Category: Video Games

Persona 3 Reload will see Atlus remake absolutely everything from the 2006 RPG and, as revealed in a new trailer, this includes bringing in a new voice cast.

Atlus released a gameplay reveal trailer for Persona 3 Reload (despite the initial trailer featuring gameplay) that showcases a handful of the game’s party members and their new voices.

Heather Gonzalez, who played Mineru in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Malaya in Octopath Traveler 2, will take on the role of Yukari Takeba, previously played by Michelle Ruff.

Another prominent inclusion is Zeno Robinson, who played Sakaki in My Hero Academia, as Junpei Iori, previously portrayed by Vic Mignogna.

Aleks Le will also replace Yuri Lowenthal as the protagonist, Allegra Clark will replace Tara Platt as Mitsuru Kirijo, Alehandro Saab will replace Liam O’Brien as Akihiko Sanada, and Suzie Yeung will replace Paula Tiso as Fuuka Yamagishi.

The gameplay reveal trailer (above) acts as an introduction to these various characters, and shows the protagonist chatting with them, running around school, and battling Shadows.

Persona 3 Reload was finally announced at the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase following a string of rumours and one final leak ahead of the event.

It will specifically recreate Persona 3, not Persona 3 FES or Persona 3 Portable, meaning there won’t be a female protagonist or any of the other additional content those versions brought. Unlike Persona 5 Tactica, which was announced alongside it, Persona 3 Reload won’t be coming to Nintendo Switch, though rumours around that version have also begun after Play Asia listed the game and said it wasn’t a mistake.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Atlus may have accidentally given fans a little more bang for their buck by revealing a new playable character in Persona 5 Tactica’s latest trailer.

As reported by Game Rant, a two-minute character spotlight trailer (above) breaking down the moves and abilities of Joker, Mona, and Erina also revealed a character called Toshiro that will seemingly be playable in the game.

Only viewable briefly, at about 36 seconds into the trailer, the mission objective is to “have Toshiro reach the target destination”. The bottom right corner of the screen, where playable characters like Joker and Mona have their health bars, also shows what’s presumably Toshiro.

This character has a much smaller health bar than the others though, and also doesn’t have any MP or an “Action” available to use, meaning it could just be an escort mission. Toshiro doesn’t appear in the trailer again, so fans will just have to wait and see whether or not his character has any more importance.

The trailer otherwise shows off what players can do when controlling the other characters. Joker has a long range, single use pistol and a special ability called Phantom Judge that can deal big damage even to guarding enemies.

Mona’s wind abilities allow him to knock enemies out of cover, ready for a follow-up from teammates, while his Winds of Time ability deals damage across a huge area. Finally, Erina can target multiple enemies with her weapons and has a special ability called Flag of Freedom that both heals nearby allies and weakens nearby enemies.

Persona 5 Tactica was revealed at the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase as a grid-based tactical RPG similar to the likes of Fire Emblem or XCOM. Its announcement came alongside one for Persona 3 Reload, a remake of the original PS2 game.

Persona 5 Tactica launches November 17 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and Windows.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Square Enix has canceled Just Cause Mobile, its upcoming free-to-play game.

In a statement to VGC, Just Cause global brand lead Anne-Lou Grosbois-Favreau confirmed development has now been stopped on the mobile action game. “It is with great sadness that we are announcing the end of development for Just Cause Mobile,” she said. “As of tomorrow, 3 July 2023, the game will no longer appear on digital stores.”

Just Cause Mobile had previously been available in early access, however, the game has now been removed from Google Play stores. It was due to launch later this year.

“It is never easy to put forth an announcement of this nature, especially to our fans who have been awaiting the release,” said Grosbois-Favreau. “We sincerely appreciate the support you have given us.”

Just Cause Mobile was announced at The Game Awards in 2020 but was pushed back several times since this announcement. It was described as a top-down isometric shooter set within the Just Cause universe and was going to offer a full story campaign along with 30-player competitive multiplayer as well as four-player co-op missions.

A premium currency, Blue Diamonds, was available to purchase during early access but will now be refunded in full. “Please note that any Blue Diamonds purchased during the Regional Early Access have been refunded in full to your Google Play Account on February 24, 2023.”

Just Cause 4 was the franchise’s latest release back in 2018, with fans hoping the upcoming mobile game would give them a new Just Cause story until the next mainline game.

IGN’s Just Cause 4 review gave it 7.9/10 and said: “Just Cause 4 has everything you expect from a Just Cause game, almost to a fault. Relative to Just Cause 3 the improvements are widespread across its beautiful open world, but generally minor. So while blowing up yet another dictator’s army is the same kind of mindless explosive fun and physics-based comedy the series is built on, it doesn’t do much to incorporate the new weather systems or grapple mods into combat. That leaves me with a distinct “more of the same” feeling.”

Want to read more about mobile games? Check out the top Android games you can get right now as well as the 12 best Apple Watch games.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Yoko Taro, the director behind such games as Nier: Automata and Drakengard, revealed he lost the iconic mask he wears in public that is modeled after one worn by Nier’s Emil. As if that wasn’t tragic enough, the replacement leprechaun mask he chose for the time being is actually a bit terrifying and quite possibly cursed.

As reported by Kotaku, Taro was attending Anime Expo 2023 in Los Angeles so he could host a panel about his upcoming anime, KamiErabi God.app, and the mask was lost the night before his panel while he was out drinking.