UK-based Indie team Cathedral Studios has announced their upcoming free-to-play horror FPS, The Bornless.

Developers with the studio come from some big franchises including Far Cry, Borderlands, and Call of Duty. Even though the shooter doesn't release until 2024, the team plans to host frequent open-access weekends until launch. While most shooters put the story on the backburner, Cathedral Studios wants to make it a big part of The Bornless.

"We aspire to lead in technology, but for us, the story holds paramount importance," stated Toby Saunders, CEO at Cathedral Studios. "We've strived to weave an immersive, captivating narrative while ensuring an enjoyable gaming experience."

We also got an Early Access Launch trailer highlighting the creepy goodness that The Bornless has to offer:

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

Lovecraftian? Yes, please.

To be honest, I'm down for trying anything Lovecraftian. I feel like the theme has gotten the short end of the stick in recent times, so hopefully The Bornless can change that.

In The Bornless, demonic forces inter?weave with the human realm wreaking havoc in the town of Farmouth. Players will discover the secrets of the Church of Orobas as they look to balance the universe against the unholy powers in Farmouth.

As for the gameplay, there are eight playable characters each with their own intricate backstories. As you progress you will learn more about them and progress through a diverse sk??ill system. It looks like co-op play will be a big featur??e of the game, which is a great touch on the genre.

Furthermore, players will be able to join or create their own Faction. Doing so unlocks access to Safehouses that allow you to build cu?stom bases and take part in competitive tourna?ments.

Overall, I get sort of Dead by Daylight meets Killing Floor based on the trailer and details about the shooter. This is definitely a good thing, as both games have been rather revolutionary when it comes to the cooperative horror genre. It's also free-to-play, so it's hard to argue against giving it a fa??ir shake.

The Bornless will release on PC via Steam and Epic Game Store in 2024. Fans interested in checking out The Bornless earlier can visit the official website to sign up for upcoming playtest periods.

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Get ready to grind those pass levels

Overwatch 2 is less than a month out, and today we're getting some mixed messaging about how its new heroes will roll out. It looks like Overwatch 2's heroes will unlock via the Battle Pass.

The Watchpoint Pack, the paid version of the upcoming free-to-play multiplayer portion of Overwatch 2, includes the first season's premium Battle Pass track. And a since-removed portion of that description (via Polygon) notes unlocking heroes via the Battle Pass.

Overwatch commercial leader and Blizzard VP Jon Spector addressed this on Twitter, describing it as "incomplete info posted early" about the Battle Pass. While details will be shared ahead of launch, Spector confirms that new Overwatch 2 heroes will be available on the free track of the Battle P?ass.

//twitter.com/Spex_J/status/1567694080909660162

This looks like heroes will be unlockable via some track of the Overwatch 2 ?Battle Pass. Whether the?y are also available via other means is unclear.

In a follow-up, one player asks whether heroe?s wi?ll still be unlockable even if someone doesn't reach their specific tier in that Battle Pass.

"We will have free paths to get new heroes in future seasons too," said Spector.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa1POCi7ugc

A new model

The shift of Overwatch 2 was always likely to entail some sort of change in how heroes are unlocked. Other free-to-play games like Valorant have hero-specific unlock tracks,? where players can either grind for in-game points or purchase them.

Players have been expressing some issues with putting heroes on the unlock track of a seasonal Battle Pass, though. We knew Overwatch 2 is ditching loot boxes for the Battle Pass model. But putting playable characters?? on the pass feels rough.

Blizzard seems to have more to share about its model, so we'll see what more there is to share about their new model. Overwatch 2 launches its free-to-play multiplayer for PC and c??onsoles on Octob??er 4.

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The new project will be built in Unreal Engine 5

Developer 1047 Games is moving on to a new project. The studio announced today that it is ending feature development on its portal-based shooter Splitgate, and moving on to a new game.

In a new statement shared on the Splitgate site, 1047 says that the FPS has reached a level of success it could not have anticipated. This has led to the studio growing substantially and bringing on new talent. It's also meant a lot of time trying to rework older content and systems, in what it characterizes as "bailing water??" from a ship.

In light of this, 1047 Games has decided to build something new. And to do so, it's ending feature development on Splitgate.

"We’re turning our attention away from iterative, smaller updates and going all-in to focus on a new game in the Splitgate universe which will present revolutionary, not evolutionary, changes to our game. It will be a shooter, it will have portals, and it will be built in Unreal Engi?ne 5. Oh, and it will be free."

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5XKcTM_NM8

A portal to a new world

That doesn't mean Splitgate is going away, though. 1047 Games says Splitgate will remain online, as will items and progression. There's also a new Battle Pass rolling out on September 15. The pass will be free for everyone, as a thank-you to everyone who's played Splitgate.

Support will also continue, though it will be limi??ted in scope to smaller updates and fixes. The bulk of 1047's focus, the?? studio says, will be on an entirely new shooter.

Splitgate started out as an interesting combination of Portal and Halo, which worked pretty well at the time for those waiting on Halo Infinite. It's since grown to be its own thing, and it'll be interesting to see what 1047 does with a new engine, larger team, and all the lessons learned from making Splitgate.

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And it's also just called Skate

Electronic Arts and developer Full Circle hosted the first of a new video series about its upcoming Skate game today. Alongside confirming it's simply called Skate, the team confirms Skate will be a free-to-play live-service game.

The new episode of "The Board Room" goes into detail about the upcoming model for the new Skate. (Not Skate 4, by the way. Skate, period?.) It's targeting PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, and will be both cross-play and cro?ss-progression.

Skate will also be fr??ee to play. The team outlines four rules they have for their monetization: no pay-to-win, no map areas behind a paywall, no paid loot boxes, and no paid gameplay advantages.

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

In an interview with The Verge, Skate he?ad of product management Isabelle Mocquard says microtransactions in the game are "primarily" going to be for cosmetics and convenience.

"I want it to be very clear that i??t’s not a pay-to-win game," Mocquard tells The Verge. "There won’t be? any gameplay areas hidden exclusively behind a paywall. Players won’t be able to buy any gameplay altering advantages."

The Skate team is planning on things like seasonal drops and live events,? though it is still exploring options. Mobile is also? an option the team is currently investigating.

Skate collaboration

Another feature the team talks about in this new update is CollaboZones. These let players collaboratively build areas that appear in other players' worlds. It's got a lot of potential for chaos, that's for sure. Giant ramps, slides, and sheer chaos seems like it fits the Skate bill.

No release date has been set yet. The team is extending out invites for the Skate playtest though, to get more players into the early look at this new skateboarding game. Just make sure you're opting in through proper channels, and not any sketchy websites.

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Fame and Kudos are touchy subjects

Multiplayer platformer royale Fall Guys went free-to-play last week, with its first free season and a new model launching across new and old platforms. A lot of players have been dipping back in, or jumping on for the first time. But some Fall Guys fans, especially long-time?? players, seem frustrated with the changes ma?de to its monetization model.

Prior to the free-to-play launch, Mediatonic's competitive game-show-style platformer Fall Guys was a one-time buy game. With? the move to free-to-play, the model has shifted from using Crowns (wins). Now Crowns just go towards a separate, smaller cosm?etic track.

The price of Fame

One major area of frustration is with Fame, the currency used to progress in the seasonal pass. It's similar to the battle pass model used by games like Fortnite. Fall Guys players earn Fame for every match played, which then goes towards l??evelling up in the pass.

The move to free-to-play has caused some friction, as noted by Gamerant. Some users have discovered that the difference in Fame between finishing in a later stage or getting knocked out immediately is negligible, though. Some players suggest it might be faster to blast th?rough the pass by simply losing.

The frustration here's a bit understandable. I can say through my own playing over the last week, pass progression started out fast but felt li??ke it slowed down the further I went. The challenges help, but the Dailies and We??eklies are limited.

Crowns are king

Winning also used to carry a mor?e direct cosmetic boon than it does now, too. Where Crowns used to turn into spendable currency for cosmetics in the shop, they now just go towards a longer cosmetics reward track. Those are fun to unlock, w?ith some golden nostalgia lying way, way down the line. But it also means that, coupled with Fame fall-offs, winning just doesn't carry the same bounty for some.

"Games aren’t fun if it feels like there are no rewards and Fall Guys is giving the players very little," said one user in a long analysis of the new systems.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqNs9Dn4RoI

Some tension was to be expected over adding more monetization into Fall Guys via the purchasable Show-Bucks (similar to Fortnite V-Bucks). But there seems to be frustration over not just one or two things, but several aspects of the new model.

I say all this, while I have been largely unaware and blissfully enjoying a return to Fall Guys. The shows introduced in some seasons between when I stopped playing and now are a blast, and the move to free-to-play has made it easy to convince friends to download and try it out. Mediatonic posted that it hit a 20-million player milestone within the first 48 hours of its fir?s??t free season.

That's all in the short term, though. Mediatonic's new approach to Fall Guys could cause some long-term tension.

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