The legacy of *that* amiibo article will never die

_{[As you may or may not have read, Brett Makedonski has taken his leave of Destructoid for pastures new. Brett's hard work, candid nature, and wry eye for headlines helped pumped the life blood of our humble home every day for seven years. We'll miss him dearly and daily. Thanks for everything, doode. We love you. - Moyse]}

At GDC 2017, ?we reached the apex of acting like dumbasses at the GDC Awards. Plunked down at a VIP table with other media, we smuggled in daiquiri ingredients and a case of Bud Light. This is a nice event. People dress up. There’s wine on every table. We arrived early, made a pitcher of daiquiris and offered drinks to nearby hopeful indie developers.

Maybe 15 minutes before the awards started, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier sat down at his assigned spot at our table. He looked around and absently asked “Where’s our water pitcher?” A beat passed. A second beat passed. Then, with completely perfect and probably-unintended comedic timing, he looked at our jug of daiquiris and said “...That&rs??quo;s our water pitcher, isn’t it?” Former PCWorld writer Hayden Dingman put the smuggest smile on his face and just went “Yep. Want some?” Steven giggled like he was faded even though I know he wasn’t. Dave Thier of Forbes looked up for a split second and then went back to counting his briefcase full of money. 

These are the things I’ll take with me. Destructoid has given me the opportunity to travel more than most people will travel in a lifetime. It’s given me access to talk to some of the most creative and highly-regarded minds in the industry. It’s given me a trillion dollars’ worth of free video games. I appreciate all of that, but I’ll most cherish memories like Niero w??aking me up at 2am to drink wine with him, or me and Steven intentionally missing the last train so that we’d have an? excuse to walk across the entirety of Tokyo in the early morning, or dancing until 6am to '80s hits in a Reykjavik bar named after The Big Lebowski.

After seven years of writing full-time for Destructoid, I’m leaving. For 95% of people, games writing is like a jack-in-the-box. You crank, and the? music plays, and you keep cranking, and the music keeps playing. Everyone knows that music’s going to eventually stop and the fun is going to end. It’s not a matter of if; it’s always a matter of when. That clown springs to life for near?ly everyone, it’s just a little later for some peopl??e.

This year has been tough on me, and I know that’s not a novel feeling even though it’s a completely valid one. I didn’t get to travel?. I didn’t get to talk to any creators. I didn’t get to see any of my many friends that I’ve made in this industry. Those are the perks of this job for me. Instead, I clocked in every day, blogged some news, and clocked out. Days melted together. I felt l??ike I didn’t have anything to say, and that’s how you know you’re done and dusted as a writer. I don’t really expect events in 2021 and I know I can’t take another year of being de-energized. It’s time for a change.

I’ll spare you the vague statements about what’s next. I’m leaving g??ames. I’m going to work for a poppin’ startup called Loupe. It’s a streaming and sales platform for sports cards and other collectibles. I’ve been doing some freelance writing for them for most of 2020, and I realized it’s something I want to explore further. The sports card hobby is extremely hot, and there’s an exciting opportunity to grow a business from scratch. Most important, it’s what’s energizing me right now.

I have a bajilli??on thank-y??ous and well wishes to send out. 

It all starts with Niero, as it should. Niero: Thank you for taking a chance on me, but, more importantly, thank you for sticking by this site and this community. It would’ve been so easy to give up so many different times. You’ve done so much for so many people, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. You’re a fantastic drinking buddy, and about half of those me??mories I mention up top prominently feature the shenanigans you drag??ged me into.

Dale: I’ve told you this a lot over the years but I’ll say it one last time: I sincerely appreciate you taking me under your wing and mentoring me -- whether you meant to or not. You taught me a lot about what it means to be a professional and how to conduct myself. I don’t think I would’ve gotten this far without the lessons you shared with ??me. Also, you’re one hell of a travel buddy.

Jordan: I would’ve written this farewell many years ago if it weren’t for you. This site would’ve crumbled so many times without your dedication to keeping it afloat. You?’ve been my rock this entire time, through good ??and bad. You’re the best coworker I’ve ever had, you’re a better friend, and I think the world of you.

Chris: You have to be the hardest working blogger in the games industry and I admire the hell out of that. Your leadership and decision-making over these last five years has helped the site run more efficiently than it ever has b?efore. People see your output on the front page, but they don’t see everything you do behind the scenes. They’d be even more impressed than they already are.

Moyse: I respect just how damn much you care. You care about your work, you care about the community??, you care about the reputation of the site, and you care about people. When you do th??is long enough, it’s easy to become numb to a lot of?? it. That doesn’t seem to happen with you. Your heart is in the right place and that’s a tremendous quality for a tremendous person.

CJ: I fell in love with your satire, except for when you almost got us sued into oblivion. I think you’re an incredibly talented editor who has elevated the quality of our features, except fo?r when you want rewrites from me. Another memory I’m taking along is your surprisingly excellent and spirited rendition of Bjork at karaoke. 

Community Team: Thanks so much to all of you for always having our backs. I know I haven’t expressed my gratitude enough, but you all make our jobs so much easier. You all do a great job keeping everything buzzing along and that’s something that definitely goes overlooked. When people call me an idiot, you tell them that they’re, in fact, the idiot. I appreciate that even though it probably was me who was the biggest idiot all along.

Steven: Comrad, I truly miss exploring the world with you. What a stupid job we lucked into. Kyle: We did so much together, but thanks most for getting Podtoid up and running again. It was a great way to spend an evening once a week. Darren: I’m sorry Kyle got Podtoid up and running again. Zack: Thanks for not letting me die. Ray: Now that the Zodiac Killer’s cipher has been solved, do just a??scend into Heaven or how does that work?

Yes, there are so many of you whom I missed. Old bosses, longtime peers, community? members I particularly adore, people I’ve regrettably lost touch with -- if you interacted with me at Destructoid, thanks for contributing something to my life. You’ve made this last seven years better in some capacity. Unless you sucked. Go kick rocks if you sucked.

This i?s already 1,200 words, and I’ve shed about that many tears while writing it. Let me leave you with this, though: Do me a favor and tell a writer you like that you appreciate their work. It takes ten nice remarks to offset one shitty remark, and we see a lot more of the latter. It takes a very tough person to truly block that all out. I don’t think any of us would be writers if we didn’t seek validation ?anyway.

Y’all go rest y’all souls, ‘cause I know I’ma meet you up at the crossroads. Y’all k??now I forever got love for my Dtoid fam, baby.

The post Goodbye Destructoid, from Brett Makedonski <3 appeared first on Destructoid.

One last Epic freebie for the road

Dinosaurs are on the short list of good things. They go, in order: Back massages, dinosaurs, astronauts. That's it. That's compr???ehensive.

You have a fine opportunity to close 2020 with dinosaurs, to begin the new year with dinosaurs, or to bridge the two with (you guessed it) dinosaurs. Epic is back to its weekly free games and Jurassic World Evolution is first up. Life finds a way (to es?cape from its c?age and ruin your park).

Although Epic hasn't come out and said it's doing another year of weekly free games, that trend certainly looks set to continue. After Jurassic World Evolution expires on January 7, Crying Suns takes its place. Fr??ee video games almost makes the cut of life's good things. Almost.

Jurassic World Evolution [Epic Games Store]

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Knowledge is power, and you're powerless

With the most matter-of-fact teases, Devolver ha??s told us that it has a lot up its sleeve next year. That's it. That's the post, there's not really any more information.

Okay, there's a bit more. Devolver plans to launch five games in 2021 that aren't yet announce??d:

Which of the five unannounced Devolver Digital games releasing next ?year is your most anticip?ated?

— Devolver Digital (@devolverdigital) December 30, 2020

Coupled with the six announced titles on Devolver's website, it seems as though we can expect 11 Devolver gam?es next year -- although odds are that number will be added to or subtracted from at so??me point. 

So, five mystery Devolver games in 2021. They better be Hour, Day, Second (that's the prequel), Week, and Month.

The post Devolver has a lot of new games in 2021, but you don’t get to know what they are appeared first on Destructoid.

Job listings always dish the goods

Respawn Entertainment is keeping busy as of late. As it should be! This is a studio that has proven itself time and time again in recent years, cementing itself as one of EA's most valuable development teams thanks to the success of games like Titanfall 2, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Thanks to a job listing, we know that one of Respawn's newes??t projects won't be something we're already familiar with. A role for a software engineer mentions that?? Respawn is looking for someone to "join a small new team being formed to develop a brand new IP." That could mean absolutely anything. The sky's the limit.

As for Respawn's current affairs, Apex Legends became so successful that EA opened a Canadian branch specifically to focus on that battle royale. Also, it seems as though more Star Wars Jedi titles are in the works, and that a new Titanfall isn't an imminent priority. This new IP w??ill be, at a minimum, the third?? thing that Respawn is tackling all at once.

Generalist Softw?are Engineer -- New IP Incubation Team [Respawn Entertainment]

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18 million by some recent estimates

Make sure you're sitting down for this news: The PlayStation 5 is off? to a tremendous start. This probably won't take you by surprise; it was nearly impossible to find a PS5 (or Xbox Series X for that matter) anytime around launch. De??mand was definitely greater than supply.

According to a Digitimes report (which is behind a paywall but was reported on by Gematsu), Sony will be able to sign?ificantly up its manufacturing to meet the PS5's considerable demand. It expects to reach upwards of 18 million sales by the end of 2021. A big lift in the manufacturing numbers comes from AMD who will be able to nab additional resources for produc??ing the custom CPU.

Thus far, Sony has managed 3.4 million sales in the first four weeks that the PS5 was on the market. That i?s certainly the entirety of the available stock, with the lion?'s share of the sales going to North America and Europe. That's already enough to be deemed "the highest [launch window sales] ever for a PlayStation console," but it would've been a whole lot more without supply chain logistics bottlenecking everything.

PS5 ship?ments to reach 16.??8-18 million units in 2021 [Digitimes via Gematsu]

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Stranded Deep

If I were stuck on a desert island, I'd simply cu??rl up and wait to die. Dehydration, starvation, extreme sunburn -- unlike Destiny's Child, I am not a survivor. I probably wouldn't even get the TV hooked up to wa??tch my three desert island movies!

You, like Gloria Gaynor (or Cake), will survive. You will simply build yourself a gyrocopter and fly high above the sharks. It's so ea??sy, I'm not sure why everyone isn't building themselves gyrocopters at a?ll times. 

Stuck-on-an-island survival game Stranded Deep is free on the Epic Games Store today. Go recreate the first season of Lost and the second season of Lost but no subsequent seasons of Lost.

We'll be back tomorrow to tell you that Solitairica is free. Please try to act surprised.

Stranded Deep [Epic Games Store]

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Half-Life: Alyx

This year was mostly bad for everyone -- and that's a thing that's usually said very hyperbolically because a couple celebrities died or whatever, but in 2020 it feels appropriate for once -- but it wasn't without its silver linings. We got a new Half-Life game! If you're not fortunate enough to have a relatively high-end PC and a virtual reality setup, this silver lining does not apply to you??. What a brutal year.

For those lucky few though, Half-Life: Alyx was worth the wait. (And that itself might be hyperbolic because 13 years is a very long time to wait for a video game.) It's a high-profile showcase of the best VR has to offer. It's also a stunningly good Half-Life game. Swap??ping protagonists and strapping on a headset didn't force Valve to make any concessions with regard to quality. It only amplified things.

Yes, Alyx gives us a continuation of that sweet sweet Half-Life lore, but its legacy is in how effectively it transports players into City 17. The uneasy trepidation of meeting a Vortigaunt for the first time. The tense and tactile way that you reload Alyx's humble arsenal of guns. Squishing an Antlion Grub canister in a health station and then watching as the pins prick your hands to instantly nurse you bac??k from the brink of death. 

You feel as though you're in Alyx's shoes, and that's exactly what Valve set out to accomplish. Half-Life's world is more magical the more immersed you are. VR makes it all possible by really making you feel the whole game. It also helps that Half-Life: Alyx basically came with assurances that we're getting a Half-Life 3 at some point... if you trust that Valve wouldn't leave us dangling from an unbearable cliffhanger again.

If you know, you know. If you don't, I'm so sorry. That's the gift and the curse of VR. You need to see it to believe it. But if you know, then you understand why Half-Life: Alyx is our 2020 PC Game of the Year.

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

As the saying goes: Where there's a will, there's a wisp. And as the other saying goes: Where there's an Ori, there's excellence.

Maybe neither of those are quite household phrases, but the latter is undeniable. A full five years after Ori and the Blind Forest captured hearts and minds, Ori and the Will of the Wisps did it again... just better. 

Will of the Wisps is everything you could want from a sequel. It's bigger, it feels more alive, it's more deliberate, it tells a better story (through a minimalist approach to exposition), its action sequences are grander, and it's more refined. It's simply a better game, and it improves on Blind Forest&nbsp;which was already quit?e excellent. Tho?se five years were well-spent.

Moon Studios has certainly proved that it knows how to make one hell of an indie platformer metroidvania. Whatever's next -- and all signs point to the developer taking a break from Ori -- we can probably rest assured knowing it'll? be quality and?? it won't be rushed. 

If this was Ori's swan song, it was a fantastic way to go out. If more Ori awaits us someday, we'd gladly welcome it. Whichever way it goes, Ori and the Will of the Wisps was abs?olutely fantastic, and that's why it's our 2020 Xbox Game of the Year.

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'Creatively independent'

Tencent, a stupidly massive Chi??nese conglomerate, got a little bigger recently. It added Leyou's assets to its portfolio thanks to a new acquisition.

Leyou likely isn't a name you recognize, but some of its studios will ring a bell. Most notable, Leyou is the parent company of Digital Extremes, which is the developer of Warframe. That's right -- the free-to-play darling Warframe is now a Tencent property.

Following the acquisition, Digital Extremes has been quick to insist that this will affect nothing as far as Warframe's direction is concerned. In a post on its site, Digital Extremes says "We will remain creatively independent ... Tencent is well known for respecting the creative decis??ions and integrity of its studios, and for giving them the autonomy and independence to experiment, innovate and thrive."

As for the future of Warframe, Digital Extremes gives a few specifics. The developer says it's "focused on expanding on next-generation consoles (Xbox Series X/S), innovating with The New War, forging ahead with intense space battles (Corpus Railjack), and more surprises in 2021." Also, Digital Extremes will work with Tencent to bring the Chinese version of Warframe up to speed with the western version.

The Tencent takeover touches more teams than just Digital Extremes. This buyout includes Splash Damage (Gears Tactics developer), Athlon Games, Kingmaker, Radiance, and 20 percent of Certain Affinity (co-developer of Halo Infinite).

Digital Extremes Partners with Tencent [Digital Extremes]

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Flatlined

Random things falling from the sky. NPCs walking straight into walls. The physics going bananas and suddenly killing you out of nowhere. It's the full-blown Cyberpunk 2077 experience!

It looks...older, though. YouTuber Anders Lundbjörk made a PlayStation 1-style Cyberpunk 2077 demake, jamming a surprising number of signature flaws into a video with a runtime less than a minute. It's brilliant even before long-neck Dr. Disre?spect shows up at the very end. A+ work, Anders.

The post The Cyberpunk PS1 demake has all the glitches and bugs yo??u know and love appeared first on Destructoid.

Happy Holidays!

Ten years ago, the year 2033 seemed very far away and the idea of an impending apocalyptic collapse of civilization seemed far-fetched. Now, only 12 years away and with a global life-changing virus under our belt, it's not so funny! Metro 2033 better not become a prophetic documentary.

Get a headstart on the horrors that await with a free copy of Metro 2033 Redux on the Epic Games Store. It's, uh, not the feel-good holiday vibes you crave.? There's snow, though! That should count for something. 

If you're keeping track, Epic has given away Alien: Isolation and Metro 2033 on back-to-back days. Someone ??is trying to fry your nerves. Check back tomorrow when Epic will probably give away a game about missing an international flight because your connecting plane was delayed or a game about sleeping through your final exams in college. Epic is bringing zero chill to the holidays.

Metro 2033 Redux [Epic Games Store]

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Corpo response

Don't cry for CD Projekt Red. Even with everything that's going on over there, the d??ollars and cents still work out. That's what's going to ultimately matter.

CD Projekt Red released a disclosure for investors today that confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 has hit 13 million sa??les. That estimated figure factors already takes into account copies that were purchased and then refunded. Pred??ictably, the publisher omitted an estimate of how many refunds were requested.

It should go without saying, but 13 million is an absolute boatload. That should've been expected for one of the most highly-anticipated entertainment launches in recent memory. For comparison's sake, Red Dead Redemption 2 was in the ballpark of 17 million (shipped, not sold) in roughly the same amount of time after launch. That game was a cultural tour de force two years ago. Cyberpunk 2077 is in the sam?e conversation despite all the issues surrounding it.

CD Projekt Red is making sure investors know that. Amid a drastically dipping stock price and rumors about an investor-led class action lawsuit, the publisher wants the financial-minded to know that Cyberpunk 2077 is still making money hand over fist.

Current report no. 67/2020 [CD Projekt]

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Larry David wrote that headline

Xbox has sputtered and come up short with Games with Gold for most of 2020. That's an unfortunate byproduct of Xbox Game Pass being so well-rounded. Having so many titles on Game Pass means that Games with Gold suffers when it comes to finding mo?re things to add to subscription services -- especially when Xbox probably gets more value out of addin??g them to Game Pass and making that an even more attractive offer.

New year, new ?me. Xbox is starting 2021 off on the right foot with a Games with Gold lineup that has people excited. Chances are there's at least one game in the batch that most subscribers wi??ll find worth downloading.

 The headliner -- or at least the most recent game -- is 2017's moody horror indie platformer Little Nightmares. It's a bizarre piece of art, a lot like Playdead's Inside in some ways. Funny story: Jordan actually played Little Nightmares ;a couple weekends ago and then described it to me as "insane but short." Then he showed me the level with the? chefs.

There's more brand name recognition by moving back another console generation. The Xbox 360 games are generally well-known. Dead Rising and The King of Fighters XIII are also part of the lineup. I'm curious as to how Dead Rising runs on Xbox Series X. I'd assume it doesn't have too much trouble pushing all those zombies on-screen at once. Lastly, Namco's first-person become-a-superhero-and-escape-from-a-lab game from the original Xbox, Breakdown, rounds out the freebies.

Here's the f??ull, ahem, breakdown of January 2021's Xbox Gam??es with Gold:

• Little Nightmares (Xbox One, available January 1 to January 31)
• Dead Rising (Xbox One, available January 16 to February 15)
• The King of Fighters XIII (Xbox 360, available January 1 to January 15)
• Breakdown (original Xbox, available January 16 to January 31)

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Friends optional

Teamwork makes the dream work, but it also cuts your take into fractions. The lone wolves of GTA Online don't always want to carry out big tasks as a grou?p. They'd rather take the spoils all for themselves. A lot more ri?sk, a lot more reward.

Rockstar designed the newest GTA Online Heist, Cayo Perico, to have a singleplayer bent. It's every bit as squad-oriented for people who play in teams?, but it was also perfectly approachable as a solo player. It's the first time Rockstar took solos into consideration when developing a new Heis??t, and part of the community seems to appreciate it.

In an interview with GQ, design director Scott Butchard says "It's something that's been on our minds for quite some time and the community has been vocal about it. It's something we're keen to carry forward. We want to respect teams and players who want to play co-op. But at the same time still allow solo players to still get just as valid an experience out of it. There's perks to both. If you go in there by yourself, you're ta??king 100 percent of the cut and it's a lot easier to do stealth and plan when you're not on comms. With multiple players you can split up and do multiple things at once."

Butchard adds that Rockstar is going to "inject more of that singleplayer element [in future Heists]." In fact, it'll influence the design of future GTA Online content, not just the big flashy Heist missions. GTA Online is a giant social game, but it doesn't have to be. Rockstar's making sure to cater t??o those who go at it alone??.

GTA Online's ?biggest update yet ??was made entirely from home [GQ via PC Gamer]

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It's the perfect organism

Alien: Isolation is basically Home Alone if you really think about it. A bunch of people live on the Sevastopol Space Station, so it's their home. Ripley is alone, in isolation if you will. It all checks out. Alien: Isolation is definitely a Christmas game.

I don't know why I'm trying to sell you on Alien: Isolation which is today's free game on the Epic Games Store. It's an absolute gem of a horror game, and it's the best Alien&nbsp;game maybe ever. It transcends holidays. It's great no matter what season y?ou play it? during.

Go treat yourself to Alien: Isolation because you're worth it. I hope all my opinions about?? this game hold up. I'm too much of a scaredy cat to play it again after I finished it once in 2014.

Alien: Isolation [Epic Games Store]

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New 'n' Tasty 'n' Free

Odd world? You're p??reachin' to the choir, buddy! Ain't nothin' normal about it!

Oh, the video game? Yeah, sure. Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is free today on the Epic Games Store. It's numero dos out of 15? Epic freebies comin' your w??ay.

If you're new to Oddworld, this is a fine place to start. New 'n' Tasty is a remake of the original, meaning that you'll be primed to continue the series if you like what you see. Also, it's an obvious choice for one of the free games, as Oddworld: Soulstorm will launch?? in spring 2021 and be Epic-exclusive on PC.

The comprehensive list of Epic freebies thus far is Cities: Skylines and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty. Gather under the mistletoe with us tomorrow as we smooch t?o another free game.

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty [Epic Games Store]

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And Best Buy makes a special exception

Already in unprecedented territory, we're moving further and further into the uncharted. Hell, we're moving further and further into The Twilight Zone. Shit is downright bizarre right now.

On the heels of Sony and Microsoft both offering full refunds for people who bought Cyberpunk 2077 digitally, there have been two new developments. First, Best Buy announced that is would process refunds for people who have physical copies of the game, even if the?y're opened. It's a special exception that B??est Buy is making considering the state of everything. That offer is good through December 21, so it's something you need to take care of this weekend.

More shocking, CD Projekt has committed to helping expedit??e retail refunds by reimbursing people out of its own pocket:

Update on Retail Refunds //t.co/7hAHo19jfa pic.twitter.com/nFMbhvokvl

— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) December 18, 2020

CD Projekt asks that you try to obtain a refund from the store you bought Cyberpunk 2077 from. If you don't have any luck, send CDPR a support email with proof of purchase by December 21. I guess it's just the honor system holding you to making sure your game ends up in the landfill among all the Atari cartridges of E.T.

Unsurprisingly, CDPR's stock price has fallen off a cliff. It was trading for $31 per share on December 4 (nearly a 12-month high), and it's down to $18.87 at time of writing. It's dramatic but CDPR has spent most of 2020 in th??e $22 to $25 range, even going as low as $14.20 at the start of the pandemic. 

Still, your stock devaluing by 39 percent in two weeks is far from ideal. That's bound to happen when the backlash is so severe that you have to start paying customers out of pocket in a way that no? one else ever has before.

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Great games converge on another great game

You already look stylish when you're slicing and dicing in Ghost of Tsushima, doubly so when?? you're hacking away in black-and-white mode. Add to the aesthetic by infusing your samurai warrior with Kratos, just as Kurosawa intended.

Sucker Punch has brought some of PlayStation's all-time great games to Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, the co-op focused multiplayer mode (that's surprisingly really good). Until January 15, you can unlock outfits from Bloodborne, God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Shadow of the Colossus. Images of all four are in the gallery below.

Each costume is tied to a different class; complete a single story or survival mission to unlock the costume of whichever class you played as. For example, clear a mission as the Hunter to earn Aloy's outfit. Kratos is the Samurai, Aloy is the Hunter, Shadow of the Colossus is the Assassin, and Bloodborne is the Ronin.

New looks from some of PlayStation's heaviest hitters. It won't be long until future games get Ghost of Tsushima skins. It's that good. It's just a shame that Sucker Punch couldn't find a way to shoehorn an inFamous outfit in. I'd play as?? Delsin, the beanie-wearing samurai.

@SuckerPunchProd [Twitter]

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This is all so wild

Late last night, Sony made a massive unprecedented business decision. It pulled the trigger on offering full refunds for anyone who bought Cyberpunk 2077 through the PlayStation Store. That might happen with some low-profile indies, but it doesn't happen to games that are as globally popular and drive as much revenue as Cyberpunk 2077.

You had to think Microsoft would follow suit in due time. Sure enough, Microsoft announced this morning that it's also issuing no-questions-asked refunds for anyone who bought Cyberpunk 2077 through the Microsoft Store.

Cyberpunk 2077: To ensure that every player can get the experience they expect on Xbox, we will be expanding our existing refund policy to offer full refunds to anyone who purchased Cyberpunk 2077 digitally from the Microsoft Store, until further notice. //t.co/04TcniwVzy

— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) December 18, 2020

Here's where you can start processing that refund, but the link is probably going to be hammered over the weekend. Just be pa?tient if you have any troubles. On a related note, CD Projekt's leadership team will probably also be hammered over ??the weekend. What a week.

There was a report that after a lengthy development period, Cyberpunk 2077 was profitable after just one day's worth of sales. Now, that might not be the case anymore. It's not often that we see a giant triple-A game's gross sales and revenue go literally backward. We were always told Cyberpunk 2077 ;would be groundbreaking, but we could've never imagined this woul??d be how.

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The calendar is just a suggestion

Halloween isn't just a day, it's a way of life. It's 365 and one more on Leap Years. That means when Christmas rolls around, it's also Hallowee??n.

Pumpkin Jack is all about that life. Eight days from Christmas, this jack-o-lantern-headed mascot platformer gets a winter update. There's a n??ew Christmas outfit that brings snow whenever it's worn. There's also a new batch of collectibles, as each level has five gifts hidden away; finding all five in any given stage unlocks something special.

With a little seasonal shakeup, Pumpkin Jack has a little more life. Stay tuned for the Presidents' Day updat?e where Jack's gourd?? is replaced with the stone Mount Rushmore heads.

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Kill All Your Friends

A couple days ago, news that Among Us is coming to Switch led Chris to wonder aloud "Why not put it on everything at this point?" That timin??g's pretty sus, bud.

On cue, Among Us is getting ported to other consoles??. Microsoft has revealed that it's coming to Xbox and will be available on Xbox Game Pass at laun?ch:

btw Among Us is coming to XGP on day one of Xbox console availability, which also proves we're definitely not the Impostor //t.co/k4HrpPspip

— Xbox Game Pass (@XboxGamePass) December 17, 2020

The PC version of Among Us joined Game Pass today. Now it's arriving on Xbox consoles sometime in the near future. You're probably safe to assume that a PlayStation announcement is imminent. Among Us ain't goin' away anytime soon.

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Plus, those $10 coupons are back

Fortunately, digital files don't take up any room in the stocking. O??therwise, that thing would be stuffed half a month from now. They only take up space on the hard drive.

You're going to build an entire goddang city today. Epic is g??iving away one free game per day until the end of 2020. The first is Cities: Skylines. You're certai?nly not getting shorted on content with the first game.

This is ??also the start of Epic's holiday sale which is noteworthy in itself -- these things always have decent discounts -- but it ushers in another round of the ridiculous self-replenishing $10-off coupons. You'll g??et a $10 discount on anything that's priced $14.99 or above (pre-orders excluded). Then, once you use it, you'll get another $10-off coupon in its stead. They're limitless.

Anyway, claim Cities: Skylines, check out the holiday sale, take advantage of those coupons. The sale ends on January 7, so you have plenty of time to get after it?. We'll be back tomorrow with another post about the second freebie and a partridge in a pear tree.

Cities: Skylines [Epic Games Store]

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History is doomed to repeat itself

Ubisoft caught a lot of flak for a time-saving microtransaction in Assassin's Creed Odyssey that permanently increased your XP rate by 50 percent. The problem is that a lot of people felt as though Odyssey's grind was specifically tailored to encourage the purchase of the XP-booster. When Assassin's Creed Valhalla launched, it did so without that same $10 microtransaction. It seemed as though Ubisoft was quick to avoid catching that ?heat all over again.

For 36 days. That's how long Ubisoft could resist. With yesterday's 1.1.0 patch, Valhalla got those same time-saving microtransactions that Odyssey launched with. As Game Informer reports, Ubisoft says "As more and more post-launch content becomes available, we want to give the option to players to advance their progression. Utilities allow players who lack the time to fully explore the world of Assassin's Creed Valhalla to be able to acquire the game's best gear, as well as other items, by accelerating their progress. For instance, these players can purchase maps that uncover some interesting locations in?? the world, but would still have to visit and play them to get their rewards."

Here's the thing: This is especially unnecessary in Valhalla. The game doles out skill points with regular frequency, and none of the skills are particularly effective. They all just kinda add up until eventually you're more powerful because the number next to your name is bigger. I genuinely can't imagine buying this XP boost would help you beat Valhalla faster.

But it's flagrant that Ubisoft held off on the boosters until it was clear of microtransactions dominating the launch window conversation. Now that Cyberpunk is the villain, Ubisoft has gone full speed ahead on the time-savers in hopes that they'll fly under the radar. They probably will to be honest. Everyone has a very short attention span. Rest assured that Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a long-ass game (too long-ass in my humble opinion) and none of these time-savers will actually make i??t any shorter.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Sells XP Boosts Now [Game Informer]

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You can probably skip this one

Ummmm, yeahhhhhhh...

If you haven't sworn off using GOG, there's some shekels to be saved in its winter sale. Something tells me CD Projek?t will see lower conversion and revenue than usual with this sales event.

I have a feeling that listing what's discounted is probably just a waste of my time in this particular instance. If you're actually interested, GOG's front page has all the deals. Also, Prison Architect is free for three days.

I wonde?r if anyon?e at CD Projekt has smashed the "Break in Case of Emergency" glass yet.

The post This is kinda awkward, but GOG’s winter sale has started appeared first on Destructoid.

Rest in Paradise

Ghosts are people too. Or, more accurately, ghosts were p??eople too. They need a helpful hand every now and then just like the rest of us.

Give ghosts all the help they need in the new slice-of-life game Cozy Grove from developer Spry Fox (who made Alphabear). Cozy Grove is about exploring a haunted island and performing tasks for the local ghosts, eventually restoring color and joy. There's a pro??minent crafting angle, probably by collec??ting a lot of resources to eventually make items the ghosts need.

It sounds like the perfect thing to kill a little time with each day, much like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. Spry Fox says Cozy Grove has a campaign that reaches beyond 40 hou?rs, and is "designed to span months of playtime."

Cozy Grove comes to PC (Steam and Epic), PS4, Switch, and Xbox One s??ometime in the first half of next year. Until then, the ghosts will have to live in misery just like the? rest of us. There is no escape.

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LeBron Games

How are you at pitching? When you're a big-brained business type, you don't need to sell things. You just need to sell ideas. And they don't even have to b?e good ideas! You ?just have to make them sound good.

Go ahead and pitch Microsoft on the wildest Space Jam game you can think of. If they like your pitch enough, it'?ll get ??turned into a real game and added to Xbox Game Pass.

All of this is a promotion for the LeBron James-starring Space Jam: A New Legacy movie that's due out next year. Microsoft's hostin??g a contest where two pitches for arcade games will go through development and released. All you have to do is pick one of the 16 pre-selected images that best depicts your idea, and then explain it in 500 words or fewer.

Did your mind instantly go to erotic visual novel? Mine neither. But if you can make your Space Jam-themed erotic visual novel sound intriguing enough, Mi?crosoft will probably definitely fund it. Or, maybe pitch a grand strategy 4X game where Bugs Bunny is some kind of emperor. How about a walking simulator where you examine authentic NBA gameplay (traveling joke!). Let's talk, Microsoft. I got ideas for days.

Anyway, two winners get their game made and put on Xbox Game Pass, along with a prize package that consists of: an official credit, LeBron-signed merch, Space Jam and Nike merch, a personalized Xbox Series S (spring f??or an X, Microsoft!), a private screening of the film, and a virtual Mcirosoft coding workshop for their local community.

I've settled on my pitch: It's about a 5'9" games b??logger who gets drafted into the NBA even though he's in his 30s and doesn't have much of a jump shot. It'll be a rhythm-based shmup.

Want to Help Design the Xbox ??Space Jam: A New Legacy Arcade-Style Video Game? [Xbox]

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1.1.0 fixes some stuff but far from all

Assassin's Creed Valhalla just got its second major patch this morning, another much-needed Band-Aid as Ubisoft marches toward making this game function as intended. It really highlighted how long?? this is going to take.

As expected, the update 1.1.0 patch notes are all over the place. There's a bunch of general stuff like optimization and performance stability. There's broad-reaching gameplay tweaks like adjusting enemy? power levels. As far as new content, this update also paved the way for an upcoming Yule Festival, which hasn't been detailed yet.

Most important, there are fixes for a ton of quests that were bugged. Ubisoft se??ems to be prioritizing the quests that affect actual progression while backburnering World Events that won't actually prevent people from continuing to play the game. Just like the first patch, there are approximately 100 different issues that are addressed. Check out the patch notes to see if your specific problem was tackled.

How long will it take until Assassin's Creed Valhalla is in a perfectly acceptable state for the majority of players? A long time. On the game's forums, the mega-thread of known issues seems to be growing faster than bugs are being moved to resolved. In the Player Support sub-forum, people are posting their new bug?s with a new thread popping up approximately every minute. There's obviously a ton of overlap with the same problems being reported multi??ple times, but it's crystal clear that so many people have so many issues that they need fixed.

Me? I've still got a few lingering bugs that are blocking 100 percent completion even though I haven't done everything in all the areas yet. There's not a ton of motivation when I know that I need to wait for? Ubisoft to squash my particular problems. I'm going to leave this one on the figurative shelf for a few months and cross my fingers that Ubisoft gets around to them eventually. There's certainly a ton of other bugs that are higher priority.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla -- Title Update 1.1.0 [Ubisoft]

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Prepare to die

It's a little sadist of Team Meat to ?make the masochists wait an extra month. But, I guess the? masochists will appreciate that punishment.

During last week's Game Awards, we found out that Super Meat Boy Forever is launching on the Epic Games Store on December 23. It spurred us to email PR and ask about timing of the console versions. We got a big ol' "We're not talking about [that] right now." With this morning's announcement that Super Meat Boy Forever will be a Switch exclusive at launch, the vague non-answer made a lot more sense??.

Other platforms won't have to wait too long to jump in the grinder. PlayStation and Xbox versions of Super Meat Boy Forever are expected abo?ut one month lat?er. That presumably means either late January or early February.

I, for one, am fine waiting another month. My reflexes go into hibernation at the end of the year. I just want to wrap up December with the least stressful games you can imagine. Then, once the new year hits, I'm back to peak performance. In fact, I might just wait until summer. Super Meat Boy Forever feels like it has big June vibes? (or maybe my Vibe-?O-Meter isn't calibrated correctly).

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'We need more time'

You've heard of game d??elays. Now let me introduce you t?o subscription service delays.

In terms of sheer bulk, access to the whole EA Play library is a pretty good reason to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. That partnership was announced earlier this year. EA was just hitching its wagon to Game Pass Ultimate, making all of its subscription service offerings available to Ultimate subscriber??s.

It??'s already implemented on consoles, but PC is behind schedule for some reason. Today, the two sides needed to announce that EA Play for PC won't be coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate until sometime in 2021. There's no word about the cause of the delay apart from "We need more time."

A lot of EA's best stuff is on EA Play, and that's certainly valuable for people who subscribe to Ultimate. The website lists about 60 PC games, with stuff like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the Dead Space&n?bsp;games standing out. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers on PC will find out all about that next year.

Update on EA Play: Coming to X??box Game Pass for PC in 2021 [Xbox Wire]

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M-pressive

If you had a thousand bottles of beer on your wall, and every day since Sea of Thieves launched, you took a bottle down and passed it around, you would now have zero bottles of beer on the wall. If Vanessa Carlton started walking on the day Sea of Thieves set sail and only walked one mile each day, she'd have reached her destination and s??he'd see you tonight.

Rare is celebrating the one thousandth day since Sea of Thieves launched on March 20, 2018. It's a game that has maintained a health player base because Microsoft and Rare committed themselves to supporting it through a regular cadence of updates and events. Back on launch day, it was a fascinating social game that lacked depth; it was tough to imagine this is a game that'd stick around for ?years to come. Now it's a model for how live service games should be approached in a lot of regards.

Of course there's more than just the mere mention of Sea of Thieves' longevity. There are commemorative items! Anyone who logs in by December 16 will get a special eyepatch that has the Roman numeral "M" on it. People who have been around since day one will get a gold version of the "M" eyep??atch. 15 million players can't be wrong.

10??00 Days of Play! Sea of Thieves Celebrates with Free Gifts, New Audio Book and More [Xbox Wire]

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