the Lamb marries someone else – while others may become jealous enough to kill.
These are just a few of the new follower traits in the Unholy Alliance update, which will make your flock a true cult of personality. As the cult grows and more followers join its ranks, even more quirks, flaws, and eccentricities will emerge. If you thought they were a handful before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Unholy Alliance also adds two new structures to the game. You can build a nursery to care for three babies at once, but be warned: they’re still gonna poop a lot, and you’re still gonna have to clean it up. Hey, at least you’ll never be short on fertilizer. When a baby reaches 14, they’ll outgrow the nursery, opening up a space for more offspring to be nurtured.
Then there’s the new Knucklebones arena. You can only have one of these in your cult at a time, letting you play one match of Knucklebones a day against a follower of your choosing. The difficulty of the match is based on the follower’s level, and winning against them will level them up instantly.
We haven’t forgotten about crusades, either. Unholy Alliance throws a heap of new relics and tarot cards into the mix—some of which have been designed with co-op in mind. The Lamb and the Goat can swap weapons, deal extra damage when fighting back-to-back, or deal a critical hit if their attacks are in sync.
The Ashes of the Mercurial Mun relic detonates a ring of explosives that surrounds both players, while the Wishbone of the Marbais relic grants one player 10 seconds of invincibility – if the other takes damage. Equip the Rivals tarot card, and you’ll both deal 2x weapon damage if you’re fighting far apart. Or how about the Bonds of Battle card, which connects the Lamb and the Goat with a beam of unholy energy that will damage any enemies who stray into it?
Experience all of this and more—including new quests and quality of life improvements—when the free Unholy Alliance update brings the Lamb and the Goat to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on August 12.
It’s hard to talk about modern video games without mentioning the influence of Grand Theft Auto. Rockstar’s iconic crime franchise has grown from a controversial PlayStation 1 classic to a universally recognised cultural behemoth, with its most recent entry, Grand Theft Auto 5, becoming the third best-selling game of all time.
However, the series didn’t grow into a landmark success overnight. Rockstar has been slowly building its iconic crime series for over two decades, creating hyper-immersive open worlds that players explore for years after their release. With over sixteen Grand Theft Auto games dropping since the franchise began in 1997, new players are probably wondering where to start. To help you get stuck in, we’ve listed every GTA game in chronological order so you can plot the best route through the timeline of this crime-riddled world. You will have to wait unil 2025 for GTA 6, though.
There are a total of 16 games in the Grand Theft Auto series – eleven on home consoles, one on PC and four on handheld devices. We also already know that GTA 6 will be coming out in 2025.
Before we dive into the list, it’s first worth noting an important detail about the overall continuity of Grand Theft Auto. As confirmed by Rockstar back in 2011, the GTA series is split into three unique timelines: the 2D timeline, the 3D timeline and the HD timeline. Although events in these timelines might be similar or even identical, Rockstar doesn’t consider all of them canon to each other. As such, we’ll separate the games into their respective universes.
Which GTA Game Should You Play First?
If you’re wanting to get into the Grand Theft Auto games before GTA 6 arrives, you will likely want to start with the latest in the series: GTA 5. You can certainly go back to previous games, but GTA 5 is a masterpiece in it’s own right and is playable pretty much everywhere. You can also take advantage of GTA Online for multiplayer.
Where Is GTA 6 on the Grand Theft Auto Timeline?
With the recent reveal trailer confirming that GTA 6 will be taking place in what appears to be a modern day Vice City, it seems like there won’t be jump in time either forward or backward. References to TikTok and modern vehicles pretty much confirms this, but we don’t have more information than that yet.
The Grand Theft Auto 2D Timeline
Below, we’ll list the Grand Theft Auto games from the 2D universe. These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Grand Theft Auto: London 1961
The second expansion released for the original Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto: London 1961 is one of only two GTA releases to not hit a PlayStation console, with the DLC only available to PC players.
The mission pack acts as a prequel to Grand Theft Auto’s first expansion, Grand Theft Auto: London 1969. It follows a nameless criminal rising through the ranks of the London crime families by completing jobs for a mobster called Harold Cartwright.
2. Grand Theft Auto: London 1969
The first expansion for the original Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 marked the series’ first visit to London.
The tale follows a nameless British criminal who fights against various crime syndicates while building their legend on the city’s streets. These include Harold Cartwright’s gang, which the player joins forces with in Grand Theft Auto: London 1961, as well as a pair of sinister crime lords known as the Crisp Twins.
3. Grand Theft Auto
The first entry in the mainline series, Grand Theft Auto follows the adventures of a nameless protagonist as they make their mark on the criminal underworlds of three locations: Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City.
Set in 1997, the criminal’s adventures see them complete bank heists, assassinations and getaways, building their reputation while aiding various sinister gangs. Along the way, they meet a host of high-ranking criminals, including Robert Seragliano, El Burro and Uncle Fu.
4. Grand Theft Auto 2
The second mainline entry in the series, Grand Theft Auto 2 is arguably the biggest departure for the series to date. Shifting away from the setting of the first GTA, it takes players to a nigh-on futuristic metropolis known as Anywhere City, which bears no striking resemblance to any other location in the series.
The adventure follows a criminal named Claude Speed, who works with various crime syndicates around Anywhere City to make money and earn respect. The game’s position on the timeline is tricky, mainly as in-game references allude to it taking place in both 1999 and 2013. Regardless, it’s the final game in the 2D timeline.
The Grand Theft Auto 3D Timeline
Below, we’ll list the Grand Theft Auto games from the 3D universe. These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
A prequel to Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the PSP’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories takes place in 1984 and follows US military soldier Victor Vance who, after being framed by his sergeant, is dishonorably discharged.
Fresh out of a job, he decides to enter Vice City’s underworld, quickly becoming the head of a crime family with the help of his brother, Lance. The pair embark on an adventure to disrupt Vice City’s crime scene, meeting and recruiting a variety of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s supporting characters along the way. By the time the game wraps up, Vic’s story catches up with the beginning of Vice City.
2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
The fourth mainline iteration of the series, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City takes place in 1986; two years after Vice City Stories. It follows Tommy Verceti, a notorious gangster from Liberty City who is sent to Vice City to oversee the expansion of his boss’ drug trade after being released from jail.
Tommy lands in hot water after a supposedly simple drug deal goes horribly wrong. Losing the drugs and money exchanged in the deal, Tommy is given one last chance to make things right.
To redeem himself, he dives into the seedy underbelly of Vice City, allying with Lance Vance to take on its various crime families and find the drugs and money stolen from him. As he becomes a bigger name around Vice City, he slowly creates a growing criminal empire, which doesn’t go unnoticed by his former employers.
3. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The fifth mainline iteration of the series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas tells the story of Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson and the Grove Street Families.
Set in 1992, San Andreas follows CJ as he returns to Los Santos after his mother is killed in a drive-by meant to assassinate his brother. Reuniting with his friends, family and local gang, The Grove Street Families, it doesn’t take long for CJ to get stuck back into the criminal underworld, vowing to get revenge on the gang that murdered his mother.
While CJ attempts to rebuild the Grove Street gang’s former glory, it becomes clear that something shady is happening behind the scenes. Pursued by a crooked cop named Officer Tenpenny, CJ deals with betrayal, corrupt law enforcement and the various factions vying for control of Los Santos and the neighboring cities of San Fierro and Las Venturas.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Set in 1998, Liberty City Stories acts as a prequel to Grand Theft Auto 3 and follows a gangster working for Salvatore Leone named Toni Cipriani. Returning to Liberty City after fleeing to Italy to escape the repercussions of assassinating a member of the mafia, Toni gets stuck back in working for his former boss.
Along the way, he meets several high-level mafia contacts and climbs through the ranks of Sal’s gang, murdering rival crime lords and assisting Leone’s attempts to gain political sway with the mayor. The story concludes with Salvatore Leone’s family standing as one the most powerful crime syndicates in Liberty City, setting up the events of Grand Theft Auto 3.
5. Grand Theft Auto Advance
Taking place in 2000, Grand Theft Auto Advance was a Grand Theft Auto 3 prequel released on the Gameboy Advance. It follows a criminal named Mike as he attempts to get revenge for the death of his partner, Vinnie.
Deciding to leave Liberty City and find new opportunities elsewhere, the story begins with Mike and Vinnie completing jobs for the mafia in an attempt to tie up loose ends and fund their escape. However, the plan falls apart when Vinnie is killed with a car bomb, driving Mike to find and kill his murderers. In pursuit of vengeance, Mike teams with various Grand Theft Auto 3 characters, including 8-Ball and Asuka Kasen.
6. Grand Theft Auto 3
The final entry in the timeline but the first game of the 3D era by release date, Grand Theft Auto 3 takes place in 2001 and follows a new Claude, a bank robber that’s shot and left for dead by his girlfriend, Catalina, during a heist.
Claude survives but is arrested and sentenced to life in jail. However, while en route to prison, Claude manages to escape after the Columbian Cartel raided his convoy in search of another prisoner. Fleeing the scene, Claude is soon inducted into the criminal underworld of Liberty City, working with the mafia, the yakuza and various other syndicates.
Although he rises to become one of the city’s most notorious gangsters, Claude’s goal quickly becomes one of vengeance, as his path eventually crosses with Catalina, setting up an inevitable confrontation between the former couple.
The Grand Theft Auto HD Timeline
Below, we’ll list the Grand Theft Auto games from the HD universe. These blurbs contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story beats.
1. Grand Theft Auto 4
The first game of the HD era, Grand Theft Auto 4 takes place in 2008 and follows an Eastern European ex-soldier named Niko Bellic as he makes his way to Liberty City. Coming to America to reunite with his cousin, Roman Bellic, who has allegedly found fortune after moving to Liberty City, Niko is shocked to find Roman is actually broke, living in a cockroach-infested apartment and running a failing business.
It doesn’t take long for Niko to find work and amass cash through less-than-legal means, meeting and befriending an arms dealer named Little Jacob and working off Roman’s debts with a Russian loan shark named Vlad Glebov. However, after discovering that Vlad has been sleeping with Roman’s girlfriend, Niko kills him, sparking a chain of events which puts him and Roman in the sights of the Russian mafia.
To survive, Niko allies with the crime families of Liberty City, where he becomes tangled in their politics and becomes one of the city’s most feared criminals. All the while, Niko has an ulterior motive, wanting to track down and murder a former comrade from his days in the military that double-crossed him and his squad.
2. Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and The Damned
Set during the events of Grand Theft Auto 4, The Lost and the Damned was GTA 4’s first expansion. It follows Johnny Klebitz, the Vice President of a revered motorcycle gang called The Lost MC.
Released from a long stint in rehab, the story opens with The Lost MC’s President, Billy Grey, returning to the gang and reassuming his position as its leader. During his time away, Johnny led The Lost MC, forming a truce with the gang’s main rivals, The Angels of Death. Once reinstated, Billy and Johnny begin to clash after Billy orders The Lost to break the truce with the Angels of Death, starting a ruthless gang war.
As the two gangs battle it out, Billy begins to lead The Lost down a self-destructive path, guiding his brothers into increasingly dangerous situations. With civil war brewing in the group, Johnny is forced to consider where his loyalty lies.
3. Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
The second of GTA 4’s expansions, The Ballad of Gay Tony also takes place alongside the core Grand Theft Auto campaign. The story follows bodyguard Luis Lopez as he tries to save the life of his boss and legendary nightclub owner, Tony Prince.
Although Tony is a fixture of Liberty City’s nightlife scene, his businesses are failing. To make matters worse, he’s also in debt to the Ancelotti crime family, who are ready to collect what they’re owed. Swearing to help his boss, Luis tries to square Tony’s debts, helping out his various criminal acquaintances.
It all crescendos with a risky plan from Tony, who decides to acquire millions of dollars worth of smuggled diamonds and exchange them in a deal. However, the plan falls apart, leading Luis on a wild goose chase around Liberty City in an attempt to retrieve the diamonds and keep Tony’s debts from catching up with him.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Taking place in 2009, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars tells the story of Huang Lee, the son of a murdered Triad leader who is tasked with flying to Liberty City to deliver an ancient sword to his uncle.
After arriving in Liberty City, Huang is ambushed, with his attackers stealing the sword and shooting Huang. Believing him dead, they dump his body, allowing Huang to escape alive. Reuniting with his uncle, Huang embarks on an adventure to track down the sword and deliver it back to the Triads. Along the way, he works with various gangs and the FIB, learning that the sword’s theft may have been an inside job.
5. Grand Theft Auto Online
Although it’s difficult to judge where exactly it falls on the timeline, Grand Theft Auto Online begins shortly before Grand Theft Auto 5 and has, over the course of ten years of updates, shifted to a period of time long after the game’s main campaign.
The core story follows a player-created criminal that heads to Los Santos to find fortune, reputation and fame, creating factions, buying property and taking part in criminal ventures. The story has evolved over the years, with one of the latest updates revisiting the character of Franklin years after the events of Grand Theft Auto V, as he tasks the player with helping him in his business ventures.
6. Grand Theft Auto 5
Set in 2013, Grand Theft Auto 5 follows the story of three criminals: Franklin, Michael and Trevor. After staging his death during a bank robbery in the small town of North Yankton, Michael Townley enters a witness protection programme, moving to the sunny city of Los Santos to live a life of luxury in a giant mansion with his family.
However, he’s lured out of retirement when he meets Franklin Clinton, an ambitious small-time criminal sent to repossess Michael’s son’s car. Forming a friendship, Michael begins to mentor Franklin, eventually leading the pair to rob a jewelry store to pay off a local crime lord. However, the act doesn’t go unnoticed.
On the outskirts of Los Santos, Michael’s former friend and criminal associate, Trevor Phillips, watches a clip of the heist on the news. Realizing that his seemingly dead partner is still alive in Los Santos, Trevor heads to the city, joining Michael and Franklin to stage various elaborate heists. However, Trevor’s animosity towards Michael’s betrayal begins to drive a wedge between the group, as tensions rise and the truth behind the pair’s past comes to light.
According to last year’s reveal trailer, the new Grand Theft Auto game will be set in Vice City and feature two protagonists, though not much has been confirmed about the next installment’s gameplay. This may be one of the biggest game releases to date, and we’re all hoping it’s worth the wait.
Tony Pankhurst, the UK actor who became a recognizable face in Supermassive’s horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology, has passed away aged 67.
Supermassive’s X/Twitter account revealed that Pankhurst had passed away. In a tribute page published by his family (spotted by GameSpot), it was revealed that Pankhurst had passed away on May 9, with Supermassive Games learning of the news today and providing a recent donation to the family. As the tribute page reveals, any donations would be provided to “Hospice in the World,” as the organization “provided such love and support to [Pankhurst] in his final weeks.”
We are all saddened to hear of Tony Pankhurst’s passing. He was the face of The Curator, and we loved working with him. 🤍 pic.twitter.com/ZZQbeViE8S
“We are all saddened to hear of Tony Pankhurst’s passing. He was the face of The Curator, and we loved working with him,” Supermassive said.
Pankhurst is best known for his work on The Dark Pictures Anthology series. Although Pip Torrens has done both motion capture and voice work for The Curator, Pankhurst’s likeness inspired the fictional character’s appearance. Pankhurst even played the character in a live-action trailer for 2021’s The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes.
The Curator is a recurring character in The Dark Pictures Anthology series. While he appears polite and calm, his presence, combined with the dark and ominous room he is in, is unsettling. He records players’ stories as they endure horrific and supernatural events throughout each game.
The Curator has appeared in every installment in the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology, starting with 2019’s Man of Medan, and most recently appeared in a cameo in the 2023 PlayStation VR2 spinoff The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR.
The Dark Pictures Anthology series concluded its first season following the release of The Devil in Me in 2022. A second season is planned, and the first entry in season two, Directive 8020, is currently in development.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
How do you like your survival games? A nice bit of wood chopping while the birds chirp? Gathering some mushrooms while you deflect a little goblin’s swings? Stumbling parched through a desert as a bed of scorpions prick your ankles with deadly venom? Well, Enshrouded may provide some or none of these experiences, but what its latest update does is capture their spirit. You’ll now be able to choose from several difficulty presets to dampen or spice up the game’s challenge. Otherwise, there’s new customisation options and some quality of life tweaks, too.
Astro Bot is getting a limited edition PlayStation 5 controller, Sony has announced.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Nicolas Doucet, studio head at developer Team Asobi, offered a first look at the Astro Bot Limited Edition DualSense Wireless Controller.
PlayStation’s upcoming platforming celebration, due out September 6, features over 50 planets, new powerups, lots of enemies, secrets and PlayStation-infused characters to collect. It also features a DualSense wireless controller turned into a living character in the game.
The controller design features Astro’s blue accents on the handles and buttons, carved-in, sci-fi lines, and Atro’s pair of eyes on the touch pad.
Starting Friday, August 9 at 7am PT in the U.S. and 10am local time in the U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Austria, and Portugal, players can pre-order the DualSense wireless controller – Astro Bot Limited Edition through direct.playstation.com, as well as from select retailers, priced $79.99/ €79.99 / £69.99 / ¥11,980. It launches alongside the game itself on September 6.
In the blog post, Doucet outlined how Astro Bot uses the features of the DualSense.
“First, as many of you expect from an Astro game, you can feel the surfaces that Astro runs and slides on, from grass, sand, metal to more squishy textures or water,” Doucet said. “That was already the case with Astro’s Playroom, but we have increased the number of textures you can feel through the controller.”
“Next, we doubled down on the adaptive triggers combined with haptic feedback, by tying them tightly to Astro’s new powers. For example, when using Barkster, the bulldog Jetpack, you can feel the thruster ratting against your finger in synch with the animation, giving a very dynamic and immersive feeling. Every new power up has been given that same special treatment so you will be able to experience various expressions through your fingers.
“Finally, given the number of enemies and boss battles we added to this new adventure, it was important to work on battle and impacts by combining all of the above. Whether it’s stretching, pounding or pummeling hard surfaces, there are many new types of impacts that can be experienced in Astro Bot.
“And of course, we could not finish this post without mentioning the Dual Speeder, one of Astro’s most recurrent gadgets, allowing him to fly into various planets. The Dual Speeder makes full use of motion control, adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.”
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.
Back in the days of the Nintendo 3DS eShop, some of you may remember the Denpa Men trilogy, which offered a series of cheap and approachable RPG adventures that felt like a great fit for the portable. However, there was a fourth title released only in Japan in 2014 which experimented with a free-to-play structure that proved reasonably popular. That game died with the ending of online services for the 3DS, so Genius Sonority has seen fit to retool it for the Switch era and release it worldwide as The New Denpa Men. It may not be one of the best free-to-play games available on Switch, but New Denpa Men still proves to be modestly enjoyable.
The narrative in New Denpa Men is hardly in line with the epic and occasionally drawn-out stuff that JRPGs are known for. Here, you command an army of Denpa Men—charmingly weird little dudes that look like a cross between a Mii and a Teletubby—to go on various quests geared towards helping various cutesy yellow creatures with long noses. The episodic structure works well with the bite-sized gameplay design, though it must be said that the localization here is NES-era levels of atrocious. Yet funnily enough, the broken English honestly adds to New Denpa Men’s quirky charm, as it feels strangely in line with the awkward vibe of the characters and world.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming RPG and the first release from French development team Sandfall Interactive. The game’s unique design combines fantasy and the French historical period of Belle Epoque. Currently, the stylish game is slated for a 2025 release on PS5, check out the reveal trailer if you haven’t already.
To get a deeper dive into what’s going into this promising game, I spoke with Guillaume Broche, founder & creative director at Sandfall Interactive about the game’s unique approach to classic, turn-based RPG gameplay, classic inspirations, and even the unqiue game title itself.
What’s in a name?
One aspect of intrigue for the game is its title, so I asked Broche about the inspiration behind it.
“‘Clair Obscur’ refers to the real-world artistic and cultural movement in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,” says Broche. “It influenced the game’s artistic direction, and also refers to the overarching world of the game.”
“Expedition 33 reflects the Expedition group led by the protagonist Gustave to destroy the Paintress,” says Broche. “The members of Expedition 33 are the protagonists of the game, and players will get to know each member of the Expedition in their journey. For years, the Paintress has painted a number on her monolith and erased everyone of that age in an event known as the Gommage, and each year a new Expedition ventures out to try to destroy her and stop the cursed cycle.”
Other characters, such as the mage Lune, the genial warrior Sciel, and the young explorer Maelle are also part of the team, and you’ll be learning a lot about them and their histories throughout the game.
Respecting the classics
In the reveal trailer we got a glimpse of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s eye-catching graphics. Broche explains that the graphics are one of the focal points for the developers.
“There hasn’t really been any attempt at making a turn-based RPG with high-fidelity graphics for a good while,” he says, “and that left a deep hole in my gamer heart. We took it upon ourselves to make something to fill that void.”
Broche doesn’t hesitate to tell us about the many classic games that have served as inspiration for this effort from both a visual and gameplay standpoint.
“At Sandfall Interactive we all have a love for JRPGs like Final Fantasy, the Tales series, Lost Odyssey, and Persona with its awesome UI, rhythm, and dynamic camera,” he says. “We all have a lot of nostalgia and love for these kinds of games, but also want to see something fresh done with the genre.”
“In terms of narrative, we also took inspiration from a French novel called La Horde du Contrevent, which is a fantasy novel about a group of explorers traveling the world,” says Broche. “In general, stories about venturing into the unknown despite incredible risks, like the anime/manga Attack on Titan, have always been very appealing to me.”
One thing that sets Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 apart from the games that inspired it is its implementation of real-time elements into turn-based combat.
“We were inspired by action games like the Souls series, Devil May Cry, and NieR, and their rewarding gameplay was something we wanted to bring into a turn-based setting,” says Broche. “When you play those games, you have to learn the attacks, timings, and weaknesses for each enemy encounter, and we wanted to translate that challenge into a new genre.”
Getting into the rhythm of battle
Combat is one of the elements that Broche and his team are most proud of, so we discussed some of the unique mechanics they implemented and the inspiration behind them.
“The battle system is what we call reactive turn-based,” he explains. “You can take time during battles to establish your strategies, but during the enemy’s turn, you will have to react in real-time to dodge, jump, or parry enemies to trigger a powerful counterattack. You will also be able to increase the effectiveness of your skills by mastering attack rhythms. Players will also be rewarded for their skill–it’s even possible to do a no-damage run if you master all the enemies’ patterns.”
“I kept thinking about ways to make turn-based battles more engaging,” Broche continues.”The attack rhythm system is a mix of different inspirations–we wanted to make something fast paced to fit the vision we had for battle. As soon as I finished the first prototype of the defense system, I knew it was something special.”
Broche also dives into what players can expect when they jump into the game themselves.
“I’d say dodging and parrying are the most common things players will need to get to grips with as they play,” says Broche. “The timing is pretty important, but the payoff is always really rewarding. Also, you can aim your ranged weapons at enemies too–hitting exposed weak points to do some extra damage, for example. Expedition 33 features some huge boss battles too that’ll really put players’ skills to the test. And, just like any great RPG, you can also build your character to take advantage of different things in battle, including these real-time mechanics. We’re all looking forward to players finding out more about how the game feels as we work towards the game’s launch next year.”
Finally, I asked if Broche had any messages for future players.
“We’re glad to see so many fans are excited for the world of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33! As our first title, we’re thrilled with the reception we’ve seen so far and we can’t wait to show more in the lead up to launch next year.”
