Next Week on Xbox: New Games for April 29 to May 3

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Next Week on Xbox: New Games for April 29 to May 3

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!


Xbox Live

FRONT MISSION 2: Remake

Forever Entertainment S.A.

Front Mission 2: Remake – April 30
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

A classic tactical RPG returns! The second game in the main Front Mission storyline is finally available outside of Japan for the first time. In Front Mission 2, the perspective switches between three characters: Ash, Lisa, and Thomas, creating a worldview that goes beyond a simple contrast between good and evil.


Xbox Live

Tales from Candleforth

Feardemic

Tales from Candleforth – April 30

Tales from Candleforth is a collection of fairy tales that were written on top of a forbidden book many years ago to hide its content. Years later, the dark text is bleeding out and onto the pages of the tales, mixing with them and twisting the stories.


Xbox Live

The Fall of Elena Temple

GrimTalin

$2.99
Xbox One X Enhanced

The Fall of Elena Temple – April 30
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox One X Enhanced

The Fall of Elena Temple is an old-school puzzle platformer in which you explore rooms, avoid perils and collect all coins to progress. The catch is you can undo your falls! So don’t be afraid of heights, fall and collect the coins bellow, then undo back up to where you fell from, keeping the coins!


Xbox Live
Xbox Play Anywhere

Roofcats Band – Suika Style

Lucky Raccoon Games

Roofcats Band – Suika Style – May 1
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Ever wondered what mischief cats get up to on the roof? Well, they’re not just lazing around – they’re hosting the ultimate rooftop jam session! Your mission is to skillfully match the feline musicians, summoning new talents while dodging overflow and contending with an occasional canine disruptor.


Xbox Live

Space Mercenary Defense Force

Eastasiasoft Limited

Space Mercenary Defense Force – May 1
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Survive the cosmic onslaught by upgrading and equipping a vast arsenal of modular weaponry! Withstand the alien onslaught from all directions, moving your ship through space to align targets with the most effective tech modules and maintaining a safe distance from the swarm. Complete optional encounters like mini-bosses and conduit charging to earn rewards, then spend hard-earned credits to unlock new ships, perpetual astral upgrades, perks, and celestial modifiers!


Xbox Live

Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition

Three Flip Studios

Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Prepare for an intergalactic showdown like never before in Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition, the ultimate multiplayer party game that pits friends and family against one another in a fast-paced cosmic brawl. Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition is perfect for your next shindig, get-together, or soiree!


Xbox Live

Candle Knight

JanduSoft


$12.49

$9.99

Candle Knight – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Play as an enchanted candle holder trying to restore the light to its home. Wield your flame to overcome menacing creatures lurking in the shadows of a ruined castle, use the dynamic difficulty system to your advantage, traverse challenging platforming sections and solve cryptic puzzles inside surreal paintings in this 2.5D action-adventure platformer.


Xbox Live

Full Metal Sergeant

PolyCrunch Games

$9.99

Full Metal Sergeant – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Be the drill instructor! Insult recruits with no remorse! Can you transform flabby recruits into lean war machines within 12 weeks?


Xbox Live

MotoGP™24

Milestone S.r.l.

$49.99

MotoGP 24 – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

Embark on your quest to become a MotoGP legend and shape your own epic saga. From humble beginnings to triumphant heights, the path is yours to forge. Engage in thrilling rivalries, build your reputation, and leave your mark on the history of your beloved team. Challenge your abilities in MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3, and immerse yourself in the exhilarating journey of the 2024 campaign.


Xbox Live

Sclash

Maximum Entertainment

$9.99

Sclash – May 2
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

A plug ’n’ play 2D samurai fighting game full of tension where one hit is enough to kill. Play as a hand-drawn samurai in beautiful painted settings and fight your opponent in epic solemn duels where each move matters. Manage your stamina well, breath, and take your time to land a deadly hit.


Xbox Live

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The princess from another world

Ratalaika Games S.L.

Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The Princess from Another World – May 3
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

After Sonya wins a big prize in the lottery, she and Arnold travel to a tropical southern island to enjoy some well-deserved holidays. However, paradise soon turns into hell when a strange spaceship appears suddenly and starts attacking the city. Unable to just sit around and do nothing while chaos unfolds, Arnold and Sonya transform into Shockman and head to battle this new mysterious enemy in this retro platformer.


Xbox Live

Ready, Steady, Ship!

Untold Tales

Ready, Steady, Ship! – May 3

Your job is simple – rebuild the conveyor belts and get the goods flowing out of the factory. As you progress, you’ll be given all manner of tools, equipment, and conveyor parts to overcome obstacles. Forklifts, cranes, springboard conveyor belts, packing foam dispensers, the list goes on and on! So put on your thinking hard hats and start piecing together the puzzle.


Xbox Live

MiceGard

Desert Water Games

MiceGard – May 3
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery

An adventure game where viking mice fight for honor, fame, and survival. Explore the world inspired by Norse mythology, meet with gods and warlocks, and seize the glory of the fiercest mouse-warrior in this action-packed saga!


The post Next Week on Xbox: New Games for April 29 to May 3 appeared first on Xbox Wire.

Shinji Mikami Wanted to Leave Tango Gameworks Years Before He Did

Famed game developer Shinji Mikami, known for directing the original Resident Evil and The Evil Within, has revealed why he left his former studio Tango Gameworks despite founding it himself.

In an interview with Byking, translated by Automaton, Mikami said he actually wanted to leave Tango eight years before he did, meaning just five years after the Evil Within, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Hi-Fi Rush developer was founded. Mikami didn’t leave until 2023 due to the responsibility he felt towards ongoing projects at Tango, he said.

His reasons for wanting to leave weren’t animus, as Mikami said he wanted to create an environment where young talent could prosper through development which included shorter project cycles, for example. Mikami also had a desire to make unique, smaller scale games himself, so wanted to connect these two ideas.

His connection to the survival horror genre, through the likes of Resident Evil and its spiritual successor The Evil Within, were another factor in his leaving, however, as Mikami said he wanted to step away from this association.

As for why he couldn’t do this at Tango, Mikami said he became closer to “a rank-and-file employee” than someone with influence after ZeniMax Media acquired Tango just seven months after it was founded.

“I had only been CEO for six months,” Mikami said. “I think a lot of people were under the impression that I was the representative, but I was very close to a rank-and-file employee. I had ‘producer’ attached to my name, but I wasn’t an executive or anything of the sort.”

Mikami started a new studio seemingly around March 2024, though has yet to reveal much about the team there or what projects they are working on.

Image Credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images

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

I respect Lethal Company’s dedication to being a slapstick-fest that makes zero sense whatsoever

James made the observation that Lethal Company, a co-op game about being haunted space binmen, and this month’s pick for the RPS Game Club, gets less fun the better you are at it. This is true! It’s also janky, and the RNG on the weird, warren-like buildings prompted me to ask “Who designed this? What is this for? What kind of office is this??” out loud, as I faced yet another dead end full of pipes. And yet! There’s something about it that endears me to it far more than other similar games like Phasmophobia. Games like this all largely rely on you making your own fun with the tools they provide, but I think we should give the Lethal Company devs props for their tools, because they are weird and make no sense, and allow for some fantastic slapstick.

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Square Enix Apologises for Foamstars Matchmaking Errors But Doesn’t Mention Fix in Incoming Patch

Foamstars developer Square Enix has apologised for the game’s ongoing matchmaking issues but didn’t mention a fix in its incoming v3.20 patch notes.

A blog post from Foamstars producer Kosuke Okatani outlined the incoming patch but began with an apology to fans for matchmaking issues which have persisted since its launch on February 6, 2024.

First, let me thank you for playing the game,” Okatani began. “On behalf of the Foamstars team, I’d like to apologize for the matchmaking errors many of you may have experienced during your gameplay. We are working to address this and other high priority issues.”

Okatani didn’t say what the other high priority issues are, nor did he say when Square Enix would address them or the matchmaking problems.

In the meantime, v3.20 will be available May 2 and is headlined by the addition of a penalty system for those who intentionally disconnect during a battle or via the Character Select screen, or for being idle for a long time. Players who are penalised for doing the mentioned actions will be unable to join a match for a set amount of time, judged on a case by case basis.

Square Enix will also introduce a fix for spawn camping on Radiant Rhythms Gardens, issues around Chloe Noir, and a PlayStation 4 crash issue.

In our 6/10 review, IGN said: “Foamstars’ combat mechanics are unexpectedly engaging, but confounding time-gated modes and aggressive monetization make them harder to enjoy.”

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

Stay awhile and play this free Diablo-inspired indie as the mayor of Tristram

Mayors in RPG games are rarely given the spotlight. They’re mostly just there to give you an early quest involving goat banditry or windmill rats or some such other domestic drudgery. Or, in the case of Tristram’s mayor in Diablo, to fret behind the scenes about how to properly fit considerable cathedral repairs into this month’s budget. Well, no more must this valuable civil servant hide behind balance sheets, occasionally popping out to cut a big ribbon in celebration of a nearby mausoleum being turned into a Wetherspoons. Tristam is a 72 hour Ludum Dare project where you play as said town’s mayor. And this time: It’s ceremonial!

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Fallout 4 Next-Gen Update Riddled With Issues

Bethesda’s highly anticipated next gen update for Fallout 4 is riddled with issues across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

The next gen version was finally released on April 25, 2024 (around 18 months after it was announced) but the several gigabyte update hasn’t been met with much fanfare.

The Steam version of Fallout 4 appears most wrought with technical issues, though PlayStation 5 players have struggled to obtain the update at all due to an availability error and confusing messaging from Bethesda. Xbox players, on the other hand, don’t have access to the game’s Quality Mode, meaning they can’t experience one of the main appeals of the next gen update: 4K resolution on ultra settings.

This specific issue was confirmed on X/Twitter by tech expert Digital Foundry’s Thomas Morgan. “I can confirm that only the 60 frames per second Performance Mode works right now. The update has a bug.”

PC players, meanwhile, have taken to Steam to flag myriad issues with the update. “Many of the bugs that existed and were promised to be fixed are actually still in the game after the patch,” said Piglet in one review. “Finally updated the game and didn’t fix a single issue,” wrote birthdayjesus. “But now the mods I used to fix it don’t work.

The initial reaction to the patch notes wasn’t positive either. “Damn, the bugfix list is short,” wrote DreamweaverWR on Reddit, a comment which has 921 upvotes. “I had very low expectations but this is much less than I expected. They didn’t fix almost any of the bugs that annoyed me the most (VATS crash and perception bug in Survival, for example).”

FluffyBunBunKittens chimed in too. “It is kind of amazing,” they said. “Now I’m just waiting with interest what new bugs we get with this update.”

One of these new bugs seemingly makes the game unplayable for some on Steam Deck. A Reddit post from prunebackwards said Fallout 4 can no longer be launched on the handheld PC, a sentiment corroborated by many in the comments and elsewhere. Some players who can launch the game are finding myriad issues upon doing so too, like having no graphics settings, no launcher, defaulting to low settings, having a poor frame rate, and more.

PlayStation users haven’t been free from the issues either, though perhaps the biggest came in even trying to access the game. Fallout 4 was available for free through PlayStation Plus to all PS5 owners from November 2020 to May 2023, but this version of the game, nor the PlayStation Plus Essentials Catalogue version, wouldn’t allow players to upgrade to the next gen update for free.

A full $19.99 purchase was required instead, though Bethesda soon confirmed this was an unintentional bug. “We’ve seen some confusion regarding the free Fallout 4 next gen update for PlayStation Plus Extra members,” wrote a Bethesda community manager on the company’s official Discord, who clarified it should be free as expected.

Bethesda wasn’t able to offer any clarification regarding the free PS5 version nor the PS Plus Essentials version, however, saying on X/Twitter that “we do not have any information” regarding either. PS5 users were naturally left frustrated with the initial bug and unclear communication.

Those who have been able to get into the game haven’t had the best experience either, and have taken to social media to share their impressions. “The Fallout 4 PS5 upgrade looks amazing,” wrote CSSJAZZ on Reddit, sarcastically, as they posted the comment alongside a video of one area with missing textures.

Reddit user pasta_classic posted an image of the character creator screen, where the default man was missing a face completely. “Loving the update,” wrote SnoopyTheDog_, who posted a video of their character locked in place while being killed by roaches.

“Gotta love that Bethesda polish,” said UnwillingArsonist, whose post showed that makeshift weapons in the update are also missing textures, appearing as floating red exclamation marks in the world.

The issues come as somewhat of a sour note in what’s otherwise been a Fallout resurgence, spurred on by the critically acclaimed Amazon TV series. A huge upswing in the popularity of Fallout 4, multiplayer entry Fallout 76, and other games in the franchise even caused popular modding website NexusMods to struggle, and Fallout 76, once universally panned, saw one million players log in a single day following the show’s release.

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

Counter-Strike 2 finally gets left-handed view models, seven months after launch

Left-handed Counter-Strike 2 players, time to raise that left hand in what could be interpreted as a celebration. In the game’s latest update, Valve have added the ability to swap from the default right-handed viewmodel to a left-handed one. There’s also an update to the buy menu, making it easier to track your bank account and grab weapons your mates have dropped. Alongside further UI improvements for grenade line-ups, and a tweak to the Active Duty map pool.

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Guide: Best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Games, Ranked – Every TMNT Game On Switch And Nintendo Systems

Every TMNT game on Nintendo consoles, ranked by you.

Updated with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants.

Remember, this is a reader-ranked list based on each game’s User Rating in our database, which means it’s subject to real-time change, even now. if you’ve played Wrath of the Mutants, or any other Turtles game below, you can rate it from 1-10 and influence the order. This recently released Switch game doesn’t have many ratings at the time of writing, so it’s all to play for. Enjoy!

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Stellar Blade Gets a Huge Discount on Launch Day in the UK

Stellar Blade is now available on PS5, and there’s a limited time left for you to secure what will likely be the best discount we see during its launch window. The PS5 exclusive is currently discounted using code PAYAY20 (see here), with over £14 off the RRP bringing the game down to just £55.96 for a limited time only. We’ll leave a handy link to the Stellar Blade preorder discount just below, but as we mentioned, this deal will expire soon at 11:59 PM on April 30 — so don’t hang around on this one.

This is part of a new payday sale at eBay using code PAYAY20, which includes some pretty impressive discounts, and 20% off some of the best games going right now — including Stellar Blade which will likely be on a lot of PlayStation gamers radar for the end of this month.

Plus, there are also games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on PS5 is down to just £47.16, alongside Steam Deck 512GB for £374.95. These payday discounts are well worth taking advantage of if you’re making any purchases in the spring sales and beyond, so keep them in mind. For more amazing UK discounts, ensure you’re following @IGNUKDeals on Twitter/X.

In our review of the Stellar Blade, we said: “Stellar Blade stands out as a gorgeous and well-crafted action game with very impressive strengths and very clear weaknesses. Both its story and characters lack substance, and some of its RPG elements are poorly implemented, like dull sidequests that very often require you to retrace your steps through previous levels with very little done to make the return trip feel unique or rewarding.

“But its action picks up most of that slack thanks to the rock-solid fundamentals of its Sekiro-inspired combat system, a deep well of hideous monstrosities to sharpen your sword against, and plenty of hidden goodies that do a great job of incentivizing exploration throughout.”

Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Commerce Editor for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter.

River City Girls 2 Is Getting “Premium” Double Dragon DLC This Summer

“The legendary Billy and Jimmy Lee return”.

Following a joke earlier this month, WayForward has now announced Double Dragon DLC for its side-scrolling beat ’em up River City Girls 2. Yes, the “legendary” BIlly and Jimmy Lee will be making a return as playable characters in “premium DLC” this summer.

According to the PR, a free update will also be made available to all River City Girls 2 owners at the same time – adding a new Double Dragon-themed motion comic, two new shops, new accessories, and “more”. Here’s some extra information about these characters and what you can expect from them in River City Girls 2:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com