Mithril Interactive have announced that their (deep, rasping breath) first-person player-versus-player-versus-enemy dungeon crawler extraction sim (FPPvPvEDCES) Dungeonborne will launch into early access on Thursday July 18th. Here are some more intuitive, albeit no more elegant, ways of summarising what you do in Dungeonborne than “FPPvPvEDCES”: sword go clang, goblin go eek, treasure chest go jingle-jangle, other player go stab-in-the-back.
Including Mushihimesama.
Clear River Games has revealed that it’s releasing four critically acclaimed Switch shmups in physical form in Europe.
Three Cave classics — DoDonPachi Resurrection, Espgaluda II, Mushihimesama — and Treasure’s celebrated Radiant Silvergun will all be getting a physical release across Europe soon. More details will be announced in the future.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Red Hook Studios
Darkest Dungeon II – July 15
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
A roguelike road trip of the damned. Form a party, equip your stagecoach, and set off across the decaying landscape on a last gasp quest to avert the apocalypse. The greatest dangers you face, however, may come from within…
Romans I XVI Gaming
You are valiant space hero who is not as fortunate as those in the golden age of scrolling shooters who had infinite ammo. Instead, you must absorb your enemies’ weapons and retaliate!
Headup
Aerial_Knight’s We Never Yield – July 16
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Discover pulse-pounding stylized parkour action as you run, jump, smash, and slide through an afro-futurist-inspired kingdom. Enjoy a single-player or two-player local cooperative mode and experience the story of two brothers and their unexpected return to their lost kingdom.
Annapurna Interactive
Flock – July 16
Game Pass / Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Available on day one with Game Pass! Flock is a multiplayer co-op game about the joy of flight and collecting adorable flying creatures with your friends. Soar through beautiful landscapes, seeking out rare and elusive creatures to add to your flock.
Whitethorn Games
Magical Delicacy – July 16
Game Pass / Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Xbox Play Anywhere
Available on day one with Game Pass! A wholesome pixel art platformer. Cook magical delicacies from a vast collection of ingredients in your own shop. Explore an unfamiliar town and deliver tasty treats to the townsfolk. Learn new ways to traverse, discover secrets, and experience a unique witchy world.
Niku Games Studio
The Palace on the Hill – July 16
Xbox One X Enhanced
A heartfelt story of ambition, struggle, and friendship told from the perspective of a young boy in fictional 90s rural India. This slice-of-life adventure role-playing game offers a multi-faceted experience of India’s culture, art, history, and stories.
Humble Games
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus – July 17
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Undertake a mystical journey as Bō, a celestial blossom (fox tentaihana) descended from the heavens to play a key role in an ancient and mysterious ritual. Flow with acrobatic grace and agility through a mysterious world of myth and legend in Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, a colorful hand-drawn adventure inspired by Japanese folklore.
Mango Protocol
CLeM – July 17
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
A narrative-driven puzzle adventure game with a dark twist. Wake up in a world where puzzles intertwine with exploration, weaving a unique narrative rooted in alchemy. A voice awakens you. It gives you purpose. To guide you, you find a notebook with mysterious entries and a house to explore.
SEGA
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Sweep the Board! – July 17
The anime “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” makes its virtual board game debut! Enjoy events and minigames with up to four players offline or online and compete to become the strongest Demon-Slayer swordsman!
PLAION
Nobody Wants to Die – July 17
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Lose yourself in the world of New York, 2329, where immortality comes at a price that someone must pay. Following a near-death experience, Detective James Karra takes an off-the-books case from his chief with only the help of a young police liaison, Sara Kai, to assist him. Time reveals all as they risk everything in pursuit of a killer, uncovering the dark secrets of the city’s elite.
FarSight Studios
PPA Pickleball Tour 2025 – July 17
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
The most advanced pickleball game ever made! Whether you’re strategizing how to beat your opponent with an Erne or testing your reflexes in a Firefight against Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns, this game has everything you love about the fastest growing sport in the USA!
Eastasiasoft Limited
RPM – Road Punk Mayhem – July 17
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Get ready for a high-octane adventure in RPM – Road Punk Mayhem, a top-down vertical shoot’em up that combines intense bullet hell mayhem with cel-shaded style! Inspired by arcade genre classics, RPM – Road Punk Mayhem lets you choose from 3 pilots of questionable sanity as you cruise through post-apocalyptic stages laying waste to enemy vehicles.
Curve Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg – July 18
Game Pass / Smart Delivery
Available on day one with Game Pass! Welcome to Hinterberg, a new tourist hotspot in the idyllic Austrian Alps! There are plenty of dungeons to find and adventures to be had in Hinterberg – will you be sent packing on your first day, or remain to become a Master Slayer? Master magic, solve puzzles, slay monsters; all this and more await you in Hinterberg!
Kepler Interactive
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – July 18
Game Pass / Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Xbox Play Anywhere
Available on day one with Game Pass! Kill all gods in the upcoming action-RPG from the developers of Ashen! Step into the boots of Nor Vanek, an elite member of the Coalition army, joined by Enki, a fox-like companion, in their quest for vengeance against the Gods. Weave in melee, gunpowder, and magic in rhythmic battles where combos chain together to create a deadly dance.
Extra Nice
Schim – July 18
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere
A game about jumping from shadow to shadow, while interacting with a relaxing and lively environment. Play as a schim that has become unattached to their human being. Can you get back to him before it’s too late?
Afil Games
Shield King – July 18
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
With immersive graphics and a dark atmosphere, Shield King offers an exciting and suspenseful experience. Explore the mist-affected world, make strategic decisions, and demonstrate your survival skills in a dangerous environment. Good luck on this journey for survival!
Skermunkel
Booom-Slang! – July 19
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Top-down, twin-Stick Shooting, FMV-infused, low-poly, creep infested, plasma blasting, crazily competitive CHAOS!!! Booom-Slang! is stocked up with a cavalcade of insane Single-Player and Multiplayer modes, maps and moments. Are you ready for what Conductor Chaos has in store for you?!
Prismatika
Desktop Dungeons: Rewind – July 19
Tactical roguelike action in bite-sized play sessions, pulling you into a lingering and strategic obsession. Bargain with gods, equip your spoon and pick your battles, before retreating into the healing darkness. But beware… there are still many monsters to face!
Franklin Benini
Dragon Bobby – July 19
Xbox Play Anywhere
Dragon Bobby is a uniquely beautiful game with third-person exploration and puzzles that tells the story of a man’s life from birth. You control a dragon that is an analogy of this man in the story; a true reflection on life.
College Football 25 – Standard EditionElectronic Arts
EA Sports College Football 15 – July 19
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Experience explosive gameplay variety across 134 FBS schools and immerse yourself in the iconic, decibel-shaking soundscape of college football as you chase greatness. Pre-order EA Sports College Football 25 today and receive Alma Mater Ultimate Team Pack, Cover Athlete Ultimate Team Pack, and Bring Glory Home Ultimate Team Uniform Item. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members with EA Play can try EA Sports College Football 25 with a 10-hour Early Access Trial starting on July 16, 2024.
Ratalaika Games S.L.
Frogurai – July 19
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery
Play as a heroic frog samurai tasked with taking down the deadly snake clan and bringing an end to the war. Your agility and speed will be tested as you go over obstacles, walls and ceilings, and navigate through portals. But be careful, the snakes won’t give up without a fight.
CAPCOM CO., LTD.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess – July 19
Game Pass / Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere
Available on day one with Game Pass: A unique Japanese-inspired, single player Kagura Action Strategy game. The game takes place on a mountain covered by defilement. During the day, purify the villages and prepare yourself for sundown. During the night, protect the Maiden against the hordes of the Seethe. Repeat the day and night cycle until you cleanse the mountain of defilement and return peace to the land.
NAISU
Soul Searching is a narrative survival game about sailing away from your homeland. Explore a world of islands, dragons, and magic. You can learn about stories of people living on islands you chose to visit, discover dragons, catch fish, customize your boats, find ghosts, cast magic spells, and more.
The post Next Week on Xbox: New Games for July 15 to 19 appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Fallout fans yearning for the days when the series was an isometric RPG can once again revisit that gameplay style thanks to this new fan-made project that revives the original vision for Fallout 3 by Black Isle.
Spotted by GamesRadar, Fallout Yesterday is a Fallout 2 mod that allows players to play the Fallout 3 that might have been. If you are unfamiliar with Van Buren, it was the codename for the third mainline installment in the Fallout series. Set in the year 2253 in the American Southwest, Van Buren would have players controlling a prison while trying to evade robotic prison guards.
Fallout Yesterday’s Nexus Mods page notes that the mod includes a slew of new content to flesh out what Van Buren might have been. Some changes added to this mod include new items, weapons, traits and perks, and companions, to name a few.
Van Buren would ultimately be canceled in late 2003, with Bethesda Softworks acquiring the Fallout IP after Interplay went bankrupt. Bethesda would continue to make Fallout games, including a third mainline installment released in 2008, which would be a major pivot for the franchise, keeping the game in the RPG genre but pivoting from isometric, turn-based combat to action RPG with the option to switch between first or third-person perspectives.
Last month, Fallout creator Tim Cain broke his silence on the canceled Fallout project, revealing that an unidentified VP at Interplay asked him to play a prototype of Van Buren. “I don’t think they can get it done, so I’m just going to cancel it. But if you look over it and give me an estimate, there’s a chance I wouldn’t cancel it,” the executive told Cain.
The Fallout creator spent two hours playing the build and questioned the development team. Cain revealed that he ultimately told the VP he was “convinced” the game could be shipped in 18 months. That, however, proved too long and costly for Interplay.
The breakout success of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show has boosted interest in all things Fallout, including the classic PC originals. Bethesda development chief Todd Howard recently ruled out remakes of Fallout 1 and 2, saying some of their charm has to do with the fact they remain firmly rooted in the old-school PC role-playing game era of the mid-to-late 90s.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
In theory I’m down to review Breachway, a roguelike deck-building space sim which is sort of FTL but 3D and with cards. The second I wrested this privilege from Ed Thorn’s resentful fingers, however, developers Edgeflow Studio and publishers Hooded Horse delayed the early access release. Perhaps this reflects Hooded Horse’s atypically forgiving, when-it’s-ready approach to game publishing. Or perhaps they just hate me and wish to deny me things that might bring me pleasure. It matters not, because the game now has a new early access release date – 30th August 2024 via Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store. Catch a celebratory trailer below.
Join Dale, Emma, and Jesse for some galactic Star Wars Outlaws chat about the upcoming open-world Star Wars game coming this August. The trio also talk about heartwarming Apple TV show, Trying, which just released its fourth season, as well as the brand new Gladiator 2 trailer.
Send us your thoughts about all the new games, TV shows, and films you’re enjoying or looking forward to: ign_ukfeedback@ign.com.
IGN UK Podcast 757: Star Wars Outlaws, Trying and… It’s Coming Home?
The First Descendant has seen 10 million players in its first week of availability.
Nexon’s free-to-play looter shooter launched at the end of June and saw immediate popularity, with an impressive 264,860 peak concurrent players on Steam alone. (Microsoft and Sony do not make player numbers publicly available.)
Nexon has now confirmed the impressive total player count of 10 million in seven days. It said “we’ve reached” 10 million players, which suggests this figure relates to player accounts, rather than dormant downloads.
“Thank you all for your tremendous support and love,” Nexon continued. “It means everything to us. We will do our best to bring you great experiences. Can’t wait to continue this journey together!”
🎉 10 Million Descendants! 🎉
We’ve reached 10 million Descendants in just 7 days!
Thank you all for your tremendous support and love. It means everything to us.
We will do our best to bring you great experiences. Can’t wait to continue this journey together! pic.twitter.com/SsvcelMTsh— The First Descendant (@FirstDescendant) July 12, 2024
The First Descendant is a massive hit already, but Nexon will be mindful of growing its player count as the game evolves, and we’ve seen how difficult this has become for so many publishers and developers who have entered the ultra competitive live service market in recent years.
While The First Descendant is clearly a hit it is not without controversy, and sits on a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam. Players have heavily criticized The First Descendant’s ultra aggressive monetization, which includes $100 character bundles and premium customization items that expire after use. Nexon was also accused of copying Destiny 2 icons for the icons used in The First Descendant, something the company has now said it will address in-game.
Generally speaking, The First Descendant is a mash-up of mechanics from various looter shooters already in the market. There’s more than a whiff of Destiny about The First Descendant’s design, systems, and mechanics, but then there’s also a lot of Warframe about it, too.
This week, Nexon released a significant update for The First Descendant that makes some big changes to the game, but leaves some aspects that had become a topic of discussion within the community well alone.
IGN’s The First Descendant review returned a 5/10. We said: “The First Descendant has all the building blocks of a fantastic looter shooter, but they’re buried under a pile of monotonous quests, a terrible story, and an infuriating free-to-play model that has influenced its game design in the worst possible way.”
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.
Free-to-play open world survival shooter Once Human has spent its first week in the wilds weathering a series of complaints about its data collection practices, much of it orbiting a line from publisher NetEase’s privacy policy in which they state that personal information they receive from you may include “government-issued ID, such as passport information, as required by applicable laws for age verification and correction of personal information”.
Following a backlash in the user reviews (the game was Mostly Negative on Steam at launch, but has since risen to Mixed) and on social media, the game’s developers Starry Studio have published a blog insisting that they harbour no dark intentions for your personal details, or at least, that they harbour intentions no darker than any of the large number of video games that collect your personal information.
“I felt robbed, but in an all too familiar way”.
Multiple external translators who worked on games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Mario RPG and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom say that Nintendo’s miscrediting policies have become “ridiculous” after the company repeatedly failed to credit their work.
This is according to a new article from Game Developer in which several anonymous freelance translators confessed to having to sign decade-spanning non-disclosure agreements by Nintendo, preventing them from being able to discuss their work.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com
Ubisoft’s apology for using a flag from a Japanese historical re-enactment group in artwork for Assassin’s Creed Shadows without permission isn’t good enough, the group has said.
As reported by Automaton, Sekigahara Teppo-tai, a historical re-enactment group made up of volunteers who perform to the public at festivals and other events, published a statement on X/Twitter saying it would also like its image, essentially copied one for one, removed from the printed physical art book featured in the Collector’s Edition of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Ubisoft is selling this edition for $279.99.
Eagle-eyed fans initially noticed the identical recreation of the flag, which can be seen below, in a piece of concept art for the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed released alongside its full reveal. It was raised to a leading member of the Sekigahara Teppo-tai, X/Twitter user @matchlock_kage, who posted a photo of the real flag taken on October 27, 2019, and expressed concern at it being used by Ubisoft without permission.
Ubisoft apologized and said it will no longer use the associated artwork (though the nature of the internet means it will be infinitely shared anyway) with one exception: the presumably already printed physical art book.
However, this apology was deemed not enough for the historical re-enactment group. “The Sekigahara Teppo-tai members discussed the matter again,” X/Twitter user @matchlock_kage said in another post. “We have asked Ubisoft to remove the image from the Collector’s Edition art book. I’m not sure if this will be possible but I’ve contacted Ubisoft through their support.” Ubisoft is yet to respond, but IGN has asked for comment.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows was fully revealed in May 2024 as a Japan-set entry where players take control of two protagonists: the stealthy shinobi Naoe and the action-orientated Yasuke, who is a real figure from Japanese history.
IGN had a wealth of exclusive content on the reveal, and you can read about all the gameplay changes, story beats, and open-world assassinating coming with Shadows in our extensive interview with the development team.
If that’s not enough, check our analysis and explanation of where and when Shadows is set and 40 key details we’ve learned about the game. You can also watch our full breakdown of the cinematic trailer to discover all its hidden details, Easter eggs, and more.
Shadows launches November 12, 2024 for those buying the Gold, Ultimate, Deluxe Editions, or Collector’s Editions, while the Standard Edition is available on November 15, 2024.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
