These will likely be free for all players, though how they’ll be unlocked (and whether any emotes are included) remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more details when the update drops this Friday. Published by Electronic Arts, Lost in Random released in September 2021 for Xbox and PlayStation platforms along with Nintendo Switch and PC. You can check out our official review here.

As for Sackboy: A Big Adventure, it’s been available since November 2020 for PS4 and PS5. It stars LittleBigPlanet’s Sackboy on a platforming quest to the people of Loom from the big, bad Vex. Along with co-op for up to four players, it also supports cross-gen online play. For more details, read our review here.

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1510988057536778240

Despite randomness being at the center of this world there is actually a very strict order that everyone must adhere to that divides everyone up into classes that live in different districts based on the numbers 1 through 6. The focus of the story are two sisters; Even and Odd. As they learn, an official roll of a die can completely change the trajectory of your life, which is exactly what happens to Odd, Even’s sister. Who Even then spends the game trying to rescue, working her way up from the town of “oners” all the way up to the bourgeois “sixers”, which is of course where Odd was taken after rolling a six with the queen. This unfolds in a rather well-done opening cutscene that sets everything up perfectly. It’s a story that’s easy and fun to get behind, just as Even and her new friend Dicey are great protagonists to root for.

The game shines brightest when it’s focusing on those elements, with a plethora of well-written and voiced dialogue trees that Even can engage in throughout the adventure with a sizable cast of fittingly bizarre characters. Throughout my entire playtime I was consistently intrigued by the folks Even came across, and the wonderfully strange world they inhabit, and I couldn’t get enough of its winding sidewalks, twisted structures, and preposterous characters. The game’s many linear alleyways and Victorian streets do blend together a bit much and dabble in same-yness from time to time, and I’ll admit I got lost a couple of times because of how similar some areas tended to look, but thanks to the generally linear layout and Dicey occasionally signaling where to go, those moments were rare and short-lived. The music of course follows suit with the visuals with a score straight out of MediEvil. I can confidently say fans of this general aesthetic will be particularly pleased with the overall vibe of Lost in Random.

"Lost in Random still delivers a fascinating tale in a bewitching world that shouldn’t be missed by fans of such things."

The two main hemispheres of Lost in Random‘s gameplay are running around and talking to different characters and fighting the many evil minions that stand in Even’s way. The former is where most of the story develops, important items are exchanged, and where I consider the game to be at its most engaging. Not every character or joke totally landed with me but the quality of the voice acting, character design, and writing here is a real treat, and I was always excited to see what weirdo awaited Even around the next cobblestone corner. Even the narrator has a personality to him that you’ll notice more and more as he gets flustered when you don’t do what he says, or when you die and he excuses it by proclaiming it just didn’t happen. The dialogue trees aren’t always superficial ones either. Depending on what you say, you can bypass entire side quests and reap rewards early, or miss entire opportunities as well. Not quite enough to warrant replays on their own perhaps, but still a nice wrinkle in the dialogue sections that help keep you that much more engaged. My one gripe is that the vast majority of in-game lip syncing is woefully off, an oversight that is spotlighted intensely with such expressive characters. A small blemish though, considering this otherwise extremely well-realized series of characters and conversations.

The latter mentioned combat of the game doesn’t fare quite as well, but still has some notable things going for it. Firstly, Even doesn’t really have anything other than her slingshot. While this can’t do damage to enemies on its own, it can slowly chip away at enemies and score you crystals. Dicey picks the crystals up, and the more you have the more cards get drawn to your hand. Each card represents an item you could have a chance at getting depending on how you roll Dicey. Ideally, you want to wait for a full hand to roll to have the best chance of getting as many useful items as possible, but you can roll as soon as you get a card if it’s something you really want. The higher number you roll, the more options you have for cards to activate.

Cards can be anything from weapons to health, shields, and battle modifiers like slowing down time. All of these options do add a sense of depth to the combat, but given that your selection is quite limited by Dicey only being able to roll very low numbers for the first several hours of the game, it can make this system feel like more of an acquired taste than it actually is. It’s really rather inventive in that it gives you familiar options to choose from every time, but never feels predictable either, given the inherent randomness of each roll. So while you generally always have a good shot at an item you want, especially after customizing your deck, you will still be forced to improvise with bad hands from time to time. It’s just a shame that Dicey’s initial limitations hold the variety of the entire system back for such a large portion of the game.

"In some ways, developer Zoink have outdone themselves and successfully punched above their weight here."

It also doesn’t help that actually using these items in combat can be a bit clunky and frustrating at times, especially when the camera is getting caught on some of the world’s many uneven surfaces and environmental objects. As you might imagine, melee attacks, bombs, and projectiles suffer the most from this. What’s more, the general combat loop of cracking away at crystals, rolling dicey, then using an item or two until they’re gone and repeating, goes on a bit too long in my opinion and the novelty of it tends to wane before most fights are over. It stops short of every feeling totally arduous, but some tedium does creep into the longer fights. This is helped a bit later on in the game when you have access to more cards and items, but not much. Granted, it’s clearly not a combat system that is designed to provide the instant gratification that more typical action games go for, and as such, it should be approached by patient players that don’t mind something a little slower and – at times – repetitive. But even with that in mind, I couldn’t help but feel like many of the longer combat segments, that send multiple waves of the same few enemy types your way, tended to drag long before they were over. I will say that time stopping while you roll and being able to send Dicey to out of reach areas to pick up crystals are a couple of well-conceived touches that do help everything go down a bit smoother.

Lost in Random’s visual aesthetic might lure some into thinking that they’re in for an action-heavy experience similar to MediEvil or Alice: Madness Returns, but it actually ends up being a fairly even split between slowly exploring and taking in that entrancing world – and a purposefully unique combat system that leans more into its novelties than the basic fundamentals. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of that, but the fact that there’s not quite enough variety or refinement to fully do justice to the game’s many wonderful ideas is a bit of a letdown – despite it making up for some of that as the game progresses. In some ways, developer Zoink have outdone themselves and successfully punched above their weight here, especially considering their previous games Fe and Ghost Giant are much smaller and simpler games. It’s nice to see them roll some dice of their own on such fascinating ideas and see them come together this well. While it might struggle to fully realize its own vision in some ways, the overall experience still manages to instill a sense of wonder and beguilement that sticks with you long after you’ve put the controller down.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

This week’s free offerings on the Epic Games Store are quite varied. They include Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs 2, Sports Interactive’s Football Manager 2020 and Zoink’s Stick It to the Man. You’ll need an Epic Games account to claim all of these games and the Epic Games Launcher to play install and play them.

Watch Dogs 2 launched in 2016 and served as a dramatic improvement to the previous game. It sees hacker Marcus Holloway joining DedSec after being convicted by ctOS 2.0 in San Francisco. The group then makes it their mission to take down the ctOS before it can harm more people.

Football Manager 2020 is the latest management simulation from Sports Interactive and features teams from 53 countries and 26 leagues. It’s still fairly popular and serves as the premiere title for those wanting to manage their own football team. Finally, there’s Stick It to the Man, a fun puzzle game which sees protagonist Ray suddenly having an arm extending from his brain along with mind-reading powers.

All in all, not a bad selection of games – you have until September 24th to claim them. RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 Complete Edition is next week’s free game so stay tuned until then.

Lest you think Zoink was laying low following the average Fe (under the EA Originals banner), the studio’s latest title Ghost Giant has been announced exclusively for PS4 and PlayStation VR. Check out the first trailer below.

The story looks straightforward enough – a kid named Louis suddenly encounters a ghost who also happens to be a giant. From there, the giant (who is the player) helps out with various things and encounters various other characters. Touted as a puzzle adventure title, Ghost Giant features a fair bit of mystery as well. Who is the giant? What is its purpose?

Though it’s being developed “exclusively” for PlayStation VR, there is a chance that Ghost Giant could come to other platforms. After, many of the studio’s other titles like Fe, Stick It To The Man! and Zombie Vikings have at least released for PC as well. Nonetheless, it looks like a great concept for VR play.

What else could Sony have in store for E3 2018? Stay tuned for more information in the coming days.

Publisher Electronic Arts hasn’t exactly been seen in a bright light lately, what with the closure of studios and heavy-handed approach to in-game monetization. That being said, it does have some nice projects coming up like Zoink’s Fe. The EA Originals title is a whimsical platformer which is being published as part of EA’s on-going initiative with indies.

While speaking to WCCF Tech, director Andreas Beijer offered some new information on the story length but also promised that EA wasn’t having any kind of influence on the game’s vision.

“It has been amazing to have them onboard actually. I understand it might sound like I’m paid to say this but that’s the honest truth. They have provided so much help without meddling with the artistic vision of the game and it has been fantastic for us to be able to use their experience and knowledge of making and publishing games,” said Beijer.

As for the overall story length, Beijer says you can expect the main story to run 7 to 8 hours overall. The overall world is divided into sections so you can explore the beginning bits freely while other parts open up along the way.

“If you were set on just completing the ‘main quest’ I would think perhaps [it would last] about 7-8 hours. Then you are free to roam around and find all the secrets and that really depends on the player how much time that takes. It’s hard to say really. I’m thinking of the world of Fe as big enough to get lost in but small enough to get to know it all.”

The overall nature of Fe is intriguing given its focus on singing, climbing giant creatures and whatnot. It’s out on February 16th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

The gorgeous adventure game Fe, the beautiful and stylistically stunning indie game backed by EA’s Originals label, has been a long time coming- but the wait is almost at an end as, during the Nintendo Direct Mini presentation yesterday, Nintendo confirmed that Fe, which is also coming to the Switch, will be launching on February 16.

In addition to the Switch, the game will also be coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC (exclusively via the Origin store) on that day. The game will set players free in its world, allowing them to forge their own path and make their own adventure, with minimal direction and handholding. Its aesthetics, sounds, and flavor will be strongly Nordic inspired.

Zoink’s Fe marks the second EA release on the Switch, and is likely to meet a good fate on the system thanks to its audience taking to indie games well. It is due out on PC, PS4, and Xbox One in addition to the Switch next month.

To get the answers to these questions, GamingBolt spoke to Fe director Andreas Beijer who outlined the inspiration for the game and challenges going forward.

"In the world of Fe the forest is connected through a vocal energy that binds everything together. The forest is full of animals and plants that use this energy to communicate with each other."

Fe‘s story focuses on man’s personal narrative with nature. How did the team’s experiences with forests and wildlife fuel the vision for Fe?

Almost all of us at Zoink grew up in the countryside. We spent a lot of time in the forests as kids and we were quite free to explore and play there.

We tend to talk about different game ideas quite often so the idea of doing something with that same freedom came up. I remember telling about an encounter with a deer that I had. I was trying to sneak up to it without it noticing me, barefoot through the grass, and I was almost able to touch it before it ran away. Several of us had memories like that. So we distilled and mixed our memories of playing in the forest down to the game that is now Fe.

What motivated you to work with EA as part of the EA Originals program? What benefits has the program offered thus far?

We have released a few games prior to Fe, both independently and through smaller publishers. With Fe we felt we wanted the support that a bigger publisher would bring. We went talking to EA and showed them an early prototype of Fe. They were quite excited! They were just about to start up their EA originals program and they felt that Fe would be a good fit for that.

EA originals has honestly been awesome for us. They have given us great feedback and help without meddling with the creative side of things and enabled us to take more time to polish the game. We also have access to people testing the game in a way that we never had before, which is fantastic. We are truly happy with the collaboration.

A game with minimal narrative is tough to pull off. With Fe encouraging players to experiment, how do you go about teaching them the game’s more complex mechanics?

It’s quite tricky. We try to serve the challenges in a way that makes the player feel that they just happened to discover the things we try to teach them and we use the environment a lot to give hints. There are some instances where we have to tell the player what buttons to press to use a certain mechanic but we try to the let the player figure out what they can use the mechanic for. It takes a lot of testing to find the right balance. Our idea has been that the player should feel free but without too much frustration.

How do the game’s various mechanics and ecosystem interact with each other to allow for progression? What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in implementing this?

In the world of Fe the forest is connected through a vocal energy that binds everything together. The forest is full of animals and plants that use this energy to communicate with each other. Animals can sing to plants to have them do different things. You can also learn to speak to the forest yourself and have animals and plants help you progress further. Riding on deers, having plants give you berries that you can use and things like that.

I would say that it’s not so much about an ecosystem but more about getting to know the forest and the creatures and plants that lives there by communicating with them.

"I would say finding the balance of freedom without the player getting too lost is the hardest part to get right. It takes a lot of testing."

How would you say the “hands-off” aspect of Fe‘s gameplay works? Could you give us a few examples of the same?

As I said earlier, we aim for freedom but without too much frustration. We don’t want the player to be reluctant to explore out of fear of getting lost. We try to let the player understand as much as possible by themselves but we let the game help out when needed. For instance we have animals that can try to call for your attention and show you things of interest. However the player is also free to take detours and discover things on their own.

What are some of the challenges faced when balancing the game’s difficulty?

I would say finding the balance of freedom without the player getting too lost is the hardest part to get right. It takes a lot of testing. What we as developers feel is obvious isn’t always as obvious to the player. In a way, as developers, we live in the world of Fe on a daily basis, so we have to try to see it from the perspective of someone who has never seen it before.

Other than that our main focus is to make a game that is quite forgiving, even though there are parts of the game that are more challenging. You don’t need to be a hard core gamer to play Fe.

What kind of environments can players expect in Fe? Will there be a number of secrets and collectibles to find?

The environments are inspired by Nordic forests but a bit more mysterious and fantastical than the real thing. We have dense forests, open plains, mountains, coastal areas and other biomes where you find different animals and plants. There’s also remnants of an old civilization seen here and there. It is however an interconnected world without any load times between different areas. There are a lot of secrets and collectibles for the player to find. There are secrets that help the player proceed and those that let the player understand more about the world, its history and the dark two legged creatures that we call the Silent ones.

When implementing the control scheme for Fe, how did you strike a balance between responsiveness and simplicity versus complexity and more exploration-based functions?

We have focused on getting the movement right so that the player can move fluently through the environment. Run, then jump to a tree, then climb up the tree and throw yourself from the treetop and glide through the air and make all that feel like one coherent motion. We have tried to have all mechanics be smooth and playful like that so it doesn’t get in the way of exploration but rather entice the player to move around and explore.

"To try to answer the question in a broader sense, in my experience, developers always aim to do the best games that they can with the tools, the time and the resources at their disposal."

How long is a typical playthrough of Fe? Can we expect any additional content to be added down the line?

Since it’s a world where you can explore a lot by yourself and in your own pace it’s a bit hard to give an exact number of hours. However it’s absolutely not a triple A title with hundreds of hours of gameplay, it’s still very much an artistic indie game at its core. I usually think of the game world as being big enough to get lost in, but small enough to get to know. As for additional content I really can’t tell you. It comes down to how the game will be received.

When exactly will Fe release?

We don’t want to rush it so all I can say now is that it will be released early next year and will be available on PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4 and on Switch. We are still working hard to make everything in the game shine.

Will the game be receiving Xbox One X support and is it going to run at native 4K resolution and 60fps?

We haven’t tested it properly on that system yet so I can’t say. We will soon though so it’s going to be very interesting to see what we can do with that.

Given that Xbox One X is a radical overhaul of the Xbox One, do you see developers taking full advantage of the hardware?

It was just recently made available so I’d say it will take time before anyone is able to use its full potential. Making good games is quite hard work and takes a long time. To try to answer the question in a broader sense, in my experience, developers always aim to do the best games that they can with the tools, the time and the resources at their disposal. I guess, using the full potential of the X comes down to the question if it’s going to make the specific game you make a lot better, because it’ll probably take time away from doing other things that could benefit the game on all the other platforms as well. But honestly, I’ve yet to play a full game on Xbox One X so this is all hypothetical.

"Both PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X have fantastic hardware specs so as usual I think it comes down to what games will be available to the players."

What are your thoughts on the console wars that is going on between PS4 Pro and Xbox One X?

I think that there always different views of what’s the better system. I remember the same discussion from a hundred years ago about the 8-bit NES and the Sega Master System. Both PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X have fantastic hardware specs so as usual I think it comes down to what games will be available to the players.

Has the frame rate and resolutions for the base versions (PS4 and Xbox One) finalized?

We are still doing a lot of optimizing so I’m afraid it’s too early to say.

What are your thoughts on the Switch? How are you planning to use the console’s unique features for the game?

It feels great to release Fe on Switch. That’s something we really wanted to do because Fe is a game that we believe would work really well on that console and also, the Nintendo crowd is such a supportive, great group of people. As for unique features I don’t want to say yet because we’re still trying different things out.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

I really hope that everyone will enjoy Fe and thank you so much for your interest!

For all the power that the Xbox One X touts, it’s still not the next generation of Xbox hardware. This stop-gap console upgrade is still very much dependent on the Xbox One’s line-up and unlike the PS4 Pro, there aren’t exactly tons of exclusives to choose from. It also doesn’t help that the Xbox One will retail for $499 when it releases while the PS4 Pro costs $399.

Still, there is that hook of developers utilizing the power of the Xbox One X to offer better visuals than the PS4 Pro. How tough will that be? GamingBolt spoke to Andreas Beijer, who’s directing the indie platformer Fe about games potentially utilizing the full power of the Xbox One X and how tough it is considering they must support the Xbox One as well.

Beijer said that, “It was just recently made available so I’d say it will take time before anyone is able to use its full potential. Making good games is quite hard work and takes a long time. To try to answer the question in a broader sense, in my experience, developers always aim to do the best games that they can with the tools, the time and the resources at their disposal.”I guess, using the full potential of the X comes down to the question if it’s going to make the specific game you make a lot better, because it’ll probably take time away from doing other things that could benefit the game on all the other platforms as well. But honestly, I’ve yet to play a full game on Xbox One X so this is all hypothetical.”

As for the console wars that are going to happen between the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, Beijer said it will come down to the games available for both audiences.

“I think that there always different views of what’s the better system. I remember the same discussion from a hundred years ago about the 8-bit NES and the Sega Master System. Both Playstation 4 Pro and Xbox One X have fantastic hardware specs so as usual I think it comes down to what games will be available to the players.”

The Xbox One X releases on November 7th worldwide. Fe, on the other hand, will arrive in Q1/Q2 2018 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.