January 22nd sees the arrival of Flock, Magical Delicacy, Tchia, The Case of the Golden Idol, and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess on consoles for Game Pass Standard subscribers. They’re joined by Gigantic: Rampage Edition, playable for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers, and Starbound. January 28th sees the arrival of two brand new titles – Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap and Eternal Strands.

Both are playable on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. Shady Part of Me debuts on January 29th for all tiers, and Sniper Elite: Resistance sneaks in on January 30th for Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The month caps off with Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector on January 31st for cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.

But wait, there’s more, as Far Cry New Dawn will be added for all subscribers on February 4th. Of course, there will be titles leaving the service on January 31st. Check them out below.

• Anuchard (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Broforce Forever (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Darkest Dungeon (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Death’s Door (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Maquette (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Expectation was moderate following Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s announcement, perhaps given the mediocracy of Assassins Creed’s side-scrolling Chronicles games, but The Lost Crown, in fact, will be remembered as a modern platforming masterpiece. Deep combat, enthralling, satisfying platforming, and time manipulation powers to unleash upon a host of enemies render this action-adventure game an exhilarating must play.

]]> 605136 https://gamingbolt.com/neon-white-nickelodeon-all-star-brawl-2-lead-game-pass-wave-1-lineup-for-july Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:40:27 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=592215 Microsoft has revealed the next batch of games that will be added to the ever-expanding Game Pass catalog over the coming couple of weeks, and there’s a handful of notable relatively smaller but intriguing games for subscribers to keep an eye on.

For starters, July 3 will bring Typhoon Studios’ first-person sci-fi action-adventure game Journey to the Savage Planet, and it will be joined by crossover platform fighter Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, with both games being available to subscribers on PC, console, and cloud.

July 9 will bring another couple of games in the form of Big Ant Studios’ Cricket 24 and Color Gray Games’ acclaimed adventure title The Case of the Golden Idol, both on PC, console, and cloud. They will be followed on July 11 by Tchia coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and cloud, and by Neon White coming to those same platforms in addition to Xbox One.

Finally, July 16 will bring Skaule’s 2D platformer Magical Delicacy, while co-op multiplayer flight game Flock will also get a day one release on Game Pass on the same day.

Set on a fictional tropical archipelago inspired by New Caledonia, Tchia focuses primarily on traversal mechanics involving gliding and nimble, acrobatic actions, while the titular protagonist’s soul jumping ability serves as the game’s other central pillar, allowing players to assume control of a number of different animals and objects found throughout the open world map.

Last month, Awaceb released a new update for the game, adding new Soul Melodies, cosmetics, and more.

Tchia is currently available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

Additionally, the developer has also confirmed that Tchia is now available via Steam. Its Steam release is, notably enough, also accompanied by plenty of new content arriving in the form of a free update. That includes eight new Soul Melodies, such as Super Boat, which enables faster sailing, Acrobat Mode, which enables significantly higher jumps, Human Torch, which lets you shoot fireballs, and more.

Meanwhile, players can now also wear new cosmetics to make themselves look like a variety of different animals, which, in turn, will attract those animals to you (which “has no benefit other than looking super cool”, according to Awaceb). There’s also a new setting that lets you play with an infinite Soul Meter. Check out the trailer below for more details.

Tchia is currently available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

REDFALL

Redfall always looked like it was going to be very different from Arkane’s traditional offerings, but the general expectation was that, given the studio’s innate talent and impeccable track record, it would at least be a good, well put together game. In the end, it definitely wasn’t. Not only does Redfall almost completely lack the strengths one usually associates an Arkane game with, it’s not even good at the new things it tries, with everything from its open world and its co-op gameplay to its loot mechanis coming with major issues. Add to all of that some significan technical hiccups, and what you have is a game that woefully falls short of expectations for an Arkane joint.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: GOLLUM

Let’s be fair here, no one really expected The Lord of the Rings: Gollum to be anything more than middling or passably enjoyable at best- but we also didn’t expect it to be literally one of the worst games in recent memory. Daedalic Entertainment’s stealth action-adventure game took its sweet time to finally release, and when it did, it stumbled with its first step and fell flat on its face. Nothing about The Lord of the Rings: Gollum works. It has boring quest design, little to no exploration, broken combat and traversal mechanics, and a deluge of technical and performance problems that make it nigh on impossible to get through. You don’t play The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. You endure it.

LAYERS OF FEAR

For a while, Bloober Team has been pumping out psychological horror games that range from middling to genuinely good, and this year, the studio went back to the very beginning to bring back Layers of Fear. Combining, connecting, and reimagining the first two games while adding its own new content on top, the new Layers of Fear looks excellent and has a fascinating premise- but as is often the case with Bloober, it doesn’t do justice to that premise. It ends up being a fairly dull, repetetive, and rote game that relies on its visual prowess to the exclusion of almost everything else. We can only hope the Silent Hill 2 remake fares significantly better.

TCHIA

We’d had our eye on Tchia for a while before it launched, with Awaceb’s tropical action-adventure game looking increasingly promising with each of its pre-launch showings, and though the final product is certainly not without its merits, it didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Yes, it has a gorgeous setting, and making your way around the island is fun, for the most part. But the game’s mechanics and systems never quite manage to get their hooks in, leaving us with a pretty but fairly unremarkable experience.

CRIME BOSS: ROCKAY CITY

Over the years, many have tried their hand at the co-op first person shooter heist genre, and very few have managed to enjoy the kind of success that the Payday series has seen. Crime Boss: Rockay City was certainly eyeing that throne, and with its star-studded cast of actors, it looked like it might actually take a big swing. The actual game itself, however, was not only disappointing, it was just downright terrible. Whether you’re playing its single player roguelike campaign or diving into its co-op offerings, the game’s aggressive mediocrity taints every second you spend with it, with its awful voice acting, bland design, repetitive loop, and boring core gameplay dragging down the experience into the doldrums.

RAVENBOUND

Ravenbound has a promising premise on paper as an open world roguelite set in a world inspired by Scandinavian folklore, but when you actually get down to playing the game, you realize that it’s woefully underbaked in almost every way that matters. Its world is a vast one, but given how empty, bland, and vapid it generally feels, exploration ends up being significantly de-emphasized. Combat can get repetitive instead of decent enemy variety, while the game also does itself no favours with its poorly balanced difficulty curve. Add to that an unfortunately healthy dose of technical issues, and you get a pretty underwhelming game.

FORSPOKEN

A big new AAA open world IP from Square Enix? To say that people were curious to see how Forspoken would fare would be an understatement, even back when it was called Project Athia, though unfortunately, it didn’t even come close to matching expectations. A premise that’s interesting on paper is let down by annoying characters and poor writing. An open world that should have been begging to be explored ended up being empty and uninteresting. The combat system, while flashy and enjoyable, failed to make up for deficiencies in boring quest design. The fact that Forspoken failed to meet Square Enix’s commercial expectations was, ultimately, not surprising in the slightest.

THE LAST OF US PART 1 PC

Frankly, we’re still baffled that this was allowed to exist. Naughty Dog, more than almost any other studio in the entire industry, is associated with an obsessive level of attention to detail and quality assurance. Polish and Naughty Dog go hand-in-hand- which is why it’s so surprising that The Last of Us Part 1’s PC port might be one of the worst PC ports in recent memory. Even looking at brief clips and individual screenshots, it was hard to believe that something this broken had been allowed to release. When you actually played it, it quickly became apparent that the state of the game was somehow even worse. It’s a real shame, too, because this will forever be remembered as the manner in which this legendary franchise made its PC debut.

LEGO 2K DRIVE

Unlike many other games on this list, LEGO 2K Drive is not without its merits. Its world is vibrant and colourful, it has an impressive suite of customization options for building any kind of car you want, and, as you’d expect from a LEGO game, it’s very kid-friendly and easy to get into. It is, however, also quite vapid. What you see is very much what you get, and with that lack of depth, LEGO 2K Drive ends up like a shallow experience that runs out of steam too quickly, whether that’s because of its how uninteresting open world exploration is, or its lackluster optional content, or any number of other issues.

LEAP

LEAP isn’t exactly a game that’s grabbed a whole lot of headlines, so to say that expectations were high wouldn’t exactly be fair. But this is still very much a game that doesn’t do justice to its interesting premise. The sci-fi competitive FPS boasts slick visuals and cool traversal options, but all of that gets bogged down in its tedious gameplay loop and how unsatisfying its moment-to-moment gameplay largely feels. Especially in a genre that’s this competitive, LEAP fails to make a mark in any meaningful way.

STRAYED LIGHTS

We don’t want to be unfair on Strayed Lights here, because for a game developed by a small team with a unique vision, it does actually get some things right. The story, the music, and the aesthetic, for instance, are legitimately solid and worthy of praise. There’s plenty else in the game, however, that drags the experience down, from its frustrating combat to the lackluster platform to its technical issues. The fact that there are parts of the game that are genuinelty good makes the parts that aren’t feel that much more frustrating.

STRAY BLADE

You’ll never see us turning down the chance to play a new Soulslike, especially one that’s trying to shake up the genre’s formula the way Stray Blade was promising it would. But though there’s something to be said about the idea of viewing the genre through a less gloomy lens, the actual execution of many of the game’s core pillars leaves a lot to be desired. The clunky controls, uninspired level design, and technical issues combine to make Stray Blade quite a frustrating experience, even if it isn’t one that’s totally without its merits.

CRASH TEAM RUMBLE

Again, in the name of fairness, it’s worth pointing out that Crash Team Rumble is definitely a game that you can have plenty of fun with- especially for fans of the series, given how well it translates that Crash feel into a MOBA experience. As it stands right now though, it’s also pretty barebones, with its launch offerings, especially in terms of the modes on offer, being quite limited. Of course, we’re hoping that Crash Team Rumble will be supported so well that including it on this list in retrospect feels like a mistake- but with live service games, you can never tell how long of a lifespan to expect.

GREYHILL INCIDENT

A small production in every way possible, criticising Greyhill Incident would almost feel unfair under most circumstances- but unfortunately, there’s plenty to criticize in this game. The core premise of a survival horror game where your main enemies are aliens is certainly an interesting one, but from its awful dialogue to its painfully shallow mechanics to the mind-numbing level design, Greyhill Incident messes up (to say the very least) in too many ways to be anything more than a disappointment. And even that might be a generous description.

RISEN (PS4)

In the many, many years since its launch, the original Risen has amassed a reputation as one of the RPG genre’s proper diamonds in the rough, though with its 2023 port, there was way more of the rough than there was of the diamond. Janky animations, disappointing and minimal updates to the gameplay and visuals, clunky combat, and technical problems combined to paint the ageing experience in what wasn’t exactly the most flattering light. Maybe this is one flawed gem that should have been left in the past.

Taking to Twitter, the indie developer announced that in the first six weeks after its release, Tchia has been played by over a million players. The game was also available via the PlayStation Game Catalog for PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers for no additional cost, so that number isn’t necessarily indicative of its sales. Even so, it has attracted a solid playerbase.

Meanwhile, the developer has also announced that it’s partnering with Maximum Games to release a physical “Oleti” edition of the game, which will also include in-game cosmetics for Tchia’s outfits, her glider, her boat, and her ukulele based on Kepler Interactive’s titles, including Sifu, Scorn, Cat Quest, and the upcoming Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn.

Tchia is available on PS5, PS4, and PC. Read our review of the game through here.

https://twitter.com/awaceb/status/1653746361492205568

The game starts with a grandma rounding up orphaned children to tell a bedtime story by a campfire, which revolves around our player character Tchia and her adventures across the many islands of New Caledonia. The narrative opens with Tchia celebrating her birthday with her loving father, but those moments of joy are quickly swept away when a helicopter arrives on to the scene and an armed man takes her father away to a mysterious place. This kickstarts Tchia’s journey to do everything in her power to get her father back, and in doing so – restore the peace back to her land.

"Awaceb’s love and appreciation for this place and its culture shines through in the game’s rich visual presentation."

The story seems to have a folksy feel to it with its simplistic setup and characters that can almost pass as caricatures, but the developers do a good job of not taking this fabled narrative too seriously. There are light-hearted moments of humor sprinkled throughout the narrative, which are to be appreciated because the core story feels pretty predictable and uneventful. The game teases some heavy themes like hatred between different tribes of the island, but those themes are quickly brushed off and what we get is a forgettable story with little in the name of memorable characters or plot revelations.

The pretty basic writing also does little to no favors to the rather bland story. The characters in Tchia are voiced in the native language of the land, so the story is told through translated dialogues which mostly ends up being boring. Furthermore, the narrative pacing is all over the place, with the first half of the story being Tchia essentially running errands for leads, and it’s only in the latter half that we get to meet the core characters and witness events that are vital to the story.

" Music plays an important part in Tchia’s narrative, and almost each of the essential story beats are accompanied by a song in the native language of the land."

Music plays an important part in Tchia’s narrative, and almost each of the essential story beats are accompanied by a song in the setting’s native language. Tchia mostly sticks to playing the Ukulele, but some songs will feature different local instruments which serve to showcase the rich musical history of the land. The rhythm minigames are pretty basic but enjoyable to get through, and the game also allows you to sit back and let Tchia play by herself through an auto play option.

Tchia is an open world sandbox, and the moment to moment gameplay revolves around completing objectives and exploring the many islands that constitute the game’s rendition of New Caledonia. As something that was lifted straight out of Super Mario Odyssey’s hat, Tchia has a special ability to perform a Soul Jump which allows her to assume the role of any creature or non living object as she sees fit. So you can become a rock, a coconut, a fish, a bird, or any creature or any object that catches your fancy. Tchia can also climb up any surface until she runs out of stamina, and can use a parachute to gracefully glide through the air and safely reach the surface.

Anyways, these mechanics come together to make Tchia a very nimble character to control, which makes just getting around the islands an incredibly fun activity. You can climb to high viewpoints littered throughout the islands, and scream at the top of your voice to reveal nearby areas of interest. You can also take part in many side activities like races courses, sculpting, and rock balancing challenges among others. They are fun to engage with during the first couple of times, but since the formula remains the same for each type of activity – doing them over and over again can quickly grow out to become a frustrating affair. Furthermore, the rewards received from completing these challenges aren’t that significant – be it stat upgrades to Tchia’s Soul Jump ability or cosmetic additions to her wardrobe. As such, I mostly avoided indulging in side activities after having a first taste of each new hustle that was presented to me.

"The first half of the game is focused on fetch quests for one NPC after another, and when things start to get interesting – the game is already inching close to the climax."

But what’s really egregious is how the main missions are designed. Objectives are generally spaced far from each other, and thanks to a lack of a proper fast travel option – getting from point A to point B consumes most of your mission playtime. Further making matters worse is the fact that the objectives aren’t really fun for the most part. The first half of the game is focused on fetch quests for one NPC after another, and when things start to get interesting – the game is already inching close to the climax.

The combat isn’t even introduced until two-thirds of the game, and frankly speaking – it’s nothing worth the wait. The combat revolves around trying to soul jump to inflammable objects, and using the throw ability to light your enemies on fire. It’s pretty basic in its scope, and things can quickly get pretty chaotic as you try to find the next inflammable object to hurl at your adversary. Enemy AI is pretty poor, and there were several instances of enemies getting stuck on geometry during my time with the game.

"Tchia puts a decent first impression with its faithful rendition of a hidden tropical wonder and fun traversal mechanics. But the game quickly tends to devolve into a subpar open world experience complete with all the trappings that usually come with that description."

One of the most impressive aspects of Tchia is undoubtedly its superb visuals that are a beautiful mix of cartoony and realistic. Awaceb has crafted a wonderful world that looks just like a tropical wonder. The islands are filled to the brim with lush green grass and tall palm trees as far as the eye can see, and each of these islands are visually distinct from one another. The clear blue waters surrounding the islands is also a beauty to behold. There are times when you are cruising around the ocean on your makeshift boat while the sun is settling down, and when the swelling music kicks in – Tchia is simply at its best.

Briefly touching upon the performance, Tchia isn’t a very stable game on the PS5 and I experienced a dozen or so crashes and bugs that required me to restart the game time and time again. Thankfully, the frame rate remained constant throughout and there were little to no gameplay hitches or slowdowns. But it’s also important to mention that the review build I played was a couple of updates behind the launch version, and the latest update seems to have resolved most of the crashing issues.

In conclusion, Tchia puts a decent first impression with its faithful rendition of a hidden tropical wonder and fun traversal mechanics. But the game quickly tends to devolve into a subpar open world experience complete with all the trappings that usually come with that description. Boring mission design and repetitive side activities can quickly come together to make this experience a dull time, which is a shame considering that Tchia could have been so much more.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

In Tchia, players will have a variety of cosmetic customization options that will allow you to change titular protagonist Tchia’s outfits, hair, and more, with various clothing options, masks, and several accessories included, some of which will be inspired by New Caledonian culture. Players will also be able to customize their boat, with options available for sails, flags, wood finishes, and liveries.

Additionally, Tchia will also allow players to use a camera to click photographs, which, according to Awaceb, will be a fully analog and detailed mechanic similarly to the fully playable ukulele. Players will be able to choose between various film rolls, lenses, and even use a tripod, along with various other options included. Check out the video below for more details.

Tchia is out on March 21 for PS5, PS4, and PC.

Other titles include Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, Haven, Life is Strange: True Colors, Rainbow Six Extraction and Tchia on PS4 and PS5. PS4 players also get Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Life is Strange 2, NEO: The World Ends with You, RAGE 2, Street Fighter 5 Champion Edition, and Untitled Goose Game. Of course, these are all playable on PS5, thanks to backward compatibility.

For Premium subscribers, Ape Escape 2 and Ridge Racer Type 4 for PlayStation One are coming along with Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror from the PlayStation Portable era. The latter benefits from up-rendering, quick saving, video filters and a rewind function. Stay tuned for more details when the above titles go live next week.