Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

Sony’s “Remastered” trend hasn’t received the warmest reception over the years, but Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered more than earns its flowers. It revamps and improves its environments with more foliage, better lighting and shadows, and over 10 hours of new motion capture animation. Character models are pretty much carried over from Forbidden West and look fantastic. For just $50 ($10 if you own the original), it’s a pretty good deal.

Shortly after the launch of Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Deck Nine has announced on Twitter that it is laying off an undisclosed number of people, citing “challenging times” in the games industry.

“Today, we are sad to share the news that we must say goodbye to some of our team members,” Deck Nine wrote in its announcement. “This was an extremely difficult decision and reflects the challenging times many companies in our industry are currently facing. We are extremely grateful to every individual who has dedicated their hard work, passion, and commitment to making transformative entertainment with us.”

This is the third time Deck Nine has had to cut jobs in the space of less than two years, having previously announced layoffs in May of last year and February earlier this year.

Deck Nine has previously also developed Life is Strange: True Colors and Life is Strange: Before the Storm, and also co-developed The Expanse: A Telltale Series.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

pic.twitter.com/7C2xjhrT68

— Deck Nine Games (@DeckNineGames) December 6, 2024

Enotria: The Last Song 

Milan-based studio Jyamma Games are utilising their Italian heritage to great effect in Enotria: The Last Song. This isn’t just a summertime Soulslike, it’s imbued with tradition, folklore, and culture, with inspiration seeping out of Renaissance era theatre Commedia dell’Arte. The story here begins with you, The Maskless One, tasked with liberating a world locked in time loop; an eternal play stagnating its actors. Through power bestowed via NPC companion Pulcinella you’ll alter the very fabric of reality to eradicate the nefarious Authors who’ve besieged this beautiful world.

]]> 605153 https://gamingbolt.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-6-and-dragon-ball-sparking-zero-topped-us-sales-charts-for-october Fri, 22 Nov 2024 15:28:27 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=604754 October was a busy month, seeing the launch of a number of major new titles, and many of them performed well in the United States upon release, as per sales data for the month shared by Circana analyst Mat Piscatella on BlueSky. 

Unsurprisingly, on top of the software charts for the month is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which has also instantly become the third-highest selling game of the year in the US. In terms of dollar sales, its launch is 23 bigger than that of last year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, with 82 percent of its October sales coming on PS5 and PS4. 

Trailing behind in second place is Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, which has also got off to a quick start. It has instantly become the fourth-highest selling game of the year in the US, in addition to becoming not only the bestselling Dragon Ball game in the US to date in dollar sales (yes, already), but also Bandai Namco’s third-highest selling game of all time in the region, behind Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3. 

In third place in the charts we have Konami and Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2. It’s already become the No. 2 bestselling game in the Silent Hill series in the region to date, behind the original Silent Hill 2. 

Meanwhile, several other major titles that launched in October also occupy in the US’ charts for the month, with Steel City Interactive and Plaion’s Undisputed (No. 4), Atlus and Sega’s Metaphor: ReFantazio (No. 5), BioWare and EA’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard (No. 6), Nintendo Cube and Nintendo’s Super Mario Party Jamboree (No. 7), Sonic Team and Sega’s Sonic X Shadow Generations, and Deck Nine and Square Enix’s Life is Strange: Double Exposure (No. 18).

On the hardware side of things, consumer spending in the US dropped 23 percent in October year-on-year, with a total of 604,000 hardware units sold (down from 759,000 in October last year). PS5 was the bestselling console of the month in the US in dollar and unit sales, while Xbox Series X/S took second place in both metrics. However, all consoles saw a year-on-year drop in sales, with Switch dollar sales slipping by 38 percent, PS5 sales by 20 percent, and Xbox Series X/S sales by 18 percent. 

Life is Strange: Double Exposure will release for the Nintendo Switch as early as tomorrow, November 19. The game will only be available digitally at launch, but Square Enix has also confirmed that a physical release will follow on January 28 next year.

The physical edition, pre-orders for which are live now, will include the full game on the cart. Check out the trailer below for a glimpse of the game running on the Switch (with noticeably downgraded visuals compared to the other versions, unsurprisingly). 

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Both a worthy sequel to the beloved original and an excellent game in its own right, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is one of the series’ most engrossing outings to date.” Read the full review through here.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is currently available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is split across five chapters, and sees the return of Max Caulfied, the fan-favourite protagonist of the original game. Set ten years after the first game’s events, Max is now the resident photographer at Caledon University, and once again finds herself in the midst of a supernatural mystery as she attempts to solve (and maybe even prevent) the murder of her best friend Safi across two different timelines. 

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Both a worthy sequel to the beloved original and an excellent game in its own right, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is one of the series’ most engrossing outings to date.” Read the full review through here.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and is also in the works for Switch.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is set a decade after the events of the first game, and is set in Caledon University in Vermont, where Max works as a resident photographer. After discovering her best friend Safi dead in the snow, however, she awakens to new, different kinds of time powers. Now able to swap across two different timelines, Max must find out who killed Safi in her timeline, and maybe even prevent her murder in another. 

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Both a worthy sequel to the beloved original and an excellent game in its own right, Life is Strange: Double Exposure is one of the series’ most engrossing outings to date.” Read the full review through here.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It is also in development for Nintendo Switch.