Game News

Alone In The Dark Gets Its First Big Discount For PS5 And Xbox Series X

Where some people see a bad game, others see flawed gold. That might be the case for you with Alone in the Dark, a remake of a classic survival-horror game that hasn’t received good reviews. Even with the star power of Jodie Comer and David Harbour, reviews have been less than kind to this reboot, but if you want to check it out for yourself, at least you can get a pretty big discount for it right now. Normally $60, Alone in the Dark is on sale for $40 currently.

Alone in the Dark

Buy Alone in the Dark for PS5

Buy Alone in the Dark for Xbox Series X

At Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, the PS5 version has been marked down to $40, a nice $20 savings in total. The Xbox Series X edition is also available for $40, but only at Best Buy.

Alone in the Dark does have some compelling components, as its reality-bending story, abundant lore, and reverence for its source material make for a fun turn-of-the-century horror game.

Where the game falters is with its uneven selection of puzzles, as these range from deviously challenging to annoyingly obtuse. The combat is passable and the cast delivers an effective performance to help sell the game’s story, so if you’re in it for the story and lore, you may have a good time.

“This isn’t Alone in the Dark’s first revival attempt, and it’s probably not its last, but it isn’t the one that will put the series’ name in the same breath as the all-time greats it originally helped inspire,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s Alone in the Dark review.

For more game deals, GameStop is currently running a buy two, get one free sale on preowned games, TopSpin 2K25 preorders are discounted before launch, and the Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is still on sale for $30, but time is running out.

WoW’s New Expansion Destroys Everyone’s Favorite Floating City, And Maybe Kills A Major Character Too

World of Warcraft’s upcoming The War Within expansion is raising the stakes, as its opening moments sees one of the game’s most beloved cities destroyed and one of its most prominent characters presumably killed.

Spoilers below for the opening of The War Within!

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Now Playing: World of Warcraft – The War Within Expansion Announcement Cinematic

As is made clear in a recent hands-on preview with an alpha version of The War Within, the floating city of Dalaran, home of the mages of the Kirin Tor, has taken a beating. Players wake up on the shores of the new Isle of Dorn zone, buried beneath the rubble of the fan-favorite city that served as a player hub for the game’s popular Wrath of the Lich King and Legion expansions. After battling through groups of the spider-like Nerubians and rescuing survivors scattered throughout Dalaran’s ruins, players meet up with Warcraft heroes Thrall and Jaina Proudmoore, who reflect on their losses.

What, exactly, transpired is a little unclear, as the actual scenario that leads players to the shores of the Isle of Dorn isn’t playable in the alpha–nor are any of the cutscenes depicting the battle for Dalaran or its aftermath. But using some context clues and the descriptive text that currently occupies the space where the game’s cutscenes would be, we get an idea of what went down.

The Nerubians, led by the villain Xal’atath, are presumably to blame for Dalaran’s destruction, though the exact sequence of events isn’t revealed. Last players saw, Dalaran was above the Broken Isles, and must have moved closer to the Isle of Dorn as part of an operation to stop Xal’atath. As Thrall and Jaina take a moment to mourn the loss of their joint strike force, they take an additional “moment for Khadgar.” The archmage isn’t seen anywhere in the alpha or mentioned further, and seems to be presumed dead by Thrall and Jaina.

A cutscene placeholder sees Thrall and Jaina mourning the loss of their task force, and their friend Khadgar.

Whether Khadgar is truly dead or simply missing-in-action for the time being remains to be seen, but his absence, and Dalaran’s destruction, do present a major shake-up for Blizzard’s MMO. Khadgar has long served as an important character and guardian of Azeroth, one who frequently guides and teams up with players to take on the game’s latest threat. The fact that both he and Dalaran appear to have been wiped out in the new expansion’s opening moments does help to establish just how big of a threat Xal’atath and the Nerubians pose.

Dalaran is just the latest Azerothian city to be laid to waste in recent years. The game’s Battle for Azeroth expansion in 2018 saw the Horde burn down the Night Elf capital of Darnassus, after which then-Horde Warchief Sylvanas preemptively destroyed the Forsaken capital of the Undercity with a deadly plague, rendering it uninhabitable, rather than let it fall into Alliance hands.

The War Within’s public alpha launches later this week. A special The War Within Collector’s edition–one that also celebrates WoW’s 20th anniversary–is currently available for preorder.

Hasbro Hopes Next Baldur’s Gate Game Is Here Before 2050

Baldur’s Gate 3 was a huge success for developer Larian Studios and Hasbro, the latter of which owns Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons series. Despite that success, Larian is moving on to a new project and is not making Baldur’s Gate 4. But Hasbro is keen to continue the Baldur’s Gate series with a different team at the helm.

Eugene Evans, the senior vice president for digital strategy and licensing as Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, told PC Gamer that it’s going to take its time to map out the future of Baldur’s Gate.

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Now Playing: Baldur’s Gate 4 Isn’t Next For Larian; Something Bigger Is Coming

“We’re now talking to lots of partners and being approached by a lot of partners who are embracing the challenge of, what does the future of the Baldur’s Gate franchise look like?” Evans said. “So we certainly hope that it’s not another 25 years, as it was from Baldur’s Gate 2 to 3, before we answer that. But we’re going to take our time and find the right partner, the right approach, and the right product that could represent the future of Baldur’s Gate. We take that very, very seriously, as we do with all of our decisions around our portfolio. We don’t rush into decisions as to who to partner with on products or what products we should be considering.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 introduced fan-favorite characters like Shadowheart and Astarion, and these are owned by Wizards of the Coast, not Larian. Evans said these characters are now “essentially part of D&D canon,” and Evans hopes they might appear in future products down the road.

“I think it’s too early to express specifics and I think that there’s a much bigger question about how we approach Baldur’s Gate in the future,” Evans said. “But I would like to think that all of those characters, for the sake of the fans, could potentially appear in future products.”

Beyond a future Baldur’s Gate title, Hasbro is planning a number of other D&D games that will appear “over the next five years,” Evans said. These games will cover “all genres, all platforms,” he confirmed.

One of these games is a multiplayer co-op adventure title from the developers of the Payday series. Meanwhile, the developers of Disney Dreamlight Valley are making a D&D life sim.

As for Larian, the studio has said it’s not making Baldur’s Gate 4 because that is “literally the opposite of what Larian is about.” CEO Swen Vincke said, “We want to do big, new things. We don’t want to rehash the thing that we’ve done already.”

Disney Illusion Island For Nintendo Switch Is 50% Off At Walmart

Disney Illusion Island is a charming, family-friendly metroidvania with fantastic art direction, a wonderful soundtrack, and writing that’s on par with modern Mickey Mouse cartoons. The Nintendo Switch-exclusive platformer launched last year at a budget price of $40. If you haven’t played it yet, though, Walmart’s current offer is a steal. You can snag a physical copy of Disney Illusion Island for only $20.

A big draw to this game–besides the vibrant art–is that it works brilliantly as either a solo or cooperative experience. Teaming up with up to three others is where the experience is at its best, as the squad of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy get to flex their animated muscles in stages where their unique talents shine.

There is no attack button or combat abilities in this game, as the action comes down to jumping, evasion, and gathering up tools to help you stay one step ahead of dastardly foes, but the challenge is just right for all ages. Plus, it’s effortlessly charming with its visual and audio design.

“Illusion Island has a lot going for it: It looks great, controls wonderfully, is packed with charm and character, offers enjoyable exploration, and features a memorable multiplayer experience,” Heidi Kemps wrote in GameSpot’s Disney Illusion Island review. “If you’re a big fan of the genre, you’ll get a kick seeing little references to other all-time classics, too.”

Game Reviews

Harold Halibut Review – Lost In Its Own Deep Sea

Harold Halibut puts you in the shoes of a lowly maintenance worker aboard a spaceship submerged underwater. To the residents aboard the ship, Harold is a rather charming, lovable, even dopey fellow who is endearing for his simplicity and his complacency in doing his job. Harold is tasked with removing graffiti, cleaning, and fixing machines, and when the work is done, his day ends, he goes to sleep, he wakes up–rinse, repeat. That’s the surface of Harold, but tucked out of sight from people’s view, is a character who is deceivingly introspective, often documenting his life through scribbled images in a notepad, or expressing himself through playful theatrics when he’s alone, like singing and performing operatically while mopping up a filter system. This is a side of the character only we, the player, get to see. As a character, Harold is complex, even if he doesn’t entirely understand how. He attempts to question and explore his curiosity and his own existence within the confines of a spaceship he was born and raised on, but he’s not always capable of understanding exactly what he’s looking for.

Harold Halibut

Harold Halibut, the game, is much like its titular character: It’s charming and lovable on the surface for its unique handmade aesthetic and charmingly simple gameplay. But just beneath that uncomplicated layer is a story that attempts to ask questions about introspection and self-worth, even if the game doesn’t always feel equipped to answer them or understand its strongest suits.

Harold Halibut does an incredible job in exploring its many themes and concepts by putting a magnifying glass on its setting. The FEDORA is a spaceship that was designed to leave Earth during the Cold War and set forth on a 200-year journey to seek a new planet to live on, but the new world it found was devoid of any landmass. With nowhere to go, the FEDORA crashes onto the planet, plunging its occupants into the watery depths, which they’ve learned to colonize. Meanwhile, Harold’s mentor and resident scientist, Mareaux, attempts to find a power source to launch the ship back into space to find a more suitable planet to live on.

In the meantime, as Harold, you interweave through the lives of the FEDORA’s inhabitants, the ship’s politics, and its inner workings. It’s a monotonous process that involves checking off Harold’s tasks on his PDA-like device, as you move through his day-to-day life in the quirky retro-future spaceship. But Harold’s life takes an abrupt turn after discovering a humanoid fish-like being has boarded the ship, creating a whole new perspective on the planet they’ve, in fact, been sharing all these years. It’s in this moment that Harold’s seemingly monotonous life is turned on its head, inspiring curiosity in what lies beyond the only world he’s ever known.

Harold Halibut

Harold Halibut is striking in its visuals because it’s entirely handmade. Characters, articles of clothing, pieces of furniture, teapots, mugs, floorboards, and everything else was handmade in our real world and digitally scanned into the 3D game. Its visuals instantly distinguish Harold Halibut as one of the most visually interesting games of the year. But while it’s easy to get swept up in the awe of its look, the strongest characteristic of the game is the world itself and the characters within it.

Harold Halibut is entirely focused on exploration, conversational choices, and the occasional challenge-free minigame. At its core, Harold Halibut is focused on the world and the characters that inhabit it, which, story aside, is where the game is at its best. While you may play as Harold, it’s the characters you interact with who give the game a sense of intimacy and, over time, a feeling of density that shows there’s actually a lot going on–these are the game’s biggest achievement.

Across my 18 hours, I met nearly two dozen characters, each with their own story to unpack, and I loved all of them. More than the discovery of an alien species, or the urgency to find a power source for the ship, my biggest motivation was to get to know each and every person aboard the FEDORA. Whether it was the comical musings of the sports store owner Slippie, or the by-the-book Major who enforces the ship’s laws, each character is multifaceted, with deep personalities to learn, explore, and oftentimes see challenged.

While most of the time spent with these characters is completely optional, the game’s most important and consequential moments, both hilarious and heart-wrenching, start and end with the citizens of FEDORA. The conversations can feel inconsequential in the grand scheme of the game’s plot, but are invaluable to making this handmade world feel alive and lived in.

With the abundance of characters also comes a desperate need to keep track of them. Early in my time with the game, before I had become well acquainted with the cast of characters, I was often confused with who was who and where they were located. The game’s lack of waypoints was to its benefit, however, as this kept me engaged in using the ship’s signs to navigate its many sectors, but also better learn and remember these characters, as I would with people in real life. However, those early stages also created unnecessary friction by causing me to bumble around and waste time. This could have been alleviated with the addition of an in-game glossary to remind me who is who that could have existed in Harold’s PDA.

Harold Halibut

Each character is as distinct in their looks as they are their views on life–even with the shared perspective of living in the confines of a small colony underwater. It’s their stories that gives the FEDORA believability and lends the game a prevailing heart and soul that overshadows all of the game’s other plotlines. But its achievement of creating a rich cast of characters also gives rise to struggles in properly exploring them under the weight of its other story ambitions.

Aside from the thoughts and feelings of its very broad cast of characters is an abundance of ideas and narratives driving the main plot. These range from unpacking a corporation’s ulterior motives, to a secret society lurking in the shadows, to the urgency to locate a power source for the FEDORA. And while they are no doubt necessary to tell an overarching story, they feel like ideas that are too big for the dollhouse-sized nature of Harold Halibut.

As Harold’s world aboard a spaceship begins to collide with the alien world he’s been living on, he makes friends with the planet’s inhabitants, which are known as the Flumuylum. The fish-like humanoids’ philosophies are a complete contrast to that of humans, though also pretty much what you’d imagine what it would be like if fish were humans: a species that simply floats along through life, existing and observing, giving little to no meaning to anything. This mentality crashes head-on with Harold’s everyday existence: a life that boils down to routinely taking orders and doing what other people expect of him, often in service of the ship’s corporation-based ethos and in adherence to arbitrary rules like having a curfew or paying for its water tube transportation system. The duality between Harold’s and the Flumuylum’s lives are juxtaposed for several hours in the game, until Harold is forced into a crash course in existentialism towards the latter half of the game, causing him to question whether or not he was ever in control of his own life. The scene was a tonal whiplash as the game made a hard turn to answer questions that it had only just begun to ask, and in doing so, felt more clunky than enlightening.

Harold’s abrupt journey of introspection is sandwiched on top of and between the stories and ideologies of other characters, as well as the game’s overarching plots and conspiracies. No one idea or theme felt like it had the breathing room it needed or deserved, which means they can feel more like fleeting concerns instead of food for thought. For example, one scene hints at themes of the industrialization, pollution, and consumption of animal products by the human race, only to never refer to it again, or even set up a satisfying throughline for its purpose in the first place.

In trying to weave its characters, story, and themes together, I found its focus to become muddled. With such an emphasis on all its characters, and by making them an integral part of the game’s core experience, Harold ends up being the only character that has a substantial narrative arc–he sees his world through the lens of a mere errand boy but has his world turned upside down, creating a perspective that gives his life more meaning by the end. But in spending the time to do this, the game, in turn, leaves many threads for the other characters I had grown attached to feeling unfulfilled. By the time the climatic end unfolds, I was less interested in the conspiracies behind the events that transpired and more focused on the growth of the characters.

Harold Halibut is at its strongest when intimately exploring its characters, their inner workings, and their relationships with one another. But in attempting to build towards a dramatic conclusion, many of the hours spent fostering relationships with the characters took a backseat to plotlines that were less interesting.

To quote one of the game’s own characters, Buddy the mailman, “each person aboard this ship is a world their own.” In a story about a man trapped on a ship, who is trying to understand himself better, their lives and perspectives should be the most important stories to tell for Harold’s journey. Harold Halibut’s world and the people that inhabit it were literally crafted by people that cared about him and his story. And while that story struggles under the weight of its ambitions, the human touches on every part of it are evident. Those are the heart and soul of the game, and they imprinted on me too.

Children Of The Sun Review – One Shot

It only takes a single bullet to burn down an empire. That’s the ethos behind Children of the Sun, an excellent supernatural puzzle-shooter from solo developer René Rother and publisher Devolver Digital. Like many of the games in Devolver’s vast library, Children of the Sun is wonderfully stylish, violent, and built on a unique gameplay hook; think Sniper Elite mixed with Superhot and you’re on the right track without quite telling the whole story.

You play as a protagonist known simply as The Girl, a one-woman wrecking crew waging a vengeful war against the eponymous cult that ruined her life. As one cultist after another is turned to mincemeat behind the vindictive crosshairs of your sniper rifle, you gradually make your way up the food chain until coming face-to-scope with your true target: The Leader. While embarking on this blood-soaked killing spree, hand-drawn flashbacks reveal tidbits about the atrocities committed by this mysterious cult and The Girl’s reasons for seeking revenge.

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Now Playing: Children Of The Sun GameSpot Video Review

There’s no dialogue during these cutscenes; instead, the narrative is intentionally minimalist, bombarding you with unnerving memories that are both terse and chaotic. This scattershot approach makes it difficult to glean all of the available information–perhaps deliberately so–which means you might feel lost and slightly detached from the story at times. It’s all complemented by a discordant soundscape of ambient white noise that matches the game’s striking art style–composed of deep purples and vivid yellows–and gritty, surreal tone. The game’s arresting aesthetic paints a picture of a brutal world of saturated filth, where cultists defile seedy motels, gloomy forests, and derelict apartment buildings, spreading their deceitful disease like plague-infested rats.

For as evocative as Children of the Sun’s story, visuals, and music are, it’s the innovative gameplay where it truly shines. At the beginning of each level, you’re able to move The Girl either left or right on a predetermined path. Sometimes, you can navigate around a level in a full 360-degree circle, while other times, you may only be able to move a few yards before being impeded by a fallen tree or steep riverbank. From here, you can get a lay of the land, mark enemies, and determine the best position to fire from. Once you’ve aimed down the scope and pulled the trigger, the camera snaps to the crown of the bullet as it hurtles through the air. Blood spatter and disintegrated flesh usually follow, but the catch is that this is the only shot you’ll fire for the duration of the level.

The Girl’s backstory pulls from a classic fiction trope where a young girl discovers she has latent supernatural powers once she reaches puberty. Each time a bullet is propelled through a cultist’s skull, time slows down to a crawl, and The Girl’s psychic abilities let you take control of the round and re-aim, allowing a single bullet to cleave through an entire enemy compound in one fell swoop.

Initially, you can only move the bullet in a straight line from one enemy to the next, ping-ponging between them like a murderous pinball machine, and this makes your first shot the most crucial. From that initial point of impact, you need to chart a course through every other enemy until none are left alive. This is easier said than done, of course. While some enemies remain stationary, others are walking around, circling the entire map in a car, and sitting out of view of your initial vantage point. Considering all of this, you might have to finish a level by ensuring that the penultimate kill provides a clear sightline of the final cultist, who was hidden until now. There are wrong ways to do this, but there isn’t a definitive right way, so experimentation is incentivized and rewarded.

Children of the Sun is wonderfully stylish, violent, and built on a unique gameplay hook; think Sniper Elite mixed with Superhot and you’re on the right track without quite telling the whole story

As you progress through the story and more enemy types are introduced, you’re given additional powers to counteract the likes of shielded and armored cultists and the increasingly elaborate environments they’re inhabiting. The first of these powers lets you take direct control and gently curve bullets like James McAvoy in the 2008 film Wanted. This is useful for firing over walls and bending the shot so it lurches downwards and hits the cultist on the other side, or simply tweaking the bullet’s trajectory to guarantee it lands on-target.

Another ability reveals enemy weak points, which, when destroyed in a hail of slow-motion blood, grant you the power to redirect the bullet in mid-flight. Using this, you can fire past a shield-wielding enemy and then spin the bullet around to nail them in the back of the head, entirely negating their bullet-proof protection. Other times, you might use this technique to escape a building and re-enter it elsewhere or fire into the sky to provide a better view of the area and uncover a previously elusive enemy.

Armored cultists, meanwhile, provide an altogether different challenge. The only way to penetrate their thick armor is by using a power shot–achieved by holding down the trigger for the duration of the bullet’s flight. These shots necessitate a large enough distance between targets to build up the requisite velocity needed to blow through armor, so figuring out how to remove these enemies is a unique problem. Doing so is always a thrill, though, as you get the gratification of seeing the bullet reach supersonic speeds before blasting through the cultist’s now-useless defense.

Finding a solution to each level’s grisly puzzle is immensely satisfying, especially when trial and error is abundant. Your first few attempts might revolve around tentatively exploring to find where all of the cultists are located and then figuring out the best way to carve through each one. You can sometimes use the environment to your advantage, too, shooting vehicles’ fuel caps and gas canisters to eliminate multiple enemies in one vehement explosion. You could blow up a car just to attain a better angle or snipe a pigeon flying overhead to gain a bird’s eye view of the area. I wish there were more opportunities for environmental kills besides destroying vehicles and explosive barrels, but restricting how you can interact with the world around you adds to the challenge and sense of achievement when you emerge victorious.

Gallery

At around three hours in length, Children of the Sun is a relatively brief experience. Usually, this would be a blessing in disguise for a game that doesn’t diversify from its core conceit too often, yet I still found myself desperate for more. Fortunately, replayability is rife, as the game’s scoring system encourages you to go back and replay previous levels to achieve a better rating. Headshots are scored differently from leg wounds, just as you earn more points for better timing and efficiency, while leaderboards create a sense of competition. Completing a level also reveals an excellent snapshot of the flight path of your bullet, which the game makes easy to share on social media for some extra fulfillment.

Children of the Sun’s unconventional approach to sniping is consistently thrilling and wholly satisfying. It might be full of gruesome blood spatter and cracked skulls, but it’s also the thinking person’s shooter–more of a delightfully macabre puzzle game than anything else. It’s admittedly short, and the game’s longevity will largely depend on how hard you fall for its inventive and bloody puzzles. That shouldn’t be a problem when it’s so difficult not to. And even if it’s relatively one-note, Children of the Sun plays that note with such morbid aplomb that it’s easy to recommend.

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection Review – Fire Away

I spent many a weekend afternoon playing the first two Battlefront games back in 2004 and 2005, my friends and I sinking hundreds of hours into our repeated efforts to conquer the galaxy, recreate battles from the Star Wars movies, and theorize why the video game version of General Grievous was so much stronger than his movie counterpart. Heck, my hope that we’d one day see a Clone Wars animated series that focused on exploring the clones’ individuality was born from Battlefront 2’s wonderfully narrated 501st Journal. Now that I think about it, much of my love for Star Wars can be traced back to the first two Battlefront games. But that doesn’t change that their dated mechanics and the unbalanced nature of their unrewarding tug-of-war matches don’t hold up two decades later. And Aspyr Media does not address these issues in Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection, a collected pack of the two games, leaving them feeling like relics of a bygone era that aren’t worth playing in this shape today.

Pandemic Studios’ Battlefront and Battlefront 2 (not to be confused with EA DICE’s 2015 Battlefront and 2017 Battlefront 2) are both shooters that focus on Star Wars’ Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War periods, seeing you step into the boots of ordinary soldiers who participate in the conflicts. Mechanically, both games play very similarly to one another, though Battlefront 2 adds to the first with space battles, playable heroes (who are notable characters from the Star Wars movies like Yoda and Darth Vader), and a more story-driven campaign that ties into Revenge of the Sith.

The 501st Journal is still great.

Each army features four standard soldier archetypes. You’ve got your assault rifle-wielding standard trooper, long-range sniper user, heavy-hitting rocket launcher demolitionist, and a support soldier who excels at short-range combat and fixing up vehicles. Beyond those four, each army has additional special units–the Republic Clone Army has the jetpack-equipped Jet Trooper, for example, while the CIS has the roly-poly Droideka. Because the main units all handle the same for the most part, you don’t have to learn entirely new mechanics for each class, while the more specialized troopers add a bit of distinct flair to each army. I like it–it makes it easy to pick up both games while also ensuring the gameplay doesn’t grow stale quickly.

The collection includes six maps that were added as post-launch content to both games (one for Battlefront and five for Battlefront 2) as well as two playable heroes in Battlefront 2 who were previously Xbox-only DLC (Kit Fisto and Asajj Ventress). Beyond that, there are some changes to the gameplay, such as to Hero Assault, a Battlefront 2 game mode that sees all the playable Star Wars heroes face off against the villains. In the original Battlefront 2, this mode could only be played on the game’s Tatooine map, but the Battlefront Collection makes the mode available on all ground-based maps. In addition, the collection adds cross-gen multiplayer support (but no cross-play, unfortunately) and increases the number of players per match to 32v32.

It’s those improvements that irk me, as they’re evidence that Aspyr Media did make efforts to change and improve aspects of the original games. And that’s good! Great, even. But this decision throws what wasn’t adjusted into stark contrast and highlights how outdated Battlefront and Battlefront 2’s gameplay is. It locks the Battlefront Collection into this weird space where it’s neither a good remaster nor a completely accurate preservation of the original games.

Both Battlefront and Battlefront 2 really show their age in Classic Collection.

But even without that observation, it’s clear that what was once great gameplay for a console shooter has lost its luster after 20 years. Battlefront 2 fares a tad better than the original game, given how it was able to make improvements to the first Battlefront’s mechanics back in 2005–soldiers can sprint, the details of characters are sharper so it’s easier to discern targets from further away, and maps are larger so firefights are more spread out. Plus, Battlefront 2 just has a more compelling campaign. Even if the story is no longer part of the Star Wars canon, witnessing the rise of the 501st Legion during the Clone Wars and subsequent transformation into Vader’s Fist during the Galactic Civil War is still a compelling viewpoint for the Clone Troopers’ view of the Star Wars movies, strengthened by the chilling narration of actor Temuera Morrison (Attack of the Clones’ Jango Fett, The Book of Boba Fett’s Boba Fett). His monologue of the troopers’ silence as they march into the Jedi Temple to execute Order 66 is still one of my favorite moments from any Star Wars story, and 20 years later, it hasn’t lost its impact.

Even if the story is still interesting to experience, however, the act of playing through it isn’t all that fun. Movements are sluggish and aiming isn’t precise, promoting the use of soldiers armed with automatic weapons over the others. The other classes are serviceable, but the gameplay clearly pushes you away from them, making every firefight feel increasingly the same. There’s no incentive to branch out and master the other classes–victory is achieved by whittling down the other team first, so killing as many people as fast as you can is ideal, and that’s just easier with an assault rifle or minigun than a sniper rifle or pistol.

Battles in the offline campaign and online multiplayer also suffer from imbalance–once one side takes the lead, they almost always win. It’s clear there’s meant to be some sort of tug-of-war element to each match, as each side fights over command posts, but it rarely plays out that way. Your side can only spawn from command posts your side has captured, so once one side has more command posts than the other, it’s easier for that side to pressure the losing side as the number of places where the losing side can spawn shrinks. This creates a slog where it becomes quite clear about halfway through a match which side is going to take the win, and you’re just left playing out the rest of the time to witness a conclusion that you saw coming. Heroes alleviate this a bit in Battlefront 2. If a player does well enough before being killed, they can spawn as their army’s hero for that map, and certain heroes can change the tide in an instant (especially the villains on the CIS and Empire, who are all around stronger than the good guys for the Republic and Rebellion). This would be a great counterbalance to the uneven nature of Battlefront 2 if heroes could be summoned more regularly but, as is, they’re just too tricky to unlock if you’re on the losing end of a battle. It’s hard to do well when the enemy is closing in around you. This issue is even worse in the original Battlefront, which doesn’t have playable heroes.

Why do the bag guys get all the cool powers in Battlefront 2?

The moment-to-moment gameplay of each match isn’t all that fun either. Firearms aren’t very precise, relying on a generous auto-aim feature that feels like it’s rewarding me for pointing my gun roughly in the right direction instead of actually landing a precise shot. When I was a kid, I was always just happy that my friends and I won, but now as I see the “victory” message splash across the screen, all I can wonder is how it happened. I can’t point to what in my performance led to my team winning as opposed to losing, leaving little opportunity to think back and improve. There’s an uncomfortable amount of luck associated with victory–more than I want in a shooter.

The space battles in Battlefront 2 don’t feel much better. It’s telling that the campaign still lets you skip them outright if you want, like an admission that they aren’t very fun (which is true). Though the concept of manning a starship and flying out to meet the enemy, whittling away at their capital ships or flying into their hangar to sabotage their systems from the inside is initially thrilling, it very quickly loses its appeal once you realize all matches play out pretty much the same. There’s next to no variety to Battlefront 2’s different space maps, so your strategy for one tends to work on all of them–you don’t have to adapt, leaving the gameplay feeling stagnant. Plus, the starships in Battlefront 2 don’t handle very well, making it frustratingly tricky to maneuver through dogfights.

The biggest detriment against the Battlefront Classic Collection is that we’ve had more Star Wars games since their release that all improved upon what Battlefront and Battlefront 2 did. EA DICE’s two Battlefront games have sharper shooting mechanics that better reward precision and huge battlefields that prevent one side from quickly surrounding and destroying the other. 2020’s Squadron’s aerial dogfights are huge improvements over Battlefront 2’s space battles, with more responsive controls and greater variety to the maps. Sure, Battlefront Collection brings these elements together, but not in a way that’s strong enough to make this a more compelling experience than what’s already out there.

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is ultimately just disappointing. It’s unclear whether it wants to be a remaster or a collection that preserves two major games from Star Wars’ history, but in both instances, it fails. This is neither an accurate representation of what Battlefront and Battlefront 2 were, nor does it make enough adjustments to bring two decades-old games into the modern era. The result is a collection that’s not really fun to play, and well worth skipping.

Open Roads Review – Quick Trip

I once read in a very profound article published in a very prestigious magazine (okay, it was a TikTok) that “daddy issues” make artists while “mommy issues” make writers. I can’t attest to the science–or lack thereof–behind this statement, but as a writer born into a long line of guarded women who wielded pens as weapons, I can absolutely relate.

As such, I have a particular fondness for mother-daughter stories and the catharsis they can offer. When I heard the team behind Gone Home would be tackling the subject in their upcoming game Open Roads, I braced for a beautiful cross-country journey that would inevitably hit too close to home. However, while Open Roads has moments of relatability that are powered by solid dialogue, charming characters, and nostalgia, I was ultimately left underwhelmed by the walk-and-click exploration game. With a runtime too short to truly pull players in and an abrupt ending that leaves things feeling hastily resolved, Open Roads feels more like a pit stop than an adventure.

That’s not to say the game’s premise isn’t interesting. Open Roads begins shortly after the death of the Devine family matriarch, Helen, and follows her daughter Opal and her granddaughter Tess as they cope with loss and what to do next. Throughout the entirety of the game, we play as Tess, a 16-year-old high school student who is every bit as strong-willed, cheeky, and hopeful as most 16-year-old girls are. On top of her grandmother’s death, Tess is also processing her parents’ recent separation and the loss of her home, as she and her mother lived with Helen but were not given the house upon her death.

While cleaning out her grandmother’s home, Tess and Opal stumble upon a suitcase buried within the attic walls and find what appears to be evidence of Helen’s secret life and a passionate love affair. With a week to go until the house is sold and an empty agenda, the pair set off on a series of short trips to get to the bottom of Helen’s mysterious life.

At each of the game’s handful of locations, you walk around as Tess and interact with objects from different time periods ranging primarily from the late ’60s to the early 2000s–the time the game is set in–that are sure to be familiar to many American millennials. Occasionally you’ll be able to pocket the items to use later, adding a slight puzzle element to what is otherwise a game driven by simple exploration, though these moments are few and far between. Certain items will also prompt you to call for your mom, who will chime in, add context, or mull over your findings with you. All this makes for straight-forward gameplay that can, unfortunately, start to feel a bit dull as the game goes on.

Outside of exploring the game’s dusty abodes and dimly lit motels, Tess spends most of her time riding shotgun in her mom’s late-’90s sedan. There, she’ll have the chance to cycle through mostly static-filled radio stations, chat with her mom, or use her trusty flip phone to text her father or best friend. Yet for a game titled Open Roads, your time spent on the road is extremely brief and only happens a handful of times, which ultimately takes away from the road-trip experience and doesn’t help to break up its repetitive gameplay.

This is a recurring issue, as the game in its entirety is too brief to effectively address everything it sets up or fully establish a deep sense of relatability and emotional connection. This is a shame considering the underlying plot is interesting and the game’s characters are very endearing. Though Kaitlyn Dever and Keri Russell might be known for their live-action careers, the pair bring a lot of personality to Tess and Opal respectively. Even Helen, who has no speaking parts and appears in the game only through grainy photographs, has a lot of personality. In fact, her vivaciousness is a frequent subject of discussion between Tess and Opal, who both exhibit her more free-spirited behavior, albeit in different ways. This is another aspect of the game I really enjoyed, as it’s all too often that mothers are written as protective, worrisome, uptight, and relatively flat–Open Roads avoids falling into that trap.

However, I also think Open Roads pivots a bit too far away from this mother-daughter tension. Sure, Tess and Opal do have their spats and Opal frequently expresses frustration towards some of her late mother’s actions, but for a pair going through grief, divorce, major life transitions, and betrayal, there’s a lack of drama that turns into a lack of evolution and catharsis. Between its overall brevity and hesitation to dig into messiness–humanness, even–Open Roads puts up a bit of a wall between the player and its story. As a result, I found I liked its characters, but I didn’t feel much towards them. While they were relatable enough, I didn’t find myself in them.

Sure, not all mother-daughter relationships are contentious or imitate Lady Bird, but in shying away from the emotional, you lose, well, emotions. For example, even with all the big plot points unraveling around them, the most impactful conversation in the game, to me, was the one Tess and Opal have after Tess accidentally leaves her phone at the hotel and demands they go back. As an adult, you’re able to see the situation rationally: It makes sense to finish up the drive and grab the phone on the way back–it’ll only be a night without it, after all. But Tess’s dialogue options are limited and a bit more intense than usual–she needs her phone. And despite being 30 years old, I still felt that desperation.

It’s clear that Open Roads wants to have meaningful conversations about generational trauma, the oft-dismissed complexity of mothers, and how humans have different ways of showing love, a fact that can lead to pain when misunderstood, and I wanted to have them too. Yet it doesn’t offer the time or vulnerability to dig into these interesting topics. And while some of its story beats are unique, or offer at least a slight variation on ones we’ve perhaps seen before, all of these stories end somewhat abruptly and without much fanfare or introspection.

Where the game does succeed in storytelling, however, is in its environments. Presumably thanks to the studio’s pedigree and history of working on exploration games like Gone Home and Tacoma, you can tell there is an understanding of how to make locations nostalgic without pandering, interesting but not overwhelming, and immersive but not disjointed. Though I’m slowly discovering that a lot of first-person exploration games make me a bit nauseous (definitely a “me” problem here, so I don’t fault Open Roads), I really enjoyed walking around the environments the studio created. There were so many objects and pieces of decor that reminded me of the ones I grew up with, and it was interesting to note how these objects–and the memories attached to them–moved me more deeply than a lot of the game’s conversations.

At every location, there were little reminders–be it newspaper clippings, a Blockbuster copy of Clueless, or a CorningWare-style casserole dish–of the time that had passed. Sure, this sense of place is aided by some of Tess and Opal’s conversations–I particularly loved the one in which Tess admits to her less-computer-inclined mother that her idea of a wild Friday night consists of pizza rolls and The Sims, because same–but a heavy amount of lifting is done by the artistry and detail put into creating these locations.

I also really enjoyed Open Roads’ character art, which feels inspired by the animated films ’90s kids grew up watching. The style stands out against the more realistic-looking environments and works well with the game’s voice acting, though the lack of proper lip-syncing did feel awkward at times. More awkward, however, was the game’s sound, which felt almost incomplete. I had expected to hear songs and sounds that would take me back to 2003, yet they were noticeably absent. While I wasn’t expecting to hear “Stacy’s Mom” or “Hey Ya!” pop on the radio, having multiple radios and TVs that you could interact with that did effectively nothing was a bit of a letdown.

It’s unfortunate that “letdown” and “underwhelmed” are words I’ve used multiple times when talking about Open Roads because there’s still so much about the game that works. The overall narrative touches on some meaningful topics, there’s a fair amount of intrigue, plenty of well-crafted dialogue, some interesting characters, and a lot of heart. Yet most things fall frustratingly short or are cut off far too early, making the whole experience slightly lackluster. Despite being a game about a mother-daughter road trip, the game doesn’t go too far and that relationship is left only slightly altered rather than meaningfully examined and changed.

Pepper Grinder Review – Short And Spicy

It only takes a glance to understand Pepper Grinder’s inventive gimmick. A small girl named Pepper–a pirate by trade–wields a drill named Grinder that’s roughly the size of her entire body. The gear allows her to grind through soft surfaces with ease, complete with the ability to launch out of the surface with a leap. That might have been enough to carry the game by itself, but what’s most surprising about Pepper Grinder is its sheer variety. Though it’s short, that brevity helps to make the campaign a no-filler thrill ride that continuously pushes the boundaries of its central mechanic.

It turns out Grinder is a pretty versatile tool, even regarding its most basic function. You can burrow through the ground, which immediately feels natural and smooth. At the same time, you can’t simply turn on a dime with an instant about-face like a typical platformer–you have to handle turns by curving an arc out of your drilling path. Additionally, when you pop out of the surface of the dirt, you won’t gain much distance unless you jump just before breaking through. Those little touches give the core mechanic a sense of finesse, imitating the feeling of a playful dolphin–or at least, a dolphin video game like the classic Ecco.

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Now Playing: Pepper Grinder GameSpot Video Review

Once you get the hang of it, drilling through soil and leaping out of the surface in a perfect arc, only to catch another piece of soft ground in the distance and continue your digging, feels thrilling and acrobatic. The drillable surfaces are nicely differentiated from hard environmental pieces, so you quickly learn to read a level and see the path through it, evoking a feeling similar to performing a great run in Tony Hawk. Collectibles like gems are scattered strategically throughout the stages to both subtly guide your eye along the path, while also sometimes setting traps for your greed.

Aside from being a traversal tool, Grinder is also your primary and often only weapon. It’s not enough to simply run into most enemies with a spinning drill, though–they often have their own specific approach to defeat them, like beetles with a hard upper carapace who need to be stabbed from the underside by burrowing underground. The main enemies, a breed of vicious narwhal-like creatures with horns on their head, are just as capable of hurting you with a head-on collision as you are of hurting them. None of the regular enemies are terribly tough by themselves, but they introduce new ways of approaching stages and obstacles as you need to get around them or through them to continue on your path.

A platformer with a standout hook like this one probably could have coasted on it, but Pepper Grinder doesn’t rest on its laurels. Instead, it consistently introduces new elements to master. These either integrate with your balletic burrowing or provide a change of pace from it. Grabbing a key with your drill will make it turn a lock, and you can use the kinetic energy to power machines. You’ll also shoot from cannons, drill holes into the bottoms of ships to make them take on water, carve through skyscrapers to make them collapse as you traverse through, and even pilot a giant mech. What appears at first to be a simple tool gives way to constant delightful little surprises.

A series of boss battles ramp up the difficulty nicely, taking the skills you’ve learned and putting them to the test. The first is relatively straightforward, as you dodge projectiles by moving through the soil and wait for the opportune moment to attack from the underside, while the second severely limits the amount of soft ground available and challenges you to leap high into the air to do damage. They progress from there, including one tough encounter with another human-like character that has roughly your size and agility. All this leads to a final boss encounter that is one of the most tense and difficult retro platformer bosses I’ve seen in a long time, which felt satisfying to overcome.

And on top of all this, Pepper Grinder carries itself with a cute, pixel-punk personality. Pepper’s diminutive sprite artwork has a charm to it, like how she revs up her trusty drill threateningly when coming face-to-face with a boss, or how she raises her pirate flag to declare victory in an area. The enemies can sometimes be seen doing their own pirate duties before you crash their party. And though story sequences are few and far between, they were just enough to explain what was going on with mimed, dialogue-free action. A short story sequence just before the final boss even made me laugh out loud.

This gentle giant is one of the fantastical creatures in Pepper Grinder.

Gallery

At such a breakneck pace of new ideas, Pepper Grinder doesn’t last very long, which is to its credit. I finished the campaign in roughly four hours, which is a relatively short playtime. Every stage also has a time-trial option, and there are still collectibles and cosmetics to unlock like stickers and hairstyles. The most important collectibles are Skull Coins, a limited resource–five per stage–that can be used to unlock special bonus stages in each of the four worlds. These are used to further explore gameplay concepts that had been introduced in the main stages. The first one, for example, takes the cannon mechanic to its logical conclusion with an entire stage built around ping-ponging from cannon to cannon, which felt pleasanlty reminiscent of Donkey Kong Country’s famous barrel stages.

Perhaps because of its brevity, I enjoyed every minute, and I appreciate the rare instance of a game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Rather than slog through filler stages to pad its length, Pepper Grinder is bursting with new ideas for exactly as long as it can sustain that momentum. There’s something admirable about approaching its length with that level of confidence. I would have loved to play even more, if it could have sustained that pace, but this felt like a conscious choice to let the best ideas shine.

Pepper Grinder is here for a good time, not for a long time. Every piece, from the core drilling mechanic itself to the various ways it manifests with cannons and mechs and more, feels meticulously engineered to teach you a new concept, wring the fun out of it, and then move on to the next. That sense of propulsion makes every moment fun and engaging. It’s a great little gem of a game which, like its heroine, may be small in size but makes every bit count.

MLB The Show 24 Review – Base Hit

A lot of people will tell you that Hank Aaron is the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, is one of those people, and it’s easy to see why. You only have to look at Hammerin’ Hank’s stats–755 home runs and 3,771 hits in Major League Baseball–his outstanding consistency across 23 big league seasons, or the fact that he achieved all of this after such humble beginnings. Growing up, Aaron had few opportunities to play organized baseball. In fact, he had few opportunities to even use the right equipment. Instead, a young Henry Aaron would take his mom’s broomstick and use it as a makeshift bat to hit bottlecaps–it’s no wonder he ended up being so good.

I knew of Hank Aaron’s incredible career, but supplemental details like this are part of what makes Storylines such a captivating and enlightening experience. If last year’s game was all about introducing this brilliant and groundbreaking new mode, then MLB The Show 24 is more about fine-tuning the existing framework. This isn’t an uncommon approach for annual sports games, and while Sony San Diego’s latest baseball sim might not seem as fresh or exciting as last year’s offering, it still plays an excellent game of baseball while possessing a tangible reverence for the sport’s rich history and inherent romanticism. Players are more than just stats and numbers, after all.

This is where Storylines comes in, and it’s once again the highlight of the whole package. Like any good TV series, MLB The Show 24 returns with a second season of The Negro Leagues, exploring an era of baseball that has often been overlooked and forgotten. At launch, there are four stories to play through, shining a spotlight on the aforementioned Henry “Hank” Aaron, as well as Josh Gibson, Walter “Buck” Leonard, and Toni Stone, with more set to arrive in forthcoming updates.

MLB The Show 24

Bob Kendrick’s charismatic and insightful narration brings these tales to life, aided by slickly produced videos that weave in historical photographs, original artwork, and archival footage to paint a portrait of these players and their profound impact on baseball and American culture. In between these video packages, you’ll play through pivotal moments from each player’s career, from Aaron’s first hit as a member of the Milwaukee Braves to Josh Gibson’s decimation of MLB pitching in exhibition games–where he batted a ridiculous .426. Perhaps the most interesting collection of episodes focuses on the career of Toni Stone, a true trailblazer who became the first woman to play for a professional baseball team when she took Hank Aaron’s roster spot after he departed the Negro Leagues for the MLB.

Alongside these eye-opening tales, MLB The Show 24 also expands on the Storylines concept by adding a series on legendary New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. By using a New York subway motif as the backdrop for Jeter’s story, the former captain recounts important moments from the first few years of his storied career as you travel along the tracks from 1996 to 2000. Starting with his first steps as an unheralded rookie to achieving legendary status as the Yankees won three consecutive World Series titles, Jeter gives you an insight into his and the team’s mindset during this monumental run. There are also three side stories that center on the other members of the Yankees’ Core Four: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte. These stories are brief, consisting of a single video package, but completing each additional mission unlocks their player cards for use in Diamond Dynasty.

As a Yankees fan, I enjoyed Jeter’s retelling of the era’s events, along with being able to recreate moments like his iconic jump-throw and a number of his clutch hits. Admittedly, however, it’s not the most interesting collection of stories. This is a team and player that won four championships in five years with little to no adversity, while Jeter himself was relatively drama-free off the field. It doesn’t make for the most compelling narrative, but the inclusion of Jeter’s Storylines does at least set a precedent for the series where we’ll hopefully see more engrossing tales in the future, whether the focal point is on a single Hall of Fame player or an entire team.

MLB The Show 24

Gallery

Road to the Show, meanwhile, lets you create and play as a woman for the first time. There are specific video packages that differ from those in the male career, with MLB Network analysts embracing the historical significance of a woman being drafted by an MLB team. A separate narrative based around you getting drafted alongside a childhood friend also differentiates the female career from the male side–which lacks any kind of story–while considerations like a private dressing room add an element of authenticity. The majority of cutscenes play out via text message, however, replacing the series’ previous narration with a hackneyed alternative.

The only other new addition to Road to the Show is the return of the Draft Combine, which gives you three games to improve your draft ranking by playing well against other prospects. While it’s good to see the combine back, it’s a fairly superfluous addition for those who simply want to choose which team to play for rather than leaving it up to fate. It also doesn’t take into account starting pitchers, dropping your draft stock because you’re only able to play in one of the three available games. The inclusion of women is a positive one, but Road to the Show is still in desperate need of an overhaul to its tired loadout system and bland presentation.

Franchise remains mostly the same, aside from one new addition with the potential to completely alter how you engage with the mode. Custom Game Entry Conditions is a setting that lets you simulate games until certain conditions are met, at which point you’re able to take control. You can customize these conditions based on how critical the situation is by tinkering with a situation-importance slider that ranges from low to very high.

You’re able to pick the earliest inning you’re willing to enter games, and can also ensure that you’ll always jump into player-highlight moments, such as finishing off a potential no-hitter or extending a batter’s hitting streak. With this setting, you might decide you only want to enter games during high-leverage situations in the ninth inning or play from the seventh inning onwards in tight games. This alleviates the grind of a full 162-game season while keeping you invested and making sure you have an impact on games that might mean the difference between making the playoffs or missing out on October baseball. The one side-effect of this addition is that Road to October and its truncated seasons now feel obsolete, but improving Franchise makes this a worthy trade-off.

Diamond Dynasty, the card-collecting and squad-building mode, is also not too dissimilar from last year’s game. The implementation of Sets and Seasons has been tweaked, with longer seasons giving you more playing time with season-limited cards. The amount of top-rated cards attainable at the beginning of a season has also been reduced to give you something to build towards.

Cards will now gradually escalate in power over the course of a single season so you won’t be rocking a 99-rated team after a single week. These are positive changes in what remains the most approachable of the many card-collecting modes in sports games, such is the ease with which you’re able to acquire great players without spending a dime. The plethora of single and multiplayer modes is also a feather in its cap.

MLB The Show 24’s on-field action remains stellar. For the first time, new rules like the pitch clock, slightly larger bases, and limited pick-off attempts have been implemented. Impact Plays, a new addition that emphasizes great defense, are also new, reinforcing the impact of spectacular diving catches and difficult throws. Impact Plays are possible anytime you’re player-locked, such as in Road to the Show. If there’s a possibility for a highlight-reel play, the game will slow down and task you with completing a quick-time event. How you perform here determines how successful the play will be. It feels great each time you’re able to rob a batter of a base hit by plucking the ball out of the air moments before it touches the ground or firing a laser beam to first base to beat a runner. I only wish Impact Plays were more frequent and were included as an option when controlling a full team.

The continued absence of an online Franchise mode and the stale nature of Road to the Show are disappointing aspects of this release, but MLB The Show 24 still maintains the series’ commendable output with fantastic gameplay and another collection of fascinating stories exploring The Negro Leagues and its players. A journey through the exalted career of Derek Jeter might not be quite as gripping, but it builds on Storyline’s established framework and lays down an exciting blueprint for the mode’s future. The addition of women in Road to the Show is another positive step, further reinforcing the overarching theme that baseball is for everyone, while the ability to customize how you play Franchise mode makes it a much more palatable proposition for those embarking on a 162-game season. MLB The Show 24 might not swing for the fences, but it’s still a great way to spend the looming summer months.

Anime News

This Call Of Duty Player Was Able To Reach 10th Prestige Without Killing Anyone… Again

One Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III player has done the unthinkable yet again and has reached the 10th Prestige without killing a single player.

Reddit user Pilgore1 posted their achievement on r/ModernWarfareIII (via Dot Esports). In their post, they played 486 games for three days, three hours, and seventeen minutes. To no surprise, they earned a K/D ratio of 0.00, but at the same time, they earned an impressive win/loss ratio of 3.19.

As Dot Esports pointed out, this isn’t the first time Pilgore1 has done this. They were able to do the same thing in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. But they were able to achieve the 10th Prestige a lot quicker this time. Last year, it took them 688 games and over 100 hours.

Pilgore1 went on to say that a significant reason they were able to get to 10th Prestige so fast was that they were playing on the Small Map Moshpit playlist with double XP enabled. They also joked that the only thing they killed was other players’ win streaks.

For more Modern Warfare III news, check out our story on how its latest DLC turns enemies into joints and our story detailing all of the game’s current patch notes.

The Biggest Game Releases Of April 2024

Walmart Has Some Wild Game Deals Right Now

Walmart is offering a bunch of impressive video game deals today, with hit titles across Switch, PS5, and Xbox receiving generous discounts. A bit of everything is included in the savings–from family-friendly platforms like Disney Illusion Island to mature RPGs like Final Fantasy XVI–so there’s a good chance something on your wishlist is getting a price cut. To help you navigate all the savings, we’ve compiled lists of all the best deals across Switch, PS5, and Xbox. Walmart isn’t advertising an end date for the discounts, though we don’t imagine they’ll stick around long.

Note: Prices for some of the games listed below may not be available to everyone in the US. Some of Walmart’s game deals at the moment appear to be region-based and probably related to your proximity to warehouses where certain titles are still in stock. Also, many of these games aren’t showing up as discounted items, as Walmart has simply changed their suggested retail price to the new, lower price. Regardless, all these items are still technically on sale, and adding them to your cart will let you cash in on the price cuts if they’re available.

Switch

Plenty of big hitters are on sale, including four The Legend of Zelda titles. You can grab Link’s Awakening, Skyward Sword HD, and Breath of the Wild for $40 each (normally $60 each). Meanwhile, the latest Zelda adventure, Tears of the Kingdom, is down to $54 (was $70). Mario fans can also pick up a bunch of $40 games, including Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario Maker 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. You can can also snag Super Mario Bros. Wonder for $48 (was $60) and the Super Mario RPG for $45 (down from $60). Check the list for a bunch of other great Switch deals at Walmart.

PlayStation

The list of PS5 games on sale might be more impressive than the list of Switch games on sale. The deals include first-party releases like God of War Ragnarok for $40 (was $70), Marvel’s Spider-Man: Mile Morales Ultimate Edition for $43 (was $70), and Gran Turismo 7 for $41 (was $70). There are also great discounts on third-party titles like Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for $30 (normally $60), Final Fantasy XVI for 44 (was $60) and Assassin’s Creed: Mirage for $25 (down from $50). And no sweat if you don’t have a PS5 yet, since the PS4 versions of many of these games are also on sale.

Xbox

As for the Xbox deals, Diablo IV is down to just $20 (normally $70), which is one of the best prices we’ve seen for the game. If you haven’t yet played Halo Infinite, the popular FPS is just $28 (down from $60), making this a great time to try out its new open-world campaign. Other notable deals include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for $30 (was $70), Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for $30 (normally $60), and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for $44 (was $70).

New Lost In Cult Book Chronicles The Rich History Of Console Gaming

The long history of video games is full of interesting stories, and if you’re looking for some reading material on the subject, you can lock in a preorder for The Console Chronicles for $40 at Amazon. Out on October 1, this hardcover book published by Lost in Cult chronicles five decades of console gaming through a series of essays from writers across the industry.

The Console Chronicles

There are nine key sections–each one corresponding to the nine console generations–and these stories recount technical triumphs, game-changing disruptions in the scene, and major headline-making moments.

If you’re interested in seeing how games progressed as both an artistic medium and an industry, this book will make for some essential and insightful reading. This book is a collaborative effort between Lost In Cult and Hookshot Media (Nintendo Life, Push Square), and it features a great cover by artist Stephen Maurice Graham. Lost in Cult has been producing several fun historical books like this, and in case you missed it, A Handheld History is a comprehensive celebration of portable platforms and their iconic games. The Console Chronicles will look great on the shelf alongside A Handheld History.

Lost in Cult’s newest installment in its series of gaming journals, Lock-On, is also rolling out soon. The sixth volume features over 400 pages of essays, interviews, and artwork inspired by a wide variety of games like Metroid Prime, Alan Wake, and Oxenfree, and has a cover designed by Final Fantasy Illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

Disclosure: GameSpot’s Brendan Hesse contributed to The Console Chronicles.

Homeworld 3 Is Getting A Lot Of Post-Launch Content, Both Free And Paid

Gearbox has revealed the post-launch roadmap for Homeworld 3, and there’s a lot of content for the game coming just in its first year.

For the game’s post-launch support, Gearbox will alternate between both free and paid DLC. In June, the first update is a free content drop that will add new challenges and artifacts. July will have paid DLC with a new playable faction, new faction starting fleets, a new faction emblem, and even more artifacts and challenges.

August has additional free challenges and artifacts along with new maps and systems. October will have the second wave of paid DLC which contains similar items that the first one did.

From there, Gearbox becomes more vague with its release windows, as Q4 2024 has another free content drop. In 2025, the third new faction will arrive along with more free challenges and maps.

The free content will be made for everyone who purchased the base game, and the content updates are exclusive to the War Games Co-Op mode.

Homeworld 3 launches on May 13 for PC after numerous delays, but players who preorder the Fleet Command Edition bundle get to play the game 72 hours early on May 10.

Overwatch 2 – Venture Hero Guide

Overwatch 2 Season 10 has introduced Venture, the first new damage hero since launch. They have a ton of high-damage options available to them, all of which work best at close range. Mastering Venture requires you to get good at not only fighting in the thick of battle, but using their movement abilities to get in and out of danger.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Venture overview

Venture can use their drill to dig underground and get close to the enemy.

Venture uses a drill as their primary weapon, which fires short-range explosives that explode after a certain distance traveled, or when they come into contact with an enemy or object. The drill gives Venture a slightly stronger melee attack than other characters, at the cost of a slightly longer animation. They can burrow into the ground, where they are invulnerable, and deal damage upon exit. Venture can also do a drill dash, both above and below ground. Lastly, their Tectonic Shock ultimate fires projectiles underground, which go outward in a cone shape, dealing damage to enemies in its path.

Venture abilities

  • Smart Excavator: Launch a seismic charge that bursts after a short distance.
  • Burrow: Move underground and become invulnerable. Deals damage when you emerge.
  • Drill Dash: Dash forward, pushing enemies back. Can be used underground with reduced cooldown.
  • Clobber passive: Quick melee deals more damage.
  • Explorer’s Resolve: Using abilities grants temporary shields.
  • Tectonic Shock ultimate: Send out damaging shockwaves.

Dive in, dive out

Venture is similar to Reaper, with all of their abilities and attacks being close-range. That means if you want to really succeed at Venture, you need to constantly push into the enemy team, but you also need to have an exit plan for getting out if things aren’t going your way. Luckily, Venture has two movement abilities, Drill Dash and Burrow. Drill Dash launches Venture forward, dealing damage if you hit an enemy. Burrow has them go underground, where you cannot take damage and you deal damage upon exit. Depending on how long you are fighting and if these abilities come off cooldowns during that time, you will typically want to save one for going in and one for exiting.

Burrow is definitely better for exiting, since you are invulnerable while underground. The most important thing to know about it is that there is a short animation while Venture burrows down. During the roughly one-second animation after activating the ability, you can still take damage, so it’s important to not wait too long to try and leave. Also, Venture’s passive gives them temporary shields after using an ability, so you can do a little extra damage.

Aim at their feet

Venture’s primary fire on their Smart Excavator shoots a short distance explosive, which goes off after traveling far enough or when it hits something. While you can maximize your damage by landing direct impacts, since the projectile has some travel time, it can be difficult to consistently land them. A way to avoid this and to guarantee the explosion hits is to shoot at their feet or a nearby object, like a payload. The explosion has a small radius, so you still need to get pretty close with your shots, but you don’t need to be perfect.

Tectonic Shock

Venture’s ultimate sends out shockwaves that deal damage.

Venture’s ultimate ability, Tectonic Shock, is a very strong ultimate attack that deals damage in a wide area. You get four shots, which go underground, moving outward in a cone shape, dealing damage to enemies it reaches. Since it goes underground, you can use this under shields and objects in the environment, like a payload. Most damage and support heroes can be killed in two to three shots if they are at full health, with high-health heroes like Bastion taking all four shots. The best time to use Tectonic Shock is when enemies are grouped up and have taken a bit of damage, so you likely won’t want to open a team fight with it, but hold it until you have them on the ropes.

Other Venture tips

  • Venture’s melee attack does slightly more damage, but also has a slightly longer animation than other heroes, so make sure you aren’t locking yourself into the animation in a precarious situation.
  • Venture gets temporary shields when using their abilities, but it doesn’t kick in for Burrow until they are underground, leaving you vulnerable.
  • Drill Dash can be used while Burrowed, but it does significantly less damage.
  • When you exit Burrow, you can hold the button to charge up the exit. It deals more damage, but gives enemies a second to move out of the way.

Pokemon Go Will Soon Let You Change Your Avatar’s Weight And Skin Tone

After announcing the Rediscover Go overhaul earlier this week, Niantic has shared details on some of Pokemon Go’s upcoming changes. Specifically, the studio has shed some light on the new avatar customization options that will be available when the update hits later this year.

Among the biggest changes coming to the Pokemon Go avatar customization suite is the addition of skin tones, which will allow players to more accurately depict their individual skin color. Advanced color options will also be available for each character’s hair and eyes along with the new skin-tone choices.

Body-type customization will also see changes in the Rediscover Go update, with adjustments to body weight and individual body parts–shoulder, hips, and chest among them–all part of the new offerings. All of these options can be found in the in-game style shop, along with new options for avatar clothes and costumes.

The Rediscover Go campaign is set to bring major changes to the overall Pokemon Go experience in the lead-up to its eighth anniversary this summer. Along with avatar-customization updates, the overhaul is set to bring changes to the in-game map, encounter screens, battle screens, and more, all “tailored to your location.”

Avatar changes are the first of four major pillars of the Rediscover Go initiative, with three others set to be revealed in the coming days. The schedule is as follows:

  • Rediscover Your World – April 22
  • Rediscover Kanto – April 22
  • Rediscover Your Reality – May 7

Pokemon Go is available now for iOS and Android devices.

Alone In The Dark Gets Its First Big Discount For PS5 And Xbox Series X

Where some people see a bad game, others see flawed gold. That might be the case for you with Alone in the Dark, a remake of a classic survival-horror game that hasn’t received good reviews. Even with the star power of Jodie Comer and David Harbour, reviews have been less than kind to this reboot, but if you want to check it out for yourself, at least you can get a pretty big discount for it right now. Normally $60, Alone in the Dark is on sale for $40 currently.

Alone in the Dark

Buy Alone in the Dark for PS5

Buy Alone in the Dark for Xbox Series X

At Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy, the PS5 version has been marked down to $40, a nice $20 savings in total. The Xbox Series X edition is also available for $40, but only at Best Buy.

Alone in the Dark does have some compelling components, as its reality-bending story, abundant lore, and reverence for its source material make for a fun turn-of-the-century horror game.

Where the game falters is with its uneven selection of puzzles, as these range from deviously challenging to annoyingly obtuse. The combat is passable and the cast delivers an effective performance to help sell the game’s story, so if you’re in it for the story and lore, you may have a good time.

“This isn’t Alone in the Dark’s first revival attempt, and it’s probably not its last, but it isn’t the one that will put the series’ name in the same breath as the all-time greats it originally helped inspire,” Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot’s Alone in the Dark review.

For more game deals, GameStop is currently running a buy two, get one free sale on preowned games, TopSpin 2K25 preorders are discounted before launch, and the Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is still on sale for $30, but time is running out.

These Upcoming Tamagotchis Will Let You Raise And Care For Hello Kitty

Bandai Namco is teaming up with Hello Kitty on a new batch of Hello Kitty-themed Tamagotchi dropping later this year, including two Tamagotchi Nanos and a new version of the Tamagotchi Uni.

Tamagotchi Nano x Hello Kitty! Sky Blue and Red versions

The new Hello Kitty Tamagotchi Nanos will feature the same characters as other Tamagotchis, which start off as an egg that you raise from baby to adult form by feeding it and playing mini-games. These new devices feature Hello Kitty-themed content, like being able to feed your Tamagotchi pet Hello Kitty’s favorite foods like milk and apple pie. Hello Kitty herself will also assist you with keeping your Tamagotchi’s room clean and even taking it on trips. Once it’s ready, the Tamagotchi will transform into one of seven adult forms, including two adult forms exclusive to these new Hello Kitty Tamagotchis.

The new Hello Kitty Tamagotchi Nanos will be available for $20 on July 9 in red and blue shell designs. Both versions include the same content and come with a clasping carrying chain and batteries. Preorders are available at Amazon.

Tamagotchi Uni x Sanrio Characters

Along with the new Tamagotchi Nanos is a new Tamagotchi Uni featuring Hello Kitty and other Sanrio characters. Just like the first line of Tamagotchi Uni devices, the Tamagotchi Uni x Sanrio Characters is an upgraded take on the classic Tamagotchi device with modern features like a color screen, expanded mini games with collectible items, and internet connectivity, letting you share your virtual critter’s fashion on the “Tamaverse.” Rather than a keychain, Tamagotchi Unis utilize a wristwatch-like design, and The Tamagotchi Uni x Sanrio Characters comes with a pink watch band and Hello Kitty-themed device shell. You will also be able to collect costumes and other in-game items based on Hello Kitty and other Sanrio mascots.

The Tamagotchi Uni x Sanrio Characters will launch on July 12 for $70. Preorders are live at Amazon.


These aren’t the first Hello Kitty Tamagotchi devices. Bandai Namco also launched another pair of Hello Kitty! Tamagotchis back in 2020. Both are available at Amazon along with many other Tamagotchi devices, including versions based on popular movies like Jurassic Park and Star Wars, anime like Jujustu Kaisen and Demon Slayer, and more. Check the list below for a selection of Tamagotchis available at Amazon right now.

Tamagotchi Available Now

Celebrate Forrest Gump’s 30th Anniversary With This New Steelbook Collection

It’s hard to believe, but Forrest Gump is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The iconic film earned universal acclaim when it was released in 1994, and would go on to win six Oscars–including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. Beyond those wins, it also managed to pick up over 70 award nominations and remains one of the most beloved films of the past thirty years. To celebrate its history and achievements, the Forrest Gump 30th Anniversary Steelbook (4K UHD) is now available for preorder exclusively at Walmart.

While this upcoming anniversary edition is a great option for Forrest Gump fans, you’ll find plenty of cheaper versions available on Amazon. This includes the Forrest Gump DVD for $8, Forrest Gump Blu-ray for $9, and Forrest Gump 4K for $23.

That means this anniversary edition essentially gets you a steelbook and Forrest Gump soundtrack for just $12–which isn’t a bad deal. Expect to hear more details about what’s included on the discs as we get closer to its July 2 release.

Get The First Deep Dive Into Hades 2 Gameplay With A New Video

Players can now sign up for the Hades II technical test, although only a few people will actually get in. For everyone else, there is still a way to get a glimpse at the anticipated title. Supergiant creative director Greg Kasavin and Studio Director Amir Rao livestreamed an initial run of the game on the developer’s official YouTube channel.

Like the technical test itself, the livestream only shows off the first major area of the game (although if you don’t want spoilers at all, probably best not to watch the video). You play as Melinoë, potentially a daughter of Hades, who seeks to vanquish the forces of the resurrected god Chronos. The technical test takes place in Erebus, where souls wait to be sorted into the afterlife from the last game.
 Like the prior game, Melinoë can pick up enhancements and new abilities from the gods of Olympus. The video shows off some of these new gods like Apollo. Melinoë is a witch and she can use “omega” moves that deal extra damage, but these can be hard to pull off and cost magick. She can even sprint, unlike the last game’s hero Zagreus.

Back at home base, The Crossroads, Melinoë can hang with her pet frog and a “listless shade” named Dora, learn from Hecate the witch of the crossroads, and meet other mythical figures like Odysseus and Hypnos. She can also gather ash to unlock Arcana cards that make Melinoë stronger and choose new weapons.

The technical test will run an as-yet-undetermined amount of time. The game should launch in an early-access-version soon after the technical test is complete. Here’s everything else we know about the game so far.