The Gamer Guide - Issue 12

The Preamble

So, you have stumbled across The Gamer Guide and you are wondering, “Why do I need a guide to gaming?” Well, we will not guide you on how to game, but we will keep you informed as to what the gaming industry has to offer to get you the best gaming experience! Now, the second thing you are probably wondering is, “How did The Gamer Guide start?” Well, it can be a slightly long story. However, the shortened version is that the journey of three Twitch streamers brought them together, and with their passion for gaming, their experiences of streaming, and their love for everything within the world of entertainment… The Gamer Guide was born.

But what exactly is The Gamer Guide? The Gamer Guide is a digital magazine that focuses on everything gaming and streaming. This includes the latest/upcoming releases, reviews on gaming accessories, streaming tips, and even interviews with streamers and industry professionals from across the globe. Our readership is predominantly other gamers and streamers, just like us! We understand that the love and passion for gaming extends far beyond just playing a game, and that is what we are all about!

So, who are the people behind this magazine?

Brandon Sawyer - Content Director

Brandon, also known as Sawyers Gaming Central or Sawyer for short has been streaming since April 2020 and absolutely loves everything about it from the communities to the gameplays and reactions even a couple of rages thrown in there on a couple of occasions, but mostly he just loves to have fun and make people laugh which he can be quite hilarious at times! Predominantly he is an Xbox Gamer where he mostly plays his Xbox Series X but also has a gaming pc, a Nintendo switch, and even a Playstation. Sawyer is mainly a variety streamer where his main love is Gears of war and RPGs and due to Sawyers background he has come on board with The Gamer Guide as the Content Director, so we’re sure you’ll all learn to love this familiar face and don’t hesitate to pop by and say hi!

Emily Welfare - Creative Director

Emily, also known as CreativeTrashGaming, started streaming in the latter half of 2020 with the goal of bringing a bit of joy and laughter to the world, as well as the aim of raising money for various charities.Her favourite types of games are those with a compelling story, or those that just make her inner Fantasy Nerd go ballistic. She also likes spooky stuff, not just in the gaming realm but in general, and has a podcast with her two sisters where they discuss all things horror. Emily loves to dabble in the art world often, creating digital art pieces and learning new crafts. A graphics designer in her full time job, Emily is an integral part of the team whom designs the entire layout of our magazines from top to bottom!

Cal Howie - Operations Director

Cal, also known as EyeStayProd has been streaming since September 2020 and loves everything about it whether it be the community, the rage moments or even just having fun and brightening people’s days! Predominantly he is an Xbox Gamer and recently added the Series X to his arsenal, but he also has a PS4 for certain games as well as having the Nintendo Switch to hand! His game of choice is Apex Legends but is no stranger to RPGs and other games, such as every Pokémon game in the franchise, the Fable Series, Call of Duty amongst loads more.

we are going to want to meet up with us?

We are beyond excited to go to Insomnia Gaming Festival this year! We will be attending all three days to see what is going on in the industry, attend the cosplay events and see just what this event has to offer!

Interested in meeting us?

Would you like the chance to have a chat with us about featuring in our magazine? Look no further! You can send us an email via the address below, or contact us on our social platforms. We can’t wait to have a chat with you!

infoatthegamerguide@gmail.com

The Gamer Guide's Tabletop Corner

Dungeons and dragons

The OGL debacle

Anyone who is a Dungeons and Dragons fan is probably well aware of the OGL situation that occurred recently, but for those who are unaware of it, lets do a little recap!

This entire situation had the D&D community in total uproar, and for good reason, for it impacts countless small and big businesses alike. D&D has operated under the Open Game License (dubbed OGL 1.0a) for a long time. It essentially allows third parties to create written products such as campaigns or rulebooks using the D&D system owned by Wizards of The Coast. Although there were some restrictions with this license, such as utilizing ideas from things like Baldur’s Gate, it was a very fair license that was loved by all fans, for it allowed them to create their own worlds and share them with others. Many small businesses were founded on this license, some of which have become larger businesses like Pathfinder.

However, in January 2023, a revised version of the OGL was leaked to the internet, revealing that they had plans to dramatically change the permissions of the use of D&D content in third party businesses. At the time of the leak, the new OGL:

• Invalidated the original OGL, meaning it could no longer be used

• Stated that D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast must be notified about and receive a report on the earnings of all monetised content

• Said that products using the OGL which earn over $750,000 per year must pay Wizards a royalty fee of 25% (or 20% if funded through Kickstarter) for all income beyond that point

• Claimed the right to use all OGL content in any way Wizards of the Coast saw fit

• Stopped D&D-related NFTs and blockchain

• Allowed termination of the license for content that is “blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, bigoted or otherwise discriminatory”

This caused a HUGE uproar in the community, not for just fans of the game, but for countless industry figures and businesses as well. An open letter comdemning the change was created and gained over 60,000 signatures in record time, with the larger third party publishers such as Paizo announcing that they were going to be severing their ties with the brand and creating their own game system. Thousands of fans were immeditately cancelling their D&D Beyond subscriptions to the point that the

website actually crashed, with others getting rid of their many D&D products and cancelling any preorders for future campaigns and merchandise. One of the other ways that fans were damaging the brand was announcing their boycotting of the upcoming movie Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves, which would have been another financial hit on the company. There were many questioning whether it was actually legal for them to completetely cancel the original OGL license when so many things were founded within it.

Wizards of The Coast were silent for quite some time before they finally put out an official response to the chaos, claiming that the license that was leaked was just a “draft”. An altered version of the D&D OGL soon followed with the following changes:

• Would not contain a royalty structure, or royalty fees

• Didn’t include financial reporting or registration requirements

• Clarified that creators own their content

• Stated that anything already released under the original OGL would be unaffected

• Said that livestreams, virtual tabletops, and actual plays aren’t affected

Wizards then decided to release this draft with a survey attached to it in order to obtain feedback from their fans before anything was officially launched. Many questioned why this wasn’t done in the first place, as there were clearly no plans to previously do this. The draft and survey were released in early February. Fans had up until the 3rd to read the draft OGL and provide their opinions on it, with Wizards then making their official response on the 17th.

The public response to the OGL draft was EXTREMELY telling, with 88% of those surveyed not wanting to use the new OGL, 89% were dissatisfied with jettisoning the old one, and the “live survery results are clear. You want [the original OGL]. You want irrevocability.” What came next was honestly the most surprising part of this whole debacle. Wizards actually listened. They announced that they were going to be backing down and not changing the OGL, along with making the entire Systems Reference Document (containing the classes, races and mechanics) freely available under the Creative Commons.

“We wanted to protect the D&D play experience into the future,” the blog post read. “We still want to do that with your help. We’re grateful that this community is passionate and active because we’ll need your help protecting the game’s inclusive and welcoming nature. We wanted to limit the OGL to TTRPGs. With this new approach, we are setting that aside and counting on your choices to define the future of play.”

This reaction was absolutely astounding to all of us, though the question still stands: Has the damage already been done?

To a lot of people, yes it has. Many previous fans have decided to stick to their guns and back away from D&D as a whole now, including Pathfinder’s Paizo, who still plans to make their own system. May fans are concerned that Wizards are only backing down NOW, and may potentially try something like this again in the future. It’s an entirely understandable concern, especially if ones business is on the line. The issue is that Wizards of The Coast previously had a pretty good relationship with it’s community. The community was built upon the freedoms that the license allowed, and this entire situation has definitely caused a HUGE amount of damage in terms of trust between the company and its fans.

Quite a few people have speculated that Hasbro had a hand in all of this, due to the fact that Wizards didn’t seem to show any signs of changing the OGL until the huge multi-million dollar company got a hold of them. Though, that is purely speculation. The fact that Wizards of The Coast actually listened to the feedback does speak volumes, but they now have A LOT of work to do in regards to building that trust with the community again. Let’s hope that they stick to their word!

We were lucky enough to catch up with Alex (Europe Managing Director) over at Mighty Jaxx for a quick interview about Mighty Jaxx and what makes them stand out and more unique than their competition, for those who are unfamiliar with Mighty Jaxx Alex will cover on who what and where they are. You can read below what Sawyer and Alex discussed about.

Hey Alex! Thanks for speaking with us! Firstly, could you provide me with some insight into your history in terms of career, how you came to be in, not only the collectibles industry, but also the gaming industry and what made you decide that these industries are right for you?

Hey, thanks for having me! I’ve worked in the collectibles industry for over 15 years. I worked for a company called Eaglemoss that started off in publishing and over time became more specialised in value-for-money collectibles. I always loved the fact that we had the power to create something that appealed to a fan’s passion. This crossed over from comic books to sci fi to anime or gaming and was not restricted by geographic boundaries with products on sale in over 50 countries. At Eaglemoss I worked a fair bit with legacy games like Sonic and more recent titles from Bethesda Studios like Fallout and at Mighty Jaxx we’re fortunate to work with the folks at Gearbox. Here there was something pretty ambitious undertaken, which was to launch a collectible alongside a new game release (Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands), which has shift codes within the product. This was a leap for a toy company to do something so innovative and really showed the ability to merge the physical and digital worlds to unlock more than the sum of its parts.

That’s some veteran status in the collectibles world and some very big studios to work with, we can see why Mighty Jaxx is doing so well with you on board. Could you briefly introduce us to Mighty Jaxx? What was the deciding factor to

diversify into Collectibles? E.g. a brief overview of the company, your main focus, products, locations etc.

Mighty Jaxx is a Singapore based toy and collectibles company that has been going for over 10 years. It’s founder led and Jackson the principal owner is extremely passionate about what we do. He’s a fanboy at heart and doesn’t settle, which means fans can expect a very high standard with our range of toys. Mighty Jaxx has always been well thought of for its design and quirky look and feel, but in the past 5 years this has been extended into licensed products too.

When the chance arose to come on board at Mighty Jaxx I had little hesitation. It was clear from the start that design and brand were at the forefront of everything they did. In addition, there was a clear vision of how they felt the collectibles industry could develop in the future starting with the phygital attributes of every Mighty Jaxx product. In Europe, the brand had only an ‘ITK’ recognition among fans and collectors so I felt there was a lot of potential to introduce the unique products to wider audiences in the UK and across Europe. We’re just scratching the surface of this right now and I’m really excited about where it’s going to lead.

Seems like a great mindset within the business and some great plans ahead, We too being based out of the UK wasn’t very familiar with Mighty Jaxx until last year when we had the pleasure to see them in full swing at EGX which was amazing

and great to see, now we see them everywhere that being either social media or in stores and we are all for it. What for you, differentiates Mighty Jaxx from other similar companies operating within the same industries as yourselves? We know you have a variety of products for collectors, how do you make your products stand out?

I’ve genuinely never seen a collectibles company with such a diverse range of products and price points. We produce toys and collectibles for multiple fandoms from music to sport and entertainment to gaming.

We’re also very well known for our art toys so can serve both mass markets and hyper limited edition collector markets with equal measure. In addition, the list of materials for our collectibles is exhaustive from resin to vinyl to porcelain to wood or even bronze and chrome! These products range from 3 inches to lifesize so we really believe in trying to create something that differs from the rest.

We are with you on that front, Mighty Jaxx is very unique and great for all collectors, not only that

the sport stuff on top of gaming and anime is next to some of the best we’ve seen. After testing out your products we can really see that you do set the bar very high and the quality is great. As an established company, how do you ensure growth moving forward? How important is innovation, how do you keep up with the advancements in collectibles and current trends?

The company has been on an upward trajectory for a number of years now. It started in South East Asia and the US and has spread to China and now Europe. From what I’ve experienced, Mighty Jaxx has had a great ability to assess the market and reinvent itself or push in different directions whether that’s product type, design, material or technology. We are constantly on the lookout for trendy IPs, finding ways to expand our product offerings, and providing fresh and new experiences to fans.

Innovation certainly plays a big role in the direction of the business and the fact that our limited edition ranges sell through very quickly means we have no time to rest on our laurels as there’s a continuous quest to find the next cool thing.

We can safely say the directions in which mighty Jaxx goes is very much needed and welcomed within the community, the unique collectables are really eye-catching for anyone’s collections. On the subject of your products, we managed to try and test out some of your collectibles which showed some pretty intense detail, great structure and unique designs, so on that please explain what went into perfecting such collectibles?

There’s an amazing design and product development team back in Singapore who are accustomed to working on a wide array of products and materials. From 2D concept to 3D rendering, they make sure our designs are perfected inhouse prior to production and this takes rounds of testing and adjustments.

Big shout out to the design team, continue doing what you guys do because from our take it seems flawless. I personally loved the Optimus Prime you sent over to us. The design was perfectly thought out, very unique and rare not only that it was very strong and well kept. Please tell us where this idea came from and did you run through plenty of designs beforehand before perfecting things like this collectible?

Interestingly, this is one of the things that the licensors love about Mighty Jaxx. There’s never someone else doing the same treatment, which isn’t the case for all of their partners! I’m still slightly shocked that Hasbro let us dissect a My Little Pony!

With regards to Optimus Prime, it was done in collaboration with Quiccs, an artist from the Philippines, who strives to push visual boundaries in his own unique way. Partnering with various artists creates a unique twist and helps create the distinctive look and feel that Mighty Jaxx is renowned for.

The collaborations you do with these artists is very much appreciated because their talent plus mighty Jaxx’s team really perfects a product and no way Hasbro let you do that that’s so cool!. So tell us from start to finish how long it would take to design and create a new product?

As we work with various licensors, it does take a while sometimes to get certain approvals but generally speaking around 12 months from product conception to being on a shelf somewhere. We

can move faster when required and are able to work with 3D renders to create assets for presales. Very reasonable time scale to get everything rolling into place glad to see it and can’t wait to see more new unique designs. Are there any past projects or achievements that you’re particularly proud of at Mighty Jaxx which you’d like to highlight in the article?

I was the first hire for our UK office and prior to that, Mighty Jaxx did not have much brand presence in Europe. While it was a long process, we’ve finally managed to get our products on several EU-centric sites and marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon, showcase our collectibles at events such as the MCM Comic Con, have proper store retail presence, grow to a team of 4 and this is only the beginning. I am very excited to continue building the business in Europe and hope to bring some localised products and experiences to the region soon!

It’s great to see you all come and show us Europe lot some love. We did see your stall at EGX and it stood out from all the rest so the marketing team is doing a fantastic job. We see you also have a range of NFT related products, what made you decide to delve into the world of NFTS?

When NFTs came about, it was a natural progression for us to explore digital collectibles as we are able to go to market a lot quicker with digital assets. We did our first launch with Binance whereby our NFT collection sold out within seconds. However, we did not want to simply release digital collection after collection, but instead, find ways to use NFTs to amplify our company as a whole.

We explored several use cases for NFTs, one of them being NFT ticketing. Blockchain technology is something that we already have as all of our collectibles are embedded with an NFC chip. We wanted to capitalise on this and use NFT ticketing as a form of distribution for the mass market 2.0 fans, whereby they can use it as passes to enter our in real life experience centres, and within these experiences, we integrate our NFC chip in them to link fans to the physical product. This NFT ticket can also be traded in the secondary market. This truly allows us to create a platform to build a whole end-to-end journey with physical products, digital products and in-real-life experiences that both web2.0 and web3.0 fans alike can easily access.

This is very interesting as a newbie to the NFT world, I was pretty shocked to see Mighty Jaxx diving into this but it’s done really well and I’m all for it. On the subject of NFTs can you explain a little more about NFTs for our readers? And what was the deciding factor to start producing this and what was the idea/process behind it?

We like to view our NFTs more as digital collectibles as we appeal to true fans of the IP and less so crypto speculators. NFTs are digital collectibles that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated and some can represent real world items such as art paintings or even real estate.

As we are already partnered up with various top-tier IPs and artists, we wanted to explore a different medium to appeal to fans and collectors, and digital collectibles was something that we could produce to expand our product offerings. I think the lightbulb moment was when our first few releases were snapped up very quickly that we knew that we had something there.

However, the next step will be to integrate the technology into our business and develop products and experiences that can impact our customers in meaningful ways. Our first in-real-life experience of a fan-favourite IP will be launched in SEA very soon via NFT ticketing. I think that it’s a great concept that fans in Europe will enjoy and hope to be able to bring the experience here in future!

Sounds like something really cool upcoming NFT related features and the minds behind it really have got it working well. Thank you for this information as I said I was newbie to NFTs and I love to learn this stuff and I’m sure our readers do too. We can see how quickly your NFT ranges sell out, please tell us how these have become so popular and successful for Mighty Jaxx?

We provide real world utility for our NFTs, whereby owners of the NFT can purchase the physical version of the NFT, amplifying its value. This allows our product to appeal to both physical and digital collectors.

We have also capitalised on location-exclusive releases and our NFTs were only sold exclusively at certain events. For example, our Inked Stories:Eve NFT was only available for purchase at DesignerCon LA, and only attendees of the event had access to purchase the digital collectible (and in turn have access to the physical version). This

was very successful as it not only creates a FOMO effect, but serves as a memento for attendees for the event.

That’s great to hear, I hope to see more on the rise and we wish you all the best with the NFTs. Mighty Jaxx works with some amazing partners like Formula 1, Hasbro & Toei Animation, please tell us a little bit about partnering with such big brands for example what went into this and how you managed to make a connection via unique collectibles.

We have a fantastic licensing team who are adept at working with big brands and artists alike. They’re well aware of our strengths and the things we’re aspiring to push the boundaries of physical and digital within our product offering. This means that when selecting licensing partners we’re looking for those who are also willing to create an ambitious look and feel for collectibles.

With Toei this means we have products ranging from £13 to £1500 and with F1 we’ve defined a range of collectibles that transverse what fans would usually expect from a sports collection. No one has really focused on the limited-edition, premium market and this is where we like to play.

Yeah it’s good to have a range for all natures of clientele and well we all know sports fans those collectibles themselves have a real tight niche and the price ranges are very much so premium. Is there a specific product which may be your favourite at Mighty Jaxx and if so which one and why?

Personally, I love our Mr Monopoly Off Werk product. The concept is essentially ‘what does he do on his day off’. It’s pretty out there as a licensed proposition, which I’m not sure any other toy company would have ever come up with! And shows off the cheeky flair that Mighty Jaxx has to lead where others would follow. Our range of dissected statues with Jason Freeny have quickly become iconic and are an easy conversation starter with fans and partners alike! h

ttps://mightyjaxx.com/products/off_werk-mrmonopoly

Okay now that’s a pretty damn cool Mr Monopoly, I am not surprised you chose this one, we are all for the cheeky flair so do keep this up. Looking ahead, what are the plans and projects for 2023?

2023 is going to be a huge year for us in Europe in particular. I believe that it’ll be the year that Mighty Jaxx is well and truly introduced to audiences here and I think the niche we operate in has the potential to be absolutely huge. We’re in a unique and fortunate position that we’ll be bringing some bestseller products from other territories and brand new developments to the market simultaneously. Even in the last 3 months of 2022 we saw a fantastic market reaction to our product, as it hit shelves and online retail and that’s really snowballed so far this year.

We can’t wait to see more from Mighty Jaxx throughout 2023 and wish you all the best in reaching those goals and who knows we might just catch up at comic con this year and recap on something new. With your brand name, and position in the industry, do you run a sponsorship or brand ambassador programme? If so, could you name a few, and how important are they to the growth and success of the business?

We launched our Friends of Mighty Jaxx programme last year and engaged several influencers from key geographies such as UK, USA, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Canada and more to promote our products via social media posts and unboxing videos. These influencers are our brand ambassadors and we apply a product seeding strategy to build our brand presence online.

Engaging influencers to become our brand ambassadors both in local and overseas markets has been crucial in helping us build brand awareness and drive sales, especially in entering greener markets such as the EU.

We work with many influencers big and small and we are 100% behind this with you, it’s a great thing to have and do as one of those makes you go viral, people will be queuing for miles just to get the latest collectible. On another note, as we specific a lot on gaming would you say that you are a gamer? And if so what is your gaming platform choice, what is your go to game, and what really excites you about the gaming world?

Sadly I don’t play, I’m so old… that my favourite games are linked to my childhood/ uni days. I loved some of the classic games like Sensible Soccer, NBA Jam, Sonic, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II, Goldeneye and Mario Kart. I’m secretly hoping my kids get into it so that I have a chance

to start playing again!

Hey we are never too old, we see grandmas playing Skyrim nowadays or grandads rocking GTA. So, one more gaming related question, could you list us your top three all-time favourite games and why?

Top 3: Sensible Soccer (Amiga); Street Fighter II, Mario Kart!

Super classics right there and as you mentioned you’re not much of a gamer these are some solid classics. And finally Is there anything else that you feel you would like to mention that we may not have covered?

Firstly, thank you for your time, I had a great time sharing more about Mighty Jaxx with you. I like to give a shout-out to our readers as well - do follow us on our socials for the latest updates! I promise a ton of unique, exciting releases that will make a great addition to your collection, or if you do not own any collectibles at the moment, it’s time to grab your first from Mighty Jaxx!

The pleasure has been all ours Alex, Thank you so much for speaking with us today this interview was great you’ve covered many topics and well in depth too so we thank you for this, and new stuff coming we will sure but keeping our eyes open for this i really really want Gears of war stuff *hint hint* have a great 2023 we hope to catch up at an event soon.

On that note if you would like to check out Mighty Jaxx and all of their socials you can do so below, for now thats me Sawyer signing off, Peace.

Instagram: @mightyjaxx

Facebook: @mightyjaxxtoys

Tiktok: @mightyjaxx

Youtube: @mightyjaxx

Twitter: @mightyjaxx

LinkedIn: @mightyjaxx

the new official gaming range!

After more than three years in development, RØDE has announced the launch of its highly anticipated streaming and gaming division, RØDE X. Building on RØDE’s legacy as the world’s leading audio brand for content creators, RØDE X is dedicated to developing high-performance audio solutions specifically for streamers and gamers. The launch marks the first time in its history that RØDE has introduced a subbrand to its iconic portfolio and is a significant step in the evolution of the company. RØDE X distils the same passion for innovation, accessibility and Australian-made quality that RØDE is renowned for into a new range of cutting-edge audio solutions that meet the unique needs of streamers and gamers. The new division employs a dedicated streaming and gaming R&D department appointed to developing a brand-new product line, of which the first three products are available worldwide today: UNIFY, a virtual mixing solution custom-designed for streaming and gaming, and two new professional USB microphones – the XDM-100 dynamic USB microphone and XCM-50 condenser USB microphone.

“We are incredibly excited about the launch of RØDE X,” said RØDE CEO Damien Wilson. “For more than three decades, RØDE has been the go-to audio brand for the world’s creators. We have made it our mission to provide professional audio solutions to musicians, filmmakers, podcasters and broadcasters. Listening to and learning from creators is what we do and has led to the development of groundbreaking products like the VideoMic, RØDECaster Pro and Wireless GO. Now we’re doing the same for streamers and gamers.”

The hero of the RØDE X launch range is UNIFY. Designed to be the ultimate audio software for streamers and gamers, UNIFY consolidates functionality that would otherwise require multiple applications into one easy-to-use solution. This includes routing and mixing up to four USB microphones or other audio devices and up to six virtual audio sources (including game, chat, music and browser applications) in one intuitive interface; creating independent sub-mixes for different outputs, including their livestream, headphones and chat; adding studio-grade audio processing to microphone channels; triggering on-the-fly voice* and sound effects; multitrack recording and more. UNIFY is the most advanced audio software available for streamers and gamers, offering cutting-edge features with RØDE’s legendary user accessibility and ease of use. The software comes free with all RØDE X products or is available for purchase as a monthly or yearly subscription for use with any other USB audio product.

“UNIFY is a huge step forward for streaming and gaming audio technology,” said Senior Product Manager Chris Beech. “Throughout development, we spent countless hours researching exactly what streamers and gamers need from audio software and worked tirelessly to implement every feature while ensuring it is as simple to use as possible. From professional streamers with complex technical requirements to casual gamers who want to take their audio to the next level, UNIFY is the perfect solution.”

Alongside UNIFY in the range are two brand-new microphones: the XDM-100 and XCM-50. The XDM-100 is a professional dynamic USB microphone that delivers rich, broadcast audio ideal for streaming and gaming. It features premium circuitry with RØDE’s ultra-low-noise, high-gain Revolution Preamp™ and high-resolution 24-bit/48 kHz analog-digital conversion ensuring pristine audio quality. Its studio-grade dynamic capsule and tight cardioid polar pattern offer excellent clarity with superior rejection of room noise and keyboard or mouse clicks, and it comes with a high-quality pop shield and shock mount for mitigating unwanted pops, knocks and bumps. A high-power headphone output provides flawless zero-latency audio monitoring and playback, complete with hands-on level control and microphone mute functionality. The XCM-50 is a professional condenser USB microphone also optimised for streaming and gaming. It delivers highly detailed voice reproduction with incredible warmth and presence thanks to its full frequency response. It too features a high-power headphone output complete with a level control and mute button, and an internal pop shield and capsule shock mount provide protection from pops, knocks and bumps. To make getting started even easier, the XCM-50 comes with a desktop tripod and features an integrated 360-degree swing mount for flexible mic positioning.

Both microphones feature powerful internal digital signal processing (DSP), which can be unlocked using UNIFY. This allows users to add advanced APHEX® audio processing to their voice – including a compressor, noise gate, high-pass filter, and the legendary Aural Exciter™ and Big Bottom™ effects – with full granular control over every parameter for crafting their own signature sound. Together, UNIFY and a RØDE X microphone offer a complete audio solution for streaming or gaming with the full capabilities of a professional broadcast studio. These products are the first in the RØDE X range, with more slated for release in 2023 and beyond.

“The launch of RØDE X marks an exciting new era for RØDE,” said Damien Wilson. “In addition to these two incredible microphones and UNIFY, we have a suite of groundbreaking products currently in development that are going to shape the future of audio for streaming and gaming. This is just the beginning.” The XCM-50 is available now for US $149 and the XDM-100 is available for US $249. UNIFY is available to download from rodex.com/unify. It is free with any RØDE X microphone or can be purchased on a subscription basis for AUD $7.99 monthly or AUD $69.99 annually.

Summary

Our wonderful friends over at RØDE were kind enough to hook us up with a XDM-100 & a XCM-50 plus a lifetime subscription to UNIFY. We can’t thank them enough for working with us yet again on another amazing launch from RØDE.

So what do we think well after trying and testing both microphones you can really see the difference in the two with the dynamics of both being very premium and selecting either option would really enhance your studio, the XCM-50 is much smaller and compact and does not produce the bang you get for your buck if opting for the XDM-100 which is much more premium on quality sounds and a bigger unit, if you are on a budget then i would highly recommend the XCM-50 much more advanced than RØDEs previous NT Mini but if your willing to drop a few more then go for the XDM-100 it will really boost your content and sound quality and the price youtube pay for this beats anything on the market at the moment in time, once again RØDE gets our high 9/10 TGG stamp of approval.

So what are you waiting for head over to their store and have a look!

NTH-100M Review

The Rode NTH-100M is what happens when a company that specialises in professional audio for broadcast, studio and streaming takes years of expertise and crams it all into a truly versatile and impressive headset. Originally released as the NTH-100, the addition of M to the name just means Rode added a ‘broadcastgrade’ detachable microphone. Now I know what you’re thinking because I thought the same thing until I actually tested out the new mic. It’s fantastic.

Retailing for $299, the NTH-100M adds $60 to the base headphones price which isn’t a small amount. You could get a proper full-sized USB mic for that money. However, if you want an all-in-one solution for gaming and chat, this is better than most gaming headsets at this price point. What’s more, these aren’t even USB powered headsets nor do they have any fancy PC software gimmicks to improve the audio quality. So, if you are a streamer, budding podcaster or just an audiophile gamer who wants some of the best sound, then this just might be the headset for you. The NTH-100M is Rode’s debut into the headset space which makes it all the more impressive. Starting with the design, the headset looks the business — expertly capturing the professional look without being dull. It’s made with premium materials like stainless steel, Alcantara fabric and durable plastics. It’s only available in black at the moment though with the new Rode X brand, I suspect we’ll see something more gamey in the near future. For now, it’s a clean and elegant looking headset.

The NTH-100m is an over-ear design with great coverage though not as big as my Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X. The cushions are super plush with memory foam covered in Alcantara fabric that feels wonderfully soft. Rode say they have CoolTech gel but I found them to get pretty hot on my ears this time of 33-degree Aussie summer. Apart from that, I wore these all day without any discomfort on my ears or temples which is saying something since I wear glasses. The cups have some tilt but can’t swivel flat for easier storage or just resting on your neck between sessions. The headband is also pretty unique; not just because of the same plush Alcantara finish but more so, the Fitlock adjustment system. The system has a lock on each side of the headband that you twist clockwise to release and then adjust the sliders to your desired fit. After that, twist anti-clockwise to lock into place so you never have to worry about the band going slack over time. It’s simple yet very effective set-and-forget system.

Each ear cup has a 3.5mm cable attachment port and can be used interchangeably to suit your setup. The provided cable is extremely long — 2.4m to be exact — and uses a locking mechanism to ensure it won’t get yanked out when you jump up in a fit of gamer rage. It’s cool how you can customise these cables with coloured plastic rings for the cable tips — you know, for style. But these ports are also where you plug in the NTH-Mic, a sturdy, removable microphone that surprisingly has no flex for adjustment. Rode says it’s designed for optimal placement near your mouth but some will find it frustrating that you can’t adjust it whatsoever. Additionally, the mic only fits in the right ear cup by design so, you can’t use it in any other

placement like the main audio cable. The mic uses the same twist and lock mechanism that ensures it remains firmly attached to the headset. The NTH-100 also come with a cloth bag for storage when not in use which you’ll need to keep that Alcantara dust and flint free. Over time though, it will certainly look quite unattractive but I suppose a standard flint brush would help keep it clean.

The NTH-100M is marketed as a Professional headset which means, it’s designed for mastering audio for content, podcasts and streaming. So does it sound any good? Yes, very much so. While I don’t have much experience with studio headphones other than the NTH 100, Turtle Beach & Epos Audios Gaming range, I can say the NTH-100M sounds fantastic across the board. The sound signature leans on the warm side with powerful bass that’s expertly balanced with warm midtowns and crystal clear highs. The frequency response is 5Hz – 35Khz, much wider than your garden variety gaming headset and it achieves this with a low power requirement of just 32 Ohms. So even if you plug it into your console control pad, the sound you get is powerful and punchy.

Helping that tone is the fact that the NTH-100M is a closed back headset. This gives it a limited amount of passive noise isolation but is still surprisingly wide soundstage and excellent imaging. In games like Call of Duty Warzone, that means you’ll get a good sound spectrum with excellent positioning and clarity. In open world titles like Horizon Forbidden West, you will hear all the detailed sounds of animals scuttling in the bushes or the distant rumble of a Talkneck doing its rounds. Explosions, gunshots and the like are suitably bombastic thanks to the bass but it never overwhelms subtler audio cues like a reload or footstep. Listening to music has been a joy too, as you can imagine. From huge orchestral set pieces to Hip-hop trap, the NTH100M makes everything rather bombastic without exaggeration or distortion. It’s clean audio all the way and sincerely, one the best sounding headphones I’ve tested yet.

Which brings me next to the NTH-Mic attachment. When Rode said it’s a broadcast-quality microphone, I rolled my eyes in expectation that this was more marketing gobbledegook that would never live up to the hype. But lo and behold, it actually lives up to the hype. This little plastic attachment produces shockingly good audio. My voice comes through in excellent detail without any hint of compression or tinniness normally associated with detachable mics. Just listen to the sample below. Voice reproduction is natural, not too warm but very clean. I was also surprised at how clean the audio was with no background hiss or ticks and yet Rode doesn’t mention any noise suppression or cancellation and there isn’t any accompanying software with EQ’s or noise gates. This is truly the best detachable microphone I’ve tested on any headset and it’s as good or even better than many USB microphones too. Rode certainly nailed that here. I dare say that you can even use this to record VO’s and after throwing on some post processing, no one will be the wiser.

Verdict

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this review of the Rode NTH-100M but at the end of it all, I’m a believer. The excellent audio reproduction, comfort, build-quality and of course, exceptional microphone performance make this one great package. It’s aimed at professionals but I dare say all you gamers, amateur streamers and podcasters will benefit greatly from this single purchase. Now, don’t get me wrong, a full-size USB or XLR microphone will sound much better than this but most people just need to sound good in games or work video calls and the NTH-100M will make you sound great. This headset is a stunning breakout for the company’s first product and I can’t wait to see them launch a more gaming specific headset under the new Rode X brand.

TGG STAMP OF APPROVAL 9/10

We can’t thank our friends over at Rode enough for supplying is this unit to review so please do check out where to buy and their socials below.

nvidia geforce rtx 4070 ti vs rtx 4080 - which graphics card should i buy?

Just over 2 months since NVIDIA released the initial RTX 40 Series GPU line up, gamers and creators everywhere have been left with only one aspiration on their minds – to get their PC builds outfitted with an RTX 40 card. However, the staggered release schedule has meant different models released on various dates since the initial October release which saw the launch of the RTX 4090 GPU range for purchase. System builders who either could not afford the eyebrow-raising price point exceeding that of £1600 or simply decided not to invest in the first batch of releases have instead been left scratching their heads wondering which graphics card within the range might be better suited to their needs and budgets. This is where the recent release of the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 ranges might just be what you are looking for. Their more median price point doesn’t come at a significant trade-off to the spec or feature list, making an attractive choice to any system builder looking to invest.

However, that does leave the question – which graphics should I buy between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4080? Read all about how each GPU stacks up against the other in this article and see which one of the two might be making its way into your PC build next. We will highlight some of the major differences between the two models, including the discrepancies in cost and performance, in addition to a few other features that are worth noting as you justify your purchase.

First off, it is worth taking a broad look at the release of the RTX 40 series lineup as a whole, examining what these graphics cards have been designed to do and how they do it. So far, the line-up has consisted of models ranging from the more entry-level RTX 4050 to the medium-ranged RTX 4060 and 4070, all the way to the higher-end RTX 4070 Ti, 4080 and 4090 models, which means you have plenty of choice overall when looking through this particular release. Perhaps the most important component within

ARE NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 40 SERIES GPUS WORTH IT?

your gaming PCs is your graphics card. Of course, a case could be made for your other hardware like your processors and your motherboards, but with the role your GPU plays in both visuals and performance, its case is certainly one of the most compelling.

ARE RTX 40 SERIES GRAPHICS CARDS GOOD FOR GAMING?

Built upon the Ada Lovelace architecture, NVIDIA’s RTX 40 Series has revolutionised the way we play, create and work. With twice the power and performance efficiency of previous-generation GPUs, courtesy of new streaming multiprocessors, in addition to new AI innovations, RTX 40 Series graphics cards have laid a new foundation for gamers and creators to explore to realise their full potential. Some of the standout features include the Third-Gen Ray Tracing Cores which have enabled users to experience exceptional detail in their virtual worlds like never before, with new layers of detail and realism. When it comes to performance in your competitive games, your mouse and keyboard inputs will have never felt so sharp and precise, with game-changing technology like NVIDIA Reflex minimising latency while optimising frame rates. The AI revolution that is NVIDIA DLSS 3 will also enhance your ability to win games decisively by creating additional frames within your action sequences to ensure you always remain in sync and in control.

ARE RTX 40 SERIES GRAPHICS CARDS GOOD FOR DIGITAL CREATION?

GeForce RTX 40 GPUs also feature a host of creative tools like NVIDIA Studio and NVIDIA Canvas, which allows aspiring creatives to meet deadlines and take on more ambitious projects by accessing top-creative apps. From 3D CAD rendering to video editing to graphic design, RTX 40 GPUs harness the power and stability of AI-assisted creation to fast-track your ability to transform concepts into physical works. The NVIDIA Omniverse utility is another useful tool as it encourages collaboration to help you share ideas and receive inspiration when you need it most.

COST

It’s no secret that the price of the RTX 40 range has resulted in some discussion, with the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 both being included. On average an RTX 4070 Ti graphics card will cost you anywhere from £850 to the upper reaches of £990. When the previous generation RTX 3070 Ti GPUs were released, the average price was set to around £500, which means you are paying somewhat of a premium when comparing the current and previous generation models. But we aren’t doing that. Instead, when looking at the RTX 4080 price point we are seeing a much wider scale, starting from around £1250 and topping off at around £1690.

This means the price difference between the two models is quite significant, instantly establishing the RTX 4070 Ti as the more budget-friendly option between the two. But if the higher price tag is accompanied by much better specs and features, then it is probably justified right? Well that question lends itself nicely to our next point.

SPECS

Below is a table provided by NVIDIA that details the major spec differences between the RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4080 graphics cards. The greater the number of CUDA cores, the greater number of calculations your GPU can accomplish at any given time. Having more CUDA cores than the RTX 4070 Ti means that the RTX 4080 is better adept at tackling high-intensity workflows such as gaming and content creation. When it comes to memory size, the RTX 4080 once again has the advantage, supporting up to 16GB compared to the 4070 Ti’s max 12GB support.

The area where the 4070 Ti does have the upper hand is when it comes to Boost Clock. Boost Clock determines how effective your graphics card is when it comes to handling workflows and demands that are more intense than normal, without having to alter any settings. Users that may not be as familiar with the in-depth settings menu of their GPU performance will really benefit from the RTX 4070 Ti’s higher boost clock potential as it means you can continue to overclock your system without actually having to tweak any settings that you may not be 100% confident in altering. In terms of how this impacts your gameplay, a higher Boost Clock (or clock speed in general) will mean higher FPS.

POWER CONSUMPTION

One of the show-stopping statements attached to the RTX 40 series flagship release was its claim to be able to double the performance of the RTX 3090 series. Of course, in doing so the result is your GPU having to draw on a lot more power from your PC system’s power supply unit. On average, the RTX 4070 Ti will use around 300W of power, which is roughly the same amount of power as the previous generation RTX 3070 Ti, while delivering a huge leap in performance. Similarly, the RTX 4080 utilises anywhere from 285W to 320W on average, depending on which model and spec you opt for. The similarity in power consumption means that regardless of which GPU you choose to purchase, the PSU you select to go along with it will be the same either way.

VRAM

One area of the major difference between the RTX 4070 Ti and the RTX 4080 is the VRAM. VRAM is a type of RAM used specifically in graphical processing tasks, which is important to pay attention to when selecting a graphics card. The RTX 4080 does in fact boast more VRAM than the 4070 Ti, which means processing content at higher resolutions is made to be more efficient. This translates to a host of benefits including more responsive gameplay and streaming. Both GPUs are capable of supporting content at 4K and 8K resolutions, but HDR support is limited to only the 4070 Ti, which is a huge benefit.

DESIGN

Coming to the end of our comparison, the last noteworthy difference to point out is that being a Ti graphics card, the RTX 4070 Ti is made of titanium. Many of you might be aware of this, but some of you who are new to system building may not. Ti GPUs tend to be more stable and powerful than their non-Ti counterparts i.e. the RTX 4070 but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are better than the non-Ti GPU that is ahead of them in the line-up i.e. the RTX 4080.

CONCLUSION AND FINAL VERDICT

Now that we have all the facts laid bare before us it’s time to make a final decision – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or RTX 4080? As things stand it’s hard to say for certain that one GPU is better than the other, because both do a number of things well when compared to one another, and especially when compared to other graphics cards on the market. The answer is dependent on a number of things which will likely influence a number of factors during your PC build process. Cost, clock speed, VRAM capacity and all these other variables will provide plenty for you to think about not just when it comes to these two GPUs, but also when you are considering any other RTX 40 Series graphics card. So make sure your decision is made thoughtfully and with all the facts lined up.

PSVR2 Review!

What might seem like a straightforward sequel to the original PSVR from 2016 is more a brand new system, as the PSVR 2 really feels like a step change for virtual reality. With a launch price of £529.99 / $549.99 / €‎599.99 / AU$879 The PSVR2 is hardly a cheap impulse buy. You’ll also need to pay around that for a standard PS5 in order to use your PSVR 2. The PSVR 2’s price tag needs some context. For starters, this isn’t a headset running on mobile technology, but a more high-end affair aimed at tapping into the power that you’d really need a £1,000 plus gaming PC for. And with its specs the PSVR 2 could trade blows with significantly more expensive VR. I’m not going to say the PSVR 2 is good value per se, but for a total cost of some £1,050 you’re getting a high-end VR setup on a rather advanced games console.

Design And Comfort

Unsurprisingly, the PSVR 2 is an evolution of the PSVR’s design. It retains the single plastic headband of its predecessor with a few modifications, such as integrating the headband release button and the tightening wheel into one on the back of the band.

Analogue wired earbuds, which come bundled in with the PSVR 2, plug into the back of the headset’s band. And while we’re at the back, the cable that connects the PSVR 2 to the PS5 via USB-C is plumbed in on the left-hand side of the headband. The cable is relatively thin compared to those on some other VR headsets, and I found it rarely gets in the way or distracts me. But for ease of storage, I would have preferred a detachable cable; ultimately it would be great if the PSVR 2 was wireless, but the tech for low-latency VR gaming isn’t quite there yet.

Inside the headband, there’s rubberized cushioning for the back of the wearer’s head and forehead. A slightly softer and more pliable rubber is used for the light shield that surrounds the wearer’s eyes. This is where the first big difference between the PSVR 2 and PSVR becomes apparent: the newer headset lets in no outside light compared to its predecessor, which I found let in enough light to be somewhat distracting. This immediately makes the PSVR 2 more immersive than the PSVR.

Moving to the PSVR 2’s “scope”, on its top you’ll find a button to adjust how close it is to your head and a rotary dial to adjust the lenses so that they are centred on your eyes. On the bottom, there are three buttons: one for power, one for accessing

On the front of the scope, there are four cameras used to track the headset and scan your surroundings. Gone are the PSVR’s lights, used to sync up with an external camera as well as its black panel; instead the PSVR 2 has a clean white faceplate. Overall, the headset looks rather good and is in keeping with the two-tone aesthetic of the PS5.

It’s a comfortable headset as well, and not overly heavy (it weighs around 560g/19.8oz excluding cables) though you’ll not forget that you’ve got it on. And while the rubber eye shield doesn’t exactly swaddle my face in the softest of materials, I personally found it comfortable enough to wear for more than an hour.

Depending on how well you get on with VR headsets, your mileage will vary when it comes to how long you can wear the PSVR 2 for. But I found it to be one of the more comfortable VR headsets I’ve tried out and was quite happy to have it on my head for an extended amount of time. Build quality is also solid, with smooth plastics and tactile buttons, in keeping with the standard one expects from Sony.

Controllers

The PSVR 2’s Sense controllers could be summarised as a cross between the DualSense controller and the Quest 2 controllers. They have a similar — but larger — shape, with a pistol-like grip that extends into a ring for motion tracking. The difference here is that on the PSVR 2 the ring sits further back, almost looping around the wrist rather than sticking out at the ends of the controller like those of the Quest 2.

Combined with the two-tone look, the Sense controllers have a neat sci-fi aesthetic. I think they’re rather attractive, though sometimes I’d need a split second to figure out which controller is for which hand. On the top of each controller, there’s a clickable thumb stick, a PlayStation button, a small button for re-orienting the forward view of the headset, and a pair of buttons: circle and X for the right controller and square and triangle for the left. L1 and R1 duties are handled by a button in the controllers’ grips and sit nearly under one’s middle finger. And L2 and R2 come in the form of triggers with the same adaptive tech as the DualSense controller. Build quality is spoton here, with the thumbsticks and buttons offering tactile clickthrough; both are a little smaller than those on the standard controller and feel far superior to the Quest’s equivalent parts.

The only minor complaint is I found the wrist straps to be a little tricky to put on easily given the placement of the ring on the controllers. But they can be removed if they prove to be irritating. I found the motion tracking on the controllers to be excellent, with the PSVR 2 also able to detect some of my finger movements, such as when I had my hand open. But the real star of the show is the haptics.

Much like with the DualSense controller, advanced haptics are used to better convey the feel of, say,

tension on a virtually drawn bowstring, making action in games feel more dynamic, realistic and thus immersive; you’ll be hearing a lot more of that world to come. Haptics are nothing new, but much like with the DualSense, I feel Sony has raised the bar here, adding an extra dimension to the VR experience compared to other systems. And overall the PSVR 2’s controllers are far more capable than the goofy wand-like PlayStation Move controllers the PSVR was saddled with.

While not a controller, the PSVR 2 supports eyetracking as part of the control scheme. Sony says such a feature will let players better emote reactions and emotions in games, but as this is pre-release I’ve not been able to try that out. The tech is rather slick though, allowing me to navigate to menus with a glance. This tracking is also used in some games, say to help NPCs maintain eye contact with the player; it feels like a properly next-gen feature that could open up all manner of virtual interactions in future games.

Display

Like the PSVR, the PSVR 2 has an OLED display. But unlike its predecessor that made do with a 1080p overall resolution, the PSVR 2’s display hits 4K by delivering 2000 x 2040 per eye. This is a huge upgrade, with everything appearing crisper and sharper on the PSVR 2. As a result, I reckon

the potential for eye fatigue and headaches is substantially reduced.

The PSVR 2 also sports a 90Hz to 120Hz refresh rate display, like its predecessor. As such, the headset can support frame rates that are high enough to alleviate motion sickness experienced with some VR headsets. Now I don’t get VR-related nausea easily so this isn’t a huge deal for me, but the PSVR 2’s display feels smooth and responsive with precious little in the way of flickering or distortion to distract me from the virtual world I was in.

A 110-degree field of view builds upon the 100 degrees of the PSVR, though an FOV over 100 degrees is perfectly acceptable. The PSVR 2’s display filled my vision and I rarely got the feeling that I was staring at a screen in some goggles rather than flitting about a virtual world. It’s been a while since I’ve used a PSVR, but I feel the PSVR 2’s OLED is better at handling colours, which helps complement its crispness. And the OLED screen beats the LCD panels of other VR headsets I’ve used.

Setup

Gone is the fiddly breakout box of the PSVR, and instead the second-gen headset plugs into the USB-C port on the front of the PS5.

Setting up the PSVR 2 is mostly trivial. Gone is the fiddly breakout box of the PSVR, and instead the second-gen headset plugs into the USB-C port on the front of the PS5. To pair the controllers you need to connect them to the USB-A port on the PS5 using the bundled USB-C to Type-A cable found in the PSVR 2’s box; simply press the PlayStation button on the connected controller and in a few seconds it’s paired with the PS5 rinse and repeat and you’re ready to continue with the setup.

Following some quick prompts on the display the PS5 is attached to, you’ll be prompted to scan your room for brightness levels the PSVR 2 doesn’t like too much light apparently, And after that, you’ll be prompted to put on the headset and follow the on-screen instructions. This will see you adjust the scope and lens position so that everything is nearly in front of you and the display is in focus — I needed to make a few tweaks due to my fussy eyes and a desire to get a snug but comfortable fit but it was all very easy.

Once up and running the PSVR 2 will then scan your room to determine the space you’ll have to move around in, even if you plan on using the headset when seated. Room-scale VR is on offer, but you’ll need a clear 2 metres by 2 metres space, which for someone like me living in a small apartment in East London isn’t really viable.

But I was able to set up a neat little space to use the PSVR 2 standing up thanks to it scanning my room to get an idea of usable space. This area can then be quickly and easily edited using the controllers if you think you’ll risk stumbling into a table or walking headfirst into a bookshelf. If the idea of such collisions leaves you feeling apprehensive, don’t worry as the headset warns wearers when they’re reaching the edge of a designated VR area; if you stray too far the headset will pull you back into your own reality.

For people fearing an initial sensory overload, a quick press of the function button on the headset will give you a decently clear pass-through view of your room. This is pretty clear for a monochrome feed, but the image can get noisy in low light. Once set up you’ll be transported to a PlayStation menu in front of your eyes and the option to load up a PSVR 2 compatible game, just bear in mind that some games will ask for extra calibration.

The PSVR 2 felt very slick on the setup side, with no real errors or unnecessary headaches. Compared to some PC-based VR headsets, the PSVR 2 makes getting from setup into a VR game very straightforward.

Experience

I was really impressed at how solid the whole VR experience was. Other headsets I’ve tested have thrown up errors or moaned about needing certain drivers; the plug ‘n’ play nature of the PSVR 2 blows this away.

Very rarely did the PSVR 2 boot me out of a game, and it was likely down to my error in passing beyond the designated VR area. Even when that happens a game will simply pause and it’s dead easy to jump back into it.

Speaking of space, ideally the larger space you have for VR the better. In games where there’s a good bit of lateral movement, my arms would encroach upon the boundaries of the VR area. This wasn’t enough to pause the action, but I did

get minor warnings in the form of red rings around my virtual hands; fine-tuning my VR play space should help alleviate this. People with more space or a dedicated VR area should have no problems at all.

As mentioned, movement tracking is great with no discernible latency in my experience. But like with every VR system, there is a modicum of learning to be done when it comes to sussing out the feeling of depth and how far you can reach out to grab virtual objects.

My only issue with PSVR 2 as a whole is the earbuds it comes bundled with are just fine. They deliver solid audio and work with Sony’s 3D audio. But my advice would be to opt for the Pulse 3D Wireless headset as that provides a bigger soundstage and blocks out a lot of distracting noise from anything that might interrupt your VR experience.

The only thing I feel is missing for the PSVR 2 is a form of interactive menu or hub environment, as is the case with other VR platforms. Right now, all you get is a floating view of the main PS5 interface that’s functional but hardly dynamic. I’d also like to see Sony add in a cinema-like interface so I can watch 4K Blu-rays or the likes of HBO’s The Last of Us on a virtual silver screen. This could be added as a software update after the PSVR 2’s launch, so fingers crossed for that.

Games

But the real thrust of the PSVR 2 will be its games. In short, existing VR games that have been ported over to the new headset work well. But I’m going to focus on Horizon Call of the Mountain, which has been made from the ground up for PSVR 2 courtesy of developer Firesprite working with Guerrilla Games.

While Call of the Mountain is a full game rather than just a short VR experience, it’s a fantastic demonstration of the PSVR 2’s tech and quality. Without going into spoilers, Call of the Mountain sees you fill the body of Ryas, a disgraced former soldier on a journey of redemption by helping his former enemies and attempting to locate a missing person on a mountain. Of course, there are mysteries afoot that you’ll seek to uncover as you navigate the peaks of the Carja Sundom. From my time with the game so far, plot-wise it’s standard Horizon fare, not a bad thing if you liked Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West.

Due to needing to run at 4K and a fast frame rate, Call of the Mountain can’t quite match Forbidden West in terms of sheer graphics. But it still looks great with colourful valleys, snowcapped mountains, expressive NPCs, and a good dose of volumetric effects. And thanks to PSVR 2, I’ve never felt more immersed in the post-postapocalyptic Earth of Horizon.

With my face in the game, rather than seeing things from a third-person view, the lands of the Sundom are far more engaging. Almost straight away, Call of the Mountain gives you a real sense of scale, whether you’re looking up, down, or towards the horizon. In the opening sequence, a massive Tallneck machine cuts across Ryas’ path, and I couldn’t help but stare up at it. And even though I saw it coming, I still physically ducked as a Stormbird, a large eagle-like flying machine, swooped above me.

Such things are nothing new in the world of VR. But the haptic feedback in the controllers and across the headset, combined with Sony’s Tempest 3D Audio tech, adds a level of depth to convey a sense of reality. I could hear beams creak as I climbed them and felt a sense of connection when moving from handhold to handhold or pulling back on a bowstring. Plus the range of movement the PSVR 2 allows, had me leaning around obstacles pulling off arrow shots that would be impossible in the standard game; the tech here literally feels game changing.

However, as much as Call of the Mountain has impressed me, it’s also set a high standard for PSVR 2 games to follow. At the time of writing, there aren’t a huge amount of other games to test the PSVR 2 with. Those that I have worked well, but are mostly ports of previous PSVR, Steam VR or Quest 2 games. Given the number of VR games now available in general, as well as those on the original PSVR, the PSVR 2 shouldn’t be lacking for VR games; it has more than 30 set to arrive within a February to March launch window. But taking into consideration its price tag and being PS5-only, I’m hoping to see more dedicated and newer PSVR 2 games that can fully tap into its technology.

With a VR update for Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village incoming, there should be some longerform VR experiences for the PSVR 2 very soon.

But I’m really hoping Sony harnesses the power of its first-party studios like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica to create brand-new PSVR 2 games. Sony says there are more than 100 PS VR2 games in development, so I’m cautiously optimistic that the PSVR 2 will see a larger volume of higher-quality games than its predecessor. Alternatively, Sony could open up the PSVR 2 for PC connectivity, say creating a Windows-based VR interface. This isn’t unreasonable given Sony had been porting games over to the PC, but I’d not place a bet on PSVR 2 PC connectivity any time soon.

Verdict

The best way to summarise my experience with the PSVR 2 is I’m looking forward to putting it on again. While I’ve always enjoyed VR, that’s not really something I can say about previous VR headsets.

In many ways, the PSVR 2 combines all the best of VR tech with some of the excellent haptics and audio from the PS5, into a system that’s dead easy to use and surprisingly robust. To me, this combination immediately makes VR more compelling, especially as it integrates with my current PS5 gaming setup.

Sure the price tag is enough to make all but the richest among us pause. But if you’re interested in VR and want to elevate your PS5 experience then I think the PSVR 2 is worth it. On the other hand obviously, for those not so keen to delve deeper into virtual worlds, the PSVR 2 might seem like an overly expensive peripheral.

However, if Sony follows through with more highend VR games that draw upon the PS5’s power, then I think the PSVR 2 will not only offer an extra games system on top of its connected console, but also start setting a standard for other VR platforms to follow. And that is genuinely exciting.

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

razer edge announced as new xbox cloud gaming handheld console

Razer has revealed the Edge, which is the “world’s first dedicated 5G handheld console” to hit the market, and due to a partnership with Xbox, you’ll be able to play Xbox Game Pass Ultimate games on via Cloud Gaming.

With the Razer Kishi having already cemented itself as one of the best mobile controllers on the market, and the company’s experience with on-the-go gaming via the Razer Phone, it comes as no surprise that they would marry the pair into one consolidated device: The Razer Edge. What’s more, a partnership with Xbox means you can play some of the best games on Game Pass on the device via Xbox Cloud Gaming, such as Vampire Survivors although, you’ll still need an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription to access it.

Launching on January 26th, the Razer Edge will be available in three formats: Razer Edge Wi-Fi, Razer Edge Founders Edition, and the Razer Edge 5G. While the latter doesn’t currently have a price tag, we do know that the two former models will set you back $399.99 and $499.99 respectively, so it’s safe to assume you could be looking at $600 or

more for the full 5G experience, but it sounds like you might get plenty of bang for your buck.

Each device comes with the Razer Kishi V2 included — yes, the Edge is actually the screen itself, which allows you to easily use it for touchcontrol gaming or snap it back into the Kishi for the use of conventional joysticks and triggers.

It’s an Android-based device that packs in a Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 active-cooled gaming chipset with a 3GHz Kryo CPU, which can power through games on the Edge’s 6.8” FHD 144Hz AMOLED touch-screen display. For the Razer Edge 5G model itself, Razer has partnered with Verizon to optimise the Edge for the company’s 5G UltraWideband network.

Whether the device will be able to compete in a market that is currently dominated by mobiles, which most players already have, remains to be seen, but it’ll be interesting to see how well it performs at launch. We have all the information provided by Razer themselves for you over on the next page so please do check this out.

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2023 round-up

AMD / Nvidia / Intel CES 2023 Recap and Analysis: 3D V-Cache, “RTX 4090” for laptops, new affordable CPUs

7950X3D is going to be a beast, plus non-K Intel and non-X AMD CPUs. This should be a good time for a CES 2023 news recap and analysis, with tons of PC hardware announcements as expected, and AMD having just concluded its presentation. So let’s run through all the interesting stuff and give our thoughts on what’s been shown...

AMD 3D V-Cache CPUs

Starting from the most recent reveal this morning, AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 3D V-Cache CPUs. V-Cache debuted on the popular Ryzen 7 5800X3D last year, stacking a cache die on top of the CPU chiplet to significantly increase L3 cache capacity from 32 to 96 MB. The same sort of technology is now being deployed to Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 processors as well.

While before AMD only launched one V-Cache processor, with Zen 4 we are getting three new options. There’s the 7800X3D offering 8 cores and 16 threads, the 7900X3D offering 12 cores and 24 threads, and the 7950X3D with 16 cores and 32 threads.

All are 120W parts and will be available in February. There’s a couple of interesting things to note

about these specs. First is clock speeds. With the 7950X3D we see the same 5.7 GHz max clock as the 7950X, and unlike with the 5800X3D vs 5800X there’s no reduction in turbo speed. However, to drop the TDP from 170W to 120W, base clocks are lower and we’d expect all core frequencies in typical applications to be lower than that of the 7950X. Same with the 7900X3D, which has the same 5.6 GHz max frequency as the 7900X. However this isn’t the case for the 7800X3D, which lists just a 5.0 GHz max turbo clock. This is down from the 5.4 GHz max frequency we saw for the Ryzen 7 7700X. The large cache should offset this clock speed drop like we saw for 5800X3D vs 5800X, though the frequency reduction is larger with the Zen 4 8-core part compared to Zen 3.

Also interesting are the total cache figures. AMD lists both L3 and L2 cache combined, and the 7800X3D numbers make perfect sense. 32MB of on-chiplet L3 cache, 64 MB of 3D V-Cache and 8 MB of L2 cache, with 1MB per core with Zen 4. This totals 104 MB. With the Ryzen 9 parts though we have 140MB and 144MB of combined cache listed. This suggests only one of the two CPU core chiplets has received V-Cache. The 7950X already has 64MB of L3 plus 16MB of L2, or 80MB of total cache. To jump up to 144MB as seen here there must be just 64MB of additional V-Cache, which implies one set of V-Cache on one chiplet, while the other chiplet is just a regular chiplet with no V-Cache.

That’s an interesting configuration that seems gaming optimized, as most games avoid using more than one chiplet on AMD’s dual-chiplet Ryzen 9 parts. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to add V-Cache to a chiplet that won’t actually be used for gaming. But it also means that thread scheduling needs to be spot on for these parts, always allocating games to the CPU chiplet that contains V-Cache. Otherwise these new Ryzen 9 V-Cache parts look ideal for people that use their systems for both gaming and productivity: something like the 7950X should offer excellent multi-thread performance while also having topend speed for gaming enhanced through a huge L3 cache on one die.

AMD is claiming with their benchmarks -- that you should definitely take with a huge grain of salt -- that the 7800X3D is between 21 and 30 percent faster than the 5800X3D across a four game sample at 1080p using high image quality.

That’s a substantial gain and should push this part into the top spot on the gaming chart.

AMD is claiming a 13 to 24 percent performance lead over the Core i9-13900K with the 7950X3D, previously the 13900K has been the top gaming part, but AMD’s marketing is suggesting otherwise. No direct performance comparisons were shown pitting Zen 4 against Zen 4 V-Cache, but we know the 5800X3D, 13900K and Zen 4 are all quite competitive so these new X3D parts should be around 15% faster than Zen 4 –a similar uplift from V-Cache with the previous generation.

Hopefully this will breathe some life into the AM5 platform which has been struggling from low sales and interest compared to AM4.

New affordable AMD CPUs: Non-X Ryzen 7000

The next major announcement from CES has been the introduction of new affordable processors from both AMD and Intel – we’ve got the 65W non-X Zen 4 parts from AMD, and the 13th-gen non-K lineup from Intel.

On the AMD side, the Ryzen 9 7900 is basically a 7900X with the max clock dropped from 5.6 to 5.4 GHz and lower multi-core clocks as the TDP drops from 170W to 65W. This part will come in at $430, down from the 7900X’s launch price of $550, although these days the 7900X can be found for around $460. Similar story for the Ryzen 7 7700 and Ryzen 5 7600. The TDP drop isn’t as dramatic here as both parts go from 105W to 65W, and clock speeds are down either 100 or 200 MHz in terms of boost clock.

The big improvement is pricing, with the 7700 sitting at $330 and the 7600 at $230, which are $70 discounts compared to the launch pricing of the X models. However like with the 7900 they’re less of a discount relative to current pricing, as the 7700X can be found for just $345, while the 7600X has occasionally fallen to $260.

When buying a non-X model you’ll also get a box cooler, the Wraith Prism for the Ryzen 7 and 9, and a Wraith Stealth for the 7600. Zen 4 CPUs previously did not come with a box cooler, but it makes sense that the more affordable budget models would go back to including these.

New Intel affordable CPUs: Raptor Lake non-K 65W

Intel has also announced a huge suite of new 13th-gen Core non-K CPU models for affordable systems. These include standard locked models with integrated graphics, as well as F models without graphics, most of which are 65W parts. There’s also the T series, which drops the TDP further to 35W, though these parts are mostly destined for pre-builds.

The core configuration is identical to Intel’s unlocked Raptor Lake models for the higher-end parts in the line-up. So, for example, the Core i713700 has 8 P cores and 8 E cores, which is also true of the 13700K. However, clock speeds are lower, dropping from 5.4 to 5.2 GHz on the P cores and 4.2 to 4.1 GHz on the E cores.

When run in its TDP limited state at the 65W default, all core frequencies will be a lot lower than the 125W unlocked models – however many motherboards will run these in a power unlimited state by default, reducing the margins and increasing performance. While all of these parts are 13th-gen models, Intel is using a mixture of Raptor Lake and Alder Lake silicon, though it’s not

100% clear which CPUs use which architecture. It’s expected that the Core i7 and Core i9 parts are Raptor Lake, while the Core i5s and below are refreshed Alder Lake.

But that doesn’t mean we are seeing the exact same configurations as 12th-gen. For example, the 13400F is now a 10-core processor with 6 P cores and 4 E cores, while the older popular 12400F was just a six-core model, with 6 P cores and no E cores. That means the new Core i5 lineup now has E cores. The Core i3 models are still quad-core processors though with no E cores and seem to be just higher clocked variants of 12th-gen parts.

Pricing has increased for these locked processors compared to the previous generation. For example, the Core i5-13400F is now $196 (RCP), compared to $167 for the 12400F at launch -- has since increased to $184 in 2023. RCP is Intel’s “recommended customer price” which is not a true MSRP – the 13400F is actually listed for $210 at Newegg, pitting itself just $20 less than the Ryzen 5 7600 which should be an interesting battle.

Similarly, the Core i3-13100F is listed with an RCP of $109, but on Newegg it’s $125. The Core i713700F is $380, slotting between the Ryzen 7 7700 and Ryzen 9 7900, while the new Core i9-13900F comes in at $570, which is the exact same price as the Ryzen 9 7950X goes for these days.

Most of the manufacturer provided benchmarks, whether it’s Intel or AMD, isn’t that relevant as both are launching new models at the same time. What is relevant is seeing how these 13th-gen parts compare to the Zen 4 parts at the same price point, whereas Intel and AMD mostly focused on either gains compared to the previous generation, or comparisons to their competitor’s last-gen parts.

For example, AMD compared the Ryzen 5 7600 to the Core i5-13600K and made a point that their CPU is 65W while the 13600K is 125W. This is completely irrelevant now as there’s a Core i513600 at 65W. Of course, they couldn’t have tested each other’s unreleased CPUs when making these charts, so for these models benchmarking is going to be king and we’ll start to see those results very soon.

Intel’s new 13th-gen models are available now, while the Zen 4 non-X chips are debuting on January 10th, so look out for our reviews soon.

New laptop hardware: High-end mobile CPUs

All three big hardware vendors are launching new laptop chips in the first quarter of 2023, we have new CPUs from Intel and AMD, plus new GPUs from Nvidia and AMD.

Let’s run a quick breakdown...

Starting with CPUs at the top, both AMD and Intel have the best silicon on offer that’s destined for high-end gaming and creator laptops. For AMD that’s the Dragon range, featuring up to 16 Zen 4 CPU cores, DDR5 memory and 5nm process technology.

These processors are designated into the Ryzen 7045 HX series and appear to be using the same silicon as desktop Ryzen 7000 processors -- in other words, the multi-die design with an I/O die and up to two CPU core chiplets. These are meant for laptops running in the 45W+ TDP range, or 55W+ for the flagship model. The top chip in this line is the Ryzen 9 7945HX that offers 16 cores, 32 threads, 80MB of L3+L2 cache and up to a 5.4 GHz boost clock. This is basically a Ryzen 9 7950X power limited to a laptop form factor with slightly lower clock speeds. But there’s also three other models encompassing the Ryzen 9 7845HX with 12 cores, Ryzen 7 7745HX with 8 cores and Ryzen 5 7645HX with 6 cores.

These are designed to be paired with discrete graphics. All will be available starting February. On the Intel side, they plan to compete at the highend with the Alder Lake HX series. This is similar to what AMD is doing: bringing the top specs of the desktop platform to laptops in a more power limited configuration. Intel is offering more SKUs, but the basic configurations are similar, and all come with a base power rating of 55W indicating they are designed for larger form factor devices.

At the top, the Core i9 range features 24 cores, split into 8 performance cores and 16 efficient cores. This is the same configuration as the Core i9-13900K, but slightly lower clocks topping out at 5.6 GHz, as well as lower operating frequencies due to the lower TDP and max turbo power.

More laptop hardware: Intel and AMD mid-range offerings

As we move down the stack, we get the Core i713850HX with 8P cores and 12E cores, and then

two other Core i7s, one with 8P and 8E cores, the other with 6P and 8E cores. It seems that from the Core i7-13700HX and down, Intel are using Alder Lake dies similar to the split we saw with new 13th-gen desktop processors where the lower tier models are using older silicon.

The tiers have shifted though, the old Core i912950HX effectively becomes the 13700HX with a frequency boost, so that should bring this performance to new price points. Then further down the stack we have the Core i5s with 6P cores and either 8 or 4 E cores depending on the model. The next tier down from these HX series processors are the H series from both brands. On the AMD side that’s the Ryzen 7040 series, a new monolithic APU that combines Zen 4 technology with RDNA 3 integrated graphics and a new AMD XDNA AI engine all using TSMC’s N4 node, a derivative of their 5nm tech.

AMD has decided to ditch the regular H series and only offer HS series parts which are generally intended for slimmer, more portable 14 and 15inch laptops. These all have a TDP range of 35-45W and include three models: the Ryzen 9 7940HS and Ryzen 7 7840HS, which are both 8 core CPUs, and the Ryzen 5 7640HS with six cores. Clock speeds are increased here, the flagship model jumps from 4.8 to 5.2 GHz, and there’s more cache, now with 32MB L3 up from 16MB in the previous generation, which matches the desktop line-up in cache capacity, a decent step forward for their monolithic APU option.

On top of this, the 7040 series offers up to 12 RDNA 3 compute units, replacing the 12 RDNA2 compute units in the previous generation Ryzen 6000 APUs. There’s also a new AI engine that AMD spent some time talking about, which they claim is more efficient and faster than the Apple M2 AI engine. These HS series models, codenamed Phoenix, will be available starting in March.

Intel’s competition to this is the H series, including a huge range of processors. These are 45W models in contrast to AMD more targeting the 35W range, so we’ll probably see them in a slightly higher tier, and in more gaming-focused models.

The Core i7 and Core i9 models mostly feature 6P core and 8E core configurations, with some models featuring nearly identical specifications. As we move down the stack we have the a few outliers such as the Core i7-13620H that cuts the E cores in half, and then the Core i5 range which brings 4P cores, either 8 or 4 E cores, and lower frequencies.

There’s a lot of segmentation at the higher end of the mobile CPU stack with multiple offerings depending on the exact type of system an OEM wants to build. The HX series is likely where we’ll see a lot of interest for top end gaming laptops as the CPU die features more cores and less integrated graphics, while the H and HS series from either brand drops the core count in favour of a beefier iGPU. The idea is to offer more dedicated designs that fit better with the type of system being built, after all, a gaming laptop with discrete graphics doesn’t have any need for the larger RDNA3 iGPU found in AMD’s Phoenix APU, for example.

We’re steering clear of some of the performance comparisons made by companies because most of what is discussed isn’t relevant to the laptop landscape in 2023. AMD compared their parts to Alder Lake, and Intel compared their parts to Ryzen 6000. But 13th-gen and Zen 4 will compete against each other and both will land to market at a similar time. There’s a few interesting tidbits in here looking at generational gains for gaming performance and comparisons to Apple hardware, but with laptop benchmarking we’re really going to have to test this for ourselves to see how it plays out.

As we get further down the stack, AMD has the Ryzen 7035 series, models designed for thin and light notebooks in the 28W range, though AMD is sticking with U series designation. These parts are a refresh of Ryzen 6000 U-series which used AMD’s Rembrandt die: in the 7035 series, it’s Rembrandt-R, so a very similar use of Zen 3+ CPU cores and up to 12 RDNA2 compute units. The 7035 series for U-series will largely be competing with Intel’s 13th-gen P series processors, which are similar to 12th-gen Alder Lake in design. This could be why AMD are focusing on Rembrandt-R here rather than going to Zen 4. The 13th-gen P series includes 4 models designed for 28W class notebooks, the top end model being the Core i71370P with 6P and 8E cores, the same design as the Core i7-1280P but with a small increase to clock speeds.

There’s also another three CPUs that go with 4P and 8E cores.

Both Intel and AMD didn’t spend a lot of time discussing the new thin and light processors for this generation, so it seems most of the exciting laptop releases will be for larger gaming and productivity systems. Both companies are using a mixture of new silicon and refreshed silicon across the line-up, probably the most refreshed hardware seen in some time for a new generation of laptop processors.

We think these line-ups are very confusing on both sides. AMD has the 7045 HX series, 7040 HS series, 7035 U series and 7030 U series all using different dies, and the possibility for crossover between 7035 and 7040 in HS and U series.

Intel has the HX, H, P and U series with different configurations and power targets plus plenty of SKUs. This is great for OEMs that can pick a specific part they want, but terrible for consumers in terms of figuring out what chip they are buying and what performance it will deliver.

New laptop GPUs: Nvidia RTX 4000 and AMD RDNA3

The big news in the laptop GPU front is the launch of Nvidia’s entire Ada Lovelace RTX 4000 series product stack, including the RTX 4090, RTX 4080, RTX 4070, RTX 4060 and RTX 4050. All of these are laptop GPUs and despite the identical naming to desktop cards (but with “Laptop GPU” slapped on the end), performance will be lower than their desktop counterparts as we’ve seen time and time again with previous generations.

The RTX 4090 Laptop GPU isn’t even too close to the RTX 4090. It features 9728 CUDA cores clocked up to 2.04 GHz in the 150W configuration, alongside 16GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256bit bus. The desktop RTX 4090, the proper one, features 16384 CUDA cores clocked up to 2.52 GHz, and uses 24GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus. There’s nothing similar between these two parts despite both being called RTX 4090, which is highly misleading. Even the Ada Lovelace die isn’t the same, the RTX 4090 for desktop uses AD102 whereas on laptops you’re getting what appears to be AD103, which is used for the desktop RTX 4080.

This pushes the RTX 4080 Laptop GPU down a

notch as well to using AD104 and specs well under the RTX 4080 on desktop, in fact, the 4080 doesn’t even match the RTX 4070 Ti in CUDA core count.

Of course, you just can’t put the RTX 4090 into a laptop form factor considering the 450W TDP and high power consumption. Laptops can’t handle that sort of power, with higher tier laptop models typically sitting in the 120 to 150W range. But rather than adjusting the name to account for this -- calling it the RTX 4090M or something -Nvidia is just calling it the RTX 4090. The majority of benchmark “numbers” compared RTX 4000 to previous generations but with features like DLSS 3 enabled exclusively on the newer GPUs, which is not an apples to apples comparison and therefore useless.

We do plan to benchmark these and compare them to their desktop models to see what the gulf

is in performance, because on the naming side it just seems to be growing with each generation. Back in the RTX 20 series days, yes there was a difference in performance between laptop and desktop due to clock speeds and power limits, but at least you were getting a similar core configuration. These days the laptop and desktop configurations are nothing alike.

It’s also impossible to preview what these new GPUs will bring to the table into laptop form factors as Nvidia didn’t provide many realistic performance figures. The majority of benchmark “numbers” compared RTX 4000 to previous generations but with features like DLSS 3 enabled exclusively on the newer GPUs, which is not an apples to apples comparison and therefore useless. We did see two games included that didn’t have this stuff enabled, which shows approximately a 50% performance uplift which would be quite good considering that laptops aren’t able to increase power much further than they are already sitting at.

Aside from performance we’ll be seeing all the other advantages of Ada Lovelace brought to laptops, such as AV1 video encoding and DLSS 3 support. Nvidia also touted new Max-Q technologies designed to improve efficiency

for these laptop models, such as lower voltage GDDR6 and on-chip memory.

What we do know is the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 for laptops will start to become available February 8th in laptops priced above $2,000.

The other models from the RTX 4070 through RTX 4050 will be available starting February 22nd in the $1,000 to $2,000 range.

Mobile GPU news are not particularly exciting on the AMD side, as they’re only launching a couple of mid-range SKUs using RDNA3, the Radeon RX 7600M XT and RX 7600M plus the S variants.

Oddly, the 7600M XT becomes the 7700S.

Specifications are very light for these Navi 33 designs, the only real info we have is 8GB of GDDR6 and a 128-bit memory bus, plus some FP32 numbers that aren’t very useful.

AMD are expecting the 7600M XT to deliver between 20 and 40 percent more performance than the RX 6600M, which would put it above the level of Nvidia’s desktop RTX 3060. These 7600 series GPUs will be available starting in February.

CES 2023 The New Windows PC Gaming Devices

CES always brings exciting new developments in hardware, and never more so when it comes to gaming devices. CES 2023 is no exception, bringing us early looks at portable-but-powerful laptops, beefy home rigs, future-proofed AI chips, and more. With that in mind, we’ve rounded up a sampling of the new Windows 11 PCs announced at CES 2023 from several of our top partners.

Each one is designed to run the newest, most demanding games, not least from PC Game Pass. Even better, every single computer listed below comes with at least one free month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate included*, helping you jump straight into a game the moment you get your hands on your new device.

CyberPower

CyberPower’s new Prism 360V features a wideopen front and side glass panel so you can see all your components. The company also introduced the 7th generation of its Tracer Edge Laptop Series with optional Liquid Cooling add-on unit. It comes with a 17-inch 240Hz 100% SRGB IPS display, 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX Processor, up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics and a full mechanical keyboard with Cherry switches.

MSI

MSI announced a new laptop and desktop product line-up at CES 2023, including its gaming flagship Raider GE78 built for enthusiasts, pushing the peak of performance and innovation with the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs and up to 13th Gen Intel Core HX series processors.

The Raider GE78 also comes with up to i9 HX and RTX 4090 with maximised CPU-GPU combined power and MUX Design, as well as a 16- or 17-inch 16:10 QHD+ 240Hz 100%DCI-P3 display, with a new matrix bright bar and perkey RGB gaming keyboard. MSI also announced new Content Creation series laptops.

Razer

Power meets precision and portability with the new Razer Blade 16. Engineered to push performance to new places, it comes equipped with the innovative dual mode 4K mini-LED display or blazing fast QHD+ 240Hz option.

iBUYPOWER

To kick off 2023, iBUYPOWER will introduce its new line of custom gaming and content creation PCs to the market. With the launch of the new HYTE Y40 case, iBUYPOWER will introduce both custom configured and RDY systems for customers looking for out-of-the-box PC solutions featuring the Y40.

The Creator RDY Y40BG201 will feature the new mid-tower case from iBUYPOWER’s sister brand, HYTE, an Intel Core i9 13900KF, RTX 4090, Z790 motherboard, 2TB M.2 SSD and Windows 11 pre-installed for easy setup.

Acer

The Predator Helios 16 and Predator Helios 18 are two new Windows 11 gaming laptops revealed at CES 2023, with new designs and upgraded thermals. They come with the latest 13th Gen Intel Core mobile processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs, making them Acer’s most powerful gaming laptops to date.

ROG

ROG has redesigned the ultra-sleek 2023 Zephyrus M16 from the ground up, retaining a thin-and-light design but now including an improved cooling system featuring Tri-Fan Technology, which routes air from three fans through precisely calculated cut-outs toward the heatsink for more efficient cooling.

This allows the device to run 25 watts higher compared to last year’s model providing even more power to the Intel Core i9 13900H CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU and NVIDIA Advanced Optimus in this flagship gaming machine.

Alienware

Alienware’s most powerful laptop, the m18, has 13th Gen Intel Core HX processors that harness up to 65W (compared to previous-gen 45W), the full stack of NVIDIA GeForce Next-Gen Laptop GPUs and dual user-replaceable DDR5 SO-DIMM slots. Additionally, AMD Advantage models will be powered by next-gen AMD Ryzen Processors and Radeon Graphics for mobile.

HP

The OMEN 17 Laptop, HP’s most powerful gaming laptop, has up to 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900HX

and latest NVIDIA GeForce graphics, which utilises OMEN Tempest Cooling Technology for desktopcalibre gaming. This PC is HP’s first to feature optical mechanical keys, which are 25 times faster than traditional keys.

Lenovo

To give gamers an advantage, Lenovo has developed an AI chip for gaming laptops, including for its Lenovo Legion Pro 7i. The chip uses software machine learning, deployed through Lenovo Vantage, to help monitor in-game FPS and dynamically adjust for the highest performance output.

Sony’s Major Announcements at CES 2023

During their CES 2023 keynote back in January, Sony shared a couple of big news regarding their PlayStation 5 console, some new hardware and most importantly, games.

The company confirmed that PlayStation 5 has sold 30 million units worldwide, which is an impressive milestone for the new hardware. Sony also said the demand is still very high but they are able to ship more units than before hence the major sales increase over the several months.

Sony confirmed an Autumn 2023 release date for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 The PlayStation 5 adaptive controller was another major announcement at CES 2023. The controller is currently codenamed Project Leonardo and will be highly customisable, designed to help players with disabilities play more easily for longer periods.

Project Leonardo is a new accessibility controller for PlayStation 5. Additionally, we got a confirmation that Gran Turismo 7 is coming to PSVR 2 on launch while the popular rhythm game Beat Saber will get a free upgrade for PSVR 2. All in all, it was a great keynote by Sony with some exciting announcements and reveals. We expect to hear more about PlayStation games at Sony’s next showcase or State of Play, which could be happening in the coming months.

the xbox zone

A new gears of war game has been announced! (sort of)

A new Gears of War game has been announced! ... But it’s not what you think.

As we wait for Gears of War 6 with bated breath, at least one new Gears project has emerged, and if you’re a fan of board games it might just be up your alley.

SFG Games who have adapted titles like Elden Ring, Resident Evil, and Dark Souls for tabletops are working with Microsoft and The Coalition on a shiny new Gears of War card game, set to launch sometime in 2023. There are no details I could find on exactly how the game plays, but SFG announced the game on its Twitter feed earlier today.

Gears of War is one of Microsoft’s flagship franchises, having exploded onto the scene in the Xbox 360 era. Gears of War became influential in its era for its over-the-shoulder cover system gunplay, spawning a range of similar titles. Gears of War was previously owned by Epic Games of

Fortnite fame, but later changed hands along with much of the studio, joining forces with Microsoft’s Black Tusk team to eventually form The Coalition. The Coalition remains one of Microsoft’s most gifted teams and is arguably up there with Epic Games itself for its mastery of the Unreal Engine. The team has been relatively quiet since launching Gears 5 and its DLC, alongside Gears Tactics, with many expecting the sixth instalment of the popular shooter to emerge from hiding in the next couple of years. The Coalition is also working on a Gears movie and an adult animated TV show, possibly to coincide with any prospective “Gears 6” video game launch.

If you’re a fan of board games, SFG’s adaptation may hold you over, but even a cursory glance at the comments on Twitter reveals a degree of impatience over the lack of news regarding the mainstream game franchise. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long to find out what’s next for the series, which represents some of the best Xbox games to date.

in 2023, monthly active users on xbox reached 120 miillion

When speaking to investors during the fiscal year 2023 earnings call for Microsoft’s second quarter, CEO Satya Nadella said that Xbox surpassed 120 million active monthly users and that Xbox Game Pass subscriptions reached “new highs.”

Xbox Game Pass subscriptions reached “new highs” last quarter

“In gaming, we continue to pursue our ambition to give players more choice to play great games wherever, whenever, and however they want,” Satya Nadella said. “We saw new highs for Game Pass subscriptions, game streaming hours, and monthly active devices. And monthly active users surpassed a record 120 million during the quarter. We continue to invest to add value to Game Pass. This quarter, we partnered with Riot Games to make the company’s PC and mobile games, along with premium content, available to subscribers.”

Despite the record-breaking numbers, Microsoft’s financials for the same quarter have revealed that overall gaming revenue for the company decreased by 13%, with Xbox content and services dropping by 12% year-on-year. Similarly, Xbox hardware also saw a decline of 13% last quarter.

“We’re energised by our upcoming lineup of AAA game launches, including exciting new titles from ZeniMax and Xbox Game Studios,” Nadella continued. “In closing, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to our employees for their continued dedication to our mission, customers, and partners.”

Microsoft has signed a “ten-year contract” with nintendo

Late last year, Microsoft entered into an agreement to bring Call of Duty titles to Nintendo consoles. Now, Microsoft president Brad Smith has announced that this agreement is official and “legally binding” as Microsoft has signed a tenyear contract to release Call of Duty games on Nintendo consoles with “full feature and content parity” on the same day as Xbox, should the acquisition be approved.

Xbox inks “binding ten-year contract” with Nintendo over Call of Duty

Making the announcement on Twitter, Smith said, “We’ve now signed a binding ten-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers. This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”

Call of Duty has been a sticking point for regulators who are currently probing Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Many have argued that Microsoft could make the first-person shooter series exclusive to the Xbox platform, which could reduce competition across markets. Microsoft has gone to great lengths to appease regulators in this regard, assuring them that Call of Duty would not be removed from rival platforms for a lengthy period of time. Microsoft also offered Sony a ten-year agreement similar to the one given to Nintendo.

The announcement comes on the same day Microsoft is set to defend its Activision Blizzard deal against EU competition regulators in court. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority ruled that the deal could “harm UK gamers” if it was to be approved.

Microsoft has announced gaming deal with nvidia

Microsoft and NVIDIA’s deal will bring Xbox PC games to NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, including Activision Blizzard PC titles if Microsoft’s proposed acquisition goes ahead.

Microsoft and NVIDIA announce a ten-year partnership

Microsoft and NVIDIA’s agreement involves a ten-year partnership which will see Xbox PC games brought to GeForce NOW (a service which Microsoft points out has over 25 million members), including Activision Blizzard PC titles if Microsoft’s acquisition is approved. A statement from Xbox boss Phil Spencer was shared with the announcement. “Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play. This partnership will help grow NVIDIA’s catalogue of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love.”

GeForce’s senior vice president Jeff Fisher also shared his thoughts. “Combining the incredibly rich catalogue of Xbox first party games with GeForce NOW’s high-performance streaming capabilities will propel cloud gaming into a mainstream offering that appeals to gamers at all levels of interest and experience. Through this partnership, more of the world’s most popular titles will now be available from the cloud with just a click, playable by millions more gamers.”

This deal follows close on the heels of Microsoft having signed a “binding ten-year contract” to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms. According to live coverage from Eurogamer of Microsoft’s press briefing in Brussels — where the NVIDIA deal was announced — Microsoft president Brad Smith feels more confident about the fate of the Activision Blizzard acquisition in the wake of the Nintendo and NVIDIA deals, continuing with Microsoft’s argument that it aims to bring games like Call of Duty to more players instead of making it exclusive.

Sony’s opposition to the Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition looks set to continue. We’ll keep an eye out for any major developments

TASTE SWEET VICTORY WITH SPECIAL EDITION XBOX OREO COOKIES WITH DELICIOUS PRIZES!

Xbox and Oreo have teamed up to release special edition Xbox Oreo Cookies, with exclusive prizes to be unlocked.

Players will be able to pick up Xbox-branded Oreos in 22 participating countries, starting this month, with each cookie branded with Xbox iconography, including the Xbox logo and face buttons.

You’ll then be able to scan the cookies, to be in with the chance of unlocking some exclusive in-game items for three Xbox Game Studios titles. These include an Oreo-themed black and white ship skin in Sea of Thieves, an Oreo-speckled armour set in Halo Infinite, and a blue-and-white branded vehicle skin in Forza Horizon 5.

Additionally, there are real life prizes to be won as well, include custom Oreo hardware, Xbox consoles, Xbox Game Pass memberships, and even a holiday experience. You can find out more details on the Xbox Wire, and you can see images of the in-game skins down below.

XBOX DEVELOPER DIRECT RECAP

Minecraft Legends

The Xbox & Bethesda Developer Direct got kicked off with a showcase of Minecraft Legends. This showcase focuses largely on the Action-strategy game’s PvP multiplayer modes. The game’s release date was also unveiled, and you’ll be able to get your hands on Minecraft Legends come April 18th.

Forza Motorsport

Next up in the showcase was Forza Motorsport, which promises to be one of the biggest releases in 2023. Unfortunately no more specific release date was set.

This Forza Motorsport promises to be the most technically advanced racing game ever and will be a strictly next-gen experience. It will include over 500 cars and 20 different racing environments, five of them new to the franchise.

Hi-Fi Rush

This stylish rhythm-action game strongly recalls the Jet Set Radio series. Hi-Fi Rush is very much its own thing, however, and features a combat system that rewards players for sticking with the beat of the soundtrack by timing their attacks with the music’s rhythm. It promises to be a unique experience.

And you don’t have to wait to find out, because Hi-Fi Rush released on Xbox Game Pass on 25th January 2023 which was right after this event!

The long awaited Xbox & Bethesda Developer Direct was live streamed on the 25th January. If you were unable to catch the showcase event, not to worry for we have a recap of the event right here.

The Elder Scrolls Online: NECROM

This reveal of the new chapter of ESO was expected to be a standalone event, but alas. Anyhow, we got a trailer for this year’s new chapter of the game, which will release on June 20th. NECROM will be set in Eastern Morrowind.

ZeniMax Online Studios also announced that all previous chapters of ESO will be available for free for a limited time, so there has never been a better time to dive into the world of Tamriel than right now.

Redfall

Last but certainly not least we got another look at Arkane Studios’ Redfall. We also finally got a release date: May 2nd. We got a much more indepth look at what to expect from this highly anticipated title and suffice it to say it looks more promising than ever. We’ll be playing Redfall in just a few short months, and at this point there is little doubt it will be worth the wait.

So to summarise, the Developer Direct was packed with announcements for games like Redfall, Minecraft Legends, Forza and The Elder Scrolls Online, and even saw Tango Gameworks rhythm-action game Hi-Fi Rush drop straight into Game Pass. With all of the excitement surrounding the games, though, you might have missed the company’s confirmation that it’s returning to LA this year for a summer showcase.

Xbox summer showcase returns to LA

Last year was extremely quiet for Xbox Game Studios’ first-party games, with the likes of Redfall and Starfield having been delayed into 2023, but that has led to this year looking jam-packed for incredible games coming to Game Pass. Yesterday’s Developer Direct gave us a pretty solid look at the release schedule for numerous games coming during the first half of this year, but as expected, the remainder of the year is currently a mystery.

In an Xbox Wire post covering the Direct show, Microsoft confirmed that it will be returning to Los Angeles this summer for its yearly showcase. Whether the company will be joining the revitalised in-person event of E3 or returning to Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest is undetermined,

but you can be sure that we’ll let you know once the details are revealed.

Microsoft’s roster of upcoming games that are yet to be given any proper attention include the likes of Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Avowed, Fable, and Perfect Dark, to name just a few, so with any luck, we’ll get a chance to learn a little more about them then. For those of you looking forward to Bethesda’s space epic, Starfield, the company has confirmed that a standalone showcase is currently “in the works,” so we could see that happen sooner than the summer showcase.

addressing microsoft’s mass layoffs

Multiple Xbox Game Studios, including 343 Industries, Bethesda, and The Coalition, have been hit with layoffs following this announcement. Back in January, Microsoft announced it was laying off 10,000 employees from its 220,000-person workforce “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.” At the time, it was unclear which divisions would be impacted and if any staff from Microsoft’s gaming division would be let go. As it turns out, multiple Xbox Game Studios have been hit with layoffs, with 343 Industries seemingly being hit the hardest. Around 60 staff from 343 Industries reportedly where laid off.

As reported by Bloomberg and Kotaku, employees from 343 Industries, Bethesda, and The Coalition have all been laid off. The exact numbers aren’t currently clear, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports that 343 Industries has been “hit hard,” with the Halo Infinite campaign team taking much of the brunt. Joseph Staten, who re-joined 343 in 2020 to help ship Halo Infinite, is one of the high-profile staff members leaving the studio, though he will reportedly be moving to Xbox Game Studios Publishing.

In an email seen by Bloomberg, 343 Industries studio head Pierre Hintze reportedly said the company had “made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated.” Hintze then went on to say that 343 would continue to support Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and live service elements.

According to some reports, over 60 employees from 343 Industries have been laid off. Patrick Wren, a former senior multiplayer designer at 343 who is now working for Respawn, blamed the studio’s leadership for the state of Halo Infinite and the redundancies, saying, “The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened, and Halo Infinite should be in a better state. The reason for both of those things is incompetent leadership up top during Halo Infinite development causing massive stress

on those working hard to make Halo the best it can be.

“The people I worked every day with were passionate about Halo and wanted to make something great for the fans. They helped push for a better Halo and got laid off for it.”

The dust hasn’t quite settled, and it’s currently unclear if more employees from Xbox and its studios will be let go in the coming days. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said layoffs would continue until the end of Q3 this financial year.

The layoffs come a year after Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The deal has been met with opposition and scepticism from several major competition authorities around the world, including the US Federal Trade Commission, the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and European Union regulators. Recently, the European Game Developer Federation, which represents 23 national trade associations for game development studios based in 22 countries, announced its support of the proposed acquisition.

Last week, Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 employees across the company “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.” Multiple Xbox Game Studios were affected, with 343 Industries seemingly taking the brunt of the cuts. Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has addressed the job losses in an email sent to all Xbox staff. In the email, which was seen and published by Kotaku, Spencer called the job cuts “painful choices” and that Xbox gaming leadership “had to make decisions that we felt set us up for the long-term success of our products and business.” Here is the email in full via Kotaku:

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has called job cuts across Microsoft gaming division “painful” in an email sent to staff

“This has been a difficult week across Microsoft, and here, inside our teams. Now that many of the 1:1 and team conversations have happened, I want to take a moment to reiterate the message that you heard from your leaders.

“This is a challenging moment in our business, and this week’s actions were painful choices. The Gaming Leadership Team had to make decisions that we felt set us up for the long-term success of our products and business, but the individual results of those decisions are real. I know that hurts. Thank you for supporting our colleagues as they process these changes.

“Over the coming weeks we will have many opportunities to connect and answer your questions, including the Monthly Gaming Update next week for teams who attend that meeting, and I am in close contact with teams at ZeniMax to provide support. The GLT and I are committed to being as transparent as we can. Moving forward with ambiguity is challenging, but I am confident that together, we will get through this difficult moment in time.

“Xbox has a long history of success thanks to the work you do in service of players, creators, and each other. Your work is so deeply appreciated and valued in these times of change and is integral to our business momentum. I am confident in our future and proud to be part of this team, but also conscious that this is a challenging time and I want to thank you for everything you do here.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said layoffs would continue until the end of Q3 this financial year, so it’s currently unclear if Xbox will be hit with more job losses. From what we’ve seen, 343 Industries, The Coalition, and Bethesda were all impacted by the cuts. 343 was hit particularly hard, leading many to speculate about the future of Halo. However, in a short statement, 343 studio head Pierre Hintze said that Halo and Master Chief “are here to stay.”

the best games of 2022

When we look back on 2022, I’m fairly sure we’ll all come to the same conclusion: 2022 was a pretty solid year with some absolute standouts, but thanks to game delays galore - more than likely a knock on effect from the COVID-19 disruptions in 2020 - it was perhaps one of the quietest years in recent memory. That said, 2022 did have some absolutely fantastic titles. Titles that would have competed in every end of year awards for the past 10 plus years. We have no doubt about that.

Even with a year as quiet and sporadic as 2022, this year was not easy. There was a lot of conversation behind the scenes, thinly veiled threats and bouts of rage, but after more than a few hours of constant back and forth, we finally have a list of 2022’s best Xbox games. The best games of 2022. Let’s get on with the show and get down to what really matters, and that’s heaping praise on 2022’s best and brightest games. What a treat!

Best Story

Runners-Up:

A Plague Tale: Requiem

There are few stories in 2022 that are as emotionally charged and as heart wrenching as Asobo Studio’s A Plague Tale: Requiem. The follow up to 2019’s sleeper hit, A Plague Tale: Innocence, picks up not long after the events of the first game in the relative peace and tranquillity of Provence’s outer lying regions, but it’s not long before things start to escalate and the world starts to fall apart again. The evolution of the main character, Amicia, and her relationship with her brother, Hugo, is truly one of the Requiem’s highlights - more so than it was in the original.

To see the darkness seep into Amicia’s demeanour as she struggles to cope with the woes that her younger brother is going through adds another dimension to the desperation that she’s experiencing. It’s genuinely hard not to be gripped by the twists and turns of Amicia and Hugo’s relationship and their adventure throughout France, with more trials and tribulations than you can throw a stick at. With buckets of intrigue, drama and some absolutely captivating performances, especially by Charlotte McBurney

and Logan Hannan, Requiem’s narrative and story is easily one of 2022’s best packages.

Pentiment

Obsidian have spent the better part of 2 decades hand-crafting RPG epics with incredible depth, but its latest offering, Pentiment, was one we did not see coming. Pentiment is so much more than a point-and-click adventure game that plays out as a tapestry of sorts; it’s actually a wild ride of culture and consequence. You play as Andreas Maler, an artist, who gets unwittingly pulled into a spiralling murder mystery that takes place across decades in a small Bavarian village. Armed with nothing but your wit, you must unravel the unnerving conspiracies of a small divided community.

Pentiment is a game that keeps you guessing and even when you think you’ve figured it out, its narrative whisks you down another dark alley. It’s clever, it’s gripping and it’s so wonderfully written that you can’t help but love Pentiment’s characters and its incredibly savvy narrative. That said, it’s its shades of grey that make it such a fascinating story. You’ll often be stuck between a rock and a hard place trying to unravel a series of tricky situations. While its pacing might struggle at times, it’s the strength of its narrative that will keep you hooked until the very bitter end.

Winner: Immortality

Immortality, the latest title from Sam Barlow and Half Mermaid, tells a fantastically gripping story of Marissa Marcel, a French American actress who gets her big break in the 70s in a film called Ambrosia. Starting with nothing but one clip, it’s your task as the player to piece together and unravel Marcel’s story and find out what became of the young inexperienced actress. In typical Barlow style, the game gives you breadcrumbs, and you bounce from clip to clip as you start to dig deeper into the mysterious goings on. It’s a fascinating story from the get-go and its intrigue gets its claws in in a matter of moments.

The complexity of the characters and the depth of the mystery only grows as you work your way through the actress’ career. The most impressive aspect is that you’re effectively given nothing to start your investigation, but it’s the strength of the narrative and the characters that will have you hooked and wanting to know more. Throw in some David Lynch-esque twists and it’s clear why Half Mermaid and Immortality are worthy winners this year. Immortality is storytelling at its finest, and perhaps more impressively, it’s delivered using one of the least traditional delivery methods that exists in games. The fact its obscure delivery methods only have you wanting more is a testament to the strength of its characters and narrative.

outstanding. Reprising her role as Amicia, a young girl battling her own emotions and inner demons as she tries to protect her brother, McBurney takes her performance to the next level in Requiem. McBurney’s role as Amicia in The Plague Tale: Requiem has an incredible amount of range and is truly one of the highlights of Asobo Studios’ follow-up to 2019’s A Plague Tale: Innocence. Sure, Amicia has lost that French accent that we adored so much in the original, but McBurney’s emotionally charged performance throughout Requiem makes that nothing but a distant memory. Seeing McBurney portray Amicia was one of 2022’s true pleasures and seeing her go from caring sister to letting the rage and anger take over is fascinating viewing, and McBurney deserves all the credit for bringing that to life.

Josh Duhamel as Jacob Lee in The Callisto Protocol

You might be more familiar with Josh Duhamel portraying Tad Hamilton, or Captain/Major Lennox from the Transformers films, and in general, being a star of the big screen, but 2022 was the year Duhamel finally dabbled in the video game space. And he made that transition with incredible ease. In Striking Distance Studios’ debut game, The Callisto Protocol, Jacob Lee, played by Josh Duhamel, finds himself stranded on the prison planet, Callisto, at the time of a devastating outbreak. Duhamel’s performance in The Callisto Protocol is captivating from start to finish, and really adds to the tension of the proceedings, which helps in a game that is so reliant on creating tension. It helps that Duhamel is surrounded by fantastic performances from both Karen Fukuhara and Sam Witwer, and their dynamics are really brought to life by their excellent portrayals, but it’s the evolution of Jacob Lee, who turns out to be an incredibly complicated character, that would not have been as believable without Duhamel’s excellent performance.

Winner: Manon Gage as Marissa Marcel in Immortality

Best Performance

Runners-Up:

Charlotte McBurney as Amicia in A Plague Tale: Requiem

Charlotte McBurney’s performance in A Plague Tale: Requiem in 2022 was nothing but

Usually to win Best Performance in our Game of the Year awards, the actor in question needs to absolutely nail one role and bring that character to life before your very eyes. Immortality’s Manon Gage not only had to bring 1 character to life this year, but she had to do it with 5 characters, and she did so with such passion it’s hard to see anyone but her pick up this award this year. Gage

flawlessly portrayed 5 ridiculously complex and ever-changing characters with such ease and elegance, that it’s hard to take your eyes off her. Her performance oozes charisma and personality from the first to the last minute and is perhaps one of the greatest performances in a video game for quite some time. And that’s not hyperbole in the slightest, her performance was completely mesmerising and elevates Immortality to a level that would not have been possible without her portrayal of the actress, Marissa Marcel. A truly world class performance from a fledgling performer, who we hope to see grace our screens sooner rather than later.

in its single player mode really come into their own in multiplayer. This is where Gotham Knights shines, as you leap over the rooftops of Gotham City with a friend, as your very own dynamic duo. You can perform team takedowns on your foes, and finally make use of those momentum abilities that boost your allies in combat. With a gorgeous new interpretation of Gotham City to explore, and a friend alongside you to beat up baddies, Gotham Knights really shines as a co-op experience.

Winner: MultiVersus

Best Multiplayer

Runners-Up:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

Modern Warfare 2’s campaign might have been a little disappointing compared to some of the best Call of Duty campaigns of recent years, but the multiplayer? Yeah, this year’s multiplayer offering has been excellent once again. With plenty of callbacks to maps from previous Modern Warfare games, and the promise of more to arrive in the future, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 does a good job distilling down what players loved so much about the games that put Call of Duty on the map as the multiplayer titan it now is.

Gotham Knights

As a single-player game, Gotham Knights is a tad disappointing. It doesn’t quite live up to the high standards set by the Arkham games that came before, with a focus on RPG progression and gear collection that makes the combat feel less impactful than you’d like. Luckily, all of the extraneous systems that Gotham Knights includes

The last couple of years has seen a massive boom in the number of Super Smash Bros. imitators that have hit the market. From indie titles like Rivals of Aether and Brawlout, to bigger budget crossover games like Nickelodeon AllStar Brawl, there’s been plenty of competition. None, however, have managed to capture that true crossover fighter feel like MultiVersus. Warner Bros waded into the crowded waters with not only a multitude of IP to draw from, but a really solid fighter to build upon, and the budget to make it all work. The result is a multiplayer title that’s a joy to play, with its coop focus giving it a different feel to Nintendo’s own fighter. The art style is excellent, somehow making characters like Arya Stark and Bug Bunny look like they exist within the same world, and the voice acting really elevates the presentation. Add on the fact that it’s an addictively enjoyable fighter in its own right, and you’ve got one of the best multiplayer games of the past year.

Best Visuals

Runners-Up: A Plague Tale: Requiem

There’s a lot to love about Asobo Studio’s visuals

in A Plague Tale: Requiem. Whether you want to talk about the environments they brought to life - or the incredible diversity in each of them - or the phenomenal rat technology, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a feast for the eyes. Requiem takes you from the countryside on the outskirts of Provence and abandoned villages, to bustling marketplaces and eerily quiet temples, and each environment is as hand-crafted and alive as the next. Whether you’re running through meadows, sneaking through the woods at night, traversing through caves, trudging across the beaches of France, or exploring one of the game’s large towns, each environment feels fresh and different from the last. And then there’s the rats. The millions and millions of rats.

Okay, maybe not millions, but as you’re being chased by a wave of them, it certainly seems like that many! The rat technology in A Plague Tale: Requiem is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before and will terrify you to your wit’s end… which is nothing but a good thing, of course.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring might not win any awards for best animations or best visual fidelity, but when it comes to artistic vision and creativity, it’s second to none - which will come as no surprise considering FromSoftware created it. The latest offering from the Dark Souls developer takes their traditional formula and goes open world with it, to incredible effect.

And best of all, they’ve still managed to maintain their usual levels of diversity. With catacombs to explore, swamps to wade through, lakes to traverse, deserts to get lost in, and so much more, you can’t help but fall in love with Elden Ring’s open world. The game truly shines in its more mystical environments too, like battling through Nokron, the Eternal City; fighting on the branches of the epic Haligtree; or avoiding the dangers in the Crumbling Farum Azula. Each of them epic in their own right, and just a few examples of a game whose open-world and its diversity will be celebrated for years to come. Throw into that FromSoftware’s usual phenomenal enemy design, along with its trademark gothic architecture, and Elden Ring’s Lands Between is easily one of the best and most memorable open worlds of recent times.

Winner: Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal might be a port of a 2020 game, which happens to be a new 1.5 version of a 2016 game, but even then, it’s still managed to elevate itself to the top of the visuals charts in 2022, thanks to its incredible style, swagger and charm, all of which are still ever-present. We’re not kidding when we say this, but Persona 5 Royal is one of the most stylish games of all-time, and we’re incredibly thankful it’s now on Xbox. So much of Persona 5 Royal oozes style, whether you’re talking about the menu transitions, the shop transitions, the All-Out Attacks, the post-mission screens, the sexy anime-style cutscenes, and so on and so forth, every single aspect of Persona 5 Royal is an absolute visual treat! There’s no disputing it, Persona 5 Royal is one of the coolest looking games, and as we said, despite this being a port from 2020, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Not at all. It’s most definitely a worthy winner of 2022’s Best Visuals award.

Best Audio

Runners-Up:

A Plague Tale: Requiem

Olivier Deriviere, the main composer for Asobo Studio’s 2022 outing, has done an absolutely fantastic job in creating the perfect complement to A Plague Tale: Requiem’s world and characters. Perfectly encapsulating the vibe of 14th century France, the orchestra-heavy soundtrack combined with the angelic voices of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, is the perfect combination for Requiem’s tensionfilled set-pieces and its emotionally charged voice acting. While the main track, ‘A Plague Tale Requiem’ might be one of the most iconic

compositions of the year, the likes of ‘Siblings’ and the frankly beautiful ‘Reunion,’ ‘Fragile’ and ‘The Holy Child’ compositions is where the original score truly shines. Every track heightens its accompanying scene perfectly and is the true example of how a brilliant music arrangement can elevate a game ten-fold.

Elden Ring

An emphasis of FromSoftware’s Souls-like games for the past ten-plus years, has been firmly placed on its musical arrangements, and Elden Ring is no different. The five-strong composer team, made up of Tsukasa Saitoh, Yuka Kitamura, Shoi Miyazawa, Yoshimi Kudo and Tai Tomisawa, not only this time around have to contend with the usual epic scores for their long-list of boss fights, but because of the open-world nature of Elden Ring, needs to include more ambient music. Everyone will remember the truly moving ‘Godskin Apostles’ track from the taxing fight with the boss duo, as they do with most boss fight compositions from a Souls game, but equally this time around, the open-world ambient music, like ‘Limgrave,’ ‘Eternal City,’ ‘Atlus Plateau’ and more, are equally as impressive and atmospheric. It takes one skillset to create epic boss fight compositions and another to create ambient open-world music, and it’s clear with Elden Ring that FromSoftware has both in abundance.

Winner: Persona 5 Royal

If you’ve played a Persona game over the last few decades, you’ll be very aware that if there’s one area where they excel and put their competition to shame, it is with its original scores. And ladies and gents, Persona 5 Royal is no different. Persona 5 Royal boasts an absolutely phenomenal set of compositions from Shoji Meguro, the long-time Persona composer for the last 20 plus years, who decided to opt more for a jazz-styling in Atlus’ latest mainline Persona game. And you know what, folks? It bloody works! We’re not kidding when we say that the Persona 5 Royal soundtrack doesn’t have a weak spot. Even after 120 hours, you still won’t be able to get enough of it. From the more subdued social tracks ‘Beneath the Mask’ and ‘Tokyo Emergency’, to the more battle-centric compositions like ‘Last Surprise’ and

‘Rivers in the Desert,’ the soundtrack has it all! Even the new Royal-exclusive compositions like ‘Kichijoji 199X,’ ‘Throw Away Your Mask’ and ‘I Believe’ are absolutely iconic tracks. There truly is no weakness in its 100 plus strong track list and we recommend everyone listens to it, even if they don’t play the game.

Best Fresh Gameplay Feature

Runners-Up:

Elden Ring’s ‘Spirit Summons’

Summons in Souls-like games aren’t exactly considered a fresh new gameplay feature, but the Spirit Summons in 2022’s Elden Ring took the Souls-like summons to a new level. In previous games players could summon spirits/NPCs at certain spots in the world to assist with boss fights and the like. However, in Elden Ring, Spirit Summons actually come in the form of spells that players could use, to assist wherever and whenever they wanted (for the most part). That meant boss fights, some open-world encounters and more were now less lonely affairs.

And on top of that, players could upgrade them as well. They ranged from jellyfish and spectral warriors to wolves and mimic tears and were more than useful companions for your adventures throughout the Lands Between. Along with magic, the Spirit Summons allowed players not too technically advanced or new players to the franchise to have an easier time of it, and anything that allows more players to experience FromSoftware’s latest masterpiece is okay with us. The best thing is, they’re purely optional too, so the Souls-like purists don’t need to worry about them if they don’t like them, while at the same

time they open up the game to new players. This full evolution of the Spirit Summons in Elden Ring is why they are deserving as a runner up in this year’s Best Fresh Gameplay Feature category.

Immortality’s ‘Match Cut System

At the core of Immortality, the latest game from Her Story’s Sam Barlow and Half Mermaid Productions, was something the developers called a ‘Match Cut System.’ The Match Cut System allowed players to click on one aspect in a video that was playing, say a candle, and then the game would match that candle with another candle elsewhere in another clip - this was the main mechanic in Immortality that allowed players to unlock new videos.

The system allowed players to click pretty much anything of note in a scene, whether it’s an easel, a key, a snake, a bowl of fruit, whatever, and then discover a new clip that they might not have uncovered yet. This new addition to Half Mermaid’s FMV-style games definitely allowed Immortality to take on a new life of its own and is a mechanic unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in not just 2022, but in video games full stop, and is well worthy of the runners up spot. We’re excited to see how this evolves in Half Mermaid’s next title.

Winner: Tunic’s ‘Instruction Manual

Remember those halcyon days, when you were a kid in the nineties or noughties, buying a brand new game, and immediately digging out the instruction manual for the ride home? Tunic taps into that nostalgia with its very own in-game instruction manual. The brilliance, however, comes from the implementation. The manual itself is collected page-by-page in the overworld, slowly increasing your knowledge of the game’s mechanics as you find them. Oh, and it’s in another language too, making the deciphering of it itself into a little puzzle.

The fact that there are entire game mechanics available to you right from the start, that you won’t discover until you find the corresponding manual page much later, is a little slice of genius, and makes Tunic and its in-game instruction manual feel like one of the freshest games and gameplay features to come out of 2022.

Best New IP

Runners-Up:

The Callisto Protocol

There are a few games from 2022 that when you look at them, you can’t help but just see the incredible amount of potential seeping out of them. One of those brand new IPs, oozing with hidden possibilities is Striking Distance Studios’ The Callisto Protocol - the debut game from the studio who is head up by Dead Space veteran, Glenn Schofield. “It’s a bit too much like Dead Space,” we heard people scream. Well, we’re in the opposite camp: “It wasn’t enough like Dead Space” for our liking. The Callisto Protocol was a beautiful looking game with a great cast of characters and was an enjoyable experience (for the most part) from beginning to end, but what a new IP needs to succeed is untapped potential. The Callisto Protocol laid down a great foundation and built a rich and interesting world chock full of potential. Now, just imagine it with a whole range of creative weapons that come with some sort of body dismemberment that Dead Space became synonymous with. That’s why The Callisto Protocol was one of our Best New IPs of 2022.

Deathloop

Easily one of this year’s Best New IPs is none other than Arkane Lyon’s smash hit, Deathloop, a game that was previously a PlayStation exclusive and this year found its way to Xbox. Deathloop ticks all the boxes for what we want from a new IP these days, and that includes a smattering of brand-new fresh ideas that we’ve truly not had the pleasure of experiencing, in a fancy new world with a cast of zany characters. Throw in some Dishonored-style abilities, a fantastic art-style and some Hitman-style unique assassinations,

and that all combines for one of not only this year’s Best New IPs, but a fantastic experience to boot. Deathloop has all the makings for a successful new IP for both Microsoft and Bethesda. It’s got experienced developers with a pedigree of making fabulous games behind it, it’s got some truly unique hooks that set it aside from the competition, and it’d be the perfect Game Pass game as well. One that would tempt people to the platform and to the service. What’s not to love there?

Winner: Elden Ring

I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel to Elden Ring. Will it ever happen? It’s hard to say, as FromSoftware is a studio that seems as prepared to venture into the new, as it is to revisit the old. But with the Dark Souls trilogy seemingly wrapped up, according to creator Hidetaka Miyazaki, Elden Ring came along this year and completely blew our collective minds.

The open world completely changed the feel, and made the game far more accessible to newcomers, while the story, co-created by Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin has so much room for expansion in a future game. Of all the new IP that released over this past year, Elden Ring is the one we’re most excited to see more of. Now, where is that DLC, FromSoftware?

expansions to come to Destiny 2. This offered up loads of new story, brand new locations, weapons, gear, and even a tasty new raid for players to get stuck into.

The year continued with brand new seasons of content as well, with returning fan favourite events, and we even got the announcement of Lightfall, the next big expansion, just before the year was up. Over five years on from release, Destiny 2 is still going strong. Let’s see what the future will bring.

Fortnite

It should come as no surprise to see that Fortnite had another very well supported year this year. Perhaps it should be expected, given the huge amount of money that it brings in for developer Epic Games, but it’s impressive, nonetheless. This year brought with it the additions of giant lizards, tornados, a zero build mode, tons of crossovers, and even a brand new chapter for the game.

And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Epic Games donated all of its proceeds from the first two weeks of its new season to humanitarian relief for Ukraine in March earlier this year, raising a whopping $144 million in the process. How’s that for support?

Winner: Dead Cells

It’s hard to think of many non-live-service games that are as well supported as Dead Cells, and 2022 proved to be the action roguelike’s biggest year yet. Developer Motion Twin kicked things off in January with the release of The Queen and the Sea, the biggest DLC that Dead Cells had seen since it launched in 2018.

Best Supported Game

Runners-Up: Destiny 2

Destiny 2 had another big year in 2022. Developer Bungie got things going at the beginning of the year with The Witch Queen DLC, one of the biggest

More updates came, including the Breaking Barriers update, which added tons of all-important accessibility options. A free Boss Rush mode followed, and the game also got a big indie game crossover, with the likes of Shovel Knight and Hotline Miami, before finishing off the year by announcing an exciting Castlevania crossover. No microtransactions, no battle pass. Just quality, well priced DLC, and excellent free updates. What more could you ask for?

Biggest Surprise

Runners-Up:

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Sure, XCOM and Civilization developer, Firaxis, are world renowned developers, but when we heard they were doing an XCOM-style Marvel game that had a card and deck building system at its core, we were pretty baffled. Surely that couldn’t work… XCOM could definitely work with Marvel, even though you’d surely lose the permadeath mechanics that make XCOM so treacherous, but to throw a card game on top. Nope, that’s too many competing systems. Oh boy were we wrong - and we’re more than happy to admit that! Marvel’s Midnight Suns not only works as an XCOM style game, but the card game at its core actually adds another level of depth and complexity to it that just really works. On top of that Firaxis managed to deliver some really interesting RPG and social mechanics, and a massive Abbey and its grounds to explore - chock full of mysteries to solve - and Marvel’s Midnight Suns was truly one of 2022’s biggest surprises.

Bright Memory: Infinite

They say it takes a village to raise a child, and similarly, it takes a developer the size of a village to make a game these days, especially if you want it to have triple-A visuals and performance. That is unless your name is Zeng Xiancheng, AKA FYQD Studio, the solo creator of the genuinely impressive Bright Memory: Infinite. As development tools get more and more accessible, one-person created games are seemingly becoming more and more prevalent, but to create a first-person shooter with the production values of a triple-A studio, that is by no means an easy feat. In fact, it’s a seemingly impossible feat, but FYQD managed that with such style and grace that you’d assume he’s been

doing this for decades. Spoiler, he has not. That’s what makes Bright Memory: Infinite so impressive, and it’s not just a game that relies on visuals and performance either. From a gameplay perspective it’s a genuinely fun and action packed experience, thus making it one of 2022’s biggest gaming surprises, and we’re excited to see what FYQD cooks up next. If it’s half the game Bright Memory is, we’re in for a treat.

Winner: Pentiment

Obsidian’s Pentiment is truly one of 2022’s success stories. From completely out of nowhere, Pentiment was announced at E3 this year, with a trailer that was so charming we were absolutely sold from the offset, despite not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. What it turns out we were actually getting into was a point-andclick adventure game of sorts, where you played a 16th century artist plunged into a life of crimesolving after getting wrapped up in a series of murder mysteries that play out on a rich colourful tapestry. Pentiment is an incredibly charming game, one with depth, deception and conspiracy around every corner. One where everything is shades of grey and there is seemingly no right choice. And one where every single choice, no matter how big or small, could have the upending consequences. It’s brilliant for that very reason. It’s Pentiment’s uncertainty and its storytelling that makes it one of 2022’s biggest surprises, and a more than worthy winner.

Best Developer

Runners-Up: FromSoftware

You can’t make a game like Elden Ring, and not

be in the running for the Best Developer award. FromSoftware is a studio that really hasn’t missed in recent years, with the likes of Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, and Sekiro all proving to be GOTY contenders in their own rights. And not only did FromSoftware release one of the very best games of the year in 2022, but it continually supported it well throughout the year. From smaller patches, adding in new quests and NPCs, to balance changes for the competitive side of things, and ending on the addition of free PvP DLC, FromSoftware has had a cracking year with Elden Ring. The Japanese developer even went on to announce a brand new Armoured Core game earlier this month. All we need now is a nice big Elden Ring expansion to round things out, but even without that, it’s hard to argue that FromSoftware hasn’t had a cracking year.

Asobo Studio

Some studios love to stick to their wheelhouse and create games and genres that they know best, while others, like our runners up, Asobo, love to dabble in a bit of everything and have more variety in their slate of games than a Christmas selection box. Asobo Studio have spent the last decade plus making an open world racing game, dabbling in ports, creating a flight simulator game and more recently creating some memorable action-adventure games. It’s safe to say that recently, 2022 especially, they’ve elevated themselves to a new level. 2022 was the year they launched their highly anticipated followup to their cult hit, A Plague Tale: Innocence, in A Plague Tale: Requiem, a game with incredibly high production values that not just boasts one of the year’s best scores, but also one of the year’s best stories too. A captivating game that puts the studio’s franchise on the cusp of greatness. On top of that though, Asobo spent 2022 building upon the impressive foundations laid down in 2021 with their Microsoft Flight Simulator title as well. A pretty fantastic year all round for the French developer, I’m sure you’ll agree. And long may it continue.

Winner: Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian has spent the best part of 20-years putting its heart and soul into some of the most iconic RPGs that have existed in video games. Neverwinter Nights 2, Fallout: New Vegas, South

Park: The Stick of Truth, Pillars of Eternity, and more recently, the excellent The Outer Worlds. 2022, however, was a year of change for them. One where they grew outside the confines of the RPG genre and tried their hands at something fresh and new. And oh boy did they nail it. 2022 saw them not only drop the final release version of their survival game, Grounded, but they also dropped the wonderfully creative, Pentiment, an adventure game for the ages too. Not only were both games wonderfully received, but they proved to the world (not that they needed to, mind) that they were not a one-trick pony. Each game was well received by their respective fan bases and offered something new and unique to the games industry as a whole, but also elevated Microsoft’s Game Pass’ offerings, something that Microsoft will be over the moon about following their 2018 acquisition. 2022 was a hell of a year for the studio, and the future looks pretty bright too, with them planning to launch Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 in the hopefully not too distant future. All we need now is for them to make Alpha Protocol backwards compatible and all will be right in the world.

Best Publisher

Runners-Up: EA

It’s fair to say that EA had a relatively disappointing year in 2021, thanks in part to Battlefield 2042’s lukewarm reception. 2022, however, has been a different kettle of fish, thanks mostly to its wonderful year on the race track. This year was proof that buying Codemasters last year was a savvy move for the mega-publisher, as it was clear that they wanted to corner as much of the racing market as they could. In 2022 the

publisher launched not 1, not 2, but 3 excellent racing games - and not all Codemasters games as well! First out the gate was GRID Legends in February, an excellent racing game from one of Codemasters’ newer but still highly sought after racing franchises. Next up was the yearly iteration of their F1 titles, F1 2022, which as always was “another superlative Formula One game, and a damn fine racing experience in its own right” according to our own Rich Walker. Perhaps the biggest surprise though, was Need for Speed Unbound, which saw Criterion Games head up development duties once again for the long-established franchise, and they absolutely knocked it out of the park. On top of that Apex Legends had another solid year, while their other sports titles did okay in terms of critic scores. 2022 was also the year that they announced the comeback of Dead Space with a remake, but perhaps more importantly, they announced and unveiled Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which is coming in March 2023. All in all, not a bad year at all… especially if you’re a racing fan.

2K

There’s no doubt about it, 2K had a pretty damn good year in 2022, a year where they tried some new things, brought to life the game of a tried and tested developer, but perhaps more importantly for the sports fans, brought around a much needed return to form! They kicked off their year with a twisted take on their Borderlands franchise with Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a game that tried something new with an established franchise and was a whole lot of fun. The summer saw them take a punt on the always reliable Supermassive Games with The Quarry, another great entry in their choice and consequence teen slashers genre that they’ve honed over the years - even if Dan did hate the way the ending was delivered.

Then came the return to form for their two sports titles. After the disastrous launch of WWE 2K20 and the subsequent cancellation of WWE 2K21, it was great to see WWE 2K22 bring back its A-game. The same could be said for NBA 2K23 too, which hadn’t scored above 80 on our sites since 2018! Well, that was until 2022, of course. While the New Tales From The Borderlands title wasn’t incredibly well received, Marvel’s Midnight Suns absolutely was. Who knew that mixing XCOM-style mechanics with Marvel characters

and a deck building card game would turn out so well?! Firaxis and 2K did, apparently. As you can see, it was a pretty good year for 2K. Here’s hoping 2023 sees more of the same from them.

Winner: Atlus

It feels like in the last few decades that Xbox and its players haven’t really existed when it comes to Atlus (and certain sections of its parent company, SEGA). That feeling is starting to slowly evaporate with SEGA’s recent releases of Yakuza on the console (and on Game Pass too), but for us, 2022 was where Atlus and SEGA made their biggest statement yet, by launching the best JRPG of the past 10-years, Persona 5 Royal, on Xbox. And it did with a bang too! Not only that, they’ve also committed to Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden for January 2023 too. For those reasons, and the fact that the Persona 5 Royal port was outstanding, we’re giving Atlus our Best Publisher of the year award for 2022. Let’s just hope that the positive reception on Xbox is enough to tempt them to release the Persona spin-off games (Dancing All Night, Persona 5 Strikers, etc.), Catherine Full Body and future Persona games on the Xbox platform too. We can imagine a dayand-date launch with other platforms would see that reception and its sales performances on the platform improve dramatically too.

Best Indie Game

Runners-Up: Tunic

First announced back at E3 2017, we’ve been waiting an awful long time for Tunic. Luckily, the Zelda-inspired adventure didn’t disappoint. Quite the opposite, in fact, it went on to exceed all of

our expectations. Starring a cute fox protagonist, and a wonderfully stylised world, Tunic could have been a simple top-down adventure where you fight baddies and beat dungeons, and we still would have had a good time with it. But Tunic is deeper than it appears on the surface, and with its ingenious instruction manual collectibles, the game becomes one big puzzle box that you need to unravel. With the way Tunic slowly drip feeds the player information, you’ll never be able to experience it the same way again after your first playthrough, but that makes it all the more special. Tunic really was worth the wait.

Vampire Survivors

Just missing out on the top spot this year (and we do mean just) is Poncle’s (also known as Lucas Galante) Vampire Survivors, a mesmerising and massively addictive roguelike. There is one objective in Vampire Survivors: survive against increasingly more and tougher enemies. The joy of Vampire Survivors comes from its sheer amount of variety in its builds and its pick up and play gameplay, meaning that almost every attempt can be wholly different from the last. If you want to create a magic build complete with magic wand and the lightning ring, you can. If you want to build a close range build with an axe, you can do that too. How about a projectile build? Yup, you can do that too! The list of options goes on and on. Fewer games in 2022, especially indie games, are as addictive as Vampire Survivors, and its relatively simple premise allows players to jump head first and just experiment to their heart’s content. Vampire Survivors is one of those games that everyone just has to try at least once, and when they do, they’ll be hooked. As far as worthy runners up go, Vampire Survivors is exactly that, and easily one of 2022’s best indie games.

Winner: Immortality

We’ll be completely honest, Half Mermaid’s ‘Telling Lies,’ an FMV-game in the same vein as Sam Barlow’s breakout hit, Her Story, didn’t really resonate with us one iota. We found it a bit dull, in truth. We perhaps thought that maybe Barlow and co’s story telling wasn’t for us, which is okay. Different horses for different courses and all that. Half Mermaid’s next title though, Immortality, completely blew away our expectations in 2022. We had no idea going into Immortality how

much we’d buy into the whole ‘what happened to Marissa Marcel?’ thing, especially considering the game just gives you a random clip of your choosing from the outset. But that one clip dug into our psyches from the get-go and wouldn’t let go until we’d seen every clip of every movie, every secret clip and all the subverted footage too - which was David Lynch levels of fascinating, and we sure do love us some Twin Peaks. Sure, it helps that you have a sublime performance from your leading lady, Manon Gage (who won our Best Performance of 2022 award) and a really cool mechanic like the Match Cut System (the runner up in our Best Fresh Gameplay of 2022 award category), but Immortality is so more than that. It’s also a fascinating tale of mystery and intrigue, which is actually why it won our Best Story of 2022 too. You get the point. The truth is, it’d be hard to give Best Indie Game of 2022 to any other game this year, because Immortality was just sublime across the board. From the gameplay mechanics and performance of Gage and her co-stars, all the way through to the fascinating story, Immortality is just one fantastic piece of game development that you simply need to play.

Game Of The Year

Runners Up: Persona 5 Royal

It’s a testament to Persona 5’s stopping power and quality, that 6-years after the original game’s release (2016), and 3 years after the traditional Persona 1.5 edition launched (2019), that it can stroll onto Xbox in 2022 and even be considered for this award. But it can. And it did. With relative ease as well. Still, after all this time, Persona 5 Royal has withstood the test of time and we can safely put our hands up and say it’s still the best

JRPG released in the last 10-years. By far. In fact, it’s perhaps the best JRPG released on the Xbox ever, and yes, I’m considering the brilliant Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon as well. That’s how good Persona 5 Royal is. By now you’ve probably gathered it’s a pretty stylish game (Best Visuals) with an unbelievable soundtrack (Best Audio), but the game itself is pretty damn addictive too. With a wonderful cast of characters, some seriously cool dungeons, traditionally great Persona battle sequences and boss fights, some pretty damn cool story beats and a host of socialoriented gameplay to adore, there’s very little to dislike about P Studios’ Persona 5 Royal. It’s an absolutely stellar game, one that everyone should play. Especially if you want Atlus to release Persona 6 on Xbox consoles when it drops in the next decade or so.

Deathloop

In a similar vein to Persona 5 Royal, Arkane Lyon’s Deathloop, originally a PlayStation 5 exclusive in 2021, made its way to Xbox in 2022, and it proved to be just as damn impressive on Xbox as it was on PlayStation. It’d be rude of us to discount the 2022 Xbox release of Deathloop from the Game of the Year awards just because its first appearance was last year on an entirely different ecosystem. After all, it’s not the game’s fault! And the truth is, there were fewer things more satisfying this year than that final day run in Deathloop. Watching all the pieces come together, pieces that you’d

worked so hard to assemble in the preceding days and attempts, was truly a delight. I’d argue there’s nothing more satisfying in games in recent years than finally seeing the bigger picture come to fruition in Deathloop’s finale. Arkane Lyon’s latest game was an action game so unique and fascinating in its delivery, that it’s worthy of its runner’s up spot in this year’s Game of the Year awards.

Winner: Elden Ring

Could it really have been anything else? Elden Ring is an extraordinary game. Taking the Dark Souls formula that FromSoftware had perfected, and putting it in an open world, was always a recipe for success, but it was shocking just how perfectly suited the two ideas were for each other. The challenging bosses from Dark Souls are still here, but now, rather than bashing your head against a tough fight, you can wander off in any other direction and discover something new. And there’s always something to discover in Elden Ring - a beautiful subterranean city, a rotting lake of blood, or a lovely NPC who’s almost certainly doomed to die. Exploration in Elden Ring is always rewarding, and it’s a stunningly beautiful world to explore. You could play for 100 hours, and there will still be something new to discover. The combat is incredibly varied, with plenty of different playstyles to try out, and feels absolutely brilliant, to boot. A worthy winner.

nintendo direct february 2023 recap

Nintendo is the king of digital video game showcases, and the company jump-started its 2023 with another great show. This February 2023 Nintendo Direct gave us our best look at The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom yet, highlighted upcoming Nintendo Switch exclusives like Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and Pikmin 4, and featured the shocking reveal and shadow drop of Metroid Prime Remastered. On top of all that, we learned that two new platforms are coming to Nintendo Switch Online.

We now have a clear idea of the Nintendo Switch’s game lineup through the summer, so there’s no doubt that this Nintendo Direct featured lots of notable announcements. As it can be hard to keep track of it all, we’ve recapped everything Nintendo announced during the February 2023 Nintendo Direct right here.

Pikmin 4 lets you ride a tiny Space Dog

We got our first in-depth look at Pikmin 4 to kick off the Direct and learned more about its story and gameplay. We saw exactly what it means to play from a Pikmin’s perspective, as the camera was much closer to the playable character than in previous games. Otherwise, it looks like the approachable RTS series fans have fallen in love with, now with Ice Pikmin and a small Space Dog named Oatchi that you can ride. We also got a solid release date for Pikmin 4, as Nintendo says it will release the long-awaited sequel on July 21.

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp is finally coming out in April

Originally slated for release in December 2021, we won’t have to wait much longer for Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp, a remake of two titles in the GBA strategy game series. After an indefinite delay following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Nintendo has finally revealed that Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp will be released on April 21.

Nintendo Switch Online is getting Game Boy and GBA games

Game Boy and Game Boy Advance Games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. The base version of the service will include Game Boy games, which support visual Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Colour filters.

The launch lineup includes Tetris, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Gargoyle’s Quest, Game & Watch Gallery 3, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, Metroid II – Return of Samus, Wario Land 3, and Kirby’s Dream Land. Nintendo also teased that The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and Season, the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble would come to the service in the future.

Splatoon 3’s

expansion pass brings us back to Inkopolis

Splatoon 3’s expansion pass will reintroduce Inkopolis in its first wave of content this spring. Callie and Marie will perform there during Splatfests. We also got a teaser for a new story set in an area that seems devoid of any colour, titled Side Order.

Meanwhile, Expansion Pass members will get GBA games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, WarioWar Inc: Mega Microgame$, Kuru Kuru Kuruin, Mario Kart Super Circuit, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. In the future, GBA games like Metroid Fusion, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror, Fire Emblem, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, and Golden Sun will be added.

Metroid Prime Remastered is out now

During the Direct, Nintendo announced Metroid

Prime Remastered for Nintendo Switch. This is an enhanced version of the classic GameCube game that now supports HD visuals and dual stick controls. Metroid Prime Remastered launches later today, with a physical which launched on February 22.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom looks fantastic, costs $70

As expected, we got a lengthy look at The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom during this Nintendo Direct, as well as a better idea of what this game really is. We see Hyrule under siege and Link fighting many enemies across its open world. We then see Link freefalling through the air, grinding on rails, and driving various vehicles. On top of all that, Nintendo reaffirmed that the game will still release on May 12. A Collector’s Edition and new Link Amiibo will also be available on the same day. This will be the first Nintendo Switch first-party game to cost $70.

Everything else

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s next DLC wave will feature party member Masha and is out now.

• Sega announced Samba De Amigo Party Central. It will be released this summer.

• Fashion Dreamer was announced and will launch later this year.

• Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania got a March 6 release date.

• Bithell Games’ Tron: Identity got an April release window.

• Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective comes to Nintendo Switch this summer.

• Investigation-focused RPG DecaPolice was announced by Level 5 with a 2023 release window.

• Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon’s segment provided an overview of its gameplay.

• Disney Illusion Island got a gameplay overview and July 28 release date.

• We learned that Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass’ DLC Wave 2 will feature classic characters Hector, Soren, and Camilla. Wave 3 will include Chrom and Robin, and Veronica. Wave 4 will introduce new story content titled Fell Xenologue.

• Harmony: The Fall of Reverie was announced with a June release window.

• Octopath Traveller 2 gets a new demo today

• We Love Katamari Reroll was announced by Bandai Namco Entertainment and will be released on June 2.

• Katamari Damacy Reroll now has a free trial for Nintendo Switch Online members.

• Sea of Stars got an August 26 release date, and a demo is releasing today.

• Omega Strikers was announced.

• Etrian Odyssey Origins Collections was announced with a June 1 release date. Each game included will also be available separately on that day.

• Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe will feature a new Magalor Epilogue. The game is also getting a demo today.

• Master Detective Archives: Rain Code launches on June 30.

• MonolithSoft RPGs Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins are getting remastered for Nintendo Switch this summer.

• Fantasy Life: The Girl Who Steals time was announced and will be released later this year.

• Professor Layton and the New World of Steam was revealed.

• A new Yoshi’s Island course and a playable character named Birdo are part of Wave 4 of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass.

• A sizzle reel highlighted Minecraft Legends, Blanc, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, Have a Nice Death, WBSC eBaseball: Power Pros, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and Tales of Symphonia Remastered.

playstation state of play february 2023 recap

The first Sony State of Play of 2023 debuted on February 23rd, offering 40 minutes of reveals for the console and PSVR2. As expected, a host of PSVR2 titles were shown and indie games were given a spotlight before the showcase turned its attention to some of the year’s most anticipated games.

Sony State of Play offers games the chance to show players extended cuts and gameplay trailers that give more detail into the combat and mechanics in some of the biggest releases of the year. This February was no exception, with Kill The Justice League and the best Resident Evil remake, Resident Evil 4 revealing more about what can be expected from the titles.

March’s PlayStation Plus Games Revealed

March’s free PlayStation Plus games were revealed during the Sony State of Play presentation. From March 7th until April 3rd EA and Dice’s Battlefield 2042, Mojang’s Minecraft Dungeons and Bandai Namco Entertainment’s Code Vein will be available to download for all PS Plus members. For Extra and Premium members new games added to the catalogue will include the attractively illustrated Tchia, the Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Rainbow Six Extraction and Ghostwire Tokyo.

The Foglands Is Revealed For PSVR2

Launching onto PSVR, PCVR and Quest 2 in 2023 is the independent studio Well Tolds’ debut game, the roguelike FPS horror title The Foglands. Although not much has yet been revealed, the game has been described by the studio as a “foggy sci-fi western world” game setting that combines stealth and action gameplay. With a creepy introduction to a man called The Stranger and a world where humanity has been forced underground to avoid the toxic fog on the earth’s surface, The Foglands promises to unfold its mysterious tale as the player fights their way through the alien and monstrous creatures lurking in its tunnels.

Green Hell Reveals PSVR2 Port

Thrown into a jungle environment where the player is forced to use traditional hunter-gatherer methods to survive, Creepy Jar’s 2019 title Green Hell will now be available on PSVR2. In this open world, the player finds themselves in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

They’ll need to gather resources, build fires and craft weapons to explore and face off against the natural predators of the jungle. Having received fairly good reviews at its original launch, the PSVR2 port offers a new way to experience Green Hell for fans and new players alike.

nDreams Showcased New PSVR2 Game Synapse At State Of Play

From the studio nDreams comes the action title Synapse that combines elemental gameplay with traditional FPS mechanics in a style reminiscent of one of Mass Effect’s best classes. Although not much has been revealed, the story of Synapse looks to be largely in a run-and-gun style greyscale environment with unexpected pops of colour that give the world depth.

Before Your Eyes Reveals Its PSVR2 Port

The colourful and emotional 2021 narrative experience Before Your Eyes revealed its PSVR2 port at the February Sony State of Play. Releasing March 10th, 2023 Before Your Eyes is an emotional review of the protagonist’s life as they experience the afterlife for the first time. Developed by Goodbyeworld Games and published by Skybound Games, the BAFTA-winning Before Your Eyes will utilize the eye-tracking technology of the PSVR2 to change the world around the player every time they blink. Its heart-warming narrative forces the player to confront the reality of life and death, which will only be made to feel more realistic in PSVR2.

Journey To Foundation Looks To Be A Stunning Sci-Fi Adventure For PSVR2

State of Play also offered the first look at new scifi adventure coming this fall from studio Archiact on PSVR2. A game that combines the traditional elements of sci-fi gaming with virtual reality, Journey To Foundation asks the player to work to save humanity making the choice between saving the Empire or defecting to the Foundation.

Inspired by the genre-changing Foundation book series by Isaac Asimov, Journey To Foundation asks the player to make decisions that will impact the entire narrative of the game as they hunt down factions and choose who lives or dies.

Bungie Showcases Destiny: Lightfall Ahead Of Its PS5 Launch

Destiny 2’s latest expansion Lightfall was showcased, with its launch trailer revealing players will need to wait just one week before its release on February 28th. The expansion will introduce new enemies in the form of Tormentors in a campaign that offers a Legendary difficulty mode for the Guardians who want to take on the ultimate challenge. Destiny 2: Lightfall offers better weapons and updated mechanics that will improve the game’s quality-of-life and offer improvements to player’s loadouts and mods in the form of two new build crafting features.

Tchia Is An Illustrated Adventure For PS4 and PS5

Tchia looks to be a heart-warming adventure game from the indie studio Awaceb. Set in a beautifully illustrated tropical world inspired by New Caledonia, the player explores the jungle and ocean as the titular character, Tchia. Armed with a slingshot, the player encounters strange enemies they need to defeat in order to save the archipelago from its evil ruler. Tchia releases March 10th, 2023 and will be immediately available on the PlayStation Plus catalogue.

Humanity Offers A New Take On Puzzle Games

The creators of Tetris Effect, Enhance gave their first look at the new puzzle game Humanity during Sony’s State of Play. Playing as a ghostlike version of a Shibu inu dog, Humanity has 90 stages of puzzles, obstacles and even boss fights, offering a unique platformer-style take on the usual puzzle environment. Available on PS4, PS5, and PSVR and PSVR2, Humanity launches in May 2023, although an exact date has not yet been revealed.

Goodbye Volcano High Releases On June 15th, 2023

High school angst meets anthropomorphic creature fun in this narrative adventure game. Goodbye Volcano High releasing in June 2023 follows a group of high school friends in a band as they navigate their final year of education. Developed by Canadian indie studio KO_OP, Goodbye Volcano High looks like it combines rhythm (and other) minigames with narrative decision making that will affect the band’s relationships throughout the game.

Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections Revealed

To celebrate the anime’s 20th anniversary, with a game helping to promote Boruto, Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is the latest title in the Ultimate Ninja Storm series, adding a selection of new playable characters to its fighting roster. Available for the first time in 60 FPS, the gameplay of Naruto x Boruto graphically enhances scenes from the older games in the series and offers a brand new story to play.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Confirms Release Date & Console Availability

Baldur’s Gate 3 finally revealed its release date as August 31st at the February Sony State of Play and that it will be available on console. Oscar-winning actor JK Simmons takes on the role of one of the game’s new characters and primary antagonists General Ketheric

Thorn in the dark fantasy RPG played in the setting of the Forgotten Realms. Baldur’s Gate 3 will be available to play solo, and in online co-op or splitscreen co-op in what looks to be an improved and updated experience to the previous titles in the series.

New MMO Wayfinder Revealed For PS4 and PS5

Set in what’s described as a “gorgeous, but fallen world”, the player will choose from a set of playable characters with different fighting and game mechanics in the new MMO Wayfinder. Explore dungeons and lost zones across a host of environments from wintery scenes to palaces and dungeons.

Street Fighter 6 Debuts New Characters For Street Fighter 6

Capcom revealed more about Street Fighter 6 during Sony’s State of Play. It gave its first look at the iconic character Zangief, a large musclebound fighter, and British Special forces operative Cammy complete with new moves. The trailer also revealed a new character Lily, a fighter who uses the power of the wind to fly through the air as she attacks. Together the three complete the 18-character roster Street Fighter 6.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Adds Mercenary Mode

With the already released trailers, Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 Remake has shown graphical and gameplay improvements that will bring the iconic title into the modern gaming era in force. With scrapped enemy designs from Resident Evil 4 making a comeback and the characters like Luis given more story time. But the most exciting reveal for Resident Evil 4 Remake at February’s State of Play was the confirmation that The Mercenaries mode is returning.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Shows Gameplay Trailer

State of Play also gave an extended look at Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, revealing 4-player online co-op and a mission with a corrupted Flash. Rocksteady has revealed the usual heroes have instead been brainwashed by Brainiac who now lords over the city of Metropolis, meaning the Justice League may actually die in KTJL. The combat looks fluid and varied depending on the character played from the choice of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark in what promises to be a fun addition to the DC universe as revealed during the Sony State of Play.

So that was everything from PlayStation as to what is coming soon, what did you like? Did it live up to the hype? Let us know!

steam reaches 10 million concurrent in-game players for the first time

Steam’s concurrently online players also surpassed 32 million.

Alongside reaching 32 million concurrently online users, Steam has also just surpassed 10 million concurrent in-game players for the first time. The news was shared by SteamDB, and it shows the milestones were reached on Saturday, January 7, where the in-game concurrent were at 10,082,055 million and the concurrently online users - those who are simply on Steam but not necessarily playing a game - were at 32,186,301.

As for what these millions of people were playing, the #1 game played in the past 24 hours as of January 7th 2023 was Counterstrike: Global Offensive at 1.08 million concurrent players. Sitting behind Counterstrike were DOTA 2 (766,096), Goose Goose Duck (605,694), PUBG: Battlegrounds (439,944), and Apex Legends (367,585).

The milestone was reached following the holiday season and the end of one of Steam’s big sales. It also comes at a time where there aren’t any major new game releases. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Steam has seen its record of concurrent users get broken again and again. The peak concurrent during Thanksgiving 2021 was at 27.3 million, and it has continued to grow and grow since then.

Redfall isn’t arkane’s left 4 dead, it’s the studios spin on Far cry

Big in 2023: We speak with Arkane Studios’ Harvey Smith and Ricardo Bare to dive deep into Redfall, one of the most anticipated Xbox Series X exclusives of the year

Few video game developers have as clear a creative mandate as Arkane. The studio has become synonymous with deep world creation and smart environmental storytelling, and for the intentional emergence that erupts as simple rulesets clash against complex combat and movement systems. Even as the studio weaves so deftly between genres and styles – from Arx Fatalis to Dishonored, Prey to Deathloop – these threads of commonality bind the best Arkane games together. What then of Redfall, the cooperative shooter that sees a squad of mischievous vampire hunters work to exterminate an infestation of bloodsuckers from a small coastal town in Massachusetts?

Redfall isn’t special because it is bound by those same threads, woven so tightly with arcane magic – it is special because it is willing to loosen them. “It’s certainly true that if you work on the same thing for long enough you eventually want to clear your head and stretch a little,” says Arkane studio director Harvey Smith. “Maybe we stretched too much this time – we probably should have picked either an open world or cooperative multiplayer. But if Redfall comes together at the quality level we think it will, then it will be a different beast. It’s really tremendous; it does a lot of cool stuff.”

Welcome to Redfall, Massachusetts

Redfall isn’t the video game that you think it is. Following its reveal, the Xbox Series X exclusive has drawn comparisons to the Left 4 Deads of this world. Great games, concedes Arkane creative director Ricardo Bare, but not exactly what the studio is shooting for. “It’s totally understandable for somebody to come to that conclusion.

There are four playable characters, you can play together cooperatively, and you’re going against the undead. But, in terms of the way that you play and experience Redfall, it’s not like those games at all. Redfall is more like loading into Far Cry.”

When you think of Far Cry, your mind is likely flooded with images of exotic landscapes and faraway paradises. Redfall is embracing more familiar territory, what Smith lovingly describes as a “crappy tourist town” in New England. Creepy cornfields and abandoned fairgrounds, dilapidated houses and cold seaside boardwalks, and plenty of bars and restaurants held in ill repute by the locals. Well, they were, until most were driven away by the invading vampires, the cultists who worship them, and Bellwether Security; a shady private military company looking for nothing but trouble.

“When we started on Redfall, we wanted to tackle a familiar location for once,” laughs Smith, speaking to Arkane’s propensity for building elaborate destinations. Dunwall, an industrial whaling city overrun with plague rats; Talos I, an alt-history space station with an alien ecology; and Blackreef, an island cursed to time loop through the swinging sixties. “We wanted to take a familiar setting and go deep on it. Redfall island should be a place where, after hours of exploration, you feel like you know it the way you know Talos or Dunwall. When I say we wanted to stretch, that’s what I mean: What if we took all of our experience – and our creative values – and put it into an open world?”

That world is where Redfall really diverges from any lingering horde shooter comparisons. Those genre games have a familiar rhythm: load into linear missions with friends, and fight waves of enemies until the end. Redfall has a broader objective, affording you the freedom to linger (or fight) at your leisure. Defining the shape of your

adventure is all part of the appeal. “You’re in a bigass open world,” enthuses Bare. “We have a home base where you can talk to NPCs and get sidequests. You can go to the mission table and pick up story-driven missions. Or you cannot give a shit about any of that and just head outside; pick a direction, start hauling ass, and run into the livingworld stuff that we have going on.”

“Pick a direction, start hauling ass, and run into the living-world stuff that we have going on.”

(Ricardo Bare, creative director)

By Arkane’s standards, the description of a “big-ass open world” is accurate – Redfall is an unfathomably larger space than Prey’s Talos I. But by modern open-world standards, the titular island will likely be quaint by comparison. There’s an appeal in that too, with a denser play space allowing Arkane to flex its talent for emergent narrative design. “I think we will eventually go back to the very sealed immersive sim-like environments,” Smith considers. “But just once we wanted to know what it would be like to wander an Arkane open world and see where each little road will take you.”

“You’ll want to see if you can get into a barn you found, climb a fire lookout tower that you spotted in the distance, or try and get into a house to read all the notes scattered inside,” Smith continues, explaining that you’ll still have the freedom to approach missions, areas, and in-world locations with the same curiosity and ingenuity as you could in Dishonored or Prey. “Some of Redfall’s most powerful moments come from wandering around, absorbing the world, and getting caught up in high action for a moment. That was the atmosphere we set out to create from the beginning.”

If there’s a negative to be drawn from a Far Cry comparison, it’s one of scale. Ubisoft’s open worlds have become debilitatingly large, and I’ll cop to feeling some sense of hesitation before launching into a new one these days. But there’s a key distinction in Redfall’s design which calmed my nerves: there are no vehicles.

“In terms of freedom, there’s what you would expect from other open worlds, but Redfall is an on-foot game – the scale and the pace is a little slowed down in that respect,” says Bare. “We want you creeping through a cornfield at night

in the fog, hearing vampires whisper in the dark. Maybe you’ll spot a farmhouse in the distance and sneak over to it, only to find that it’s full of cultists and a few trapped survivors who you can save. That’s the kind of vibe that Redfall has.”

These examples barely scratch the surface of what you’ll find in Redfall’s world, which is divided into two distinct districts – one is a sprawling urban area, and the other more rural in design. There are neighbourhoods held hostage by vampires; liberating these parts of the town for the people will open up Safe Houses and make it more comfortable for the citizens who couldn’t escape before the island was cut off from civilization. You’ll encounter survivors who may ask you for a favour or two, with the opportunity to level up or earn new gear waiting as a reward. Nests can emerge in a shared psychic-space, should a group of vampires fall into a Blood Trance. Storms form gradually over time, signalling the arrival of powerful Vampire Gods called Rooks. Bellwether Security squads patrol the island, and cultists set up roadblocks to bottleneck any who remain committed to the land of the living. And then there’s the story campaign that underpins the adventure, which follows the fallout of a scientific longevity experiment gone exceptionally wrong.

Many of these aspects of Redfall aren’t predefined activities, but part of the simulated space. “Redfall sometimes feels like what you’d get if you blended the Arkane creative values with Far Cry 2 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R.,” Smith continues. “That’s the kind of thing that we have wanted to do for a long time.” You may find instances of combat, story vignettes, or countless chaotic results as Arkane’s systems clash together. One part of this complex puzzle is the day-night cycle, which remains despite a powerful Vampire God – the Black Sun –having established a local Eclipse. “The sun sets and the sun rises, and we have different times of the day,” says Smith. “It changes the feel of the game radically.”

Smith doesn’t mean from a purely visual aesthetic either, with the time impacting everything from how viable stealth is before

combat erupts to how the various factions appear in the world. Vampires may spawn during the day, but remain dormant, becoming active at nightfall. Bellwether Security may up their patrols before the cultists come out in force to greet the shadow walkers. Sometimes all three of these factions will be caught at war, with your squad acting as casual bystanders to the carnage of competing interests. Smith says: “You may start a mission at high noon and get distracted along the way. By the time you reach the objective, it may be night time with different enemy spawns. Every slight difference pushes you, naturally, to take a different approach.”

Become a better vampire slayer

“The people who worked on Doom came over and gave us feedback a couple of times, and we’re pretty happy with the results” (Ricardo Bare, creative director)

Freedom has always been a core aspect of Arkane games. Smith admits that the introduction of multiplayer “costs you some things” due to the game needing to “register an event, communicate it to the server, deliver it out to the other players.” But that isn’t to say that Redfall will be any less of an Arkane game because of this creative decision. If anything, fans of Dishonored and Prey should relish the opportunity to see how aspects like advancing RPG powers, immersive movement and shooting, fluid sliding and climbing can combine in a more ambitious design scenario. “What you get in exchange is tremendous,” says Smith. “When four people sit down to play through Redfall together, and they are synergizing their powers, aiding each other, and kicking off emergent events it brings tremendous value.”

Cooperation is optional. You can slay alone or squad up, with Redfall seamlessly blending single-player and multiplayer options – not all that dissimilar to the Borderlands games. And the comparisons to Gearbox’s co-op shooter don’t end there. At the beginning of Redfall, you’ll be able to choose between one of four characters: Devinder Crousley, the verified cryptid hunter; Layla Ellison, the telekinetic threat in student debt; Jacob Boyer, the deadeye with an undead eye; and Remi De La Rosa, the ingenious

engineer. Once you start the campaign, your character selection is locked in for the duration of the game – if you choose to play solo, you’ll do so without the other three heroes around you.

In co-op, there is no restriction on multiples of the same vampire hunter joining one party, although Smith says that there are benefits to having a well-rounded group outside of the variety it will bring to combat. “We have a very dynamic dialogue system where, depending on what heroes you put together in combination, they will talk to each other and get to know one another. And we have a mechanical system where the longer the heroes play together, the more intimate their dialogue lines become and, eventually, they’ll get a game mechanic buff called the ‘Trust Buff.’”

Regardless of how you choose to play this drop-in, drop-out experience, Arkane is keen to emphasize that flexibility is at the heart of Redfall. The game will support stealth combat and all-guns blazing approaches, and everything in between as you cycle through a massive

arsenal of weapons and as the unique powers inherent to each of the heroes begin to combine. “While it is true that this is more of a shooter than anything else we’ve ever worked on,” Bare considers, “a lot of the fun comes from each of the heroes’ powers. Whether you are synergizing Remy and Jacob together or even if just playing by yourself – using the powers, combining them, and upgrading your character is a lot of fun.”

Even with a renewed focus on advancing supernatural powers, Arkane knew it had to get the gunplay right. “There’s a certain level of work you have to put into a shooter to just reach the minimum bar, because you’ll inevitably get compared to all the other shooters out there if your guns don’t feel good,” says Bare, who notes that the studio hired in FPS experts at the outset of production, and even looked to the broader Bethesda network for assistance. “We got insight from some of our sister studios; the people who worked on Doom came over and gave us feedback a couple of times, things like that, and we’re pretty happy with the results.”

“We have the usual array of weapons like assault rifles and shit like that, many of which are juryrigged by the locals because they’ve been cut off,” Smith adds, who notes that standard guns are equipped with random modifiers when you find them. But the real draw to Redfall’s FPS combat is the special vampire-hunting weapons. “Your weapons can have stakes on the end –if the vampires are vulnerable, the only way to truly kill them is to stake them otherwise they regenerate. There are flare guns, UV beams, and even stake launchers – which use found ammo like broken-off pool cues and fireplace pokers.” Bare adds: “You know, the kind of weapons you would want if you were having to kill vampires.”

You won’t hold onto weapons for long though. Smith and Bare are keen to emphasize that part of the RPG economy of Redfall involves “looking at the traits of each weapon you find and deciding if it’s what you really want.” Smith uses the example of two shotguns he stumbled across in the wild: one a double-barrelled menace that has a greater chance to set hazards on fire, and the other that offers more long-range viability and a percentage chance to fire off a UV flash to petrify vampires within a 10-foot radius.

It’s all about defining your playstyle. Scrapping guns when you out-level them and picking weapons which complement your chosen path through the skill trees – each hero has four available, grouping specific character traits and more general utility options like health recovery or increased storage for ammunition and lockpicks. “It’s all a part of a dynamic combat system that we have going on. Knowing when to use one gun versus another and knowing when to switch to one of the vampire hunter guns is all relevant to the experience,” says Smith.

The power of Game Pass

“I feel like, at some point, we will pendulum back to what people know us for” (Harvey Smith, studio director)

Redfall is a different type of game for Arkane. That much is clear from the open world, the cooperative design, and the enhanced focus on gunplay. But underpinning every design decision are the studio’s creative values, and its instinctual lean towards creating immersive, simulated spaces. But there’s added pressure this time around, owing in part to a certain

subscription service. “I feel like with Xbox Game Pass, the potential is here for us to say: This is Arkane, and these are our creative values – we can expose a lot of people to the way that we make games. I hope we can turn people onto what we do: Deep world creation, environmental storytelling, the emergent results of combat and your powers, and creating lovingly crafted worlds with a real sense of history and character.”

“The pool that Game Pass offers is huge for us. It’s kind of shocking, and scary in a way. Like, how many people are going to play Redfall in the first week? What if it’s a lot more than we anticipated… we’re going to get a lot of feedback very quickly, and a lot of people will see what we’ve spent the last few years on. Redfall is our

pandemic game, man. It’s easy to forget now, but there were dark days during the pandemic. People on my team were sitting at home alone, losing their minds because we didn’t have vaccines yet, and nobody was sure what it meant for their kids and for the economy. The team carried each other through it all; Zenimax, Bethesda, and Microsoft were very good to us during that difficult time. Now that we’re on the other side of it, the last thing I got to do here is ship Redfall.”

Redfall is one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PC games of 2023. Arkane is yet to set a Redfall release date, although the game is expected to launch in the first half of the year.

Six Video Game easter eggs worth mentioning from 2022

Easter eggs in video games are one of the true examples of love, application and dedication that a developer can instil into something that they’ve dedicated a significant portion of their lives to. In fact, most Easter eggs are only seen by a small fraction of players - if done correctly - so this is why we gather here every year, without fail, to countdown our favourite Easter eggs of the year. Some are wacky, some are insane, some are so complex that 99% of players will miss them naturally. And that’s why we do it, folks. Ladies and gents, here are our top 5 Easter eggs of 2022.

Dying Light 2’s DOOM Mini-Game Easter Egg

Techland’s Dying Light 2 is absolutely chock full of Easter eggs - and really cool ones at that. For instance, we could have quite easily put the talking hen in this spot and the really cool Pan of Destiny you receive for helping the unfortunate space cock - it’s basically Thor’s Hammer but in frying pan form. But unfortunately, thanks to our rule of ‘one per game’ we had to choose the best, which is quite easily the hidden DOOM mini-game Easter egg.

In order to unlock it, all you have to do is find 5 black ducks, hidden all over The City - in some pretty obscure places as well! Then, when you have all 5 ducks, you need to make your way to the altar room in the basement of the VNC Tower. After attaching some cables, the secret DOOM mini game commences. And what’s better is that when you’ve done it, you unlock a new ability, a Force Hold of sorts. So, not only do you get a really cool DOOM Easter egg, but you also get a really handy ability to use. Win-win-win.

Hitman 3’s Ambrose Island’s Cat Statue Easter Egg

IO Interactive have to be up there with the best of the best when it comes to Easter eggs in their Hitman games. Whether you’re talking about unleashing the kraken in Sapienza, escaping Miami by flying out of the map as a Flamingo mascot, the crying elephant statues in Bangkok, spawning Godzilla into Hokkaido, or even triggering a volcanic eruption, IO Interactive clearly have fun with Hitman, packing secrets

into every map since day 1. 2022 was business as usual for IO, with them dropping their Ambrose Island map for Hitman 3.

Like the volcanic eruption in Hitman’s Hokkaido map where you tracked down and destroyed Mini Ninjas statues to trigger the event, on Ambrose Island, if you destroy 5 lucky manekineko cat statues dotted around the map you’ll be able to trigger another special event. Once you’ve destroyed all 5 of the waving arm lucky cat statues, and returned to the pier and blended in, you’ll summon a ginormous maneki-neko statue who rises out of the water and proceeds to throw fish at you. Utterly pointless, yet utterly brilliant. Exactly how we love our Easter eggs.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe’s Dark Souls/ Elden Ring Easter Egg

As far as games go with the most secrets, references and Easter eggs, I actually can’t think of a video game with more of them than The Stanley Parable. 2022 saw the expanded version of the 2013 game hit consoles, with even more references, secrets and Easter eggs to discover. Not only were the Minecraft and Portal sequences updated and replaced with Firewatch and Rocket League sequences, but they also included a ton of new content and secrets too.

One of said secrets involves beginning a new game while standing in the brand new “jump circle.” Doing so will allow players to jump in their new game, and as such, that jump allows some new places to be accessed. One of those areas is in the large open room where you can jump off the moving platform onto the walkway. However, if you jump over the boxes on the left of the moving platform, and head through the duct down below, you’ll find yourself in a new area.

Once in the new area, if you follow it around to the right and jump over the boxes, there’ll be a Dark Souls/Elden Ring rune on the floor, that if you interact with spawns one of the glowing silhouettes from FromSoftware games that points up, with the text reading “Praise the jumping.” Not only is it wonderfully self-aware, but it’s also a reference to FromSoftware’s Souls-likes which didn’t really have a designated jump button until more recently. In a game full of references and Easter eggs, we absolutely loved this one.

Goat Simulator 3’s Lightsabre Easter Egg

Coffee Stain’s Goat Simulator games are completely bonkers, and 2022’s Goat Simulator 3 is no different. There are so many secrets and really cool nods in Goat Simulator 3 that like Dying Light 2, we could have included more than one in this list, but alas, we again must abide by our 1 Easter egg per game rule! The coolest, for us, was clearly the game’s lightsabre that you can unlock.

Now, for us, it’s not so much the lightsabre itself, but how you unlock it that we actually adored this year - although the lightsabre is as cool as anything too. To unlock it, firstly head to the Brumehill Cemetery in Fairmeadows Ranch, and head to the top of the church. When up there, to unlock the mausoleum which holds the lightsabre, all you need to do is use the bells to play The Imperial March from Star Wars. Yes, you need to hit the bells in a certain order, so that it plays the iconic Darth Vader anthem from Star Wars, which, may I add, is completely bloody brilliant. As we said, sure, the lightsabres connected to your pesky goat is great, but playing the Imperial March song on church bells to unlock is perhaps even better. Love it.

Gran Turismo 7’s Suspicious Off-Track Activity Easter Egg

It’s not very often you find Easter eggs in racing games, but Gran Turismo 7 this year had some absolute beauts. Most of GT7’s best Easter eggs in 2022 revolved around some really suspicious off-track activity. Sure, if you park up in the right spot on the Daytona International Speedway you’ll see the SpaceX Falcon Heavy take off (and its booster rockets drop back to earth), but that’s not exactly what we call suspicious. Before we get to the downright insane, yes,

Gran Turismo’s chimpanzee returns in GT7 in Trial Mountain, so keep an eye out for him too. But the best was yet to come.

Elsewhere on Trial Mountain, in the lake in the final sector, you can actually see the Loch Ness monster if you wait long enough (roughly 5-minutes). The best Easter egg in Gran Turismo 7, however, is the alien abduction that takes place in front of your very eyes on the Mount Panorama track. On the west side of the track, if you wait long enough, a UFO will rise from below the horizon and hover in the air.

If you wait even longer you’ll see said UFO use its tractor beam to grab a cow out of a field and abduct it. Easter eggs in racing games aren’t common at all, but if they’re all like this, then we definitely want to see more. Kudos, Polyphony Digital!

Flight Simulator’s Flight Simulator Inception

Easter Egg

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Flight Simulator 2020, Asobo dropped an update this year, with a whole host of goodies for players to get their hands on. One of those goodies, rather brilliantly, is a classic Flight Simulator Easter egg, allowing you to play the old Flight Simulator games in one of the cockpits on one of its displays, which is honestly pretty amazing if you ask us.

All you need to do to play Flight Simulators 1 to 4 in Flight Simulator 2020 is jump into the cockpit of the Diamond DA62. Once you’re in, look to your right at the display screen and next to that you’ll see a flip labelled ELT. If you flick said switch and turn it on, Flight Simulator 1-4 will now be able to be played on the small screen in front of you. As far as nice touches go, this is definitely one of them, and is a nice nod to one of the longest running franchises. 40 years is actually pretty nuts if you think about it.

skull and bones suffers sixth delay as ubisoft sinks three other projects

Ubisoft has delayed its multiplayer pirate adventure game Skull and Bones for the sixth time and has cancelled three unannounced games. In a press release, Ubisoft revealed it had cancelled three unannounced projects, on top of the four previously canned games announced in July, due to the developer and publisher facing “major challenges” and the underperformance of games such as Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023. Ubisoft also confirmed that Skull and Bones had been delayed for a sixth time and will no longer launch on March 9th, 2023.

Ubisoft delays Skull and Bones again and cancels three unannounced games

Ubisoft says its strategy for the past four years has been about building long-lasting live service games and adapting its major franchises (Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and The Division) to “mega-brands” that can “reach players across the globe, across platforms, and business models.” However, Ubisoft says that

the “games from this investment phase have yet to be released, while our recent launches have not performed as well as expected.” The company also points out that sales over the holiday season were “markedly and surprisingly slower than expected.”

To strengthen its long-term growth and value creation prospects going forward, Ubisoft announced it would ensure all its energy “is focused on building our brands and live services into some of the most powerful within the industry.” As a consequence of this, Ubisoft has cancelled three unannounced projects on top of four games that were previously cancelled in July last year.

As for Skull and Bones, Ubisoft says the multiplayer pirate adventure game will now launch “early” in Ubisoft’s next financial year, which runs from April 2023 to March 2024. Skull and Bones was pushed back last year to March 9th, 2023, so it’s possible that the delay could only be minor.

The day before delayed to november 2023 amid trademark dispute & legal issues

Developer Fntastic was previously criticized for its use of “volunteer” workers.

The post-apocalyptic zombie game The Day Before, which has been criticized for its reported use of unpaid workers, has been delayed to November 2023 due in part to a trademark issue, it seems. The game has been pushed from March 2023 to November 2023. Developer Fntastic and publisher Mytona said in a statement that Steam blocked The Day Before from getting a page on the store due to a request from a private individual over the game’s name.

The studio said when it announced The Day Before in January 2021, the name “The Day Before” was available to trademark as a video game. After this, a person registered that name with the US Patent and Trademark Office, beating Fntastic to the punch.

Fntastic went on to say that it found out about the trademark issue on January 19, 2023, when the person owning The Day Before’s video game trademark reached out with a request to talk. “Now we find out all the circumstances of the incident and we will definitely solve everything,” Fntastic said.

The studio went on to say it had planned to release a “lengthy” gameplay video for The Day Before in January, but the video now won’t be released until the studio can “sort this issue out.” The video will be posted “ASAP,” the studio said. A new gameplay video for The Day Before was released during CES 2023. For the new gameplay video, Fntastic says lawyers have to approve its release.

Regarding the delay, Fntastic said it was necessary to push The Day Before to November 10, 2023, and it understands this might disappoint some fans. “However, we want to ensure we release the best possible game,” Fntastic said.

“Our 100% focus remains on the game itself and how to deliver you the best game possible. Thank you and we hope for your support,” the team said.

In May 2022, Fntastic announced that The Day Before shifted to the Unreal Engine 5, which resulted in a delay to 2023. Fntastic, which is an all-remote studio that has never released a game, describes its workers as “volunteers.” Company founders Eduard Gotovtsev and Aisen Gotovtsev said Fntastic has more than 100 full-time internal “volunteers,” which also means “employees,” from places like Singapore, Russia, the Netherlands, Thailand, Ukraine, Finland, Kazakhstan, and Belarus.

Fntastic also works with “supporters,” who help with testing and reviewing, and it works with about 40 of these people in the US and worldwide. Presumably some people who are working on The Day Before are being paid, but official details are unavailable. You can find out more about “life at Fntastic” in the video above.

The Day Before gives off some major The Last of Us vibes, as we saw in a previous 13-minute gameplay demo. It is set in a post-pandemic America where zombies are a constant danger and the remaining humans are fighting to control what precious few resources remain.

The game has a lot of hype behind it already, as The Day Before was, for a period of time, Steam’s most wish listed game.

As one of the most hyped up games since 2021 will we eventually see this game release? Will it be all hype and no bang? I for one hope its as good as it is portrayed as we do indeed need more games like this.

Dead island 2 will bring back weapon durability

Weapon durability and its application in games have long been hot topics amongst players. Some love it, some are fine with it, and others hate it. And those feelings vary depending on who you are talking to about this topic. I think of games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when someone brings up weapon durability, as it was a hotly debated aspect of its release. Love it or hate it, weapon durability is a feature that will likely never go away in games, and that’s okay because when it’s done right, it can be a helpful way to push players toward something new. In 2011’s Dead Island, weapon durability was a big part of the experience, and that feature will return in Dead Island 2 when it hits PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and PC, on April 28. As for why, it’s because developer Dambuster Studios finds it to be a useful instrument in guiding players.

Game director David Stenton spoke about this and here is what he mentioned. “With the durability, we’re not super harsh about it, We’re not trying to be a survivor simulator or a survivor horror game. It’s there as an instrument so that we can encourage players to go back to a workbench, and rather than repair your weapon or level match your weapon, maybe I’m level 10, and that favourite weapon that...was my favourite a few hours ago is still level 5. Do I really want to pay the cost of level matching that weapon, or actually maybe I’ll spend the money at a vendor and buy a new pre-modded weapon. Or maybe I’ll spend the money applying this new mod and some of the ingredients I’ve got.

“It’s about giving the player options and encouraging them to go back to a workbench and try something new.” I agree with Stenton’s assessment of what weapon durability is doing in the game. Game Informer got to play the game early and here’s their hot take on the feature. ‘’There wasn’t really a moment where I even thought out too hard about a weapon’s durability. Combat is frantic, fast-paced, and chaotic. When I was in the middle of killing a horde of zombies and a weapon broke, I’d switch to another via my rather large weapon wheel without much thought about the one no longer viable because of its durability. Sure, there were moments when one of my favourites was essentially not usable because its durability was gone, but I almost always had a close second favourite ready to go. I imagine it’ll be easy to get attached to weapons in Dead Island 2 – I especially loved my Slaughtering Cremator Cleaver and Enhanced Impactor Improvised Hammer – but in just my eight hours with the game, I probably encountered more than 100 others. If one of your weapons breaks, a new favourite is likely not too far from you.

What do you think about this feature? Either way we will be fighting hordes come April 28th 2023

Bringing the fear: interview with anna jasinska from bloober team

Bloober Team has revealed new details about its approach to developing the Silent Hill 2 remake, in an interview with DreadXP. Why not check out the interview with Justin from DreadXP & Anna Jasińska who is the Chief Marketing Officer from Bloober team below.

Justin: One of my first more modern horror games on PC was Layers of Fear in 2016, when I wanted to get back into PC gaming. I loved what this unknown studio (to me) at the time, Bloober Team, was capable of with its unique ability to shift the environments around the player. Needless to say, I was blown away. Cut to October 2022, having released titles like Observer, Layers Of Fear 2, Blair Witch, and The Medium, Bloober Team was on fire. They were really cementing themselves in the horror genre. So when Layers Of Fear was announced, I was extremely excited. Then only a few weeks later, they announced they would be heading up the Silent Hill 2 remake! I knew I had to do all I could to get an interview to ask about Layers Of Fear and Silent Hill 2 Remake. Luckily, I could talk with Anna Jasińska, over at Bloober Team.

Layers of Fear really push the envelope for transforming the scenery around the player. Can we expect that to be pushed to the next level in Layers Of Fear?

Anna: The series’ first two instalments captivated players with stunning visuals. As they traversed the games’ harrowing locations, players had an unshakable feeling that the border between reality and the artists’ hallucination was a thin thread. In Layers of Fear, we will continue making each scene unique and disturbing to explore.

Justin: Is Layers Of Fear considered Layers Of Fear 3? Or is it the other side of the story to Layers

of Fear 1? Is it connected to the 1st and 2nd games?

Anna: No, this is not Layers of Fear 3. We have come up with a brand-new name. The slight nuances in spelling subtly hint to us that we have something fresh coming. Layers of Fear is a completely new video game concept. It fuses the best elements of Layers of Fear 1 and Layers of Fear 2 with new gameplay mechanics, topped with an allnew storyline never seen before. We wrapped all the best stuff together and created an ultimate, overarching story for the whole Layers franchise. Something like this never happened before in the game industry, and we call it “reimagination”.

Justin: Is there something in the game you can’t wait for returning fans to experience?

Anna: The game will be a bewitching and artistic experience thanks to the stunning set pieces, a new compelling story, and revamped gameplay mechanics. We can’t wait to see our fans’ reaction to the drop-dead gorgeous graphics powered by the brand-new UE5 engine. It will be a visual masterpiece!

Justin: Is Layers of Fear going to have something for returning fans? Will it be easily accessible for newcomers as well?

Anna: As mentioned before, a new storyline and spiced-up gameplay await—long-time fans will find the latter refreshing. The connecting narrative between Layers of Fear 1 and Layers of Fear 2 will be felt by players familiar with the two games as they see how seemingly unrelated stories interweave. The new chapters in the game will show how the aforementioned titles blend into one complete magnum opus. As for new fans, they will experience all the best things that define the Layers franchise without feeling lost in the plot.

Justin: If there is One thing you want players to keep in mind going into Layers Of Fear, what would it be?

Anna: First of all, we want to thank all the fans that showed their support for the Layers series. The first Layers of Fear is exceptional to us because its success largely influenced our decision to take the path of horror game developers. The fans’ cheerful feedback from that game encouraged us to craft the upcoming instalment in a fresh form. Layers of Fear will be a crowning work of the whole series. It will absorb players into its twisted lore once again, where art intertwines with horror, darkness, and mystery.

Justin: Switching gears to Silent Hill 2. Was Silent Hill 2 chosen by the team, or was the team approached to do Silent Hill 2? And was there any apprehension about remaking a game that is coveted by the horror community?

Anna: The fact that we’re developing a SILENT HILL game is an honour and a dream come true. SILENT HILL 2 is a classic that shaped how our studio works on psychological horrors. The idea of working on this project stalked us for many

years, and in 2019, we received an invitation from Konami to participate in the Tokyo Games Show. To our delight, Konami asked us to prepare a concept for a remake of the original game’s second instalment in exchange for the opportunity of bringing the concept to life. Of course, we weren’t the only contenders. Many other studios were vying for cooperation as well, but in the end, our concept was the one that stole Konami’s heart. They recognized our commitment and passion for horror, and that alone was an enormous distinction for us. Our company was thunderstruck when we received this ecstatic information because many of Bloober Team’s employees are die-hard fans of the title. As for apprehension, yes, the pressure is high since we’re dealing with one of the best psychological horror games ever made. We want to stick close to the original, and we will put it in the spotlight for years to come.

Justin: How long has this remake been in development? How far along into development is it?

Anna: I have to keep the details to myself.

Justin: How has the team gone about recreating the horror present in the original Silent Hill 2? Part of the horror, as we all know, was in part due to the limitations of the hardware at the time.

Anna: We are focusing on bringing the distinct, visceral atmosphere back in the modernised SILENT HILL 2. Long-time fans shouldn’t worry about us “missing the point” while we’re livening up the title. We faithfully stick to the traditional story canon while remaking the gameplay and updating the graphics from the ground up. These are the reasons why Konami entrusted us with the remake in the first place. A big visible change is the adoption of an over-the-shoulder camera, which altered the perspective of a few iconic set pieces, but also meant an overhaul to the combat system. The latest technological achievements do wonder when it comes to making the visuals pop. As you see, we are not straying away from the original concept of making this cult classic; we just have some ideas on how to make the peculiar scare factors more appealing to the contemporary audience.

Justin: Have there been any story or dynamic scene changes that had to happen? Like the infamous Pyramid Head in the kitchen scene?

Anna: You see, we are now getting into the details, so we’ll save our answer for the future.

Justin: Was the team given free rein to put their own spin on things? Bloober team is amazing at its ability to transform the environment around the player, and I’m really hoping we get to see that put to use here for the “Otherworld”

Anna: As aforementioned, we take a very safe approach to any changes. We remain faithful to the original title. Nonetheless, we are applying adjustments to certain areas where things need modernising due to the passage of time.

Justin: Bloober Team, has a lot going on right now between these two projects. Is there a third secret project in the works?

Anna: We always have something “horror-ish” up our sleeve.

We want to thank Anna for taking the time to talk about both Layers Of Fear and Silent Hill 2 Remake with Justin over at DreadXP. Bloober Team really is putting out some quality horror titles recently, and we are very excited to see what they have in store for us.

missmikkaa simultaneously defeated two malenias with a dance pad and controller

As if beating Malenia - arguably Elden Ring’s hardest boss - wasn’t a feat enough in itself, Twitch streamer MissMikkaa just beat two Malenias at one time with a controller and a dance pad.

MissMikkaa accomplished this astonishing feat during an “Ultimate Challenge Run,” where she tasked herself with playing “two Elden Rings games simultaneously with different controllers (Dance Pad & PS5 DualSense).” She also had to kill the “bosses on the same try on both game instances.”

It took her three days and 199 tries, but she prevailed in the end. She plans on taking down Radagon/Elden Beast next, and who knows what other challenges she will come up with in the future. Malenia has been one of the toughest challenges in recent memory in the world of video games, and the difficulty of her battle inspired the rise of, alongside MissMikkaa and others, one of Elden Ring’s most legendary players, Let Me Solo Her. This player would appear in players’ games to take down Malenia single-handedly.

Hassan abi’s turkey & syria earthquakes fund

Popular streamer and regular fundraiser Hasan

“HasanAbi” Piker’s community as of February 9 2023 has successfully raised $1,000,000 USD in three days to aid the relief efforts and rescue operations in Turkey and Syria after a disastrous earthquake hit the two countries.

HasanAbi, at the time of writing this update, has raised $1,060,122 USD via his fundraiser. Notably, he noticed that the fundraiser was $20,000 USD short of hitting the million-dollar mark and as a result, he donated the $20,000 USD. In total, he has contributed $45,000 USD.

Earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.8 and 7.5 on the Richter scale killed thousands of people in south-eastern Turkey and north-western Syria. The disaster caused widespread destruction and injured thousands.

Rescue teams are searching through the rubble and countries are rushing aid to earthquakehit Turkey and Syria. Twitch streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker started a fundraiser to raise money for those affected by the earthquakes and the aftershocks. HasanAbi, at the time of writing this article, has already raised $635,486 USD via his fundraiser.

HasanAbi’s fundraiser can be accessed via this link: https://t.co/lVy4dLzqxe.

HasanAbi’s fundraiser & the benefiting charities

HasanAbi made it clear that he was looking for organizations that are not tied to the Turkish government so that the funds go directly to the people in dire need. The charities benefiting from HasanAbi’s fundraiser are Ahbap, CARE Turkey, CARE Syria, and AKUT Association.

HasanAbi announced that he and his viewers managed to reach $150,000 USD in 15 minutes and this figure stands at over $600,000 USD currently. Addressing the earthquake, HasanAbi tweeted, “Absolutely devastating. I was in Istanbul

in 1999 which [the earthquake’s magnitude] was a 7.6, this was a 7.8. I will do everything I can to help.”

He also stated that he was actively working to create a streamlined process so that foreign donors can easily fund NGOs including Ahbap for fast relief. With people rapidly donating to HasanAbi’s fundraiser, the site temporarily crashed

HasanAbi calls out haters

Many people on Twitch were trying their hardest to convince those wanting to contribute to HasanAbi’s fundraiser by calling it a “scam.” One of the biggest streamers who was targeted was YouTuber and content creator Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkin. When IShowSpeed wanted to donate $50,000 USD to HasanAbi’s fundraiser, viewers told him that it was a scam.

HasanAbi stated that people were desperately trying to vilify him and explained how serious the situation in Turkey and Syria is. He pointed out that there are people stuck under the rubble who might not make it out over the next 24 hours. He was seemingly disappointed with people stopping IShowSpeed from donating and stated that the thousands of viewers watching him could potentially think the fundraiser is a scam.

Charles Christopher White Jr. aka MoistCr1TiKaL also released a video explaining how weird it is that people are undermining the efforts of Hasan just because they personally dislike the streamer. He said, “You don’t have to like the person who does a good deed, but you can appreciate the good deed that was done.”

Some of the top donors to HasanAbi’s charity include Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, Ludwig “ludwig” Ahgren, Tarık “tarik” Çelik, and Seán “Jacksepticeye” William McLoughlin.

scump unexpectedly retires in the middle of his final season of competitive call of duty

In an emotional goodbye message surrounded by friends, family, and teammates, Call of Duty legend Seth “Scump” Abner has retired from competitive play in the middle of what was supposed to be his final season. The legendary face of OpTic announced prior to the start of the 2023 Call of Duty League season that this would be his final year as a pro. But after one event and in the middle of online qualifiers for the second Major of Modern Warfare 2, he has officially retired from playing competitively.

In the goodbye video, titled “THANKS FOR EVERYTHING,” Scump confirmed that Brandon “Dashy” Otell will be back in OpTic’s starting lineup in his place.

“With the addition of Brandon back, I hope people are happy with the new roster,” Scump said as part of his farewell speech. “I think you guys are going to be disgusting. Bringing Brandon back made sense; life’s too short to hold grudges or be mad at each other. I hope he uses this opportunity to be a good teammate. I’m falling down so [Dashy] can go up.”

Dashy was not in attendance for Scump’s in-person farewell gathering. OpTic Texas tweeted confirmation of Dashy’s return to the starting lineup minutes after Scump posted his retirement speech. In his speech, Scump spoke openly about the struggles of managing competitive focus, content creation, and fan interaction all at once, and admitted that he was “on the fence” about even competing at all during this season.

“It’s not a sad night. It’s a happy night. It’s a new chapter in my life. So let’s have some fun,” an emotional Scump said to end the video.

high on life studio squanch games announce justin roiland has resigned

Last week, it was revealed that the High On Life and Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland had been charged with one felony count of domestic battery with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit in relation to an incident from 2020. Now, developer Squanch Games has announced that Roiland, the co-founder and CEO of the studio, has left the company.

Justin Roiland resigns from Squanch Games

“On January 16th, 2023, Squanch Games received Justin Roiland’s resignation,” the studio announced on Twitter.

“The passionate team at Squanch will keep developing games we know our fans will love while continuing to support and improve High On Life.”

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While no specific reason has been given for Roiland’s departure from the studio, domestic violence charges came to light last week when Roiland attended court for a pre-trial hearing. Roiland was reportedly arrested back in May 2020 and then released on a $50,000 bond in August 2020 before being arraigned in October of that year. Roiland has pleaded not guilty.

Adult Swim, the US network for Rick and Morty, also announced it had cut ties with Roiland and confirmed that Rick and Morty would continue without him, despite Roiland voicing numerous characters on the show.

maverick games is a new aaa studio from former forza horizon devs

After leaving Xbox’s Playground Games, some of the leads that have created the Forza Horizon series have now founded a new AAA development studio. This new studio has been called Maverick Games and it has some big ambitions. The UK-based outfit’s founding team The Leamington Spa is now being led by former Forza Horizon Creative Director Mike Brown. He also is the creative director and studio head.

It was revealed that the new studio has now secured significant seed funding and already has a planned debut game. This upcoming title will be a new, premium open-world game that will be available on PC and consoles. The announcement did not specify if this is going to be a racing type of game, but there is a high chance it could be one. The leadership team will include Chief Operating Officer Harinder Sangha and Executive Producer Tom Butcher. The former was previously the co-studio head of Sumo Digital Leamington while the latter was a former lead producer at Playground.

Maverick Games’ chief technology officer is Matt Craven who was Playground’s technical director. Content Director Gareth Harwood previously was Xbox Studio technical art director, and audio director Fraser Strachan was also the audio director at Playground Games. Ben Penrose is now the art director of Maverick Games and was previously a Playground Studio art director. UX/UI Director Elly Marshall was EA Experience design director.

“Our goal is for Maverick Games to be a studio people will love,” said Brown. “For players, we’re already at work on an exciting ultra-high quality title, and for developers, we’re building a home where everyone is encouraged to take risks, be curious, be creative, be innovative, be themselves, and above all – be a Maverick.”

support studio skybox labs acquired by netease

Chinese gaming company NetEase Games has announced that it has acquired SkyBox Labs.

SkyBox Labs, based in Canada is best known as a support studio and has worked on games in some of the biggest franchises in gaming including Minecraft, Halo Infinite, and Fallout 76. They’ve worked particularly closely with Microsoft in the past on multiple Halo and Age of Empires games as well as multiplatform games such as EA Sports UFC and Grandia II Anniversary Edition.

SkyBox Labs will operate independently within NetEase Games and will continue to offer game development services to its current partners as well as future partners.

“Over the last decade, we’ve had the pleasure to work on beloved games such as Halo Infinite, Minecraft, and Fallout 76. We remain committed to growing our presence in Canada, supporting our current and future partners, and co-developing more AAA games for some of the biggest game studios around the world,” says SkyBox Labs co-founder Shyang Kong.

“We have built a team of talented individuals who are passionate and creative, and by joining NetEase Games, we will also be able to accelerate our plans to pursue new creative opportunities and enjoy access to world-class operational resources and the full breadth and depth of NetEase’s services so we can scale faster in Canada.”

turbo golf racing celebrates one million players with new update!

Shiver me 9-woods over one million players have now teed off in Turbo Golf Racing. As a thank you to all players indie developer Hugecalf Studios has unleashed a fresh new bounty in disguise of the Pirate Update. This update is out now, the update sees a pirate themed event and car items, a community ball event and two additional levels bringing the total level count to 57! All of which is free of course. In addition to new content the launch of the pirate update introduces various tweaks and adjustments to the game also.

Those who are new to this game or are yet to know about it well let us fill you in from here, Turbo Golf Racing is a fast paced arcade style sports racing game for up to eight players, all competing to see whose speed putting skills are up to par, Racers flip, glide and dash their turbocharged cars down winding fairways as they strike their oversized golf balls towards the finishing cup, Turbo Golf Racing has received multiple free content updates since early access launch, and over one million players have teed off across Steam, Xbox platforms & Game pass.

the Last of us: season one tgg review

The following is a spoiler-free review of Season 1 of The Last of Us. The series premiered its debut on HBO on January 15th 2023.

Now we don’t really review Tv Shows but with this being game related we thought why not, you may find more like these upcoming with one big segment on the soon to be released DnD movie so we hope you enjoy our Review below.

The best adaptations don’t just imitate their source material but aim to enrich for those familiar with it, while also acting as an entry point for those who aren’t. HBO’s The Last of Us does exactly that: a brilliant retelling of one of video games’ most beloved stories that rebottles the lightning of what made it so special to many in the first place, letting it strike again to stunning effect. Thanks to a pair of phenomenal lead performances and a beautifully executed vision of what it is to find hope and love in a world hellbent on denying it, The Last of Us thrills from the first episode to the last.

The shape of the story will be familiar to any who have played the original game, but that’s not to say you’ll know exactly what’s coming next since deviations are frequently taken. A postpandemic world where pockets of humanity aim to keep afloat amongst a sea of infection, it’s a place brought to stark realisation by showrunner Craig Mazin, aided by the creator of The Last of Us video game, Neil Druckmann. The setup for the plot circles around Joel, a smuggler tasked with couriering a teenage girl west in an America ravaged by a deadly fungal pandemic for the past 20 years. Of course, things don’t go smoothly as danger lurks around every corner in both human and post-human forms, ready to break their evertightening bond.

The Last of Us HBO Series Character Guide

Ellie, who could easily have been reduced to a plot device, is the charismatic heartbeat of the show, simultaneously reminding Joel of what he’s lost,

and filling him with a sense of purpose not felt since his darkest day. Love lost is a throughline of the series, but more critical to The Last of Us is the pseudo-paternal love found between the two. Bella Ramsey is simply electrifying as Ellie, effortlessly shifting between delicate vulnerability, youthful excitement, and determined power. She’s a true revelation and deserves all the credit in the world for making her mark on a character whose previous interpretation has been so firmly ingrained in people’s minds. She’s dynamite from the offset, but Ramsey goes from strength to strength in step with Joel and Ellie’s relationship as the season progresses.

Pedro Pascal, meanwhile, brilliantly steps into the well-worn shoes of Joel Miller, southern fried drawl and all, carrying himself in a convincingly experienced and world-weary way. He’s often brooding and quiet – acting as a foil to Ellie’s infectious energy – and able to powerfully express deep emotion through a single look of his eyes. He fits the role perfectly; stoic in the face of adversity and able to position himself at each end of Joel’s emotional spectrum, from warmly caring to ruthlessly violent.

Bella Ramsey is simply electrifying as Ellie.

Solid performances flank the pair as characters weave in and out of Joel and Ellie’s journey. These include Anna Torv as the steely Tess, Gabriel Luna as Joel’s estranged brother Tommy, and Lamar Johnson as the layered and compassionate Henry. Special mention has to go out to Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett who are unforgettable as the melancholic Bill and Frank respectively. We spend fleeting time with some great performances that act to consistently remind us about the fragility of life. If The Last of Us draws up a Venn diagram made up of good and evil circles then the overlapping middle ground would be heavily overpopulated.

Season 1 packs a lot into its nine episodes, which can leave it feeling slightly rushed on occasion as

it hurtles towards its ending. It’s still a conclusion that packs the gut punch it needs to though, and one that’s ultimately earned. That said, I’m well versed in the world of The Last of Us from playing through each of the games multiple times, but I do wonder if the uninitiated may struggle with the number of new concepts and words (FEDRA, Fireflies, cordyceps, etc.) thrown at them consistently in early episodes when the pace is at its most express.

Breathe, and it’s in these pockets that The Last of Us often shines brightest. Yes, seeing recreations of pivotal scenes from the game brought to life offers its own sort of thrill, but it’s most exciting when exploring less trod paths – a case best exemplified by the arrival of Nick Offerman’s Bill. He’s a character given incredible new depth as one handwritten note from the game is expanded into the season’s best hour of television. A heartbreaking account of love being found in a world that all too often tears it apart, it’s a special

story elegantly brought to life through tender performances.

It explores themes mirrored through Ellie’s eyes in another later standout episode and is a testament to how love between two people –no matter who they are or who they choose to share it with – perseveres even when the world and bodies physically channelling it fade. It’s a credit to the show’s creators that two hallmark episodes push queer relationships so firmly to the forefront when it would’ve been so easy to sneak them in as a footnote. They’re presented without judgement and with complete celebration. In a post-apocalyptic vacuum that denies any air of happiness to thrive, these rare sparks of life are all the more important and impactful – like fireflies illuminating an abandoned glass jar.

It’s a credit to the show’s creators that two hallmark episodes push queer relationships so firmly to the forefront.

Visually, The Last of Us is often a sight to behold, even when the camera is pointed at firmly ugly subjects. Details like old paint scabbing over walls and fungal veins crawling across floors sweep convincingly through most buildings. Vast landscapes paint pictures of classic westerns, especially as the seasons change and snow carpets the ground. But while The Last of Us is a great-looking show, it’s in its audio that it particularly excels. Distant cries and nearby clicks often echo scarily through scenes in a world so quiet that any sound can be alarming. The original score is also superb, as familiar refrains from Gustavo Santaolalla’s iconic soundtrack sing in harmony with original pieces that pulse and drive their way through some of the more action-heavy moments.

Totally obvious comparisons can be made to The Road, but The Last of Us rarely reaches the levels of unrelenting bleakness that Cormac McCarthy’s novel nor its subsequent film adaptation did. For each helping of the macabre, there’s a small measure of levity or glimmer of light. The Last of Us may present itself as a hopeless world but over the course of a season it reveals plenty that’s worth fighting for, and in that regard is more reminiscent of Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men in both its themes and visual identity. Lowsaturated greys, greens, and browns occasionally make way for bursts of flame or the flash of gunfire. Bombed-out cities still present flickers of life and echoes of a civilisation worth saving, with both stories ultimately coming down to the successful smuggling of a young woman and the powers of love and the human spirit when combating mother nature’s cruellest will.

There’s barely a still camera shot throughout, tying thematically into the always-on-the-move nature of the story as we dart from place to place across America. There’s no glamorous Hollywood choreography nor any feats of super heroics. It’s all very human and rustic, bordering on clumsy in its action scenes. You can smell the fear and sweat coming off of Joel during a scrap – rooting the action in each encounter’s desperately tangible stakes. While there are some standout moments of combat, in truth The Last of Us is more interested in showing the fallout of violence than the violence itself, letting the echo of each gunshot ring out long before the next is fired.

Action is used sparingly – but too often shocking

effect – as are appearances of the infected. Close ups of the infected and their new, fibrous biology are quite frankly disgusting as fuzzy tendrils crawl out of their mouths like nested xenomorphs. Their mushroomed scalps add layers of fear to each one, each feeling like a genuinely deadly threat regardless of how well-armed Joel and Ellie are. In the game, the presence of the infected is mainly felt through gameplay and combat encounters. As the show isn’t relying on giving a player something to constantly do with their hands, it chooses to instead focus on the human stories existing in this world and does so to great effect. That being said, I couldn’t help but wish for just one or two more clicker appearances over the course of the nine episodes, as we sometimes go through stretches of multiple instalments without a sighting of the terror they can bring.

The Last of Us is more interested in showing the fallout of violence than the violence itself.

On the whole, the plot doesn’t waver too far from its source material but does occasionally stray from the path in order to shine a light on previously unexplored corners of the world. Certain shots or lines of dialogue will have players doing their best Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the TV impressions, but crucially, these never feel crowded in, instead fitting in perfectly with the aesthetic at play. A liberal use of flashbacks paints a bigger picture of the world at large, giving extra context on both a personal and global level and providing societal snapshots of life both before and after the outbreak.

You really get a sense that Druckmann is relishing revisiting his story and adding in sections, such as an early stopover in Indonesia, that just wouldn’t have made sense to have in the game. It also takes time to explore themes shared with Mazin’s previous work on Chernobyl – primarily the valiant fight of working-class people against hopelessness and failures of government. Never once, though, does it take its eye off of the very personal human impact that a world changed forever makes on its people in different ways. There’s a real sense of a creative partnership working at the peak of its power here as old and new ideas blend, and ultimately triumph.

(Photo credit HBO)

When setting out to remake Dead Space, the development team at Motive Studio considered adding in a quick turn. This speedy 180-degree spin was an essential part of Resident Evil 4, the game that so inspired the original Dead Space. If it had been included in the Dead Space remake, it would have made combat encounters feel faster, and made protagonist Isaac Clarke nimbler. In the first couple of hours, I would have killed for a quick turn, to make those necromorph fights just a little bit less scary. But the developer has a different motive. No quick turn was added. And Dead Space is significantly more tense, scarier, and more stressful for it. It was the right decision.

It’s this approach that makes Motive’s remake as good as it is. If you played the original game, then everything that you loved about Dead Space is here; it plays true to your memory of the game. The bigger changes that have been made mostly alter things for the better. Awkward zero-gravity jumping is thankfully gone, replaced by the superior Iron Man-style flight from Dead Space 2. And the game’s boss battles, easily one of the weakest areas of the 2008 game, have been massively reworked. They’re still not the strongest sections of the new Dead Space, but they are a big improvement.

It makes sense that Motive and EA didn’t feel the need to completely rework the game from the ground up. Dead Space has always had a slight obsession with the human spine, from the placement of Isaac Clarke’s health-tracking RIG on his back to the design of the USG Ishimura itself, all metallic bone and vertebrae. It’s fitting, then, that the spine of the original Dead Space game is still so solid, not in need of change. The coolest stuff that has been added - some revelatory side quests, Metroidvaniastyle backtracking, and a new alternative

ending - is all completely optional. It can enhance the experience for those who want to explore further but is just as easily ignored. It doesn’t intrude, just expands.

For those who never played the original, the premise is just as enticing now as it was fifteen years ago. You arrive on the USG Ishimura, a hulking planet cracker in distress in the far recesses of space, only to discover that an alien infection has taken hold within. The crew may be dead, but they are more dangerous than ever, revived as nightmarish alien zombies, all pointed blades, teeth, and tentacles. The necromorph scourge has spread like a cancer through the Ishimura, and you, playing as engineer Isaac Clarke, are the scalpel, slicing and severing your foes from their limbs with surgical precision. You’re cutting out the rot, with the simple aim of surviving, and escaping.

Dead Space so clearly pulls from the likes of Alien, Event Horizon, and Resident Evil 4, but it’s the game’s limb-lopping combat that still proves so unique to this day. Headshots, still a staple of zombie-killing, are all but useless here. Instead, you’ll need to cut through flesh and bone to remove a necromorph’s appendages and take them down. This becomes even more literal in the Dead Space remake, which utilises a physics-based skin-peeling system for the necromorphs. As a result, you need to be even more precise with your shots than before, cutting through the same bit again and again until the arm, leg, or tail drops off. Luckily, Isaac’s armoury of engineering tools make this a deliciously gory joy.

The iconic Plasma Cutter makes a return as your debut weapon and is just as satisfying to use as always. But it’s Dead Space’s extended arsenal that shines brighter in this remake.

Many of the more underwhelming tools have been reworked, making switching between all seven weapons a more viable option than it once was. The Flamethrower, for example, now deals a lot of damage without burning through ammunition, while the Force Gun strips the flesh from a necromorph’s bones, making it far easier to dismember them, and also offering a beautifully bloody treat for the eyes.

The Dead Space remake really is gorgeous, too. Thanks to its utilitarian, industrial art design, the original game still looks pretty good to this day, but the remake is another cut above. The smoke and steam of the Ishimura’s machinery lends a thick, heavy atmosphere to each location, while the dim lights struggle to pierce through. Medical instruments can be mistaken for the sharp blades of a necromorph through the fog, and you’ll frequently find yourself fighting enemies you can’t see. The new 4K sheen can pull away from the horror and the tension a little, however. In the bright light of day (or of your torch) everything can be a little too clear, undermining the horror. I never thought I’d miss the muddy textures of the Xbox 360, but the grime of the Dead Space

remake can look a little too clean, at times.

Thankfully, the game’s outstanding audio design is inescapable. Machine or monster, everything aboard the USG Ishimura is screaming at you. You can hear the thumping and scraping of a malfunctioning door from a few rooms away. Steam escapes from the ship’s machinery with a high-pitched hiss, which could be covering up the sound of a monster creeping up behind you. You can never quite be sure of what you heard, and the music cranks that tension up to eleven, with sharp strings and cymbals that will send your heart racing. It’s a real masterclass of a survival horror soundtrack.

Dead Space is an exemplary game. The original still holds up extremely well, but the remake is excellent in its own regard, fleshing out the story, making smart changes, and hopefully setting the scene for future remakes. Maybe we’ll even get a brand new game? We bloody hope so, because, with excellent combat, wonderful visual design, and one of gaming’s most iconic settings, Dead Space proves to be a must-play survival horror experience. Again.

Overall TGG Rating

The Dead Space remake successfully revives a beloved survival horror franchise with gloriously gory aplomb. Nothing that made the original so good has been compromised, even with all the new additions. Bring on Dead Space 2!

9/10

Audio 9/10

Dead Space’s audio is brilliant. The USG Ishimura is a noisy, industrial place, with machinery that shrieks and screams into life, just like the monsters that infest it. The score is wonderfully tense, too. Dead Space is a game that is at it’s best when played with headphones.

Visuals 9/10

This is a sumptuous remake of a game that already looked pretty damn good, even fifteen years on. The only complaint we have is that it can sometimes look a little too clean and crisp.

Playability

9/10

Dead Space is a joy to play. The gunplay, combined with the dismemberment mechanics, make every combat encounter an exercise in precision, asking you to hold your nerve. Exploration is even better in the remake, and improved accessibility options are always welcome.

Delivery 8/10

A 10-15 hour campaign is bolstered by an excellent New Game+ mode, which even comes with its own exclusive collectibles and alternate ending.

Version tested: Xbox Series X

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

The origins of Forspoken developer, Luminous Productions, are rather interesting. Made up of former Final Fantasy XV developers, Luminous was an outfit originally set up in 2018 as an entertainment studio. But six months after its formation, former studio head Hajima Tabata departed, and Luminous Productions refocused. The reason why this is relevant, is because in its debut game, Forspoken, you can see glimpses of that Final Fantasy brilliance. And yet, it’s a game that’s doesn’t really have that same level of AAA magic and polish. It’s a little all over the place, in truth.

Forspoken sees you step into the shoes of Frey Holland, who after an unfortunate series of events, inexplicably ends transported to the fantasy land of Athia, looking for a way home. Athia is a long way from Frey’s previous home of New York City, not just in terms of distance, but with dragons, beasts and magic running rampant throughout the realm - it’s like something out of a movie. Thankfully, Frey isn’t alone. She’s got a talking vambrace called Cuff, who allows Frey to get her magic weaving on.

In essence, Forspoken is an action-adventure game, with fast-paced combat and parkour being at the core of the experience. On top of that, Frey has a ton of spells at her disposal, making the minute-to-minute gameplay a really interesting prospect. With a ton of support and offensive magic that range from distance attacks to something a touch more up-closeand-personal, combined with the fluidity of the movement mechanics, Forspoken offers an experience that’s pretty much unrivalled.

It’s not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination, and issues with the lock-on system, mainly because of how quickly combat can move, can prove frustrating. Forspoken is certainly

unique, although I highly recommend turning off the haptic feedback for this game, unless you want repetitive strain injury after launching a thousand fireballs.

Forspoken’s world of Athia is a vast open world - in fact, it’s almost too big, and incredibly stark. By the time I’d run through the 20-hour campaign, I’d barely scratched the surface of the game’s colossal open world, meaning there’s more nothingness and repetitive openworld tasks to feast on should you want to. I, however, did not. The combat and traversal is fun, but it’s nothing without the plot and characters to link it together. Heck, the world is so big, that after a long run on the game, it just wouldn’t load anymore and then would crash the game, suggesting Forspoken has a pretty severe memory leak.

Forspoken’s major issues, however, come from its actual pacing. While the original score (from Bear McCreary and Gary Schman) and the writing credits (which include Gary Whitta and Amy Hennig, alongside Allison Rymer, and Todd Stashwick) scream triple A, the actual flow of the game is anything but.

There are too many awkward silences, weird transitions and things like static cutscenes, that really do hamper the game all too often. It feels like the game was designed in the 90s, with disjointed scenes that feel more at home in a Hollywood B-movie. Most scenes are so incredibly stilted, with unnatural pauses and delays in dialogue that really take the shine off the game.

Far too often was Frey locked in place while I waited for her to talk to her wrist, or I waited for the black screen to fade in that would signal the end of the scene. It makes what is

otherwise a pretty solid experience enormously frustrating. It’s such a shame as well, as the world and the characters are so intriguing. Sure, Frey’s unwillingness to become the hero and her incessant whining and moaning do start to grate after a while, but other than that, we grew to like Forspoken’s fish-out-ofwater protagonist, and her chemistry with Cuff - despite the fact that she’s perhaps the most selfish lead character we’ve ever come across in video games - an accolade I’m not sure Luminous should be too proud of.

While the interplay between Frey and Cuff does feel a little forced at times (and very Zoomer vs. Boomer), it actually works well as comic

relief, in a game that is, for the most part, quite oppressive, foreboding, and humourless.

Forspoken is one of those games that really could have been something special. It checks a lot of boxes: the combat is great, the parkour traversal is fun, and the story and characters are actually pretty engaging. But its flow is all over the place, and that, coupled with some odd design decisions, means it’s nothing more than a could-have-been. That’s not to say that Forspoken isn’t a fun game, or even a decent one for that matter - it’s just hard not to look at it and wonder what it could have been.

Overall TGG Rating

Forspoken is a really fun game to get lost in for a few hours, with a pretty damn good story and interesting cast of characters. However, with some unfortunate pacing and flow issues, and a world that feels large just for the sake of it, you can’t help but think about what could have been for Square Enix’s newest IP.

7/10

Audio

8/10

The original composition from Bear McCreary and Gary Schyman is actually pretty fantastic - some of the open-world exploration pieces have a bit of a Skyrim vibe. Throw in a solid performance by Ella Balinska and Jonathan Cake as Forspoken’s bickering duo, and you can’t really complain.

Visuals

7/10

There are times when Forspoken looks absolutely gorgeous, but the environments just feel so empty and formulaic, which takes the edge off the overall presentation. Same with the lip-syncing. Because the characters look so good, the less-than-stellar lip-syncing really stands out. The joys of the uncanny valley!

Playability

7/10

The spell combat and parkour is great fun, if a little unwieldy at times, thanks to the speed at which you move. The lock-on system literally can’t keep up with the pace of the action.

Delivery

6/10

A ginormous open world that feels more dead than alive. Add to that some incredibly jarring and frustrating pacing and flow issues, and Forspoken’s delivery doesn’t match its ambition.

Version tested: Play Station 5

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

The case of Atomic Heart is a curious one. Based in Cyprus, developer Mundfish has alleged connections to Russian money, and this, as its first project, has been mired in controversy as supposed pro-Russia propaganda, which, in the midst of ongoing war in Ukraine, has seen it understandably come under fire. What’s more, the game’s release date closely coincides with the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Mundfish by name, Mundfishy by nature. In response, the studio has defended itself as a “pro-peace organisation”, and composer Mick Gordon has donated his entire fee to the Red Cross Ukrainian Crisis appeal. How best to assess Atomic Heart, then? It bears the palpable bite of satire, in a utopian depiction of an alternate 1950s USSR that hews closely to BioShock, in the way that vision curdles into sheer nightmarish dystopia. It’s clear from the very outset that something is amiss.

Opening during the ostentatious unveiling of the next version of the nation’s neural network, Kollektiv 2.0 (enabling humans to control robots using THOUGHT devices embedded in their temple), Atomic Heart puts you into the boots of an agent known as Major P-3, as the proverbial shit hits the fan, and everything inevitably goes up in smoke. As video game prologues go, it’s pretty spectacular stuff. Robots that were previously subservient are sent haywire, Soviet drones of various shapes and sizes come hurtling through the air, and you’re dragged out of the dirt by Granny Zina, who happens to have an extensive arsenal of weaponry. Before long, you’re thrust into the depths of Facility 3826, a top secret underground military base used to build robots, where Viktor Petrov, a traitor, has hacked Kollektiv 2.0 and escaped.

Armed with your chatty AI Polymer glove pal, Char-les, and a steadily growing collection of upgradeable weapons – including shotguns, handguns, rocket launchers, a railgun, and that old Soviet workhorse the AK47 – you’ll trudge through corridors and office spaces strewn with corpses, blasting freakish moustachioed androids to pieces. In similar fashion to the Plasmids of BioShock, you can hurl elemental abilities at foes; you can freeze, electrocute, and throw enemies using telekinesis; or deploy a Polymer shield to deflect attacks. There’s also some nice flexibility in Atomic Heart’s skill trees, available to upgrade at ‘pervy fridge’ NORA. Why a pervy fridge? No idea, but then a lot about Atomic Heart doesn’t make much sense.

Like being able to swim through serpentine passages of pure Polymer; the constant, grating dialogue between P-3 and his glove; the catchphrase “crispy critters”; a largely superfluous open world connecting Atomic Heart’s more linear sections; and the game’s bizarre story, revolving around a gifted scientist who clearly isn’t quite the full ticket. Mundfish’s game is flawed, then, but its puzzles and combat pull it through, even if Atomic Heart occasionally pours things on far too much. It’s an experience that puts its foot on the accelerator pedal from the get-go and doesn’t really let up for its 20-something hour runtime. What’s strange is that its open overworld feels redundant – every inch of it is teeming with hostile automatons, making the ideal strategy to simply jump behind the wheel of a car and race to the objective marker.

You can’t help but feel that Atomic Heart’s narrative and overall structure would have been

far better served as a purely linear affair. Any time you venture into an open environment, it’s a frustrating hassle getting from one place to another, and it makes the narrative seem baggy and disjointed. It’s also a game that’s stretched rather thin anyway, so you’ll likely be rolling your eyes at the prospect of taking on yet another bullet resistant Plyusch (one of Atomic Heart’s sinewy red mutants) with only your melee weapon. Boss battles, too, are invariably drawn-out gauntlets of attrition, and aren’t particularly exciting. A lack of manual save slots can mean being locked into a boss encounter with no way of backtracking to grab additional resources.

And yet, Atomic Heart’s minute-to-minute gameplay is remarkably solid – headshots feel meaty, chunks get blown out of enemies, and there’s a frantic pace to gunplay and melee combat, which is, for the most part, exciting, but can occasionally become quite overwhelming. Safe rooms offer a brief moment of respite, as well as a place to upgrade weapons and P-3’s Polymer abilities, and checkpoints in general

are usually fair. Sometimes, you need to step back and take a breath in Atomic Heart, so relentless is the game’s action; although, hoovering up loot, using Char-les’ writhing tendrils, after a fight serves as a somewhat therapeutic payoff.

What of Atomic Heart, then? In spite of its swirling and hard-to-ignore controversies, there’s a strong, albeit imperfect, first-person experience here, featuring oodles of depth in its skill trees and weapon upgrade system, its various lock-busting puzzles, and the range of abilities granted by P-3’s glove, Char-les. The story is alright, too, as you chase down Petrov and batter a vast legion of machines and mutants, at the behest of your boss, Dr. Sechenov. However, it’s a game that attempts far too much, and ends up doing a lot of it halfbaked. There’s a lack of polish, too, with its fair share of unusual bugs. Nonetheless, there’s fun to be had with Atomic Heart, though whether you choose to support the game in light of its real-world issues, is ultimately down to you.

Overall TGG Rating

Controversy aside, Atomic Heart is a robust first-person affair, albeit one that revels in glorified Soviet iconography and Wolfenstein-esque alternate history weirdness. The difference is, there’s no ambiguity in shooting Nazis – here, however, you can’t help but have a sense of unease while playing. 7/10

Audio 7/10

DOOM composer Mick Gordon is firing on all cylinders for this one, and the voice acting, while incessant, is none too shabby. Sound effects are fab, too.

Visuals 8/10

Atomic Heart is a fantastic looking game, but it’s not without its graphical issues. A progress-blocking bug where the floor failed to appear in a room, being one such example.

Playability

7/10

Melee combat and gunslinging alike proves gratifying, as do the various abilities granted by your Polymer glove. In the open world sections, things fall apart somewhat.

Delivery 7/10

A strong single-player experience that runs for around 20 hours or so, Atomic Heart feels like it could use a trim. Also, the lack of New Game+ or endgame options is silly.

Version tested: Xbox Series X & Windows PC

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

When was the last time you were genuinely, properly surprised by something? And when was it a new video game that came out of nowhere? Hi-Fi Rush is an increasingly rare thing in this era of rampant leaks and delays a complete, ready-to-go game announced and released on the same day. Also, it’s unreservedly brilliant, bristling with a raw and infectious energy, excellent music, and rhythmbased gameplay that proves consistently exciting and enjoyable.

And while Hi-Fi Rush was leaked the day before its reveal, developer Tango Gameworks’ action game still feels like a real surprise, forgoing the bleak horror of its The Evil Within games, for something gleefully exuberant and colourful. Immediate comparisons to Sunset Overdrive and Jet Set Radio are inevitable, but the truth is, Hi-Fi Rush is something else altogether. Its melee-based combat brings to mind Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, albeit with a rhythmic twist, strikes from ‘wannabe rockstar’ hero Chai imbued with more power should you manage to match the beat.

As for the reason why, after a visit to the Vandelay corporation to have a robotic arm installed, Chai’s music player inadvertently finds its way into his chest and ends up fused to his heart. Labelled a ‘defect’, Chai finds himself on the run from Vandelay’s legion of robots, and when the music plays, you’ll find yourself fighting while attempting to stay on-time. It’s initially quite tricky, but there are numerous

visual cues to aid you, should you have all the rhythm of a beached octopus. Chai has an extensive arsenal of moves, too, all unleashed via his flying-V guitar-shaped baton thing.

Chai must escape the clutches of Vandelay’s robot army, led by nefarious corporate CEO Kale Vandelay. Each level has its own boss to take down, from the head of Production to Vandelay’s Marketing and its Finance department heads, all with their own little twists to overcome. Building up your Reverb metre, by hitting the rhythm, enables you to unleash special moves, of which there are many to purchase from the in-game store.

Tango does a great job in steadily drip-feeding moves and mechanics, too you won’t even learn how to parry until you’re a good few hours in, although you’ll soon learn how to dodge and use Chai’s magnetic tether to grapple your way towards enemies. As you progress, and your combat options expand, the action becomes increasingly versatile, adding summonable companion characters, devastating special attacks, aerial moves, and other abilities to your impressive repertoire. Hi-Fi Rush just keeps getting better and better, despite being the sort of thing that could have very easily started to grate after a few hours.

The pulsing of the environment, the power chords of Chai’s guitar as you swing it, and the noises of percussion as you dodge and leap make for an astonishing soundscape during

Hi-Fi Rush’s intense combat, although it can be tricky to key in to the game’s rhythm. Each level has its own toe-tapping track to bop along to, with a few licensed tunes in the mix – Prodigy’s ‘Invaders Must Die’ being a heart-pounding highlight – and accurate rhythm is rewarded with ‘S’ ranks and a shower of gears used as currency towards upgrades and new moves.

Hi-Fi Rush’s cast of characters are a constant delight, too, Chai’s ‘never-say-die’ attitude making him an extremely likeable lead, while buddies like robot cat 808, painfully cool hacker Peppermint, burly former Vandelay researcher Macaron, and his robot compadre CNMN, also making for equally good company. Between missions, you can hang out at Peppermint’s hideout, play with 808 on the couch, upgrade your abilities, interact with your crew, and check on your progress with the game’s many collectibles.

The game’s art design is also magnificent stuff, with its crisp lines, gorgeous cel-shaded colours, and slick animation. Characters and environments sit together beautifully, the entire

thing a riot of piercing blue skies, searing reds, yellows, and greens, with vistas stretching far into the distance. Even traversal is rhythmbased, while certain progress-blocking obstacles and contraptions require the aid of one of your companions. Robotic enemies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, too, each with their own attacks and patterns to learn, whereas boss battles are unique encounters that put you in front of different facets of the game’s rhythm-matching gameplay, putting your skills to the test.

Even if you find matching the beat during combat a difficult thing, it ultimately doesn’t matter. While at higher difficulties it becomes increasingly vital, at easy and normal levels, you can muddle through to the end with only the most rudimentary of rhythmic skills. Whether you’re tuned in to the game’s beat or not, then, playing Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute pleasure, regardless, Tango Gameworks proving that it can do more than just horror, delivering one of the most vibrant and exciting games in some time, infused with a verve and brio that’s all too rare these days.

Overall TGG Rating

Tango Gameworks’ rhythm-based actioner is not only one of the most enjoyable games in years, but also one of the most stunningly beautiful, with fantastic music and beat-matching combat to boot. Hi-Fi Rush is, indeed, as its name suggests, a rush.

9/10

Audio 9/10

Fantastic music (both original and licensed) that will have you bopping along to the action. The voice cast is utterly superlative, too, delivering lines with real gusto. Excellent stuff.

Visuals 9/10

A stunningly attractive game boasting a crisp, clean art style that’s impossible not to love. A vibrant palette and sense of movement and energy only adds to the appeal.

Playability

9/10

While having rhythm is certainly a big plus, it won’t stymie your enjoyment of Hi-Fi Rush one iota. The action is immediate, intuitive, and constantly enjoyable. Cracking.

Delivery 9/10

Hi-Fi Rush’s 15-20 hour duration is exactly the right length, ensuring the story doesn’t outstay its welcome. Post-game secrets will keep you coming back for more.

Version tested: Xbox Series X

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

You can never have too much of a good thing, at least when it comes to Yakuza games. Or, should we say, as this is the first game to fully embrace the series’ rebrand: Like a Dragon. A remake of 2014’s Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin, which originally only saw the light of day in Japan, Like a Dragon: Ishin! (the exclamation mark is entirely warranted) is most definitely more of that good thing, and a chance for a western audience to at long last experience what was previously considered one of the more obscure franchise outings.

In fact, it was for some time considered unadaptable to a western audience, but, on the strength of Ishin’s narrative and its bold characterisation, that clearly isn’t the case. Like a Dragon: Ishin! is unreservedly wonderful. Transposing recognisable Yakuza characters to a historical setting, inspired by real-world 1860s Kyo, Ishin has you slipping into the sandals and haori of Sakamoto Ryoma, who looks like Kazuma Kiryu, but is not Kazuma Kiryu. With us so far? Good. A low-ranking goshi samurai, Ryoma soon finds himself in trouble – much like Kiryu often does – as he returns to his hometown of Tosa, having committed ‘dappan’, leaving his master’s domain to become a ronin. When his ‘Pops’ is murdered, Ryoma embarks upon a quest to find the masked assassin responsible, which leads him on a search for users of the Tennen Rishin combat style. This leads you to join the Shinsengumi, a faction of deadly samurai warriors, whose ranks comprise all manner of familiar faces from across the entire Yakuza series, albeit recast in various historical roles.

Gradually, Ishin’s story spirals into a sort of whodunit, as Ryoma crosses suspects off his list, while working alongside his confidant, Nakaoka Shintaro (who, fittingly, has the face of Yakuza’s trench-coated detective, Makoto Date). Of course, this being a Like a Dragon game, the main storyline is but one facet of the overall experience, and, as you’d expect, Ishin is brimming with amusing substories, excellent mini-games, and other distractions that regularly pull you away from the beaten path, although that magnetic central narrative thread will invariably pull you back in.

Karaoke, gambling, shogi, buyo dancing, fishing, and (yes!) chicken racing all vie for your attention as you wander down Ishin’s labyrinthine streets, but the real substance is to be found in those bite-sized substories - one minute you’ll be chopping wood for an old man or listening to a chatty woman’s meandering stories, the next you’ll be running away from a perfume-addled madman. And, along the way, you’ll forge friendships with countless Kyo denizens across the region’s shops, taverns, and restaurants. You can even pop into the local brothel and try impressing courtesan Anna with your drinking game prowess.

All of the bonds formed and deeds carried out earn ‘Virtue’, a spiritual currency that can be used for all manner of things. You can exchange it at shrines for ‘blessings’, which include perks like increased sprinting duration, better fishing rods, more inventory slots, a reputation boost, or improvements to your farm. Yes, farm. Gain access to Ryoma’s villa, and you can experience

the ‘Another Life’ subplot with Haruka (who ardent Yakuza fans will know as Kiryu’s adopted daughter), wherein you can cultivate and harvest vegetables, then use them to cook meals within your cosy homestead. Some dishes require fish, making indulging in a spot of angling at the riverside or at sea slightly more crucial than it normally is. At the Shinsengumi barracks, meanwhile, you can tackle a range of battle dungeons, where you can cut down bandits through networks of caves, honing your trooper skill cards, and gathering valuable materials you can take to the blacksmith in order to forge new weapons or enhance existing ones.

As is the case with every Yakuza game, there’s a startling breadth of content to immerse yourself in, but not before you’ve got to grips with the combat, which encompasses four different fighting styles. Brawler style has Ryoma using his fists and picking up weapons, in the traditional Yakuza way, while Swordsman puts your skills with a razor-sharp katana front and centre. Gunman has Ryoma slinging a sixshooter (albeit one that never needs reloading), while Wild Dancer combines katana and gun, enabling Ryoma to dispatch foes in a whirling, graceful flash of blades and bullets.

All four styles have their uses – and prove equally gratifying - and each level up individually, granting Spirit Orbs that can be slotted into skill trees to unlock new abilities, just like Yakuza

0’s big circular skill trees. Ryoma also has a single persistent level, unlocking a Training Orb, which can be used with any fighting style skill tree, for each level gained.

Training with masters (including stalwart martial arts trainer Komaki) unlocks further abilities, increasing the suite of moves you’ll have at your disposal, which, as ever, include brutal Heat actions that enable you to mash up enemies in typically bloody fashion. Combat does come with occasional camera issues (getting obscured by scenery), but not to a degree that it ever conspires to mar the experience.

For a Yakuza fan who has been looking with envious eyes at Ryu Ga Gotoku: Ishin being confined to Japan for the last nine years, Like a Dragon: Ishin! represents a golden opportunity to finally immerse yourself in 1860s Kyo – a place steeped in rich detail and character; you can almost smell the udon and sake. Boasting an engaging tale of revenge and revolution, Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a cracking remake and stellar localisation of what could have remained a Japanese exclusive, but in making the jump to the west, it’s something that has seemingly lost none of its authenticity, its unique flavour, and every one of the fundamental elements that make RGG Studio’s series so enduringly, and consistently, appealing. Now how about a remake of Ryu Ga Gotoku: Kenzan?

Overall TGG Rating

If you’ve been wondering what all the fuss surrounding the Yakuza series’ foray into Japanese history is about, then wonder no more. Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a superlative localisation of a compelling samurai story, that is every bit as good as the series’ other best outings. Brilliant.

8/10

Audio 8/10

Predictably excellent music and superior voice acting, Ishin! has also been given a superb localisation. RGG Studio has delivered yet again.

Visuals 8/10

Lavish Unreal Engine 4 visuals that don’t quite measure up to the sumptuous graphics conjured by the Dragon Engine, but look marvellous, nonetheless.

Playability

8/10

Every bit as immediate and enjoyable as any other Yakuza/Like a Dragon game, with that lovely, crunchy button-mashing combat and deeply involving mini-games.

Delivery

8/10

Ishin’s story alone will keep you hooked, while 72 substories, loads of mini-games, and the ‘Another Life’ sub-story add masses of extra value.

Version tested: Xbox Series X

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

Wild Hearts is a Monster Hunter game in all but name. Everything, from the basic controls to the way your hunter slides down steep inclines and scales sheer cliff faces, is lifted straight out of Capcom’s juggernaut franchise, which, until now, has largely gone unchallenged for almost twenty years. While Koei Tecmo and developer Omega Force have previous experience in the genre with the under-appreciated Toukiden, Wild Hearts represents a serious step into mainstream competition for Monster Hunter, and we’ll be damned if it doesn’t give Capcom a damn good run for its money.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Capcom ought to be blushing at the sight of Wild Hearts, despite a few key differences. Chief among these differences is the presence of ‘karakuri’ – ancient devices driven by cogs and other mechanical innards, which your hunter is able to miraculously conjure out of thin air, thanks to a seed lodged deep within their body. Initially, these include basic contraptions like crates to use as platforms to scale any slightly out-of-reach precipices, and springpads used to bind towards monsters (known in Wild Hearts as ‘kemono’) before further tech is unlocked and added to your repertoire. And it’s all driven by a resource known as ‘celestial thread’ – glowing green string extracted from rocks and trees, consumed when summoning karakuri.

As you progress and rack up more and more successful hunts, you’ll ‘awaken’ new Fusion Karakuri abilities, like being able to build a ‘bulwark’ wall out of several crates, constructing a ‘pounder’ hammer that swats monsters by combining multiple springs, or creating a handy

diffuser that emits a healing mist, fireworks that can blast winged beasts out of the sky, or a totem that dampens an enemy’s elemental power. Other ‘basic’ karakuri include the torch, which enables you to burn away obstacles in the environment or set your weapon ablaze, while the lantern-like glider (obviously) aids with traversal across the expansive, diverse, feudal Japan-inspired land of Azuma, its little rotor blades propelling you for a short spell (much longer when combined with a wind vortex).

The range of karakuri machines don’t stop there, either, with so-called ‘dragon karakuri’ activated by touching and opening dragon pits scattered across the map, which, in turn allow you to put down camps that serve as spawn points, places to rest up, and forge weapons or armour. Other stationary dragon karakuri structures include the flying vine, which shoots a zipline to wherever you’d like to get to at speed, reducing the amount of pesky running around and climbing you’ll have to do. It’s karakuri that prove to be Wild Hearts’ main game changer, setting it apart from Monster Hunter with fun traversal gizmos and useful hunting helpers.

Throw in adorable little tsukumo buddies, who follow you around on hunts, providing distractions and support like Monster Hunter’s Palicoes, and you have plenty to draw upon, beyond your chosen weapon. Speaking of which, Wild Hearts starts you off with a karakuri katana, before letting you craft a starter weapon of your own. There’s the weighty and slow, but devastating nodachi sword; the huge, sluggish, and (in our experience) ineffective maul; the speedy and lightweight bladed wagasa (a

razor-edged parasol); and the long-range bow, which offers convenience and manoeuvrability while allowing you to keep a safe distance. Reach chapter 2, and you can also craft a portable cannon, a swift claw blade, and the form-changing karakuri staff.

Hunts can be long, drawn-out affairs, so choosing the weapon that best suits your playstyle is paramount, although you can always retreat to a campfire to switch up your loadout or place a forge to craft a new one. It’s enjoyable to experiment with different weapons, and extensive upgrade trees for each mean you can invest in your favourite hunting tool, using materials harvested from vanquished kemono, as well as various minerals and resources you’ll find in abundance throughout Azuma, to increase its efficacy. Karakuri too have their own vast network of upgrades to work through, with more and more added to your arsenal as you progress through the story. There’s no shortage of depth.

Eventually, you’ll be riding around in a karakuri roller, using wind vortexes to glide long distances, and placing fully geared-up camps with pickling jars for processing better statboosting foodstuffs, places to relax, and other handy accoutrements to ensure you’re amply equipped for a hunt. Failing to prepare for a challenging hunt often ends in a complete drubbing at the hands, claws, teeth, or talons

of a kemono, and with a pool of only three lives (you share only three when playing in co-op as a band of up to three hunters), strategizing (and targeting weak spots using your ‘hunter’s arm’) proves to be crucial.

Hunting alone is great, but it’s even more enjoyable when you can coordinate with allies – or you can swoop in from a Hunter’s Gate to aid, or request assistance with a hunt from a random online player. Indeed, there are a wealth of options at your fingertips, although many are quite poorly explained, or tucked away in fussy menus. That said, the presence of cross-platform play is hugely welcome, ensuring you’ve always got someone to quickly matchmake with, if you’re unable to wrangle a couple of friends.With its diversity of natureinfused creatures and exotic locations, as well as an array of karakuri contraptions, Wild Hearts sets itself apart from the competition, and with a wonderfully distinctive art style, Koei Tecmo and Omega Force’s foray into beastie bashing is fantastic stuff, building upon lessons learnt with its own Toukiden games and the template set by Capcom with its wildly successful Monster Hunters series. Wild Hearts shares a great deal of DNA with those games, but succeeds in feeling fresh, and with a decent story featuring a colourful cast of characters and the looming threat of the imposing, bearlike ‘Earth breaker’, this is monster hunting at its finest.

Overall TGG Rating

While having to hunt monsters driven from their habitat by human intervention and a lack of food engenders a sense of Shadow of the Colossus-level guilt, there’s no avoiding the sheer depth and consistent enjoyment that Wild Hearts has to offer.

8/10

Audio 8/10

Suitably dramatic orchestral music that ramps up as the hunt unfolds. Voice acting is good, and the guttural growls of kemono are suitably ferocious.

Visuals 9/10

There are minor graphical glitches, but nothing that takes away from the grandeur of Azuma and its angry, displaced fauna. Wild Hearts looks very pretty indeed.

Playability

8/10

Granted it takes many pages from the Monster Hunter bible, but Wild Hearts has plenty of its own ideas. The result is something endlessly playable, intuitive, and fun.

Delivery 8/10

A huge game brimming with content, Wild Hearts is a sprawling experience that will have you playing for hours. Online works well, too, once you figure out the fiddly menus.

Version tested: Xbox Series X

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

I don’t know a huge amount about the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, but until now I was fairly certain there weren’t giant goat demons running amok in the mountains of Provincial China. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, the latest game from action specialists Team Ninja, dares to disagree, and paints an image of a war-torn China rife with undead soldiers, demonic creatures, and an elixir that grants eternal life.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty comes from the team that made Nioh and Nioh 2, two PlayStationexclusive action-RPGs that pulled heavy inspiration from FromSoftware’s Dark Souls games. Wo Long isn’t a continuation of the Nioh series, but it brings along plenty of similar gameplay mechanics. It seems, however, that the developers at Team Ninja have been playing a little bit of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice since the release of Nioh 2, and it’s nearly impossible to ignore the long shadow that FromSoftware casts over this new romp through the battlefields of second century China.

Combat in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty revolves around a new element called the Spirit Gauge, a pseudo stamina bar. Attacking enemies using basic moves and successfully deflecting enemy attacks, nudges your bar to the right, allowing you to pull off more powerful Spirit Attacks. By contrast, blocking enemy attacks or using special abilities, such as Wizardry Spells and Martial Arts, pushes the bar to the left. If your Spirit Gauge depletes entirely, moving all

the way to the left, you’ll become dazed and open to attacks.

Luckily, each foe you encounter on the battlefield also has their own Spirit Gauge, and smartly linking together regular attacks and Spirit Attacks can whittle them into the red, opening them up for powerful Fatal Strikes, which deal massive damage. It’s finding the balance between offence and defence, carefully monitoring both your own bar and your enemies’, that lends Wo Long’s combat its own unique flavour.

If there is a comparison to be made, it’s once again to Sekiro and its posture bar. But where that was incredibly simple in its execution, Wo Long offers up a far more complicated affair. On top of your Spirit Gauge, you’ve also got to keep an eye on your morale. In each of the game’s distinct levels, you start off with zero morale, but can build it all the way up to 20 and beyond by defeating enemies. Your foes have their very own morale rankings as well, and enemies with much higher morale than you will deal greater damage, and vice versa. Combined with the Spirit Gauge, five elemental upgrade paths, spells to learn, and item upgrades, it can make Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty seem a little overwhelming at times.

In practice, however, you only need to have a passing understanding of these systems to hold your own, and if you’re well acquainted with the Dark Souls and Bloodbornes of this

world, then things will feel immediately familiar. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is broken up into several individual levels, which are completely disconnected from one other. Each is a battle towards a final boss, and rather than lighting bonfires to mark your progress, you raise your own customisable battle flag. This not only functions as a checkpoint for when you die, but it also permanently increases your morale rank in that level. There are also secret marker flags to find in the corners of each level, increasing your morale even further, which makes enemies (and the final boss) easier to fight and defeat.

It’s a deft way to encourage players to explore every inch of each level, which is especially important, as the levels themselves are surprisingly small. It doesn’t feel that way when you’re first playing them, hunting for items, chests, marker flags, and the like. However, by the time you reach the last battle flag, with the level’s boss ahead of you, you’d be surprised just how easy it is to run back through the level to the beginning - it can take just a minute or two.

Levels weave around themselves like a spider’s web, with clever shortcuts taking you back to older checkpoints, and exploring them to their fullest is hugely important to keep you competitive. Without the upgrade materials and marker flags spread throughout a stage, enemies and bosses become significantly harder. Particularly skilled players might be able to ignore these extra details, but these additional elements help encourage exploration, and allow you to better appreciate the intricate level design in the process.

With combat proving to be fluid and fun, if challenging, it’s in the areas between levels where the game’s shortcomings are most obvious. Perhaps amateur historians interested in this period of Chinese history will find something to enjoy about the story, which is presented through cutscenes and character dialogue, but if not, it’s incredibly difficult to actually keep up with the characters and plot. Not because it’s convoluted (even though it might be), but because it’s just a bit dull. There are loads of buff commanders and generals in detailed armour, harping on about demons,

armies, and enemies, but you’re so often whisked away from one battlefield to another, that there’s not enough to bind them together in a satisfying way. In one level, you’ll be down a well fighting poisonous zombies, and the next, you’re storming castle walls, and it’s never quite clear what’s led you there.

The game’s difficulty, too, can be grating. This is a genre well known for its high level of challenge, of course, but the problem with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty isn’t that it’s too difficult. It’s that it’s too inconsistent. Some stages or bosses can be breezed through in minutes, with players barely having to engage with most of the (many) mechanics; just hitting things with a sword until they die and carrying on. This is, in part, due to the fact that you’re nearly always accompanied by an NPC summon, which takes the edge off in combat. But there are some massive difficulty spikes along the way, especially in a few of the boss fights, and they prove all the more frustrating because Wo Long, for the most part, isn’t as challenging as games like Nioh or Sekiro.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an exceptionally competent action-RPG that’s enjoyable in the moment-to-moment. It combines gameplay elements from Team Ninja’s previous games with a Three Kingdoms setting, and there’s even a touch of Koei Tecmo’s Dynasty Warriors series in the mix, as you push forward through battlefields, planting flags and raising the morale of you and your allies. But it can be inconsistent in its execution, and with levels separated by menus and often baffling exposition cutscenes, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty doesn’t stay as long in the memory as the games it pulls inspiration from.

Overall TGG Rating

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty sets itself apart from Nioh, Team Ninja’s other soulslike series, with plenty of inventive mechanics that thrust you into the midst of a war. But by spreading the action out over various disparate battlefields in second century China, with plenty of chatty characters to meet along the way, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty loses a little bit of its magic in the process.

8/10

Audio 8/10

A nice diverse range of music for each level, and well-crafted sound design allows you to deflect attacks, even if you can’t see them.

Visuals

7/10

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty looks nice enough, with a good variety of environments to explore, but it won’t blow you away.

Playability

8/10

The moment-to-moment combat and exploration of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is well executed, with cleverly designed levels, and an impressively unique approach to checkpoints.

Delivery

7/10

Wo Long offers a wide variety of combat options, but it’s not well explained and can feel overwhelming. The story isn’t very well presented either, making each level feel disparate and lacking in cohesion.

Version tested: Xbox Series X

Reviewed by: Brandon Sawyer

Back again with a new installment is Pokemon with the introduction of Scarlet and Violet with the brand new region of Paldea which is the first open-world installment (excluding Legends Arceus). Pokemon Scarlet and Violet have added an additional 104 Pokemon to the Pokedex as well as Titan Pokemon to defeat as part of 1 of the 3 storylines. Your choice of the game also depends if your Pokemon are from the past (Scarlet) or from the future (Violet).

I chose to play Pokemon Scarlet solely because of the box legendary and the version exclusives and I want to share with you guys my experience of my playthrough.

I have to say I really did enjoy the playthrough and was a bit worried after seeing the reviews it was getting but wanted to give it a play as I have done each and every other game.

I did find it weird getting the legendary at the start of the game however you find that Koriadon has many uses being your mount!

The gameplay felt like a regular Pokemon just with the best aspects from Legends Arceus with a kind of Breath of the Wild feel but I did find it a bit grindy with the experience for leveling your Pokemon so did feel I had to work more in the wild to get my Pokemon to the correct levels for the gyms and other challenges.

I welcomed the vast amount of new Pokemon with open arms as I’m always a sucker for some new type mixes and new designs being a designer myself but was pleasantly surprised with the design of the Legendaries, guaranteed they’re supposed to look like bikes but I think it’s executed well.

Overall TGG Rating

All in all, I believe Pokemon have hit the mark with these 2 games as there is so much to do in these games, and feels a lot longer and easy to play than past additions. It feels more free and open and just an all-round experience and I can’t wait for the further new instalments that are yet to come.

8/10

Audio 8/10

I loved the music in the game it felt so immersive and made me feel really at home in Paldea.

Visuals 8/10

As stated before I really enjoyed the new designs of the new Pokemon and the map is very vibrant and seems full of life.

Playability

8/10

I loved playing through Pokemon Scarlet and would recommend any Pokemon lover to do the same as it feels more like Pokemon and Ash’s Journey in the Anime than it has ever before however the EXP grind can be a bit tedious in places.

Delivery 7/10

Either in a single game, a double, or a Switch edition console with the game it has been a pleasure to buy and play through Pokemon Scarlet. I haven’t come across any bugs in my playthrough and highly recommend!

Version tested: Nintendo Switch

Reviewed by: Calum Howie

mavitivo

Mavitivo or Mav for short has been grinding away creating content for the last five years where he produces a variety of content including IRL & FPS Streams, Mav mainly plays game like Rainbow Six Siege, Hunt: Showdown & APex Legends, Mav has received numerous awards and has been around the creator scene from some time, Mav hosts plenty of community based game nights and other stream based content so be sure to check him out.

Hey Mavitivo, First of all, we would like to thank you for chatting with us today. How have you been?

I’ve been good thank you, tired and working on myself, pretty much like everyone else, but good, focusing on the blessings and people around me!

It’s great to hear you are doing well and focusing on the people around you just don’t burn out! So let’s start from the beginning, tell us a little bit about your streaming & Content Creation life, how long have you been streaming/making content and what made you want to start?

I’ve been creating videos since I was a little kid, used to record videos off a Sony Cybershot camera from like 2002. My first proper entry into streaming/content creator was when I hosted a newcomer stream for Dota 2, to about 2 people. Ultimately I wanted to create a space where people could play games with each other, and I had people to play games with, as when I was a kid gaming was not cool.

However I now have a community where people have met each other, play games and have met in real life, even in March we have about 3-4 people flying over to hang out, so I can safely say I achieved what I originally set out to do.

Wow well isn’t that a throwback mentioning the classic Sony Cybershot, It’s great to see you come so far from those original two viewers. One of the hardest things is choosing the name

which suits you best and having a unique name like yours. Please tell us where the name Mavitivo came from. Is there a background story?

So I was InT Maverick until last month, and it was short for ‘Intensity’ a clan back on MW2 2008/9. It reminded me of a time I’d come home for being told gaming wasn’t cool, to be around my 3 friends and we’d win leagues on gamebattles.

Fast forward I wanted to have a name that meant something to me now, not when I was 13. Mavitivo is a play on my favorite wine Primitivo, which is from a place called Puglia, which at that time of my life, things were perfect. So it’s a callback to that, as well as my love for wine.

Throwing in the good ole days we are very familiar with MW2 era and of course game battles we too used to win plenty of games on that platform back in the day, it’s really nice to know the origin of a clan which has now turned into a name which resembles something you love. We see your main streaming focus is FPS games, how come you chose this specific type of gaming?

I find story games hard to stream as you’re constantly looking at chat, bothering the experience. I find FPS to have a good balance between having fun and entertaining chat. I also want to play games with my community, so it makes sense in that regard.

We totally understand that sometimes story driven you get too focused within the story or hours of boring dialogue most viewers want to see them dubs and clutches! On the subject of First Person Shooters, what would be your all-time favorite First Person Shooter?

MW2 holds a special place in my heart, as well as Rainbow Six Siege, however I honestly love Apex Legends, I truly believe this game was revolutionary when it first came out, a surprise release and it felt like you couldn’t go on social media without people talking about Apex Legends, similar to what happened with Elden Ring.

Strong choice there we can see why MW2 holds a place i never got into Siege i was more a Rainbow Six Vegas kinda guy, strong choice with Apex too that has really changed the battle royale genre for sure. What would be your top 5 First Person Shooters?

Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Modern Warfare 2 (2009) Halo and Borderlands!

Great choice glad to see Halo & Borderlands being shown some love Halo 2 & 3 i hope. We notice you play a lot of Apex, Please tell us what you think about battle royales and why’d you pick to play Apex over warzone?

I think Battle Royales make for great streaming games, and there is a reason why they are so popular. Games like Elden Ring are good but they get left behind because they aren’t a live service game, so they inevitably drop off, however games like FPS and BR’s can be constantly updated and have huge replay value. There is a reason as to why FPS dominates the live streaming categories.

Yeah we can relate to that battle royales have been keeping people active for years whereas single player story driven can just die off once you’re done with it. On the subject of Apex, what is your go to Legend and why?

Bangalore, I love her backstory, her heirloom and skins. I feel she has a really sad background we don’t appreciate enough and her abilities are god tier when done right.

Ah sweet choice Bangalore is my main too! Now let’s hear a little more about you and your journey, So at what point did you think “Damn, I could really make a career out of gaming and creating content”?

Back in 2019 my friend GFA and I used to stream together as a duo, and we’d average around 12 CCV’s and came up with this crazy idea of driving a Reliant Robin (3 wheeled car) 1000 miles across England for Movember, we hit almost 600,000 impressions and raised money for charity, it was the good times.

Awh man that sounds great! I’d love to have witnessed that I bet you two had a ball of a time. When was the point in your career where you thought “I’ve made it”?

This is going to sound really silly, but one evening a couple years ago, I met my good friend and artist Minimuse for the first time IRL, and as I said ever since I started I just wanted to have gamer friends which I never had, this was a very heartwarming moment, as you can

be thousands of miles apart, and still make friends.

If I had to give you more of analytical answer, either hitting 7000 CCV’s during the charity event or hosting my panels helping other creators at Insomnia

IRL Gamer friends and meet ups are where it’s at! I’ve met many of my friends online i now drink or meet up with them regularly. 7000 for a charity stream is crazy! Bet that was some milestone and for a great cause too. Do you have any key advice that you would personally give to any smaller streamers about making their stream better and growing their channel and or content?

Put effort to what you do off stream, and I’m not talking YouTube, I’m talking real life, make sure you are growing as a person, hang out with people, have a part time job doing something you love, hit the gym and focus on your health, because without a good character you can’t make a good story, a good story is how you connect with your audience

As a regular gym goer i can’t stress this enough mental state and health are big for you to tackle your goals, Thanks for this great advice im sure our readers will take note. On the subject of streaming, we see you stream a lot to many people and have such a great community over on Twitch, What for you was the deciding factor to pick Twitch as your platform to stream on?

When I started Twitch was the live streaming king, we have YouTube, and whilst it looks lovely over there and I am a firm believer that gaming will solely exist on YouTube by 2025, and Twitch will be IRL streaming, YouTube just doesn’t have the infrastructure that suits me, people don’t like watching over there, brands don’t have budgets for YouTube as much, and you rob yourself of that sense of community when you’re there.

Woah that’s a bold statement i’ll hold you to that one in 2025 and we can see if its happened, i can see where you’re coming from though making the leap to YouTube can be daunting and community wise you lose a few if you take the leap look at Doc for example. On the subject of Twitch, we all know your intro is awesome. How did you make this and is there a background to how you became good at making videos?

Thank you! I earlier mentioned my friend GFA, we basically used to make short movies for fun, similar to what CorridorDigital do, but obviously way WAY more budget.

I use all of the clips we took during this time! I also am pretty good at editing (albeit I hate it) and I’m a perfectionist so I will spend hours and hours working on it.

Ah that’s pretty cool, so basically spend hours upon hours editing until it becomes perfect gotcha. From your streams and YouTube videos you do sometimes play some wacky and bizarre games, Please tell us where the idea comes from, Does your community choose or is it random?

So I looked at what I want to do in creation, and wanted to re-strategise my work for 2023, looking at doing this I knew I could become a

‘Curator’ with short form that showed people new games to play, and showcase small indie titles, I hope to get to a point where I can influence indie developers who work so hard on their game, similar to how streamer influenced me with my content.

That’s a pretty good idea to be honest it also helps indies get their games out there to more of an audience it’s good to see you’ve been humble with the assistance you got to pass it onto others that’s a great traitor to have. Away from your streaming life & content creation what do you do in your spare time?

I work in wine, I really love wine, as you can tell from the name, and I also love making cocktails, so I do both of those at work, and that helps me stay active outside in the real world,

I write a lot in my time, which i’ve always done since graduating in scriptwriting. I love going to the gym but also sitting on my own at the pub listening to music with a beer. I find myself pretty motivated in this situation funnily enough.

I can’t say I’ve dabbled into the wine world but it’s a breath of fresh air to hear someone so passionate about something they do. Let’s talk about your setup. What are the topmost essential things that you can’t stream without?

Stream Deck, it is an essential tool for any creator, and if you want to work with a brand, make sure you shift your setup in that way. I’m a huge fan of having mood lights on around the room to lower the strength of the screen, or so it feels like. I also think having accolades of some kind, whether that’s goals you hit or tournaments you win, seeing yourself win will make you want to win more.

Elgato really hit it out of the park with that Stream Deck didn’t they, that’s some great things to have and work towards thanks for telling us these things im sure our readers may too use these options. As a big time gamer what would be your top 5 games of all time?

Tough question, I would have to say Fallout New Vegas, No Man’s Sky, Halo 3 and Gears Of War.

We will take 4 out of 5, I’m a massive Fallout fan and most open world type games so glad to see Fallout and No Man’s Sky, Also a huge Halo and Gears fan too so i think these too would end up in my top 5! If you could only play one game for the rest of your life, what game would that be and why?

Apex Legends, they announced they want it going for 20 years so i’m thinking long term

Wow i didn’t know they had a 20 year plan that’s crazy! Great choice though with something that will always change and bring fresh gameplay. So let’s talk about your highlight reel! What are the 5 top moments in your career so far that you would want in a montage?

The reliant robin trip would be up there, a beautiful feat that no one has done, and gave me enough inspiration to keep pushing forward. Playing on the creator stage at Insomnia, where I broke 4 PC’s.

Streaming on the Lenovo stage at EGX. Hosting my ‘Creators Help Creators’ panel at Insomnia to tons of people. I guess my last one isn’t really a moment, but it’s the point that I can call some of the most inspiring creators close friends.

Hold up, that was you at EGX ha nice man we were there too! We are heading to Insomnia this year so we hope to see you there! These are some great goals and in such a short period of time we love to see this keep it up. So we’ve mentioned montages with your top highlights and with 2023 only beginning, what are your goals for the year?

My only goal this year is to focus on my happiness. I’m done chasing goals and targets.

We love that and we wish you all the best in doing so. What is something that no one who watches your channel/content knows about you?

I have about 8 movie scripts that are finished and I want to produce in my life. I write a fair bit in my downtime and want to use my scriptwriting degree at least once in my life.

I’d be open to hearing about this someday. We have some writers over here at TGG who would love to hear your ideas one day plus we would love to see one of those movies reach our screens someday. Finally, what are you currently working on that you’d like our readers to know about/check out?

Apart from my daily videos covering new unknown games, I’m working on a very huge secret project for 2024 already..

Oooo Juicy insider news right here something super secret coming 2024 well i’m sure we will see it in due time! Well Mav there we have it, it’s been an absolute pleasure to be interviewing you today. We wish you all the best in the future.

On that note if you would like to check out Mav and all of their socials you can do so below, for now thats me Sawyer signing off, Peace.

Make sure you head over to Mav’s Twitch channel and give him some love, and if you’re feeling extra generous, check out his social channels too!

Twitch: @Mavitivo

YouTube: @Mavitivo

Twitter: @Mavitivo

Instagram: @mavitivo

TikTok: @mavitivo

TiLLER is a full time partnered Twitch streamer with over 40,000 followers, TiLLERs main focus is playing Pokémon games with his great community who all adore and love Pokémon & Pizza. Read on to find out more about him and his passions!

Hey TiLLER, First of all, we would like to thank you for chatting with us today. How have you been?

Heyya!!!

So let’s start from the beginning, tell us a little bit about your streaming & Content Creation life, how long have you been streaming/making content and what made you want to start?

I started streaming on Twitch in December of 2019. I had just moved to a new area and didn’t know a ton of people. I had been a big fan of several creators and thought that maybe streaming a couple days a week would allow me to make some friends who enjoy the same games I do! I had been saving some money and decided to buy my first desktop computer with some streaming gear and decided to give it a go!

A good steady 4 years now it’s good to hear and glad you made that leap into the content creating side of things. We see your main streaming focus is mainly Pokemon games, how come you chose this specific type of gaming?

I chose Pokemon as my primary game because of my love for the franchise. I’ve loved Pokemon since I was super young. It all started when my parents gave me a Gameboy Color and a copy of Pokemon Gold for Christmas one year. I remember sinking hours upon hours into that game and being mesmerised by my first adventure in the world. It’s a game series I’ve been drawn to ever since.

Awh man those were the good days! It’s great to see you follow that one game for so long as it’s advanced and changed over the years. On the subject of Pokemon, what would be your all-time favourite Pokemon Game?

My favourite Pokemon game? I’d have to say HeartGold and Soul Silver. They were the remakes of the games that started my love for Pokemon and were the games that started my love for shiny hunting!”

Gold was most certainly my favourite so i’m not surprised to see HeartGold here. What are your top 5 Pokemon Games?

My top 5 Pokemon games would have to be #1 Heart Gold and Soul silver, #2 Emerald, #3 Platinum, #4 Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, #5 Sword and Shield.

A great bunch of games that’s for sure we would easily have chosen 1 & 2 for those placements too. Do you originally prefer the standard layout of how the original games were played or do you prefer this new open world type that began in Legend Arceus?

I think there’s a place for both to be honest. I love the original style of Pokemon games but at the same time just because something is great doesn’t mean we can’t have something just as fun that’s different!

Yeah we agree and can understand that there’s enough room for both but we too love that nostalgia. If you had to pick your all time favourite Pokemon team who would you choose and why?

Great question, I would choose Snorlax, Garchomp, Glaceon, Heracross, Totodile, and Dedenne!

Ooo now that’s a powerful team with some strong choices there. How do you keep shiny hunting interesting when the odds are 1/4096?

I don’t look at it as needing to make shiny hunting interesting, shiny hunting is more of a secondary activity for me.

I love to watch movies, streams and listen to audiobooks as I hunt off streams. So when it comes to my streams, I treat my stream as a just chatting stream with shiny hunting in the background.

Ah that’s good off stream grinding and some chill beats it’s a good way to do things then the stream time is the fun time. Now let’s hear a little more about you and your journey, So at what point did you think “Damn, I could really make a career out of gaming and creating content”?

I think it took me a while to realise this could be my living. I never imagined this would be an option for me, I’ve never seen myself as an entertaining person. I’m really quite shy and awkward in person, I think it took a while to even realise how much people enjoyed my content. I started streaming everyday during lockdown, and I fell in love with streaming during that time too! I had been off work for what had to be 7-8 months when I was contacted about possibly coming back to work.

I took a good look at what I had accomplished through Twitch and started to realise I could possibly do streaming full time. I struggled with the idea of leaving a standard job behind to pursue streaming but I had never been happier than I had been since finding streaming and I wanted to give myself every opportunity to be happy. So I took the leap, I went full time and never looked back, telling myself “this is an opportunity not many get and you owe it to yourself to see where this goes.

That’s a great background story. We are glad you took that leap to go full time as many chose to go back to work after lockdown and just gave up so we are very glad to see you kept that community going and growing ever so stronger. When was the point in your career where you thought “I’ve made it”?

Truthfully I’ve not had a moment like that, I’m just a guy having fun playing a game he loves while chatting with friends. I accomplished what I set out to do which was to make friends so in that sense “I made it”, anything on top of that is just gravy!

That’s a really nice way to put it, very humble. We love to see it. Away from your streaming life & content creation what do you do in your spare time?

I spend time on call with my fiancé who currently lives overseas, watch movies, write, and play games. Oh and I eat a lot of pizza!

Pizza! We love pizza too, can’t beat a good slice of Pizza. As a big time gamer what would be your top 5 games of all time?

That’s a tough one. I’d have to go off of what I’m feeling right now because my answer could honestly change by the day! #1 Pokemon , #2 Breath of the wild, #3 Animal Crossing, #4 Skyrim, #5 Disney Dream Light Valley.

Some very strong choices in games here we can see why you’d pick such a strong bunch. What is something that no one who watches your channel/content knows about you?

I once competed in a film festival and won ‘Best Director’

Definitely check out my Twitch channel where I stream every day in the mornings! You can also catch me on Twitter and on YouTube. I’m putting a lot of work into YouTube starting this year and I am excited to see where that goes! I think a lot of people are going to love what we are working on over there!

That’s great to hear im sure or readers will check out your channels and we look forward to seeing you continue growing! A big thanks for chatting with us today. It’s been an absolute pleasure.

On that note if you would like to check out TiLLER and all of their socials you can do so below, for now thats me Sawyer signing off, Peace.

Check out TiLLER’s channel and social pages below!

Twitch: @TiLLER

YouTube: @Tillerpkmn

Twitter: @TiLLERg

Hey thats some achievement right there we would’ve loved to of see the film! Finally, what are you currently working on that you’d like our readers to know about/check out?