While there's certainly something to be said about Turn 10's overreliance on temporary, live-service content in Forza Motorsport, the studio has been adding lots to the game post-release. All-new tracks are usually the highlights of their respective updates, and Update 5's Nürburgring Nordschleife will be no different.

Slated for release sometime around mid-February, Forza Motorsport's Update 5 seems to be positively loaded with fixes and improvements. Important as they may be, these fixes aren't nearly as exciting as the long-anticipated release of the legendary 20.8-kilometer Nordschleife track, coming as a follow-up to Update 4's Daytona International Speedway and Update 3's Hockenheim. In comparison, Nordschleife is supposed to be a fair bit longer and more challenging, hopefully rivaling the racing heft of its real-world inspiration.

Forza Motorsport's Update 5 features the Nürburgring Nordschleife

Previously demoed as part of January 2024's Forza Monthly livestream, Nürburgring Nordschleife is one of the most popular and interesting racing tracks in the world, and the fact that it wasn't available in Forza Motorsport on day one was, arguably, a serious misstep for racing aficionados.

Thankfully, Turn 10 is now aiming to resolve this fault once and for all, allowing players to race on the Nordschleife in any of Forza Motorsport's available game modes.

Whether you're looking to try and beat 2022's production car lap record (6:35.183, for posterity's sake) or simply level up your vehicles on a fun and challenging new track, Nordschleife will be yours to do with as you please as soon as Update 5 hits your download queue.

In a broader sense, Forza Motorsport's Update 5 also marks the beginning of Turn 10's long-term fix-up plan for the game, as outlined in the studio's announcement from earlier this year. More specifically, Turn 10 promises that Update 5 will include all of the following improvements:

• Option to skip practice in Career Mode events via the pre-race menu
• Practice Session save point
• Livery Editor fixes and quality-of-life improvements
• Resolved letterboxing while using Photo Mode on non-baseline aspect rations (e.g. 21:9)
• PC performance improvements (reduced CPU spikes and better GPU utilization) and framerate consistency
• Resolved crashes caused by multi-threaded rendering
• Fixed performance issues caused by video setting changes

The full list is, of course, far more exhaustive, but this should give you an idea of what to expect out of Update 5.

Naturally, players should still expect the majority of newly added content to be of the temporary sort, with new Career Mode championships replacing the currently available roster. That is the nature of Forza Motorsport's live-service approach, however. As long as there's some evergreen content dropping in with large batches of fixes for all platforms, most players should find the game's FOMO relatively easy to ignore.

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“WHELP. IT HAPPENED,” begins the tweet from Lilith Walther (b0tster on Twitter), one of the developers behind Bloodborne Kart, a fanmade spin-off of the popular FromSoftware game. Sony has allegedly contacted them requesting the removal of copyrighted content from the game.

“Long story short I need to scrub the branding off of what was previously known as Bloodborne Kart, which we will do. But that requires a short delay,” they continue. However, they add that “the game is still coming out! It'll just look slightly different.”

It’s not entirely surprising since the Bloodborne Kart directly references the title of the 2015 PS4 game and includes characters from it. The game is a “meme made real,” originating from an April Fool’s Day Tweet back in 2021. What is surprising is that it has taken so long, as the game has been in open development for quite some time now. It’s perhaps because, a few months ago, it was given the release date of January 31, which is next week.

Of course, the developers were planning to release the game for free, but it’s still infringing on the company’s copyright. It’s honestly not at all surprising, which Lilith states themself in another tweet, saying, “Like I've said in multiple interviews, we were all expecting this to happen so we could be pleasantly surprised if it didn't.”

It’s definitely a bummer, and I feel bad for the development team who were looking forward to putting their creation in the hands of fans, but they’re taking it in stride. Lilith says, “Turning this into an original game that we have full creative control over is kind of exciting. This is a fan game no more!”

Lilith says that they are current uncertain of what the new release date will be for the rebranded Bloodborne Kart, but they hope to share news as soon as possible.

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Mr. Podunkian revealed the Steam store page for their upcoming city life simulator, Sunkissed City, which is coming to PC sometime in late 2024.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the handheld version of The Urbz. Nor does it look like the console version of The Urbz. It looks more like Stardew Valley, which makes sense because Mr. Podunkian previously worked at Stardew Valley developer Concerned Ape. If you liked Stardew Valley, but felt like it needed more concrete, then this might be for you.

In Sunkissed City, you don’t actually live in a place called “Sunkissed City.” It’s Apollo City, which is similar. There you take care of DIY gardens, get to know the locals, and try to solve the mystery of why everyone has been feeling crappy. There’s even fishing, which I think is maybe a law for developing these sorts of games. You can also play co-op with friends if you're that sort of person.

I’m liking the looks of Sunkissed City. I like farming sims, but having grown up in a rural area, I prefer being an urban dweller because food is closer, and I don’t drive. While I’m still waiting for someone to adapt the gentle mix of adventure game and life simulator found in the handheld versions of The Urbz, that’s a different matter. For now, I’ll just be happy if I’m able to space out at the magazine rack at the 7/11 around midnight.

Sunkissed City is currently targeting a release at the end of 2024.

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After last week's vote on this year's Destiny 2 Festival of the Lost armor designs, Bungie has already published the winning sets. By popular vote, we've got Evil Wizard Hunters and Warlocks, and Good Wizard Titans, but the fashion community is not at all thrilled with the results.

For years now, Bungie has held seasonal votes for Destiny 2's Halloween Festival of the Lost events, allowing the community to decide which armor sets would eventually be made available. Naturally, not everyone is always thrilled with the results of the vote, but this year's results have riled up way more of a crowd than usual.

Destiny 2's Evil Wizard Armor wins

Following the announcement of the vote, a surprisingly widespread array of threads has popped up on the biggest Destiny 2 fashion subreddit. Some people are unhappy with the perceived "edginess" of the Evil Wizard sets, which is a fairly understandable take, all things considered:

• I'm so sad, posted GlassChopsticks
• Mindless hunters win the day again, says Curious_Savings_4751
• Why must you be like this, seriously, asks xXLjordSireXx
• Why couldn't you all be like Titans and just use 1 of the other 20 edgy sets we have, says HoneyBadger1342

Each of these threads has been positively inundated with comments from community members unhappy with the results of the vote: "Very sorry we exist in a community that is about 70% teenage boys who own hoodies with roses on them and they all have one syllable user names," said user pige0nzwastaken.

Naturally, many of the comments have simply been posted to oppose those who bemoan the voted-in armor sets. Epic_potato420, for example, said "Cry me a potion scarf boy," referencing the Good Wizard Hunter armor.

Of course, given the results, it's clear which armor sets have interested players the most, but it is quite fascinating to see how big of a disconnect there is between the DestinyFashion subreddit and the Destiny community at large. Whatever the case may be, it's going to be fairly easy to slap edgy or non-edgy Shaders onto the winning armor sets to tune them to look just right.

While many members of the community are pointing fingers and arguing over which armor sets should've won, others are taking a grander look at the situation as a whole. Gregermeister1, for example, has voiced their disappointment with "some people on [the DestinyFashion] subreddit" over this behavior.

"Let’s not be nasty to each other though over style differences," they said. "Let’s try to be the one positive destiny subreddit on here because destiny fashion is great and full of so many different style options! I for one am hyped to turn my titan into a paladin wizard and my hunter into an edgy, void arrow shooting witch!" An admirable take, for sure, but it remains to be seen whether this sentiment wins out in the end, or if everyone just keeps on pointing fingers.

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Inin Games and NatsumeAtari have released a new trailer of Tengo Project’s upcoming remake, Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn. This one shows the new game side-by-side with the 1990 original.

If there’s one thing gamers love, it’s comparing things. Shadow of the Ninja is the oldest game that Tengo Project has remade from Natsume’s back catalog, and being on the NES, it was built on limited hardware. Rather than simply spruce up the game like with Wild Guns: Reloaded or create an entirely new entry in the series like Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, they’ve kind of found a comfortable place in between. The levels are reminiscent of the original, but everything has been overhauled with new abilities and enemy placement.

I think it looks pretty great! Placed next to the remake, the 8-bit original looks incredibly sparse. It was actually a decent-looking game for the time period, but the NES was very restrictive when it came to how much you could jam on screen at one time. Tengo Project has already shown off some great pixel art chops with their previous games.

The remake will have new weapons, a new level, and an upgraded soundtrack by the original composer, Iku Mizutani.

I wonder where Tengo Project will go next. My first guess would be S.C.A.T., but what I’m really hoping for is Abadox. I guess we should wait and see how Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn turns out.

Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn is coming to Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in Summer 2024.

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Ultrawings 2 originally released in October 2022, receiving good reviews. You can grab it on Steam and the Meta Quest, and to the surprise of the developers, on the PS VR2 as well.

Bit Planet Games expressed as much shock as players when the game suddenly appeared on the PS Store. The studio has mostly taken it in stride, describing it as a "shadow drop" despite how the sudden release has robbed the team of prior marketing for the new version. According to the devs, a patch is on the way, though many players on the r/PSVR subreddit claim it runs well despite the lack of a day-one patch.

When asked, the team confirmed that the launch was entirely unforeseen. Fortunately, the team is not stuck with a broken game and those who have jumped in are experiencing minimal issues. Sony hasn't commented on the matter.

It goes without saying that fans on PS5 are delighted, though they do express sympathy for the developers. The team also confirms that a physical edition is probably never coming.

It's described as an island-themed aerial action-adventure game and while I have admittedly never played it, the praise and trailers have piqued my interest.

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For realsies this time, Skull & Bones launches on February 16. If the pirate game has managed to keep you curious all this time, look out for the open access running from February 8 until 11.

It is worth noting that Ubisoft+ games can grab the game earlier on February 13. You have several choices including PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Amazon Luna, and PC via Epic where you can enjoy crossplay and cross-progression throughout the platforms.

Skull & Bones in 2024

The game is an open-world tactical action world title with both single and multiplayer elements. For those looking to play the multiplayer aspects, there will be stronger items introduced to help you take on the increasingly difficult opponents, including warships.

You'll be able to grow your empire by taking control of trade routes. There are also hostile takeovers where the winners get to take control of manufacturing plants. At post-launch, new features will be introduced, including the ability to assign fleets of ships to your trade routes, to the ability to bribe officials.

Is this the pirate game we've been waiting ages for? February 8 we'll learn whether it has the chance to live up to the hype of years of waiting.

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Dating sims are harder to create than people give them credit for. Hundreds of thousands of words, dialogue trees that stretch to the horizon and take into account successes and failures, trying to fit in as many characters as possible to suit different preferences; the complexity piles up and threatens to collapse. It gets more difficult when you try to merge it with another genre.

I’ve seen failure happen many times throughout my years as Destructoid’s resident self-proclaimed dating sim expert. There’s a reason why games like Mass Effect usually have relationships no more complex than “listen to life story, complete side quest, bang.” Anything more ambitious leads to juggling problems, and it takes a lot of talent and planning to handle all those balls.

Nova Hearts is a game that, so far, drops those balls. However, mercifully, Lightbulb Crew is starting with just a prologue, so there’s still time to grab those balls and get them airborne.

Nova Hearts: First Spark is the free introduction to the full Nova Hearts experience expected this summer. It has you play as Luce, who has moved back to her hometown after spending some time trying to make it in the city. She’s staying the summer on a sabbatical. From what? Frustratingly, you aren’t told, but you’re expected to go along with it.

“So what happened?” you’re asked on multiple occasions. But you can only make hints because you, the player, don’t know. Why give the choice in how you respond? I’m not sure.

Much of the story takes place on Luce’s cellphone screen. Scenes are set up through text chat. Where the players are going and what they’re planning to do; that all happens on a phone screen. This isn’t a bad way to do it, but it’s handled very intrusively.

At one point, I was invited out to eat right before a party by Luce’s old friends. I’m guessing “eat” is just code for pre-drink. I go to that scene, the bartender asks me what I’m having, I tell him that I’m waiting for friends. Suddenly, Luce is lounging at her desk with the cell phone in hand. What the fuck just happened? What was the point of that scene? 

I’m guessing it was just an opportunity to meet/hit on the bartender. However, I don’t drink, so normally, the characters I play don’t either, and all the direct flirting options were way too strong for the vibes I wanted to put down, so I didn’t. However, the fact that my decisions meant that Luce didn’t even meet her friends in that scene just left me extremely confused. And it wouldn’t be the only time.

As Nova Hearts proceeded through its introduction, I started wondering how long it was going to take before super-powers happened. The game’s hook is that it combines a dating sim with a super-hero RPG, but it frequently seemed like the setup was going to take a very long time to get to the whole part where everyone gets super-powers.

It happened in mid-conversation.

One moment, I was hitting on an entrancing reporter, and then suddenly, I was in combat with cats. There was a moment in between where Luce stands dumbstruck by something, but the game doesn’t really show what she sees. Everyone is just gone, she just has super-powers, and suddenly there are monsters.

This is where I noticed that Nova Hearts has no narration. Actions aren’t described, which is kind of strange for a game that is largely just text and static images. Sure, I can see the backgrounds and characters, but they don’t do anything. The action is, therefore, restricted to what the characters say, and it leaves a lot of gaps that are filled with nothing.

The combat itself is a bit of a problem. I can dig the timeline battle system, which is somewhat similar to Fuga: Melodies of Steel but with less strategy. Essentially, you have a visual aid for when a character or enemy’s turn is going to happen. However, this is largely just useful for using combo attacks where you overlap two of your heroes attack turns to create a bigger attack.

Shallow combat isn’t great, but the real problem is the lack of balance and polish in Nova Hearts: First Spark. The characters' powers just aren’t that Super. Most attacks feel very underpowered, which makes combat as a whole a slog. The combo power between Luce and CJ doesn’t feel much more effective than CJ’s normal area-of-effect attack, so that kills strategy even further.

But moreover, a lot of the combat in First Spark feels arbitrary. It just happens. It’s a visual novel that, every so often, gets interrupted by fighting.

Violence has long been leaned on by video games as one of the few forms of conflict resolution that can be easily depicted in code. However, most of the time in Nova Hearts, there isn’t any conflict, just combat. The fighting doesn’t happen because you pissed off another character or chose to journey to the wrong side of town. They just happen because it’s fight o’clock. It’s hard to feel like the combat really fits with the romance when there isn’t any tension or intensity to be found anywhere.

As for the romance? Well, all the characters are DTF AF, so there’s that. You’re presented with a wide range of options to try and fit as many preferences as possible. However, the game kept pushing me toward this guy whom Luce apparently shared her first kiss with in the past. However, it turns out he’s a masochist, and there isn’t room for two of those in this relationship.

Beyond that, I’m not sure. At about the time I was getting frustrated with the masochistic werewolf, something broke in Nova Hearts, and two teams were left facing off in perpetuity with no way to advance. That is to say, it soft-locked. I checked, and an autosave did trigger at the same fight, so I wasn’t going to lose any progress. At that point, however, I had seen enough. Not even the promise of potential smooching was able to get me to dive back in. I’m done.

As I said at the start, dating sims are far more difficult and complex than anyone gives them credit for. It’s not all that surprising when someone tries to incorporate the hydra of mechanics that make up the genre, only to come up short. It says more about the difficulty of genre than it does about a developer.

However, the art, music, and premise all have promise to them. I’m hoping Lightbulb Crew will go back to the drawing board with what works and, with a bit of careful planning, come back with a more polished Nova Hearts experience that delivers. It’ll take a bit of a commitment, but that’s what makes a worthwhile relationship.

The post Nova Hearts: First Spark doesn’t quite catch fire appeared first on Destructoid.

Dejobaan Games and Petricore Inc. have announced that the remaster of their 2009 indie classic, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Remastered, has launched today on PC.

For those keeping score, this is actually the second remake of AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. The first time was back in 2011 with AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome. AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Remastered is a heck of a lot shinier than the last time around, benefiting from over a decade of base-jumping advancements.

If you’re unfamiliar, the AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! series is about base-jumping, but rather than just put you in some boring city, you’re dropped in abstract spaces populated by floating buildings and other pieces of debris. It plays a bit like a rail shooter, with gravity pulling you forward. You amass points by flying as close as possible to the structures. You need to flip some groups of fans off while giving others the thumbs up. It’s neat.

I was actually there on day one for AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, having pre-ordered it before launch. It may be hard to believe now, but back in those days, it was a lot more feasible to keep up with new releases. Marketplaces had yet to be flooded with bad imitations and straight-up trash games. The indie market was a lot smaller, and it was easier to stand out.

I loved the game when I played it. What I found most interesting was the storyline that it built around its abstract premise. It had this weirdly cohesive absurdity that captivated me. I did, at one point long ago, try to draw inspiration from it in my writing, but it requires more of an organic approach. If you try to replicate it with intention, it just won’t work. You’ll look like you’re trying too hard.

Anyhow, I’ll be checking out this remaster. I may have drifted away from Dejobaan’s orbit over the years, but I wouldn’t mind revisiting the simpler times.

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! Remastered is available now for PC.

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According to reporting from Kotaku, Black Forest Games has announced the termination of 50% of its overall workforce, which was said to be around 110 employees in 2023. They join a growing list of layoffs experienced in the industry, which continues to accelerate from last year.

Black Forest Games is a German Developer who was responsible for Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Titan Quest, and the recent Destroy All Humans remasters. They are currently working on an adaptation of the comic book mini-series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.  

Black Forest Games is a subsidiary of THQ Nordic who, in turn, is a subsidiary of Embracer Group, a publisher who was rather central in the mass of layoffs that occurred through 2023. The company spent much of last year cutting back staff throughout all its many subsidiaries, following explosive expansionism and the fall-through of a large investment.

A huge contraction of the industry has made this a distressing time for anyone who loves the medium. 2023 was already a huge year for job losses in the industry, while 2024 is already shaping up to be worse. Kotaku is keeping a running tally of video game (and adjacent) layoffs, and by their count, we’re already approaching nearly 6,000 in the first month of the year.

It’s hard to say what our beloved hobby will look like when all of this finally slows down, but it’s rather difficult to stay optimistic.

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Depending on who you ask, indie games are the bread-and-butter of modern gaming, and there's certainly merit in that statement, as they serve niches that AAAs simply do not. Take stealth gaming, for example, which received something truly exciting just a few days back: Intravenous 2: Mercenarism.

Those of us who have been eagerly anticipating when on earth might Ubisoft finally announce a new Splinter Cell game may have missed the memo about Intravenous and its upcoming sequel, Intravenous 2. The mostly unknown stealth shooter from the developer HypeTrain Digital enjoys solid reviews, but it's the 2024 sequel that's really interesting here, mainly because it's got a top-tier demo you could start playing right this instant.

What is Intravenous 2: Mercenarism?

Intravenous 2: Mercenarism is, in essence, a fairly comprehensive demo for the full-fledged sequel. More importantly, however, it is a more-or-less standalone experience that ties the two narratives together. Players get to interact with Intravenous 2's gameplay systems throughout four separate missions, each of which is surprisingly interactive.

The core gameplay loop is, as the screenshots may betray, all-in on stealth. All Intravenous games allow players to fine-tune their characters' movement as they could in the old Splinter Cell games, and the bird's eye perspective is reminiscent of the classic Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid titles. All the other stealth game tropes are present and accounted for, too. You can:

• Destroy lights and manage your sound profile
• Move bodies around and hide them in crates/closets
• Play non-lethally
• Pick locks
• Throw bottles and other assorted garbage to distract enemies
• Navigate levels and complete objectives in a free-form, open-ended fashion

It's a very impressive piece of kit, truly. Intravenous games can also be played as regular tactical shooters, though fairly hardcore ones, at that. They give you access to a whole arsenal of weapons both suppressed and not, each with their own respective statistics to keep track of. For example, there's a huge difference in the sound profile of a .22 LR veterinary pistol going off, and a 10MM Glock punching through the glass.

Intravenous 2, specifically, introduces remarkably in-depth gear and weapon modifications and the whole thing is present and accounted for in the Mercenarism demo. The demo which, in case I haven't been clear enough yet, any stealth game fan ought to try out.

Intravenous 2 proper is coming in 2024, but check out Intravenous, too

The full version of Intravenous 2 is due to launch sometime in 2024, with the full release window announcement still pending. Those who fall in love with the Mercenarism demo should make use of the first game's current discount, however, as it is now available at a whopping 60% off. The deal is available until February 2, so there's still some time to make the call.

Granted, it's not like Intravenous is an AAA game with an AAA price-point: at full price, it'll only set you back $20.00 or your regional equivalent. For stealth game fans, it's a lovely deal indeed.

The post Intravenous 2: Mercenarism is the stealth game you’ve been waiting for (and it’s free) appeared first on Destructoid.

Nintendo's battle royale F-Zero 99 has been around the block for a few months now, but it's still seeing steady updates. As of the 1.2.0 update that went live on January 24, F-Zero 99 now includes an easier way to play with friends alongside a little surprise for more dedicated players.

The big feature of this update is the Private Lobby. This feature works exactly the way it sounds; any player who has completed the tutorial can now create or join their own private room right from the main menu. Simply select a game mode, enter a passcode, and you're in.

Your room will auto-populate with CPU players once the countdown timer ends, so you don't actually need 99 people to make this feature work. Heck, if you just want to race by yourself against bots, you can do that here.

But what are the secret tracks in F-Zero 99?

The much more enigmatic addition via this patch is the addition of "secret tracks." So far, it appears that tracks titled "???" will randomly appear as you play online, complete with glitched-looking level icons. The tracks themselves seem to be mash-ups of existing tracks, with similarly mashed-up music to accompany them. Completing one of these will give you the "???" badge.

If you play enough, you should see one of these courses pop up sooner than later. As of writing, we're still learning more about how what each of these easter egg tracks looks like.

Additionally, update 1.2.0 also increases the max level cap to 399 (with numbers over 100 being marked with stars), and a new maximum skill rating of S50. Also, most importantly, the patch notes for this update state that Nintendo has "Fixed issues to make for a more pleasant gaming experience." Thanks for looking out for the pleasantness of my gaming experience, it means a lot!

F-Zero 99 is available now as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service.

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Torture Star Video, the publishing arm of Puppet Combo, is bringing Tomás Esconjaureguy’s slasher adventure, Cannibal Abduction, to consoles. It will arrive on Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles on February 8, 2024.

Tomás Esconjaureguy previously brought us The Night of the Scissors back in 2022, which sounds like a localization title for Clock Tower. Cannibal Abduction followed in 2023 on PC, where it was self-published by Selewi, Esconjaureguy’s publishing label.

As is standard for cannibal stories and common in horror, Cannibal Abduction has the protagonist, Henry, breaking down while on a road trip. A friendly local stops to give him a tow, and you know how this goes. Henry finds himself on the menu and has to escape before the meal begins.

To be honest, it sounds rather standard with fixed camera angles, hide-and-seek gameplay, limited inventory, and “soft” puzzle solving. However, the reception to it seems pretty warm.

Speaking of warm reception, while it doesn’t explicitly say it's a compilation in the title, Esconjaureguy’s previous title, The Night of the Scissors, is included in the pricetag. The game has you play as Adam, who breaks into an abandoned post office to rob it, only to find it inhabited by “The Snipper,” who doesn’t take trespassing lightly.

It might be worth noting that by Esconjaureguy’s estimation, Cannibal Abduction will take two hours, while The Night of the Scissors is around 40. I generally prefer my horror games on the shorter side, but it’s something to keep in mind when you look at the price tag, which, at $11.99, is a bit higher than the combined price of the games on Steam.

Cannibal Abduction is on PC right now, but it’s coming to Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S on February 8, 2024.

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This year has already gotten off to a rocky start for developers who are still experiencing the wave of layoffs that plagued 2023.

This time around, it's the Polish team People Can Fly that has suffered layoffs. In an email provided to Kotaku, it was announced that over 30 people will be affected. This information was confirmed with the publication. As other companies have promised during their layoffs, PCF claims that it will aid its ex-employees during the transition.

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With 6 million players and already proven popularity, Palworld players are expecting big things from Pocketpair. Our first glimpse of the Early Access roadmap for Palworld shows that the team is already working on even more content for the survival game.

Prior to the ridiculously successful launch of Palworld, Pocketpair promised a “one year roadmap” shortly after launch. Although this is more of a vague guideline of what’s to come, it gives a lot of hope for the future of Palworld.

At the top, Pocketpair confirms it's focusing on addressing "critical issues" with Palworld, prioritizing fixing those problems. This includes world date rollbacks and the loading screen persisting when trying to load into new worlds.

New Pals and areas to explore

Most importantly, at least in my opinion, the team at Pocketpair have promised the addition of new Pals to capture, though they’ve not given any hints as to how many will be added or how soon. 

They’ve also said that they’re looking to add more islands, which means that we’re not going to be short of new places to explore any time soon.

PvP and battle content

One of the most exciting updates is the chance to pit our Pals against other players. With their arsenal of weapons and special abilities, it could be entertaining to watch them duke it out.

Pocketpair have been very vocal about their desire to add PvP into the game and on Steam, they state that they’re already “testing PvP internally”, so this addition seems like may be coming sooner rather than later. 

They’re also looking to put Raid Bosses into the game, which will likely require multiple people in order to complete. There’s no word on how this will work yet.

Steam - Xbox Crossplay

Right now, players on Xbox cannot play with those who purchased the game on Steam, but that looks to be changing some time soon. That should make it easier for people across different platforms, including those on PC via Game Pass, to all party up.

In the same realm of updates, they’re also planning on implementing Server Transfers and Migration.

Pal trading

Pocketpair didn’t go into this too specifically, so we’re unsure whether you’ll need to be on the same server in order to exchange Pals to further your Pal Deck completion endeavors. But this should hopefully let you share around the captures, rather than keep them all to yourself. 

Building systems updates

Again, we weren’t given any specifics about what these updates would actually be, but here’s hoping that the roof building gets just a little bit less convoluted. On top of this, Pocketpair are also hoping to add more buildings and elements which play into the survival aspect of the game. 

Steam Workshop support

With the controversy surrounding the recently cancelled Pokémon mod, there definitely seems to be interest in adding onto the foundation of Palworld. So it’s no surprise to see that Pocketpair will be allowing Steam Workshop support for the modders within the now rather large community of players. 

Updates to Pal AI

I cannot reasonably write this part without mentioning my biggest complaint about the game - Pals have absolutely no idea how to organize anything and it drives me mad. 

Within the Roadmap, Pocketpair have said they’re going to be working on improvements to Pal AI. Whether this improvement will be to organization, preventing them from getting stuck inside of rocks (how do they always manage to do this?) or preventing the situation where my Lifmunk is trying to juggle 20 pieces of rock and failing miserably. Either way, I for one am looking forward to this particular update.

No dates were given for when these updates on the Palworld roadmap will start to arrive.

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Pokemon has announced that a new set of accessories are now available at the Pokemon Center. The new drop features everything you need to prove you're a Pokemon professional.

The new accessories feature new designs for card sleeves and playmats, including some showing off the Paldean legendaries Koraidon and Miraidon. Fans who have been there since the beginning aren't forgotten, so you also get products with Porygon.

For something a little more varied, grab the products featuring Garchomp, who used to be a competitive titan. There's also a Kanto version featuring Fire, Water, and Grass throughout the generations.

These are far from all the new designs that have been added, and you'll have to check the rest out at the Pokemon Center. It appears Pokemon is setting the ground for new players to gain interest, as we also got the Pokemon TCG: My First Battle product to teach players the basics.

You can look forward to more Scarlet and Violet products, including Paldean Fates which hit stores this week (26 January) as we head into 2024.

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astragon Entertainment and Mi'pu'mi Games have released Howl on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S today. It was initially released in November 2023 on PC and Switch.

Howl is one that escaped me. When I think back to November, it’s mostly a blur to me, so that’s no surprise. However, it looks interesting from screenshots and the title of the press release reads “critically acclaimed.” That phrase gets stretched pretty far in the PR world, but, sure enough, Opencritic shows a warm reception from the publications that covered it.

The announcement also describes Howl as folklore turn-based strategy. A strange howling turns anyone who hears it into werewolves. You play as a deaf heroine who is searching to cure it. From the trailer, it looks to be more of a puzzle game than a turn-based strategy title. You plan your moves in six steps, changing positions on the tiled field and completing actions to try and evade or take down enemies. If you’ll forgive the somewhat obscure reference, it reminds me of Trogdor the Board Game.

There are 60 stages through 4 chapters, and you unlock new abilities and upgrades as you progress through the world map. Most striking, however, is the art style, which looks like it’s hand-drawn in a simple storybook style. 

I’m bringing this up not just to warn PlayStation and Xbox players that it’s now available to their chosen platform but also for anyone else who, like me, might have missed it at first.

Howl is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, and PC.

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It’s a little less than a month until Pacific Drive rolls out into the world. To get you ready for the game, Ironwood Studios has released a video that covers the core gameplay.

It isn’t hard to understand the basics of Pacific Drive, but there are a lot of deeper systems to keep in mind. For example, gathering anchor energy is important, but you might not realize how important it really is until you’re caught in an area with reality collapsing around you. So, you can learn from your mistakes like I did, or you can watch this video.

Having played Pacific Drive, I can tell you that this 10-minute video is pretty all-encompassing, covering car maintenance, survival, scavenging, and upgrading. If you’re not sure what the game is going to play like, this will tell you what it is and what it isn’t. Also, look at it this way, it will allow you to glide through the tutorial parts pretty easily.

I previewed Pacific Drive a while back, and while I have some reservations, my time with it left me excited to get my hands on the full experience. There’s a lot of elements of what I love mixed in there, and I’m wondering how well they’ll fare when stretched out to a full experience. I’m worried that the core gameplay loop will become repetitive, so I’m hoping to see a lot of surprises scattered about as you proceed further into the zone.

Pacific Drive is out on February 22, 2024 for PS4 and PC.

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It's been an extremely long time coming, but Project Zomboid's promising Build 42 update appears to finally be coming along. The developer The Indie Stone has now officially confirmed on Twitter: Build 42 is due to release sometime in 2024.

The importance of Project Zomboid's Build 42 cannot be overstated. The last major revision of the long-lasting indie zombie simulator, Build 41, came out in December 2021. From that point onwards, the majority of Zomboid's big and meaningful content and feature updates had been getting rolled up into Build 41. Examples include a substantial performance uplift, the addition of wildlife and animal/ husbandry, medieval-esque tools, fluid mechanics, map expansion, skyscrapers and bunkers, and loads more.

Project Zomboid's Build 42 is coming in 2024

As per The Indie Stone's latest announcement, "B42 will be out this year." This appears to have been a relatively tentative post, it's worth highlighting, as The Indie Stone dislikes giving out "long-range external ETAs" for major content updates and beyond. The studio prides itself on its dedication to non-crunch production, and putting out regular announcements and release window expectations might've stepped on the toes of this approach.

Indeed, Project Zomboid has been in active development for a very long time now, having first released as a tech demo in April of 2011. The Indie Stone subsequently released the game in Steam's Early Access programme in 2013, and Zomboid has slowly been trucking along ever since.

As exciting and promising as Build 42 might be, one problem that's now on the horizon are Project Zomboid's many mods. In fact, the Zomboid community has already started preparing for the inevitable "Modpocalypse" that will, sadly, affect virtually every contemporary Zomboid mod under the sun. Build 42 is a substantial rewrite of the game, after all, it's highly unlikely that any of the game's impressive mods will work with the new version without similarly substantial retrofits.

Keeping all of the above in mind, 2024 is definitely going to be a fascinating year for Project Zomboid players, even if its modding community ends up reeling from all the big changes that are coming up.

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Though it hasn't made its way onto Destructoid's list of most hotly anticipated titles of 2024, Rocksteady Studios' Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League sure as heck is coming. Due to release on February 2, Suicide Squad is also getting a suite of post-launch content, in true live-service fashion.

The very first batch of this content has only just been revealed, in fact, giving players a taste of what's to come over the next couple of months. It should come as no surprise that much of what's been revealed is classic live-service fare. Notably, not only was Rocksteady quite unshy about the game's live-service leanings for some time now, but the whole thing got leaked not too long ago, adding even more fuel to the proverbial fire.

Confirmed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Season 1 content

The good news, of course, is that Rocksteady seems intent on adding a wealth of post-launch content to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. It'll take a bit of time until the critics agree on whether the game warrants even pursuing this seasonal content based on its whelming gameplay reveal. Before that's all settled, those who are keen on jumping into Brainiac-infested Metropolis can also look forward to new characters, weapons, activities, and other such goodies.

More specifically, Rocksteady has promised that all of the following content would be released as part of Suicide Squad's first post-launch seasonal release:

• New playable character: The Joker
• New boss fights and enemy variants
• New (Joker-themed) playable environments
• DC Villain-themed weapons and gear
• 2 additional "Episodes"
• Bonus activities and Riddler-themed content

With the game coming out early in February, the fact that Season 1 is coming out in March is promising at face value. Content should be pouring into the title at a rapid pace if Rocksteady intends to keep things as brisk as they will be immediately after release, and there are at least three more seasons due for release over the course of the year.

Seasons 2 to 4 should, therefore, feature the following content:

• 3 new playable characters
• 3 new playable environments
• New activities, events, gear sets, and weaponry
• Unlisted mid-season updates

It is all fairly standard fare for a modern live-service offering, however, so those who might've hoped for a bit more out-there pizazz from Rocksteady may end up being slightly disappointed. That being what it is, it's going to be interesting to see how the Joker returns following his death in Batman: Arkham City, and whether Rocksteady can pull off such a monumental reveal.

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Teyon has announced that RoboCop: Rogue City is getting a content update that will include new game plus, a new difficulty, and an Auto9 skin. It’s available now on PC, with the console versions getting it tomorrow.

RoboCop: Rogue City was a pleasant surprise last year. The licensed title went on to win a prestigious “On Zoey’s favorite games of 2023 list” award, one of the most unprestigious honors in the industry. One complaint I did have about the game is that I wanted to play it again after I completed it, but I didn’t want to start over from scratch. Now, it’s finally safe to reinstall it now that it will be getting new game plus.

On top of that, there’s a new, harder difficulty based on Murphy’s frequent utterance, “There Will Be Trouble.” Not much more has been revealed about the difficulty, but it’s safe to say it will be more difficult. Personally, I like playing as a walking tank, so I’m not sure being squishier will make the game more fun for me.

Finally, the Auto9 pistol gets a new skin once you complete the game. This one is gold plated, which is nicely garish. If you’re not familiar, RoboCop does allow you to pick up discarded guns off of enemies, but Murphy’s main sidearm never stops being effective. Rarely would I use anything else, except when it came to boss battles. However, not once did I stop and think it would be better if it was more ostentatious.

RoboCop: Rogue City is available for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The new game plus patch has been released on PC, with the console versions getting it tomorrow.

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You may have noticed that at the bottom corner of your screen in Palworld, there is a string of numbers indicating what version you're playing. Steam and Xbox Game Pass have different versions, and here's why.

A report from Windows Central highlighted comments from Pocketpair reps in the Palworld Discord server. There, Pocketpair's community manager, Bucky, explained a bit about what's going on with the different versions. The problem is that every game's version has to go through Microsoft's certification queue. This is something Pocketpair has no control over, though the team is "desperately trying to speed up," it highlights on Discord.

It's argued that Xbox isn't necessarily "behind," but yet it is. Our list of differences demonstrates that this is the case. Nevertheless, you can enjoy the game on Xbox Game Pass without really noticing you're playing an earlier build.

Until features parity is reached, keep collecting Pals, building weapons, and having fun with this survival game that shocked the world by being one of 2024's first hits.

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Ratalaika has announced that they’re publishing a collection of the two modern NES titles of the The Adventures of Panzer series. The Adventures of Panzer: Legacy Collection comes to Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and Switch on January 26, 2024.

The original Adventures of Panzer title was released back in 2021 by Pixelcraft Games. It was built in NES Maker, which means that it runs on original NES hardware. A Kickstarter in 2022 allowed them to also publish the game on cartridge. The Adventures of Panzer 2 followed it up in 2023, and also went through Kickstarter for physical publishing.

Both games are action platformers, both touting a humorous and light-hearted narrative. The first game sees the eponymous Panzer traveling to five different levels to try and assemble his old team. The second game, set a year after the events of the first, sees that team fighting “a new evil.” In addition to being longer at 9 levels, you're also able to switch between the four characters.

Not much is said about the added features of the port, if any.

The NES is my happy place. Even though I was too young for it to really make an impact on my childhood, I’ve grown to love the simple graphics common on the system enforced by its hardware limitations. What I find weird about Adventures of Panzer is that the little characters look like they’re in a completely different resolution than the rest of the game, but they’re not, so maybe the pixel doubling is just a design decision. Weird.

The Adventures of Panzer: Legacy Collection releases on Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and Switch on January 26, 2024. It’s worth noting that at $8.99, the collection is roughly $2 more than buying the two games individually for PC on itch.io.

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Atari has announced that qomp2, the follow-up to the 2021 Pong continuation, will be released on February 20 on PC and console.

qomp was a game that dared to ask dangerous questions like, “What would happen if the Pong ball escaped from the confines of the court and went on an adventure?” I’m not sure how you extrapolate further on that, but Atari and Graphite Lab are going to try. They promise “An enigmatic story of doubt, fear, and self-acceptance, told wordlessly through simple effects and gameplay.” Sounds appropriately depressing.

Alongside the announcement of the release date, they released a short video of the Pong ball being interviewed in vertical cell-phone ratio, and I kind of hate it. I wonder if it’s the knee-jerk revulsion I have toward social media that’s the problem.

I didn’t play the original qomp, but it does sound like a fun premise. For a little while, at least. The first game was only played using a single button, but qomp2 adds a second one that is used for dash. It’s a logical evolution. Pong used no buttons, qomp used one, and qomp2 will use two of them.

This falls in line with Atari’s new focus on smaller games that leverage their existing brands. It’s a bit interesting that, while the original game was created by a group of indie developers under Stuffed Wombat, qomp2 has been handed off to Atari’s frequent collaborator, Graphite Lab. I have to wonder if they’ll be able to capture the same charm and impact of the original qomp.

qomp2 will launch for PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 4 and 5 on February 20, 2024.

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The very first Megami Tensei game, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, finally has a full translation, thanks to some intrepid fans. You might be saying, “but it already has one,” but this isn’t the one you’re thinking of. This is the game created in 1987 for Japanese home computers by Telenet.

The Megami Tensei series is best known as a series of games by Atlus, which would eventually expand to Shin Megami Tensei, which includes the Persona series. The series actually began being based on a series of novels by Aya Nishitani before going off in an entirely different direction.

But before Atlus stepped in, Telenet was the first developer to create a video game adaptation. This one was for the Japanese home computers, and it was released a scant few months before Atlus released the Famicom game that would start their long-running series. Confusingly, both are called Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. While Atlus’ version was a first-person dungeon crawler, Telenet opted for more of a top-down action RPG. Though, it's still a dungeon crawler, make no mistake.

While Telenet’s take on the series was vastly overshadowed by Atlus, it’s still a pretty neat historical curiosity, if nothing else.

The English translation of the MSX version comes to us from Kaisaan and other collaborators. You can find the patch here at their GitHub.

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As I worked on my review for Another Code: Recollection, one concern I kept coming across for the then-upcoming title was whether or not anyone from the original developer, Cing, was involved in the project.

It’s understandable. Cing was a niche but celebrated developer, having been behind Hotel Dusk and Little King Story. If you were a fan of the Another Code series, you probably want the folks behind it to be working on it. What would the games mean to anyone else? However, Cing went bankrupt in 2010, and the staff were scattered to the wind. Nintendo, for their part, gave no indication that any of the original creators were working on the remakes of their games.

At the time of my review, I actually wasn’t allowed to talk about the credits. But now that restriction has passed, and I can say yes, a few former Cing staff were reunited for Another Code: Recollection.

Rika Suzuki, credited with game design/scenario in the original versions, remains as the sole credit under Scenario & Story. Taisuke Kanasaki retains the role of Art Director, though the title of Lead Director went to someone else. The CEO of Cing, Takuya Miyagawa, took the role of Technical Supervisor.

As far as I could find, that’s about it for returning staff. That’s not a lot of people, but they are significant in the creation of the original games. It should be noted that credits don’t give us the big picture. While we know these folks were involved, we don’t know how much they contributed. For all we know, these could be ornamental roles. On the other hand, they could have been steering the ship. Video game development is a collaborative process, and that means roles like “Director” mean different things to different projects.

However, I feel it’s safe to assume that the listed staff members did something. Nintendo did the same gross thing they did with Metroid Prime Remastered and listed everyone else who worked on the original games as “Based on the works of the ‘Another Code’ series development staff.” It might be a smidge more reasonable here since the games in Another Code: Recollection are completely rebuilt and redesigned, whereas for Metroid Prime Remastered, the game was just reskinned. But, c’mon, space on the end credits isn’t real estate. It doesn’t cost more money to have a longer staff roll. Just list the original staff!

Another Code: Recollection is available now on Switch.

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Destiny 2: The Final Shape simply whelmed players on the day of its showcasing, only to be followed by a bout of nasty layoffs and a release date pushback. Ahead of the DLC's postponed release, however, Bungie managed to eke out some victories, such as the Guardian re-customization feature.

Indeed, players will finally get the option to rebuild their Guardians in Destiny 2 sometime before the release of The Final Shape, and what's particularly impressive is that it won't cost a penny. Broadly infamous for its nickel-and-diming of players that's only gotten more aggressive over time, Destiny 2 isn't shy about monetizing a variety of things. Armor transmogrification, for example, comes with a built-in seasonal limit that can only be bypassed by paying, so the obvious expectation was that the ability to change your Guardian's looks would be a paid option, too.

Destiny 2 will soon give you the ability to modify your Guardian's appearance

Thankfully, the ability to change your Guardians' looks will be totally free and available whenever, as per Bungie's latest TWID blog post: "You will be able to modify the appearance of your Guardians anytime, without cost or limit to the number of changes," says the announcement. Do note, however, that you will not be able to switch your Guardian's origin. If you've got an Awoken Guardian, you won't be able to turn them into an Exo, for example.

It's currently unclear when, exactly, this option might be dropping into Destiny 2, but the blog does clarify that it should be coming before The Final Shape's release window. The Final Shape is due to launch on June 4, which gives us a very rough estimate of when the re-customization options might be coming. Bungie did reveal, however, that an update in March would reset your Synthweave bounty cap, allowing you to earn more of the items needed to unlock armor transmog currency. It is possible that both of these features might come out at the same time, though it's still a tad early to tell.

With the widely acclaimed Fireteam Finder and the ability to re-customize a Guardian in tow, Destiny 2 may well end up in a solid spot before The Final Shape comes out. Everything that Bungie does before that is merely triage, however, and the DLC's quality is what will set the stage for Destiny 2 in the future. Only time will tell how that might pan out.

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Riding the wave from highs to lows, it's all too easy to forget that Destiny 2's live-service model is still trucking on regardless of any other happenstance. For example, consider this year's Festival of the Lost, which once again allows players to vote on their favorite armor ahead of time.

Last year's Festival of the Lost featured some interesting novelties and one of the most coveted Mementos in the game, and while these features are currently expected to return this year, the spooky bug-themed armor voting will not. Instead, this year's vote is down to two different types of wizards, with each of the game's Classes getting their own spellcaster armor to splurge on.

The Destiny 2 FOTL 2024 armor vote is now up

As per Bungie's latest TWID blog post, players can now officially begin casting their votes as to whether they'd like to get the "good" or "bad" wizard armor as part of 2024's FOTL. As usual, only one of these armor sets will end up being implemented, making this vote a relatively important decision for the community. Anybody that's interested in chipping in their own two cents on the matter can do so via Bungie's SurveyMonkey poll. You may also get an email from Bungie inviting you to cast your vote.

One thing worth highlighting here, however, is that the armor sets might not get implemented exactly as-is in the end. "Remember that these are draft concepts," says the TWID. "While we don't intend to change the designs substantially, we always reserve the right to do so. Our art team is composed of masters of their craft, so if they come up with a way to make them even cooler, we want to leave them the space to do what they do best."

Destiny 2's good wizard armor

The good wizard armor sets feature ornate tidbits and a blue-and-gold color combo by default, with plenty of doodads hanging about to really underline the armor sets' theme. With scarves, fine cloth, and softly glowing tidbits thrown in for good measure, these sets have a good vibe about them for sure.

Destiny 2's evil wizard armor

On the flip side, the evil wizard armor features heaps of pointy bits and an edgier aesthetic overall, with brown leather and greyscale metal bits bringing the designs together. Of course, players will be able to slap custom Shaders onto their armor however they see fit, so there's plenty of flexibility to be found here.

Of course, this does mean that the infamous Hunter Godzilla armor from a few years' back is not getting implemented at all. It's a shame, to be sure, but both of the presented themed sets are fairly snazzy in their own right, so it's a bittersweet situation for Destiny fashion fans, for sure.

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As part of the ESO 2024 Global Reveal livestream, Zenimax Online gave us a look at the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online expansion, Gold Road.

The new expansion will take place just east of the Gold Coast in the Colovian Highland and West Weald regions of Cyrodiil, which was last depicted in The Elder Scrolls Oblivion. The region contains the city of Skingrad, a location that was teased in the Greymoor Expansion. The map shown off in the post-trailer discussion shows that it’s filling in a vast region just West of the PVP region of Cyrodiil.

Forgotten Prince Ithelia, the Daedric Prince of Paths, is the central antagonist of Gold Road. The deity is said to have the ability to mess with fate and destiny, so Hermaeus Mora deleted the Prince from existence. They were only really mentioned in ESO, supposedly teasing their appearance here. Normally, Zenimax just worked with the schemes of existing Daedric Princes, but this is the first time they really invented a new one.

The Chapter is also going to add Scribing, which is a take on spell crafting from the core series. Spellcrafting was initially planned as a feature for ESO’s release, but it was shelved, assumedly because of how difficult it would be to balance. I know a lot of players who are going to be excited to see it arrive in some form. Though, really, it seems more like it's just skill customization. You will need to own the Gold Road chapter to be able to use this system.

Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road will be released for PC on June 3, 2024, followed by a release for Xbox Series X|S and PS5 on June 18.

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As part of the Xbox Developer Direct Livestream, MachineGames showed off their upcoming Indiana Jones project, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. Most importantly, it involves Harrison Ford('s likeness) and punching Nazis. Two awesome things.

Actually, there’s probably everything you’d expect from an Indiana Jones game. There’s a whip, torches, the Wilhelm scream, a travel montage, a female sidekick, and ancient (but still functional) puzzles. Interestingly, it’s mostly done in the first person, except when you’re doing more agile activities or looking at Harrison Ford in a cutscene.

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle takes place between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. In it, Indy witnesses the theft of an artifact from the College he works at. He follows its trail and discovers that it’s central to a deeper mystery.

MachineGames is trying to capture the look, feel, and sound of an Indiana Jones movie, and I’m convinced. I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but Harrison Ford is in it. They promise that you’ll be able to enjoy it, even if you haven’t seen the movies. That’s good because I skipped that last two.

Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC later this year.

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