Today Tindalos Interactive and Focus Entertainment, in collaboration with 20th Century Studios, announced that Aliens: Dark Descent, the strategic, real-time, squad-based tactical action game, will launch worldwide on June 20, 2023, for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC. Alongside the release date, the first gameplay video for this terrifying original tale set in the iconic Alien universe was also revealed, breaking down what players can expect when your ship crash lands on the planet Lethe.
Aliens: Dark Descent slings fans into the cold embrace of space, where they’ll have to employ a range of tactical abilities to unravel an authentic Alien narrative full of sinister secrets, iconic Xenomorphs and brand-new threats. Dive in and explore the horrors and wonders found within Aliens: Dark Descent’s cinematic narrative campaign.
Outsmart the Xenomorph threat and unearth Lethe’s secrets
Recruit, level up and command your squad of Colonial Marines in real time as one unit with intuitive controls on both keyboard and mouse or controller. Watch how commands issued over comms are swiftly obeyed by the marine best-equipped for the situation according to their abilities and equipment. Players will need to use their wits to navigate expansive, persistent and reactive levels and complete objectives. But be cautious and monitor each marine’s vitals – death is permanent for any who fall in combat.
Aliens: Dark Descent slithers onto PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC on June 20, 2023. For more information, visit the Focus Entertainment website.
Raw Fury has announced that Kingdom Eighties, the next standalone game in the award-winning micro-strategy series previously revealed for PC, will also launch later this year on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. The news was unveiled at The MIX Direct Spring 2023 Online Showcase with a new gameplay teaser exploring the levels of Kingdom Eighties, which will take the franchise to urban settings for the first time. Raw Fury is currently booking press appointments for Kingdom Eighties at this week’s Game Developers Conference. Kingdom franchise creative director Gordon Van Dyke will be on hand to showcase an exclusive overview of the game’s second level.
Kingdom Eighties is a love letter to the nostalgic days of summer camps, riding bikes, and sitting around in your pajamas on a Saturday morning in front of the TV. You play as the Leader, a young camp counselor who must protect the town from the relentless attacks of the mysterious Greed. The neighborhood kids will be at your side, and you’ll also find some new friends along the way: The Champ, the Tinkerer, and the Wiz will lend you their skills and support in battle.
Key Features:
A Kingdom Game for All: Kingdom Eighties adds a new storytelling approach that builds on the series’ well-known mechanics. Recruit neighborhood kids, assign them roles as builders or soldiers, and expand your territory while uncovering the secrets of your family lineage, the Greed, and the Crown of Creation.
Stronger Together: You don’t have to ride alone in this story of four unlikely heroes and their friendship. The Champ, the Tinkerer and the Wiz will join your band and offer a variety of strategies to discover with their unique abilities.
Hit the Streets in Style: Travel to new locations never before seen in a Kingdom game, crafted with the series’ distinctive pixel-art magic. Find fresh wheels at the skateboard park, visit the shops on Main Street, and free the New Lands Mall from the Greed.
Kingdom Eighties is available to wishlist now on Steam. For more information, visit the game’s official website.
Today, EA SPORTS is diving deep into what players can expect from its most in-depth Career Mode for EA SPORTS PGA TOUR launching Friday, April 7. Detailed in the blog here, EA SPORTS PGA TOUR’s Career Mode allows fans to experience golf’s biggest events with their personally created golfer and a dynamic and adaptive progression system. Players can evolve their customized character’s skills with in-depth detail through skill progression, attributes, fine tuning shot types and much, much more.
Career Mode Customization
Players will begin their journey by customizing their golfer’s appearance with a variety of visual customizations, equipment options, and swing styles. Golfer swing styles can be adjusted by shifting the swing form, swing tempo, preferred shot types and ball trajectory through Career Mode. Players can also choose iconic and new-age golf brand equipment, selecting the specific club head, shaft, grips and more. Players can also outfit their golfer with top of the line clothing and accessories authentic to the sport.
The Road to Greatness
Players will then get to pick and choose where they want to begin their journey: as an amateur in one of the top amateur events, on the Korn Ferry Tour, or the PGA TOUR. As an amateur, players will be able to play the U.S. Amateur Championship, Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Amateur Championship, Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, and Latin American Amateur Championship, culminating in Q-school where they’ll compete for a spot on the Korn Ferry Tour. An invitation to the Masters and U.S. Open will be sent once the amateur championships are conquered.
After players complete the Korn Ferry Tour, or if they choose to skip it, they’ll launch into the PGA TOUR, competing each week on golf’s biggest stages including the major championships to chase the legendary green jacket, a Grand Slam Title, race for the FedExCup, and more.
During Career Mode, players can use the “AI Pairings” setting to play shot-for-shot against an AI PGA TOUR pro, or turn it off to speed up the round and concentrate solely on the game. AI performance is based on official ShotLink data, so pros play each course and particular hole just like they would in real life.
Skill Progression and Shot Types
Career Mode utilizes an RPG-like style of progression where players can build their golfer’s skill set over time. Earning XP and Skill Points, and applying them to categories such as Power, Driving, Approach, Short Game and Putting will unlock new shot types and upgrades to assist them in succeeding as courses become more difficult.
The Season Hub is where players can regularly check their upgrades, view the entire calendar of events, track career progression and other milestones through the “Career Mastery” tab. Completed and ongoing Quests – sets of challenges categorized under either a course or a tournament – can also be viewed to develop skills and unlock new shot types. By completing different challenges, players can control the specs of their ball and club which offer customizable performance characteristics across the areas of power, accuracy, control, and recovery.
Attributes
Players will have a variety of attributes that can be influenced by completing quests throughout Career Mode:
Power – Upgrading this attribute adds more power and influences swing speed at tee off.
Accuracy – The higher the accuracy, the smaller the mishit and window sizes become.
Control – The higher the player’s control, the more accurately they’ll be able to influence grip, shot shaping accuracy and ball spin.
Recovery – Recovery decreases the impact of penalties applied when in bad lies such as rough and sand. Penalties include:
Carry distance penalty
The size of the range shown in the carry distance penalty window
Tear up the streets in Need for Speed™Unbound’s new update! Today, EA and Criterion Games released Need for Speed Unbound Volume 2, the first in a series of post-launch updates offering players new ways to compare and compete in Lakeshore Online, and even more opportunities to risk it all for rewards.
In Need for Speed Unbound Volume 2, players now have access to new features and rewards – including new rides, stickers, driving effects, cosmetics and more. Volume 2 also delivers fresh ways to compete with daily challenges, a variety of new playlists, events and the new Keys to the Map DLC. Whether it’s an exhilarating cop chase through the streets, racing against the clock in Hot Laps events or teaming up with friends to help knock the Heat off their tail, players must make the most of every twist and turn to prove they have what it takes to run Lakeshore’s streets.
A list of all the exciting content in Need for Speed Unbound Volume 2 can be found below:
New Ways to Hit the Streets: Enjoy a plethora of additional content, including Endurance Events and brand-new Rumble Races. Players can now provoke cops into thrilling high-speed multiplayer chases with the help of friends, or turn the tables to play against them to earn the biggest rewards.
More Ways to Play: Compete in 40 new challenges, including 3 new daily challenges to earn rewards including XP and Bank; players can also take on new Hot Laps circuits for an intense 30-second rush as they race against the clock to earn new reward content. New Playlist Events inject even more variety into the mix; complete Playlists to earn big rewards, including a Rare Custom Lotus Emira Balmain Edition.
Rewards: Players can show off their style on the streets of Lakeshore with new driving effects, poses, stickers and more.
Keys to the Map DLC: Now available for $4.99, this update reveals the map location of all 260 collectibles (100 Bears, 80 Street Art, and 80 Billboards) and 160 activities. It also comes with an exclusive “Fury and Zen” clothing pack, including a jacket, T-shirt, sweatpants and cap.
Need for Speed Unbound is built for the new generation of technology and features 4K resolution at 60 FPS for the first time in the series. Volume 2 is now live on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
CCP Games, creators of sci-fi spacefaring MMO EVE Online, announced today that $40M in financing has been secured from external partners. This financing will allow CCP Games to build upon the discoveries of its research & development team to enable the full-scale development of a new AAA title utilizing blockchain technology, set within the EVE Universe.
“Since its inception, CCP Games’ vision has been to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Now, with advancements made within blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways. This financing has marked an exciting frontier in our studio history as we begin our third decade of virtual world operations. We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title,” said CCP Games CEO, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson.
With key game systems developed on-chain, this new project will also leverage smart-contract blockchain technology, focusing on persistence, composability and truly open third-party development to create a new relationship between virtual worlds and players.
This financing was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Makers Fund, BITKRAFT, Kingsway Capital, Nexon, Hashed, and additional participants.
“CCP Games is a pioneer in virtual worlds and digital economies with 25 years of experience creating living sandboxes with unparalleled depth. They’re a veteran team and we believe in their ambitious vision to deliver incredible player experiences at the intersection of best-in-class game design and blockchain technology,” said a16z General Partner, Jonathan Lai.
“The depth and nuances of EVE have become a frequent point of reference in blockchain gaming and we are therefore thrilled to support the team’s impressive vision of expanding the EVE Universe utilizing this technology. As a former employee, it’s a great personal joy to be reunited with CCP and to witness their continued passion for creating truly meaningful virtual worlds.” said Makers Fund Principal, Alli Óttarsson.
“We’ve long marveled at stories of interstellar war, spaceships forever lost, and the constant challenges of staying ahead of emergent, sovereign play patterns. Hilmar and the team’s experience is unmatched, and we’re excited to see how they use blockchain to let players dream further,” said BITKRAFT Ventures Partner, Carlos Pereira.
Alongside independent financing, this new title’s production is separate from current and previously disclosed projects, including EVE Online, which is now in its landmark 20th year.
CCP Games looks forward to sharing updates as development progresses. Register here for future news and announcements. To learn more about open positions at CCP Games, visit the careers page.
It’s an un-bale-lievable fun activity, now heavily extended: With the Göweil Pack for Farming Simulator 22, publisher and developer GIANTS Software launches the first of multiple content packs in 2023, and extends the process of baling and wrapping various resources. It’s available now and accompanied by a narrated launch trailer.
https://youtu.be/LzcafEHBxKs
Göweil Pack Introduces New Machines & Gameplay Possibilities
“We’ve added technology that’s entirely new to Farming Simulator: The Göweil Pack expands the fleet of machines with new possibilities for baling-oriented farming operations and their complexity.”, comments Thomas Frey, Creative Director and Partner Manager at GIANTS Software. “Nine machines are introduced and let virtual farmers transform more resources into bales than before: corn silage, sugar beet pulp, mixed feed, and more.”
Included are internationally popular machines by Göweil: Among them, the stationary baler wrapper combinations LT-Master F115 and VARIO-Master V140, the autonomous bale wrapper G4010 Q Profi and the roller wrapper G1015 that lets players transport, wrap, and stack bales with one single, efficient machine. Also included: Göweil RBG and BTGQU, G-1 F125 Kombi, G-1 F125 and the G5020.
First Pack Released, Three More & One Expansion to Go
In addition, GIANTS Software and Göweil deliver quality-of-life-enhancing tools like silage additive tanks and bale turners to further increase the quality and handling of bales. Down the road in 2023, the publisher plans even more extensive additions and updates that will be revealed in the upcoming months.
Farming Simulator 22 and the Göweil Pack are available for PC, Mac, PlayStation®5 (PS5™), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One. A Year 2 Season Pass is available, which includes the Göweil Pack, three more packs and one expansion – fans save up to 30% compared to getting the content separately. The Göweil Pack is the first of many official updates in 2023. Even more content will be added free of charge, while the official in-game ModHub continues to grow with developer-tested user creations.
Weave those Easter baskets and crack open those chocolate eggs as brick-building adventure LEGO® Bricktales launches an egg-stra special free Easter update that’s available to download now. Featuring lovingly crafted LEGO brick dioramas built entirely with authentic LEGO elements and a creative brick-by-brick building mechanic, LEGO Bricktales is perfectly crafted to delight generations of LEGO fans across the globe.
The LEGO® Bricktales free Easter update introduces an egg-cellent new story set in a small Easter world. This world becomes accessible if the player has cleared the first world (Jungle). On completion, an entrance will appear in the park leading you to the new diorama where you’ll meet the friendly Easter bunny who has a problem with making eggs for this year’s Easter celebration. Disgruntled chickens and snow damage keep them from reaching their goals, so you will need to use your quick thinking and puzzle-solving abilities to help them save Easter.
New features in this Easter update include:
A beautifully crafted Easter diorama
A storyline where you have to help the Easter bunny save Easter
5 new construction puzzles. Four with a specific challenges and one being an open area where you can build more freely
1 collection quest – Easter eggs will be hidden in the other existing worlds that you can find and use to purchase items
3 new wardrobe items (purchasable with eggs players have found in the world)
1 new music track
A new menu entry to notify you of ongoing updates
LEGO Bricktales sees you journeying across 5 beautiful LEGO brick-themed biomes, taking you to the green foliage of the deepest jungles, the scorching sand of sun-drenched deserts, the hustle and bustle of a city corner, the epic sight of a towering medieval castle and the paradise of tropical Caribbean islands. An intuitive new brick-by-brick building mechanic will help you solve the many fun puzzles you encounter on this adventure and bring your creative solutions to life.
“The new LEGO Bricktales Easter Update hops onto Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC today,” said Dieter Schoeller, VP of Production. “We can’t wait to see what creative builds our players will come up with and I know I’ll be checking out social media to see what our players have been putting together using the game’s brick-by-brick building mechanic!”
The end of the world has left humanity fighting for survival against hordes of monstrous creatures in a world shrouded in darkness and despair. Now, the award-winning action game “Remnant from the Ashes” is available on Nintendo Switch, immersing players in a chilling journey that tests their skills and bravery.
As a survivor in a post-apocalyptic world, players must use a range of weapons and abilities to navigate dangerous environments, battle deadly enemies, and unravel the secrets of a world gone mad. Will you have what it takes and retake what was lost? Remnant from the Ashes is now available on Nintendo Switch at an SRP of € 39.99 / $ 39.99 / £ 34.99 / AU$ 54.95. The DLCs Swamps of Corsus and Subject 2923 are already included.
Remnant: From the Ashes is coming to Nintendo Switch™ today, and is already available for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, the latest chapter in the award-winning apocalyptic VR series based on Skybound Entertainment’s The Walking Dead, is available today on PC and PS VR2. Following Chapter 2’s Meta Quest launch late last year, the development team at Skydance Interactive listened to its community’s feedback and implemented various improvements leading up to today’s PC and PS VR2 launch. In tandem with Chapter 2’s launch, Skydance Interactive is also offering players several options to enjoy The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners franchise on these platforms.
In addition to the Chapter 1 launch on PS VR2, Skydance Interactive is giving players PS VR2 specific visual and gameplay upgrades, the ability to transfer Chapter 1 save data into Chapter 2 on supported platforms (PS, PC and Meta), a day-one patch and more:
Chapter 1 Upgrade to PS VR2: PlayStation VR players looking to catch up on the The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners story can get a FREE upgrade to PS VR2 if they already own the Tourist Edition of the original title on PS VR. Those with the standard version on PS VR can pay $10 to upgrade to the Tourist edition, to unlock the upgrade on PS VR2. This upgrade will be available alongside the March 21 launch of Chapter 2: Retribution.
Chapter 1 Save Game Path Support for Each Platform: Skydance added more flexibility for save game data transfer between games and VR platforms. Players who have Chapter 1 saves can upload them to Chapter 2 through Meta, PC and PlayStation VR hardware; PICO support arriving later this year.
A walkthrough video about the save transfer process can be found here.
Day-One Patch and Weapon: Skydance Interactive dropped a day-one patch that brings several quality-of-life improvements and addresses some community feedback. As a thank you to all players, the patch will also include a brand-new compound bow called, “The Orphan”. A sample list of today’s patch includes the following:
Added cloud based cross platform support for save transfers and save sharing
Improved environmental lighting
Community mod names are now included
Improved NPC animations
Rebalanced armored enemies
And more
Newcomers and players returning to The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners world will once again jump into the role of The Tourist as they navigate all-new threats lurking around every corner of the flooded city of New Orleans. In Chapter 2: Retribution, players are tasked with facing more than the undead Walkers roaming the streets, as various factions and individuals have risen in power. There’s also the unrelenting threat of the Axeman that introduces a new level of terror to the game.
The original The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners was praised by critics and VR enthusiasts alike for its intuitive, physics-based combat, original storyline and engaging survival crafting system. It was also a global top seller across all platforms, generating more than $90 million in sales. Based on feedback from the VR community at large, Chapter 2: Retribution refines these aforementioned features while also providing new and exciting tools for players to experiment and ultimately survive with such as the laser sight, suppressor, submachine gun and the powerful chainsaw melee weapon.
To keep up to date on news for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution visit the official website and follow The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Discord.
With NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Season 7: Untamed well underway, developer 24 Entertainment have debuted their latest playable hero, Akos Hu, “The Rebel Claw”. Now available to unlock in-game, this fierce new warrior can channel the swift savagery of a spirit tiger using his powerful Ultimate ability.
Akos Hu is a great pick for NARAKA fans who favour a high mobility, high damage playstyle, unleashing a ground-shattering roar as he closes in on his enemies. You can learn more about Akos Hu and see this new hero in action in the latest NARAKA: BLADEPOINT trailer, featuring a stunning new cinematic followed by an in-depth gameplay showcase.
Here’s a detailed overview of his abilities:
Roar – Akos strikes nearby enemies to cause damage and gains 30% damage reduction for 8 seconds.
Each strike on an enemy grants 10% additional damage reduction.
Roar: Blast – Akos unleashes a shockwave upon enemies towards the aimed direction.
Charging up the skill can deal more damage and knock enemies airborne.
Feral Frenzy – Gain new attacks by channelling a powerful tiger spirit:
Leap for faster jumps, attacking enemies with powerful pounce while sprinting or in the air.
Activate Akos Hu’s Ultimate again to summon a tiger for 3 deadly claw attacks or a lunge.
This new playable character is one of many NARAKA: BLADEPOINT updates in 2023. Already, there has been an expansion to the game’s SHOWDOWN PvE mode, as well as a new weapon type, the Pole Sword.
Akos Hu arrives as part of the latest update which also includes new Treasures for NARAKA: BLADEPOINT Season 7: Untamed. Among these are a cyberpunk-themed katana skin, 2674 • Encroaching Yin, and the Golden Damselfly outfit for Yoto Hime.
