“Hot Wheels Unleashed – Game of the Year Edition is no longer coming on Dec 15, 2022 as previously announced. We will update with a new date when we have more information to share,” the update reads.

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Microsoft has announced the first wave of titles coming to Game Pass in December 2022, starting with the 2D adventure title Eastward and Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season. Both are available starting today for Xbox consoles, cloud, and PC. Totally Reliable Delivery Service is also available for PC subscribers.

As announced earlier, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga comes to the cloud, consoles and PC on December 6th. tinyBuild’s Hello Neighbor 2 is also available on the same day for the same platforms, followed by retro-style RPG Chained Echoes and Metal: Hellsinger (specifically for Xbox One) on December 8th.

On December 13th, High on Life and Potion Craft are available for cloud, consoles and PC. Hot Wheels Unleashed – Game of the Year Edition and Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan follow on December 15th.

Of course, several titles will leave Game Pass on December 15th. Check out the list below:

• Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Breathedge (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Firewatch (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Lake (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Neoverse (Cloud and Console)
• Race with Ryan (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (Console) EA Play
• Transformers: Battlegrounds (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Additional titles could be announced at The Game Awards on December 8th, so stay tuned.

Other games coming to the service include Amazing Cultivation Simulator, which is out now on the service, Moonscars, set for Septebmer 27, Eville, set for October 11, and Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, set for 2023.

Four games published by Skybound have also been announced for the subscription service: Big Con, Rainbow Billy, and The Walking Dead will be coming to Game Pass this year. The fourth game, Homestead Arcana, will be coming to Game Pass in 2023.

The most recent announcement for Game Pass is Gungrave G.O.R.E., which is slated to come to the subscription service on day one of its release—November 22.

Earlier this month, Xbox boss Phil Spencer had revealed that, owing to the company’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty games will also be making their way on to Game Pass.

Skybound Games has announced a release date for The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series, a collection of all content in the franchise till date. It’s out on September 10th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC for $49.99. Along with all four main seasons, the collection will include The Walking Dead: Michonne mini-series and the DLC 400 Days.

There will also be a number of digital bonuses, over 10 hours of developer commentary, and behind-the-scenes features like concept art and character art. A “Return of The Walking Dead” documentary short will also be included, along with a music player for listening to more than 140 tracks. If that wasn’t enough, players can also enable the “graphic black” setting for all episodes to give it a look more in vein of the Walking Dead graphic novels.

Creative director Kent Mudle said, “Graphic black is a loving tribute to the source material and a powerful art style that makes the game look like a living comic book. An idea the team formulated and perfected with The Final Season, this new visual styling offers longtime fans a way to play the series again in a brand-new light while giving new audiences a smooth visual ride across all seasons.”

With over 23 episodes and more than 50 hours of gameplay, The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series is a great way to experience the long and tragic story of Clementine. From playing as Lee Everett to controlling Clementine and growing up with her, players will make choices that define her fate. For more information the various editions, head here. Check out our review of The Walking Dead: The Final Season here.

Skybound Games recently wrapped up Clementine’s story arc after picking up Telltale’s The Walking Dead series following the studio’s closure, but clearly they’re not done with that world yet. Though they have plans for more games in the future (preliminary ones, at the very least), before they get to that, they’re going to take a look back at what’s come before one final time.

They’ve announced The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series, due out this September for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC (where it will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store, just as the final two episodes of The Final Season were). The collection will include all four seasons of the game, and the three episodes-long side-series, The Walking Dead: Michonne. All seasons will be boosted by graphical enhancements, while there will also be a total of 10 hours of developer commentary, not to mention a behind-the-scenes documentary short.

The collection is coming in the form of three editions, though the priciest one has already been sold out- there were only 100 of the Signature Pack, which was price at $349.99, included the game itself, an Ericson School for Troubled Youth t-shirt, a Disco Broccoli plush, Clementine & Lee enamel pins, a Kenny hat, Clementine nesting dolls, a 10” Clementine & Lee Diorama, an 18”x24” art print, and another art print signed by members of the development team, voice actors, and Robert Kirkman (creator of The Walking Dead). All of this was included in a signature stamped box.

So what’s left, then? There’re two more editions you can purchase (which aren’t available in a limited capacity, so there’s no rush). The Guardian Pack (available for $249.99) includes everything mentioned above other than the signature stamp box and the signed art print, while the Protector Pack (priced at $99.99) is one step down, without the diorama and the 18”x24” art print.

You can make your purchases at the Skybound store through here. Meanwhile, make sure you give our review for The Walking Dead: The Final Season a read.

Of all the different forms of media The Walking Dead has inhabited, Telltale’s series is where the series has been at its best. A large part of this is due to Clementine, the little girl we first met seven years ago as Lee, and have stewarded through land of monsters ever since. Over the years, we’ve watched her grow from a scared little girl who needed protection to a confident teenager more than capable of protecting others. She is who we made her: our friend, our daughter, ourselves, and the emotional center of Telltale’s series since the beginning. It’s still true here; Clementine is an exceptional character (voiced with aplomb by Melissa Hutchison), and the core of The Walking Dead’s appeal. Without her, the series doesn’t work. Telltale knows this, which is why Clementine is front and center during The Final Season. This is the end of her story, and it’s a good one.

"You don’t need to be familiar with earlier seasons of The Walking Dead to follow along, though it will undoubtedly help. The game quickly recaps the events of Season 1 and Season 2 at the outset, allowing you to remake core decisions and summarizing the plot so far."

The final season picks up as the series always has: you’re alone. Clementine, now 16 years old, is in charge of taking care of Alvin Jr., the young boy from Season 2. They’re driving the road, years into the zombie apocalypse, looking for supplies when they run across an old train station that looks like it’s been fortified against walkers. Clem and AJ are running out of food, so they stop. What they find is promising, but things go sideways and they’re forced to flee. They are rescued by a group of kids who run what’s left of an old boarding school for troubled youth. Clem and AJ make friends with the other kids and want to stay, but, as always, things go wrong. The real monsters are always other people.

I won’t go into more details, because the story is quite good and the deserves to be experienced with fresh eyes. You don’t need to be familiar with earlier seasons of The Walking Dead to follow along, though it will undoubtedly help. The game quickly recaps the events of Season 1 and Season 2 at the outset, allowing you to remake core decisions and summarizing the plot so far. You can also import data from The New Frontier if you had it. I did not (I have played Season 1 and 2, but not The New Frontier), but I was able to understand what was going on without having seen it. The game occasionally flashes back to earlier games and past characters (both Clem and AJ have serious emotional trauma to work through), but the game does a good job setting up who these places and events are and why they matter. I wouldn’t recommend jumping straight into The Final Season – the other seasons are quite good and deserving of your time, and the game is better when you have an emotional attachment to and understanding of these characters – but you can start here if you want.

"AJ is always watching and listening, and he remembers the lessons Clementine teaches him, inserting them into normal conversations and using them to make decisions later on. It’s your job to give him the right lessons, and your choices determine who he’s going to be."

The elements that you expect from a Telltale game are all here: choices, quick-time events, and small puzzles to solve dot the area between cutscenes, which are frequent. Telltale games often play like interactive movies: you watch a lot of what happens, interacting when choices need to be made and Clem needs to do something. The cool thing here is that your choices matter. AJ is always watching and listening, and he remembers the lessons Clementine teaches him, inserting them into normal conversations and using them to make decisions later on. It’s your job to give him the right lessons, and your choices determine who he’s going to be. The story, and its outcomes, change significantly, too. Characters live and die based on what you do, and you’ll have to choose who you want to cultivate relationships with at certain times. AJ makes different decisions based on the lessons you teach him, and a seemingly minor choice in one part of the game can have serious outcome later on. This isn’t The Witcher, but Telltale has learned from the past successes of games like Guardians of the Galaxy and Batman: The Enemy Within and applied them here.

They’ve also implemented more action-based gameplay. During certain segments, Clem will have to navigate hostile territory filled with walkers (or other people), taking out enemies with her knife, a bow, or a gun, and making sure she doesn’t get killed in the process. Walkers can be stunned with one button, taking them out of the fight long enough to deliver the final blow, or killed outright. Knowing which option to use in a given situation is crucial; Clem can fight off one walker at a time, but if two get the jump on her, she’s done. Taking out walkers requires mixing in stuns to break up groups and using quick kills when you have the chance. Similarly, when using a bow or gun, you gotta aim for the head. None of this gameplay is particularly complex, and you have to be on the ball – if you wait too long to stun or kill a zombie before they get to you, they will overpower Clem’s attack whether you’ve pressed the button or not, and aiming can be finicky at times, at least on an analog stick – but these sections work well overall and add some spice to the game.

Then there are the characters. Clem and AJ are absolute standouts, but most of the cast is interesting. Particular credit must be given to Violet, a girl with issues connecting but who really just wants friends; Louis, a funny, self-deprecating musician who adds charm whenever he’s on-screen; Tennessee, a young, kind, artistic boy with a troubled past; Ruby, delightful Southerner and team mom; and Willy, the loveable dingus with a desire to blow stuff up. There are other characters, too, and honestly that might not always be a good thing. All of the characters are well-acted and the interactions with them are fun, but there are just aren’t enough to make all of them fleshed out to the degree you’d probably want given how heavily the game focuses on your relationship with the other kids.

"It’s about Clem and AJ, and their dynamic gravitates between older sister and younger brother and mother and son. But it’s also about the other kids at the school, about the relationships we form with others, about trauma and grief and loss and building something new. It’s about a father and his adopted daughter. A girl and her adopted son. About learning to say goodbye."

What’s most impressive is that The Final Season doesn’t feel truncated or like all of the pieces don’t fit. The game’s development issues are well known, but Skybound and the folks from Telltale who returned to finish the story did a good job. That doesn’t mean, however, that it is free of flaws. While this is easily among the best playing Telltale games, it’s still pretty barebones in terms of gameplay. This didn’t bother me because I was so invested in the story, but is worth noting. I also ran into a bug after a certain choice that required me to restart the game and spend about 20 minutes getting back to where I was. Again, not gamebreaking, but irritating. Other than that, this is a very good game, and I was happy to explore the environments, chatting with the other characters, killing walkers, enjoying the story, and looking for collectibles to decorate Clem and AJ’s room until the game ended.

And man, is the ending perfect. There are multiple endings, of course, which depend on what you do, but the final shot is a fitting conclusion to Clem and AJ’s story, no matter how it goes. The Walking Dead has always been about family, and The Final Season continues that theme. It’s about Clem and AJ, and their dynamic gravitates between older sister and younger brother and mother and son. But it’s also about the other kids at the school, about the relationships we form with others, about trauma and grief and loss and building something new. It’s about a father and his adopted daughter. A girl and her adopted son. About learning to say goodbye. About the bonds we build, and how, in tragedy, we can somehow form a family. There are always going to be monsters in the world. That won’t change. But who we are – the people we choose to be when fighting those monsters – is what matters. It’s about what Lee taught Clementine. It’s about what Clementine teaches AJ. It’s not about those that we bury. But how we, the living, go on after they’re gone.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Clementine’s story is finally coming through an end. After trials and tribulations, The Walking Dead: The Final Season is finally at its final episode, and new custodians Skybound Games have released a short trailer to give us a taste of what’s in store for us when the episode, called “Take Us Back”, finally arrives a few days from now.

Things are obviously looking pretty grim, which we would expect from a series like this, especially after the events of the previous episode. Clementine, AJ, and the surviving characters are looking like they’re in a tight spot, and things are going to get hairier before they get any better- if they even get any better. You can never be too sure with The Walking Dead. Take a look at the trailer below.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season’s fourth and final episode arrives for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (exclusively through the Epic Games Store) on March 26- but that might not be the end of The Walking Dead games made by Skybound.

Though there’s been some troubling news lately about The Walking Dead games following the news that Overkill’s The Walking Dead has been delayed on consoles yet again, on the license’s much better regarded and loved graphic adventure games side of things, things have been looking up. With Skybound Games picking up the series following Telltalte’s closure, the final season is underway once again, with Episode 3 having been released recently. And it looks like they may keep on going with the license once the season is done as well.

Recently, Skybound Games’ official The Walking Dead Twitter account put up an update, asking a “hypothetical” question about what sort of game based on the license fans would like to see get made next, following it up with a cheeky “asking for a friend”. Skybound Games’ own Twitter account followed up on that, mentioning that they’re looking for suggestions for new games, rather than continuing a game that is currently ongoing as it is- so no Season 5, then.

It isn’t surprising, of course, to see that a license as big as The Walking Dead isn’t just going to fizzle out once the final season is done and dusted, but following the tumultuous few months it has seen recently, it’s good to see nonetheless that it still does have a future for fans to look forward to. In the meantime, Clementine’s story will be coming to an end when the final episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season launches in March.

https://twitter.com/TheWalkingDead/status/1088585556148158466

https://twitter.com/skyboundgames/status/1088601487024914432

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Yes, we had Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain but those were prequels. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was a spin-off that focused on Raiden (and was somewhat confirmed as non-canon by creator Hideo Kojima). As it stands, Metal Gear Solid 4 offered the most complete ending for Solid Snake possible as he embraced the desire to live for himself despite all the trauma faced. There’s also all that jazz about the Patriots being defeated, Meryl getting married and everyone generally living happily ever after as well.

Skybound Games’ The Walking Dead: The Final Season, formerly in development at Telltale Games before the company’s bankruptcy, recently saw the release of Episode 3: Broken Toys. While the events of Broken Toys are still pretty fresh (no spoilers here, don’t worry), it seems we won’t have to wait long for the fourth episode to wrap things up. According to the episode menu in-game, as per DualShockers, Episode 4: Take Us Back arrives on March 26th.

Take this with some grain of salt, since Skybound Games hasn’t officially announced a release date. It’s even possible that there’s a slight delay in case of other problems, or additional polish required. Regardless, it’s good to know that Clementine’s journey will be coming to an end sooner rather than never.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is currently available for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. PC players who are picking it up for the first time will have to head to the Epic Games Store for purchasing. If you’re a pre-existing owner of the Season Pass from Steam, though, you’ll still receive the final episode on that platform.

Development troubles may have dogged the title after Telltale Games shut down, but The Walking Dead: The Final Season is still going strong thanks to Skybound Games. Episode 3 – Broken Toys is set to release next week, and will see Clementine fighting to get her people back. There’s also an interesting cameo that longtime fans of the series will recognize. Check it out below.

The trailer teases some interesting mechanics for Episode 3 – Broken Toys. To rescue her friends, Clem will have to blend in with a horde of zombies and provide a distraction. How players will handle their journey through this season could affect the final outcome, so make those choices wisely.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season – Episode 3 will release on January 15th for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The remaining episodes will be available exclusively on Epic Games Store for PC players. Those who purchased the Season Pass on Steam will still receive the remaining episodes, however.