I had only aboutꦅ 30🌠 minutes to play the game, but it was enough time to know that I was wrong. What else had I been wrong about? My precious Zodiac sign?

It doesn't matter, because, in Pragmata, the only stars that matter are th☂e ones that surround our weary protagonist – he has a downtrodden space cowboy vibe – Hugh. There's nothing for him to think about other than survival. He's trapped on the Moon, left for dead at a research station invaded by hostile, invincible robots.

Well, they're seemingly invincible – in the Pragmata demo I played, Hugh awakes to see the precocious android Diana having patched his wounds, and eager to show him ho🍨w to effectively blast his enemies away.

You control both of them, Diana and Hugh. With Diana's h🍬acking ability – which manifests as a simple and smooth maze using the right stick of your contro🐟ller – players can momentarily disengage robots' impenetrable outer armor by hitting special nodes to reach a green, power-on block. Once you reach it, your opponent's exoskeleton will fling open to reveal their more sensitive, gushy internal wiring. If you succeed in taking them down, the robot will burst into a satisfying little electrical firework.

Impossibly, it's not totally distracting to complete this puzzle in its ♐small pop-up window while combat is actively happening. For me, I felt that hacking only made it so I had to be extra generous with keeping distance from flesh-hungry robots. Fight sequences were also a bit more exhausting because of how much mental multitasking I was doing, 💖though I felt the effect was exciting rather than tedious (within the 30-minute timeframe of my demo, at least).

Even on a physical level, Diana's hacking used the right stick on my controller, while Hugh's arsenal of standard, shockwa🌺ve, and freeze guns utilized its triggers – so it all fits perfectly together.

But some things never change. Pragmata, having been 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:originally announced in 2020, sports blessedly shiny, clean graphics in my demo – however, in terms of style, I'd have a hard time distinguishing it from similar sci-fi shooters like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dead Space. Still, Pragmata offers a fun twist to the over-the-shoulder shooter genreꩲ that I think could help it develop its own visual identity in time: through every danger and laser pointed my way as Hugh, I had to carry Diana on my back like a koala. I eventually started to see the two as an endearing, singular unit – a not-quite father figure with his not-quite child – and I was reminded of Mamoru Oshii's cult classic anime movie from 1985, Angel's Egg.

Diana and the unnamed young girl who's the focus of Angel's Egg look similar, with a fury of long, blonde hair telegraphing every move they make in the name of survival. Hugh, bein൲g Diana's less optimistic friend, seems to share his hopelessness with the unnamed older boy in Angel's Egg. In both the 40-year-old movie and Pragmata, the main characters present an interesting dichotomy – caution and recklessness, alone and lonely, hopeless and hoping. It's all intriguing enough to make me look forward to playing more when Pragmata releases some time in 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword looks like an incredible PS2 throwback in all the right ways, but with a modern feel and a swaggering protagonist I already love.

Series mainstay Leon Kennedy has long been rumored to be at least one of the playable characters in Resident Evil 9, but there's no indication from the game's reveal trailer that he has anything to do with it. Instead, the trailer focuses on FBI agent Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak hero Alyssa Ashcroft, and in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:hands-off demo, Grace isꦫ the only playable character, with Leon no𓂃where to be seen.

Furthermore, Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi (via ), recently sent a video message to Resident Evil Ambassador participants, and in it he refers to Grace explicitly as "the n🦄ew mai🦋n character" of Resident Evil 9.

Case closed, right? Everyone go home. RIP Leon. Surely this will bring about a s👍wift and decisive end to the speculat🎉ion that, secretly, Leon Kennedy is actually the main protagonist of Resident Evil 9.

If you beli🌸eved anything I said in that last paragraph, email me for a discount on some beachfront property in Phoenix. Of course the speculation will continue, l꧋ikely until launch unless Capcom itself spills the beans.

To be fair, calling Grace "the new main character" doesn't rule our Leon's involvement; it could simply mean she's the only new main character to the series. Also, , spearheaded by prominent Resi leaker Dusk Golem, has long been tha🔥t there are at least two playable characters in the game and that Leon is "the main character."

It wouldn't be at all uncharacteristic for Capcom to pull a fast one on fans and bring out Leon as a surprise some point after the prologue. Or, I could just🅷 be huffing hopium like the rest of the Resident Evil community. 𝓀Only time, and Capcom, can tell.

Resident Evil Requiem's demo tops the series' scariest moments with what might be the most upsetting monster Capcom’s ever devised, and as a horror baby I'm afraid of how much I want to play it

"We worked with the Kiyomizu-dera temple officials," producer Akihito Kadowaki told GamesRadar+ in an interview at Summer Game Fest. "It w🅷as important to us to make sure that we were presenting these real world locations in Kyoto in Japan not just realis📖tically in terms of how they're laid out today, but also thinking back to how they would have looked at the time setting that the game is in."

Kiyomizu-dera Temple is proving to be quite a popular video game location, appearing in recent major titles like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Shadows and Rise of the Ronin. Both of those games are mostly grounded in historical reality, which perhaps makes it even more notable that Onimusha – a game about fighting supernatural creatures – is going the extra mile for its depiction of the location, even if Capcom is already aﷺcknowledging𒅌 its creative liberties.

"There's a part of me that wants people who play the game, and perhaps they have a chance to visit the real temple in Kyoto, to notice how well we were able to recreate it and spot all the parts that feel just like the game," Kadowaki continued. "But I also think that you'll be able to spot differences 🥃in a fun way. Because, of course, to make it a game stage, we ha🧸ve to get a little bit creative in some areas. So I'd like to think that players of Onimusha: Way of the Sword will enjoy comparing the real world location with our work in the game."

Onimusha: Way of the Sword feels like a PSꦺ2 throwback ꦇin all the best ways based on the hands-off gameplay demo Capcom showed us behind closed doors, giving old-school action a very modern look and feel. Getting to explore historical Japan in between on the 😼oni-slaying is just icing on the cake.

Check out our full guide to all the big 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games for 2025 and beyond.

It's been nearly 20 years since the last proper Onimusha game, but Capcom says "it's been a long time coming for us" as much as it has for fan🅰s, as the studio has n🐎ever given up its hopes on bringing the series back. A lot of things just got in the way first.

"We actually had wanted to continue the series ever since the last title was released," producer Akihito Kadowaki told me via translator, "but just a confluence of factors meant that it never quite came togeth🥂er until early 2020, which was when this project kicked off development. Part of it was getting the core team that we wanted to work on the game to be available, and everyone had this or that proj💫ect in the lineup they had to take care of first."

The other big factor was the devel🐼opment of the RE Engine, which "saw the technological possibilities coming together to make this title possible." Those tꦗechnological advances were apparent in the demo from its fantastic visuals through to its smooth action, but there's still something of the old school in how Way of the Sword plays.

Hack and slash

This demo was quite linear, seein♏g protagonist Musashi Miyamoto take on a series of Genmaꦯ demons at a modestly fictionalized version of the real-world Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Each encounter sees Musashi come upon a group of Genma, and you're benefited by quickly building a strategy for how you take down your foes.

Your guard can block attacks from any direction – you just have to be careful not to take too many attacks, as your guard can break – which gives you time to plan your own strikes. You🅺 can redirect enemy attacks so that your foes run into walls or even flaming torches that'll take them down in a hurry. You can even deflect enemy archers Star Wars-style, reflecting the arrows straight back at them to kill them in a hurry.

And, of course, Onimusha's signature Issen move returns, where you parry incoming strikes by making your own attack at the right time to instantly take down foes, sometimes slicing them right in half as you do. The Issen kills can be chained together against multiple enemies, too. As director Satoru Nihei puts it, the Issen is "a more active way to get players involved wi🔴th reading and reacting to the enemy's moves than just constantly being on defense."

This pace of combat evokes the old Onimusha, where you'd fight enemies screen-by-screen on prerendered background🏅s. Here,🌱 the areas are far more dynamic, but that feeling of entering an encounter, carefully making your moves, and moving forward is still preserved.

Particularly impressive throughout the demo were the combat animations, which look deliciously brutal and really bring forward Musashi's more playful, sardonic personality, showing him finishing off foes with a certain swagger that's very compelling. Capcom wanted to move away from the classic image of the serious samurai with Musashi, and he's just as magnetic in the game🐈 as he is in the cutscenes we've seen in the early trailers.

"Musashi Miyamoto is a figure who we felt wouldn't be averse to bending or breaking the rules and using 𒀰what was available to him in any given situation to just survive, win each fight, and get to the next one," Nihei explains. "Whether that means grabbing🐼 a tatami mat and throwing it at an enemy to destabilize them, or taking opportunities to choose weapons other than a katana if the opportunity arises in order to defeat a foe, those are parts that we felt could build a new image of a samurai."

Capcom wanted to make the combat largely "about reading your opponent's moves and deciding strategically, moment by moment, how you're going to take each enemy on," as Nihei explains, "and I think that naturally led to a slightly more deliberate pacing of the action." Musashi has some superhuman moves thanks to his Oni gauntlet, so "he has moments where he's doing a slow, sort of samurai-style read of what action to take 📖next, then with certain moves, you can do your super-human speed dodges and things like that. So there is a bit of a push and pull between thꦏose two elements of the game's pacing."

The samurai's way

It seems that the game will largely consist of linear stages, though there will be points with branching paths or "slightly more open" areas to explore and find side quests. "As the setting is Kyoto, you'll be able to talk to the denizens of that city," Nihei says, "and they might have requests that they make of Musashi and ask him to help them out in various ways." Other, more major side cha🌳racters might also make requests of Musashi during the game for more optional objectives.

The demo concluded with a pair of boss fights. The first was against a human enemy named Sasaki Ganryu, who's also gotten hold of the same sort of Oni g🍸auntlet as Musashi. But while Musashi is reluctant to use its demonic powers, Ganryu has no such reservations, delivering his antagonistic monologues with a high-camp chꦏarm.

Th🍸e fight itself brings together all of the combat elements we saw throughout the demo in a much grander fashion, challenging you to counter Ganryu's moves and time your own strikes. But bosses also have a second bar under their health meter, which depletes as you deflect their attacks, and once it's empty you can perform a Break Issen, which stops the action and lets you choose a specific part of the boss to attack.

In Ganryu's case, you could use the Break Issen to either attack his head for a big chunk of damage, or stab him mid-torso – in the soul area, apparently – to cut loose a bunch of spirits you can then absorb for a quick health refill. It looks like a smart way to give a quick break in the action and let you choose what kind of boon best suits you as the fight ൲wears on.

Finally, we saw another boss fight against a much larger, monstrous enemy called Byakue which had a completely different vibe from the more humanoid, sword and bo📖w-wielding enemies we'd seen up to this point. It looks like we can expect a great deal of variety in theꦯse big encounters, and both fights looked like exciting challenges.

Based on this brief gameplay demonstration, Onimusha: Way of the 🐠Sword already has me hooked. I love the deliberate pace to the action, and Capcom's track record has me confident it'll feel just as good as it looks with controller in hand. Add in a lovable protagonist and a taste of some compelling villains and you've got the makings of a hugely memorable action game.

Check out all the big 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games you need to know about.

Nakanishi spoke in a alongside the announcement (translated by ) in which he talks about the upcoming game in comparison to his previous Resident Evil titles. While Resident Evil 7 single-handedly revived the series, and Revelations was the brightest spot during its lowest point, Nakanishi reckons Requiem is set to be the best yet, saying, "Compared to Resident Evil 7 and Revelations, I think this title will make fans the happiest."

YouTuber and one of the biggest Resident Evil content creators, Suzi TheSphereHunter, commented on this, simply saying, "I would agree with him." And considering that Capcom featured her in an official trailer of , which you can read about in our GamesRadar+ preview from Summer Game Fest. Plus, it looks like Nakanishi has been working towards this game for some time, as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:fans have spotted a note from RE Outbreak protagonist A♔lyssa Ashcroft – whos🐼e daughter, Grace, is the protagonist of the upcoming game – in Resident Evil 7.

Resident Evil Requiem is playable in first and third-person, letting you toggle between perspectives whenever you want in the options menu.

The identity of the Resident Evil series has been subject to vast experimentation over its near 30-year life๊span. From its survival horror origins back in 1996, the franchise mutated into third-person shooter design when 2005's Resident Evil 4 dropped, before going full bombastic army action in 2012's much-maligned Resident Evil 6.

After luring fans back with 2017's first-person horror masterclass Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and further experimenting with broader styles in 2021's Resident Evil Village, it was apparent that Capcom's new mainline titles are all about scares whil⛦e recent remake titles hand𒁃led the action. Upon seeing Resident Evil Requiem at Summer Game Fest, I can confidently confirm the next entry is a horror experience above all.

Child's play

Resident Evil 9 – although there's no number in the official title – puts the player in the role of Grace Ashcroft.✅ A timid FBI agꦬent, this offspring of Resident Evil Outbreak's Alyssa Ashcroft (who is now deceased), winds up strapped to a hospital bed, suspended upside down and receiving a dubious blood transfusion. A promising start, huh?

After breaking free, Grace begins to in🏅vestigate her dark and bloody surroundings. Locked doors requiring keys and circuit breakers in need of fuses lie in wait, with Grace loudly whimpering while explorin☂g.

During the hands-off demo, it was revealed Grace can equip glass bottles to be aimed and thrown, although whether as weapon or distraction was left to the imagination. The main thing that strikes me is the absence of a firearm. It's one thing for Grace to not be packing the wide array of guns Leon S. Kennedy had in 2023's Resi 4, but to not even possess a simple pistol is a big surprise. Resident Evil Requiem is not going to let us shoot our way out – at least not always.

As Grace inches through the hallways, we're given hints of unseen company. There are signs of a struggle and suffering, leading to a deformed cor🐼pse falling through a doorway. Grace handles this as well as you'd expect a greenhorn to, comically surprised that a grey, non-breathing person is dead.

This moment of humor was clearly no accident, instead hi✨ghlighting how grace is not of the cynical, haꦅrdened position long-time series fans are. This is baby's first Resi in the best way, and it took me right back to who I was when I ill-advisedly loaded up 1996's original Resident Evil on my first PlayStation. I have never been happier to be terrified.

Take me back

The first time I saw Kenneth J. Sullivan eaten by the now iconic Turning Around Zombie, I was frozen to the spot. I was a young kid, but for the first time ever a vid🎉eo game left me unable to respond. I was in awe. Nothing had ever sent my senses into overload, and I needed more. Sadly the gruesome scene set a precedent the series could never again live up to – until now.

In Resident Evil Requiem, Grace comes face-to-face with a huge, misshapen, gray monstrosity resembling the unholy child of Lisa Trevor from 2002's remake of Resident Evil and the Tyrant from Resi 2. It announces itself by taking a bite out🐎 of a dead body, giving a spine-tingling view of its gargantuan teeth and soulless eyes in the process. The grotesque being then b💎ecomes Grace's pursuer, appearing seemingly at random and driving our hero into hiding.

As Grace holds up in a quiet room, I catch my breath and the game's capacity for inflicting terror dawns on me, hammered home when the electricity cuts out and Grace is forced to re🥂ly only on a lighter to chase away the imposing shadows. The sense of being smothered by darkness is overwhelming in Requiem, creating a claustrophobia that transcends even the hallowed halls of the RPD from Resident Evil 2.

While it would be easy to attribute this to the first-person perspective of the RE9 demo, this notion was soon quashed when at the climax of th♑e session, a pause menu opened and the camera was changed to a third-person, over-the-shoulder position. It was a glorious moment, and one that compounded how Requiem is able to create a sense of feeling trapped regardless of♊ perspective.

As the session came to a close I realized I'd been holding my breath for extended periods, genuinely frightened Grace wouldn't survive the o💫rdeal. But there was no bait and switch like in the Village demo years ago where our character kicked the bucket: Grace lived, and we'll get to spend more time with this new Capcom hero when Re🐽sident Evil Requiem releases on February 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Look ahead to more future frights with our roundup of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games.

The Switch 2's game-key cards are proving controversial. Rather than containing the game themselves, the small cartridges merely all🌺ow you to retrieve a copy onl🌄ine. Even if you get one, you still need internet access.

Putting it another way, you're paying for a glorified download off the eShop in a regular box. This has led to questions ove♎r how these releases will be ꧃counted, as the boxes are sold in brick-and-mortar stores, but they aren’t physical games.

That's why Capcom is just counting them towards the digital total, at least for Street Fighter 6, per the company's latest financial results. The only difference between these and giving you a redeemable code is that you can still lend these cartridges out, allowing 🃏for the second-hand market to continue.

Not everything on the Switch 2 will come in game-key card form, only certain games, purportedly because the carts currently come in one size, 64GB. Third-party releases are the most impacted by this workaround, and developers have 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:called the decision betweeꦫn using a proper cart or a key card "not easy."

Nintendo is aware of the consternation. "In the immediate future, physical games are still a key part of our business," Doug Bowser, head of Nintendo of America, said in May. He reiterated ﷽the value of the compan༺y's relationship with retailers.

The move hasn't gone down well across the industry. Prolific devs have said they "hate" game-key cards, and preservationists 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:call them a "disheartening" move as the industry continues to struggle with 🌠future-proofing.

Only time will tell the extent of game-key cards in terms of the S🧸witch 2's longer-term standing.

We have guides on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:where to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and how to transfer your Switch save data onto the Switch 2, if you’re keen on the new Mario machine.

Yes, yes he did. It seems that Resident Evil's ninth mainline game will feature the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, the cutthroat journalist who starred in PS2 spin-off, Resident Evil Outbreak, some 22 years ago. Aside from a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:small nod to her in Resident Evil 7, where one of her articles is found by Ethan Winters, the Ashcrofts have largely faded into the background since then. But now that Capcom is dredging up it🌊s past to carve out the series' future, I have a couple of hunches about what might come next for us survival horror fans – including a few theories on what the Resident Evil Requiem storyline might be.

Ancient grudge

I'll cut to the chase: it's looking more likely that instead of a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:much-rumored Code Veronica remake, we could be getting a brand new Resident Evil Outbreak first. It makes sense that Capcom would continue its winning streak off the back of mega-successful Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4, but with Resident Evil 5's subject matter having aged like fine milk, I'm not holdin🍸g out hope for Wesker's final act to get a modern 🥂facelift imminently.

Enter: Resident Evil Requiem, here to save the day by reminding us of one of the franchise's lesser-known spin-offs. Despite owning a copy of the PS2 game myself and very much not hating༒ the thing, I'll be the first to admit th🅠at an Outbreak remake is not something I'd had on my bingo card.

Useful as the game is when it comes to fleshing out the lives of Raccoon C💫ity's everymen on the night it all went to hell and back, it has objectively less impact on the mainline series' events than something like Code Veronica. The latter is widely considered canon, but Outbreak and its sequel Outbreak File #2 are mere "fluff," so to speak, there to add some color rather than paint a new pic📖ture

But Resident Evil Requiem has the chance to change that. We don't know much about what the plot of the new game might be at the moment – only that our supposed protagonist Grace Ashcroft is a tech analyst for the FBI, her mother lost her life at the Wrenwood Hotel eight years earlier, and Grace is about to be sent back there to investigate a spate of ꧟suspicious viral infections.

We also know that Alyssa's story will be of some importance, given the brief flashback sequences in the RE9 announcement trailer. With glimpses of the Raccoon City Police Department pre and post-destruction thrown in there for good measure, on top of a mix of terrified voices pointing at something horrendous happening right now, it'꧂s likely we will be finding out exactly what happened to Alyssa (and, perhaps, Grace) at the Wrenwood this February.

My slightl𒐪y more extreme theory, though, is that the Outbreak "remake" might happen as part of Resident Evi🍸l Requiem itself.

New mutiny

Think about it: Outbreak plays out in the format of various scenarios, each featuring a handful of laymen who experience the T virus epid𒅌emic first-hand. Each of the scenarios takes only a few hows to complete apiece, meaning it's fairly easy to separate the stories from one another.

What if instead of mere flashback cinematics, we get to play through Alyssa's past in a split timeline in RE9 – both her more recent Wrenwood experience, and those late-90s escapades 🍰as seen in Resident Evil Outbreak? Moreover, what if Capcom decides to retcon bits here and there, adding more connective tissue throughout Alyssa's scenario – say, linking her story to that of Claire, Jill, or Leon, ಞwho were also active in the city that very same night?

Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but in this context, I can see how a remake-within-a-sequel would actually pan out pretty well. It would also put some stock into all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 9 rumors that had been going around some time ago – and have popped up again over the weekend – regarding Leon featuring in the next Resi game in a meaningful capacity. If Requiem straddles more than one spot on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline, it would give the once-rookie cop more stake in the matter, both as a part𝔍icipant of the 💎game's modern timeline and by giving us more backstory into how he and Alyssa might have once crossed paths.

So there you have it. My most out-there prediction, written up for all to r🌺oll their eyes at. But maybe, just maybe, if I happen to be right… well, it'll be like the Summer Game Fest reveal all over again, oꦡnly I'll be twice as smug about it.

Resident Evil Requiem is just one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games looming on the horizon...

I was covering the show last night as part of the GR+ news crew, and I'll give you a peek behind the curtain꧙ at the most traumatizing part of the night for me. We were about halfway throug൩h the show, and my irresponsibly confident anticipation for RE9 made it hard to care about much else.

And then SGF host Geoff Keighley started talking about the "30th anniversary of a legendary franchise" before transitioning to a brief animation showing the Resident Evil series' iconic Racoon Police Department typew꧒riter, the zombie used in a lo🎃t of the promotional materials for the original Resident Evil, and finally Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village.

I was nauseous. This doesn't look like Resident Evil 9 at all. Something is very, very wrong here, I thought.

And th💦en Lady Dimitrescu actor Maggie Robertson appeared with a glass of wine and a cheers to Resident Evil's 30th birthday. So filled with🐻 existential dread was I that I just about joined her.

Then appeared Capcom legend ꩵand Resident Evil executive producer Jun Takeuchi, who proceeded to rip my heart straight from my chest and dance on it wit♉h Geoff's ugly shoes.

"About the latest Resident Evil game you've all been waiting for, bear with us a little lonꦐger. Just a blink of an eye more, and it'll be ready. We're incredibly grateful for your ongoing support of the Resident Evil series," he said, wine glass in hand from his living room. I need a minute. I needed one then as I watched this atrocity, and I need another now writing about it.

The crashing out had already begun. "TF WAS THAT," I sent to my upsettingly composed colleagues who had already moved on with their lives like normal people. "that was honestly so fucking troll smdh," I wasn't done. I needed to be heard on the world෴ stage, or at least as much of the world stage as the good and true GamesRadar+ could possibly offer me. I started furiously bashing away at my keyboard with a headline akin to "you've gotta be kidding me..."

My anger blinded my reason. As a seasoned gaming journalist, I should'💦ve been able to sniff out Capcom's long game here, but I didn't. 20 minutes later, I had written about 400 words of utterly unhinged copy I'm not even sure would've made it through my editor's filter. I didn't care; I had Things to Say, and I w𒈔as going to say them.

Just as I was ready to submit my copy for edits, I was hit with a wave of commiserations from my co-workers. At first, I figured they were still sympathizing with me𓂃 over the fakeout, and then I saw the flurry of messages like "WE'RE SO BACK" and so on, and I realized the real Resident Evil 9 reveal was happening right at that moment. I returned my attention to the SGF stream, and there it was, seconds from being over, Resident Evil Requiem. The whip🌸lash was swift and disorienting.

Worst of all, I was made a fool of. E🍰ven with seven years of experience covering these sorts of shows, I fell for Capcom's cruel joke hook, line, and sinker. The only thing I could do was look for solace in the community I knew𝔍 would most acutely share my pain: Resident Evil Reddit, and it didn't fail me.

ꦦ"Bro is a bait speci💧alist," reads one presumably referring to Takeuchi. "Imma not gonna trust this dude anymore ever."

"That sly fuckin 🥂side eye, man knew he would get us," reads .

"I have enough bait for an entire weekend fish trip," reads . "I have been baited thrice. To wait sale offers, the just a blink moment,ꦕ and the blonde girl at FBI that had a similar forehead to Jill."

"This made me so mad," reads a from my fellow fool. "I was genuinely so pissed nearing the end of the show, but then screamed in joy ඣat the end. Also, ILL & JWE3 look amazing, too."

...And so on. You got us, Capcom. You really did. And I will just say, you're lucky the Requiem꧒ trailer𓆉 was just promising enough to earn my forgiveness, but you'll never have my full trust.... until literally the next time you say anything about Resident Evil 9.

Resident Evil 9 Requiem references have been spotted in Resident Evil 7, a game that came out 8 whole years ago

This game has been a long time coming. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil Village released four years ago in 2021, and after a fairly flat announcement that Resident Evil 9 would be coming "soon" last year, fans of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best survival horror game franchise ever had all but lost hope – until 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:we finally got a glimpse of Capcom's chilling next chapter. There are still so many questions to be answered about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror game. How does Grace fit into the story so far? Where on the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline does Requiem take place, given all the snapshots of a decimated Raccoon City shown in the trailer? Most importantly, is this really the end of the Winters family saga - and is Leon really not going to show up?

We'll have to wait and see, but if you're a🔯s hyped for Resident Evil 9 🎀as I am, here's everything we know about Requiem so far - including its 2026 release date.

Resident Evil Requiem release date

The Resident Evil Requiem release date has been set for February 27, 2026.

The news came as part of the offi𒅌cial game reveal at Summer Game Fest 2025, where Capcom finally gave us a first look at Grace Ashcroft's journey. There's no sign of pre-orders yet either, but check back soon as we keep learning more about the mysterious new Resi game.

Resident Evil Requiem platforms

According to the official Capcom website, Resident Evil Requiem will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC platforms in February 2026.

It's a bummer for anyone still 𒊎rocking a past-gen console, but I can't lie - it's looki🧜ng pretty special in the RE Engine, and all that juicy raytracing will likely make all the difference in a horror franchise like this.

Resident Evil Requiem trailer

The first Resident Evil Requiem trailer shown at Summer Game Fest introduces us to Grace Ashcroft, the confirmed daug𝔉hter of Resident Evil Outbreak File 1 and 2 protagonist Alyssa Ashcroft. She appears to be working as an FBI agent in the wake of a virus outbreak that is sweeping the continent - which should have every Resi fan's skin tingling - as she's urged to face her past.

A series of flashback stills play out as Grace struggles to compose herself, interspe🐈rsed with shots of a decimated Raccoon City following the events of Resident Evil 2 and 3, before she suddenly finds herself strapped to a gurney and screaming for help. Then, a man sits with his back to Grace, telling her that she's the one he's been l♌ooking for - "the special one." Talk about chilling.

The story is still nebulous at best, judging from this trailer, but it's the perfect way to whet our appetites for "a heart-stopping experieꦇnce that will chill you to your core" according to the .

Resident Evil Requiem story and setting

It looks like Resident Evil Requiem is bringing us back to the series roots: the Raccoon City disaster. Grace Ashcroft is our protagonist, the daughter (or other relation, presumedly) of Alyssa Ashcroft from the Resident Evil Outbreak games on PS2. It seems Grace will have to delve back into her own dark past to confront personal demons, specific๊ally regarding her mother's death at the Wrenwood Hotel eight years earlier, though what the gameplay itself might look like is yet to be seen.

We don't know much about the story just yet, save that Grace certainly has a lot of trauma to unpack. There are also suggestions that we might have some kind of split timeline in Resident Evil Requiem, given all the shots of Raccoon City interspersed with indoor locations that certainly don't look nuked, as well as various voices referring to an ongoing c🤪atastrophe. In short, these conversations sound what the initial surv🅠ivors of the Raccoon City Disaster might have discussed as they grappled with the unravelling events.

At this early stage, though, that's about all the RE9 speculation we can go on. Paired with Capcom's dedication to technological advancements, we're told to expect "a story with rich characters and gameplay that's more immersive than ever before." Some eagle-eyed fans have managed to spot 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Re🌳quiem references in Resident Evil 7, so whatever's coming our way oᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚn February 27, RE9 has clearly been thought out for aꦅ long time now.

In the trailer for the survival horror game we now know as Resident Evil Requiem, harried FBI agent Grace Ashcroft is actively investigating an "unidentified disease," one that melts people's faces off, if the black-an꧒d-white crime scene pics on her computer screen are any indication. She's tasked with analyzing a fresh corpse at the hotel wh𝕴ere her mother – Resident Evil Outbreak reporter Alyssa Ashcroft – was killed eight years ago.

When Grace gets to the hotel, it seems to be the famiꦍly reunion from hell she was expecting. She's tied up and left dangling upside down like a whole pig at the butcher, and an unidentified man holed up in one of the rotting hotel's rooms calls her "the chosen one."

Later, Raccoon City is an unrecognizable pile of ash. Slithering monsters and dying people wreak꧃ mayhem on both their homes and, preꦍsumably, you.

I'm happy to sܫee it. Thanking both God and my lucky stars, I'm also glad to remind you that Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi is in control of this Resident Evil installment. Can you tell from all the screaming?

For someone like me, who plays Resident Evil not for the bombs and bullets, but for the severed arms and bubbling gore, Requiem is a gift from horror heaven. I think the mildewy claustrophobia in 7 is more stifling than it feels in any other game in the 29-year-old mutant horror franchise, and 9 looks ambitious and ready to make it worse.

After Resident Evil 5 and 6 nudged the survival horror series toward hot and messy action – a creative decision detested by many fans – Resident Evil 7 was like 1,000 volts to the chest. It revived ജResident Evil, which had strayed so far from its roots, and it took it back underground🌟.

It makes sense, then, that Nakanishi would have found it "really difficult to figure out what to do after 7," as he said during last year's Capcom summer stream. "But I found it," he continued to say about 9, "and, to be honest, it feels substantial."

The footage we saw during today's Summer Game Fest confirms this to be nauseatingly true, and I've never been more excited to get sick.

Resident ཧEvil Requiem is out on February 27, 2026 for PS5, Xbox ღSeries X/S, and PC.

Keep up with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest schedule.

The developer continues, describing how "this two-in-one approach, where Hacking is key to your success, is our own unique take on combat that you'll only find here – in Pragmata." While there aren't too many further details given by Capcom regarding the two protagonists and how they'll work together in action, more information is underway from the studio as work on Pragmata continues.

"Stay tuned for more details, as we will delve deeper into the combat experience in the near future," writes the dev. "And as for our space-faring friend Hugh, and his new android companion Diana, we can't wait to talk about them and their adventure as well." Capcom concludes by mentioning the new release date once more, stating the team is "working hard" to deliver the game "you’ve all been waiting for in 2026."

Want to keep the excitement flowing? Here are some other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games coming this year and beyond.

Out of all the third party 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch 2 launch games, Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Street Fighter 6 is arguably the best of the bunch (and by arguably, I mean it is but I don't want the Cyberpunk fans to come after me). Alongside the game's arrival on the Switch 2 this week, Capcom has released the final fighter of the games DLC Season 2 – that being E๊lena from Street Fighter 3 – as well as dropping a new balance patch into the game.

Since it launched, Street Fighter 6 has allowed you to play some Capcom arcade classics within it, from the likes of classic Street Fighter titles, the all-time ban✨ger Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and even out there choices like Savage Bees.

However, with this new update, folded NES titles into the game (presumably in celebration of its arrival on a Nintendo platform. The four titles included are a great selection of🐽 some of the best games on the NES and Street Fighter 2010 (spotted by ).

Included are Mighty Final Fight, which is a chibi remake (demake?) of Capcom's cla♛ssic arcade beat 'em up which is canon to the Street Fighter universe. On the Street Fighter side there is Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight, which is a really rough side scroller that feels like a different game that had the Street Fighter brand slapped on it at the last second.

Finally there's a one-two punch of two of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best NES games ever made: Bionic Commando and Mega Man 3. Bionic Commando is a 2D side-scroller where you're unable to jump ♑and must rely on your robot arm t🍨o get business done, and still holds up as a classic today (although the Xbox 360 remake is better).

And Mega Man 3 is, ꦏto put it simply, a banger. It's arguably the best Mega Man game there is, and probably the best game available in SF6's classic game roster♔ (except Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, no one's touching that).

Despite being a big supporter of Nintendo usually, Capcom has barely touched the Nintendo Switch Online apps, with Ghosts and Goblins being the only series that consistently gets relea📖ses on there. Granted, the Mega Man gameꦅs are all in the Mega Man Legacy Collection, but Bionic Commando is a glaring omission that's finally going to be on Switch 2.

Over a decade ago, Nintendo fans started gettingꦯ used to the idea of NES games coming as free pack-ins with then-modern titles. We had examples like the extensive selecti🍎on of retro titles in the original Animal Crossing, or the version of NES Metroid you could unlock by connecting Prime and Fusion together.

Of course, the Wii Virtual Console a few years later taught Nintendo that fans were more than willing to pay extra for access to NES, and that's culminated in the Nintendo Switch Online library we can subscribe to today. Here's hoping Capcom doesn't get wind of the idea that these games could be sold separately.

Stick with us to stay in the loop for all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Switch 2 games you need to known about.

The Gaping Dragon first appeared in 2011 genre gem 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dark Souls as an optional boss, with a cutscene I can only describe as having catfished me into thinking I'd be up against a little lizard only to reveal the true enemy I'd have to take on – a fearsome dragon with gigantic vertical jaws and wriggling teeth. That dragon is back now in Nightreign, and what's more, players can chop its tail off just as they could over a decade ago in Dark Souls.

As highlighted by Twitch streamer BioticNova in an online , Nightreign players can cut the Gaping Dragon's tail off to get weapon drops. In Dark Souls, fans could do the same for the Dragon King Greataxe, a rare weapon. While the newer game𒀰 doesn't reward the same exact item, it's still a fun reference to FromSoftware's older action RPG – one that's not only reminding players of just Dark Souls either, apparently.

In the wake of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds, people also have Capcom's own series in mind – and the tail-chopping mechanic the Gaping Dragon fight features feels a whole lot like the one in Monster Hunter. As in B🍎ioticNova's thread reads, "What in the Monster Hunter?" that the "Mons🦂ter Hunter-ification has begun," while elsewhere, somebody , "So it is Monster Hunter, too?"

One player even how they've "been so cooked from Monster Hunter, I almost got mad you didn't go back to carve the tail" – a relatable reaction, if I do say so myself. Although they're not all as Monster Hunter-aligned as the Gaping Dragon, there are plenty more boss references and throwbacks to be found in-game, too. If nothing else, as our own 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring Nightreign review describes them, they're certainly "a genius form of asset re-use."

Here are some of the other most exciting 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

Games For Windows Live is a name that will send shivers down the spine of PC gamers who were around in the early 2010s. Microsoft's attempt to get Xbox Live into PC gaming resulted in some of the most poorly done PC ports of the era, like the early version of Dark Souls. If you thin💮k the Epic Games Store is rough, you did not suffer through GFWL.

For whatever reason Capcom was one of the publishers who loved using GFWL, with the likes of Dead Rising 2, Resident Evil 5, and Street Fighter 4 using the service. While some games still have access to it, Microsoꦏft has moved over to the (somewhat) superior Windows Store, and most games have removed it, such as the aforementioned Dead Rising 2 and Resident Evil 5 – which now use Valve's Steamworks.

In 2021, Capcom removed games from Steam to presumably update them to work without the GFWL DRM integration, these being both Lost Planet 1 and 2, Stre🍸et Fighter 4, Street Fighter X Tekken, and Resident Evil: Operation Raccooꦇn City. But players have noticed that all of these games, barring Street Fighter 4 (which has the Ultra Street Fighter 4 edition available on Steam right now), have been . This has led players to assume these games will finally be coming back to Steam.

Now, Lost Planet 1 is rough, and Street Fighter x Tekken and Operation Raccoon City are among the worst games in their respective series, but Lost Planet 2 is a banger. When Capcom really wanted 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter to take off o🍌utside of Japan, Lost Planet 🥂2 felt like a shooter version of its marquee series. However, Lost Planet 2 has been hit with another layer in this update, as it has also (via).

If Capcom brings back Lost Planet 2 without the co-op multiplayer that made that game so great, it'll be a huge bummer. But as a about this noted, Resident Evil 5 now uses Steamworks, so hopefully if and when it eventually comes back, we can experience one of Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best co-op games without issue.

Monster Hunter Wilds' weakest weapon is probably my beloved hammer, but good news, bonk fans: Capcom is buffing it so hard that it can't fit it all in one patch.

In an interview with MinnMax's Ben Hanson titled "" Kamiya was asked if he ever wanted to direct a new🍎 Resident Evil game, to which the director simply responded, "nah." He didn't explain why he felt this way, but just prior to that question, he cal🉐led Resident Evil 2 the game he had the hardest time with as a director (naturally, since it was his first time).

Hanson followed up by asking about any interest in other Capcom titles. Naturally, Viewtiful Joe 3 is a game Kamiya has alr🐻eady expressed interest in, so the host asked what he would do with the game, to which Kamiya responded, "I've already got the idea in my head. So you'll find out if I ever get to make it." And despite turning down Resident Evil, he was asked about Capcom's other survival horror series, Dino Crisis, to which Kamiya responded, "I'd love to give it a shot."

Hanson also asked Kamiya some other important questions like "would your mom think I'm cool," "you're on Twitter a lot, has Elon Musk ever slid into your DMs and offered to impregnate you," and a question about Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai's youtube channel (to which Kamiya responded to by saying that his own channel 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:was more interesting). Perhaps more relevantly, he asked if Kamiya is sticking to his original vision for Okami 2, to which he responded, "In a sense, yes. But I 𓂃actually can't remember a lot of the stuff I thought about 20 years ago. So I'll have to remember what that is,😼 and then inject current ideas into it."

New Mario Kart World footage seems to confirm a new way to race that was originally planned for Double Dash 22 years ago.

While it's never been quite as powerfuꦜl as the likes of the Great Sword, the Hammer's powerhouse status has ♚been significantly reduced in Wilds, leading to fan outcry. I personally ditched it entirely after maining it in Monster Hunter Rise because it just didn't hit the same way. But Capcom has responded, and the Hammer should be coming back to its former glory in the near future.

As part of Capcom is giving the Hammer an overall damage buff, making the likes of sliding more responsive when charging the Hammer. Plus, the Upswing attack has g🌄otten a lot of love as not only does it have a larger hitbox, but you're now able to evade while readying the attack for when you've misjudged an offset attack.

However, with the Hammer being so bad at launch, Capcom isn't done with simply one patch, as in a , Yuya Tokuda, it confirmed that the weapon will be getting even more love in Title Update 2. "the Hammer is planned to receive various improvements in Title Update 2 in addition to the adjustment✱s made in this update, including the addition of offset effects for certain attacks and the addition of a follow-up attack upon a successful offset."

The new patch also includes the likes of new eight-star tempered monster battles and the game's first crossover collaboration, which is with Street Fighter 6. The collab brings an Akuma armor set and a layered armor set, which com🌺es equipped with special attacks like a combo, Drive Impact, and Gou Hadoken.

Elden Ring Nightreign leads say FromSoftware is bracing servers for launch and working to "improve our multiplayer game" – "In the worst case, we want players to be able to keep playing."

I know conceptually that, say, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Death Stranding 2: On The Beach has a kind of absurd graphical fidelity that puts Onimusha 2, released in 2002, to shame. I'm not completely deluded. But this game still looks so good that if any modern release just looked li♛ke this, I'd be more than happy with it. Maybe I'm just an aging gamer, but there's a charm to the era's stabs at realism where stylization has to meet it halfway. But I also still think Shenmue is breathtaking so take it with a pinch of salt (from Tom's Hot Dog Stand, of course).

Polished steel

It's not just the preservation of the visuals that I appreciate in the Onimusha 2 remaster. It runs buttery smooth⛄. You can play without tank controls – a control scheme I think works way better in Resident Evil than, erm, a samurai hack and slash. You can quickly switch weapons, though not as quickly as in the first game's remaster (perhaps for balancing reasons). There's wide screen, of course. Even the ori𓆏ginal's bonuses and mini-games are intact and unlocked from the get-go. It might not quite reach the thorough highs of , but Onimusha 2's remaster approaches a gold standard for PS2 re-releases.

ꩲWhile Capcom have taken their time with this remaster – Onimusha: Warlords' remaster released in 2019, wꦰhile Onimusha 2's is in 2025 – this wasn't the cadence of the original releases on PS2. The first game came out in 2001, and its sequel released a smidge over a year later in 2002. , and development across them partially overlapped.

The quick release meant the development team had a lot of changes for Onimusha 2. It's a situation similar to 2001's Devil May Cry and 2003's Devil May Cry 2 – both series share a lot of history as both were conceived as ways to shake up the Resident Evil series itself before becoming their own projects. With Onimusha 2, you can feel the changes in direction quite clearly, and though it doesn't feel like the hot mess Devil May Cry 2 ended up being – as a fan of the original Onimusha: Warlords it feels like it loses its 🎃way a bit.

Picking up after Samanosuke's battle with demonic forces that ended with the encroaching threat quelled but a revived, warmongering Oda Nobunaga es🌊caping, the story now centers on samurai Jubei Yagyu. After Nobunaga razes his village, Jubei sets out for revenge under the prompting of his village's yokai protector to defeat the warlord's now truly hellish army. The cutscenes are surprisingly violent, and Jubei is an immediately likeable successor protagonist – and innately able to suck up demon orbs just as Samanosuke could.

Jubei's combat skills, at least, feel like they evolve nicely from Onimusha: Warlords (something I can not say about Devil May Cry 2). The weapons he gets throughout his journey feel more varied than Samanosuke's, and all have a great asso🌠rtment of different strikes that can fit different situations – even if sometimes just mashing to stun lock weaker foes can remain the best option now and then. Running through areas with fixed camera angles and plenty of loading zones, Jubei will con⛎stantly be fighting, so it's a good job there's a lot of variety in how you can do it.

It's a shame, then, that the actual combat scenarios often feel so stale. There are a couple of screens in Onimusha: Warlords that still annoy me a bit, where enemies constantly spawn in and, easy to dispatch though they are, it can become a slog. There, it's the exception to the rule. In Onimusha 2 it is the rule. Almost every screen slowly spawns wave after wave of enemies that take many hits t🤡o kill.

Sure, you don't always have to slay them all to progress, but upgrade speeds are glacial compared to the first game, meaning nabbing enough resource🅘s is a real grind and skipping fights will leave you underpowered. On top of red orbs, enemies now drop gold currency as well, which mind-bogglingly can't be absorbed from a distance like demon essence, meaning you still have to trudge across anyway. So much of the game is quite linear, with very little to explore for large chun♚ks of the game other than repeating samey hallways.

Town life

That gold comes into play in the game's RPG-like towns. These are pleasant little spaces, but don't add much. A gift system allows you to grow closer to Jubei's companions who he befriends, and events can play out differently depending on how much they like you. 🍨A nice idea, but it's slow and clunky here, and is one area that feels like it's aged less elegantly. Some of this is dropped later in the game as it becomes more focused – but rather than a relief it just contributes to a feeling of odd pacing.

Just as ♈Samanosuke would sometimes need the aid of his shinobi ally Kaede, control shifting to her with a slightly pared down ninja moveset, Jubei also needs to call on his playable allies from time to time. None of them are as fun to play as compared to Jubei. While there may be more options, none of them are particulaജrly good.

It's another example where more ends up feeling like less, I'd have rather had an improved single companion than a slew of middling ones – but I guess this is from the era where having multiple characters was a definite market💎ing bullet point. In fact, I just grabbed the back of the original EU release and it's right there as point number one: "multiple characters". Who helps out when is part of the branching path structure but even so, less fun as Onimusha 2 is, I'm less likely to r♛eplay this than the original Onimusha which doesn't have multiple routes at all.

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny's remaster still presents it as the odd, messy, and often over-bloated sequel it was, a strange followup that didn't really know how to evolve the focused castle exploration of the original. Leaning more heavily on fantasy elements than horror, it's tonally all over the place and paced weirdly, with even its improved sword clashing deployed in less than exciting slow waves of enemy encounters. Gogandantess is still an awesome boss design though, I will grant i🧸t that.

Yetℱ, I can't bring myself to hate it. It's not as fun to revisit as the original, but it's still quite the looker, and the remaster's enhancements are really nicely done. I'm glad that while some improvements are present, this is still Onimusha 2 faithfully reproduced. Now, when can we get Onimusha 3 remastered?

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny was played on PS5, with a code provided by the publi꧋sher.

Looking for something fresher? Check out our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games of 2025 that needs to be on your radar!

I had a bad feeling the minute I stepped foot in this underground cave system, and further in, that only intensified. Eerie whispers seemed to 🥃sound off just behind me, or whistle down tunnels in a decidedly creepy fashion, and I couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was following me. That alone was enough to make me want to get the hell out of this pl༺ace, but to then be actually pursued by a giant guardian in a dark chamber who's not interested in being friends? Well, I might as well be in hell, because it certainly feels like I am right now.

Don't get me wrong, I've absolutely a⛦dored my time with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle so far, but I never expected my globetrotting, history-laden escapades would bring back my worst fear in the world of video games – the origins of which can be traced back to a PS2 game I foolishly played in the early 2000sꦕ.

Hide and seek

You'd rarely find me willingly playing any of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best horror games around these days (澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alan Wake 2 being 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:one of the few exceptions), but I somehow found myself dipping in🐻to the genre in the early '00s. Given that I was pretty young back then, it's even more baffling to me that I decided to try out a survival horror game on PS2, but it turned out to be a rather fateful decision that's still affecting me to this day. The survival horror game in question was Clock Tower 3 from Capcom, which sees you take on the role of a teenager called Alyssa who, after receiving an unsettling letter, finds out her mother's gone missing, and returns to a boarding house to investigate.

While my memory of the actual plot of the Clock Tower 3 is foggy at best, what refuses to leave my mind is one of enemies in the opening few hours of the ga🅺me: Sledgehammer. His name really says it all, because he's basically a huge burly fellow with a sledgehammer in hand who chases after you with murderous intent. What makes his pursuit so terrifying is that you can't actually fight back or defend yourself in any way, so your only option is to run away and try to hide. Coupled with a panic meter, it's just an anxiety-riddled time all round.

The sheer panic I felt every time he entered the picture and I had to helplessly flee still haunts me to this day, and ever since then, I've been intensely afraid of facing similar scenarios in games. As my Editor-in-Chief recently inform♔ed me, this is actually known rather humorously as diokophobia, or the fear of being chased or pursued.

Unfortunately, I've gone on to encounter more adventures that have only worsened my phobia in the world of video games over the years. Another survival horror that takes some credit, for example, came with Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Eart♏h in 2006. I didn't dare play it myself, but watching my dad progress through the opening hours of the Lovecraftian first-person horror game on PC tapped into this particular anxiety tenfold. In the dreary, creepy town of Innsmouth, the player character books into a hotel just after meeting some strange locals. In the dead of night, they then awaken to hear the residents talking outside your door as they plot to essentially kill you.

Before the Innsmouth villagers break down the hotel door, you have to quickly try to block it with some nearby furniture and then run like hell. I can still remember with crystal clear cl𝔉arity how terrified I felt as I watched this chase sequence unfold. If you could feel the way my heart pounded in terror, you'd probably have thought my dad was legitimately in danger.

Now, all these years later, my heart is suddenly beating with the same terrified intensity, and it's all thanks to a big blindfolded giant in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The section 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:has all the makings ❀of a horror game, but unlike Clock T♓ower 3 or my impassive participation in Call of Cthulhu, I can actꦚually retaliate and fight against my pursuer.

Despite how unsettling I find the whole affair below the sands of Gizeh, it certainly helps that I'm Indiaꩵna frickin Jones in this scenario. I somehow manage to buoy myself by thinking that if Indy can push past his fear of snakes, I can conquer my diokophobia and get through this nightmarish encounter. I'm happy to report that after breathlessly avoiding detection and sheepishly distracting my hunter, I walloped him enough times to knock him out. I can't say I enjoyed facing my fears all over again, but if Indiana Jones has taught me anything over the years, it's that we're far more capable than we might think – and you can still be a hero with flaws and fears.

It took 5 months but Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is finally on PS5, and I'm begging you to play the best Raiders of the Lost Ark sequel that never was.

Despite being notorious for blocking people on Twitter for even the slightest annoyance, Hideki Kamiya hosts his own YouTube show dedicated to answering comments by fans of his work. While he is once again collaborating with Capcom, with his new studio Clovers 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:creating a sequel to Okami, naturally, many want to know if he'll retur🌱n to another one of the series he created under Capcom.

In the , a fan asks if he could work on a remake of Devil May Cry, and if he has any ideas in mind for how it could be improved. To which Kamiya responds, "As for a Devil May Cry remake – of course I'd love to do that." He says that he doesn't replay his own games after release, but that he sometimes watches gameplay clips of the original Devil May Cry and thinks, "yeah, this really does feel like 24-year-old game design." And while he would like to "remake it from the gro🅰und up" with "today's technology and game design approach".

However, he doesn't have any specific ideas on how a Devil May Cry remake could improve on the original, saying, 🍸"I don't think seriously u♉nless it's really happening, so right now, I don't have anything." But he does say, "if the time comes, I'll come up with something. That's what I do," before pleading, "Capcom – please leave it to me" adding, "also, let me handle Viewtiful Joe too."

Outside of a terrible mobile game and the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new anime series, Devil May Cry hasn't had as much as a peep since 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition released back in 2020. Series producer Hideaki Itsuno went on to work on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon's Dogma 2 and has 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:since left Capcom. So a Kamiya-led Devil May Cry remake could be precisely what the series needs to get back into action.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 boss clarifies no DLC is planned – instead, they're focusing on improving the base game.

The Free Challenge quest lets players take on the Arch-tempered lightning-charged behemoth while sporting their own gear, hence the "free" portion of the name. Fans can either take Rey Dau on solo alongside their trusty Palico, or they can opt to join fellow hunters online and support c🧸haracters in a party of up to four. As for the pendant rew✨ards, there are three – one for a sub-50-minute kill, another for under 20, and one for 13 minutes or less.

It's certai🎀nly not an easy kill to secure for many players, especially if aiming for that A Rank prize in under 13 minutes. Fans are already sharing their thoughts on the challenge, taking to a thread to report on its difficulty. "As an average player, I appreciate the 13 mins," writes one such user, going on to say they eventually scored a top-reward kill. "It was still frustratingly hard for me, but I was eventually able to pull through with 12 mins."

from

Elsewhere in the comments, fans express their doubts about slaying Rey Dau in under 13 minutes. "My ass is 🎀not getting A Rank solo," admits one. "I'm an old man," jokes another. "I'm happy with my C rating." A player amusingly asks why they were "even worried" as 13 minutes is "VERY forgiving" – only to later edit their response to say that they "carted," or died," during their "first try" at the new Free Challenge quest.

Not all hunters are struggling to snag that coveted sub-13-minute kill, though. "I thought they would make it tighter lmao," boasts one fan. "This is too easy." Another agrees, thinking that Capcom should've made the required𓆏 time even lower: "Too forgiving. A should be like sub 8 or 10." Regardless of its difficulty, however, the Free Challenge quest won't stick around forever. Players only have until May 20 to take Rey Dau down.

There's plenty more to come after that, as per the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap, so there's not too much of a rush to clock that A Rank kill – I know I personally need all the time I can get.

After you finish playing one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

CD Projekt-owned digital storefront GOG just announced that a new batch of classics have come to the platform as part of its game preservation initiative, which previously gave us re-releases of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:first three Resident Evils, the two Dino Crisis games, OG Diablo, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monolith P🎐roductions' F.E.A.R. (RIP).

Good Old Games has now enshrined Ultima Underworld 1 and 2,🌺 Ultima 9: Ascension, Worms Armagedd🦋on, Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, Realms of the Haunting, Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon, Stonekeep, and most notably, Breath of Fire 4 on PC.

Capcom's beloved but oft-forgotten turn-bas♔ed series managed to stand out in the subgenre's very crowded golden age, but they were never huge sales successes, prompting the publisher to put the series on ice for years. Nowadays, you can play the first two SNES entries with a Nintendo ♔Switch Online subscription, though Breath of Fire 3 and 4 are much harder to come by unless you can dig out a PS1 and pay extortionate fees for an old copy of the classics.

How come the fourquel gets a GOG release and the others don't? Well, Breath of Fire 4 was the only one that enjoyed a limited PC release back in the early 2000s, making this much easier to pull off ▨since GOG itself doesn't have the legal rights to fully port an SNES/PS1 series to new platforms. Plus, around 23,000 fans voted for it to make a comeback via , which lets players have a say too.

In case you're not in the know, GOG's pre🧜servation effort provides "convenience an🔜d compatibility with modern systems, even if the original developers of the game do not support it anymore," and everything is DRM-free, so you can play it without an internet connection or specific launchers.

includes both English and Japanese localization, full support for most modern controllers, improved mini-games, new rendering options, and much more for $10. Hopefully it does well enough for Capcom to consider a full remaster in the vein of the recent Suikoden or 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lunar collections.

For now, check out some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best JRPGs of all time.

Spruced up by Unreal Engine 5, Bethesda's surprise re-launch of its 2006 RPG currently has swathes of the gaming community in a vice. It's the remaster so many have been aching off the back of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:countless rumors; Oblivion is considered one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs of the Xbox 360 generation, famously beloved for its (often accidental) jank, and it's now playable on modern hardware and capable of going toe-to-toe with the likes of Avowed in terms of visuals. What's not to love?

But as someone unfamiliar with the Elder Scrolls franchise, the thing that interests me is how clever a moment Beth♍es⛦da has chosen to launch Oblivion Remastered. The game is the latest in a long list of well-timed remakes and remasters we've seen from industry titans in recent years – and I reckon they serve a greater purpose than simply to stoke the flames of nostalgia.

Smoke and mirrors

To be blunt, Oblivion Remastered feels like a clever distraction. 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in production and set to be the next 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Bethesda game ahead of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Fallout 5. By giving support studio Virtuos the go ahead to ha𓄧ndle this surprise offering,🌃 it's effectively bought the in-house developer both time and goodwill in spades.

It's a clever trick, one I've seen emerge countless times in recent years. As a staunch horror nerd, it reminds me of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 4 Remake's launch in between 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil Village and the as-yet unannounced follow-up. Much as I loved suplexing ganados in 4k and being able to actually run while aiming, it served as a temporary sleight of hand, pulling focus from the large question mark Capcom left over the series' future. Two years later, there's still no sign of Resident Evil 9, and I won't lie, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:I'm getting impatient over here.

Though I largely consider the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:remake renaissance trend most common in the horror genre – 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Silent Hill 2 and Dead Space, I'm looking at y𒆙ou – it looks like it's catching on elsewhere. I'm here to warn you that Bethesda tiding Elder Scrolls fans over with Oblivion Remastered is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it is a game everyone wanted. A curse, because it could indicate that The Elder Scrolls 6 will be a very, very long way away.

Out with the new

Nostalgia sells in 2025, that much is clear. New, original games take longer to make now than they did 20 years ago, so it makes sen🧸se for large studios to leverage their 𒆙legacies (and boost profit margins) through remakes and remasters.

With 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater coming in August, questions arise as to whether Konami is testing the waters for 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Metal Gear Solid 6 in a post-Kojima era. We're still waiting for more Fallout 5 news, but the Fallout 3 remake rumors are circling again now that the Oblivion whisperings 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:turned out to be true. It's hard enough to get reboots out the door, even for incredibly in-demand games – take the new Fable game for example, recently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:delayed to 2026.

For the most part, though, remakes and remasters like Oblivion can feel more like consolation prizes. I can't fault them as strategic business moves, helping studios meet financial targets and keep the lights on long enoꦆugh to make those future franchise instalments possible in an industry so often fraught with layoffs.

Even 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Cyberpunk 2077's most recent Patch 2.2 (also made by Oblivion Remastered co-developer Virtuos) will no doubt have padded out CD Projekt Red's coffers and freed up the team to work on 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Project Orion and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:The Witcher 4 instead. At the same time, it serves a humble peace offering for those lengthy, pricey dev cycles, galvanizing the bond players have with such a popular game and keeping them seated for more. Sound famili༺ar, Elder Scrolls fans?

Distraction and placation have become necessary evils if studios are to grow. But despite understanding why, every time I think about Resident Evil 9, the truth still smarts. Hear ye, medieval RPG fans: I sincerely hope Elder Scrolls 6 doesn't receive the Capcom treatment and get kicked to🐲o far down the line. Though, again: between Oblivion Remastered and a Fallout 3 remake, fans will likely have plenty to do before watching the proverbial paint dry.

Check out all the other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games likely to launch before Elder Scrolls 6...

There are a series of 𒁏emotes that can be bough𝐆t and used to pose in the game's built-in photo mode, and some of them allow you to levitate in mid-air. This allows you to simply jump over and avoid a lot of low attacks.

As reported by , one player has demonstrated this using the Vanish Sign to hop over a Mizutsune’s horizontal water beam attack. Rather than dodging or blocking, the player simply opens up their emote wheel and strikes the pose, which suspends them in the air above the attack safely. This kind of strategy will be especially useful against the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new Tempered Mizutsune variant.

Other poses also help you avoid attacks. The Sꦺhinobi pose gets you in the air, and the This Can't Be and Celebratory👍 Knee Slide ones lower you, helping you avoid high attacks.

♛While these are all technically pay-to-win,🗹 they also demonstrate just how accurate the hitboxes in Monster Hunter Wilds are. Next time you get clipped by an attack you swear you dodged, maybe think again.

If you want these emote packs for yourself, they're luckily quite cheap. The Photo Pose Set Vol. 1, which contains the Vanish Sign, is just $4, and the Celebratory Knee Slide is just $2. That's only an extra six bucks, but still, I can understand why some would be annoyed that they'll need to pay more to stand a bet𝐆ter chance against some of the monsters.

In the meantime, check out our Monster Hunter Wilds weapon tier list so you know what to use against the toughest foes, as well as our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds review to find out why we think it's the "new peak of the series."

Hackers have put down roots in Monster Hunter Wilds, and cracked quests aren't all that hard to find. On the heels of title update 1, an altogether stomping good time, Capco💝m is cracking down on all those ill-go𒅌tten gains and miscellaneous exploits, and encouraging other players to join the cause while avoiding playing with hackers entirely, lest they risk making their game "unplayable."

In ▨a series of posts on Twitter, Capcom skewers cheaters of all stripes, from the folks finishing ranked arena que👍sts in no seconds flat to those hosting custom quests spitting out absurd loot.

"We have confirmed the unauthorized modification of game data in Monster Hunter Wilds for High Rank environment Investigations, Field Surveys, and more," one post reads. Just to hammer the point home, Capcom even shared a chart that explains what normal quest rewards look like, from Artian materialꦏs to Zenny payouts.

"Modified data can interfere with normal gameplay and even render the gꦉame unplayable. If you suspect a quest has been modified, please do not play it, or stop playi♈ng it immediately."

"We plan to implement additional countermeasurꦿes in future updates to detect users who have engaged in unauthorized modification of game data to prevent other players from being implicated in s♉uch actions," Capcom concludes.

Elsewhere, to weed out the obvious cheaters from Monster Hunter Wilds' first 🐭challenge quest tourney. The results will only be published once hackers get the boot. (Incidentally, it's also veering away from rank-exclusive rewards to make the challenge a little less sw🍎eaty, while still giving the best hunters their podium.)

"If you are certain that a player is performing prohibited actions, please reꦰport them," C🐽apcom advises.

Some exploits are less harmful than others, with a few players using a bugged emote to infinitely slide around maps or occasionally teleport monsters to new areas (thanks, ), but Capcom's seemingly taking a scorched earth approach with a big wave of hacker pushback. I've mostly lived in squad and solo lobbies outside the occasional Zoh Shia run (why does this thing take so freaking long to spawn, Capcom?), but you SOS devotees might want to keep an eye ou🦋t. If you don't run with hackers, you have nothing to worry about.

Monster Hunter Wilds has a new hotfix incoming, and it might be good news for anyone whose hunter happens to be bald and have no eyebrows.

Announced on Twitter today, Capcom confirms that the next patch, Ver.1.010.01.00, will be going live across PC, PS5, and Xbo﷽x Series X|S in the next day. Specifically, it'll roll out at 7pm PT / 10pm ET today, April 15, which is the equivalent of 3am BST on April 16 for anyone in the UK.

As for what we can expect it to fix, – sometimes, you might find yourself "unable to redo the assignmღent for Mizutsune," but that should be ironed out shortly. Sometimes, "the Palico does not ride the Seikret in some scenes when it needs to in order to progress the story," but it'll be back on board properly very soon, and a crash relating to "trading items with Sekka through Nata at the Village Intermediary menu" should also be banished.

That's not the only crash that Capcom is determined to eradicate in the next update, though, as the developer also mentions♚: "If the hunter is equipped with c▨ertain gears, [the] game may crash upon launch, such as when the network is being initialized."

While the developer doesn't specify what these "certain gears" are, it sounds an awful lot like an issue recently , after players flagged a bizarre bug that sees the action RPG crash at launch (specifically, on the "initializing network" screen) if they try to load up the game after saving with a bald character with no eyebrows, while also wearing the pre-order bonus🦩 Guild Knight Set.

It's a truly bizarre issue, and while rather niche, it's a very unfortunate problem for anyone whose outfit of choice combines all those elements. Here's hoping that bal🙈d, eyebrowless hunters will be given the freedom to dress however they please once the patch rolls out.

Be sure to check out our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds review to see why we think it's the "new peak of the series," as well as our roundup of Monster Hunter Wilds' best weapons.

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter World, being the first game in the series designed for HD consoles, brought the series to new heights. Despite that, its variety of beasts played it safer than ever. Monster Hunter has always had a number of typical large monsters like lizards, birds, and – of course – dragons; these have always made up a majority of the series' targets. But in Monster Hunter World's Low Rank questline, that's pretty much all you fight. Wilds is a complete departure from that – and this sense of variety is what makes it perfect for new and returning♔ players alike.

Warning: spoilers for the monsters that appear in Monster Hunter Wilds' first two chapters

Outranked, outflanked

First, let's look back at Monster Hunter World's opening salvo. You kick things off against the giant lizard Great Jagras, battle with the two birds Kulu Ya Ku and Pukei Pukei, befoꦺre taking on the one Leviathan in the game, Jyuratodus (who unfortunately kind of sucks). But from ther𓂃e on out, you're pretty much exclusively fighting more lizards, dinosaurs, and dragons with the occasional detour thanks to something like the balloon bat Paolumu.

That isn't to denigrate the monsters in World, mind you. I think Anjanath is an absolutely sick design despite being basically a T-Rex, while the Odogaron is one of the coolest designs in the entire series, and the Bazelguese, who would🌱 appear at random to carpet bomb your hunt, is an all-timer who I wꦕould love to see in every game. But there's no denying that Monster Hunter World was not very adventurous in Low Rank.

In comparison, Monster Hunter Wilds is a breath of fresh air. Your first scrap is saving a villager from the Chatacabrꦓa, a big amphibian bastard that is basically a frog crossbred with a gorilla. Amphibians were completely absent from Monster Hunter World, so right away, Wilds does things differently. After that comes a big bird (as is tradition in early-game Monster Hunter), followed by the Lala Barina – which is a Temnoceran (or as their friends call them, a big ass spider).

This is another type of creature that was completely absent from Monster Hunter World, and even Monster Hunter Rise didn't introduce the arachnid-esque Ragna-Kadaki until High Rank. But the best part? Wilds only gets, well, wilder from here.

Going beast mode

As you continue through Capcom's latest, y꧅ou'll face off with a bright pink gorilla with the face of a hippo whose main attacks are farting on you, doing its business into its tail to sling dookie grenades at you, and using its big belly to reflect attacks. No, really.

Then, there's a giant floating eel (the first flying Leviathan in the series) and a toxic bird that inflates itself like a balloon. And when you do finally draw your weapon in front of a dragon, it's treated like the main event of a packed WWE card. Rey Dau appears during a massive sandstorm-thunderstorm hybrid, and this lightning rod dragon harnesses the elements to its will, leading to a bout that I'd unironically use the word 'epic' to describe. Dragons are supposed to be mythic creatures, and when they do show up in Monster Hunter Wilds, you really feel that.

With so many returning creatures poised to steal the spotlight, it makes it even more impressive that Capcom also introduces what is – for my money – the best monster type since Leviathans and Fanged Wyverns were introduced in Generation 3. At some point through your journey, ♏you'll witness a band of intimidating Ajarkan being demolished by a gooey creature known only as 'The Black Flame,' introducing the brand new Cephalopod class with Nu Udra.

Fighting a monster that can slither around the arena while aꦍttacking you with multiple massive limbs is the highlight of Wilds' Low Rank. There's really been nothing like 🌳it before in the series. The octopus theming also makes for a fight that's equal parts impressive and creepy. Managing to cut one of its tentacles off only to see it flop around on the ground as the beast escapes into a crack in the wall is a moment that exceeded my every expectation of Wilds; as well as one of the most impressive bits of animation the series has to offer.

Monster Hunter Wilds, like most games in the series, really shifts into high gear during the High Rank quests. But thanks to the fantastic monster choices during the Low Rank, it's probably the most exciting and varied 🦂opening quests the series has ever seen. This variety makes the game feel far more adventurous, as every giant thing you’re bonking on the head and turning into clothes feels like a bran💃d new discovery at every turn – one of many reasons why Monster Hunter Wilds is such a fantastic entry into the series.

Here's all the best Monster Hunter games of all time, ranked

"I mean obviously there's nothing specific planned at the moment, but I think it'd be a great idea, yes," Hamaguchi-san told GamesRadar+ at the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Golden Joystick Awards 2024. "I mean, I get on very well with with Yoshi myself. We both trust each other greatly. We often get together and discuss things like 💃the future of the Final Fantasy series, etc. So I think because we do work so well together, there's defi𝓡nitely a lot of things that could possibly come up along those lines. So yeah, I think it'd be really good."

As an ever-evolving MMO spanning more than a decade, Final Fantasy 14 has seen all manner of crossovers since its 2010 debut. From mainline Final Fantasy games to the likes of Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter World and Nier: Automata, it seems only fitting that Yoshi-ꦆP should join forces with Hamaguchi and co to bring the FF7 Remake trilogy in on the fun. 

With both Square Enix directors confirmed to be on board with the idea, does that mean we could be seeing Cloud and Tifa knocking about Hydaelyn sometime soon? Only time will tell – perhaps as Yoshi-P has suggested in the past. For now though, at least FF14 fans can rest assured that the mobile version 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:won't be yet another gacha game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director says the JRPG's success in year-end awards proves "why it's a good thing to have it as a trilogy

But no sooner had I made my peace with the fact that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 might have 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:spoiled RPGs for me forever, any and all intrigue I'd had driving me toward the end of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon's Dogma 2 suddenly drained away. Ultimately, upon unlocking the point-of-no-return quest The Guardian Gigantus, I gave up completely – but not before attempting to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:nuke my whole playthrough by way of the notorious 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon's Dogma 2 Dragonsplague. Turns out that devious dreams of a serial killer-creating disease still couldn't entertain me long enough to see them to fruition, eve🌃n after recruiting all manner of over-leveled Pawns in the vain hope of seeing burning red eyes staring out at me from the Rift. So what's left to do but grit my teeth and bear it one final time? It's time to conquer Dragon's Dogma 2 once and for all. As soon as I remember how to play it, of course. 

Once more unto the breach, dear fiends

Loading back into my save file dated May 15, 2024, I feel a strange combination of trepidation and determination. I have absolutely zero recollection of where I'd left off those six months ago; would I spawn i🉐🧜n to find myself planted at the foot of a fearsome dragon with eight health bars to blast through? In the midst of a harpy ambush on the perilously close, rickety confines of a manual cable car en route to Bakbattahl? 

Turns out the answer is neither of those things; I'm in the slums of Vernworth being shoulder-checked brusquely by a host of bedraggled peasants, who still don't understand the concept of thinking rather than speaking every thought crossing their minds. The only logical explanation is that I'd been clearing up some side quests in a vain hope to regain some sense of enjoyment from Dragon's Dogma 2. That clearly didn't go to plan last time, not least because the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:DD2 Saint of the Slums mission turned out to be far more busywork that I probably had patience for in those warmer months at the start of summer. I take this as an opportunity to do something every ꧅rusty gamer faces upon picking up what they've long put down: rele🥀arn the controls.

This is surprisingly not as difficult as relearning the map itself. I have a vague memory of where my lodgings are in Vernworth – because who on Earth would want to fork out for an inn every night? – but aside from that, my mind draws a blank. So begins a whistlestop tour down memory lane, brushing away the cobwebs to reacquaint myself with the absolute basics as well as my poor forgotten main Pawn, Arryn, who much like a kicked puppy, seems to forgive me everything. It's kind of annoying, but I'm not here to respec him from Kindhearted to Simple; I'm here to get this Dragonsbane sword to the almost certainly evil Lord Phaesus, who awaits my delivery all 🐟the way across the map in a highlighted spot to the southeast of Bakbattahl. Conveniently, I open my inventory to a sight that makes me groan.ꦕ 

My past self, in her infinite wisdom, had decided to pick up the Portcrystal I'd originally dropped in the city and🌠 neglected to put it back for mindboggling reasons🍸 unknown. Oxcart it is, then.

Home sweet desert

Multiple monster ambushes and congratulatory fist bumps later, I reach the arid dustbowl of Bakbattahl. My jaw twinges painfully as I realize that it's been clenched for quite some time. Dragon's Dogma 2 is far from bad, but the she𒅌er slog of it all – while true to the infrastructure of its medieval fantasy setting – has summoned a familiar sensation. It's my resolve, withering fast in my chest. Time to get to Lord Phaesus on the double. A brief cutscene plays out as I start down the path: a man I no longer recognize, assumedly the Lord himself, is opening the Spellseal Door. Whatever that is. I proceed to run very fast and exhaust myself on the way to stare uselessly as a colossal stone statue throws boulders around and smashes up a bridge in the distance.

This gigantus turns out to be an optional pre-boss of sorts, as whether or not you defeat it, it seems to die in lava regardless. Still, I give it m🍸y best. As a mystic spearhand, I make the most of my turbo-charged spear and look to my senior level Sorcerer to do most of the heavy-hitting. But the whole thing feels unnecessarily chaotic, the open world leaving it far too easy to stray off the beaten path and progress right to the map marker while ignoring the monster entirely. The futility of the experience does nothing to soothe my ebbing exasperation, and by the time the brute meets its fiery end, I'm kind of regretting this endeavor entirely. The sight of that smarmy git Raghnall, whose side I recall stupidly taking in an earlier mission, as the next boss battle? Well, that's the final straw before I throw down my controller and stand up to take a breather.

Okay, so I have yet to roll credits and conquer this particular demon. But even as I write this, I'm mentally preparing🐟 myself for further nonsense and inexplicable attempts to inject some semblance of a narrative into the swan song chapters of Dragon's Dogma 2. Maybe I didn't blast my way through it as I'd hoped to, ripping off the 70-gigabyte Band-Aid with satisfying ease. But I'm not giving up so easily this time, frustrations be damned, because if there's one thing I loathe more than leaving Raghnall alive it's leaving unfinished business in my wake. Even if that business is the great, yet deeply flawed, Dragon's Dogma 2.

Dragon's Dogma 2 has helped me tackle my anxiety in a way few RPGs have managed to, and it was completely unexpected

That's why Capcom took a gamble when it decided to remake its most famous game ever. Thankfully, when Resident Evil 2 Remake landed in 2019, it pretty much wrote the book on how to remake one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best survival horror games of all time. It's all about a fine balance of innovation, homage, and evolution – and with Silent Hill 2 Remake now launching to similar acclaim, it demonstrates how both Konami and Capco🙈m went about the act in two different ways. You don't even need to play the games in full to see what I'm talking about. The evidence can be found in the first half hour of each.

Worlds apart

Resident Evil 2 is flat-out iconic. Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield's first foray onto our consoles was atmospheric and creepy enough back in 1998, building the air of suspense and horror that went on to edify its place among the survival horror greats. But in its 2019 remake, Capcom went the extra mile to pad the experience out further still by adding something very important: context. Both games begin, more or less, with a man in a truck. The original sees the trucker driving alone while grumbling to no one in pꦦarticular, staunching a wound and complaining about the nasty bite he just received. But in the remake, we get to see how this man got bitten in t🐼he first place.

A conversation on a radio talk show about a man getting attacked himself is interspersed with the trucker chowing down a grey-tinged hamburger, foreshadowing the zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City before we even see them. When he accidentally runs over one of said zombies and gets out of the car to help her, his fate is sealed. Even tiny moments like these feel important to Resident Evil 2 Remake. Brave, even, considering that Capcom was reworking the most fಌamous Resi game ever, showing no qualms about expanding on its work at the same time. Capcom wanted to take time setting the scene, giving us some more exposition before introducing Leon, a😼nd it absolutely pays off.

The effect is that Resident Evil 2 Remake doesn't come across like a beat-for-beat copy of the original game, but an honest move to evolve it. We see this commitment to subtle yet meaningful changes again in Leon's introduction. Both games see him pulling up to an abandoned gas station – in his civvies in the remake, rather than already kitted out in his RCPD uniform. Upon hearing a strange noise, though, the 2019 version has Leon venture inside to investigate. Not only does this open up more of the world surrounding Raccoon City for the player to examine, giving us a greater understanding of its inhabitants as well as a richer sense of place, but it teaches us more about our playable character. Leon is a courageous rookie cop, sure, but his frequent expletive cries also prove him absolutely terrified – though Capcom makes sure to signpost that he's still the same flashy bastard we know and love from the original, as he orders Claire to "get down" before shooting the lunginไg zombie behind her square between the eyes. All of this happens in the first ten minutes of Leon's path A variant, and already, it's doing everything a remake should: innovating with something new, evolving what's already there, and paying homage to the brilliance that came before.

Deja-view from the bridge

Silent Hill 2, on the other hand, feels a little more hesitant. Where Resident🏅 Evil 2 Remake allows for moments of complete newness, reframing and expanding upon its narrative to add as well as recreate, developer Bloober Team goes easy on the newnꦺess in the name of accuracy. Aside from some clever Easter eggs, Silent Hill 2 is such a faithful remake that it shies away from adding almost any new context clues or narrative threads to its mysterious world, preferring instead to flesh out existing details lifted from the 2001 original and translating them to Capcom's third-person action perspective as popularized by the RE2 Remake. 

Again, we see as much in Silent Hill 2's opening salvo. From the grimy public bathroom to the letter from Mary, Bloober's commitment to source text loyalty has been acknowledged and appreciated by ardent fans. Everything about the first half hour plays out almost identically to the original, with the exception of some new puzzles and areas of exploration. While these moments do help situate the game,  giving the town distinct a personality as we uncover more of its nooks and crannies, they feel more decorative than active. I don't feel I understand James any better than I did before. I don't feel the world of Silent Hill 2 has changed or evolved since 2001. Nothing is ostensibly new to me in Silent Hill 2 Remake, and if that level of content 🔴preservation was kind of the whole point, then Bloober smashed it out the park

I understand the hesitation on Bloober and Konami's side when it comes to rejigging anything from the original. The hair-trigger sensitivities of Silent Hill 2's passionate fanbase makes touching anything at all a bit of a risk. You only need to look at the discourse surrounding Mary's wardrobe change and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Angela's character model to see how much this game means to its fans, and there'🌜s something refreshing about how both Konami and Bloober Team respect ✱them so much. 

Silent Hill 2 is a remake in its purest form, down to a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:shot-for-shot story trailer. It's the ultimate homage to its source material, so much so that it purposely sidesteps the need to evolve or i🌳nnovate. On the other hand, Resident Evil 2 Remake ambitiously pushes all three factors for a very different mix. Neither is the right or wrong way to concoct a survival horror remake, n💟ecessarily, but it never ceases to fascinate me how malleable the horror genre can be – especially when it comes to reworking the greats. 

There's plenty more where Silent Hill 2 came from on our list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games to watch for this year and beyond.

With the current trends leaning toward remake upon remake of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best survival horror games of yore, though, it's a relief that Creative Assembly is doing something different. Instead of rebuilding the 2014 original, fans are to be treated to a full-blown Alien: Isolation sequel – and hot on the heels of this summer's box office hit 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alien: Romulus, the announceme🦹nt couldn't have been timed better. There&apo❀s;s not much else to go on just yet, but the raucously positive response from the horror community indicates to me that the genre might not be as stuck in the past as I'd feared. 

Ellen Ripley's believe it or not

You and I might consider Alien: Isolation to be a legendary survival horror game, but it didn't start off that way. That's because while critical reception seemed strong enough, with GamesRadar+ giving it a solid score in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alien: Isolation review, it seemed a vast majority of mainstream gamers just weren't hungering for horror the way they are now. Let's Play content on YouTube allowed many to experience the terror without having to take part themselves, and what's more, it was the year of Far Cry 4, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Dark Souls 2 to name a handful of 2014's superstars. With no shortage of games on the table 🔯for players to devour, Alien: Isolation would slink into the shadows, finding success in a passionate niche of the community instead of the bottom 🥂line.

Today, the landscape looks a little different. True, horror is still not the biggest genre in the industry, but its fans have grown louder as the community swells with each passing year. One large, Tyrant-shaped reason for the sudden increased appetite? You can thank the litany of remakes over the past five years. Leon and Claire returned to our screens in Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 2 Remake in 2019, and suddenly, it seemed that atmospheric, nostalgic, run-and-gun horror games were cool again. You only need to look at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Silent Hill 2's immense critical and public success this month, despite years of wariness from its dedicated fanbase, or Motive's thrilling 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dead Space remake back in early 2023, to see the trend for yourself. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:horror remake renaissance has been upon us for years now. Tܫhat much is clearer than the starry skies above Raccoon City.

But Creative Assembly isn't following that herd in particular. Rather, it's doing an 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alan Wake 2 and promising to deliver a brand new terrifying adventure, building on its legacy rather than reconstructing iꦰt piece by piece. In a world where new horror IPs are hard to come by in the world of video games, I'll take it. 

There's something special about a long overdue sequel that broadens appeal tenfold. Drawing in fans of the original is one way, sure, but more importantly, these sequels offer an entry point for new players to get on board too. With enough time having passed since the previous game, there's enough room for developers to rehash, revise, or reinvent a series in a sequel to ensure the new entry feels relevant to modern audiences. I might be alluding to Alan Wake 2 here – specifically, its 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:musical means of recapping events for new players and those with fuzzy memories alike – but this isn't something we only see in horror. Take 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for example, and how Bioware's confirmation that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:only a few player choices will be carr💙ied across from Inquisition effect🦋ively positions the game as a great place to start for newbies. If Alien: Isolation 2 plays its cards just right, opening up the field to temper the familiar with the novel, it could end up being a horror game f☂or the many instead of the few.

That said, working with a blockbuster Hollywood IP like Alien indicates a level of assumed knowledge on the player's part. Having even a basic grasp of the context, lore, and events of the Alien movies might be helpful, but it shouldn't be a barrier. The inclusivity of the horror community has always been its biggest strength, and when the time comes that we learn 🦩more about Alien: Isolation 2, I'm hoping to see more of that welcoming spirit as we take on the xenomorphs again – or perhaps something else? – more than a decade later.

There are plenty of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games to jot down as well as Alien: Isolation 2, from Directive 8020 to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dying Light: The Beast.

Their apparent anxiety (and pride) reminds me of something Okamoto-san has just told us, specifically of Konami's initial move to enlist the Polish studio in its remake of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Silent Hill game ever. "What we wanted to seek in our partner was the strong passion towards the game," he said. "Sཧo we had a list of candidates that we were willing to work with, and we reached out [to Bloober Team]. I have first-hand selected them as my own decision." The unfinished game isn't without its hiccups even at this late stage, but that passion Okamoto speaks of is instantly palpable.

You promised you'd take me there again someday 

It's clear that the Silent Hill 2 Remake proudly holds tight to what 🦄the production teams identified as its core tenets, from its tension and atmosphere, to the belter of a reworked soundtrack. But the five hours I spent with the game would also go on to unveil a curious sense of hesitancy, constantly pulling it back from being either a totally faithful remake or a brave reimagining entirely.

I'm impressed by plenty of bright spots throughout my hands-on experience, including the game's dynamic third-person movement, refined combat, and expanded exploration zones. So much so that, even with my concerns at this point in its development, I'm hopeful that Silent Hill 2 Remake may yet make a lasting impression upon modern day surv🎉ival horror audiences – even if the creative t💃eams sound apologetic for its very existence at times.

Before we get started, Okamoto walks us through the game's nine key new features. We know to expect a thick and realistic blanket of fog enveloping Silent Hill thanks to the game's 4k graphics, including faithful recreations of key locations "down to miniscule items," and facial mo-cap to make cutscenes "as emotional as possible." On the technical side, he also mentions 3D sound design to heighten immersion, an over-the-shoulder third-person camera perspective, reworked combat featuring a dodge mechanic and aiming reticule, remapping of existing enemies, new and expanded areas and puzzles, and the in🔯clusion of all original endings. There will even be some brand new Silent Hill 2 endings that can "only be accessed in New Game+," Bloober Team tells GamesRadar+, though the studio shies away from revealing more.

Keeping all of this in mind, I set out on my Silent Hill 2 Remake journey. The game picks up at exactly the same place as the 2001 original, with protagonist James Sunderland arriving at the small, deserted town after receiving a mysterious🧸 summons from his supposedly deceased wife. It's charged with as much creeping dread as ever. The teᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚam discussed making the iconic introduction "more action-heavy," says creative director Lenart, but admits it "did not feel like it was very Silent Hill, and this is why we made the choice to keep it as it was and only pick up the pace after some time."

But after taking my first few steps into the mist, I find myself needing to swap over to performance mode in order to achieve smooth 60 frames-per-second gameplay. It's a little troubling so close to release, especially with quality mode not seeming to boost fidelity m♑uch at all, though it's possible this is an older build of the game. But even these instances of texture drop-out while staring into the recesses of West Vale's many overfilled dumpsters isn't enough to ruin my day. That's because these opening scenes excel at nailing the atmosphere of Silent Hill as a location, turning it into an expansive, malevolent entity in itself.

It might be more modern than fixed camera angles, but the third-person perspective does nothing to detract from how disorienting it feels not to be able to see more than a foot in front of you. Likewise, don't bother to memorize any of the puzzles and key item locations from the original game – you'll find many of them have been remapped entirely in the remake. Feeling so lost in a world I thought I knew pretty damn well is an appropriately jarring sensation, demonstrating Bloober's understanding of how to create uncanny familiarity that keeps you on your toes. It's something that instantly drew me into Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 2 Remake back in 2019, and꧙ I'm relieved to see flashes of brave mechanical innovation in Silent Hill 2 Remake as well.

The addition of a single new puzzle while exploring West Vale, involving a broken record, is an example of ꦛthis, proving 🉐formative in altering my pathing through the town as I'm led on a wayward treasure hunt. Repairing the record and listening to the music triggers a memory, and where does it lead me? The next main area: Wood Side Apartments. I find it a simple yet effective change to how James makes his way there in the original, but purists may find the tweak too extreme.

Trigger happy

Hardwood plank in-hand, I take on the iconic Lying Figures enemies with relentless aggression. I know I don't need to kill them all – and in some Silent Hill games, you'd be wise not to – but the satisfying thwack of wood against meaty carcass is w🍷orth every moment of overkill. The precision element is certainly refreshing in Silent Hill 2 Remake, trading the unwieldy clunk of the original's fixed camera angles for a more targeted approach that allows me to off fꦺar more monsters than I would playing the original.

The more I🏅 play, the more the puzzles and combat stand out to me as the biggest mechanical strengths of Silent Hill 2 Remake – even if Ito-san insists that "the game is not heavily oriented toward combat." The former is something Lenart is especially proud of himself. "I think we have been able to capture thi𓆏s smooth balance between the memory of the original game and new content that can, I think, surprise the long-time fans of the series," he says of the puzzle and level design reworks.

As a fan of third-person shooters and the way survival horror games have implemented their combat in recent years – 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alan Wake 2, I'm looking at you – I'm not mad about it. It just gives James more ways to approach a situation, as well as giving me a fighting chance should I be unable to sneak past 𒈔a foe.

But with a game like Silent Hill 2, even the smallest of changes are bound to surprise its dedicated fans one way or another. "At the very beginning, we didn'🦹t want🍌 to change anything completely, because we were too afraid of touching the game," lead producer Głomb admits, acknowledging the risks of remaking such a cult classic video game. "But after time, we saw that we needed to expand on the game in a way that would be competitive in this generation of consoles." 

These alterations might not be for everyone, but I find them refreshing. By the time I break into the Blue Creek Apartments, just over three hours into the preview session, I note how well the expanded zones help establish 🌃the world of Silent Hill for new and returning players alike. But there was one more surprise in store for me in the form of a nasty new enemy variant, though it's important to note that accoridng to Ito-san, there are "absolutely no brand new monsters" in the game.

As I aim my flashlight-mounted handgun to help navigate the detritus of the nightmare apartment block, reli🐼ef floods my bo🌌dy. The coast is somewhat clear, for now. It's a brief respite, because I soon come face to face with the Spider Mannequins. Or as I like to call them: the bane of my absolute stinking life.

I mean that with a lot of love. These monsters scurry across the floor, dodging my painstakingly-timed shots with unfair levels of grace that Ja𒈔mes can only dream of in his drab khaki raincoat. Mannequins give me the biggest jumpscares of the day, as many a lurking developer unfortunately becomes privy to. Every time I enter a room only to have a mannequin suddenly 💖move in the corner, I'm thrown into a fear-fueled frenzy and batter it to death with my melee weapon, hissing the vilest profanity known to the English language to the gleeful titters of Team Silent and company.

Even this rage is borne of love. For all of Silent Hill 2 Remake's reworks to the fo⛦rm, flow, and style of the original, it more than succeeds at delivering a compulsive survival horror experience. Modern flourishes seek to bring it in line with today's genre standards, falling jꦚust shy of making any truly huge moves to break with its core conventions while showing new sides to a beloved franchise that's finally emerging from dormancy. Having had a closer look at what Bloober Team is aiming for on October 8, I'm more than ready to give Silent Hill 2 Remake the chance it deserves.

Silent Hill 2 launches on October 8 for PS5 and PC. Check out the other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games slated to launch in 2024 and beyond if you already have your eye on the horizon.

Not only is this introductory scene incredibly campy and fun, it marks a pivotal moment in the series as a whole – even for a non-mainline entry in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline. As we anticipate Capcom's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Code Veronica remake, I'm digging through this scene in the 2000 original – and examining how the publisher has treated iconic scenes in past remakes – 🌠to make some predictions. Just how much of Code Veronica's inherent silliness might be scrubbed away in the name of modernity?

"Oh little fishy, come see my hook" 

Okay, that might sound a bit dramatic. We've already seen the likes of remade Wesker in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 4 remake, and truth be told, I don't hate him. 

The decision to trade his swaggering transatlantic accent for a more conventional American one is a sign of the times, showing how representations of good versus evil in pop culture, movies, and games have shifted in the last two decades. The trend of an archetypal British b🌳addie working opposite an all-American hero is out, and with that, the "🎶othering" of Wesker as a bit of a theatrical drama queen.

But OG Code Veronica's Wesker needs that dramatic flair like oxygen. It's inherent to his character, I note during my most recent PS2 playthrough. From the slow clatter of his footsteps as he saunters up to Claire, to his requisite slicked back blonde hair, shades, and long black trench coat, Albert Wesker easily surpasses my love of the most underrated Resident Evil villain of the early 2000s, and that's down to hi✅s combination of aesthetics and attitude. The guy knows how to make an entrance, and Capcom does well to deliver it with panache through dramatic panning shots as he monologues at Claire. Who is he, she asks? "Let's just say I'm a ghost, coming back to haunt your dear brother."

This might be the best line of the whole brilliant scene, spoken moments before Wesker flies at Claire to rough her up, kick her to the ground like a mean playground bully, and leap away as effortlessly as Spider-Man. Capcom clearly knows how much fans love elements of the original games' scripts, corny as they are. Rewrites are always going to happen in a remake, but if the retention of Leon's witty one-liners in RE4R is anything to go on ("Where's everybody going﷽? Bingo?) I'm hoping that Wesker the unfriendly ghost doesn't get left on the cutting room floor. 

But the thing is, I just cannot 𝕴imagine a gruff American Wesker having the same penchant for dramatics. Original Wes🌼ker is a classic vengeful baddie, but remake Wesker feels more like a secret agent gone darkside after his showing in Ada's DLC. 

Part of the charm of classic Resi is how unabashedly silly it can be. The amount of times I let out a snort of well-intentioned laughter while watching of Wesker's Code Veronica moments is proof enough of the timeless hilarity of a horror game that knows it's a bit off-the-rails. At the same time, though, with regards to Wesker, it's not all about scheming and plotting as he rubs his hands with devilish delight. His narrative and lore importance substantiates claims that Code Veronica should be considered canon, after all. Maybe his more serious implications to the plot are what Capcom will focus on when characterizing him in the Code Veronica remake, introducing us to a more modern iteration of Wesker to reflect the changing times. And I certainly don't expect him to Spider-Man-jump out of there.

At the end of the day, I do have hope for how the remake might treat my favorite villain's shock appearance in Code Veronica. The scene in Resident Evil 4 Remake where is one example of how Capcom can be trusted to update the tone of a memorable moment without scrapping it entirely. The duo's flashy Matrix-style slowed down moves have been traded up in the remake for a zippier scuffle to gain the upper hand. Ada's iconic backflip is replaced with a still impressiv♍e high kick, subsequently caught by her sparring buddy before hitting its target. But still, Leon has the last laugh in both versions, and it's a doozy of a Kennedy quote: "Try using a knife next time. Works better for close encounters." 

As long as Capcom is able to bring that same respect for a♚ character's DNA to its depiction of Wesker in the Code Veronica remake, I'll be happy enough. Just excuse me f🍌or a while as I prepare to mourn the loss of his sassy 2000s side.

There are plenty of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games to get psyched for this year, from Silent Hill 2 to Slitterhead.

But I'm turning one question over in my mind: why now? As exciting as the prospect is at face-value, Ubis🍌oft taking a stab at remakes could be indicative of something greater. It feels like the series has reached a crossroads in terms of its creative vision, and remakes would offer a chance for Ubisoft to take stock of its r𒅌oots. This approach worked wonders for Capcom – so why not Ubisoft?

Rudderless

Remakes are an inte🦩resting entity when looked at under a microscope. From the players' perspective, it's a chance to see your old favorites given a modern spit and polish – or to broaden the net and bring new fans into the💦 fold. But from a development standpoint, remakes allow studios to go back in time and get reacquainted with the basics.

While there are many reasons a publisher might decide to remake a classic game, it's something of a canary in a coalmine situation for ongoing franchises. You only need to look at how Resident Evil 6's disappointing launch in 2012 led to Capcom's decision to remake 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 2, the announcement coming three years later in 2015. This couldn't have been a wiser decision on Capcom's part: Resident Evil 2 went on to usher in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:survival horror remake renaissance, setting new stylistic standards for the genre that the likes of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Alan Wake 2, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Silent Hill 2, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dead Space have followed in suit. In starting a chain of remakes, Capcom is building an ongoing point of contact with the past that can help inform the series' future – and with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Reside⛄nt Evil 9 officially announced, things are definitely on the up for𒁏 the Japanese publisher.

So how might this relate back to Ubisoft? Well, it is facing a similar creative conundrum to the on🐠e Capcom grappled with some ten or 12 years ago. Following Resident Evil 5 and 6, Capcom's struggle to tap into its audience revealed a disconnect between the developer and fans. It emerged as a result of attempts made to edg𓆉e Resident Evil not-so gently into the action games sphere from its survival horror origins, a move that failed to click with much of its player base. 

Likewise, the Assassin's Creed series now sits at a crucial juncture in its evolution: Ubisoft can keep going "back to basics", as was promised in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Mirage, or 🍸it can break new ground with its RPG entries.

Return to shadow

It's true that you can't keep every person happy all of the time, but with remakes planned in tandem with 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Codename Hexe and other 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcominꦜg Assassin's Creed games that might come next, it could be the next best thing♕ for Ubisoft.

Much like Capcom's decision to step back to go forward🅰, the remake avenue will buy Ubisoft some time to reassess what players want most – and to reorient itself with plans for the series' next steps along the way by tapping into what made it special to begin with. 

I have every confidence that it shall. After all, it's not like Ubisoft is known for being rigid in its approach to the shape, feel, and execution of Assassin's Creed. Different in-house studios are tagged in for each entry, a constantly revolving set of hands on deck that keeps the gameplay experience fresh and enables innovations to be made across all installments. Each new game experiments with the genetic makeup of its predecessor, whether that be the physical weightiness of climbing bui🐻ldings – arguably perfected in Assassin's Creed Unity, and you can fight me on that one – or the ins and outs of its combat mechanics. That expectation does bring with it some snags, though, and it means that the series has always felt like it's constantly searching for its groove.

With 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Shadows slated to launch later this year, we're about to see Ubisoft try and have its proverbial cake and eat it in the f𝄹orm of our Ghost of Tsushima-like samurai action hero and stealth-assassin duo. It's cool and all, but it does feel a little bit like Ubisoft is throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. Perhaps with the remakes there to keep classic Creed fans happy, the publisher w💯ill be able to steer a clear path ahead in good conscience.

Check out our Asssassin's Creed Shadows summer preview for an in-depth look at Ubisoft's next stealth-RPG

Monster Hunter is Big big now, so with Monster Hunter Wilds, the series finds itself in a curious position. As great as it was, Monster Hunter Rise was a very different game than World, adopting new mechanics and a more stylized look and feel familiar to older fans but possibly jarring to World newcomers. Rise felt like its own thing, where Wilds looks like World 2 in all but name. It's with Wilds, which ironically faces a bit of a second album situation, that I think we'll see Capcom affirm what Monster Hunter looks like now and into the future. If World set the ball up, Wilds will spike it down. At least, that's the vibe I got while talking (via interpreter) to Monster Hunter Wilds director Yuya Tokuda and series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto at Summer Game Fest, tucked away in an underground room wཧith concrete walls gussied up with Monster Hunter memorabilia

Go wild

I haven't spoken to Tsujimoto since Rise was still on the horizon. At the time, we chatted about the guiding themes of Rise, and how each Monster Hunter game tries to do something different. For Rise, it was pick-up-and-play portability shaped by its exclusive launch on the Nintendo Switch. Monster Hunter Wilds, meanwhile, is the first Monster Hunter exclusive to current-gen machines, plus it's launching simultaneously on PC 🍎with full crossplay – a reflection of the series' expanded global fan൲ base, and a highly requested feature. So, what is the guiding theme of Wilds?

"Similarly to World, with Wilds we're targeting consoles and PC, and there's a different experience you want when you're going to be sitting down in front of a big screen with your console an𝔍d high-spec hardware and getting really immersed into the world of the game at home," Tsujimoto begins. "It's a different approach to Rise. Using the latest high-spec console hardware, and on PC as well, lets us bring that immersiveness and seamlessness that we started the series on with World to the next level. That means not just the richness and excitement of the actual gameplay itself, but things like how intelligent the monster AI is can go even further now with this kind of hardware. It brings so many more possibilities." 

Longtime Monster Hunter fans may remember discussions about the so-called mainlin💧e games and the portable games. World helped unify the series, but I also have a hard time shaking the feeling that Rise goes in the same camp as Generations Ultimate, while World and Wilds have their own camp. Tsujimoto says❀ he doesn't see the series this way. Instead, it's all about "what it is we want to achieve with this title, what we want the player to experience, which hardware we're gonna target and how it's gonna affect the gameplay. The games just come together the way they end up each time." 

New tricks

Monster Hunter Wilds has come together with some massive chan꧅ges. Massive really is the word; the maps in this game are about twice the size of those in the seris' previous games, as a Capcom spokesperson said during a hands-off demo of a hunt. But you don't play Monster Hunter for the maps: you play for the monsters. And we're going to be hunting monsters in all-new ways. 

We can now bring two weapons out into the field thanks to the weapon pouch on our Seikret mount, a dinosaur bird we get to ride through those expanded maps. You can swap weapons on the fly, but only youꦑr weapons – your armor can only be changed at a camp. Bringing two weapons already raises tons of interesting quꦉestions, but this armor limitation made me wonder how this mechanic will be expanded on throughout the game. 

"I can't go into🍨 too much detail just yet, because we have a campaign ahead of us to reveal more gameplay details," Tokuda teases, "but I would say that as the story progresses, players will be able to gain access to skills or features that will tie into this new system of using two different weapons at the same time. As to what exactly that means, watch this space. We've just started revealing information."

Of course, some players will proudly bring two of the same weapon, whatever their favorite is – I'm a lance man myself – and Tokuda is fine with that, even if he encourages folks to try two different weapons because it "expands the possibilities so much." But "if you want to bring two different elemental charge blades, or different longswords that have certain properties, that's absoluteᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚly what we have in mind. You don't have to bring two different weapons; you can bring two different 'tools'."

Stay focused

There are no new weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds. The series has been sitting pretty at 14 weapons for a while now, but make no mistake: bringing two at once, like a melee and a ranged option, is a big deal. Bigger still is the addition of Focus mode, a new way to engage with monsters with greater precision and make use of a new attack unique to each weapon. These Focus attacks can be used in normal combat, but are especially valuable when attacking the wounds that now appear on specific body parts as you deal damage to monsters with any attacks. If you hit a wound hard enough, you'll deal extra damage to the monster, and Focus attacks will deal even more. It sounds like a brutal me꧒chanic in concept and execution, but this ain't Monster Befriender. 

"One thing to make clear is that it's not a lock-on camera setting," Tokuda says of Focus mode. "It's more of a way to make it easier, if I hold down a button when I'm looking to attack or also defend, to set your angle related to the monster more easily than you could before. Especially if we get some new players on board with this game and they're not really accustomed to that kind of action gameplay where you're turning the camera relative to your character and moving your character's position relative to the monster at the same time. It can be quite tricky, to be honest, even if you're a veteran. It just lets you control that angle a lot more easily. You can then bust out an attack in that direction, understanding which part of the monster you want to hit. Or if it's going to be attacking, you know that you'll be able to defend or block at just the right time, and you ꦍknow that it's going to be connecting properly. That's one major merit of it."

Focus mode seems pretty well-integrated, and I say that partly because while watching the demo I had a hard time distinguishing when the hunter was using Focus attacks. There's nothing limiting how much you can us✨e Focus mode, like a resource such as stamina, so you dip in and out of it as much as youꦗ want or need to. It's Monster Hunter's latest cherry on top, another little variable for a tried-and-true formula. "It's extra things you can think about and ways to deal damage during the hunt," as Tokuda puts it. 

Parry this, you filthy casual

It's exciting to hear that every weapon is getting new attacks, but as we come to the end of the interview, I end up thinking about some existing attacks. In recent Monster Hunter Games, it's felt like more and more weapons are getting moves that let them block, parry, or otherwise counter incom🐲ing damage – perhaps a natural step in the arms race between smarter monsters and str♌onger hunters. This led to huge swings in playstyle for the greatsword and switch ax in the case of Rise, to say nothing of the longsword in World. I was curious to see if Wilds will continue this trend. 

Sure enough, the first gameplay trailer features what sure looks like another greatsword parry. I&𓄧apos;m not necessarily complaining – I've said before that if you put a parry in yo꧃ur video game, I will play your video game. However, it definitely stands out from older games, which focused more on proactive positioning. Is this the future of Monster Hunter combat? I put the question to Tokuda. 

"It's not so much that I've had an intentional design decision to gradually make all weapons become a sort of counter-parry system functionality," he clarifies. "Certainly, not all weapons have such a move in their tool set. I would say that every time we release a new title – and the same goes for Monster Hunter Wilds – we look at all 14 weapon types and try to keep pushing them down their own paths of how un𒐪ique they are and how fun to use they are. They all feel so fundamentally different from each other that there isn't really one tꩲhing I want to do to all weapons. That would almost bring them too close to each other." 

This process of making each weapon distinct, yet multi-functional, is one that Capcom has clearly thought a lot about in relation to the changing landscape of Monster Hunter as it evolves over time. "As we improve each weapon and consider how it's going to be approached for each title, like if it's got a gap in its move set that is filled♋ by something that could be usable as a parry - but also these moves are generally usable at⛄ any time, it isn't something you can only pull off if you do it at this timing - it's more [about] maybe this weapon lacked something to counter the verticality that's now in the game with these three-dimensional maps. I would've added a move that could be used that way." 

Tokuda's undoubtedly right about one thing: weapons get better and more fun to use with every new Monster Hunter game. I'm dying to see how they've been upgraded this time. I look forward to telling myself I'll try something new for this game and then inevitably using the lance for another 500 hours. In any case, the Monster Hunter tank in my brain is getting perilously close to empty. I can only go so long with🐎out playing this series; it's somewhere between food and she💞lter on my hierarchy of needs. It feeds a very specific hunger, and it feels like home. 

To that end, Wilds looks like home. Much remains unknown, but this series has a hit rate that would embarrass Olympi🧸c shooters, and I'm more confident than ever that Wilds will be a meaningful step up from World. Onward to the inevitable – but still painfully far-off – open beta before the 2025 release.  

Check out all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games to keep an eye on, from Monster Hunter Wilds to GTA 6.

A 30-minute hands-off Monster Hunter Wilds demo at Summer Game Fest showed me exactly what I was hoping to see: Monster Hunter World used as a launchpad for something bigger, more seamless, and more imaginative. Rough edges like Iceborne's cumbersome clutch claw – which some players grew to resent for how mandatory and limiting it could feel – have been cut, and in their pওlace are features that I've wanted for years, and some that I never knew I wanted until now. After 500 hours of Monster Hunter World and about as much of Rise, here are the Monster Hunter Wilds details that jumped out to me. 

1. Wounding monsters is a lot easier now  

One of my favorite mechanics in the Monster Hunter Rise endgame was how you could deal extra damage to Afflicted monsters by damaging glowing body parts until they detonated. This wasn't enough to fully offset the blight's massive HP inflation, but I thought the pinpoint targeting itself was a fun addition to the rhythm of a fight. M⭕onster Hunter Wilds has a very similar mechanic, loosely spliced with Iceborne's clutch claw. Wounds will naturally appear on monsters as you fight them, marked by red scoutflies gathering on specific body parts, and if you deal enough damage to those wounds you'll get a similar shot of bonus damage. 

2. Focus mode lets you focus on fighting the monster, not the camera 

I wasn't totally sure what🌠 focus mode, a new stance available to all weapons, really is, so I asked director Yuya Tokuda about it. It's not a lock-on camera setting, he explained, but rather a way to "set your angle related to the monster more easily than you could before." This makes it easier to stay focused on attacking or defending, Tokuda says, and ensures that your moves are "going to be connecting properly." There are no limits on focus mode, either; it's not tied to a resource like stamina, so you can use it as much as you want. Speaking of which…

3. Every weapon has at least one new attack 

I saw a few normal weapon animations that looked new to me, but I still need to see a little more here before committing to specifics. But I know for a🍃 fact that every weapon has at least one new attack, because focus mode comes with an exclusive attack that deals extra damage when you use it to break a wound. You can pop wounds with normal attacks, too, but it seems you'll deal less damage. The greatsword's focus move seems to be a counter stance that leads into a running charge attack of some kind, and the longsword seems to have an alternate spirit combo, but I don't want to read too much into animations just yet. Still, new moves for all 14 weapons? Good news.

4. NPC hunters are back

The star of our demo used the greatsword, longsword, and heavy bowgun, but I got a brief glimpse at several other weapons – including my beloved lance and hammer – thanks to three NPC hunters who answered an SOS flare. Remember how Monster Hunter Rise let you go on hunts with loads of story characters? We🔴ll, I don't know if Wilds also lets you pal around𓄧 with story characters, but it does let you call in some NPC cavalry if you want some help and don't have any friends online. 

5. Bringing two weapons is no gimmick

When we first learned that you can swap to a second weapon out in the field by stashing it in the pouch of your Seikret mount, my first idea was using one weapon to apply poison and then swapping weapons once the monster was poisoned. You could do something similar with blast or paralysis weapons, swapping to stronger raw damage once the monster's resistance had gone up after a few status triggers. You could also bring two of the same weapon but with different elements on multi-monster hꦑunts to target weaknesses. But Tokuda seems to be teasing something more: 

"I can't go into too much detail just yet because we have a campaign ahead of us to reveal more gameplay details," he said, "but I would say that as the story progresses, players will be able to gain acce✃ss to skills or features that will tie into this new system of using two different weapons at the same time. As to what exactly that means, watch this space. We've just started revealing information."

6. Quests are seamless now

When our demo player finished a hunt after felling the bear-like Doshaguma, they didn't get yanked out of the area. You can just… stay in the world if you want, and𒅌 find more things to hunt. Even more excitingly, we didn't see a "Begin Quest" prompt until we actually attacked the monster, which suggests to me that the quest timer doesn't start 🧸ticking the second you enter an area anymore. Everything seems more freeform, from how you start quests to how you end them, and this could be a godsend for Monster Hunter speedrunning by potentially preventing the need to reset for a good spawn location. 

7. You can build temporary camps, and monsters can destroy them  

Things are so freeform, in fact, that you're not tied to the norma🔯l encampments. You still have key bases, but you can also spend research points to plop down a temporary camp in many locations to, from what I could tell, do basically anything you'd do at any other base. This is another nice time-saver, and the fact that monsters can destroy your temporary camps while you're away helps sell the immersive, 💟hunting simulator side of the game. 

8. Maps are twice the size of previous games

If you like exploring and manipulating the environment in Monster Hunter, you're in for a treat with Wilds. A Capcom spokesperson sa🌃id the maps in Wilds are a little more than twice the size of previous games', and it was clear from the map UI that tons of large monsters can pop up at once too. 

9. Maps go through phases of abundance rich with free healing 

Bigger maps means more stun bugs, ensnaring vines, sandpits, bo𝓰ulder traps, and other environmental tricks to take advantage of while hunting. You can also expect to cash in on some free healing – Vigorwasps and so on – during phases of abundance that kick in while you're hunting or gathering that seem to trigger at random. 

10. Dynamic weather is not messing around

I feel like the idea of dynamic weather gets thrown around a lot in games, but rarely has any impact beyond wind in your hair and clouds in the sky. So my ears perked up when I heard that the lightning-charged flying wyvern sho🐲wn in a previous trailer, which is the apex predator of the Windward Plains map we were shown, 𒅌will only spawn naturally during a thunderstorm. Other weather anomalies can also change what monsters are found in the area, and monsters may even get struck by lightning, which is a nice touch. 

11. Mantles are back, baby

I don't know how many mantles are back, but I saw a Ghillie Mantle in action, which is exciting. Some of the mantles in Monster Hunter World were a little game-warping, but I like the idea of havinౠg more equipment to pack when you go out for a hunt, and cooldown-based mantles are a soওlid enough system that I'm happy to see return. 

12. Sneak attacks are kind of good 

The Ghillie Mantle ended up being pretty powerful offensively, too, because it let our hunter easily sneak right up to a Doshaguma to deliver a proper, button-prompted sneak attack to jump-start the hunt with a burst of damage. Here are some quick numbers, bearing in mind that this seemed like low-level stuff and it's all subject to change: a charged greatsword swing dealt 234 damage, and a sneak attack hit for 522. (An attack from the aforementioned apex lightning wyve👍rn dealt 3,836!) 

13. Mounting is back to normal, and seems really strong 

I enjoyed the wyvern riding in Monster Hunter Rise, but after puppeteering my 300th monster, I started to miss the simple act of climbing onto my quarry and stabbing them up until theyಞ could be downed for some free damage. Meanwhile, in one 15-minute Doshaguma hunt, our hunter🍎 managed to get three mounts in with a freakin' greatsword – not the most agile or airborn of weapons. The iconic Monster Hunter 4 mounting minigame is sadly a thing of the past, but mounting is back and seems very powerful, especially in multiplayer. 

Monster Hunter Wilds is just one of the many 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games to keep an eye on this year.

While it's not always clear what games are actually open-world – I'm looking at you 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Pokemon Legends Z-A (which could be open zones like the game that came before, or build on the open world set up of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet) – I've tried to take a stab at which ones we might see that are on my personal bingo card.🌸 So, join me as I explore the most anticipated open-world g൩ames coming our way that I really hope we get to see more of at Summer Game Fest 2024. 

GTA 6

Okay, so everyone is chomping at the bit to see more of Rocktar's open-world in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:GTA 6. Set to bring us back to Vice City for a taste of the studio's take on Floridian life, we've been briefly introduced to the twin protagonists. It would certainly be exciting to get a more in depth look, or start to get a clearer picture of what's in store - let's face it, it would be exciting to see anything GTA 6-shaped this year after the initial reveal dropped. Will we see it at Summer Game Fest, though? Well, that's the big question isn't it. Rockstar tends to do its own thing - after all, it doesn't need any help drawing attention to the new GTA game - but we can still put it on our bingo card all the same. It would certainly bꦕe exciting to get a look atﷺ its world. 

Monster Hunter Wilds  

As the follow-up to Monster Hunter World, the recently revealed 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds is the next big open-world adventure from Capcom. While we got a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:first proper look during the PlayStation State of Play May 2024 showcase - following its initial announcement during the Game Awards last year - it's not entirely outside the realms of possibility that we could see it pop up again during the big summer event. It may be best to temper expectations given the fresh trailer drop, but I certainly wouldn't be mad about seeing more of the "living world" Wilds promises to transport us to, with its vast open regions that we'll get to explore on the back of a new mount.  

Star Wars Outlaws 

As the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:"first-ever" open-world Star Wars game, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Star Wars Outlaws is one of the biggest 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Ubisoft games on the way, and with a Ubisoft Forward coming our way, the studio has revealed we can expect to see more of scoundrel protagonist Kay Vess' adventure. With previous trailers showing off some of the crime syndicates of the Outer Rim, and a look at how Kay and Nix work together during stealth and combat, I'm certainly looking forward to seeing more of what's in store. Given the game's place in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Star Wars timeline - which wedges it right between the events of Star Wars Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi, I'm dying to see mo🥀re of the setting developer Massive is bringing to life. This is certainly one open-world I can't wait to get swept up in. 

Assassin's Creed Shadows  

Alongside Star Wars Outlaws, we're also set to get another look at 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Assassin's Creed Shadows, the next big flagship 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Assassin's Creed game. Previously known as codename Red, Shadows is set to take us to feudal Japan as dual protagonists: the first Black samurai Yaskue - 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:who was a real historical figure - and the shinobi, Naoe. With each having their own particular strengths when it comes to combat, I'm keen to see more of Ubisoft's recreation of Japan and its open-world which is said to be around the same size in terms of scale as Egypt in Assassin's Creed Origins. With our first proper glimpse of the game just last month, it'll certainly be exciting to get a better picture of its long🎀-awaited setting as the next big RPﷺG experience in the long-running stealthy series. 

Everwild 

Now, this pick is a little left of the field, since there's a lot of mystery surrounding 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Everwild and whether it actually is open-world strictly speaking. But from what we've seen of Rare's new IP in the past, a lot of emphasis has been put on the world it's set to take us to as an Eternal - a being who has a symbiotic relationship with nature. In , art director Ryan Stevenson described the natural world the team is making as "fantastical and interesting", with some insight into the creatures that inhabit it. So much is still uncertain when it comes to Everwild - with a report alleging it had been rebooted since we last saw the game - but as one of the most intriguing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming Xbox Series X games, I hope to manifest its appearance during the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Xbox Game showcase this year. 

15 games we really want to see at Summer Game Fest.

Unless you're a seasoned veteran coming from 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter World or Rise, you're almost certainly going to need all the help you can get too. Capcom's renowned action RPG serieﷺs is infamous for its baffling interface and complexity, which can be really tough on new players. However, once you've slain a few monsters and get to grips with one or two of the weapon types, it can be a very rewarding experience. Bearing all that ღin mind, here's everything you need to know about Monster Hunter Wilds to help you get started and master the art of monster slaying.

Monster Hunter Wilds key information

Monster Hunter Wilds is officially out in the wild and you can play it now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Unlike MH Rise, Wilds is thankfully not a 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Nintendo Switch exclusive, but isn't playable on Switch at all (though we can only hope that'll change with the Switch 2ꦦ).

Overall, we reckon that "Monster Hunter Wilds is the new peak of Monster Hunter", but you can read our full thoughts on the latest entry in the series in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds review. It might just be one of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPG games of all time.

How l♑ong does it take to beat Monster Hunter Wilds?

If you're wondering how much of a time commitment the game is, we've also got a guide explaining 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how long Monster Hunter Wilds is depending on how you play.

Monster Hunter Wilds system requirements

If you're picking up Monster Hunter Wilds on PC, you'll definitely want to be sure you meet its system requirements for a sﷺmooth experience:

• Minimum settings, targeting 30 fps at 1080p:
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT GPU
  • Intel Core i5-10400, Intel Corei3-12100 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU
  • 16GB of RAM
  • At least 75GB SSD storage.
• Recommended settings, targeting 60 fps at 1080p with "Frame Generation" enabled:
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Super or AMD Radeon RX 6600 GPU
  • Intel Core i5-10400 or Intel Core i3-12100 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU
  • 16GB of RAM
  • At least 75GB SSD storage.

Getting started in Monster Hunter Wilds

If you're a total Monster Hunter novice and Wilds is your entry point to the series, you'll definitely want to start with our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Mo꧃nster Hun༺ter Wilds beginner's guide to learn what you should be prioritizing and learning about first in your hunter journey. Next, we've got some general 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds tips offering sage advice to hunters of all skill level🔯s getting stuck into Wilds.

Monste🥂r Hunter Wilds mul💦tiplayer and playing with friends

澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds multiplayer is far from simple, which can make the simple act of playing with your friends quite tricky, so we've explained a few methods for setting up private lobbies and joining quests together to help you hunt in a team. The good news is that 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds crossplay mean♈s you can play with your friends regardles𓄧s of what platform they're on!

Monster Hunter Wilds weapon guides

Weapons are a huge part of Monster Hunter, and with 14 types to choose from, each with their own combos and special mechanics, there's an overwhelming amount of choice. You've also got to make sure you make good use of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode if you're using a melee weapon to direct your attac▨ks and execute Focus ✨Strikes.

We've got you covered if you're after a rundown of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons overall and for beg🐲inners, organized intᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo a tier list, but we've also got bespoke guides on some of the more complex weapons:

• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Bow
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Dual Blades
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Great Sword
• Monster Hunter Wilds Heavy Bowgun
• Monster Hunter Wilds Hunting Horn
• Monster Hunter Wilds Insect Glaive
• Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Long Sword
• Monster Hunter Wilds Sword and Shield

Monster Hunter Wilds Monster guides

Unsurprisingly, Monster Hunter Wilds features many, many monsters of all shapes and sizes that you will need to kill. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Monster list is massive, introducing a few new behemoths amongst a host of returning creatures to clash with. Before hunting any monster, you'll want to learn as much about it as possible, particularly any 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds weaknesses it may have. That way you can get your 🐬gear organized and plan your attack. If you're struggling against particular monsters, we've got some guides here:

• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Chatacabra
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau

Knowing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how to mount monsters in Monste𓆏r Hunter Wilds can make quests much easier, as mounting can help you deal significant damage, but not every monster needs to be killed, so be sure you know 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how to c🔯apture Monsters in Monster Hunt🍌er Wilds too.

Not every monster in Monster Hunter Wild💖s is a colossal beast out to destroy everything in its path, however, with many smaller creatures and critters inhabiting the various regions. You can catch some of these for side quests, resources, or Guild Points:

• Monster Hunter Wilds Tracktail Lizard
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Gillopod
• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Rime Beetle

Monster Hunte🅰r Wilds Armor and custom🌺ization guides

Carving up monsters and turning them into clothes and armor is a major part of the Monster Hunter series. Individual armor pieces and full sets have their own skills and benefits, however, so knowing about the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Monster Hunter Wilds armor is crucial if you want to tackle the endgame.

However, customization and fashion are also important in Monster Hunter (you want to slay while you slay, right?), so make sure you know how to cha🎐nꩵge your Monster Hunter Wilds armor appearance using layered armor. Furthermore, if you're not happy with how your hunter or palico look, you need to know 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:how to change 🐽appearance in Monster Hunter Wilds. While you're revisiting character creation, you could even try using 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter🎃 Wilds character design codes if you want to copy someone else's design.

Monster Hunter Wilds crafting resources

With so many weapon upgrades and armor sets to craft, you'll need to collect a lot of resources as you play Monster Hunter Wild🔯s. Most of these can be collected from killed or captured Large Monsters, but you'll need to look to Sm🔯all Monsters and other endemic life for some materials:

• 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds Sharp Fangs
• Monster Hunter Wilds Hunter Symbol 3

Monster Hunter Wilds DLC and future content

With free updates on the horizon, we've laid out everything we know about the future of the game in our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap.

See what other adventures await with our roundups of all the澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询: upcoming Xbox Series X games, 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming PS5 games, and 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:new PC games heading our way. Or catch up on the series with our list of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Monster Hunter games.

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With the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Summer Game Fest schedule promising a host of reveals and announcements in the coming days, I'm hoping to rediscover the hype. We've already gotten a closer look at Bloober Team's Silent Hill 2 remake during its extended gameplay reveal on May 30, so now, I'm setting my sights on five other games in particular. A handful of them have been pinpointed already in our list of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:SGF predictions according to publishers, but if any of these games show face this weekend, it'll be a huge win for the horror community – and🌼 my personal wishlist.

5. Silent Hill f

Konami is teaming up with NeoBards Entertainment to bring us the ninth mainline game in its Silent Hill franchise, set in 1960s Japan – and we know precious little else about Silent Hill f. This one might be a long-shot of a Summer Game Fest wishlist entry, but with the publisher having shadow-dropped a bitesize free-to-play PS5 exclusive in the form of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Silent Hill: The Lost Message earlier this year, I know the cogs are turning. I didn't really care for the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:heavy-handed "metaphors" of this horror walking sim-meets-bullying PSA, but it shows that Konami is engaging with its legacy IP in interesting new ways. It also made a valiant effort at pitching Sakura Head – a play on the iconic Pyramid Head – as our next new monster, and I'd like to see Konami bring her back for a repeat performance in Silent Hill f. That certainly seems to be the plan, with official teaser images featuring bouquets of telltale flowers adorning a faceless woman; what if Konami was just warming us up for a full Silent Hill f reveal this su𒆙mmer when it launched The Lost Message back in February?

4. Slitterhead

Another horror game I'm sorely in need of seeing at Summer Game Fest 2024 is 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Slitterhead. This gruesome Japanese body horror has been keeping itself hidden for far too long, last seen in July 2023 when developer Bokeh Game Studio revealed 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:pre-alpha gameplay footage – oh, and the existence of a playable dog. This little tease, as well as the fact that tღhe game was announced back in 2021, has me convinced that it's high time Slitterhead slithers out from the shadows to give us a little more than a teas🌠er trailer. What evidence do I have that it might show up at SGF? Absolutely none, except for the ardent hope in my black little heart. 

3. Resident Evil 9

I'll keep shouting it from the rooftops until Capcom hears me: please oh please let Resident Evil 9 be revealed at Summer Game Fest. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:most recent RE9 rumors have done nothing but agitate me even more, though I think we can all agree tha🐻t Resident Evil 9: Revenant Shadows is a bit of a lame and long-winded title that would totally break from tradition. The ninth mainline instalment in Capcom's survival horror franchise has been the subject of so much speculation that it's no longer fun to think about, and I'd very much like the rumor mill to be set straight with an official announcement from the publisher this weekend. Sure, Capcom is most likely at SGF to show off its upcoming Monster Hunter game following a gameplay reveal at May's Sony State of Play, but I'd take comfort in any mention of RE9 – even if it's just a measly title card – to reassure me that it hasn't been forgotten amid the litany of remakes.

2. Alan Wake 2: Night Springs DLC

As I mentioned earlier, Alan Wake 2 dominated conversations in the survival horror scene toward the midpoint of 2023 – and with the first of two DLCs launching imminently, how awesome would it be to have a little taste of Night Springs at SGF? Described as a series of self-contained episodes that comprise a TV series set in the AW universe, the Night Springs DLC sounds similar to Alan Wake's American Nightmare. We know that it's slated for a "late spring" launch, but another reason it feels ripe for a Summer Game Fest appear𝓀ance is the fact that developer Remedy has mysteriously under the guise of Poison Pill Entertainment – and the new header image strapline reads "1995, Night Springs City." Studio lead Sam Lake has even in kind, so I t🅘hink it's safe to say that a major announcement is incoming from the Alan Wake 2 crew.

1. OD

It wouldn't be a Geoff Keighley weekender without an appearance from his best buddy and renowned game director, Hideo Kojima. Gaming's resident enigma announced a host of new projects at The Game Awards 2023, including an upcoming horror "experience" titled 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:OD. Kojima's disturbing and predictably confusing teaser trailer gives nothing up, and aside from the fact that its star-studded cast features the likes of Hunter Schafer, we know precious little else about OD right now. Between this, Death Stranding 2, and a brand new project with Jordan Peele in the works, Kojima's schedule is looking just a little hectic these days. But that doesn't mean he won't have a bean or two to spill about his creepy-looking new horror game, and it would be very on brand of him to drop something totall♊y unhinged into our laps at some point this weekend. In fact, it'll be weirder 🐼if he doesn't.

To be honest, it's anyone's guess until Capcom unzips its hushed lips to announce the game and put us out of our misery. But that's the thing: no one seems to be🎀 miserable about the prospect of a middle-aged Leon Kennedy being our leading man in RE9, as per Twitter user 's insider sources. The response to this latest bout of rumored leaks has been overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the importance of the developer's next move in recapturing the attention and favor of its audience. It's time for Capcom to do its business or get off the pot; go back to the classics, or commit to a brave new era once and for all.

Familiar faces 

Personally? I'd love to see Leon return in Resident Evil 9, kept🌊 in close company by Jill, Claire, and the gruff latest iteration of Chris Redfield. This isn't a provocative statement at all, and it's hard not to get my hopes up about a weary yet seasoned 48-year-old Leon exploring Southeast Asia in th𓄧e summer of 2025 – at least during the introductory section of the game, perhaps like Chris's involvement at the very end of Village.

Let's discuss where this leak came from. I want to stress that all of the above is hearsay at best, with the rumors originally being credited to known Resident Evil insider, Dusk Golem. This was , though that still doesn't boost my confidence in their legitimacy since Dusk Golem has slipped up before, reminding the community in another that his own alleged RE9 leaks are largely from 2020 and 2021 (summarized neatly in ). "In t꧑erms of insider info I'm only about as good as my sources will let me," he concedes, noting that a lot might have changed developmentally in the four years since. Another common rumor is that Resident Evil 9 will be titled Apocalypse, set some time after a global-scale crisis that has seen the world crumble to a state of veritable dystopia. Check out this for the gist of it. 

The most interesting thing I'm gleaning from all of this is that by and large, Resi fans really, really want their legacy characters back – for new games as well as remakes. The Resident Evil game described by PRE_Alarabiya reminds me in some way of what Capcom tried to do with Resident Evil 6, bringing back plenty of familiar faces in a series of episodic, high-action chapters that had some sort o♎f overlap. While this attempt fell flat in the wake of Resident Evil 5, it wouldn't be wild to think that perhaps Capcom wants to take another stab at this chaptered format; that's pretty much the format of Village, after all, with each of the four Lords presiding over respective districts that need to be played in orderജ. 

Could Resident Evil 9 seek to learn from the mistakes of its predecessors, tweaking the formula just so to incorporate aspects of everything that has worked best across the years – strong survival horror leanin♉gs, the success of legacy characters as per the remakes, memorable locations, iconic villains – to make classic Resi culturally relevant again?

Choices, choices

To me, that would be ꩵthe best-case scenario for Resident Evil 9. With so many beloved characters under its belt being relegated to pre-2012 games and a series of stunning remakes, Capcom is🐲 sitting on a gold mine and effectively ignoring it by not giving us our heroes back. 

If you want to talk numbers, consider this: last year's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil 4 Remake sold over 7 million copies in its first year alone [via ]. Resident Evil Village shifted about 8 million units across two years [via ]. Make of that what you will, but in my min𒊎d, that says the people want them some Kennedy and co♑mpany.

Bu🍸t what if all these rumors turn out to be false? What if Resident Evil 9 goes fully rogue, bringing in new characters entirely and foregoing anything else that came before? It's been done in the sixth and seventh entries alike, to varying levels of success, but perhaps the lack of success comes from not running too far with either new format. Either way, I would love to see Capcom narrowing its scope considerably, distilling the best of what it's capable of to deliver a new Resi game that is less scattershot and more tightly-focussed on its assets. If those assets happen to be a certain ex-cop and his cohort of equally traumatized, firmly badass final girls and boys, tha🐷t's a happy coincidence for us all.

Check out all the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:upcoming horror games on our watchlist, from Slitterhead to Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake.

But why? Designer Kim Hyung Tae has talked ab🔯out modern titles such as Sekiro and Nier as key reference points. So 🌟what is it about this game that's taking us all back twenty years?

Hack and slash  

There's an obvious overarching answer: Stellar Blade is essentially a hack and slash character action game and that sub-genre reached its absolute peak in the PlayStatඣion 2 era. At the time, the m🔯achine's powerful Emotion Engine CPU gave developers the ability to construct detailed explorable worlds and densely textured character models – however, the conventions of the modern open-world action role-playing game hadn't yet been established. Instead, many studios were combining modern advances in 3D visuals with the gameplay traditions they already knew - namely the frenetic close-quarters combat of the 1980s and 1990s scrolling brawlers. Hence, the 3D hack and slash/character action genre.  

The scene was dominated by three classic titles – Devil May Cry, Gꦗod of War and Onimusha. However, if you were buying or renting games in the PS2 era (or like me, reviewing them for a living) you were playing a lot of lesser known hack 'em ups, many of which closely foreshadow Stella Blade in🌌 terms of gameplay features and settings. For example, SCE Studio Cambridge's Primal and Capcom's cell-shaded sci-fi brawler Crimson Tears both featured punchy female protagonists battling with swords in hyper-stylized worlds. Indeed, this sub-genre was a huge favorite with Capcom at the time – the publisher also releasing Shinji Mikami's eccentric beat-'em-up Godhand, the feudal war game Sengoku Basara and the operatic goth slasher Chaos Legion from Street Fighter producer, Yoshinori Ono.

There were titles which, like Stella Blade, brought in RPG elements, such as cult hits Drakengard and The Sword of Etheria. There were also a 🐭lot of games I played back then that almost no one will remember now - Nanobreaker, Swords of Destiny, Samurai Western – games that were flawed but interesting takes on the hack-and-slash recipe of melee combat, combos and boss battles, and which I have weirdly recalled while playing Stellar Blade. 

It's Devil May Cry, however, that's most relevant to Stellar Blade in terms of design philosophy. In creating the DMC series, designer Hide﷽ki Kamiya's key ambition was to make a game governed by style and action. Inspired by anime such as Cobra and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, he built epic, lusciously detailed environments populated by cool, sexy characters. It's a game about look and feel rather than realistic character development or narrative consistency. Although in a sci-fi rather than gothic horror setting, Stellar Blade has a similar vibe. It's a game in which style rules over substance - the city of Eidos is futuristic yet also inexplicably filled with vast renaissance statues; the facilities you explore throughout are dead and deserted, yet still lit with blinking neon signs and ancient monitors churning out lines of green dot matrix text. It's a tense sci-fi world, but the soundtrack is smooth K-pop soul. But it doesn't matter: Kim Hyung Tae, like Kamiya before him, is interested in tone and style rather than narrative/audio-visual consistency.  

Indeed, Kim Hyওung Tae's visual reference points are similar to those of the PS2 era hack and slashers: Bladerunner, 80s/90s sci-fi manga such as Battle Angel Alita, Akira and Ghost in the Shell. The r🧜avaged cybernetic landscapes we see in the game were also there in Bujingai, Nanobreak and Seven Samurai 20XX, a strange futuristic take on Kurosawa's movie classic with a wilting soundtrack by Ryuichi Sakamoto that some of the slower Stellar Blade tunes certainly remind me of. 

PS2-era nostalgia 

Beneath the vis⭕ual comparisons, Stellar Blade's combat system also has similarities with the hack and slash titles of the early 2000s. It's a compact yet complex set of mechanics, mostly using two button inputs, but still rife with upgradeable movesets. In the heat of battle, the fluidity of movement, the chaining of combos, the explosive excess of visual hit markers all scream PS2 character action greats. As in Devil May Cry, the power of ranged weapons is somewhat scaled down so that they fit in more comfortably beside the mostly melee-based system – an awareness of offensive balance evolved from 1980s brawlers where weapons were usually only available as pick-ups with limited ammo. What Stellar Blade does however, is add texture to these old systems, taking a lot of inspiration from the games of Hidetaka Miyazaki, so parrying, dodging and memorizing are more important here than they ever were in the PS2 era (unless you were playing the likes of Way of the Samurai or Shinobi).

Stellar Blade also shares something else with many PS2-era hack and slash titles: the unabashed sexualization of its characters. During the 1990s and early 2000s, there was little discourse around sexism in games; we were bombarded with images of female space marines, m🍃artial artists and jet pilots inexplicably dressed as schoolgirls or bikini models. By depicting its airborne military protagonist as a hypersexualized waif, Stellar Blade controversially recalls the anime-infused gender aesthetics of that time, but it's a kind of naïve, nostalgic depiction – a snapshot of a very different time.  

Mostly though, what Stella Blade gives us is a wistful snapshot of the early 2000s as a time of creative, experimental and idiosyncratic hack-and-slash adventures. It's a game with combat and visual style at the forefront, and where narrative is merely a hurried set-up for high octane fight scenes and eye-popping architecture. I do miss those games. I miss weird Japanese brawlers such as Godhand and Warriors Orochi, and I miss the Western titles – Legacy of Kain, Primal, God of War – that took on the same focused, balletic energy. We've gained so much in the last two decades, but sometimes all those open worlds with their intricate and precise world-building, their deep lore and complicated characters can become exhausting. That's why I felt such a pang of nostalgia in the first few minutes with Stellar Blade – I was back in the Official PlayStation Magazine games room, at the very start of my career in games journalism, loading up preview code, the game titles written in marker pen on gold DVDs, and you never knew what kinetic, mega stylized apocalyptic hellzone you would be chucked 👍into – you just knew it would be fun. 

See our pick of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best action games you can play right now. 

My intentions might seem obvious to anyone who knows how ꦇto spot Dragonsplague in Dragon's Dogma 2, but what if I told you that I am actively seeking infected Pawns rather than screening them out? It might sound bizarre, but attempting to destroy my game with a bit of mass murder is the only thing that's keeping me entertained now that I'm somehow nearing the last story missions. My inspiration? The desire to replicate the gnarliest consequences of playing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3's 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dark Urge as a bloodthirsty maniac.

Style over substance

It sucks to hit a wall in a game you'd been enjoying a lot. This has unfortunately happened to me in Dragon's Dogma 2 now that my first playthrough is almost over, which is a shame because it's been such a blast getting here. I killed my first Lesser Dragon at Level 38, maxed out the Mystic Spearhand vocation, fully upgraded all of my gear and that of my Main Pawn, and even 澳洲幸♋🍸运5开奖号码历史查询:accepted DD2's bland storytelling as the tradeoff for some of the best third-person combat I've ever experienced in an action🎶 game. But as my Arisen wields the reforཧged Godsbane in a moment that should feel awe-inspiring, ushering me to the point-of-no-return mission that demarcates the story's goalpost, I feel nothing. 

There's noꦉ excitement for the big finale, no feeling of satisfaction in my journey so far. I don't feel inclined to clean up my sidequests, or pay a visit to a favorite NPC – mainly because I don't have a favorite NPC, given that they're all rather dull. I hadn't minded that Dragon's Dogma 2's story is largely nonsensical because there was always something else to explore, but when presented with the prospect of the tale coming to a close, I had to face facts. I didn&ap🐟os;t care about finishing the game because nothing had happened to make me intrigued enough to see it through.

The fact is that Dragon's Dogma 2 lacks a key element that makes the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs worth your time in the first place: a dense, gripping narrative. Initially, I'd been happy to treat this experience as more of an action-RPG in the vein of 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Elden Ring. It puts combat center stage in a world teeming with lore, environmental storytelling, and intricate combat systems to offset the lack of narrative meat, but the fact that the game thinks there is meat to chew on in the first place is letting it down. Sure, I could grind through each of the vocations to explore the depth of combat even further, but that's not how I roll. I shouldn't have to fight with a game to keep myself hooked on i𓄧t, so instead, I've decided to kill everyone in Battahl and Vermund to exact some vengeance.

Dark (Urge) Arisen

I've gotten used to standing by my choices in games, from The Witcher 3's bleak Whispering Hillock quest to 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3 in general – and the latter has certainly taught me the value of effing around and finding out. In fact, playing as the Dark Urge was such a memorable experience that I'm still chasing its sense of🅠 action and consequence in Dragon's Dogma 2. 

There are very few important consequences of your actions in Capcom's latest, but a major one is what happens when your Arisen accidentally lets a bout of Dragonsplague decimate an entire town because you never caught the signs of its presence among your Pawns. The plague turns the infected Pawn into a homicidal maniac for one night only, slaughtering every NPC in whi♒chever town you've hunkered down in for the night before being sent back into the rift to be hired by yet another unassuming player. Think of it as a large-scale version of what happens to Alfira when the Dark Urge takes a long rest after the events at Emerald Grove.

As much as I want the Bhaalspawn to live on in my Arisen, the Dragon's Dogma 2 community has come up with clever ways of warning their fellow players that a pawn is infected. A Pawn returning from the rift with rotten food or dried up herbs and flowers is one indication. Another general rule of thumb for the wary is to not hire Pawns whose eyes are obscured by helmets or masks, and it's a definite no to Pawns with red eyes – even if it's possibly a cosmetic touch. Dragonsplague also seems to be most commonly contracted while hiring Pawns of a much higher level, encouraging players to stick with Pawns whose skill matches their own. So of co൲urse,❀ I am refuting all of the above in search of my Plague Mary. I've been spending silly amounts of rift crystals on Level 55 Pawns while I myself am Level 42, and so far, no cigar.

Mass murder might sound like a dramatic way to get my own back, but death in Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't spell the end. I've never wasted a wakestone on an💮 accidental NPC casualty (re-read the fourth paragraph above for a reminder as to why), and cool as it is that NPCs aren't magically impervious to death and damage in this game, the resurrection mechanic has always felt a bit of a cop-out.

It would definitely be nasty to come across unawares, but contracting Dragonsplague is not the doomed Game Over screen many of us thought it would be. Key quest-givers automatically resurrect themselves within a matter of in-game weeks after being wiped out by Dragonsplague, and wi🎃th the help of the Sphinx's Eternal Wakestone, I'd be able to get the whole of Vermund back on its feet pretty quickly. All this is to say: even when I eventually f💖ind my walking nuclear bomb, I know that the chaos sown by Dragonsplague will all be an illusion.

Part of me is bummed about its lack of permanence, the almost lazy way you can simply undo something that should be catastrophic. But at the end of the day, this is Dragon's Dogma 2, and the beauty lies in how you play it rather than the story yꦡou're playing🐻 out.

The RPG might be light on the romance, but we turned Dragon's Dogma 2 into a dating sim anyway.

I've always gravitated towards games that let you develop romantic relationships. Whether it be in visual novels, RPGs like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3, or in simulation games like 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Stardew Valley, my romantic soul is always on the lookoutꦦ for more. While Dragon's Dogma 2's romance is pretty meager and isn't put in the limelight as much as other RPGs, I figured I'd try to make more ofไ the affinity system to enjoy it as much as possible. 

Cupid's arrow  

As someone who never played the first game and was pretty apprehensive about Dragon's Dogma 2 to start off with, I didn't really know what to expect. While I soon fell in love with the exploration and sense of discovery it offers up, everything has been a learning curve for me. I actually had no clue there was even an affinity system until I had one fateful encounter; one that would lead me to think the acti🧸on-RPG could be a light-touch dating sim of my own making. See, it all started with a bow. After reaching the capital ci🐷ty of Vernworth, I immediately went to peruse the merchant's quarter when I spied an elven archer standing nearby by the name of Glyndwr. With light blonde hair and neat armor, I immediately struck up a conversation; little did I know this simple action would open up a new quest-line and set me on the path to affinity and beyond.

Glyndwr is evidently curious about human-made bows, and after gifting him one I had g🧜oing spare in my ꦓinventory, he wished to see how I use the weapon. As it turns out, this was all in the name of helping him get ready for the Trail of Archery, which, he explains, is a "time-honored elven custom". Having chosen the Archer vocation for my own Arisen - since I've always loved fighting with bows in RPGs - this encounter felt rather serendipitous. Here we are, just two archers bonding over bows and arrows. 

Once I met him out by some mountain ruins and fired at a target, I played a small part in restoring his confidence for the impending trial. Before long, I was following him to the Sacred Arbor where the elves reside to get a short tour of his home. He even acted as my translator since I couldn't understand his first language. I really do love that your efforts for befriending NPCs can be rewarded in different ways - be it discount prices at stores, getting special loot, or in the case of Glyndwr, being welcome into a new community🌞. 

Affinity and beyond 

The affinity system in Dragon's Dogma 2 isn't overtly obvious,♋ since there isn't a clear measure of how much someone likes you. But once I'd gotten caught up in a quest to help save Glyndwr's sister from the clutches of a giant foe, I knew I was on the right track. And even though we technically hadn't gone on anything that could officially be qualified as a date, I really felt like I was putting in a lot of work for this one NPC – like I was actively trying to get him to like my Arisen. But it wasn't until he later turned up at my home in Vernworth that I started to think that this was practically dating sim territory. 

After greeting me, a letter appeared on my screen that provided tangible proof that I'd actually really made a real impression on Glyndwr. So much so, in fact, that he once again invited me out. "You have made quite a difference in my life, you know. Since meeting you, I have braved innumerable tests of courage, and learned much of myself and the world," the it read. "As a testament to this, I intend to set out on a journey anon, and I am hoping you might accompany me. 'Twould be a chance for me to s༺how you just how far my skill with the bow has come." 

This occasion felt a little different. Instead of asking for my aid, he simply wanted to venture out to spot on the map together and show me how his skills with the bow had improved. The game might overtly call this a date, but I decided to take it as such. It was actually during this jaunt in Vermund that I found out I'd maxed out Glyndwr's affinity. Once we'd reached our destination, a trophy popped f൲or raising an NPC's affinity to a high enough level, but the best visual cue that came off the back of this achievement was the fact that the elven archer was blushing intensel🌞y and handing me flowers. Yep. This really was a date. 

Dragon's Dogma 2's affinity system isn't overtly obvious, but I do love the crimson flush that appears on NPC's faces – which seems to be the main indಞicator of maxed-out affinity outside of them directly telling you they enjoy your company. Now, I find myself returning to Glyndwr after completing his quests just to spend a bit time with him and see that telltale blush. Honestly, I'm having the best time with it. Even if, on one occasion, I met him outside the mountain ruins and found myself fighting a chimera – talk about ruining the romantic mood. To make matters worse, I saw Glyndwr fall to the ground and perish not long after I'd successfully bested it. But hey, all love has its trials, right? A🍨nd not even death can keep us apart thanks to my trusty wakestones. 

Capcom's RPG may not be as strong in the romance department as other fantasy adventures, but I really have been having the best time makin🐻g the most of what it does offer up. As a Dragon's Dogma 2-themed Valentine's Day ca💯rd we received at the office put it: Glyndwr must be a dragon, because he's stolen my heart. I'll see myself out. 

After 700 hours in Baldur's Gate 3, I'm playing Dragon's Dogma 2 with Astarion at my side.

Better yet, he happened to be a thief which was just the vocation I needed to complement my archer Arisen, main pawn fighter, and an already recruited mag🦄e. While I initially recruited him for the pure fun of it, I would actually end up spending numerous hours with Astarion in Vermund. In fact, he stayed in my party for 22 in-game days – by the time I decided to finally (and reluctantly) swap him out, our levels were laughably out of sync. But I hardly cared. Not only was it just downright enjoyable to travel with the imitation pale elf, he also proved to be an incredibly useful and effective companion.

Watch your back  

Honestly, I have to tip my hat to the creator of the Astarion pawn for two major reasons. Firstly, the decision to give him the Straightforward inclination was inspired. As one of the more outspoken and daring pawn behaviors, it feels so in-keeping with the kind of character he is by ♏capturing his🥀 signature snarky personality perfectly. It also means that he's quick to act in combat, charging ahead with an air of confidence that also feels apt for the roguish vampire I've gotten to know so well in Larian's RPG. In a practical sense, his vocation and inclination marry like a dream, making him an effective, scrappy fighter to have on your side when you're tackling a Cyclops or suddenly stumbling into a group of goblins hiding in the shrubbery. 

Secondly, the player who blessed me with the pawn equipped him with some very useful Dowsing Spikes. The daggers, described as having hilts that are meant to "recall snakes on the hunt", emit a glow whenever treasure is nearby. And look, we all know that Astarion has a penchant for luxury and the finer things in life, so it checks out that he'd have weapons that will help him bag some shiny loot. Plus, he is a little snake-like♔ in his approach sometimes – sure, it comes from a place of f🍷ear, but it also befits his Dogma incarnation. 

And okay, maybe I'm reading into everything too much, but these details really do bring the Asatarion pawn to life. It's like the ultimate cosplay in game form made by  someone who just really gets him as a character and is trying to embody him as best they can. The icing on the vampy cake is his Chirurgeon specialization, which means he's always quick to lob curatives my way when my health dips. I like to imagine this reflects the fact that he'd rather have blood to cure his ills than knock back a potion – you know, on account of his being a vampire. I have no idea if the creator put half as much 🌠thought into it as I evidently am, but it doesn't really matter. I just appreciate all of the choices that have been made to bring me this pawn. 

On several occasion𝔍s, the pawn took it upon himself to sit down when I was taking too long to move my Arisen, which again just seems so… Astarion. He may not look exactly like Baldur's Gate 3's beloved vampire, and the voice just isn't quite the same (it's hard to match the acting talents of Neil Newbon, after all) but heck, it's a pretty darn fun homage to a character I love. I can't say I expected to experience a sizable chunk of Dragon's Dogma 2 with another player's take on Astarion, but it absolutely enhanced my travels across the fantasy landscape. 

When I finally bid him farewell in the rift, I actually felt a little sad. Still, it was time. I was level 24, almost double his level, after all, and I had to see what other pawn possibilities were out there. Maybe I'll cross paths with him again at a higher level soꦦmetime. But regardless, it&🌊apos;s been one very memorable adventure having the fake pale elf at my side in Dragon's Dogma 2. 

My favorite Baldur's Gate 3 NPC is everything I love about Larian's RPG: "I had no idea there would be Rolanites or a Rolan nation or Rolan empire".

Perhaps no instalment in this series, though, has so clearly put the past behind it as 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Final Fantasy 16. That was apparent right from the game's initial reveal in 2020, which defiantly set out its stall as a radical departure. Here was a mature fantasy story unafraid to shed blood (or clothing), that ditched the traditional customisable party in favour of a single 🏅protagonist, Clive Rosfield, and, perhaps most striking of all, presented a heavy emphasis on real time action combat, with nary a command menu in sight. 

It's easy to see why Square Enix would choose to entrust Creative Business Unit III, of all its studios, with taking these risks. This, after all, was the team that managed to take Final Fantasy XIV from the series' biggest catastrophe to its most profitable release to date. It's a tempting narrative, but one that Naoki Yoshida – producer of both 16 and 14's A Realm Rebor🔯n comeback – pushes against. Yoshida credits a number of other factors, including the fact that Creative Business Unit I was already busy with Final Fantasy VII: Remake; he does acknowledge, however, the part that XIV's successful reinvention and the fervent support of its community played in landing this job. 

And when they did, Yoshida and his team approached the project with a c😼onscious desire to subvert preconceptions, not just of Final Fantasy but of Japanese RPGs as a whole, though without jettisoning everything that longtime devotees associate with the series. Of this there might be no better microcosm than 16's approach to the Final Fantasy bestiary. A number of popular creatures from the series were omitted, so as "not to undermine the setting and world created", according to creative director and scenario writer Kazutoyo Maehiro. 

Final frontier

It's certainly hard to imagine how the cactuar, looking as they traditionally have like a prickly, bright-green take on Animal Crossing's gyroids, might fit into 🔯the realm of Valisthea, a grittier setting strongly influenced by medieval European history. Other series stalwarts, meanwhile, appear only in reinterpreted form, the most radical examples of which might be Tiamat, Wyvern, Biast and Aevis – here the names are given to ch꧟aracters rather than draconic monsters. 

On the other hand, Maehiro counters, many recurring creatures have been carefully recreated as they have previously appeared, "giving the same overall impression, just rendered with the latest technology". The design of 16&ap🧔os;s goblins, for instance, are based directly on the original sprites. Meanwhile, the game does make room for at least one fantastical (and adorable) inclusion seemingly at odds with the more grounded setting: the moogle. The inclusion of this flying furball, Maehiro explains, was at Yoshida's insistence: "The producer felt passionately that they were the face of the Final Fantasy series and told us to include them in ther𓂃e." 

Having moved away from so much of the series' traditional iconography, Creative Business Unit III looked elsewhere for inspiration – notably, to western pop culture. Main director Hiroshi Takai admits he bought the entire Game Of Thrones television series on Blu-ray, and he also went out of his way to import the North American version of God Of War. "I've been greatly inspired by both works in different ways," he says. "The former, as a dark fantasy pie🌟ce of film; the latter, a realtime game that presents cathartic set-pieces and performances." 

Yoshida similarly references the HBO show, highlighting Jon Snow as a particular inspiration for protagonist Clive. The firstborn son of House Rosfield may not be a bastard but he is a Bastard – that is, one of a unit of enslaved soldie♛rs (and owners of the aforementioned dragon-based codenames). And, after breaking free, he joins a group dedicated to the liberation of other magic Bearers, placing him among outcasts akin to the 🔯Night's Watch of Westeros. 

He's lived a life, then, our Clive – and Yoshida tells us it was a conscious choice to put players in the shoes of an older character, another break from series tradition. "When you're telling a gothic 🐭fantasy story with weight to the narrative, then you need to think about the backstory of the main character and what burdens they bear," he says. "I felt that a protagonist in their teens wouldn't really work when trying to do justice to that kind of story." While we do meet our hero at the age of 15, it's just for the duration of the game's prologue, before the story follows him into his 20s, and eventually his 30s. Hence the controversial absence of a traditional party, with companions instead coming and going as dictated by the movements of Clive's life story. 

There were, however, other advantages to limiting the game to a single playable character, particularly in the move to real time combat. "As we created FF16, we felt that going with a turn-based or menu-based battle system might limit who might pick up and play the game – much as we understand how fun that kind of gameplay can be ourselves," Takai says of that decision. "We thought it would be easier for a broad range of people if the contro♒l scheme allowed players to directly feel the actions and reactions through their inputs via the controller." And while VII: Remake and XV featured similarly action-focused approaches, they had to accommodate other party members, a juggling act that required command menus or the latter's pause-based Wait Mode. 

With its singular focus, 16's combat has more of the feel of a character action game – something that can be attributed at least in part to the team's newest hire, combat director Ryota Suzuki. The Capcom veteran's credits include Devil May Cry 5 and Monster Hunter: World – and it's not hard to draw a comparison between Clive's lightning-fast moveset and Dante's, or indeed the colossal Eikon battles and a 🦂showdown with an elder dragon. Not that it was as simple as simply lifting design principles from those games, of course. DMC5's hack-and-slash action, for instance, relies on complex inputs and mechanics that make it as highly technical as a fighting game. "I knew that the basic controls and combat system had to be something that was easy to understand and easy to play for people who weren't used to action games," Suzuki says. "With that premise firmly in place, I went 💙through and selected what elements to use or reject for the combat design. For players of Final Fantasy, just the fact that the combat is now all-out action gameplay is a major shift." 

Some moves require a little more technical skill, such as the precise timing to parry an attack with Titan's Block, or the evasion and counterattack of Rook's Gambit. But even😼 the most powerful Eikonic abilities have relatively simple inputs, requiring only a press of R2 along with the corresponding face button. These are something of a consolation for 16's single playable character: able to equip and seamle🌞ssly switch between the abilities of three Eikons, Clive is effectively a one-man party. 

Each Eikon enables a unique set of moves, pushing Clive 🐬towards a distinct playstyle. "Since the Eikonic abilities have such a variety of characteristics, different players will find different abilities appealing once they st🦋art learning and playing around with them," Suzuki says. These playstyles can be customised via skill trees – which, in order to encourage experimentation, can be respecced at any time. "I removed any penalty for resetting ability points because I wanted everyone to be able to create a build that suits their own preferences through this kind of trial and error." It's a refreshing flexibility compared to, say, FF10's Sphere Grids or XII's License Boards. And while you can theoretically immediately max out later Eikons by resetting abilities from another one you aren't getting much use out of, equally you're able to change your mind at any point and pour those points back into an old favourite. 

For Suzuki, it was essential that players wouldn't simply discard each Eikon in favour of more powerful options as the game progressed. "I really focused on differentiating the Eikons through Clive's fighting style, rather than making the individual Eikons stronger or weaker than one another as a whole," he says of his decision to give each of these powerful beings its own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, wind elemental Garuda has agile skills that help to break the enemy's stance, at the expense of pure attack power; if pure damage output is your priority, the hulking Titan has that in spades, though lacks mobility. "This means that the ability to switch between Eikons becomes crucial," Suzuki adds, "and I construcไted the system to clearly bring out the differences between the options each Eikon presents." 

Flexible fantasy 

Another example of the dev team putting flexibility at the forefront lies in the way difficulty is handled in FF16. It's easy to understand the rationale: given the shift in genre, CBUIII was careful not to alienate a core audience which might not be totally confident with action games. Rather than having these players just "deal with it", in Takai's words, the combat was designed with "robust support systems" that could be tailored to each player's skill and preferences. Initially, this led the team down the usual routes via difficulty settings and accessibility options, before they landed on a more novel, diegetic approach. Players can equip a limited number of ring accessories that assist with combat – slowing down incoming attacks to widen the dodge window, for example, or making it possible to string together 𓆏complex combos automatically, using a single button. It's a tradeoff, since these rings take up slots that could otherwise be used to equip other stat-enhancing accessories acquired in the game. 

When we ask why this approa𝔍ch was taken, Suzuki presents an interesting theory. "Players have their own pride as gamers, and feel a strong resistance towards setting a game to 'easy' and using the support features on their first playthrough," he says. "To soften any such resistance, I decided to link the action support features to accessories." It's worth noting, though, that players are still asked at the game's outset to choose between 'Story-Focused' and 'Action-Focused' modes, the former automatically equipping several of the rings by default. It's an example, perhaps, of the compromises CBUIII had to make in pursuit of an action-oriented game that could cater to a broad range of players. The intricacies of its combat, for example, are somewhat lost when taking on low-level field grunts, while boss fights have generous checkpoints. To really appreciate the mechanical depth of the combat, you'll have to go looking: its Devil May Cry-style scoring system is hidden unless you opt to replay levels via Arcade Mode. 

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy Mode, which Takai calls "the level of difficulty that we originally had in mind for [FF16's] combat", is only available after the game has been beaten. "We felt strongly that we wanted people to first focus on experiencing Clive's story through to its finale," Takai says. Once again, the team didn't want to make players "responsible" for the level of challenge, and thus potentially self-conscious about their abilities. "For New Game+ onwards, I think it's fine for the player to select a more🔯 difficult setting at their own discretion, which꧟ is why we made it so that Final Fantasy Mode would be unlocked at that point." 

Whether 🙈this is a gambit that has paid off is open to debate. Despite strong sales at launch according to Square Enix, an earnings call a month later noted that it had not met the company's upper expectations, in part due to PS5's still-limited installed base. The PC port and two post-release expansions may yet turn things around in the long term – Yoshida and CBUIII certainly have form in that regard. But perhaps the best way to judge Final Fantasy 16's experiments and innovations will be by their finality – whether they are a☂dopted as a template for the series' future, or share the same fate as FF 12's own Gambit system (though you might argue that the latter's lone appearance has only made it shine brighter in retrospect). 

Of course, that decision ultimately lies in the hands of the next team of d♉evelopers tasked with creating a new world, story and system, the cycle of Final Fantasy renewing as it always has. But do the members of Creative Business Unit III have any view on where the series might go next, we wonder? "Everyone has their own idea of what exactly defines that uniquౠe Final Fantasy DNA," Takai says. "Of course, those aspects that are commonly accepted as being essential to Final Fantasy are likely to be passed down, but for the team working on future instalments in the series, they will just make a game that they think will be fun."

This feature originally appeared in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Edge magazine. For more fantastic features, you can or . 

That being said, I'm enjoying these bots far more than I did many scripted, controllable companions in some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs. Pawns are exactly what the name suggests: a vast pool of passionate, somewhat expendable AI companions that can be recruited and dismissed from your DD2 adventuring party at will. I thought I would miss having scripted NPCs accompanying my main character, each with a backstory and stakes in the game's proceedings, but Pawns have proven the best possible sidekicks in the grand scheme of things. They add to your story instead of insisting upon their own, but that do𒀰esn't mean you can't grow fond of them. It's making me wonder if Dragon's Dogma 2&a▨pos;s more stripped-down approach to storytelling might be the best way forward in party-based RPGs, and it boils down to one thing: player choice coming first.

Hear me roar

It all started with Lion. The Beastren fighter was the first Pawn I'd recruited that possessed the straightforward incl🦩ination, a personality trait that I'd feared might make Pawns more reckless in battle and therefore needier of constant heals. Memories of Mass Effect 1 flashed before my eyes as I recalled having to fight Saren entirely by myself after Garrus and Wrex, dumb AI in tow, died within the first two minutes of battle. The memory fills me with annoyance even now; as much as I loved exploring their character arcs, I absolutely loathe fighting alongside my ME1 companions.

These kind of experiences have served to steer me away from many real-time tactics or party-based RPGs over the years. I'm a single-player kind of person, but if I'm forced to work with others, they need to back me up reliably and have a modicum of autonomy. Literally even just one degree of autonomy, thank you very much. That's where Dragon's Dogma 2 fits the bill. I was so concerned about choosing anything other than kindhearted Pawns for fear they would just abandon me on the battlefield, but throಌugh Lion, I found the error of my ways.

I'm not sure if it was his voice, sarcastic and snooty and clearly tired of my bul🦄lshit, bu෴t Lion was the first Pawn I met in Dragon's Dogma 2 that made me delighted to be in his company. I'd met him soon after arriving in the kingdom of Vernworth, and I delayed our inevitable parting of ways for as long as possible. His straightforward attitude complemented the kindhearted and calm inclinations of my other two party members respectively, and his tanky build meant that I didn't have to worry much about stopping to revive him. 

When I eventually relieved Lion of his nob⛄le service to my Arisen, he had some final thoughts for me that made me surprisingly emotional: "It's a shame to leave your side after sharing such an adventure, but I know we will meet again soon." 

Immediately I opened up his master's Xbox account to shoot across a quick thank-you message, and that's when I stopped to think about long and hard about something I'd been taking for granted this whole time. This Pawn named Lion was not some randomized Sim, but someone's main right-hand man that had been crafted and built for a purpose. I hadn't needed to worry about Lion's inventory, loadout, skill build, or anything else I'd usually be tinkering with if🌱 he were some other scripted NPC consigned to me, because someone else out there had done it all for me and made him a more valuable party member because of it.

Recruiting one another's Pawns is a core element of Dragon's Dogma 2's gameplay, a unique way of linking people up without actually making it a multiplayer experience. In a way, Capcom removes some of the storytelling onus from itself by letting players craft a party using characters designed by other people, but it also means that the actual functionality and survivability of each Pawn feels far more considered. I don't have a strict, preset pool of eight companion characters to choose from, as in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Baldur's Gate 3; I have hundreds of them, and they're a damn sight more useful tha💃n anyone in Dragon Age because an actual human brain has made t🀅hem so.

At the end of the day, combat is the undisputed king of Dragon's Dogma 2, and our main Pawns have been designed with utility rather than storytelling in mind. It just goes to🌱 show that nobody knows what works best in a game more than the players themselves, and the fact that Capcom has entrusted that responsibility to us makes each victory all the more satisfying.

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Having never played the first game, I went in blind. What I'd read about the game gave me a glimmer of hope since, at face value, it seemed to share a few similarities with my GOTY of 2023. I'm used to exploring and fighting alongside my 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:BG3 companions, so Pawns sounded helpful in their essence. The core four Dragon's Dogma 2 combat classes hold similarities to a few of those in Baldur's Gate 3, making it easy enough to choose the rogue-like Thief vocation as my Arisen's starting point. Hell, even the mind-wiped protagonist hinted at flavors of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:BG3 Dark Urge. But after playing Capcom's latest for roughly five hours, I'm starting to see the error in my judgment. These compari♎sons just served to give me unfair expectations of Dragon's Dogma 2 from t🤪he get-go – though thankfully, I'm still having a blast.

My personal Everest

Gritting my teeth and loading into Dragon's Dogma 2 for the first time gave me mixed feelings. On one hand, I was excited to delve into another thriving fantasy world teeming with monsters, mystery, and mayhem. On the other, I wa🍷s secretly hoping for another Baldur's Gate 3.

Yes, I realize how silly that was in hindsight, but can you blame me? It's only April, and I've rolled credits on six games already – and three of them were RPGs or open world games. If trudging through the Sword Coast for hundreds of hours wasn't enough, I then finally got around to playing 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Red Dead Redemption 2, spent another 121 hours exploring Persona 3 Reload's harrowing twists and turns, and🐭 followed that up immediately with Mass Effect 1 and 2. I certainly wasn't going to let RPG burnout stop me, so to ensure I followed through with Dragon's Dogma 2, I had to play a bit of carrot-and-stick. I'm on a rol🐲l when it comes to role-playing games and the like, I told myself. What's one more?

While this method was effective at getting me in front of the screen, controller in hand, it didn't serve me well in terms of expectations. The games mentioned above are some of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best RPGs ever, or in the case of RDR2, an action game that left me breathless from the sheer narrative impact of it. But Dragon's Dogma 2 i🐼s an entirely different be꧋ast in that its story is perhaps the least interesting thing about it. 

Unserious fun

That fact took some getting used to. As soon as the opening cutscene began, I was stifling giggles at the pompous, somewhat disjointed Ye Olde English monologue being performed before me, the words spilling from a mouth that was moving completely out of sync. It soon dawned on me that this is just how everyone speaks in Dragon's Dogma 2, and for a bᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚrief moment, my heart sank. I pulled myself together, though; this is not a game to be taken seriously, despite all the flowery language, and that's the way I chose to approach it.

Once I'd accepted that a rollicking script and meaningfully-crafted dialogue would not be the main draw for me here, Dragon's Dogma 2 got easier to love. Stepping out into the open world and testing my snappy thieves' blades out on an unassuming goblin for the first time was exhilarating, even if I did accidentally pick up and carry around my helpful steward for a few seconds by accident. This moment filled me with glee; I'm able to just pick people up and wander off with them? And I'm not even playing a berserker barbarian? Hell yeah. I went on to make good use of👍 this discovery for the rest of that firs꧋t fight, simply lobbing the little goblins over cliffs with reckless abandon until I realized that maybe I'd have liked to loot them first. 

Mechanics like these are what makes Dragon's Dogma 2 feel like a truly interactive, immersive experience – even if I can't chat up my devoted Pawns as the Arisen. I'm still finding them somewhat of a nuisance at times, lauding praise upon me for offloading heavy ca𓆏mping kits unto them instead of tossing me an icy one-liner. These Pawns might not have the charisma and depth of Persona 3 or BG3's party members, but they do love to high five you after each and every scuffle. That's something I don't see myself getting sick of anytime soon.

So, is Dragon's Do👍gma 2 everything I expected it to be? No, and I'm glad of it. Weird dialogue aside, the emergent storytelling, combat, and Pawn interactions have already led me down the start of what I'm sure will be an epic adventure. So much so that I've already forgiven its basic quest design, chuggy graphics courtesy of a 30 FPS ceiling, and frankly goofy NPC content. By welcoming the jank of it all🐟 with open arms, I've found that Capcom has given me a valuable gift: freeing me of the expectation of having my heart shattered in every RPG. And, wow, does that feel amazing.

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Runway-ready villainy aside, there's just something about Dead Aim that I find absolutely delightful. I've been replaying it passively over the last few days, marveling at how unremarkable yet enjoyable an experience Capcom's fourth entry in the Gun Survivor spin-off series still is, and trying to put my finger on why it's always been one of my favorites. It's neither the most unique nor the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Resident Evil game, and it's not always the most memorable for the right reasons. At its core, though, Dead Aim shows that the series was moving in the right direction. Also, it's just plain fun.

Back to basics

Resident Evil: Dead Aim contains a collection of ideas that would soon be refined into something better. Fong Ling is just budget Ada Wong, sandy-haired and burly Bruce is the unholy gene🌠tic offspring of Leon and Chris (if only the🎃y, too, could walk while aiming down their sights back in 2003), and you can see how the zombie-infested Spencer Rain cruise liner paved the way for Revelations' own take on a ghost ship, the Queen Zenobia. It's also a far more linear, condensed experience than a mainline Resi game, so I don't judge Dead Aim's forgettable plot too harshly – especially when it ticks plenty of other boxes. 

It may be strange and under-baked but the game's DNA is recognizably Resident Evil. Dead Aim moves through three confined locations, charts the mutation and degeneration of an overarching big bad who has ties to the Umbrella Corporation🐈, and is teeming with zombies to shoot in the head with a limited supply of handgun bullets. You can even stealth past inactive zombies, a mechanic I still have a lot of time for to this day. What's not to love? Well, after reaching a certain point in my rediscovery mission, I realize that I'm actually not too crazy about running into the Hunter Elite again. These amphibious monstrosities are just a🌸s mean and ugly as I remember from my last playthrough, exploding from their containment vessels like a trio of hulking hook-clawed bullet-sponges. 

The sight of the Hunter Elite sends me running laps across the ship's deck to get away from their punishing melee attacks. I'd almost rather be fighting a pair of Lickers – almost, I said. Still, battling past an infamously tricky foe with one 🎐or two unique quirks, worrying the whole time about whether you have enough ammo or green h💟erbs to make it through… that's about as Resident Evil as it gets.

Tyrant Banks 

Infamous though they might be, the Hunter Elite is not my favorite thing about Dead Aim. That honor goes squarely to one Morpheus D. Duvall, an ex-Umbrella lackey-turned-criminal mastermind with grand ambitions for himself and the world. Morpheus, like almost every villain in their requisite Resi game, is by far the most interesting character in Dead Aim. He might seem like your typical comic book crook, leveraging a bio-organic weapon against global superpowers in exchange for a wild sum of money, but he's also a se𒆙lf-professed aesthete. This pursu🐽it of true, unattainable beauty underlines what happens to Morpheus when, upon being mortally wounded, he injects himself with an experimental combination of the t and G-Viruses.

Unlike all others known to have been infected with the Progenitor virus, this modified version doesn't cause Morpheus to mutate into some misshapen horror. Instead, Morpheus sprouts breasts, hips, long hair, and the semblance of permanent high heeled boots. He mutates from a supervillain to a supermodel, and you know what? I absolutely adore it to this day.

Morpheus's unusual transformation is by far Dead Aim's most compelling contribution to the Resident Evil canon. No in-game explanation is given of why he becomes a lady Tyrant instead of a monster; we can only assume that this is his view of what absolute beauty entails, and somehow, the t+G Virus has taken that into consideration. But it also marks an ambi🔯tious step for Capcom – one the publisher might not have intended🎐 to take. 

Dead Aim is a Japanese game that launched in 2003 and given all this context, I can only assume that Morpheus' feminization was meant to be seen as shocking rather than progressive. That doesn't matter to me in 2024 though, because as Morpheus hunts me down through this gleaming lab at the bottom of the ocean, his shoes clattering purposefully a𒐪gainst the polished white floors, all I see is a gay icon ahead of their time and hot on my heels. He eventually reaches his final form: the characteristic amorphous blob that all old-school Resi villains must eventually become, as per tradition, but I'll always remember him as the lady-Tyrant that beat me up way worse than Mr X ever could.

I've been loving every moment of my Resident Evil: Dead Aim replay, so much so that I'm already tempted to hunt down the other (worse) Gun Survivor entries. This is a series known for its B-movie camp, and Dead Aim has that in spades. It reminded me how much fun these spin-off entries in the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Resident Evil timeline can be, and as we await the 9th mainline game, I can't help but wish Capcom would revive these bitesize snippets to give us something else to chew on in the me༺antime. Even if it is perhaps the most un🌳hinged video game in the world.

From old-school Resi to Alan Wake 2, the best survival horror games are about more than just zombies.

Taking the opportunity to form her own game company, Nakamura's aim – as she first told us in Edge issue 371 – was to create a 'borderless' studio. In part, that refers to Unseen's hybrid mode of working. "Before [the pandemic], I had already been thinking for several years about the possibility of making video games remotely as a studio," Nakamura tells us, "where team members didn’t have to come to Japan." Accordingly, it also means a multicultural studio, with 90 per cent of its💜 employees coming from overseas, leveraging AI "to help translate and streamline communication" between Japanese and English speakers. 

While we can’t help but notice the bonsai tree and traditional paper lantern decorating its entrance, Unseen is not what Nakamura would call a Japanese company – certainly not in terms of the strict corporate hierarchy for which they are typically renowned. Indeed, to illustrate this, she casually calls two overseas staff members over to our meeting for their input. "[Unseen] is obviously not very corporate at all – we just try to be mutually respectful while also tryin🐎g to make a good game," one team member says. Their colleague, having worked at a major Japanese publisher previously, is more to the point: "We’re treated like adults here." 

That difference becomes clear as we sit down with Nakamura on floor cushions, in a central meeting room that feels more like a festival tent, or perhaps an artists' studio in the mode of Warhol's Factory. Indeed, Nakamura refers to the studio's developers, regardless of discipline, as artists. "A lot of companies are ♉publisher-driven but I don’t like that," she says. "This place is driven by passionate artists."

An artist's touch

Has running a videogame studio always been an ambition of yours? 

Since I was in middle school, I wanted to be a game developer. Tဣhat's what I had in my mind to pursue, and it hasn’t changed since. But when you're actually hired, you don’t even know what you're going to be doing – you're just hired by a game company, and they tell you what you need to do. So I was told to become an environment artist, and that's how I started. During that time, I always wanted to be 🐽a concept artist. 2D art was something I was most interested in, so I was a full-on artist back then. 

I had never dreamed of running my own studio as a CEO. But it was while I was actually a creative director back in 2019 that the idea and opportunity of creating a new studio [emerged]. It was from meeting people after E3 and vi𒅌siting other game studios, where people were telling me, "Ikumi, if you gather and put together a team and create a great environment, it's going to be a great game company that makes a really great game". So that’s what I decided to do. Creating and running a game company was what I became focused on. 

Having started out as an artist, how did the opportunity emerge to transition to the position of creative director at Tango Gameworks? 

In my previous workplace, I faced challenging interpersonal dynamics where there was a culture of hierarchy and rigidity. It often felt like standing out would lead to being pushed down, even if you excelled. During that time, I had the opportunity to contribute to a spinoff project from The Evil Within, featuring a new story with Joseph Oda as the protagonist. I was responsible for art🅠 direction in a relatively small team. However, our director had to take leave due to some health matters, and the team navigated without direction for about a month. When he returned, he candidly shared his lack of confidence in resuming the director role, due to his health. That's when I saw an opportunity and stepped up, offering to take on the role myself.

I saw it as a chance to create a project with a forward-looking perspective. I didn't hesitate to volunteer because I believed I could craft a game for the next generation. From there, I began conceptualizing nꦺot another installment of The Evil Within but the inception of Ghostwire: Tokyo. Crafting pitch decks and presenting to Bethesda was an incredibly exciting journey. It was where I learned the art of securing budgets and resources. I se🍬ized opportunities, displayed leadership, and took initiative when the situation demanded it. What I did was perhaps unconventional and it led to some complications that put a constraint on my creative freedom. That's when I began to realise that I was not in the right environment to achieve personal growth.

Given how different Unseen is from the studios you’ve worked at previously in your career, where did you look for inspiration?

After I left Tango Gameworks, I went to many game studios all over the world, including in Montreal, the States, and England. I experienced the kind of environment in which other big studios make games. It made me question why in Japan we have to be stuck in this concrete box with bright white fluorescent lights – to me, that's not creative at all! When you think of other creative artists, they have a tendency to retreat to the mountains or the middle of nowhere to make their art. It's kind of si💝✱milar for game making where, as a creator, to be creative, the place needs to be inspiring and fun. So that's why I built this studio from the ground up, to suit that need. I have taken inspiration from many cool studios, including Riot and Sony Santa Monica, but that being said, I have a very clear idea about what kind of environment I want to make games in. At the same time as I was making this particular space, I had a couple of the game creators already with me, so we talked about things we would like to include. It was designed as our vision together. There were a lot of things moving at once: building a new IP, building a new company, and building this space. So there were all kinds of influences in how this place looks. This place is, as we speak, still evolving. Things are constantly changing, but it starts from here.

On the topic of growing, Unseen's current headcount is smaller than the teams you've previously worked with – how does that affect the scope of the games you plan to make? 

I think this is the part of this company that has grown the most, and the part that has been a challenge. In terms of scale, it is quite small' but [it's] a small group of elite artists. We&a💟pos;re actually attracting more generalist developers instead of specialists, so there is more flexibility there. Based on that, we are actually building a team where 50 people can perform like 100. We don't really envision our company growing much larger than what we currently are. 

Instead, we want to have a very focused team. We'll outsource, too, but even outsourcing is very selective. I'm quite picky about who I work with – not just in the studio we use, but the individual person or freelancer. I don't like the term 'outsourcing', actually. I want us as a unit and a team, so when I have worked with outsourcing artists, they are treated like actual members of the team. I guess that's just a characteristic of my development style! Presumably generalists tend to have more experience and also opportunities for branch𝔉ing out, just as you have, so does that mean you're reticent to hire more junior developers? To be honest, it's quite difficult to find generalist talent, but we do find them. As far as hiring junior talents go, I've seen younger developers who can also be generalists too. But for us to actually be able to hire a junior, we as senior artists or managers have to make sure we're growing properly too. That's really important, because you want your lead to be awesome, right? In some companies, junior♏s are brought in but it doesn’t lead to growth at all. Especially in Japan, anything that sticks out gets hammered down, which I really hate. So we are still in the process of being ready, as a mature team, so that we can actually welcome junior talent and then actually provide them with a good environment to grow. 

My experience as an artist, then becoming a creative director, did actually have an influence on learning to be more of a generalist. [A specialist] doesn't go across to a different department as much, and that’s fine too – that's one way to actually make a game. But in my team I want the artist to go beyond their boundaries and into different departments, which allows for more collaboration. That's why a more generalist artist✱ is a better fit for this team. I'm learning new things every day from team members – that's something I actually look forward to every day.

New beginnings

Were there any lessons you took from working with Kamiya and Mikami that have fed into how you’re running your own studio? 

Both Mikami and Kamiya have been more game directors than CEOs, strictly s▨peaking, so it's a different kind of job category here. The things I'm doing at Unseen are quite opposite from what they were doing at the companies I was working at before. That said, I do get told I have a very similar personality to Kamiya. We're both quite childish and mischievous in our own ways. We're just a bit wild and do what we want to do – but I won't be putting down other gamers on Twitter! 

Kamiya-san ✨actually told me, "Be wild!" Basi𝓰cally, get noticed. Whether you're a director or concept artist, make sure you're being wild, active and energetic. So that's something he taught me that I guess I'm doing. While those former bosses are generally thought of as auteurs, you've named this studio Unseen, which implies a degree of anonymity. 

How do you feel about being a studio figurehead? 

I definitely want the game [Kemuri] to be Unseen's game, not Ikumi Nakamura's game – it's not I but us, the team, who madeꦿ this game. I don't like having my name attached to the game and that's why my name is not in the company's name. 

We've actually been doing spotlights of our developers working on the game on the company's web𓂃site, where each person has been interviewed one by 𓆏one to talk about their role. So I'm intending that the whole team has visibility, and the focus is on everyone, not just me. 

On the note of proper credit, there was some discussion at the time of Ghostwire: Tokyo's release about you receiving a 'special thanks' when most people were aware that you were the game's original creative director. How did you feel about that? 

I did leave the team in the middle, so I think the spotlight should go to people who actually finished the game and really committed to it. However, if there is a game that people have been involved in making, then ideally all those members should be actually credited with the proper title of what they’ve actually done as a sign of respect, as the bare minimum. So that's how I feel about that. But it's still very common for many publishers that, if you leave, your name is not credited [at all], so a 'special thanks&apo💟s; is still a special thanks! 

You’re one of very few female studio heads in Japan, certainly at this kind of scale and visibility. Does that bring extra pressure? And do you feel more conscious responsibility for helping other women or minority groups to thrive in the industry? 

Being female certainly does have some influence on how you run a company. There's things that you only understand fully because you're female – for instance, being a mother and managing your physical and mental health. So I want to make sure that, as a female CEO, I am creating a studio environment where women actually feel comfortable and considered, especially in the Japa﷽nese games industry where women are still a small minority. That being said, there's plenty of talented people here, so I'm trying to attract talented 🙈artists regardless of whether they're male or female. 

Working in this industry around the clock as a woman, sometimes you get your period and you find out you need a product. I've always thought that a company should take care of that inconvenience, but you just don't have that – I'd always have to run out to a convenience store to pick some up. I've always experienced this type of thing, so I want to make sure that this studio is comfortable for women to work in. In some companies out there, you can't actually bring your child to the office. I really can't comprehend that, so at Unseen💞 we're very open if you bring your child here. Whether you're a mother or father, if you need to take care of your baby, we provide a space for them while they work. You might have also noticed the floor of this studio is also all slopes. We have no steps, and it's been designed so that if someone has a wheelchair then they can come to work here as well. We haven't actually hired anyone who uses a wheelchair yet, but we are ready for them in the future. We are ready for everybody!

Having left projects before completion – or, in the case of Scalebound, working on a project that was cancelled – do you feel there's anything you learned from those times in particular, or is it more about regrets from which you just have to move forward? 

Scalebound actually got cancelled a few years after I had left the team. So during my career I haven't experienced a game getting cancelled while I wཧas working on it. Even so, it's still not a good feeling to have invested in a project that gets cancelled by the publisher. It is also a learning experience, because it's a game that the publisher decided is not going to be the right product to release. I definitely think there's a reason that decisions like that are made.

As for Ghostwire: Tokyo, it's something that I did actually have to leave in the middle. It felt like giving birth to a child and then entrusting another person to actually raise𒅌 the child, which is a hard situation. My true feeling was that I also wanted to raise the child as well, but there were certain situations that didn't allow me to do that. Though this child was just four years old, their personality and individuality were already taking shape. So, even without a parent like me around, I could entrust them to the team and consider the outcome as the adult they'll become. I've come to understand that by delegating my responsibilities and moving on to the next step, I mitigated the risk of my passion as an artist stagnating. It was time to embrace change and keep moving forward. 

In the spirit of moving forward, Unseen's debut, Kemuri, is another supernatural action game, yet it also appears to have a different kind of energy and atmosphere from what you've done in this genre before. Is that a fair observation? 

The concept for a project like this has been brewing in my mind since my middle-school days. Scratch that, even earlier. To be honest, it’s like the culmination of dreams from my otaku era, an initiative that breathes life into those long-held aspirations. While my fascination with the mysterious and supernatural may have influenced my work, Kemuri presents a unique opportunity in my career, diverging from my past endeaಌvours. 

Okami remains one of the most memorable experiences in my career, and I had always set out to challe♏nge stylized depictions. My intention is to craft a game within my expertise [that's] mysterious and otherworldly. Somehow, we have forgotten old tales, lost our beliefs, and misplaced the sense of mystery. Imagine a blend of absurdity, grandiosity and cheerful comedy colliding with seriousness, all wrapped up in a package of both positivity and negativity. Within this chaotic mix, there's always room for jokes and heartfelt moments that push the boundaries of the unexpected. Nevertheless, in tꦿhis world, they persist as an unending presence among us. 

Obviously it's still early days for the studio, but what do you envision for Kemuri and also Unseen as a whole over the next few years? 

The bril🌺liance of the ꧑unknown intensifies as it gradually unveils itself. The inherent nature of the unknown, shrouded in mystery, captivates human curiosity, giving rise to novel mysteries in turn. It is an infinite process, and attempting to quantify its extent is a formidable undertaking.

This feature originally appeared in 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Edge magazine. For more fantastic features, you can or . 

Publisher Capcom's (almost unreadable) detail all the changes added to the game on PS5 and Steam, with the update planned to come to Xbox Series X|S consoles in "the next few days." At the top of the list is the ability to "start a new game when save data already exists" - which should be welcome news to players struggling with unexpectedly complicated 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Dragon's Dogma 2 game saves. 

Capcom has also boos🌠ted the number of Art of Metamorphosis items available at Pawn Guilds to 99, and play𒁃ers can now access their own dwelling "earlier in the game" to rest up and save. That's in addition to various, unspecified bug fixes across all platforms. 

Console adventurers have access to a trio of🧜 new technical options. There are now settings to toggle motion blur and ray tracing in the options menu, though turning them off won't necessarily improve the game's framerate. Speaking of which, there's also an option to cap 🐎the frame rate at a maximum of 30fps, which might actually help players afflicted with frequent stuttering. Capcom says "improvements to frame rate are planned for future updates."   

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a game that's intentionally full of friction and design decisions that never coddle the player. As such, the above patch notes are more scarce than one might expect from an RPG that's courted so many complaints. Capcom recently 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:responded to some criticisms and promised to fix frame rate issues. However, don't expect any tweaks to the polarizing Dragonꦬsplague that's killing off countless NPCs or the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询ꩲ:Pawns that expose your brothel misdeeds, because both features absolutely rule. 

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