Ten years on, Owlboy developers are remastering their first shoot-em-up

Owlboy developers D-Pad Studio are swooping back in time to revisit their very first game, Savant – Ascent, originally released ten years ago. Savant – Ascent Anniversary Edition is remastering the shoot-em-up platformer in which you control Savant – avatar of Norwegian music producer Aleksander Vinter – with new stages, bosses, powerups, and a revamped soundtrack by Vinter himself. The remaster will launch on PC and other platforms later this summer.

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New Games with Gold for April 2023

Explore space or the world of Peaky Blinders this April with Games with Gold! On Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, start the month off by managing the perfect space home in Out of Space: Couch Edition, and then midmonth roam through a puzzle-adventure game based on the hit show in Peaky Blinders: Mastermind.

Xbox Live Gold members will have exclusive access to these games for a limited time as part of Games with Gold. So will Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members, who receive all the fantastic benefits of Gold plus access to hundreds of high-quality games with Xbox Game Pass.

Out of Space: Couch Edition

There is no place like home, especially when you’re drifting through outer space. The challenge is that a deadly alien infestation has also settled in. It will take all your strategic skills to keep each newly generated spaceship house creating resources and recycling alien goo by automating tasks to help keep it clean and comfy. Play with friends to build a sustainable environment that you can all enjoy together.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind

A plot is afoot to put the family out of business and it’s up to you to uncover it. Set prior to season one of the hit show, you can control six key members of the Shelby family, each with different strengths and weaknesses. If you need to bribe a cop, use Polly, but if you need to bust down a door or knock a few skulls, take control of Arthur. By using the right person at the right time and leveraging the game’s unique mechanics to move backwards or forwards through time, you can be the mastermind that puts everyone in sync to help unlock the puzzles.

Read more about our Games with Gold program here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire for all the latest news on Xbox. Like we said before, if you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate member, you get all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, hundreds of high-quality games you can play on console, PC, and across devices from the cloud, and access to EA Play at no extra cost. New games are added all the time, so you’re never without something new to try when you’re looking to find your next favorite game. If you’re new, or if you’re an existing Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass for Console member, join or upgrade today. 


Xbox Live

Out of Space: Couch Edition

Plug In Digital


22

$9.99

You and your friends are about to move into a house in space, where you will have to deal with a deadly alien infestation and face the challenges of building a sustainable spaceship, all to make your new place feel as cozy as home!

COUCH FUN MEETS STRATEGY
Each match starts in a procedurally generated spaceship house that will demand your best planning and teamwork skills to become clean and comfy. You and your friends will need to generate resources, recycle trash and alien goo, buy and build new technologies, and take care of one another, if you ever want to call home the mess that you got into.

As a COUCH-FUN game, Out of Space has short matches and is easy for everyone to grab a controller and play. At the same time also as a STRATEGY game, it will require short and long-term decisions, expanding and conquering new rooms and building technology to automate tasks.

FEATURES
– Buy, build and place your new technology, while keeping your systems efficient and sustainable.
– Power up your spaceship by recycling alien goo and producing energy batteries.
– Harvest and take care of your fruitful gardens to keep everyone fed.
– Clean rooms with mops and water, while containing the deadly alien menace.
– Take a nap on your sofa, while your friends desperately claim for help.
– Automate cleaning and harvesting with the help of robots.
– Adopt Dogs, they will love you for it and help you in any way they can!

OTHER FUN STUFF
– Procedural spaceship generator: different challenge everytime you play.
– Missions to guide the player’s progression that never leave out what couch-fun is about.
– Unlock new content when completing achievements.
– Play single-player or local multiplayer
– No weapons of any kind. Take your mop and sweep your way out of danger.

Are you up for the challenge? Living with roommates was never easy, but now you’ll do it in outer space!

THE DEVS
Behold Studios is the studio behind Knights of Pen & Paper, Chroma Squad and Galaxy of Pen & Paper. With a big and strong fan base, we’re developing this game with the help of the community, openly sharing builds, milestones and carefully listening to feedback and improving the overall experience of the game.

Xbox Live

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind

Curve Digital


20

$24.99

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a puzzle-adventure game, based on the multi-award-winning BBC and Netflix TV show.

Welcome to Birmingham, during the aftermath of the Great War. Set right before the events of Season One, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind lets you join the Shelby family’s criminal gang. Follow the rise of Tommy as he successfully uncovers a sinister plot to put the family out of business, proving himself worthy of being the true mastermind of the Peaky Blinders.

Mastermind refers to Tommy’s ability to plan complex scenarios in his head. As the player, you get to exercise this power by taking control of key members of the Shelby family including Tommy, Arthur, Polly and more. Become the Mastermind as you freely reset and rewind each character’s path in order to tune all of their actions for perfect coordination.

Achieve the highest mission rating by strategically utilising characters and stealth to solve increasingly complex puzzles with optimum timing.

Related:
Free Play Days – Anno 1800, Session: Skate Sim, and Autonauts
Free Play Days – Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, WRC Generations, Dead by Daylight, and Cities: Skylines – Xbox One Edition
Free Play Days – Diablo III: Eternal Collection, Train Life: A Railway Simulator, and Human Fall Flat

PlayStation VR2 Reportedly Off to an Underwhelming Start

Sony’s PlayStation VR2 is reportedly off to an underwhelming start with the virtual reality headset only expected to sell 270,000 units by the end of March.

As reported by Bloomberg, the figure comes from research firm IDC and, while 270,000 is still a lot of headsets, reports last year indicated that Sony was looking to produce two million PSVR 2 units to be sold by the end of March.

Vice president of data and analytics at IDC Francisco Jeronimo told Bloomberg that Sony would need to cut the price of the PSVR 2 to stop its launch being a “complete disaster”. The headset, which already sits at $549.99, is made even pricier by the additional $499.99 cost of the required PlayStation 5.

“Consumers around the world are facing rising costs of living, rising interest rates, and rising layoffs. VR headsets are not top of mind for most consumers under the current economic climate,” said Jeronimo. “I suspect a price cut on the PSVR2 will be needed to avoid a complete disaster of their new product.”

The headset launched on February 22 with 42 games, including headlining title Horizon: Call of the Mountain and a variety of virtual reality updates for critically acclaimed games like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village.

In our 9/10 review, IGN said: “With top-notch visual quality and immersively tactile Sense controllers, PlayStation VR2 represents a quantum leap over its predecessor, setting a new standard for console VR gaming.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

RPG classic Live A Live hops to PC on April 27th

Octopath Traveler have likely had their eye on Live A Live for some time now. Last year, it came to the Nintendo Switch as an exclusive remake of the 1994 RPG. Bu that exclusivity period has been brought to a surprising end as Square Enix have announced Live A Live is hitting PC and PlayStation consoles on April 27th. A demo is available now for PS owners and later today for those on Steam, if you want a preview of the first three stories from the time and genre-hopping adventure.

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Bayonetta (Physical) Is Back In Stock On My Nintendo Stores In Europe

“You’ve played enough hide-and-seek, my scurrying little friend”.

Last year, it was announced that the original Bayonetta would be getting a physical release having been exclusive to the eShop on Switch since the port arrived back in 2018. Physical Switch game collectors rejoiced and all was well.

However, following delays, and having released without incident in other territories, the My Nintendo Store exclusive appeared on the UK and European stores briefly in October but quickly sold out. Nintendo promised a restock, and copies are now available to purchase once more. Rejoicing may now recommence.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Indie Dev Headcannon Confirms It Helped Sega Update Sonic Origins Plus

“We can’t wait for you to experience it!”.

You might recall how the Sonic Mania developer Headcannon had some involvement in Sonic Origins. Now, following the announcement of Sonic Origins Plus, the “indie game and utilities” developer has confirmed it’s “once again” cooperated with Sega to this time update the project.

In a lengthy series of tweets, it explained how it helped put Amy in the spotlight, helped out with Knuckles in Sonic CD and was able to supply “a few additional updates and enhancements” to help make this collection the “best it can be”. Here’s this announcement in full:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

SteamWorld Series Creator Admits 3DS eShop Closure Is A Little Bit “Upsetting”

A DSiWare classic is gone.

It seems Nintendo’s closure of the 3DS eShop has been just as upsetting for game developers and publishers.

Speaking to ‘Kit & Krysta‘ recently, SteamWorld series creator and Thunderful Group co-founder Brjann Sigurgeirsson admitted it was sad seeing 3DS owners lose access to the 2010 DSiWare exclusive SteamWorld: Tower Defense.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Chris Pratt Defends “The Voices” In The Mario Movie

He understands Mario has a “passionate fanbase”.

Ever since it was revealed the video game voice of Mario would be swapped out for Marvel superstar Chris Pratt in the upcoming Mario Movie, there have been ongoing concerns about the voice.

While we’ve already heard some of Mario’s one-liners in recent trailers, Pratt has now directly acknowledged concerns about “the voice” and “the voices” in general during a recent interview with Extra TV. He’s well aware how much this IP means to fans, and insists it’s not just a “cash grab”.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com