Sons of the Forest

Crash landing onto remote island is Sons of the Forest, the upcoming sequel to The Forest, a crafting and survive-a-thon amidst the backdrop of a cannibal-infested hellscape. Some of the mutated monsters in Sons of the Forest are – as developer Endnight Games puts it – ‘almost human like’ whilst others, chillingly, they describe as ‘like nothing you’ve ever seen before.’

From the gameplay we’ve seen so far, Sons of the Forest promises an intense, violent, and bloody experience as you’ll exercise complete freedom to tackle the world as you see fit. See, on this deadly island, you’re on your own. There won’t be any domineering NPCs holding your hand as you fight demons to stay alive. After a string of delays, this one will hopefully be out February 2023.

Project Awakening

High-fantasy action-RPG Project Awakening has been in the pipeline for a few years now, having first been announced by developer Cygames in 2016. Taking cues from Capcom’s Monster Hunter series, the first glimpses we saw of Project Awakening – a wandering knight ordained by some almighty order to tackle a huge, scaly Dragon-type creature – promised a game capable of sitting alongside those legendary Capcom titles.

After re-emerging from developmental abyss late last year, we’re firmly back on the Project Awakening hype-train. Despite its three years-or-so age, that original trailer still packs a punch; the weight and physicality of the knight’s battle with the dragon still amazes. With development most likely shifted to current-gen hardware, it’s exciting to see just how impressive Project Awakening will look come our next glance at gameplay footage.

Forspoken

Don’t write off Forspoken just yet. For the uninitiated, the gist is this is a sprawling Horizon Forbidden West type odyssey with players assuming command of New Yorker Frey after she’s mysteriously transported into the beautiful land of Athia. She’ll need to master her newfound magical abilities during battle against a raft of fantastical monstrosities – from ginormous flying dragons to skeletal otherworldly creatures – if she hopes to find a way home.

Most intriguing are Frey’s magical powers that’re borne of Athia’s nature. For instance, she harbours ability to command barriers of water for attack or defence. These mystical abilities are pivotal for fast and agile manoeuvres too, allowing Frey to rapidly dodge oncoming attacks, or repeatedly hop higher into the air, coming face to face with the game’s monolithic dragons. Not long to wait before Forspoken’s release; should there be no more delays, expect this one to land on PS5 and PC January 23^rd.

Honor of Kings: World

Existing as a hugely popular Chinese mobile game for half a decade, Honor of Kings: World is this open-world action-RPG’s chance to spread its wings onto comparatively large-scale PC monitors and TV screens. Don’t let the fact Honor of Kings: World has its roots in mobile gaming put you off though, for this – as TiMi Studio Group advise – is a vast reimagining. We only need to watch the official Unreal Engine gameplay trailer to see they’re onto something – it’s simply gorgeous, with vibrantly decorated, mythological beasts exuding poise and aggression in whirlpooling co-operative battle. There’s little known about Honor of Kings: World’s release window at present, only that it’ll come to ‘multiple platforms’ in due course.

Black Myth: Wukong

Joining Honor of Kings: World as one of the most exciting games to be coming out of China, Black Myth: Wukong is an upcoming action RPG offering a prestige take on the Dark Souls formula that’s laced with East Asian aesthetic and Chinese mythology. Players will command Monkey King Sun Wukong, a mythical figure best known as protector of Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang on their arduous pilgrimage through Central Asia as told in 16^th century Chinese literary classic Journey to the West.

Sun Wukong is incredibly strong, with lightning-fast reflexes and magical ability to transform into 72 animals and objects, meaning he’s quite capable at brawling humungous foe, including writhing flying dragons with snake-like bodies as seen in the gameplay revealed so far. Coming to multiple platforms next year, let’s hope freshly minted development studio Game Science can deliver on the game’s early promise.

Ark 2

The original Ark game displayed some interesting concepts – tropical setting populated by primal, tameable dinosaurs, with mythical technology to harness alongside base-building mechanics. Admittedly there was a lot going on with the original that didn’t always stick the landing. Well, Studio Wildcard have a sequel on the way, and with it a promise that every aspect of the Ark series is rethought and redesigned. First, there appears a deeper story, with Santiago – played by Vin Diesel – tasked with protecting his daughter in a chaotic world where native flora and fauna are being overrun by invasive primeval creatures from an extinct Earth. There’ll be much to chew one when Ark 2 releases some time next year, with Xbox Series X|S and PC the only announced platforms thus far.

The Lost Wild

More dino shenanigans now, and survival horror adventure The Lost Wild, a game touted by Great Ape Games as ‘an immersive and cinematic dinosaur game that captures the reverence and terror of nature’s most magnificent beasts.’ Players can expect to come face-to-face with all their childhood favourites – Stegosaurus, Pterodactyl, and of course, an angry toothy T-Rex. The kicker here though is the dinosaurs in The Lost Wild are said to exhibit intelligence, mirroring wild animal behaviour. Consequently, players will need to explore the game’s primal forests extremely carefully, choosing when to stealthily evade a predator or intimidate with a combination of fire or non-lethal weaponry. As a marker of quality, The Lost Wild is being published by indie titans Annapurna Interactive and will see release some time in 2024.

Instinction

Instinction is a cinematic, story-based adventure where players hunt all manner of prehistoric creatures – from extinct dinosaurs to relatively modern ice age-era sabre-tooth tigers – in an experience Hashbane Interactive promise as bursting with immersive combat and environmental puzzles. Players will control intrepid explorer April Summers – herself plagued by inner demons – as she traverses through beautifully crafted interactive environments scouring for ancient artifacts. Of all the games on this rundown, Instinction feels heaviest in atmosphere. There’s no planned release window yet, so wishlist this one on Steam if you want to keep in the know.

Deathground

Deathground pits squads of up to three into a desperate battle for survival against an onslaught of deadly dinosaurs. Deathground can be played solo too; however, with a team composed of professional hunters and survivalists, surely strength in numbers will improve player chances of securing the biggest loot. There’s a Hollywood-esque aesthetic to Deathground, with comparisons to the Jurassic Park films of the 90s obvious. Either way, dinosaurs in Deathground are said to be reactive and unpredictable, hunting players down for a play session that’ll feel dynamic and suspenseful. This is another one that doesn’t have an official release window, so track it down on Steam and give it a wishlist.

Atlas Fallen

From what we know, in Atlas Fallen players will glide through a timeless land hunting legendary monsters with a raft of powerful, shape-shifting weapons with deadly sand-infused abilities. It’s fair to say the recent gameplay trailer only reveals shards of actual gameplay footage, but what we do see – sand surfing notwithstanding – is awe-inspiring; elemental explosive weaponry wielding on dangerous, sand-encrusted monstrosities, against a backdrop of ancient ruins. A current-gen title, Atlas Fallen is slated for release next year.

Wild Hearts

Freshly revealed Wild Hearts is a collaboration between monolithic game publishers EA Originals and Koei Tecmo, and, in tandem with development studio Omega Force, is vying to dethrone Capcom’s Monster Hunter as principal hunting game. Wild Hearts is set in a fantasy feudal Japan, with teams of up to three players tasked with taking on ‘giant nature-infused beasts known as Kemono’. It’s very reminiscent of Capcom’s iconic monster hunting titles but does have a unique selling point in the form of the magical Karakuri, which are constructable buildings and platforms which players can to scale before jumping off, launching via handheld helicopter, or even construct medieval-style hammers to pelt the game’s colossal beasts. Alongside the game’s announcement was a release date of February 17^th 2023, with PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC the platforms confirmed.

Nintendo are flying as high as they ever have with the Nintendo Switch right now. The console has sold so well that Nintendo even bumped up their yearly forecast, not to mention it’s now outsold the Xbox One in half the time on store shelves. One thing Nintendo won’t be doing to bolster system sales just yet, however, is releasing a new piece of hardware in the year 2020.

There have been rumors almost as long as the Switch has existed of a “Switch Pro” with updated specs. The company released a Lite version of the system last year, which took the dock out of the equation and focused on the handheld aspect of the hybrid. But it won’t have this theoretical “Pro” as a companion this year. Nintendo announced via their most recent financial results briefing that they have no plans to release a new hardware revision this year.

While another revision of some kind is probably inevitable for the Switch, since Nintendo is known for revising their systems multiple times during its lifetime, it seems we’ll just have to wait a bit longer for whatever it will end up being.

For players of Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch, there’s been plenty of reason to be antsy. Overwatch 2 was announced and Blizzard has admitted that it’s taking resources away from the main game. A new update, patch 1.43, has been in the works since November to nerf heroes like Sigma and Orisa. However, reports indicated that the patch wouldn’t be available until January 2020.

Director Jeff Kaplan has since taken to the official forums to clarify that patch 1.43 is coming next week. “Short of some unforeseen circumstance causing a delay, we’re expecting to go live with the patch next week.” Kaplan also mentioned Winter Wonderland, indicating the seasonal event’s return. Of course, whether that’s next week with patch 1.43 or afterwards wasn’t clarified.

This isn’t the first patch where Blizzard has attempted to nerf barrier heroes like Sigma and Orisa. But the patch also makes changes to heroes like Reinhardt, Orisa, D.Va and Widowmaker along with introducing the ability to play Skirmish, Deathmatch, Practice Range or Custom Games while queuing for Competitive Play. Stay tuned for more details on the patch’s release and any other changes it may carry.

While the lore and story of Overwatch has always been a thing, with the upcoming Overwatch 2, it seems it will be more of a focus. The game will have dedicated story modes, and probably because of that it seems Blizzard is digging into the backstory for the many popular characters. One such one is Mercy, as a new short story looks at her origins.

The story follows Dr Angela Ziegler, Mercy’s non-hero name, as she does aid work in various countries before finally going back to the frontlines as her hero persona. Several other Overwatch characters appear in the brief story, and there seems to be a potential new skin for the character. While there are some pictures, the 24 page story is mostly text, so beware, you will have to actually read. I imagine if you got this far and read this whole article, you’ll probably be fine, though.

Overwatch is available now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC. Overwatch 2 will be available at some point in the future for the same platforms.

https://twitter.com/PlayOverwatch/status/1193967354222239744

Daemon X Machina is out now, bringing with it the promise of classic mech action to Switch owners, but for developers Marvelous, there’s plenty of work left to do. They recently published an update roadmap (via Nintendo Everything) detailing the content they’ll be adding to their action game in the coming months, and for players, there’s some interesting stuff to look forward to.

Prior to the game’s launch, the developers stated that multiplayer would be coming to the game after release, and now we know exactly when that’s going to happen. In October, Daemon X Machina will receive 1v1 and 2v2 battle modes, as well as rankings for bounties. Then in early November, Marvelous are adding new costumes and Arsenals, while also teasing three collaborations with “popular franchises” (we can only hope one of them is Armored Core).

Late November will bring special Reclaimers for co-op, in addition to new weapons, bosses, and armour. This will be followed in December by even more new Reclaimers for co-op, and more new weapons and armour.

Daemon X Machina is out now for the Switch. You can read our review of the game through here.

I’m not sure what happened exactly, but September this year was about the most packed that I can personally ever remember it being game wise. But don’t let yourself get too burned out now, as next month we’ve still got a few heavy hitters, and one of them is The Outer Worlds. The next game from Obsidian Entertainment, it’s an RPG that’s promising a lot, and today we got a look at the game’s opening moments.

Provided via VGC, the gameplay footage comes directly from Tokyo Game Show 2019. You don’t get to see the game’s opening cinematic or the character creation, it hops right into the action after that part is done. You see some encounters with a few hostile humans and animals. We also get to see some of the game’s conversations that will lead into some morally grey areas. Check it out.

The Outer Worlds will release October 25th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, with a Switch version announced for a later date. The game is hoping to launch a new franchise, so let’s cross our fingers it manages to deliver.

Square Enix is the developer of some of the biggest Japanese RPG series in the world with the likes of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest under their banner. But it can be easy to forget at times that they have quite the history of other RPGs besides those two. One such blast from the past is Star Ocean, a series that dropped off last gen. Well, it’s making a comeback with a HD remaster of a remake of the first time, and it’ll be here by the end of the year.

Square Enix announced that Star Ocean: First Departure R would be releasing worldwide across all regions in December. As of now there’s only been mention of a digital release, with a price tag of $20.99 / £16.99 / £16.99. Originally released for the PSP, the remaster will take us all the way back to the beginning of the franchise, and it’s up for preorder in most regions now.

Star Ocean: First Departure R will release for PlayStation 4 and Switch December 5th. For a look at the game’s remastered look and features, take a look through here.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is slated to come out later this year, and along with it comes Trine: Ultimate Collection. It was slated to come out on all major platforms excluding the Nintendo Switch, which seemed like an odd omission since Trine 4 solo will release alongside other consoles and PC. Well, thankfully for Switch owners, that changes today.

As you can see below, developer Frozenbyte Games released an announcement trailer for that version of the game. It will include the entire Trine series, including the upcoming Trine 4. A physical edition will also be available that has a soundtrack taken from the whole series, Trine 4 artbook and a world map, and you can check that out here.

Trine: Ultimate Collection will release this fall for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch and PC. It’s unclear at this time if the Switch version is slated to come day and date with previously announced editions.

Nintendo’s upcoming RPG, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, has been highlighting its incredible cast over the few months in anticipation for the game’s release next month. From the villains, to the supporting characters, and the in-between, we’ve seen a little bit of everything. Now, we get a look at the broader picture of things with a trailer highlighting one of the titular houses, House of the Black Eagles.

In a trailer released by Nintendo, we get a look at the entire faction in the game. You’ll see a lot of familiar faces, as we’ve detailed a lot of them through the months, including the leader of the house, Edelgard, who is the future Empress of the Adrestian Empire. Check it out below.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is slated for release July 26th on Nintendo Switch. You can check out the trailer for what promises to be an epic story in the meantime.

It’s a good thing The Coalition’s Rod Fergusson (currently busy with Gears 5) didn’t stick around at Epic Games to cancel Fortnite. The title is still a huge earner for Epic Games, making $203 million on all platforms in May 2019, according to SuperData. While it topped console earnings, beating out competitors like FIFA 19 and Mortal Kombat 11, it placed fifth behind other giants like League of Legends and Dungeon Fighter Online on PC.

The mobile space was headlined by Honour of Kings and Perfect World – Fortnite didn’t even rank in the top 10. It’s also worth noting that despite this month being improvement over April 2019’s earnings, thanks to the introduction of a new season and Battle Pass, it’s still down from May 2018’s record earnings by 38 percent.

Fortnite has been attempting to up the ante with new limited time events that tie in with other properties. There was a limited time mode focused on John Wick and a crossover with Nike Air Jordans last month. Even if the battle royale market is more saturated than ever, Fortnite still remains the most dominant property of them all. Let’s see how long Epic Games can keep it that way.