The latest update for Pokemon HOME is adding a Mystery Gift reward system. You know, because we trainers needed more reasons to catch them all. This m??echanic offers r?are Pokemon as prizes to Pokemon players who complete specific goals, and the first one up for grabs is a Shiny Meloetta.

This, to put it plainly, is a big honking deal. Until now, the only way trainers could get themselves a Shiny variant of this elusive Mythical Pokemon was by hacking a fifth-generation or beyond Pokemon game. Thanks to the new Pokemon Home update, however, casual Pokemon players and die-??hard Shiny Hunte?rs alike can finally add this musical-themed 'Mon to their collection without getting gobsmacked by Nintendo's well-loved ban hammer.

How to download Pokemon HOME

If you're one of the many Pokemon players who hasn't created a Pokemon HOME account yet, now's the perfect time to do it. You can download Pokemon HOME onto your smartphone or your Nintendo Switch, and the account-building process is a little different for each system. Let's walk through how to get started on Pokemon HOME.

How to download Pokemon HOME on Nintendo Switch

• Download Pokemon HOME from the Nintendo eShop
• Launch Pokemon HOME from your Switch's Home menu, using whichever Switch account you want to transfer your Pokemon to and from.
• Progress by hitting any button.
• Pick your Language, then hit "Start."
• Read the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice, then agree to it by hitting "Yes."
• When asked if you plan to use Pokémon HOME on your mobile device, select "Yes." If you plan on using Pokemon HOME on mobile, of course.
• If asked if you have linked a Nintendo Account to the mobile version of Pokemon HOME, hit "Yes" or "No," then go through the tutorial

How to download Pokemon Home on a smartphone

• Download Pokemon HOME from your phone's app store.
• Start the app.
• Choose your language, then hit "YES."
• Choose your region and country, then hit "YES."
• Enter your date of birth, then hit "Yes." You can't change this once you've put it in, and certain features of Pokemon HOME are only available to players over the age of sixteen.
• Read and agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Notice, then hit "NEXT."
• Review the info that pops up, then hit "I Agree."
• Select "Link your account" to link the same Nintendo Account you're using with Pokemon HOME on Nintendo Switch. The last thing you want is to lose that Shiny Gholdengo you worked so hard to get because of a network error.
• Click "Yes," then follow the on-screen instructions to link an existing Nintendo Account or create a new one.
• Click "Yes," again to confirm the Nintendo Account link and complete the tutorial.

How to get Shiny Melotta from Pokemon HOME

Before you get your Shiny Meloetta from Pokemon HOME, you'll have to complete the Paldea Pokedex, the Kitakami Pokedex, and the Blueberry Pokedexes. These Pokedexes encompass all the Pokemon found in Pokemon: Scarlet & Violet and its two-part The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC. All 843 of them.

Filling in all three Pokedexes is no simple task, especially since Pokemon HOME won't let you put a Pokemon in a Ninth-Gen Dex slot unless you caught it in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. Luckily, we have some fantastic guides on where to find some of Paldea's rarer Pokemon. Y?our hunt will be difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible.

Once you've transferred all the Pokemon you need to fill the Pokedexes, you'll be eligible to receive a Shiny Meloetta. Click the "Mystery Gift" option in the app's menu, then hit "Search for Gifts." As long ??as you have a solid internet connection, you'll receive a Shiny Meloetta of your very own.

The post How to get?? a free Shiny Meloetta from Pokemon HOME appeared first on Destructoid.

A 3D version of the ridiculously popular board game, Monopoly, is now available on Nintendo Switch.

Ubisoft, in partnership with Hasbro, has launched Monopoly on the Nintendo Switch. Monopoly is the updated, digital version of the game that Ubisoft claims offers improved graphics and gameplay, and comes ten years after the launch of Monopoly Plus on the same platform.

Monopoly, the original board game, was first launched in 1936 and based on a game titled The Landlord’s Game, designed by anti-monopolist Lizzie Magie. Today, there are more than 300 variants, including Star Wars Monopoly and Game of Thrones Monopoly as well as hundreds of local variants. It has also been turned into a card game, in Monopoly Deal, and the mobile game Monopoly Go! is an extremely popular digital version.

In 1998, Hasbro Interactive released a version of the board game on Microsoft Windows that used a three-dimensional top-down depiction of the board, paving the way for modern digital it??erations. These digital variants have made their way to most platforms including, most recently, the Nintendo Switch.

Monopoly is the latest version of the popular board game, published by Ubisoft in partnership with Hasbro. I??t utilizes a three-dimensional city and claims to offer improved visuals compared to earlier versions. As players progress around the board, they can watch it come to life through 3D visuals. Even the time of day changes as the play progresses.

Players that are losing can flip the board to quit, before trying again. Although the gameplay sticks mostly to the original rules, there are additional features like hidden tokens. Monopoly can be played by up to six peo??ple and includes couch co-op using a single controller. There are different game variations, including Fast Mode, to offer some variation.

The post Monopoly Launches On Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

As I previewed The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, there was a moment where the first line ever spoken in the series came back to me. The famous quote from an old man in a cave take?s on a strange reflection in Zelda's solo outing.

"It's dangerous to go alone," the old man began. We know it well. Those iconic words led to our hero of legend taking up the imparted sword to save the land of Hyrule and its princess, Zelda. The roles are reversed in Echoes of Wisdom, with Zelda taking on the mantle of hero ??for the first time (let's just say, officially). And as with the firs??t game, she's not going at it alone.

The Adventure of Zelda

I got to play a couple of small sections in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom while at PAX West. I experienced the start of the game not long after Link and a chunk of Hyrule and its populous get swallowed by mysterious purple rifts. The preview also included the first dungeon, which showcased Echoes of Wisdom's distinct take on puzzle-solving and combat.

Echoes of Wisdom begins at the end of a Link-led adventure. Ganon is defeated once more, but the celebrations have to wait. The spear he wielded caused rifts to spread, taking Link who barely managed to break Zelda free of Ganon's magic. The demo I played took place soon after the intro, where, in a twist, Zelda is blamed for the rifts and is tossed into jail faster than a typical Elder Scrolls protagonist.

Tri this on for size

This is no A Link to the Past, and Zelda can't rely on Link to break her free from her cell??. But help still arrives. It's here you're introduced to Zelda's new partner, a small yellow fairy named ?Tri, whom only the princess can see. Tri offers Zelda a magical tool called the Tri Rod, which can create copies �called echoes �of objects and creatures.

But there are catches, of course. You can't copy every object; the on?es you can shimmer with a gold light. Creatures can only be collected after defeated??. You can also only create so many echoes at once, indicated by the number of yellow triangles floating behind Tri. If you place one more than what's allowed, the first echoed object disappears.

I was given only a small h?andful of these triangles to start, but it was enough. The first object I added to my collection was a wooden table. Stacking three tables like a small staircase allowed me to break out of my cell and make for the exit.

On my way out I was stopped by Impa, who handed me Link's blue cloak for a disguise (which worked for all but three seconds) and a logbook with gameplay info and a map. Reading the logbook also clues you in on how to use echoes you've attained. Once you're equipped with the cloak, pressing the 'R' button makes you twirl. Doing so lets you shred grass as easily as Link could with a sword �and it's just as fun. You?? can also use it in the water for a short boost.

It became established that the king of Hyrule is a ?phony, hence Zelda's surprising incarceration. The meeting with Impa was short, and I left to continue my escape while she went off to ninja-kick some guards. No matter the timeline, Impa still rocks.

Puzzle smarter, not harder

The castle basement is the training ground for the Tri Rod. Rooms filled with guards and puzzle challenges stand between you and sweet, sweet freedom. Zelda is no warrior in Echoes of Wisdom (sorry, Sheik fans). Against platforming puzzle??s and deadly enemies, her success relies on not being strong, but clever. Stacking tables will only get you so far.

Tri is Zelda's constant companion in the?? game, offering thoughts and instructions. With Tri's help, you soon expand your list of objects from tables to beds, boulders, crates, and much more, giving you multiple options on how to approach puzzles and navigation challenges. Boulders and potted trees can grant a vertical boost, while wooden crates or beds help you cross bodies of water.

Sneak Queen

Tables give you a step up, but they can't exactly span over a lengthy gap. Horizontally stacking a few Old Beds, however, might give you just enough reach. The Old Bed does have an amusing second purpose. Hopping on top and pressing the 'A' button lets you sleep, which slowly heals you over time. I was told that, yes, you can heal to full, but it takes longer depending on how much health you've lost. He??arts can be found in the typical ??clay pots and tall grass, sure, but I love the idea of Zelda completely zonking out in the middle of a dungeon on a magic bed.

The castle also introduces the game's stealth mechanics. Patrollin?g guards wandered throughout the castle basement, where shelves lined with items or books created a maze-like path. I did have some trouble, sadly, and I ended up getting caught a few times. But using echoes of the Hyrule Castle Pot, I managed to get past by shattering said urns and hopping over shelves. Soon, freedom was mine.

Dungeon delving

Once I managed to escape, the Nintendo rep quickly ??whisked me off to the next section?? which takes place not long after the castle. I found myself actually inside a rift, called the Still World, which wasn't anything like the Dark World I expected. Chunks of land floated in a sea of swirling miasma, with captured Hylians trapped frozen in time.

Here was the location of the game's first dungeon: Suthorn Ruins. In the starting room was a waypoint marker, a strange-looking object that lets you fast-travel both in dungeons and in t?he overworld. Beyond the door, I learned Tri's other neat trick.

In a bit of a Bind

By sending Tri into objects and creatures, you can manipulate them to open up new paths or solve puzzles i??n a method called "Bind." If a massive stone is in the way, use Bind and then walk to move it. Binding makes an object match your vertical height. Ju?mp and the object will mimic the movement. For those statues that Link would normally need to push onto a button, Bind lets you slide them over easily. Is a button on top of a raised platform? Using Bind and a few stacked tables may be the key.

You can also hold the 'R' button while bound to follow along with moving objects such as mobile platforms and enemies. Yes, this means you can create an echo of an enemy that can climb walls then Bind and "follow" it up vertical cliffs. Binding is a remarkable new tool for Zelda games, and I'm excited to see just how much it'll blow ope?n world exploration.

New challenges await

The castle may have introduced the concepts, but the dungeon is where I was put to task. Puzzles were harder to figure out, demanding a bit more thinking power to complete them. Echoes of Wisdom certainly feels like a Zelda game for fans of the series' puzzles. More than once I had t?o stop and rub my chin for a moment before going at a puzzle from a different angle. Thankfully, with the Tri Rod and a stable of echoes, there ??is no one way to solve a problem.

There were harder, optional puzzles to face in the dungeon. I was assured that critical items such as keys could be attained with the right echoes and some time. The tougher challenges typically result in a chest containing some other rew??ard, like a cache of Rupees.

Unlike the castle guards, the dungeon enemies weren't in any capturing mood. You must use echoes to defend? yourself against foes. Summoning a Moblin echo to chuck spears is certainly a good play against smaller beasts like slimes and bats. But when I went against a heavily armored Darknut, I needed a different approach.

As mentioned, you must outthink not just puzzles but also Zelda's opponents. The Darknut is resistant to blunt weapons, but not against fire. By capturing an Ignizol, a fire enemy, I was able to distract and damage the brute. You can't directly control your echo warrior, but holding the 'ZL' button lets you target an enemy, sending your fighter their way. Using fire and some rocks I heroically hurled in its direction when its back was turned, the Darknut went down and a new echo was mine to claim. Just?? in time, too, as I was about to face a stronger, sadly fami??liar foe.

"Take this"

Imagine my shock when I entered a room to come face to face with an old friend... or so I thought. Shrouded in ?a purple mist and sporting red eyes, Dark Link, or maybe Rift Link, appeared as a mini-boss, wielding his sword and trademark shield.

Defeating the angry doppelganger wasn't a cakewalk for our weaponless Zelda. Even a Darknut echo seemed to have trouble dealing with ??the more nimble foe. But it served well as a shield and distraction. As the two warriors fought in mortal combat, I ran around the arena? chucking pots and boulder echoes at the anti-Link. After I moved into the tall grass that lined a path between two rock platforms, Link lost track of me for a moment. But doing so gave me enough time to bring out another Darknut and continue the fight.

He went down eventually, leaving his sword planted in the ground. The "Mysterious Sword" did apparently belong to the real Link, as his name was carved into it �likely a nod to the opening act of Link's Awakening.

It was here that the quote?? flashed across my mind. "It's dangerous to go alone," the old man said. "Take this." Nearly 40 years after the original game, I found it strangely poetic for Link's sword to at last end up in the hands of the protagonist whose name? is on every game in which he's starred.

Taking up the blade

The sword lets you activate Swordfighter form, during which Zelda glows blue while wearing Link's cap, tunic, and shield. Swordfighter allows you to fight ?enemies as Link, and also slash through slime-like obstructions blocking paths. It gives you all his basic abilities, such as the spin attack and defendi??ng with the shield.

But it's not permanent. The form uses energy, shown as a blue bar underneath your health. It drained rapidly after I activated it, giving me only a few moments?? before it burned out. You can press the activation button to cancel it and save energy. Filling the bar requires you to collect blue bits of energy in the Still World or dropped during battle. In the demo, the blue bar had "Lv. 1" wr??itten on the side, suggesting it can be upgraded.

The Swordfighter form came in handy later against the dungeon's boss, Seismic Talus. Pairing up with a Darkn??ut echo running a distraction, I chipped away at the boss' glowing weak point with boulders and the Swordfighter's blade. Each phase dropped a healthy supply of energy as well, making the fight feel like a ?real brawler.

Out into the world

The boss' defeat announced the end of the demo, which was quickly turned off to prevent cutscene spoilers. Oh well. I was given a chance to briefly check out some of the overworld, though. Doing so also allowed me to really soak in the game's gorgeous visuals. Echoes of Wisdom uses the Link's Awakening remake engine, complete with its charm?ing toybox-like visuals and depth-of-field blur when the camera moves to an isometric angle.

The game is just as beautiful as its top-down precursor. I also noticed i?t ran at a much more consistent framerate with slowdowns rarely occurring, noticeable only when I paused or unpaused the game. Zelda, with her determined face and blue cloak, is pos??itively adorable, and I gleefully navigated her through the demo.

There are puzzle challenges and more to discover in the game's overworld. Treasure chests perched high on platforms gave off Breath of the Wild vibes. I managed to get one by stacking a couple of boxes and using a trampoline for the extra oomph. Various crates reveal Rupees and also fruit such as Refreshing Grapes. Also seemingly influenced by Breath of the Wild??, you can gather ??and eat food for health or combine it into smoothies for greater effect.

Before I finished my time with the game, I found one last blast from the past in Echoes' growing list. While out and about, I was able to use a meat echo that baited Moblins �a hu??morous nod to the original game.

Sadly, I wasn't able to experience everything Echoes of Wisdom has to o??ffer. I didn't discover a town, spend Rupees at a shop, or complete any possible quests. And that irks me! The time I spent with it wasn't nearly enough. I wanted to ask for a little more ti?me. Just let me check out the Bind system some more... or make a smoothie! What happens when I stack two trampolines? Gah, I should have tried that.

I was excited already for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, but the wait for its September 26 launch date is now much more difficult. So far, the Tri Rod is a brillian??t idea f?or a Zelda-led odyssey. Using it to tactfully solve puzzles and fight enemies felt natural and engaging.

My time with Echoes of Wisdom was regretfully short. I came away feeling it could end up being not just a great Zelda adventure, but one of the year's m??ost memorable. We only have a few short w??eeks to find out.

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To say there are a lot of powers to collect in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow ??would be putting it lightly. Every single enemy you fight has a power that can drop. However, if you want that sweet 100% collection, there are a few secret souls you'll need to collect.

These souls belong to creatures referred to as "UMA," or Unidentified Mysterious Animal. In more common terms, you've probably heard them referred to as Cryptids. These are creatures that are said to exist but have no concrete proof that they do. In Dawn of Sorrow, three cryptids are known to roam the v??illain's hideout. You'll need to use information from the UMA News articles to find and attract a Yeti, Flying Humanoid, and Mothman.

Where to find Yeti's Soul

You'll find the Yeti lurking about in the very first "room" of the game. It's actually an outdoor area, and he'll be skulking in the forested background. You? can't reach back there and get him; you'll have to lure him out with some delicious food.

To lure him out, you'll need to get the soul from a Waiter Skeleton. They're mostly found in the Demon Guest House. Waiter souls are hard to obtain because the cowardly bone bags will throw a plate of food at you and run away. You'll need some??thing to either stop them, like a petrifying ability, or a heavy club to crush their weakness. Once you have a good system, it's time to kill them over and over again until one of them drops their soul.

With your new power, go back to that opening area in The Lost Village. Use the Waiter Skeleton soul to throw some delicious curry down onto the ground. The Yeti will smell it immediately and leap out of the background to grab a bite. The only problem is that the food is too spicy! The Yeti will take damage trying to eat i?t, and then immediately retreat to the background again. Attacking him before he gets the curry will also spook him off. You'll have to use a similar tactic on him as you did with the Waiter Skeleton. He is weak to fire, so if you have a flame sword or ability, that should help take him down.

Yeti's soul is a unique Guardian power that summons a... "white orb of dark power that grows as it rolls." It's a snowball. It makes a snowball that you can move? along the ground, and it gets bigger as you go. It's not the most useful, but it is pretty fun!

Where to find the Flying Humanoid's soul

The second soul belongs to a creature referred to as the Flying Humanoid. It's difficult to get a good look at exactly what it is. However, it shouldn't be too hard to miss it drifting in the sky behind the clock tower. At the top of the Cursed Clock Tower, between the Sa??ve Room and Boss Room, you'll see a small figure flying in the distance. It appears to be vulnerable to sonic attacks, and so you'll need the help of the Mandragora Soul to defeat it.

The Mandragora soul is best found scattered around the Garden of Madness. They look like Une and Corpseweed until they pop out of the ground. They'll quickly let out an ear-rupturing scream and exp??lode. Sadly, you only get kill credit if you defeat them BEFORE they self-destruct. The best place to farm them is on the map below because they share a room with another soul you need later. Farming both Mandragora and the lightning bird Rycuda is a great time saver. But more on that in the next section.

Once you have the Mandragora, take it back to the top of the Cursed Clock Tower and summon the screaming root. It'll cause the Flying Humanoid to explode in the distance, sending its soul spiraling towards you. You can technically ?farm this soul, but it doesn't get more powerful past the first one.

The Flying Humanoid's soul is a Guardian type that gives you an Intellect and Luck bonus when activated. Soma will sprout some cool-looking wings to let you know when it's act?ive, but it drains your mana rather quickly. It's a helpful tool when farming souls and rare items off?? of enemies.

Where to find Mothman's Soul

My personal favorite cryptid, Mothman, is a bit more elusive than the other two souls. It's a little less obvious where he's hiding, as you don't see him until he's summoned. To do so, you'll nee??d that Rycuda soul I mentioned earlier. It grants you the ability to throw lightning bolts around, which is both a great weapon and a useful tool.

Mothman is a late-game soul found in The Pinnacle of the Castle. There's a long hall under the biggest room in the area. You'll know you're in the right place if there are two Final Guards in it. You can find a generator and a large spotlight sitting dormant between them. You'll have to use Rycuda's lightning power to restore the machine to working conditions. If it doesn't work immediately, make sure to hit the machine with the lightning's tip. Doing so summons the Mothman, allowing you to acquire his soul. He sho??uld drop it on the first kill.

Mothman's soul grants you a buff to your EXP. Combine it with the Shaman Ring for an ex??tremely quick level gain!

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An unexpected update was recently released for Vampire Survivors, with a surprising amount of content. It contains the ?first few cards in the new "Dark Arcana," serving as the groundwork for some incredibly powerful abilities.

There's more: A new stage, some new secrets, and a new character are also awaiting you. We're here to make sure you know how to find and unlock everything in Vampire Survivors' Darkasso update.

How to unlock the new stage

The first thing you'll need to start on the path to unlocking everything is the new stage. While the clue might be obvious, we'll still explain the details. The stage unlocks when you "cast a spell" called "forbiddenbox." As long as you've collected the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane, you'll ?have a main menu option called "Secrets." Go there, and navigate to the "Cast Spell" box. Type out the spell's name, "forbiddenbox." But be prepared, you'll immediately drop into the new level with a random character!

This is the surprisingly spooky new stage, Room 1665. You'll need to navigate south by killing enemies until the door opens. I wouldn't worry about build outside of assisting whatever character you??'re dealt. Just get your most powerful weapons and survive. When you hear a strange laugh, the next door will open.

When you see a little? treasure goblin walk across the stage, aim for them, as they will drop a treasure chest. The corridors between rooms have candles in them for supplies like floor turkey. The stage is a shorter one, only 20 minutes long. As long as you reach the bottom room, however, you'll have everything you need for now.

Sadly, characters who can p??ass through wall??s cannot skip the door mechanic. You have to wait through each room, of which there are 16 in total.

Getting to the end of the stage unlocks the Darkasso: Rhe Dark ?Arcana used to mix up your runs. You'll have Number VI - Moonlight Bolero by default. It causes an extra treasure boss to spawn every minute. The treasures it carries might allow you to have more Arcana cards or Passive Weapons than you can normally carry. It's incredibly powerful in beefing up the back half of your run while helping level all your weapons faster.

How to unlock each of the new Dark Arcana in Vampire Survivors

There are five new Dark Arcana cards total, all? incre??dibly powerful. They are still subject to change based on feedback from the players.

You'll start with the Moonlight Bolero once you unlock the Dark Arcana so that one ??is out of the way. The next one you'll want is the Sapphire Mist, which requires you to reach a Cooldown Bonus of -85% with Space Dude. If you don't have him, you'll have to survive 20 minutes in the Space 54 stage.

Once you have him, I recommend playing on The Library, as it has an Empty Tome you can pick up. You'll need this as part of the challenge. Before you start, I also recommend using as many Seals as you can to lock away as unevolved weapons. When you start your match, you'll want to pick Arcana XX - Silent Old Sanctuary. It grants you extra Rerolls, Skips, and Banishes. But the more important aspect is th?at it gives you 20% Might and -8% Cooldown for each active weapon slot left empty.

As you play, you'll need to always Banish weapons, and only ever pick up Passive Weapons. As long as you have fi???????????????????????????ve empty Weapon slots, you should have a -85% cooldown. The trick to unlocking this is that you have to finish the stage with this cooldown reduction. Once you do, a powerful new Dark Arcana will be yours.

For Hail the Future, you'll need to play as Santa Ladonna. If you haven't unlocked her, you'll need to survive 20 minut?es on the Laboratory stage. Santa Ladonna has a passive ability that triggers a Rosary whe?n her health reaches a critically low level. As far as I could tell, you just need to trigger this ability to unlock the Arcana.

Forcing it to trigger by taking damage was the only unusual thing I did for the stage when I played her. The same applies to the next card, Crystal Cries. Except you'll us??e the character She-Moon Eeta. She's unlocked by surviving 20 minutes in Wh??iteout. She-Moon has a similar low-health ability that triggers, though hers freezes enemies for 10 seconds. Force yourself to take damage until it triggers, and you should be all set.

For the final card, you'll need to reach +665 Max Health with Bat Robbert. You ca??n unlock him by unlocking his weapon, which itself is unlocked by beating over 160,000 bats. If you need help with this, play Bat Country a few times. Bat Robbert gains +32 Max Health whenever his health reaches a critically low level. Between this and the Hollow Heart item, it shouldn't be difficult to get him to max.

I recommend taking some Revive passive items and Arcana to help protect yourself if your health gets too low. You'll have to trigger it multiple times, so keep an eye on the pause menu to see what yo?ur health buf??f is. If it goes over 665, that's okay.

How to unlock the new character Bats Bats Bats

To unlock Bats Bats Bats, you'll have to follow one of the most cryptic clues in the game. "It's as easy as ABC, find the Ring of Rings." The "ABC" in this clue is a reference to the stage Bat Country, which features a secret set of lettered tiles that let you play with the background visuals. You'll need to find the "Ring of Rings," which is more literal than it sounds. In Bat Country, there is a circle made of the Golden Ring it??em on ??the right side of the map.

Be careful when you acquire them - not only are they cursed items, but?? each of the six rings has an Atlantean Ring Wraith protecting it. Once you collect the i??tems, you'll hear the unlock sound effect and Bats Bats Bats will be available from the character select screen.

Bats Bats Bats starts with a special version of the evolved ?form of the Pako Battil?iar, the Mazo Familiar. Its Damage and Amount are affected by your Max Health. The original item requires the Hollow Heart to evolve into the Mazo Familiar, but it's still a good idea to pick it up for the bonus damage. Bats Bats Bats's version continues to grow stronger when you level up. Also, if you revive during a match, it increases the weapon's Amount and gives you a follower bat. He's incredibly powerful when teamed up with the IV - Awake Arcana and the Tirajisu.

How to unlock new old characters

Two classic characters, Poe Ratcho and Imelda Belpaese, have new versions th?at can be unlocked. To do so, you'll ne??ed to clear their respective Adventure Mode campaigns. If you already have, but you do not see these characters unlock, try opening up their Adventure Mode menus and see if that prompts the achievements to collect.

Once unlocked, you can select these new v?ersions of the characters from the Character Select screen. You'll have to select the originals and then select their alternate appearances. Select the character, then press Left on the D-Pad from the Start button?. You'll be able to pick from the normal, the original sprite, and the new versions. The new versions also come with level 5 versions of the Passive Weapon that evolve their default item.

The post How to unlock everythin??g in the Vampire Survivors Darkasso?? update appeared first on Destructoid.

Yesterday, a cryptic series of patch notes and social media posts released for Vampire Survivors hinted at a quiet update made to the game. Patch 1.11.1 contains a mysterious new stage with a boppin' track, a new character, 9 new achievements, and 5 new arcana cards. The update is out now on all platforms except PlayStation, where it will release? with the whole game on August 29.

The biggest part of this content drop, which we now know is called "The Darkasso Update," is the experimental "Dark Arcana" cards, which come with bizarre effects. The Moonlight Bolero, as an example, spawns an additional stage boss every minute, who might carry special treasure chests that let you gain additional Arcana or Passive Weapon past your max capacity. In the patch notes, the devs are requesting feedb??ack on these new arcana to inform further designs down the road.

As another part of this update, you can get new variations of Imelda Belpaese and the garlic-lov??ing Poe Ratcho. To unlock these, you need to complete their respective Adventure Mode campaigns?. If you've already beaten them, you may need to select "Adventure Mode" on the main screen to activate the achievements.

This entire update came unannounced, outside of the sudden cryptic messaging a day before its drop: It was never on any roadmaps or anything. It's the kind of fun, weird updates you love to see from indie developers. And the fact that there's more room for new Dark Arcana down the road is a great sign that we'll be getting plenty more updates for this in??????????????????????????credible game for a while.

The post Vampire Survivors releases ominous “Darkasso” update appeared first on Destructoid.

After making a mark on several platforms, such as mobile, Xbox, and Playstation, Stumble Guys is ready to launch on Nin?tendo Switch. The 32-player party royale has officially locked in a date for its Nintendo debut.

After a few months' wait since its February 2024 reveal, here is the release date and pre-order rewards for Stumble Guys on Nintendo Switch.

What is the release date for Stumble Guys on Switch?

Stumble Guys is officially making its Nintendo Switch debut on August 20, 2024. The best way to get access to the game for anyo?ne is through the Nintendo eShop, which will be free after the release. It also supports 10 different languages. You can also pre-order the game, and your reward will be an exclusive Founder's Pack.

Stumble Guys pre-order rewards for Nintendo Switch

Upon pre-order, you can get several rewards?? from the developer, Scopely. H?ere is the list of rewards that are in the Founder's Pack:

• 'Oh Yeah' Victory animation
• Hi Sp33d P0rtia Mythic Stumbler
• 2000 gems

Not only that, you will also be provided with a starter pack, which will contain the ?following rewards:

• 'Crimson Skull' Legendary Stumbler
• 'Skeleton' Footsteps
• 1600 gems

Does Stumble Guys support cross-progression for Switch?

This game does not support cross-progression for Switch, whi??ch means that you cannot play with the same account across different platforms. However, you can play against other players from different platforms, as cross-play is available in this game.

Not only that, there will be no syncronization in Stumble Pass and ??store offers between Switch and other platforms ?at the beginning of the launch. However, you can expect it to get synced in the future.

The post When does Stumble Guys launch on the Nintendo Switch?? Release dat?e and pre-order rewards appeared first on Destructoid.

We knew Fall Guys content was heading to Fortnite's creative mode, but now a unique obstacle course looms over the island in Battle Royale, as the bumbling bean obstacle stages j?ust dropped today. The crossover is ready to reward eager players with loot for their swift Bean parkouring skills.

Players will need to find Golden Bean statues on the island in order to get started. You'll then be whisked away from the murder and mayhem of Battle Royale for a brief run through the obstacle course. Conquer the courses as fast as possible to get better loot to take back to the island! Of course, once The Storm moves in, the course becomes off limits. Completing quests while running the obstacle course can also earn you a unique Fall Guys back bling and music track.

Looking the part - Fortnite characters get Bean makeovers

The cute thing about this is that your skin will be "Bean'd" when you visit the obstacle course. A large number of the Fortnite original characters have been given Bean forms to take into both this fun crossover, and the full Fall Guys islands you can visit elsewhere in Fortnite. These operate similarly to the Lego versions of chara??cters, with the results bei?ng extremely mixed.

Epic has also added a bunch of Fall Guys Islands that play more like traditional modes of Fall Guys. The team at Mediatonic Labs helped make these, similar to how Psionix helped make the Rocket Racing levels.

So, what's next for Fall Guys?

As for the future of Fall Guys at large, it's been an incredibly rough time for the team at Mediatonic. Publisher Epic Games laid off hundreds of employees in 2023, and while an Epic statement to Kotaku clarified the entire team at Mediatonic wasn't laid off, it's clear the studio was sti?ll hit hard.

Given the nature of both games are so compatible here, one would hope Epic values the team over at Mediatonic, and has more plans for the Fall Guys folks going forward.

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Fortnite recently added Fall Guys content into its Battle Royale mode. An obstacle course looms over the snowy northeast corner of the map, ready to be tackled. Completing several quests on this course will grant you some unique?? rewards, so grab them before the event ends on August 15.

How to get started

When you dive out of the Battle Bus, you might be tempted to just glide over to the obstacle course. That ?won't work, however! You'll be rifted away imm?ediately. To access the obstacle course, you'll need to find one of several Golden Bean statues around Classy Courts.

Only 8 people can be on the course at once. You can see how many are active by looking at the numbers hovering over the statues. Once there's room, interact with the statue and you'll be telepor??ted to the course.

Each quest and how to complete them

Fortunately, these quests aren't terribly difficult, though they might sound vague?? at first. There's some goals for completing them, granting unique rewards for this event. Remember, when you're teleported to the island, you have 90 seconds to complete the course. The faster you do, the better your rewards.

• Complete 2 "Where we Fallin' Quests" - Fall Guys Icon
• Complete 4 "Where we Fallin' Quests" - "Everybody Falls (Chill Mix)"
• Complete 6 "Where we Fallin' Quests" - Pink Plushie back bling

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Life is Strange: Double Exposure is putting players back in the shoes of Max Caulfield, the iconic protagonist of the original Life is Strange. And as if that’s not exciting enough, this time she’ll be armed w?ith an all-new power: the ab??ility to enter alternate timelines in which certain characters are still alive. 

From the trailers and teasers that Deck Nine has given us, we know that Max will use her new power to solve the mysterious murder of her friend Safi. However, the ability to enter alternate timelines opens up seemingly infinite possibilities for other Life is Strange characters to return. It also leads us to ask the all-important question- will Chloe be in Double Exposure? We’re pr?etty s??ure Deck Nine is playing their cards close to the chest and has some exciting surprises in store for us.

10. Joyce Price

Even if you chose the Bae over Bay ending to the first Life is Strange, the powers that Max has in Double Exposure could theoretically allow for key cha?racters from her past to make a return. Though Joyce is Chloe’s mom and not Max’s, she is still an important figure in Max’s childhood. A few texts, emails, or postcards from Joyce could be a good way to link the new game with the classic one. 

9. Chris Eriksen

Chris is the imaginative main character of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit who also plays a key role in Life is Strange 2. We don’t have any confirmation on exactly when Double Exposure takes place, but he might now be about the right age to be a college student at Caledon ??University, where Max is a photographer-in-residence.

8. Skip Matthews

Skip Matthews is a security guard at Blackwell Academy in Before the Storm who makes music on the side. Hopefully, his band PissHead made it big, and Max will hear their tunes on the radio. It would certainly bring back some of that classic Life Is Strange spirit and would be a nice lighthearted touch.

7. Max’s Parents

We don’t know much about Max’s family; they only appear in the original Life is Strange via text messages. But Double Exposure has the opportunity to open up the mystery of their characters a bit more, as it might give Max an even more complex backstory. Regardless of the choices you made and the ending y??ou selected, it seems most reasonable for them to still be in contact with Max and want the best for ?her.

6. Alex Chen

The main character of Life is Strange: True Colors is a deeply empathetic, caring person who has a personality that would blend well with Max’s. It would be nice to find out more about what’s happened to her since the events of True Colors, and even if her appearance is just in the background, it would likely aid in establishing a more fully intertwined Life is Strange timeline.

5. William Price

Chloe’s dad William is a key figure in the Arcadia Bay chapters of Life is Strange, despite the fact that he passed away before the games began. If we’re opening up alternate timelines, we’d love to see one in which Chloe and William are both present together- though maybe that’s just wishful thinking. If we do see William again, Deck? Nine has to be careful to ensure that his return doesn’t retract the importance of the origina??l game’s story.

4. Hawt Dog Man

Hawt Dog Man is an icon of the Life is Strange franchise whoâ€??™s in every game and timeline. There’s no way his mustard-loving self won’t return in some form or another, and no way he wasn't going to na??b a spot on this list.

3. Rachel Amber

Major spoilers for the first game ahead- no matter how you play the original Life is Strange, you can’t save Rachel Amber. Her presence, however, hangs over the entire game to the point where Max can almost feel it, despite never having met her. In the Life is Strange comics, Max is ??able to meet Rachel in an alternate reality. What if a similar scenario was possible with Max’s new power? I’d love to see how the two wo??uld interact.

2. Kate Marsh

Kate Marsh is a fellow student that Max cares deeply about in the first game, and so it would, of course, be great to see her or hear from her again in Double Exposure. Her storyline is also the first to truly show players just how powerful Max’s rewind powers are and how much of a difference your choices make in the Life is Strange universe.

1. Chloe Price

And now for the question we all want answered- will Chloe be in Double Exposure? In one of the preview scenes for Double Exposure, we find out that Max is keeping a photo of Chloe close but that her friend Safi doesn’t know Chloe. This implies that Max might be keeping her past a secret or that she hopes to escape it. Perhaps the latter is more likely since we now find Max on the other side of the country from where she grew up. Years have passed since the first game, and I think it’s fair to say that Double Exposure's Chloe, if sh??e appears, will have to be a very different character than the one we saw in Arcadia ??Bay. 

We’re excited to see what Square Enix and Deck Nine have in store for us when Double Exposure releases on October 29th, 2024.

The post 10 Life is Strange Characters We Want to See Ret??urn in Double Exposure appeared first on Destructoid.

Gaming’s indie horror scene has hit it off strong in 2024 with the likes of Crow Country and Withering Rooms making a great impression among critics and players alike. But the second half of the year i?s stacked with even more excellent looking horror games on the hori?zon from smaller publishers and independent development teams.

The following games have been lurking in the shadows for long enough. Here's a ?spotlight on what's to come for indie horror?? fans during the rest of 2024.

CONSCRIPT

Unlike any of the other games listed here today, CONSCRIPT does not feature supernatural entities or undead ghouls. Instead, it focuses on the atrocities of war, and the toll it takes on the ??soldiers ordered to conduct it. The game is played from the perspective of a French soldier during World War I attempting to survive in the trenches ov??er the course of the years-long conflict.

Inspired by the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, CONSCRIPT adapts the combat and puzzle mechanics from classic survival-horror games in its portrayal of the historical horrors. After seven years in the making, CONSCRIPT is finally available now as of July 23, 2024, as well as a demo currently available on S??team.

Zoochosis

Anybody yet unfamiliar with Zoochosis would have thus been unable to draw obvious comparisons, so now is as good a time as any to head that off at the pass: if John Carpenter’s The Thing was set in a zoo, you would have Zoochosis.

With that established, this first-person simulation game casts players as a night-shift zookeeper while an infectious disease spreads among the animal residents, causing them to undergo a macabre metamorphosis ??into hostile, disfigured abominations. Job responsibilities involve soci??alizing with the animals, feeding them, cleaning up their spaces, and monitoring them to ensure they don’t grow an excess of limbs and scale the walls of their enclosure. Standard procedure.

In order to prevent further loss of life - be it the animals or their own - the protagonist must develop vaccines to spare the animals from transforming. The player’s decisions wi??ll affect whether or not they can be saved in time, as well as which ending they receive.

Prepare to capture all the grisly body horror through the body camera lens when Zoochosis is freed from its cage on September 23, 2024.

Post Trauma

With its unsettling designs and focus on psychological horror, Post Trauma is s?haping up to be a very promising debut title f??rom Red Soul Games.

Our protagonist, Roman, is a heavy-set train conductor in?? his?? late 50s, who finds himself trapped in a warped subway system inhabited by disturbed creatures and infested with malignant tendrils, lining the dismal tunnels the deeper he explores.

The cryptic puzzles and fixed-camera angles are inspired by classic horror franchises, with the setting in particular evoking the opening hours of Silent Hill 4: The Room. Post Trauma is on schedule for a fall 2024 arrival, but for those eager to get on board, a demo for the game is available on itch.io.

Clock Tower: Rewind

The Clock Tower series has a storied history as one of the original gaming horror franchises that ended up fading into obscurity. The premier game in the series, Clock Tower, was released for the Super Famicom in 1995 by Human Entertainment, but now WayForward is debuting it outside of Japan for the first time with Clock Tower: Rewind, an enhanced port for modern platforms.

This point-and-click adventure horror title puts players in the role of a young girl named Jennifer, who is among a group of orphans that have recently been adopted and sent away to an old Norwegian mansion. However?, shortly after their arrival, the children find themselves pursued by a half-pint killer wielding a set of scissors twice his stature. With the aptly named Scissorman st??alking the manor halls, Jennifer must locate the rest of her adoptive siblings while evading the murderous prowler.

Get your oversized scissors ready, the ribbon cutting for the game’s release is set for October 31 in Japan, with other regions listing a October 11 - November 11 shipping window.

Bye Sweet Carole

Developer: Little Sewing Machine - Meangrip Studios
Publisher: Maximum Entertainment
Platforms: PS5, PS4, XSX|S, XBO, Switch, PC (Steam)
Release: 2024

On the subject of Clock Tower, this twisted take on a classic Disney animation blends the run-and-hide gameplay and side-scrolling perspective of the former with the aesthetic of Snow White or Alice in Wonderland. From the creator of the Remothered series, Bye Sweet Carole’s authentic hand-drawn presentation ??appears pleasant and invit?ing, starkly juxtaposing its dark themes and violent imagery.

When a young girl named Carole goes missing from an orphanage, her fellow resident and friend Lana goes searching for her, and in the process finds another worl?d unlike her own full of strange cr??eatures and homicidal hares that will hunt Lana throughout the game.

Be prepared to get lost going down t??his rabbit hole when the game releases later i?n 2024.

Hollowbody

At first glance, Hollowbody presents itself as a sci-fi noir story, starring an illegal smuggler named Mica in search of their partner Sasha, who went missing on a dangerous job in a restricted area alone. Mica attempts to follow after her, but upon? entering the restricted airspace, her flying vehicle malfunctions and crash lands amid a dilapidated suburb hidden beneath the clouds. With the futuristic-cyberscape veneer stripped away, Mica is left stranded in a morose town full of plague-ridden monsters.

Emulating the aesthetic of a PS2-era horror title, Hollowbody features a mix of dynamic- and fixed-camera angles along with traditional survival-horror combat and puzzle solving?.

Hollowbody ??will only be roughly three hours long, aiming to be a short-story, but players that are on the fence can try out a newly updated demo on Steam before the game releases later this year.

Sorry We’re Closed

A vibrant standout from the pack, Sorry We’re Closed is no less rife w?ith macabre creatures, rustic environments and unholy imagery.

A curse has been placed on our protagonist, Michelle, that threatens to cut her life short in a manner of days; however, the demon that inflicted the curse barters an opportunity to lift it if Michelle ventures into the dangers of the demon world to fulfill their bidding. Sorry We're Closed is played from a fixed-camera perspective and, with the use of a Third?? Eye granted to her, Michelle can peer? into the parallel reality of the demon world. This vision can also expose weak points on enemies, allowing her to dispose of enemies in first-person combat.

With numerous diverse characters to engage with and influence, player’s choices will lea??d to multiple outcomes in determining the fate of Michelle’s story.

A? d?emo is available on Steam now, with the full release expected for some time in 2024.

Echoes of the Living

Perfectly encapsulating the visuals and atmosphere of the Resident Evil (2002) remake, Echoes of the Living is a love letter to the classic franchise, with two ?playable characters, zombie filled streets, fixed camera angles, and elaborate puzzles.

The plot is a direct homage to Resident Evil 2, right down to the dual protagonists of a young lady looking for her brother father and a new ??guy in town l?ooking for a fresh start right before a zombie outbreak sweeps through a small town, all set in the late '90s.

While it may not be an original idea, it is certainly a welcome one if it can pull off the same level of tension and design as its inspirations. A?? playable demo was previously available during the October 2023 Steam Next Fest, so hopefully the game will receive another demo prior to launch??, which is listed for release in 2024.

Tormented Souls 2

Keeping in theme with Resident-Evil-like games, the original Tormented Souls from 2021 garnered attention for its traditional approach to s??urvival horror, including restrictive fixed-camera exploration and combat paired with perplexing puzzles, all set in a detailed and claustroph??obic hospital.

Tormented Souls 2 retains these core elements as it furthers the story of protagonist Caroline Walker, who now must seek out a cure for a supernatural illness that plagues her younger sister, Anna. Her search brings her to the South American town of Puerto Miller that harbors a deranged cult with a dark and storied history.
Although details are still scarce, this up-and-coming horror franchise is set to arrive later this year.

Fear the Spotlight

As part of the Blumhouse Games publishing initiative for smaller horror projects, Fear the Spotlight leads the pack with an impressive start. This polygonal adventure garbs itself with a retro aesthetic, but f??eatures a modern third-person perspective with a fully voice-acted narrative.

The story follows a young girl named Vivian, who has been convinced by her friend Amy to break into their school after dark in order to perform a hokey séance for fun; that is, until actual spirits are summoned forth, and Amy’s demeanor changes from thrill-seeking teen to an indoctrinated acolyte of dark forces. Now pursued by a spotli??ght-head monster, Vivian must hide from it?s gaze to survive, all the while solving puzzles, uncovering mysteries, and trying to find Amy to escape the school with their lives.

Although Fear the Spotlight was originally ?released in 2023, the developers removed this version in order to undergo a major overhaul of features and content before ??re-releasing in 2024.

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It looks like Zelda won't be alone when The Legend of Zel??da: Echoes of Wisdom launches this f??all.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was a surprise drop during the June 2024 Nintendo Direct. A brand-new adventure reimagined in the style of 2019's Link's Awakening remake,? fans were stoked to discover players would control the franchise's titular Princess Zelda rather than lo??ngtime hero Link.

But Link may not be completely out of the picture. The game's ESRB rating has been revealed, and whil??e it is not a surprise rating (a fairly standard E 10+, for Fantasy Violence), the description does seem to reveal that Link will be playable after all.

"This is an adventure game in which players assume the role of Zelda as she attempts to dispel rifts throughout Hyrule and rescue Link." the ESRB summary r??eads. "From a ¾-overhead perspective, players explore various environments while fighting stylized enemies (e.g., humans, creatures). As Link, players use a sword and arrows to defeat enemies; Zelda can use a magic wand to summon creatures (e.g., wind-up knights, pig soldiers, slime) for battle. Some enemies can be defeated by being set on fire; other creatures dissolve into mis?t when defeated. Battle sequences are somewhat frenetic, with several enemies attacking/fighting at once."

It's a bit d??isappointing for fans who were looking for a Zelda-centric adventure. Despite being one of the most recognizable and popular ??characters in the history of gaming, Zelda herself has only starred in two games, both of which are part of the infamous Zelda CD-i trilogy.

There is some glimmer of hope for fans in that we don't know how much Link will be in Echoes of Wisdom, though. It may be closer to a cameo or even just controlling him for the intro before Zelda takes the lead. The trailer shows Zelda stepping up after Link's efforts to save her get hi?m trapped in another dimension.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch on September 26. You can pre-order the game and its gorgeous Switch Lite tie-in now.

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Life in Stardew Valley is about so much more than planting potatoes and building ??fences. If you’d like so??me additional company on your farm besides the chickens and cows, you might want to consider the possibilities of dating and marriage.

Married villagers can help you by watering crops, feeding animals, and making breakfast. They’ll also give you a Stardrop, which permanently increases your energy. In multiplayer, you can also craft a wedding ring and give it to your favorite Player 2. Cue the Princess Bride references.

All Stardew Valley Marriage Candidates

If you’re playing single?? player but you’re tired of being single, there are six eligible bachelors in town: Alex, Elliot, Harvey, Sam, Sebastian, and Shane.

There are of course six eligible bachelorettes as well: Abigail, Emily, Haley, Leah, ?Maru, and Penny.

Each of Pelican Town’s marriage candidates will have two h?earts greyed out in the social menu, whereas other characters will already have ten hearts unlocked. Same-sex dating and marriage is available.

The Stardew Valley Dating Scene

To get started, you’ll first need to get eight friendship hearts with the partner of your choice. To do this, greet them each day and g??ive them two of their favorite gifts per week. Inviting them to the movie theater and completing item delivery quests will also aid in increasing your connection.

The day after reaching eight hearts with you?r potential partner, you’ll receive a letter in the mail from Pierre, who will let you know that his shop now has beautiful flower bouquets in stock. How timely! Drop by his shop at yo?ur earliest convenience and purchase one for 200g. Then, give the bouquet to your partner, who will of course be delighted. In the social menu, you’ll notice that the character has now become either your girlfriend or boyfriend, and that their last two hearts are now unlocked. 

Marriage and Proposals

Once you’ve worked your way up to ten friendship hearts with your intended, you’ll get a letter from Mayor Lewis, who tells you you’ll need to give your partner a Mermaid’s Pendant if you want to get married. The pendant costs 5000g, and to purchase one, you’ll need to upgrade your farmhouse at least once. You’ll also need 300 wood to upgrade the bridge on the right side of the beach. The bridge leads to the tide pools, where you’ll find the Old Mariner, who will appear and sell you the pendant on rainy or stormy days. You can’t buy the pendant in Winter unless you have a Rain Totem.

Once you’ve purchased the Mermaid’s Pendant, give it to your boyfriend or girlfriend to get engaged. The wedding will take place ??three days after engagement, unless there is an event happening in town, in which case it will take place the day after. A room dedicated to your spouse wil?l now appear in your house, and you’ll be able to take your relationship with them all the way up to fourteen hearts. Now that’s commitment! 

How to Get a Wedding Ring in Stardew Valley

To propose marriage to another player?, you’ll need to craft a wedding ring. First, purchase the recipe from the Traveling Cart that appears in the forest area south of your farm on ?Fridays and Sundays. The recipe costs 500g and requires five iridium bars and one prismatic shard. These are unfortunately not the easiest items to come by. 

Iridium bars can occasionally be purchased from the Traveling Cart or found in Golden Fishing Chests. However, the fastest way to get them is to craft them by smelting five iridium ore and one coal in a furnace. While iridium ore can occasionally be found on the lowest levels of the Mine, it drops most often from Omni Geodes and the rocks and monsters of the Skull Cavern. These same sources also drop the coveted Prismatic Shard, though at lower rates. For a more complete rundown of where to find this nice shiny rock, check out our guide on how to get Prismatic Shard in Stardew Valley. 

Once you’ve crafted the wedding ring, give it to your partner to get engaged. Just like in single player, the wedding will tak?e place three days after the engagement starts. Don’t forg??et to dress up in your finest clothes!

The post How to Get Married in Stardew Valley appeared first on Destructoid.

Fans of Crypt of the Necrodancer don't have the biggest catalog of games that bear strong similarities, but Freaked Fleapit is a new title that appears interested in being that, and then some. Two weeks ago, the demo released for this title, and it seems like Freaked Fleapit might be onto something.

The premise of Freaked Fleapit is simple, at least for a video game. Andy just died and we??nt to Hell. He ??wants his soul back, and has to fight through 9 circles of Hell to reclaim it. In the meantime, he can chat with the stylized anime girls who also happen to be there, and pick one to join him in his attempt to escape.

Fleapit aims to entice its players with procedurally generated levels and exploration that leads to the discovery of secret rooms, side quests, and mini games. Side quests lead to the opportunity to take the player's preferred "Lady of the Fleapit" on a date. And then there's th?e combat.

Freaked Fleapit has players tap to the beat, and developer Finch Bird Studio has consistently noted the game's Multilayered Music System, which appears to function similarly to games like Crypt of the Necrodancer. The music also dynamically shifts based on the situation the player is in, such as the type of room and combat. There is rogue-ish progression similar to Enter the Gungeon and The Binding of Isaac, where players can customize a build based on upgrades they pick up each run, such as a skill that multiplies damage by x1.5 when health is at down to one, or another that unleashes?? AOE damage every hit you take.

The style of this game is hard to overlook, which can be attributed to the talented team of artists working on the game, such as the game's lead artist, a popular digital artist known as Mr.Psina, flashy pixel art done by Todo Asano, and excellent music by Magnetude.

Additionally, Freaked Fleapit features a stacked cast in both English and Japanese. The English cast includes the likes of LilyPichu, as well as Chloe Eves, Sarah Ann Williams, Crystal Lee, Melissa Medina, Kelsey Jaffer and Steven Kelly. The Japanese cast has well known actors like Jun Fukuyama, Shiori Izawa, Ami Koshimizu, Sayaka Ohara, Yumi Hara, Rie Kugimiya, and Uesaka Sumire. Japanese-speaking players seem to be loving the localization, too.

Crowdfunding for Freaked Fleapit closed after an Indiegogo campaign raised â‚?4,606 EUR, and while the exact release date is unknown, publisher Critical Reflex plans to release Freaked Fleapit on PC and Switch. A demo is available on Steam.

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Closing out the Latin American Games Showcase was an impressive new trailer for the gorgeous pixel-art hack-and-slash Mariachi Legends, with a mixture of live-action scenes and high-fidelity?? side-scrolling action.

You’d be forgiven for overlooking the Latin American Games Showcase last weekend. Let’s face it, with over a d??ozen?? unique showcases over the span of a few days, it is unlikely most audiences will catch them all, particularly when the shows are each focused on a specific niche.

But this show in particular was littered with beautiful works and inventive concepts, a description no less fitting of the presentation’s final game, Mariachi Legends from Halberd Studios, which was unveiled at last year's PC Gaming Show.

Opening to a hazy sun??set, the trailer begins with a live-action sequence introducing the fictional town of Santa Mascota and the lead character, Detective Pablo Cruz, who has been assigned by Lady Death to delve into the Realm of the Dead and collect a mystical amulet that is compromising her rule ov?er the underworld.

This is no simple task, as the group of beings known as the Mariachi Legends p??rotect this dominion at all costs. In order to stand a chance against them, Pablo must don the powerful garment, La Sombra, which grants him otherworldly strength and abilities.

With a transition to gameplay, it makes an immediate impression with its smooth and fluid animations, such as Pablo brandishing his pen and notebook with a flourish when taking investigation notes and trotting around with a swagger that closely resembles Castlevania’s Soma Cruz.
Although these two protagonists may share a last name?? and running animation, ironically what they do not have in com?mon is being part of the Metroidvania genre.

Unlike the studio’s previous work, 9 Years of Shadow, which was a full-fledged metroidvania, Mariachi Legends describes itself as a branching beat-em-up platformer, with bounding, swinging, and dashing along platforms to navigate the game’s levels and an emphasis ?on? extravagant combo-centric combat.

Pablo dual-wields a set ?of sabers and a pair of flintlock pistols, firing off point-blank barrages before effortlessly eviscerating his enemies in a spinning cyclone of carnage. He has a variety of special abilities as well, including a noxious face-cracker whip that melts fle??sh from the bone and morphing into a spectral skull enveloped in a sickly green flame to consume enemies whole.

The end of the trailer blends more live-acton cuts with gameplay, this time to the kitchen to demonstrate the cooking component to the game. Pablo c?an spice up his special abilities by dishing up recipes he learns along his journey.

Mariachi Legends w?ill be available for Switch and Steam, with a 2024 release window listed on the store page.

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Taking a glance at the sky islands in Tears of the Kingdom, you might have noticed a massive storm that??'s looming over the bottom right section of Hyrule. Perhaps you've made your way over to that section in the map, only to discover that there are islands hidden in the clouds.

Navigating said islands is a dangerous task due to the fact that Link can't see 10 feet in front of him. However, there's a way to remove the storm from the island, letting you explore this new location to your heart's content. Here's how to clear Thunderhead Isles and remove the storm in TotK.

How to Remove the Storm Over the Thunderhead Isles

To clear Thunderhead Isles, you'll need to progress the main quest in TotK. Eventually, you'll end up speaking with Tauro and Calip about the Zonai Ruins. After that, you'll need to put a Zonai Charge on a?n altar to clear Thunderhead Isles.

To begin the process of clearing up? the Dragonhead island storm, you'll need to complete all four Regional Phenomona quests around Hyrule. Once this is complete, heading back to Lookout Landing will call you to complete the mini-dungeon in Hyrule Castle.

After you escape Hyrule Castle, you'll complete Regional Phenomena, and unlock the Quest, "Find the Fifth Sage". If you happened to stumble upon Kakariko Village during your travels throughout Hyrule or perhaps on your trek to Hateno Village, you might've noticed some ruins floating on the side of town. Before the completion of Regional Phenomena, ?you were banned from exploring them. Now with the quest being completed, you'll be able to check them out.

Investigate the Floating Ring

Speak to Paya and Tauro in Kakarko Village, and they'll open the structures up for you to investigate. To locate these characters, head to the coordinates (1814, -0940, 0112.) Use the nea??rby Makasura Shrine to get there faster.

Going to this location will unlock the Secrets of the Ring Ruins quest in TOTK, which helps clear the Dragonhead Island storm.

Head up to th??e floating part of the Ring Ruins, and use Ascend to get inside the floating ring. You'll find a ladder just past Paya, Tauro, and Calip, taking you h?igher up the area. Just follow the pathway of the wooden platforms to reach the floating ruin.

Once inside, you'll find a slab with some text on it that Tauro and Calip were talking about when they let you investigate. Snap a picture of it with your camera, and show it to Tauro.?? After deciphering the message, they'll mention the Zonai Ruins in Faron. Tauro and Calip will make their way to the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower; follow them to continue the quest.

Finding "Dragon Land"

Once you've made it to the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower you can speak with Calip, who's mentioned that Tauro is headed towards Dracozu Lake. Walk southeast from the Skyview tower, you can spot Tauro's camp by the campfire, still lit. Its coordinates are (0939, -2524, 0009).

?On the table will be a journal, where you can find he's gone into the ruins across the water from where the campsite is. Inside?, you'll find Tauro once more, who gives you a riddle to solve.

Secrets of the Ring Ruins Tauro riddle solution

Tauro will read aloud the riddle, stating, "Wear the electric garb hidden at the long-necked dragons along the wide-mouthed forest serpent," followed by "Offer a Zonai charge to the altar at the tail". The first part of the riddle will require you to wear a Charged Armor set, which can be found nearby.

Tauro will point you in the direction of a Zonai chest containing the Charged Shirt. What the game is asking you to do is make your way down the river (which looks like a dragon), find the complete Charged Armor set, and offer a Zonai Charge to the altar at the end.

Completing the Ritual

To complete the ritual in the Secrets of the Ring Ruins TOtK quest, you must locate the? two other Charged sets: One set of Trousers and a Headdress.

Secrets of the Ring Ruins Charged Trousers location

Start making your way down the river, staying on the right side. Be careful, as there are Lizalfos in the water. Eventually, you'll come across another set of ruins, much like where you met with Tauro. The coordinates of the first ruins are (0980, -2691, 0007). These are blocked off by some rock, which can be easily broken with a Rock Hammer or Bomb Flowe??r. Inside the ruins, you'll find the second piece of the Charged Set: the Charged Trousers.

Secrets of the Ring Ruins Charged Headdress location

Continue working your way down the river until you see another set of ruins. This time, on the left side. Looking to your right, you might see some Zonai Soldier enemies waiting for a fight. Avoid them for now, and head into these new ruins for the Charged Headdress. The coordinates of the ruins are (0968, -2801, 0007).

Once all three pieces have been acquired, head out and make your way down the path right across from the ruins. Doing so will lead you to the Zonai Ruins, where the altar is. However, you'll have to fight some enemies along the way. You'll reach a clearing in the path where three Lizalfos will be hiding. Hidden along the stone wall behind them is another set of ruins. Their coordinates are (0686, -2743, 00014).

Head inside wearing the entire Charged Armor set and take out a Zonai Charge. Place the Zonai Charge on the altar in the back and watch? as a cutscene plays out, clearing the storm from Thunderhead Isles. This lets you access the Thunderhead Isles and Dragonhead Island with clear vision! Check your sky view map (switch perspectives) to see the Thunder Is??le map.

Calip and Tauro will meet up with you once again, thus concluding the Secrets of the Ring Ruins main quest. You can also check out the ne??w areas to unlock the Joku-usin Shrine.

The post How to Rem??ove the Storm Cove??ring the Thunderhead Isles in Tears of the Kingdom appeared first on Destructoid.

Stardew Valley is supposed to be about farming but often ends up being about anything else. Killing monsters, romancing townsfolk, and, yes, standing by a pond for days upon end catching fish. The go-at-your-own-pace is part of its charms â€?you can approach Stardew Valley however you'd like.

However, the game does lock certain milestones behind dabbling in a little bit of everything, so even for those with the greenest of thumbs or the bloodiest of swords, there will be a time when tools must be put down and fishing rods picked up in their place. Instead of turnips or slimes, your new target is the common Carp, a fish that's not the hardest to come by, but you may need a little help, so here's where and how to catch a Carp in Stardew Valley.

Where to catch Carp in Stardew Valley and its Seasons

The Carp is among the many fish in Stardew Valley you'll encounter. Carp have both some seasonal and location-specific restrictions for catching it. Thankfully, this fish has more than one window, more bo??untiful to come by for its many uses.

Carp Fishing Locations and Seasons

• Mountain Lake - Spring, Summer, Fall
• Wilderness Farm - Spring, Summer, Fall
• Secret Woods - All Seasons
• Sewers - All Seasons
• Mutant Bug Lair - All Seasons

The Mountain Lake is where most players will g?o to catch Carp, as it is ?accessible from the start of the game, and the fish is fairly common there.

For those a little later in the game, the Secr?et Woods has the highest spawn rate of Carp in the game, as well as having them spawn during every season. To reach the Secret Woods, players will need to have at least upgraded to a Steel Axe. In the Northwest corner of the Cindersap Forest is a log that can be removed with a Steel Axe, granting access to the Secret Woods.

What quests require Carp, and how many?

Several Help Wanted board quests in the village require Carp f?or completion, along?? with a Community Center Bundle.

• Lake Fish Bundle Community Center Bundle

  • 1 Carp required

• Townsfolk Help Wanted Quest

  • 1 Carp requested during Spring, Summer, or Fall

• Fishing "Help Wanted" Quest

  • 1-5 Carp requested during Spring, Summer, or Fall

• Fish Pond Upgrade Quest

  • 2 Carp required

The post How To Catch Carp in Stardew Valley: Carp Loca??tions and Seasons appeared first on Destructoid.

Suda51, best known for the No More Heroes series, is no stranger to profanity. His games have always balanced surrealist metaphors and symbolism with gutter talk from foul mouthed wrestlers, cops and killers. What made Shadows of the Damned different, at least when it was first released in 2011, wasn't how it blended high and low art together. It was the way it was positioned by publisher EA to be ??a mainstream hit.

All of Suda's prior titles had been marketed as quirky, niche alternatives to normal. With Shadows, and its all star creative team (including Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill com??poser Akira Yamaoka), the publisher was hoping to have a AAA franchise on their hands.

Flash forward to 2024 and Grasshopper Manufacture, Suda's studio, is planning to re-release Shadows on their own, and this time, they are really owning their outsider status. The new content for this "Hella Remastered" edition includes four new costumes. Two are basic change ups for leading man Garcia Hotspur, taking off his shirt and making him into a demon. The other two skins are deep cuts that will only be familiar to Suda's biggest fans. One is based on Eight Hearts, a character from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, and the other is the same suit worn by the main character of Kurayami Dance, a Japan-only manga written by Suda, based on unused drafts for the original version of Shadows.

With the promise of an affordable price point, it seems like Shadows may finally become a hit, especially on Nintendo consoles, where Suda's games historically sell best. Filling the niche for M-rated content that Nintendo rarely produces themselves has been part of Suda's plan since Killer7 first launched on the GameCube. But on the other hand, it could be that the game's sexual, violent, and most of all, curse-laden game will be too much for Switch owners. At PAX East 2024, I got to ask Suda?? how he thought Nintendo fans would take to the game, if? he would ever give people the option to cut out all the curses, and a lot more.

This is the first time Shadows of the Damned has come to a Nintendo console, which is really exciting. Any thoughts on how Nintendo fans will receive it? You know I love the game, but well, it definitely is a great fit for some families, the kind who watch R-rated movies with their children and grew up listening to the Sex Pistols and whatnot, but there’s a lot of families who might way it’s “too extreme for the kids�so...(laughter) How do you think Nintendo fans will feel about the game?

Suda51 (via translator): Well I guess Nintendo platforms aren’t really known for having lots of like super violent games, you know? And Grasshopper is one of the few studios that has been able to put out super violent games on Nintendo platforms. In fact, that’s kind of what we do. The thing with Shadows of the Damned though is there’s lots of violence, obviously, but it’s also with the extra added bonus of being vulgar as shit (laughter). The thing that I’m a little bit worried about in terms of families with little kids and Switches is I want all the families out there who have kids and Switches is to maybe make sure your kid hasn’t purchased the game or hasn’t ripped it off from somebody or something. Just because I don’t want to and can’t ta??ke responsibility if there’s a bunch of kids running around going “Big Boner! Big Boner!�(laughter). “Where’d you learn that word?�Parents, that’s not your kids' fault. You should be better parents? (laughter).

That’s what my 8-year old does already. He learned to swear from watching me play No More Heroes 3. That’s where he learned the F-word. (laughter) I thought I turned down the voice acting, but one time I guess I forgot, and that was that (laughter).

Suda51: Sorry! (laughter)

Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remastered?

So to that point, any thought on making a special mode for Shadows, maybe like the “Naïve Angel�mode in Bayonetta 3, where they tone down the M-rated content. They left in all the cursing, so I still couldn’t watch any of the cut scenes with my kid, but they self-censored all the gore and other visuals that kids might not be ready for. So instead of ripping out her heart when doing a magic spell, Bayonetta rips out a tomato. And instead of characters smoking cigarettes, they like, stick lollipops in their mouths. So maybe you could make a "Shadows of the Darned: Hecka Remaster" mode, sort of like how R-rated movies used to be edited for TV, with sound-alike actors dubbing over words like “Mother Fucker�with stuff like “Melon Farmer� so the mouth shapes more or less line up with the sounds. That might be a way to draw in the Nintendo crowds?

Suda51 (via translator): (laughter) We’re not going to be able to get a mode like that done in time for this Remaster, but if we do a sequel som??eday, that’s some??thing we would actually give consideration.

That would be amazing. I will work for free, by the way. I will play any character you want but, only doing weak swear words for children. But I’ll record any weak swear words you want. Crap. Fudge. You name it, I’ll say it.

Suda51: (laughter)

You know, before the translator told me what you just said, I thought you were saying “Jonathan, please stop giving me all these bad ideas. You do it every time we talk� But I guess you don’t hate this one, and that makes me feel fantastic.

Suda51 (via translator): Yea??h, I think I get where you’re coming from this time. And we’re definitely not going to be doing it for this game because of time restraints and ??also... I don’t feel like it...(laughter) but we could probably add options to tone down some of the gore in some of our titles to take into consideration a wider variety of players, a wider audience and stuff. But we’re not going to do that for this one.

A game for fans of Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime 2?

Right (laughter) Good good good. So, on a more serious bent, sorta, what would you say to people who haven’t heard of  Shadows of the Damned, who maybe know Resident Evil 4, which has been on every Nintendo system since for the last 20 years or so, about the similarities and differences between the games? Do you think most fans of Resident Evil 4 would enjoy it?

Suda51 (via translator): Well, obviously it’s largely a Third Person Shooter, and a lot of the Third Person Shooter elements in the game came from Shinji Mikami [director of Resident Evil 4], who oversaw a lot of the action design and stepped in and helped with fine tuning the final product. So while I was responsible for the final script, there’s a lot of him in the game as well. Not just like the ??story and backgrounds and everything but the way it actually works, the way it’s played. So if you’re into Third Person Shooters, or action type games, then it’s probably worth giving it a try.

Probably? I mean, I don’t think you’re really selling it enough (laughter). Because I wanted to prepare for playing the Remaster today, I replayed the original last week, and I forgot how many times you throw curveballs at player to keep them feeling shocked and excited. Like if you’ve played Resident Evil 4, you can jump right in with the basics here, but you also get to the weird stuff like right away, like needing to change to the light shot in order to shoot goat heads and create safe zones, or having to go from full fight mode into flight mode when you run through the poison darkness to get to an exit. Which come to think it is, something you also had to do in Metroid Prime 2. So I guess that’s another reason for GameCube-era Nintendo fans to feel seen by your game. But yeah, you’re suddenly told you have to shove strawberries into monster baby door lock’s mouths, demons come in wearing shadow armor, all these change-ups that are often saved for later on in a game this size are all coming at you in the first ten minutes or so. Was it a deliberate decision to make the game rapid-fire with new mechanics and action puzzles?

Suda51 (via translator): Well it was a pretty big team on this one, and we worked to fit in as many ideas from various team members that we could in the final game. And when it comes to the script, I really wanted to keep the dialogue going at a steady rate. One of the biggest elements that’s definitely my thing in Shadows of the Damned, from the very start of planning the game, one thing that I had decided f??rom the beginning, is there was going to be a main character and his buddy. It was going to be like partners. I wasn’t sure exactly how it was going to work out, but it I knew I wanted it to be a dude and his buddy. And possibly, a dude and his buddy who is also a ghost (laughter). That was one of the parts of the game, throughout the whole process, I put a lot of work into, a lot of thought into. It was the thing from ??the very beginning the thing that I was going to do, really pushed for it and just kept putting as much thought and love into it as I could. If there’s one part of the game that’s specifically a Suda thing that I’m personally proud of, and would really like people to pay attention to, it would be the buddy element between Garcia and Johnson.

Black Knight Sword: Also Hella Remastered?

Speaking of the script of the game, we’ve talked before about another game you wrote, Black Knight Sword, is like a blood relative to Shadows of the Damned. If I remember correctly, the story of Black Knight Sword was taken from one of your early scripts for Shadows. So it’s almost like a little brother to Damned in that way. The two have similar art direction as well, at least when it comes to the brief 2D segments of Shadows, though I know they had a separate dev teams and publishers. So is there any chance Black Knight Sword will see a Hella Remaster too?  

Suda51 (via translator): As for Black Knight Sword, we don’t actually have the rights to th??at. I believe it’s probably THQ Nordic that holds the righ??ts.

Oh no! Do they even exist as that company anymore? They were bought and sold a few times since then I think.

Suda51 (via translator): I think some dude probably bought the rights on eBay a little while ago (laughter). But no, what you’re thinking is how Digital Reality originally published the game with us, but I think THQ Nordic bought them later on. So THQ Nordic, last I heard, still has the rights. We’ve actually spoken before about buying back the rights to Black Knight Sword, but unfortunately, it wasn’t really the right time, so we don’t actually have that right now. There’s no concrete plans to revisit it or bring it back or anything, but at least the first step is getting back the rights, and that’s something I’ve considered multiple times in the past, so never say never. But not at all?? anything we’ve got on the blackboard right now.

Garcia's sexy road to stardom?

It’s amazing how many of your characters are in the hands of so many different publishers and have been in so many games on so many consoles. Like every time I see the Travis Touchdown spirit and Mii costume in Smash Ultimate, I still do a little spit take, seeing this foul-mouthed, murderous otaku next to Link and Mario in game. Travis is arguably more famous than his games, in that way. People who have never played No More Heroes still know him. And Garcia, for my money, is just as interesting of a character. In some ways he’s more dynamic because of his relationship with both Johnson and Paula, and all the ups and downs he goes through with them. So what do you think it will take to make Garcia as famous a Travis?

Suda51 (via translator): You have any good?? ideas? (laughter). I’m thinking an OnlyFa?ns. (laughter)

Well the truth is, I think it could happen and it should happen, just based on the quality of the game and the quality of the writing. I think that people are more ready to appreciate Shadows of the Damned now than they were 10 years ago. So I’m expecting this is going to do extremely well for you. This is going to be a lot of people’s first ever Suda51 game and they’re going to come away very impressed.

Suda51 (via translator): Thank you for saying that. And you know, back in the day when we released the original, we had a bunch of older dudes at EA who were extremely set in their ways in charge of promoting the game. And to put it in a polite way, it’s pretty clear these dudes didn’t know shit abo??ut this game (laughter). These were the guys who were supposed to promote it, really not understanding what it’s trying to do, what it’s about, what it is, you know? So hopefully, yeah. Maybe this time it’ll get a bit more of a chance to just be itself.

Super Mario, but in hell

And the way you’re promoting your game now shows that your heart is really in it. When Damned was first published by EA, some people thought “Maybe EA are the ones that really made this game and they just tacked Suda’s name on it for street cred.�But now you’re out here at replica of a bar in the middle of hell, hanging out with whoever comes in, just like Garcia and Johnson might hang out with whatever demons stroll into their life, you’re showing that the story is really about social connection. Garcia and Johnson are talking to each other non-stop in this game, and Garcia’s connection to Paula is the force that drives him forward from hell and back. And likewise, your drive to connect with the fans through this event, and through this game, well like I said, you wouldn’t be doing this if your heart wasn’t really in it. Now it’s just a matter of people taking a chance on the game and finding that out for themselves.

Suda51 (via translator):  Yeah, that’s still in question, right? One last thing that I wanted to say is there’s probably a lot of people out there who don’t really fully grasp exactly what Shadows of the Damned is about. So to put it in super simple terms, in the story you’ve got Garcia who is a demon hunter, and he’s got the love of his life, Paula who is kidnapped and taken away to Hell by Flemming, this badass demon. And so Garcia and his buddy Johnson traverse the deepest depths of Hell to take out Flemming and get Paula back. To put it in even simpler terms, maybe for the Nintendo fans out there, if Garcia is like Mario, then Flemming would be like Bowser. Paula would be like Peach and then Johnson is basically Luigi. Basically, you’ve got the same exact love triangle as Mario. It’s pretty much the same exact story. It’s like Super Mario Bros., but in Hell. (laughter).

Suda, thanks so much for the conversation. It’s always a pleasure.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is set to hit PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam) sometime this year.

The post Suda51 doesn’t feel like self-censoring Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered appeared first on Destructoid.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom might be the perfect seque?l in every defini?tion of the word, but even Nintendo seems to agree that it has exhausted all possibilities for this particular iteration of Link’s journey.

You’ll know by now that Tears, originally conceived as a DLC for Breath of the Wild, morphed into a proper installment when the producers realized the sheer scope of the ideas being thrown around at the studio. The entire game is pretty much modeled after what you already experienced in the acclaimed 2017 title, and yet we couldn’t begin to list all the fun elements they built upon to turn Tears of the Kingdom into another sensational hit.

Sure, it may have ultimately lost the GOTY to Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s not every day that we get a seq?uel to one of the greatest games in history and somehow end up enjoying it more.

And the best part? It looks like Nintendo knows when to leave well enough alone, because it's not planning to develop a threequel to the Breath of the Wild offshoot.

Why Nintendo won't develop a sequel to Tears of the Kingdom according to its producer

Eiji Aonuma, who's served as a producer on The Legend of Zelda franchise for well over three decades, recently explained in an interview with Game Informer that they aren't planning a threequel, mainly because Tears is already the "apotheosis" of ??thi??????????????????????????s particular subseries.

"[...] As I've mentioned previously, with Tears of the Kingdom, we were seeking to build on top of the world we created with Breath of the Wild and really exhaust the possibilities of what we could put into that world," Aonuma explained. "I think it is �to use a bit of a term �an apotheosis, or the final form of that version of The Legend of Zelda. In that regard, I don't thin??k that we'll be making a direct sequel to a world such as that that we've c?reated."

I can't say I won't miss this incarnation of Hyrule, but in an era where franchises are so hell-bent on overstaying their welcome, this might just be the best creative decision Nintendo could've made for The Legend of Zelda at this particular junction.

The post Zelda producer confirms Tears of the Kingdom won’t get a direct sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

Nintendo just announced a brand new bundle for the Switch OLED that isn’t simply another Mario Kart package. The bundle goes on sale November 19, jus??t in time for Black Friday shopping.

The new Switch OLED includes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via digital download and three months of?? Nintendo Switch Online. The Black Friday deal runs at $349.99, saving you about $67.98 �around the cost of a new ??game if you're looking to add more to the pile.

If the OLED model isn't what you're looking for, Nintendo's also got deals on the Switch Lite. Two new Animal Crossing bundles join the console lineup in time for the holiday season?, including a pink Isabelle Aloha Edition and a turquoise Timmy and Tommy Aloha Edition. Isabelle's bundle is a Shopper's Drug Mart exclusive, while Timmy and Tommy editions?? are only available at Walmart. Both are $259.96.

Nintendo's Black Friday deals include more than a system bundle, too. Price cuts on games include $25 off The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Luigi's Mansion 3, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. You can grab some older heavy hitters for $30 off, including Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Super Mario Odyssey, and Metroid Dread.

With holiday shopping deals revving up for Black Friday, Nintendo has its full list of offers up on its official hub. If you're among those just itching to dive into Super Mario RPG though, that's a sale for a Nintendo sometime in the far, far future. Aside from a few pre-order bonuses, you're stuck paying full price and maybe reading our hands-on experience with the remake while you wait.

The post Nintendo reveals its Black Friday deals and holiday?? Switch bundles appeared first on Destructoid.

With Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 releasing digitally in just a week, GameMill Entertainment has pulled back the curtain to reveal the title's overhauled campaign mode. In a? newly launched trailer for the game, the single-player story is intriguing??ly called "an epic roguelike campaign."

The crux of the campaign's story revolves around Danny Phantom's Vlad Plasimus as the villain "wreaks havoc across the Nickelodeon u?niverse." To progress through the adventure, you'll have the option to choose different paths at key moments. Successful bouts lead you ?toward unlocking new characters and power-ups to aid you further along.

The world's most fearsome fighting team

Outside of the campaign, we also got a glimpse at some other additions to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2's single-player content. A new Pop the Slime Balloons game is shown off which looks like an homage to Super Smash Bros.'s Break the Targets. There's also a Whack-a-bot mode that seems similar to Smash Bros.'s 100-Man Smash.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 will also feature a boss rush mode, with the trailer teasing numerous villains including SpongeBob SquarePants' Flying Dutchman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Shredder. Each of the single-player modes mentioned will have a speedrun option as well so that players can compete for the ??fastest times.

With today's news, GameMill Entertainment also confirmed what's in store for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 DLC. The platform fighter will come equipped with 25 fighters at launch (14 returning, 11 new). But for those who nee??d more, a $24.99 Season Pass will feature a ?four additional combatants.

The future DLC newcomers include Mr. Krabs, Rocksteady, Zuko, and Iroh, with Mr. Krabs planned to appear first in early 2024. There's al?so a Costume Pack that players can purchase for $19.99 that includes a brand-new outfit for each character. Furthermore, GameMill notes that players can purchase "future individual DLC brawlers" with three costumes included for $6.99.

Due to the game's delay, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 will debut digitally on November 7 for Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Meanwhile, physical copies of the game will launch December 1. That said, note that the developers confirmed that the Nintendo Switch physical version is just a code in a b?ox.

The post Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 trail??er shows ?off new roguelike story campaign appeared first on Destructoid.

As I recently realized, Song of Nunu is shaping up to be a special game that may not be just the happy an?d cozy adventure game it looks to be from its tr??ailers.

We recently sat down with the Creative Director at Riot Forge, Rowan Parker. We spoke a bit about the creative design process at Riot Forge, but a majority of our interview was about their upcoming adventure game Song of Nunu. D?on'??t worry, Rowan was sure to keep the interview spoiler-free.

DESTRUCTOID: In case some readers aren't familiar with Song of Nunu just yet, can you give us a quick rundown to set the story as well as what ??to expect gameplay-wise?

ROWAN: Song of Nunu is definitely a different pace of game, both for those who play League of Legends and those who have played previous Riot Forge games. A lot of those games were a little more combat or action-focused whereas Song of Nunu is more heartfelt and warming. A more personal human story, a very touching experience. The studio that we're working with, Tequila Works, does a really good job of telling intimate and personal stories and narratives like Rime, The Invisible Hours, and The Sexy Brutale.? They are very good at t?his kind of storytelling.

Song of Nunu is going to be the first time fans of League of Legends have encountered this type of story. A warm buddy adventure of a ten-year-old boy and his best friend who happens to be a yeti going on an adventure together. I'm really interested in seeing the LoL audience play Song of Nunu which is a very different tempo. Also, if they are not familiar with Tequila Works games, they are in for a surprise, because their games punch hard on story. If you have played one of their previous games like Rime, you know exactly what's about to happen. And if you haven't played Rime, what a delight it will be. Those players aren't going to know what hit them? when they start playing.

DESTRUCTOID: Yeah, for sure. Tequila Works certainly knows how to punch hard. As a follow-up question to that, even though what we've seen in the trailers for Song of Nunu has been a happy cozy adventure, I assume that's ?not the full story?

ROWAN: Nothing bad could happen right? What could go wrong? They're going to have ??a wonderful adventure and they'll just be happy the whole way through. Nothing bad will happen.

DESTRUCTOID: OK, now I'm ?even more excited. In the trailers released so far, we've really seen the focus on Braum and of course Nunu. Given the setting, will we be running into some other characters from the Freljord? Are you able to s?hare who we can expect to encounter?

ROWAN: The characters we have shown and announced so far are obviously Nunu and Willump, after all it's their adventure. Braum took us on a tour of the Freljord. Everyone knows Lissandra is going to be in the game. I love Lissandra as a villain or antagonist because she really is a tra?gic villain. It's not super clear-cut with her. She thinks she's doing the right thing and saving the world. She's the definition of ends justify the means. The problem is that her means are quite dark—pun intended—for how she is trying to achieve her goals. But in her eyes, she is being altruistic and noble. And in the most recent trailer, we showed that Ornn is in the game. I don't know who else we've announced yet but I won't say anymore there.

DESTRUCTOID: Fair enough, but? is it safe to assume we will encounter some more characters, right?

ROWAN: Yeah. I do want to iterate though, with Riot Forge games, we tend to not kitchen s?ink our games and jam as many characters in as possible. I think one of the reasons players enjoy the voice performances and deep storytelling and acting with Riot Forge games is because we choose to go narrow and deep on character explorations. With that, we can really execute the characters and really fles?h them out and build their personality and world. We couldn't do that if we jammed 50 champions into every game. As with other Riot Forge games, there will be a constrained cast, but they will all be rich and interesting.

DESTRUCTOID: You're making this too easy for me because?? this actually leads into the next question I had. We've seen Braum specifically not front and center in a couple of dif?ferent Rune Forge games. Can we consider him the Riot Forge mascot at this point?

ROWAN: Two to be clear, but i??t is more than one, so I get i??t.

DESTRUCTOID: Oh hey, I'm not complaining, the voice actor for Braum, JB Blanc, absolutely nails it.? There's no better. I'm not saying it's a bad thing at all.

ROWAN: Oh I know, and if you've ever met JB in person, JB basically is Braum as a human. He kind of looks like Braum a lit??tle bit but also his personality, he's just warm and heartful. He's the soul of the room and needs no warm-up time in the booth to become Braum. He just turns a switch on and he is Braum. JB is a delight to work with.

But yeah, I don't know if I'd say Braum is the Riot Forge mascot. He just happens to be a champion who has shown up in two games and is the first to do so. He's definitely a more minor role in Song of Nunu compared to Ruined King where he was one of the six main characters ??of the game. But I?? like Braum, so more Braum can't be bad. Also, we're in the Freljord with Poro's, could we really NOT do Braum?

DESTRUCTOID: For sure, you can't go wrong with more Braum. In his Hero Lessons trailer for Song of Nunu, we see what looks like sort of a sno?wboarding mini-game using Braum's shield. Is this something we will be doing?? often? What other sort of mini-games are there gameplay-wise?

ROWAN: I don't want to spoil the story or other stuff that's not in the trailer, so I won't go too deep into it. But there are a lot of different types of gameplay in the game. Song of Nunu is a story-driven adventure game, but it would be boring to just walk for the whole game. There are a l??ot of puzzles in the game, both logic and cognitive puzzles. And, they do get quite challenging as you get later into the game. You will have to layer up a lot of the mechanics you've learned and r?eally analyze some of the deeper puzzles.

There are light combat sections as well, as you can expect from ??Nunu and Willump. But it's more of a light palette cleanse and tempo change. Tequila Works does a great job of keeping the pace of the game fresh so you don't feel like you're doing the same thing throughout. I'm not quite sure I'd call any of them mini-games, but there are section??s like the one you mentioned with Braum shield-surfing.

DESTRUCTOID: Now that I think back with my time in Rime, and knowing what Tequila Wo?rks is good at, I can definitely see the blend of puzzles and other types of gameplay.

ROWAN: It's an adventure, right? Tequila Works tells great wonderful human stories. And they do really well with companions too. Do you remember the fox from Rime? Willump is like a super version, one of the better companions I've ever seen in a game. We spent a lot of time on Willump to make sure he felt like a believable, ??breathing, and living best friend. We've all played those games where companion characters can be annoying or get in the way. We spent a lot of time making sure Willump feels really good and like he is actually helping you while having his own personality as a living creature.

DESTRUCTOID: Let's shift a little bit. Riot is extremel??y lore-rich in terms of its world and characters. So far Riot Forge titles have seemingly focused on a specific character. What is the design process for this decision? Do you pick a character and build a specific gameplay around th??em, or come up with the gameplay goal first then find a character that fits with it?

ROWAN: So when we approach studios, or they approach us, there's actually no template for the game ahead of time. A lot of people think we go to a studio with an idea and we ask them to make ?the idea...that's not how it works at all.

When we first reached out to Raúl at Tequila Works, we had no plan of what to do. The first thing I asked was, "What kind of game do you want to make? What kind of story do you want to tell?" And then we spent time talk?ing through the lore and IP, talking about the gameplay that we wanted to work with. Raúl actually pitched us on his first choice which was Nunu and Willump. I think when he first pitched us on Nunu and Willump he probably expected us to say no, but I think it's a great pick for Tequila Works. They do a great job with companion stories, especially with a ten-year-old boy like Nunu as the character. It's very relatable compared to, say, Aatrox or ??Aurelion Sol. It could be kind of hard to get personal with a space dragon.

?Obviously, they don't know everything about the IP and world like we do, so that's where we come in and help them build out the story and the world together with them. But the initial idea or the aspirational target for the game actually comes from the studio.

DESTRUCTOID: That's actually a reall??y cool design process, I like that it's not "Hey this is what we're?? doing" ahead of time.

ROWAN: I'm of the opinion no studio wants to be told what to do. Also, the reason we're working with them in the first place is all the studios we wor?k with are pedigreed studios with a great legacy of games. Tequila Works has made amazing games. They don't really need us to tell them how to make the game, so really it's a partnership.

DESTRUCTOID: If there is a League of Legends player who has yet to check out a Riot Forge game, what would you say to them as far as why they should also give a Riot Forge game like Song of Nunu a try if they are a League of Legends fan?

ROWAN: For Song of Nunu specifically, it's like no other game that Riot or Forge has made before. It is a very heartfelt and emotional story that will tug at heartstrings. People will cry when they play this game. It is a very different change of pace not just from LoL but other Riot Forge games as well. If you're someone who has been playing LoL forever or even if you're someone who never has and doesn't know anything about our characters or world, Song of Nunu is possibly the game that people will just enjoy playing without knowing anything about the League universe.

DESTRUCTOID: I did not know Song of Nunu ??would? be such a deep game, I'm very excited for it now.

ROWAN: A lot of people might no?t know what to expect with a Tequila Works game, so I'm excited for people to play their first Tequila Works game. And probably get ambushed halfway ??through the game by feelings.

DESTRUCTOID: What sort of threats are Nunu and Willump g?oing to e?ncounter that will make their journey not so pleasant?

ROWAN: We know Lissandra is the antagonist. With these story-driven games, I really don't want to spoil any story of what's going to happen. But for players familiar with the world, we are in the Freljord, so there's some stuff you can encounter there as well as some champions. When you think "How much trouble could a ten-year-old get into in the Freljord?" Especially when it's Nunu and he thinks he's invincible while Willump frantically tries to protect him from stuff. For people familiar with the lore, there are some surprises in Song of Nunu.

DESTRUCTOID: I'm almost getting similar feelings from a narrative standpoint of the new God of War? titles, where you see Atre??us grow while encountering threats.

ROWAN: Oh yeah. Let me first set the expectation here, it's not God of War. But something???? I have to mention, did you know we have a hug button?

DESTRUCTOID: I did not know that.

ROWAN: There is a hug button in the game. You press the button, and Willump gives you a hug. That's it. That's the button. I've had some people ask if you get experience points or any story of reward for doing that. Nope. You press the button and he gives you a hug. I think every game needs a hug button. But that's the kind of game we're going for with Song of Nunu. The kind of game that has a hug button.

DESTRUCTOID: Gah, see, I already know now it's just going to hit me hard??er than I expected. I don't know what's coming but knowing that I'm scared.

ROWAN: I think you probably could guess what’s coming. The question is, what flavor is it going to be??

DESTRUCTOID: So is this ??a gam?e that I can—or should, even—play with my children?

ROWAN: I would not classify Song of Nunu as a kid's game at all. The puzzles get quite difficult later on, there's a l??ot of depth to some of them. But is it a game you could play with games in the room or that they could watch along as you're playing? Yes. It doesn't have a high maturity rating or anything, but I don't know if you could just hand the contro??ller over to a child and have them successfully execute some of the later gameplay mechanics. But they can definitely sit along on the couch with you and cheer along while you play.

DESTRUCTOID: Thank you for highlighting so much about Song of Nunu to me. I'm so excited now that I know it's not only a cozy make you feel good sort of game.

ROWAN: Well I mean, Song of Nunu is going to be cozy, and it will make you feel good. But you'll have to earn the good f?eels, and there might be some tough feels on the journey along the way. In the end, it's about the journey.

Song of Nunu is available for pre-order now on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com ahead of its November 1 release. Other console releases will follow later. A warm and fuzzy Collector’s Edition is als??o available directly through the Riot Games Merch st?ore for all confirmed platforms.

The post We tal?ked with Riot Forge Creative Director Rowan P??arker about Song of Nunu appeared first on Destructoid.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rowan Parker, the Creative Director at Riot Forge Games. While some of the interview with Rowan touched on the overall design process at Riot Forge, most of the focus was on the upcoming Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story. I have to admit I had expected the interview to be rather straightforward. Based on what I had seen from the trailers for Song of Nunu so far, I thought I knew what was in ??store. A cozy and playful lighthearted adventure through the Freljord as Nunu, with Willump and Braum by my side. Surely there'd be some laughs, some gaffes, a?nd maybe even a guffaw or two.

As my questioning began, Rowan was quick to remind me: Song of Nunu is being developed by Tequila Works, a developer well known for their hard-hitting narratives in titles like RiME and GYLT. Rowan smirked as I connected the dots about what this meant in terms of what could? be in store for Nunu and Willump.

"Wait, so this isn't just a happy cozy adve????nture?" I asked.

"Nothing ??bad could possibly happen, right?" Rowan teased. "What cou?ld go wrong?"

A tale of a ten-year-old boy and his pet Yeti

I think Rowan said it best. Tequila Works are masters at creating intimately personal stories that know how to hit hard. I'm not quite sure how I had not perceived this beforehand. Tequila Works being the developer might, in fact, be the biggest hint into what we can expect from Song of Nunu.

Wrapping up the interview, I shared som??e thoughts on my newfound know??ledge of what's in store.

"I don't know what'??s coming, but I feel it's going to hit me harder than I expected," I said.

Rowan smirked again. "I think you probably could guess what's coming. The question?? is, what flavor is ??it going to be?"

My full interview with Rowan will be available on September 25, and I recommend checking it out for even more details on what to expect from Song of Nunu.

Song of Nunu is available for pre-order now on Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com ahead of its November 1 release. Other console releases will follow later. A warm and fuzzy Collector's Edition is also available directly through the Riot Ga??mes Merch store for all confirmed platforms.

The post Song of Nunu is not the game I thought it was, and I can’t wait to play it appeared first on Destructoid.

A new platform for development

Unreal Editor for Fornite has opened the doors for aspiring game developers to get a foothold on game development. While you might think this would only appeal to novices, the doors are open to everyone. This has led some established developers to see this as an opportunity. Look North World is a small "community-focused" development studio aiming to develop social experiences in Fortnite.

[caption id="attachment_392365" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Look North World[/caption]

AAA Devs open new studio to make games in Fortnite

Look North World is founded by Alex Seropian, co-founder of Bungie, Patrick Moran of Disney, and developers who've worked for EA and Amazon. The studio's focus is to develop experiences within the battle royale shooter and work with the community to deliver titles they want to see. Players can give feedback and interact with the developers through their Discord server. To showcase their dedication to the community, they?'re offering beta testing access to the first 1,000 players who join their discord? server.

As of writing, Look North's first title is a 1v1 skill-based shooter called Outlaw Corral. 16 players will work through a tournament bracket to deter??mine a champion through 1v1 fights. The developers claim that this island will help players sharpen their 1v1 skills. While not available yet, their second title, codenamed "Murcielago," is in development.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThTb26MZo2g

It seems strange that a developer would dedicate their studio to developing games exclusively in Fortnite. In a press release, Alex Seropian goes on to?? justify their studio's business decis?ion.

"Developing in UEFN opens a whole new world of opportunities and we are in uncharted territory. Through experimentation, we will see what the players like and involve them in decisions. We will throw in a mix of fun game components that players love with a healthy dose of humor when we can. We are jumping into it with a 'the virtual sky is the limit' mentality. As we develop creative ideas, we will learn how these platforms engage, entertain and boost social interactions in order to iterate accordingly"

Look North World claims that the studio aims to put community and fun first. With only one game released, it seems only time will tell if Look North World will rise through the ranks of Fortnite Creative's competitive environment. Players can try out Outlaw Corral now by entering the island code 0985-8384-1768.

The post Former AAA devs open new studio to make games in Fortni?te appeared first on Destructoid.

Battle Bus, Roll Out!

Fortnite has shown that it will collaborate with just about any major IP. From Marvel to DC, to even Dragon Ball, Fortnite has become the Who's Who? Of Battle Royales. Their latest IP they've ma?naged to snag is none other than Transformers, and th??ey're making sure they can get in on the fun.

The Fortnite Battle Bus gets the Autobots Treatment in Latest Physical Pack

Fortnite's Latest Physical Pack, which includes three new skins, three new back blings, 1,000 v-bucks, two emotes, and three new pickaxes is coming soon. Entitled the "Transformers Pack" this bundle will cost about $25 USD without taxes, and includes Bumblebee, Megatron, and a new Transformer based on the Fortnite Battle Bus.

[caption id="attachment_390110" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot From Epic Games[/caption]

Bumblebee comes with a back bling based on his car-door wings, as well as?? a Stinger Sword Pickaxe. The pickaxe also comes with a built-in "Battle Ready" emote.

[caption id="attachment_390111" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot From Epic Games[/caption]

Megatron's portion of the pack comes with a Decepticon logo back bling, and the Energon Mace Pickaxe. Th??e built-in emote for this Pickaxe turns it int??o his iconic Fusion Cannon.

[caption id="attachment_390112" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot From Epic Games[/caption]

Last, but not least, Fortnite?'s own battle bus becomes a Transformer as well, complete with the "Bot Air Balloon" back bling, and the Pick Axle Pickaxe.

The physical pack will be sold in retail stores on October 13th, with digital versions of the pack being available on October 21st. There's still time to work through Chapter 4: Season 3's b??attle pass, to complete the Transformers collection with Optimus Prime before he leaves at the end of th??e season!

The post Fortnite is adding the Batt?le Bus as a Transformer sk??in in new physical pack appeared first on Destructoid.

The heart of the franchise was not lost in translation

Making the jump from a two-screen device to a single-screen experience can be a tricky proposition. Some games, like The World Ends with You, lose something in the conversion. Others, like Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy Deluxe Edition, discover life can effortlessly go on with just one screen. Most games have a log??ical path forward m??oving from the Nintendo DS/3DS to modern hardware.

But Etrian Odyssey is not like most games. This franchise i??s categorically connected to the dual-screen era of gaming that it’s almost hard to imagine how it could possibly work on Switch. I mean, what’s Atlus going to do, cram everything onto one scree?n and hope for the best?

Yes, that’s ?exactly what it did. And surprisingly, it works.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSeXc8JwwFw

One reason why there’s always been a question mark around porting the Etrian series to Switch or any single-screen device is that its identity is in its map-making. Dungeon-crawling RPGs are pretty prevalent today, but few of them ask players to make their maps the way Etrian Odyssey does. That was the appeal of the original game; how it tied into the pen-and-paper tabletop RPGs of the '70s and '80s. It was a gimmick that worked exceptionally well with the Nintendo DS and 3DS touch screens. Hundreds of thousands of people saw the appeal, which is how we managed to get six mainline entries, two remakes, and two Mystery Dungeon spin-offs.

To remove the cartography features, or to dial them down, would remove the very soul of the series. Etrian Odyssey just isn’t "Etrian Odyssey" if you’re not drawing walls and dropping icons for treasure chests? you need to revisit. So, for Atlus to find a way to port the first three titles of the series to modern hardware that retains its unique niche in the industry is quite the achievement. It may not be elegant, and it may not look great in screenshots, but by god, Atlus’s single-screen solution works.

[caption id="attachment_385716" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The left side of the screen is dedicated to the first-person dungeon crawling experience. It works well because all three games originated on the Nintendo DS. You’ll remember the top screen of the Nintendo DS was not widescreen at it was on its successor, so fitting the picture to one-half of the Switch screen doesn’t at all feel like anything is getting scrunched. The right side of the screen is for th?e mapping system. On top, you have the overall map of the dungeon floor, while the bottom is a zoomed-in view of your location icon. The top map also houses the various mapping tools you can use, and players have two control options for using those tools.

With touch controls, you’ll use your finger as you would the stylus on the DS or 3DS to draw those walls and set those reminders. If you have a stylus that works with your Switch, even better. You’ll get a more precise placement with that. I don’t have a suitable stylus, so I have to rely on my fingers and those sausages are not accurate. Also—and this is just a personal thing—but I hate touching my OLED screen. I go out of my way to never accidentally leave a fingerprint on that thing, so I obviously spent the majorit??y of my time with the other control option.

[caption id="attachment_385714" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The second control option is more intricate, and ??while it can seem slow-going at first, once I got the hang of it, I started to enjoy mapping out dungeons here almost as much as I enjoyed it back on the handheld systems. This control option uses the ZR and ZL buttons in tandem with the control sticks.

What’s important to know is these control options are separate from the character movement controls. You’ll move your party through each stratum floor using the directional buttons/directional pad, and any actions associated with exploring the dungeon floor are separate from the map-making tools. After an hour or so of playing through Etrian Odyssey II and Etrian Odyssey III, the control scheme felt like second nature to me, and I could easily chart each dungeon floor as I moved my party through them without feeling ??like I was getting ?bogged down by busy work. If you're playing in handheld mode, you can switch between the two input options on the fly.

[caption id="attachment_385715" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

If you never cared about mapping a dungeon floor, there are auto-mapping options available that will chart out the layout of each dungeon floor but will not put down any icons for you. And if you’ve never played an Etrian Odyssey game before, there are several options here to help ease you into the experience. All three games of the collection feature three difficulty levels—Picnic, Basic, and Expert—that can be changed at any time with no penalty. There are multiple save slots if you’re the type of player to utilize those, a quick save option within the labyrinth, and an auto-save option you can toggle. There are three control options, but they’re limited to the control sticks and directional buttons/pad. If you’re left-handed and would prefer the mapping windows on the left side of the screen, there’s an option for th??at as well.

All-in-all, this is a well-rounded package that is welcoming to newcomers while retaining the elements that made this series such a niche hit. Etrian Odyssey’s conversion to a single screen gets the job done even if it's not the most sophisticated of transformations. Whether or not that’s enough to justify charging $80 for the collection—or $40 for each title separately—is certainly up for debate. If, for some reason, you do opt for a single game in the collection, go with Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City HD. It’s the best of the collection.

_{[This impressions piece is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Etrian Odyss??ey Origins Collection works well enough as a single-screen experience appeared first on Destructoid.

And it looks like this one might actually release outside of Japan

Friday night before an extended holiday weekend is arguably the worst time for companies to release video game news. Most people have gone home, and those of us who are still around have to make the choice between enjoying our free time and dragging our butts back to our laptops to crank out one more story for the day. For most games, I'd wait until Monday. But when you're talking Dragon Quest Monsters, you have my attention.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Dragon Quest spin-off. The series is a monster-collecting take on the franchise, something developers had explored years earlier in Dragon Quest V. The first two games were released on the Game Boy Color, with the second title hitting right at the end of the handheld's life cycle. Maybe it was the fact that nothing could beat Pokémon at the time, or maybe it was because the Dragon Quest brand didn't have the international appeal it does now, but the DQM series has had an inconsistent reputation for getting worldwide releases. The Game Boy Color games both made it over to North America. Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, which was released on the Game Boy Advance, was never localized. Both Nintendo DS entries in the series�em>Dragon Quest Monsters Joker and Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2—scored worldwid??e releases, but every game developed on the 3DS stayed in Japan.

Given that Square Enix is still pretty shaky on whether or not a Dragon Quest game will go worldwide (looking at you, Dragon Quest X Offline), the video below gives me hope we'll se?e t?he series on our shores in the near future.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y-cIRpX46I

If you made it through to the end, you'll see that a new Dragon Quest Monsters is in development for the Nintendo Switch. This isn't the first time we've heard that Square Enix is revisiting the franchise. During a stream two years ago, it was revealed a new DQM was in development. It's been all quiet since? then, and while I would have liked to have seen? some footage, it is nice to know that we have this to look forward to in the future. It's also nice to know the Nintendo Switch still has some support going forward.

As for this new Monsters getting a worldwide release, well, why bother translatin??g any of that video into English if you ain't gonna brin??g it our way?

The post A new Dragon Quest Monster??s is in development for Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

Lo-fi carnage has never looked so good

The definitive edition of the dark fantasy action game Bleak Sword DX is coming to PC and Switch and it's...on the horizon! In a new trailer, Devolver Digital confirmed the Bleak Sword DX release date for June 8th on both platforms.

Originally released on Apple Arcade back in 2019, the enhanced version will include the original nine chapters in the Bleak Sword campaign and all three DLC chapters.  The gist is that you'll be taking down horrifying monsters across a vari??ety of cursed battlefields with?? a variety of fierce weaponry and powerful magic.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArQ5jZDHCSI

It apparently improves the original in every way

?The i??mproved version of the game will include a streamlined control system built specifically for PC and Switch. Utilizing the new controls you will be able to execute new attacks, parries, and counters against an enhanced enemy AI. Graphically the game has received graphical enhancements in every aspect. There are new post-processing effects, unique filters, an adaptive depth of field, and more. Particle effects, foliage, and even the weather have seen some improvements as well.

Additionally, Bleak Sword DX features three all-new game modes as well. First is a brand new randomizer campaign modifier that creates a remixed version of the original game. Next is a Boss Run gauntlet where you will face all 12 in-game bosses in a row with only one health bar. Last is an endless arena mode throwing increasingly difficult enemies at you until you suffer defeat. This is all accompanied by the epic score from award-winning composer Jim Guthrie and sound designer Joonas Turner. If you are looking for a challengin??g but rewarding action romp in a dark fantasy setting, be sure to check out the game when it releases early next month.

A demo for Bleak Sword DX is currently available on Steam!

The post Bleak Sword DX release date is soon appeared first on Destructoid.

Am I a dreamer?

Originally, this piece was going to be called "Animal Crossing on the GameCube is blatantly better than Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom". My plan was to take a 4/7th serious stance on the topic, not unlike this old essay on why I prefer Advance Wars to Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison and inherently farcical, but the sincere truth is that many of the things I grew up loving about Zelda (particularly its first 3 sequels) were best translated to polygons in the original Animal Crossing title. The grid segmented map, the feeling that every screen might have a simple-to-find secret hidden in a tree or behind a rock, the small but versatile set of tools, the inviting villages, the simplicity; they're all  key aspects to what made Adventures of Link, Link to the Past, and Link's Awakening so great.

Perhaps most importantly, the original Animal Crossing kept things cozy. There's no complex crafting system, no massive world that takes hours to traverse, no broken weapons (except the axe, but getting a golden one is easy enough), and never the feeling that you have a big, difficult job to do. In fact, the first thing that happens in the game is you get fired from your job. It's a full escape from the "civilized' world. And maybe you have to be there at the time to feel this way, but when the first Animal Crossing came out, it came off like a direct sequel to the Animal Village section of Link's Awakening. If you've played them both, then you know the similarities between them are about as subtle as a talking b??????????????????????????ear asking you to arm wrestle.

[caption id="attachment_377600" align="alignnone" width="620"] Animal Cross??ing on the G??ameCube and Link's Awakening on the Switch[/caption]

No Hyrule Country for Old Farts

Since Link's Awakening and the first Animal Crossing , both the Zelda and Animal Crossing franchises have blown up in a big way, in terms of both popularity and scope. As a resul??t, I bounced off of each of them hard. It made me think that maybe Nintendo just doesn't make games for 46-year-old weirdos like me anymore.

And that was going to be the piece! But what would that have done for you, dear reader? A few of you like-minded outliers out there feel would feel a little less alone, and the rest of you would have just been glad that I am no longer the target demographic for Zelda games. Except, and here's the kicker, maybe I still am! It was only a couple of years ago that Nintendo made a "new" game for people like me. It was a remake of Link's Awakening, and hey—it didn't sell that bad! Last count put it at a little over 6 million sold. That's far from what Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons did, but it's still better t??han most games ever d?o.

It all gives me hope that maybe after Tears of the Kingdom breaks sales records, wins a GOTY at the Game Awards, and all the dust has finally settled from it's launch, Nintendo may give me what I really want: a new Link's Awakening.

The Zelda Upscale/Downsize Cycle

It may sound like an absurd idea for Nintendo to go backwards like that, given how much more Breath of the Wild sold than every other Zelda game. The core audience for the series clearly wants them to keep getting bigger and freer. But when you look at the history of the series, a pattern emerges that points to the next Zelda to launch after 2023 to be something that goes in a different direction. Starting with Ocarina of Time, every other home console Zelda has taken a step back from making things bigger and more open. Ocarina was, of course, the first Zelda game to feature a fully 3D world, and it made a huge effort to show off how spacious and sprawling it could be. Its direct sequel, Majora's Mask, had you spending a lot of time in small town town and other little areas, learning about the people of the world and u?sing empathy to help them to prevent the apocalypse.

After that there was Wind Waker, which went big again with a massive ocean to chart. That was followed up by Four Swords Adventures, which was about small-scale multiplayer action puzzle solving. Then came Twilight Princess, which expanded things again, then Skyward Sword, which took after both Majora's and Monster Hunter, plopping you in a v??ariety of bite-??sized environments where getting to know the minutiae of how everything fits together was the only way to win.

[caption id="attachment_377608" align="alignnone" width="640"] Wart, er, "Mam?u" in Link'?s Awakening Switch[/caption]

Toy Link Returns?

Then came Breath of the Wild, which Nintendo said is 12 times bigger than Twilight Princess. That's too big for me. I quit the game after 20 hours, having really enjoyed the totally linear part where it's raining so you can't just climb your way out jam, and instead have to fight a bunch of lizard people before hanging out in a shark man's house. But the rest of the game was a snooze fest for me, just a lot of work. I had hoped that Tears of the Kingdom would take the same approach that Majora's Mask took with Ocarina, scaling things back a bit and focusing on the little things, but from the looks of it, that won't be the case. Initially, I thought that meant that the pattern of Nintendo making every other Zelda sma?ller, sillier, and stranger than the last was over?.

But then I remembered that the Link's Awakening remake, which came out after Breath of the Wild, technically counts as a new Zelda game, with it's Dampe's Dungeon "Zelda Maker" mode and other little details that make it ??more than a 1:1 recreation of the original. Nintendo even created a whole new version of Link for the remake (nicknamed Toy Link at the time). Then he got his own amiibo. It would be strange for them to just never use this version of Link again, right? Every other version of Link (Adult, Young, Toon, and uh, "Blue Shirt") has gotten at least two games to star in. How could you say no to more of this face?

[caption id="attachment_377610" align="alignnone" width="640"] Little Link and his current Dad[/caption]

A link to gaming's past

The only thing that makes me unsure is knowing how much modern Nintendo follows trends. Endlessly replayable open world games with user-created content like Minecraft and Roblox are the most successful games in the world right now, so it's not surprising that Tears of the Kingdom may take after them even more than its predecessor did, with more custom stuff to build and other bait to inspire user-created content. I still see Breath of the Wild trick videos on Twitter. I haven't seen any sign of the Link's Awakening remake on my timeline in years. It's clear which one was a better return on Nintendo's investment, both in terms of sales and in terms of longevity in the p?ublic eye.

But I also have to remember that Nintendo is marching out Pikmin 4 in a few months, and that the big selling points for that game so far are: Pikmin made of ice, a dog with no nose, and "something scary happens at night, probably." Nothing about that is likely to go viral on TikTok or YouTube for the next 5 years. From the looks of it, Pikmin 4 isn't going to try to be a "phenomenon." It's going to try to be a fun little videogame, just like the 3 other numbered Pikmin games that came befor??e it. It's not looking to reinvent the wheel, it's just ??looking to give it another spin.

[caption id="attachment_377611" align="alignnone" width="640"] The largely noseless faces of Pikmin 4[/caption]

Old dogs, old tricks

And that's true for a lot of Nintendo's popular games lately. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-boot Camp is just the first two GBA games with new graphics and remixed music, and it's been a top seller on the eShop for the past two weeks. New Pokémon Snap was essentially the same as the first game but with amazing graphics and new Pokémon, and people went bananas over it. Metroid Dread didn't have multiplayer, mining or crafting mechanics, or a 3D world to explore, and it became the best-selling game in that franchise's history. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is, by all accounts, just a very good JRPG, doing little to move the subgenre forward, and last report as was close to 2 million units sold. Splatoon 3 is just more Splatoon, and it set records in Japan. The list goes on.

For old-heads like me who think gaming peaked a long time ago, it's heartening to see. And more pertinent to this particular essay, it makes me feel that Toy Link (and hopefully Toy Gannondorf) will tread new ground in 2024. In fact, the longest we usually go between top-down Zeldas is three to five years. Tri Force Heroes was 2015, then both Cadence of Hyrule and Link's Awakening launched in 2019. Before that, the wait between the 2D-style Zelda games was usually about 2 years, with the exception of the massive drought between Link's Awakening in 1993 and, uh, Link's Awakening DX in 1998.

So we're about due, and any potential Nintendo not-E3 showcase this summer might be just around the corner. I'm not saying that I'm sure they'll announce Link's Awakening 2 there as a swan song for the now 6-year-old Switch, but stranger things have happened. Four seasons of them in fact, with a 5th on the way. If that series of small-town shenanigans can keep going after all this tim?e, then why can't Toy Link, Wart, and the Wind Fish?

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Still, that $80 price tag...

One of the big questions surrounding the Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection announcement back in February was whether or not the games could adequately translate a game devised for two-screen devices into a single-screen experience. It's not impossible, as we saw with Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! ear??lier this year. Now, we have an idea of what the game will look like when it launches in a few weeks for Nintendo Switch? and PC.

Yesterday, Atlus droppe??d a new trailer for the HD remasters that includes a detailed look at how dungeon mapping will work, as well as building your ??squad and battling monsters.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4zB2IkAXS0

As much as I like these games and as much fun as I know I'll have with them, I just don't know if the stars will align for me this year to actually play them. Etrian Odyssey games are a huge timesink, and getting three at once would basically take up two months' worth of free time for me. Also, there is a non-zero chance I won't still be playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom by the time these games roll out.

Still, I just may have to pick them up and keep ??'em on hand for when I do have the time...like ??when I'm 80.

Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection will launch for Nintendo Switch and PC on June 1. Each game will retail for $39.99, or you can buy the three together for $79.99. Preorders are open, and if you do buy early, you can unlock Atlus-themed character portraits for each of the games, including Aigis from Persona 3 Portable, Nahobino from Shin Megami Tensei V, and Joker from Persona 5 Royal.

The post Etrian Odyssey Origins ?Collection is looking good in this gameplay trailer appeared first on Destructoid.