Having previously spoken at length about Nvidia's insistence on using AI wherever possible, I do have to admit to personal curiosity about the tech. It just so happens that I won't have to wait long to see it in action because Cyberpunk 2077's new Patch 2.21 is all about DLSS4.

Cyberpunk 2077 has historically been Nvidia's flagship tech-testing vehicle, featuring the latest and greatest upsampl??ers and ray-tracing doodads as soon as they hit the market. Even though the game is now effectively done, it's still receiving bug fixes and tech upgrades, and Patch 2.21 is precisely just that. Its biggest draw? The DLSS4 AI tech-suite, specifically Transformer-based supersampling and Multi-Frame Generation. In case you haven't be?en keeping up with the Joneses, these are effectively the RTX 5000 G??PUs' respective calling cards.

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.21 is all about that DLSS4, with plenty of fixes thrown in for good measure

Nvidia's RTX 5000 series of graphics processors is set to debut on January 30, with the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 GPUs here to mark the occasion. The lower-spec cards are to follow suit in February and beyond, from what we've been told so far. While the ??value proposition of this new generation of hard??ware is rather iffy still, there's no denying the fact that RTX 5000 will be the go-to choice for ray-tracing and AI-based supersampling. DLSS4 is here to help things along, though game developers may need to put in some elbow grease to get it all working properly.

It was, perhaps, to be expected that CD Projekt RED's Cyberpunk 2077 would be among the first adopters of these exciting new features. Patch 2.21 specifically adds support for DLSS4, which the patch notes state "boosts FPS by using AI to generate up to three times per traditionally rendered frame �enabled with GeFor?ce RTX 50 Series on January 30th." Latency concerns as??ide, this means we'll presumably be able to test MFG on the day of the new Nvidia GPUs' release.

Far more exciting in my book is DLSS4's new supersampling model: Transformer. This feature can be enabled right this instant on any old Nvidia RTX graphics card, and it will be downright transformative for DLSS users. Players have already reported that DLSS with Tra??nsformer model upscaling looks much, much better than the old CNN model in action, with the game no longer looking like an oil painting due to AI smearing and other artifacting. Note that Transfomer-based DLSS supersampling comes at a performance cost compared to CNN-based DLSS, though the good news is that you can switch between the two willy-nilly.

For non-Nvidia users, 2.21 is still a pret?ty decent update with an impressive list of Photo Mode improvements and bug fixes. Problems with CrystalCoat vehicle customizations have also been fixed, and various quests have been revised to accommodate previously unresolved problems. A decent showing overall, but DLSS4 really is the star of the show. Give it a shot if you can!

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TinyBuild and All Parts Connected have unveiled All Will Fall, which bills itself as a physics-based survival city builder and involves building a settlement a?top the flooded ruins of human civilization. It’s planned to release in 2025, but an open playtest for it runs from now until January 31st.

Do you like Timberborn? If you answered “no,�you should probably play Timberborn. It’s great! All Will Fall is a bit like that but with fewer beavers. This would normally be seen as a net negative, but it makes up for the lack of Castoridae by sending you out to sea, where you construct ??penthouses on the tops of skyscrapers that jut out from the endless ocean.

Like many survival city builders, you’ll have to seek out scarce resources and harvest the bounties of the sea. It’s a good thing humans produce so much garbage because that’s the only source of building material. You have to build walkways to other buildings to access resources there, but be careful, because that’s where the “physics-based�side of things comes into play. Fly too close to the sun, and you may come crashing down, Icarus. Although the game warns you well in advance that your structure isn’t stable and gives you the opportunity to fix it, so you won’t find that the s?uper-mall you worked so hard to build is sensitive to slight breezes only after you’ve completed it.

I got an early hands-on look at the playtest version, and you can read all my messy thoughts here. It’s fun! Still, a lot of screws to be tightened, but an enjoyable experience nonetheless. The Timberborn influence can ??be easily felt, but it’s very much i?ts own unique experience. Maybe try it out.

The playtest for All Will Fall runs from now until January 31st on Steam. It will release sometime in 2025.

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Arc System Works has revealed the Technos The World: Kunio-kun & Arcade Collection (thanks to Gematsu), a new compilation of some of Technos Japan’s lesser-known gems. More importantly, it’s bringing some titles that weren’t included in a few later Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City titles that weren’t included in Double Dragon & Kun??io-kun: Retr??o Brawler Bundle. It’s com??ing ??to PS5, Switch, and PC, on April 24. No word yet on a North American release.

It’s a pretty great list. I’ll go ove??r some of them in a bit more depth, but before we get into the weeds, let’s go over what’s actually in the package.

• Super Dodge Ball (Arcade)
• Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen'in ShĹ«gĹŤ! (Super Famicom)
• Shodai Nekketsu KĹŤha Kunio-kun (Super Famicom)
• Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyu de Shobu da! Kunio-kun (Super Famicom)
• Kunio no Oden (Super Famicom)
• Xain’d Sleena (Arcade)
• China Gate (Arcade)
• The Combatribes (Arcade)
• The Combatribes (Super Famicom)
• Shadow Force (Arcade)
• Sugoro Quest++: DICENICS (Super Famicom)
• DunQuest: Majin Fuuin no Densetsu (Super Famicom)

Groovy. For the Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City games, you have baseball, a classic beat-’em-up, a puzzle game (seriously), and two flavors of dodgeball. While I’d say that the Super Famicom Kunio games are decent but not fantastic, the NEOGEO Super Dodgeball is pretty spectacular. It ?u??ses a much brighter and more cartoon-y artstyle, which makes it even flashier and more over the top. It’s also something that has never been ported before.

Big ol�mixed bag with everything else. China Gate is known in Saiyuu Goumaroku: Ryuubouyougi no Shou in Japan. It’s a strange beat-’em-up based somewhat on Journey to the West. It’s kind of short, but it’s interesting. Combatribes is in the same vein. It’s a ridiculously brutal beat-’em-up in the same vein as the Kunio-Kun/Nekketsu/Downtown/River City. You can drive clown faces into the pavement.

DunQuest is a dungeon-dwelling action RPG, which is uncharacteristic for the developer. Similarly, Sugoro Quest++: DICENICS is something of a cross between an RPG and a board game. Xain’d Sleena is a run-and-gun sometimes better known as Solar Warrior or Soldier of Light over here. Shadow Force fits their M.O. a ??lot better, as it’s an arcade beat-’em-up.

While there’s no word on whether or not we’ll see this collection over in the West. It may seem unlikely because many of the titles didn’t see release outside of Japan and would require different levels of translation, but Double Dragon & Kunio-kun: Retro Brawler Bundle did the impossible and localized a tonne of older Kunio-Kun games, so all bets are off. I know for sure that I’d be thrilled to ge??t my hands on it.

Technos The World: Kunio-kun & Arcade Collection is coming to PS5, Switch, and PC on April 24.

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Rumors about the Origins' Ice Staff started floating around ever since Treyarch teased its wintery return on the 115 Day celebration. Turns out they were true with the latest Season 2 reveal, showing the cold brutality of it??s icy blizzar?d in Black Ops 6.

You'll see the Ice Staff at work towards the end of the trailer, presumably functioning the same way it always has from Origins as it freezes zombies into place. I remember the days of picking up the Ice Staff pieces in those snowy dirt piles, bringing back fond (and not-so-fond) memories of the Crazy Place. I'd be curious to know if BO6 Zombies' take on it would use a similar crafting route, but it may seem unlikely to have snow piles in the desert-like Tomb map.

Now, the big question on every Zombies fan's mind is: Where are the other ??Wonder Weapon Elemental Staffs? Ice is great and all, yet we're still missing Fire, Lightning, and Wind. Although they were absent from the trailer, their return seems highly likely, given that their other counterpart has entered the picture. However, there may be a slight chance of the Ice Staff being the only Elemental Staff on board. Let's just hope that doesn't come to fruition since it would be pretty nice to see the whole staff gang get back together.

In addition to the Ice Staff reveal, the Black Ops 6 and Warzone Season 2 trailer introduced a new line-up of sever??al much-needed maps. First, there's the map, Dealership, which seemingly looks like what you would think: a car dealership. Lifeline is another location on its way, with some fans deeming it another variant of the beloved Hijacked boat map. The last map, Bounty, doesn't have much content to go on, but it does take place somewhere in a house.

The mid-season promises two other maps, Bullet and Grind, which didn't get an exclusive look during the trailer. Grind may sound familiar for Black Ops 2 and 4 fans, featuring the beloved action-packed skate park. We'll still have to see it in action to confirm that it's the same Grind we know and love for Black Ops 6. Whatever the case may be, I'm so happy to witness the return of classic Black Ops features, experiencing the nostalgia of my youth in a much more mode??rnized video game world.

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If you were an avid gamer in the early naughts, then you surely remember the legendary Havok Engine, (in)famous for its striking physics in games such as Half-Life 2, Max Payne 2, and the entire first-party Bethesda RPG ??roster. Now, Havok may be clawing its way back into the limelight?.

To be perfectly clear, it's not like Havok's gone anywhere in the time since: the video games' focus on physics-driven gameplay and activities has simply shrunken down into irrelevance. Havok is a very particular kind of middleware that's been designed from the ground up specifically and only to handle video game physics, and this feature has been de-emphasized to the point of mere neatness. Like, sure, it's cool that clutter flies around when you shoot through shelving in The Division 2, but it doesn't add much to the experience at all. That may well change sometime in the future because Havok has just rele??ased a delightful?? new showpiece.

Is Havok Engine about to make itself the star of the show once again?

It's hard not to feel giddy upon seeing Havok in action in the featured video, I've got to admit. Caves come crashing down, rocks break apart, and barrels explode to immensely satisfying effect, making it clear that Havok intends to make video game physics as cool as it darn well should be. Curiously, this is the first YouTube showcase video Havok's uploaded in over a decade. The company's previous outing was decidedly less impressive, if I might say so myself.

Now, the important bit to keep in mind is that Havok is only useful when it's being integrated into an actual video game: that's the middleware part of the equation. Crucially, at the end of the showcase, Havok features a small Unreal Engine badge in the lower right corner of the screen. This implies (if not outright confirms) that the demo ran on UE, suggesting relatively easy and straightforward Havok implementations for UE projects down the line. Would physics such as these be enough to make me like Unreal 5? Perhaps, yes.

As I previously pointed out, Havok has been remarkably successful all along, though it's taken a backseat since its introduction to the industry. Whereas once you might've gotten all excited just to see the legendary Havok logo during the game's splash screen videos, now it's entirely too easy to miss the fact that Havok is there in the first place. Did you know that Destiny 2 and Helldivers 2 both use Havok for physics calculations, for example? How about Doom Eternal, Elden Ring, or Final Fantasy 16? They all leverage this tech to some? extent, it's just that physics is usually just an add??ed bonus rather than a kicker all of its own.

It's still too early to get hyped up over a mere developer-focused tech demo, but Havok is an institution unto itself, and I cannot wait to see what comes of this exciting new iteration of it. Half-Life 3 confirmed, perhaps? If not, how about an Oblivion remake with appropriat??ely upgraded phys?ics interactions?

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Judero developers Talha and Jack Co have announced that the Kickstarter (not live yet) for Mashina will start tomorrow, January 22, 2025. Along with the announceme??nt is a new trailer, as well as the estimated release date of June, 202??5.

The Kickstarter is intended to raise funds to finish the last stretch of development, as it seems Mashina is well on the way, judging by the trailer. The campaign is aiming to raise ÂŁ12000. The game was announced with a teaser this past December, but the Kickstarter and gameplay ??trailer paint a much clearer picture.

You play as the titula?r character who has a penchant for digging. They’re stranded on an island with a handful of locals that you’ll get intimately familiar wit?h. Digging allows you to gather resources, as well as things to decorate the island and gift to the other characters. Beyond just directly getting your hands dirty, you can also construct machines to help with your work. Looks cozy.

Like Judero, all of the assets in Machina are hand-sculpted. Apparently, if you pledge £500, you’ll get one of the handmade robots. I had the chance to interview one of the developers, Jack King-Spooner, for the Destructoid Changelog Newsletter’s monthly special this mon??th. He tells me that clay getting stuck under fingernails. As to what his strategy is. “To prevent under-nail clay I use a collection of ornate porcelain thimbles.�Incredible. I only ask the tough questions.

I also reviewed Judero back in September. It’s fantastic. I don’t exactly get it, but I can dig those vibes. There’s nothing out there quite like it, and it’s something you have to experience. I think I can grok Mashina a li?ttle better, barring any massive curveballs that might be thrown.

The Kickstarter for Mashina starts t?omorrow, January 22, 2025. It’s release is planned for PC sometimes in June 2025.

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Mat Piscatella, who lists themselves as an analyst at NDP who focuses on video games, has posted on Bluesky that he predicts that the anticipated American tariffs on Mexican import??s would have a significant impact on physical game releases.

“With 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico on the way, I can see a sharp downtick in the number of disc-based games that get released physically in the US, as much of that production infrastructure is in Mexico,�Piscatella states. “If they do get made, I expect higher prices both phys & dig.�/p>

Further to this, he suggests that the MSRP on digi?tal games may also increase in an attempt to keep parity with physical releases.

The current American administration has stated their intentions to slap 25% tariffs on imports from a number of countries across the world, with special focus being put on Canada and Mexico. Currently, the only country in North America that produces Bluray discs is Mexico, which is where they are pr??ocured for most releases, not only in video games, but also for movies.

Piscatella also answers the question of whether or not production could be moved to the U.S., and if it would. �Can't that production just be moved to the US?' With significant investment, sure. But annual US physical video game software spending is now half what it was in 2021 and declining rapidly.�/p>

Note that, theoretically, this would only affect Bluray pricing. Switch cartridges are produced in Japan and wouldn’t directly be affected by tariffs as they are currently proposed. There are a lot of other unknowns here, and nothing is yet certain, but an increase in the price of physical releases for any reason doesn’t seem that outlandish. Some publishers and hardware manufacturers may see this as a good reason to push harder to digital-only releases, and many consumers won’t see the value in buying physical anymore?. It’s unlikely that physical releases will go away entirely, but you may be paying more for them in the future.

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Strange Scaffold has announced that I Am Your Beast is getting one least content update. Titled Cold Sweat, it will include “New Levels. No Story. Just CHALLENGE.â€???It hits January 23, 2025.

I Am Your Beast describes itself as "he's-in-the-walls" fantasy, and that’s a pretty effective way of describing its over-the-top power fantasy bent. It’s all about always moving while shooting, throwing, and stomping. Certain? stages have diff??erent objectives, such as hacking laptops, but largely, you’re trying to just take out everyone wearing camo.

I reviewed it back at launch, and what really struck me about it was how readable it was the whole time. Despite all the chaos, you can easily tell what’s going on at any time. Every target, every attack, and every hit is well communicated, which enables you to pull off in??credible feats of agility. I had some issues with the sto??rytelling, but the game itself is butter.

Not much has been said about the update aside from what you need to know in general. It’s a challenging new set of levels, ??tho??ugh from the original (now deleted) post, there doesn’t seemt o be a new narrative to connect them all, which makes it a bit different than the last one which put the new content in a neat little narrative package centered around survivors of the protagonist’s rampage.

I Am Your Beast is out now on PC. The Cold Sweat content update is out on January 23, 2025.

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Are you a fan of Accolade’s classic sports games? I mean, it’s not impossible, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard anyone make the claim before. Well, if you’re the exception, then Atari and QUByte have a collection of five of the developer’s title coming your way. T?he collection releases January 30, 2025.

I’m not complaining, i?t’s just? unusual. So, to make sure we’re on the same page, here’s what’s coming in the package:

• Hardball! - It’s baseball. Just baseball. Unlicensed baseball. This looks to be the Genesis/Mega Drive version of Hardball.
• Hardball II - It’s more baseball. In case you didn’t get enough baseball the first time.
• Winter Challenge - These are the sports you play when it’s cold out. Skiing, bobsledding, biathlon, that sort of thing. There’s a pretty solid assortment to be found (eight events), and it gets pretty ambitious with 3D graphics.
• Summer Challenge - Similar to Winter Challenge, but for the months where you can wear shorts in Canada. It’s also eight summer-y events and thy manage to throw in some more of that polygonal good stuff. 
• Hoops Shut Up and Jam! - A classic two-on-two street basketball challenge. This one is maybe the funniest inclusions because the name is familiar, but not quite right. That’s because it was released as Barkley Shut Up and Jam, since it featured Charles Barkley. Clearly, re-licensing his appearance is too much for this humble collection, so it was renamed.

Amusingly, the press material doesn’t even mention the original name of Hoops Shut Up and Jam! They’re either assuming you know or that you just don’t know at all. And if you’re the type to just pick up a retro collection of sports games you’ve never heard of, then that’s pretty aweso??me. You’re my type of person.

The games appear to be the Genesis/Mega Drive version across the board. Hardball 1 and 2 got a PC release last year, but those were the DOS versions. All the games had multiple platforms, normally across home computers, but Bark�Sorry, Hoops, was also on the SNES. It’s a bit of a bummer that the collection doesn’t just?? provide multiple versions, but also kind of understandable. A collection of old sports titles is always going to be incredibly niche, so it’s hard to go the extra mile within budgetary constraints.

Are any of these games great? I’m th?e wrong person to ask, as I’m not much of a sports kind of person. As far as I’m concerned, a lot of them are very similar. However, from what I un?derstand, they’re decent.

Accolade Sports Collection releases for PC, Xbox, Pla?yStation 4, PlayStation 5??, and Switch on January 30, 2025.

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Load up on energy drinks, because Keep Driving, the road trip sim from the devs behind Post Void, is launching on PC on February 6th.

I played the demo of Keep Driving back in October, and the biggest complaint I came away with was that its difficulty leaned on the easy side, which? I largely attributed to its unbalanced economy. I was able to get quite a bit of padding in my pocket, which made it really easy to deal with any trouble that came my way.

The best description I can give of Keep Driving is that it’s a lot like Oregon Trail. It’s set during the early 2000s, with you setting out in your very first car to enjoy the last days of your youth. You don’t exactly drive, but instead, set your car on its journey, then make decisions as various events turn up to complicate your relaxing drive. They range from simple potholes to livestock. Each time one pops up, you use a variety of ability cards to try and mitigate the effects it can have. You can sometimes pick up hitchhikers who can either help or hin?der your trip. The goal is to keep yourself and your car together long enough to reach it to your friend’s house to play video games.

I’m pretty excited to see how Keep Driving was improved on over the past few months. It was already in decent shape in October and just needed a bit more meat and ?a bit of polish. Should be a good time.

Keep Driving releases on February 6, 2025 for PC.

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Yet another beloved BioWare developer has left the Edmonton studio as Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche has confirmed their departure on Friday. She told Eurogamer that the developme??nt of the RPG "took a toll on [her]."

A BioWare veteran leaves the studio

Corinne Busche, who has been a part of the Edmonton development team for BioWare for 18 years, has announced their departure from the studio. "My departure was voluntary, as I have been presented with an opportunity I couldn't turn down," said Busche to Eurogamer. "I don’t want to say much more right now, but you can count on it being?? in the CRPG space and upholding the traditions of great c??haracters."

Busche didn't leave without giving her regards to the marvelous fantasy RPG series. "I love Dragon Age, and BioWare, so the chance to return th??e game to a proper quality single player RPG was the privilege of a lifetime."

A decent critical and fan response

Busche was tasked to steer the studio forward after the difficult release of Anthem and its negative feedback from critics and fans. "I did what I set out to do at BioWare," she explained. "That is to come in and help right the ship." Fans are "Mostly Positive" on Steam from almost 33,000 reviews on the platform.

"While it delivers stunning visuals and solid te??chnical performance, the gameplay, storytelling, and RPG elements fail to capture the magic of its predecessors," reads a popular Steam review with an overall negative assessment, adding, "what could have been a worthy successor instead feels like a step backward for the series and Bioware as a whole." 450 people found this review helpful.

Destructoid's Steven Mills somewhat disagrees, however. "If you’re looking for a solid RPG in a beautifully built world, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is certainly that," says our review-in-progress. "The combat is fluid and satisfying, and the world of Thedas is well-designed and fun to explore." The game ended up having a Generally Favorable 82 Metacritic score when it launched in October 2024.

The last entry, Dragon Age: Inquisition, won Game of the Year at The Game Awards, but The Veilguard failed even to be no??minated for the award in 2024.

"BioWare still has a lot of work to do culturally, but I do beli??eve they are on the right footing now," Busche said to Eurogamer.

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There's much to be said about the current state of Destiny 2, but the world's first race events are a tried-and-true roll call for the community. Since we're not getting any new Raids anytime soon, Dungeons are the next best thing, and Sundered Doctrine is now on the docket.

Though we have absolutely no actual promotional materials for Sundered Doctrine in Destiny 2, Bungie has been kind enough to reveal some interesting details about this fancy new Dungeon in the latest TWID (This Week in Destiny) blog post. For example, we now know that Sundered Doctrine takes place aboard Rhulk's sunken Pyramid vessel, back in Savathûn’s Throne World. Sundered Doctrine's world's first completion race will kick off on the Dungeon's release on February 7 (Friday). Remember, too, that this means Contest Mode will be enabl?ed for the next 48 hours, making ??Sundered Doctrin?e far more challenging than it otherwise would be.

The Sundered Doctrine Dungeon world's first race is coming to Destiny 2

Sundered Doctrine is thus poised to be the second Dungeon released to its very own world's first race, following last year's Vesper's Host. Only, this time around, Bungie intends to pull all the stops for the winning team: "This time around, rather than a podium race, we’ll be looking to crown the single team that rises to the top and finishes first. With that, we are leveling up the reward, creating something memorable and unique to honor the incredible accomplishment of the winning team. That's why, for this race, each winning team member will receive the first-ever Dungeon Race trophy," says the announcem?ent.

This is fairly unprecedented, as such real-world trophies had previously been ?the exclusive purview of Raids. Things definitely are a-changing, as we can see.

If you're a mere mortal such as myself, and don't necessarily intend to compete in the world's first race proper, odds are you're still going to want to score a piece of sweet loot. Fancy new guns and armor are a given, and to get any of that goodness, you'll need to meet the Power Level requirement. As per Bungie, the PL target is 1995 for all encounters, which should be easy enough to ta????rget.

To be eligible to play Sundered Doctrine in the first place, all players in your Fireteam need to own the Final Shape Dungeon key and acquire the Drowning Labyrinth quest. Whenever a new Dungeon releases, this NPC or the ot?her will invite Guardians to pick up its respective quest from them. This is, presumably, how we'll acquire Drowning Labyrinth upon the Dungeon's release.

I'll happily admit that I wasn't able to complete Ves??per's Host during its Contest Mode period. If you, too, end up struggling with Sundered Doctr??ine in February, there's nothing to worry about: all the important goodies (i.e. guns and armor) will still be available after Contest Mode runs out, on the reset of February 9. From that point onwards, the Dungeon will be more accessible to the average player with a reduced Power Level requirement. Neat!

Remember, too, that this is going to mark the start of the third major Episode of Destiny 2: The Final Shape. It's a thrilling enough predicament, for sure, but Bungie's recent track record has got me sli?ghtly worri?ed for what might happen to Oryx's Dreadnaught.

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Hyper Light Breaker is a pretty darn neat game, even if it does have all the usual roughness of an Early Access release, but its Steam Deck pe??rformance was practically inexcusable on launch day. Somewhat unexpected??ly, the developer Heart Machine h??as already managed to turn that around, however!

Heart Machine made a name for itself with the original Hyper Light Drifter, a practically legendary top-down hack 'n' slash indie adventure that sets the stage for Breaker. Seeing Hyper Light Drifter release in Early Access the way it did made me slightly worried about what the future might hold, but Hotfix v0.5.1.107947 has thankfully dispelled many of my concerns. Specifically, shoddy performance remains one of Breaker's biggest problems, but I am thrilled to report that the game is no longer unplayable on the Stea??m Deck. The fl?ip side of the coin is that there's some serious weirdness with how Heart Machine handles the Deck in general.

You can now enjoy Hyper Light Breaker on the Steam Deck, but there's still some strangeness about

I am thrilled that Hyper Light Breaker runs reasonably well on the Deck. The gameplay loop is a perfect match for the console, and the new hotfix's performance improvements have already made for a genuinely enjoyable experience. Heart Machine has already pro??mised more optimization to come, and soon: "The strongest feedback we’ve received this week focuses on performance, particularly on lower-end machines and the Steam Deck. Today’s Hotfix includes a large number of performance improvements and improved Graphics Settings. Expect even more improvements in future planned updates as well."

I didn't anticipate the difference between the graphics settings a Steam Deck has access to and those you have on a regular PC setup. In my previous article, I mentioned that Hyper Light Breaker only lets you tweak three different settings:

• Shadow quality
• Foliage distance
• Prop detail

The new hotfix changed that on the Steam Deck, but not necessarily for t?he better. On the Deck, yo??u now only have access to:

• Ambient occlusion
• Film effects
• Film grain
• Chromatic aberration

That's right: the three original settings have been taken out of the graphics sub-menu and replaced with a handful of entirely different ones instead. Why is that the case? I do not know, but it gets weirder still. You see, the regular PC build of Hyper Light Breaker has what I would call a proper g??raphics tweak menu:

It's still far from perfect, but it's genuinely helpful and allows you to tweak the visual experience however you see fit. There's no real way to do so on the Steam Deck at this time, and I cannot fath??om why this would be the case unless there's something very painfully obvious that I keep missing.

My gut feeling is that Heart Machine is trying to deliver a curated, optimized experience on the Steam Deck. This is fair, and an approach that's more than valid for what is at its core a very low-spec gaming laptop. Yet, I do not see the value in only giving Steam Deck users a gu?tted version of the PC build's graphics settings, no matter how I flip it.

Another possibility is that the Steam Deck's options UI is somehow squeezed toget??her and only displays a small portion? of the full settings list. Since only the four bottom options show up on the Deck, that's a distinctively realistic option but a problem nonetheless.

This whole realization has sort of overshadowed Heart Machine's hotfixing efforts for me personally, though I'm sure the team will eventually get around to resolving this apparent problem in due time. Otherwise, Hyper Light Breaker is proving to be rather good overall, and I can finally r?ecommend it. Even on the Steam Deck, as long as you're okay with not being able to tweak settings h?owever you want!

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After further inspection of the Switch 2 teaser trailer released Thursday, analysts, such as Good Vibes Gaming, have noticed that the next Mario Kart could have 24-player multiplayer. Gameplay of the?? highly anticipated sequel was shown during the teaser trailer.

Next Mario Kart 24 player multiplayer confirmed?

YouTube analysts, such as Good Vibes Gaming, have paused the gameplay reveal of the next Mario Kart and have noticed there are 24 spaces on the starting line. 11 characters are shown in the teaser, but 13 more slots are left open, leading to speculation of a bigger number of racers per match. Some of the characters involved in this desert?? race include Mario, Peach, and Waluigi, among others.

Nintendo has announced there will be a Nintendo Direct focused on the Switch 2 on April 2. We will likely find out more about the Mario Kart sequel then.

Nintendo Switch 2 finally revealed

We still don't know much about the Nintendo Switch 2 but we finally received a first look at the console this week. As rumors and leaks have suggested, the Joy-con are magnetic and larger. They no longer will slide off like the original Nintendo Switch. The screen will be bigger, too?, as demonstrated by the teaser? trailer.

If you're not a fan of the next kart racer from Nintendo, you might be happy to know that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is likely backward-compatible. With some exceptions, your physical carts and digital versions of current Switch?? games will work on the Nintendo Switch 2.

This new entry in the series will be the first major sequel in over a decade, since Mario Kart 8 launched on? the Wii U on May 30, 2014. It's been a long time coming for fans.

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Treyarch has been good to Zombie fans with the massive overhauling of Black Ops 6 maps and quality-of-life updates. Season 2 aims to bring even more to the table, introducing T??he Tomb, an ancient burial site o??verrun by hordes of zombies.

As a catacombs-based location, The Tomb reminds me of the good old days with Black Ops 2's Zombies Buried map. However, this area seems a bit more open, as you have the free range to go deep in the catacombs or outside an excavation site. According to the Call of Duty Blog, The Tomb feels a little like Liber??ty Falls, as it features a similar tight space layout that'll make exploring all the more challenging.

You'll once again take on the roles of Black Ops 6's Zombies crew, such as Carver, Weaver, Grey, and Maya. Due to the chaotic events at Citadelle des Morts, they're on the hunt for the Sentinel Artifact, a mysterious item that may prove dangerous. With all the mystical elements BO6 has been rolling out lately, including the elemental swords and tellings of ancient artifacts, it's making me incredibly reminiscent of Zombies Origins. The map did take place in an excavation and dig site, after all, which could mean that Black Ops 6 may get us back to this fan-favorite location.

The CoD Blog also states that The Tomb promises the return of "one of the most iconic SMGs in Zombies history." I think it will be the classic MP-40 from Origins, but it could turn out to be ano?ther gem in the collection.

In addition to the new BO6 Zombies map and mysterious SMG return, the mode will get some much-needed updates that players have been waiting for. The Challenge Tracker, in particular, is on its way, allowing you to track up to 10 Calling Card Challenges. This also includes the separate HUDs for Zombies and Multi??player, which was p?reviously hinted at in a roadmap.

I'm looking forward to two new features: the Co-Op Pause and AFK kick loadout r?ecovery. The Co-Op Pause lets the party leader pause the game for everyone, unlike the previous version that kept the game active for the rest of the players. As for the AFK content, loadouts will save even if you're kicked for inactivity. I've lost my content from this a few times before, but thankfully, thi??ngs are looking up for Season 2.

If you want to get ready for the new Zombies map and quality-of-life-updates, tune in for Black Ops 6 Season 2's launch on Jan. 28. You can also jump into the mode now for 115 Day, a long-running celebration for Zombies fans. Claim rewards, like double GobbleGum earn rates, Player XP, Weapon XP, and Battle Pass XP. Get in while this Double XP event lasts, ending on Jan.?? 21.

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Fortune's Run is a pretty rad Early Access retro FPS / Immer??sive S?im hybrid that's been rummaging about its niche for a little while now, but its development is about to cease for a long while. Sp??eci??fically, the main developer is going to prison, and the QA lead is out.

"First of all, I have some stuff going on I need to make public as it's going to interrupt development," said the lead developer of Fortune's Run, Dizzy. "I've been sentenced to prison for the next 3 years." That's more-or-less the opening statement of the latest development blog posted on Steam. Though Dizzy has chosen not to?? reveal what's gone down, they've been adamant that he deserves the punishment even though that part of their life is in the past: "I do not have a sex crime. I'm not going to go into specific charges and such or tell you the story. What ??I did was wrong and that's all you need to know," he concluded. There's more, though.

Fortune's Run will stay in its current state for the foreseeable future

"My case is about 5 years old now, I have been going through the legal process the whole time I've been working on [Fortune's Run]," said Dizzy. "I have finally been found guilty and sentenced, and I'm going away next month. It's a shame, but it's the consequences of my actions. I was a very violent person and I hurt a lot of p?eople in my life."

Dizzy hasn't been a one-person dev team all along, note. They've been working on Fortune's Run alongside their wife, Arachne, who is also off the project following some traumatic happenings from July 2024: "About three weeks ago, Arachne had a major surgery. Everything should have went well and we were planning on resuming production at a slower pace about a week and a half later, with me taking over some of the more demanding responsibilities as she recovers for the rest of the year," Dizzie then posted about the matter, adding that "[Arachne] has had multiple complications from the surgery and had to be hospitalized in the ICU two days after being released from the surgery center. We've been bouncing around between different departments and hospitals for a?bout a week now. Long story short, she was very ill and almost died but is now stable and has been released home into my care."

The silver lining to this situation is that Arachne has recovered since, but things got complicated further still: "Once [Arachne] recovered, she decided that she was no longer interested in game development. She was in charge of QA and a few level segments, all of which has been abandoned and I've been forced to get by on my own for the past while. It's been very difficult to do alone but I a??ctually managed, by basically not sleeping, to complete all of the work in time so that ??it could be released before I'm sent away."

Dizzie has also added that they "decided to part ways," which has led to the current situation. Fortune's Run's development i??s now "completely interrupted," though Dizzie wants to continue working on it as soon as he is able to. "I want to underline that I'm no longer in financial dire straits since our game actually sold OK, so I should be able to afford rent once I get out, so there's a chance that if you wait a few years I'll be able to cap off the release. In fact, there's not very much content left to work on, I've been making stubs and prototypes of the missing levels in m?y spare time," he explained.

It's not all grim, then, though it's not great, either. Dizzie is clearly intent on continuing the development of Fortune's Run if at all possible, which is admirable. Also worth keeping in mind is that Fortune's Run just received a massive new content update that should add a bunch of fresh gameplay to the mix. In conclusion, then, if you've been waiting for Fortune's Run to release from Early Access, I suggest either taking it off your wishlist for the foreseeable future or playing it for what it i?s. The bits that are there are good, I can tell you that much!

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Even though Lovecraft might've been an indubitably racist author, others have built upon his legacy to create a genuine?ly compelling library of cosmic h??orror media. Very few games truly drive home how horrific it is to live alongside Lovecraft's monstrosities, however, and Cyclopean: The Great Abyss may correct that.

Frankly, I can't help but be surprised that we haven't yet had an honest-to-goodness cosmic horror dungeon crawler. That's what Cyclopean: The Great Abyss is, of course, but just look at it! How has nobody else come up with this particul?ar concept before? T?hankfully, small-scale developer Schmidt Workshops is here to correct that wrong, and I think there's some real merit in this project beyond its impeccable vibes.

Cyclopean: The Great Abyss releases in Early Access on January 17, check out the demo now

A free demo is available via Steam, and it's a tiny download, so you'll be in-game before you know it. The crux of the experience is Cyclopean's obvious Ultima gameplay loop. This is a full-fledged old-school CRPG that plainly states it's been heavily inspired by the likes of Ultima and Questron, just to list a few. You've got the one-two combo of a bird's eye exploration component with first-person dungeon cr?awling. The delici??ously grainy graphics tie it all together with a gross, slimy bow on top.

Schmidt Workshops points out that, even though Cyclopean is releasing via Early Access on January 17, the game is more-or-less functionally complete already: "Cyclopean is a complete game, but it is still in need of more thorough play-testing. Early Access will help ??me enhance and expand the game while getting important feedback from players," says the developer's statement on Steam.

"As mentioned there is a complete game already playable, with three different potential endin??gs. The quests are not too long or involved, but they have a beginning, middle and end. The player has many options in how to engage with the game world, including combat, stealth and dialogue," they continue.

Good showing, then, but I'd like to add more context to why I think this may be Schmidt Workshops' most promising game yet. This one-man game-dev studio effecti??vely specializes in producing?? small-scale Lovecraftian adventure games, and I'm genuinely surprised they're not more popular in the cosmic horror gaming niche.

For example, Schmidt Workshops' Aberration Analyst is more-or-less a Delta Green operation handler simulator. Paradox Vector, on the other hand, is described as an "homage and sequel" to Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness with a wild graphics style to keep ??things spicy. As you can probably tell, I've been on a bit of a Schmidt Workshops bender as of late, but ??it's really good stuff.

Once again, these are all relatively small-scal??e tit??les that come in at just under $5. At that price point, though, I'm happy to recommend them and will be looking forward to whatever else Schmidt Workshops pushes out in the future.

The post Lovecraftian old-sc??hool? dungeon crawler Cyclopean: The Great Abyss is about slither into Early Access appeared first on Destructoid.

In a trailer published through IGN, Kaizen Game Works (developers of Paradise Killer) has revealed some of the voice cast for Promise Mascot Agency. I hope yo?u’re ready for some recognizable tongues in your ear?s.

Most prominently, the leading dude, Michi, is getting vocalized by Takaya Kuroda, the voice of Kazama Kiryu in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon serie?s. W??hat better person to play a disgraced Yakuza? No one. There is no one better, because he plays the best one. I don’t know how else to describe this, but he has a huggable voice. If you’re not a hugger; a high-fiveable voice.

The other revealed cast members are no slouches, either. Pinky (that bizarre severed finger mascot that features so much in the marketing) is voiced by Ayano Shibuya, who was featured in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Princess Peach: Showtime. If you don’t recognize her, it’s probably because you weren’t playing in Japanese. There’s also Eri Saito, who voiced so much in Japanese gaming, but you’d maybe recognize her from Way of the Samurai 3. No? Okay, Chainsaw Man, where she played Aki’s Mother.

On top of the famous vocalists, there are less conventional choices. This includes Swery65, who isn’t really known for voice acting, but did create Deadly Premonition. And then there’s. Wait. Shuhei Yoshida??? Haha, really? The former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

If you’re not familiar, Promise Mascot Agency is a game about a former Yakuza running an, er, agen??cy for mascots. The big foam costume kind. You have to send them out to various events and help them succeed. You also get to drive around in a Kei truck, which is an important touch.

Promise Mascot Agency is set for release on PS5, X??box Series X|S, Switch, and PC sometime this year (2025).

The post Promise Mascot Agency’s insultingly star-studded voice cast includes Swery65 and the voice of Kazama Kiryu appeared first on Destructoid.

Hyper Light Breaker sure looks neat, right? Well, that neatness comes at a steep, steep performance cost, as the game is extremely hard to run. The apparen?t lack of performance optimization isn't the only problem, either, as the game doesn't even have a proper graphics settings menu to begin with.

I really do hate to rag on the developer Heart Machine for this, but the fact of the matter is that Hyper Light Breaker hasn't gotten off on the right foot. On top of its "Mixed" review rating on Steam, I can attest to it being totally unplayable on the Steam Deck. Even at the absolute lowest settings, Valve's handheld can barely eke out an unstable 15-30 FPS. This is particularly disappointing because Heart Machine specifically mentioned back in December that Hyper Light Breaker should run well on the Deck on launch-day. Obviously, that claim hasn't panned out, but Heart Machine is on the case already.

Hyper Light Breaker's performance is bad, but you can at least enable V-Sync right now

The fact that Hyper Light Breaker runs much the same as a bag of cement powder is just one-half of the equation, as I alluded to earlier. For some reason, the game's selection of graphics settings is beyond small. As of the Early Access release build, you can tweak a grand total of three settings:

• Shadow quality
• Foliage distance
• Prop detail

On that note, it's definitely worth pointing out that I've been having trouble figuring out wh?at, exactly, is changing as I modify settings from one stage to the other outside of shadow quality. Putting shadow quality onto anything?? above "0" obliterates the Steam Deck frame rate further still, which is fun. You can also change the rendering resolution of the game and whether it runs full-screen or not, but frame-pacing is off no matter what you do since there's no way to enable V-Sync in-game. Fun stuff.

Heart Machine's solution is thankfully simp?le,?? just slap the following code into Steam's launch options sub-menu: "-ExecCmds="r.vsync 1"".

For everyone who's trying to play Hyper Light Breaker on faster machines than the admittedly humble Steam Deck, Heart Machine invites you to share your dxdiag for them to a??ssess, so they are on the case already, which is a good sign.

Granted, Hyper Light Breaker is an Early Access title that's just come out of its shell. I do understand that Heart Machine is likely struggling to keep up with all the feedback the community is definitely sending their way, of course. It's also possible that the build that got shipped is lacking some of the optimizations that Heart Machine intended to ship, as per their Steam Deck performance assessments. Even so, it's sad to see Hyper Light Breaker fumble this hard.

As a big fan of Hyper Light Drifter, I was really excited to see what might come of this project. Its performance so far has put me off, so I'm hopin?g that Heart M?achine clears this up by the time I circle back to trying it out again.

The post Hyper Light Brea?ker runs very badly on PC and Steam Deck, bu?t FPS improvements are coming appeared first on Destructoid.

With The Sims franchise moving away from linear game releases and into the future, it’s not unusual to think that EA has simply abandoned the previous titles in the series. But, to everyone’s surprise, fans could rejoice that a new update was released for The Sims 3, the game’s first patch in ten years.

The patch, version number 1.69.47.024017, was released on January 13, 2025, with no prio??r warning. It was released to fix the Alder Lake bug, where Windows players with newer Alder Lake processors wouldn’t be able to run the game at all through the EA app. The patch now allows players to enjoy the game on their newer PCs.

EA quietly updates The Sims 3 for the first time in years so you can play on newer CPUs

The patch was released with no accompanying patch notes from EA, leaving it a mystery as to why this issue was finally fixed after years of the bug preventing fans from ??playing? the third installment. Furthermore, the patch was only released for EA App users. No Steam update was released for the problem.

With the 25^th Anniversary Behind The Sims airing the next day on January 14, many fans hoped the patch would signal that EA would be debuting exciting news about the series that could pertain to the older games, like The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. However, this wasn’t the case, as the patch wasn’t mentioned during the video. Instead, we heard more news for The Sims 4, including three new creator kits.

The last update for The Sims 3 happened over ten years ago, back in 2014. Since then, EA has essentially abandoned the game in favor of focusing on the most recent mainline title in the franchise, The Sims 4. The ??four?th game is still the top priority for EA, as it continues to get new expansions and updates regularly.

Even though it wasn’t mentioned during the latest Behind The Sims, there’s still a chance that there is hope for fans of the older Sims titles. Both The Sims 2 and the original The Sims are not available on the EA App, but if Electronic Arts is looking through their older games, it could also mean they’re working on making these two available or even making new content for Sims 3. While nothing is set in stone, i??t’s certa??inly exciting for fans of the life simulator series.

Whether or not more updates are made, The Sims is celebrating its 25^th Anniversary of th?e franchise this year, with plenty of new updates and packs to look forward to in celebrati?on. 

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Set some time aside in April, because GungHo has announced that the Lunar Remastered Collection will arrive on?? April 18, 2025 for PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC?.

I feel like we keep getting Lunar re-releases, but I looked it up and the last one was actually in 2010 for the PSP. Or 2012 if you count mobile. Still, it’s seen a lot of second chan??c?es for a game that original released on Sega CD back in 1992.

Lunar Remastered Collection combines Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, or rather, the PS1 version of those. And while it’s? titled “remastered�it largely has the same graphics as those releases with some added effects. It’s still 2D and pixelated, which is fine (or even preferred) by me, but doesn’t feel like it earns the title. Unless you count that gross depth-of-field effect they put on the top and bottom of the screen. I guess the cutscenes seem to be remastered, so it counts. Whatever, I'm not the remaster police.

It looks like you can turn off the gross depth-of-field effects, or, at the very least, play it in classic mode. This might also mean you lose the widescreen mode, but maybe you can tweak things. Either way, you?’ll have the same classic games in a new package, so that’s worth a lot.

There will also be a physical version available for $54.99 USD. They will notably feature “reversible covers showcasing two new key arts for LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, both illustrated exclusively for the Lunar Remastered Collection by Toshiyuki Kubooka.�/p>

Lunar Remastered Collection launches on April 18, 2025, fo??r PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and?? PC.

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Behind the Sims 2025 br?ought many welcomed surprises for Simmers, from an all-new main menu look to a substantial 25-hour live stream for the game's birthday celebration. It's a lot to unpack, especially with the new update that launched just after the event's conclusion.

To kick things off, the main menu update has already been released as a free base game update. You'll see a completely new design that gives a little more oomph to it, making your current save file the star of the show. I wasn't a big fan of how it looked before, in light of how it basically put all the premium add-ons right in your face. But now, the menu has some personality by spotlighting your Sims rather than things like expansion packs.

In addition to the main menu, the Jan. 14 Sims 4 update introduces imp?rovements for the Townie h??ouses. Go to the Pancake, Goth, Caliente, Landgraab, and BFF houses to see the latest design changes.

The next phase of the early 2025 Sims 4 roadmap is something to look forward to, with three new kits on the horizon. If you've been keeping up with the Sims, you may already know about it due to the leaks surrounding the new Creator Kits. This includes the Comfy Gamer, Secret Sanctuary, and the Casanova Cave. They'll all be coming out on Jan. 16, highlighting popular Sims icons like LilSimsie.

By next month, we'll finally celebrate the Sims 25th anniversary with the 25-hour live stream on Feb. 4, bringing over 70 new in-game items in a free base game update. It's the perfect time to experience some nostalgia with the long-running series. You'll also get the chance to acquire classic gems from the early days of the Sims, including the original alarm clock.

There are a few other reveals to look forward to, like the mysterious Nostalgia Now event from Jan. 27 - Jan. 31. My guess is that it will be an ode to all the Sims games, possibly having a kit of past collections. I'm hoping to see Build Mode content from Sims 2, Sims 3, and Sims Bustin' Out, but of course, we'll have to s??ee what this event actually brings to the table.

The roadmap also promises a 'Motherlode Season' on Feb. 6 and a secret reveal on Feb. 25. Motherlode has always been the go-to cheat, providing money in an instant. I'm curious to see how a cheat could expand into something like an event or possible expansion pack. Though, I do think it would most likely be tied to a reward system, as we've seen with the winter drop. Only time will tell what the mysterious c?ontent will be, but before then, we can at least dig into the latest main menu for some sweet new designs.

The post Latest Behi?nd the Sims unveils new main menu look, a 25-hour live-stream event, and a Sims 4 roadmap appeared first on Destructoid.

Warm up your tapping toes, Foreign Gnomes has announced that the sequel to Chris Nordgren and Jordi Roca’s 2021 musical RPG, Everhood will be releasing soon on PC and Switch. Everhood 2 is set to launch on March 4, 2025.

Everhood was one of the first games I reviewed as a full-ish staff member at Des??tructoid. I didn’t love it! While a lot of what I cited as a problem in my review was t?echnical related, the truth is that there was a story thematic later in the game that I found to be, um, problematic. But it’s buried so deep in there that I would have had to spoil quite a lot to have really gone into it in depth.

However, I did mention other problems like weak characters and the fact that it tries to pull the subversive fake ending nonsense way too many times. I don’t think about Everhood very often th?ese days, and I’ve lost quite a few specifics in my memory, but I still remember the general issues I have with it?.

On the other hand, I don’t think it was a bad game. It showed promise, and I think that could be delivered on in a sequel. Storytelling is a skill that can be built, after all, and the gameplay was pretty rad. A lot of it was like Guitar Hero, but instead of strumming the notes, you avoid them. Twists would constantly get thrown in along the ??way, and it could get pretty intense.

The details on the narrative are a bit hard to follow. It seems that you’ll be playing an avatar of yourself, and you’re “on a quest to slay the mysterious Mind Dragon before the world decay?s.�All right. It promises over 100 songs and will last 8-10 hours. That’s, like, 2 ½ minutes per song. I have a calculator here. Except there’s likely walking and talking to people in between, so that’s not going to be accurate. Or even useful. You’re welcome.

Everhood will release on PC and Switch on March 4, 2025.

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Retro-Bit has announced the next game in its line of retro reproductions, although this one is less of a reproduction and more of just a production. That’s because the game, P-47 II MD, never got release?d ??as intended, instead being canceled and never reaching the Genesis/Mega Drive.

That’s not to say it hasn’t reached anywhere. P-47 II MD is based on P-47: The Phantom Fighter (or sometimes P47 Thunderbolt), a 1988 arcade game. It received ports on the PC-Engine and home computers, but they were neve??r received well. I can’t tell you how the Genesis version compares because, well, I haven’t played it. It’s not exactly readily available. 

You can get the arcade version via Hamster’s Arcade Archives series, but I haven’t played it there, either. Do you know how many WWII scrolling shoot-’em-ups there are out there? Me neither, but it’s a lot. It would take an inclusion in a compilation or a really neat gameplay hook to get me interested, which isn’t really the case when it comes to P-47: The Phantom Fighter.

But here’s the cool part: Retro-Bit’s release comes with the normal bells and whistles. It comes on a cartridge (obviously) in a plastic clamshell with an embossed slipcover. Also included is the soundtrack on a mini-CD. But best of all, it’s got some pretty spiffy (reversible) artwork by Tankro Kato. If you haven’t heard of him, you may have seen his art all the same, as he does the box art for the Hasegawa model company. Their models have been imported by various companies over the years, but I can’t provide much more cla??rity than that because it’s hard to keep track of. I could do more research, but you’ve probably already stopped reading this paragraph if you don’t really care about box art.

I can’t really speak for the quality of P-47 II MD, but I always love it when old, canceled, or unlocalized games get a new lease at life. I can tell you that Retro-Bit’s releases are really great. Iâ€???™ve held new productions for tonnes of different consoles, but few take the extra steps that Retro-bit does.

Preorders for P-47 II MD start today, January 14, 2025 and close February 16, 2025 at Limited Run Games. It will run you $54.99. The production run will be based off the number of preorders made and will ship out sometime later after the production is complete. If you miss preorders, a limited number will be available from a few retailers: Castlemania Games, Rondo Products, and (if you’re Canadian like myself) PNP Games.

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I hope you aren’t afraid of heights, because The Wandering Band’s skybound city-builder, Airborne Empire launched into Early Access today. It’s now available on Steam.

Airborne Empire is the sequel to the well-received 2020 city-builder, Airborne Kingdom. It continues the concept of building flying (Airborne, if you will) civilizations. H?aving never played the original, it’s hard for me to tell you exactly what’s different, but I can tell you that this one has you constructing the ultimate flying fortress. You travel the world, helping people and fending off sky pirates, while developing technologies that will help your sky neighborhood s??oar.

According to the Early Access blurb, “When we laun??ch into Early Access, the most important features of the game will already be there: building, researching, balance, lift, movement, dialogue, and more.�However, it gets very honest directly after that, saying, “The launch version has an enjoyable gameplay loop, but is still a bit bare-bones??, lacking content and polish.�I personally appreciate the up-front warning. 

Furthermore, the Early Access run is planned for one year, during which time they “plan to add new building types, new biomes, new events/missions and expand the background story of the game.�Listen, the most important thing I can think of here: “Weather system.�I kn?ow that sounds like sarcasm, but I honestly? love a good weather system in games.

Airborne Empire is now available in Early Access on PC via Steam.

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Starfield is a whole lot of things, but perfect it most definitely ain't. While the game's got merit, Bethesda is yet to pivot it into one of its trademark success stories. Now, we're getting insight into its development thanks to ?a former Bethesda artist, and he's spilling some serious beans.

Specifically, this latest interview comes about thanks to YouTube talk host Kiwi Talkz (Reece Reilly). On their show, Kiwi Talkz has hosted Bethesda's former game designer Will Shen, and then followed up that particular interview with an all-new one featuring former character artist Dennis Mejillones. Mejillones had a whole host of interesting stuff to share, including a whole bunch of praise for Todd Howard and his approach to game development. As far as Starfield goes, specifically, Mejillones said that the BSG team generally a?grees with the players' critique of the game, but that the co?mmunity has some things very, very wrong still.

Todd Howard is great to work with, actually, and people don't know what they're talking about when it comes to game engines

First things first, if you've got an hour to spare, I cannot recommend Kiwi Talkz interviews enough. In??formative, loaded with valuable content and insights, and just a joy to listen to, the people hosted on this show are who gamers should be listening too. If they want game development context, that is.

Need a prime example? Look no further than Mejillones' thoughts on whether Bethesda should ditch Creation Engine in lieu of Unreal 5: "[People making these claims] don't know what the hell they're talking about," he said. "Creation Engine has been re-written from the ground-up, like, I mean completely from scratch, it just [kept] the name. But the entire systems have been ripped out of it and replaced [over the years.]" Sure, Skyrim ported over to UE5 as a fan project looks great, but a game engine is most definitely not the be-al?l-end-all of how a game plays.

"There's a lot of things that the players don't really [get]. And they can't, I mean, I understand. They're not gonna know, it's a technical thing that you don't really know until you start having experienc??e with [game development]," said Mejillones. "At times it wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe be more thoughtful about the way that's communicated versus saying 'oh, the devs are lazy.'."

On the topic of Todd Howard, specifically, Mejillones had little else than praise to share: "One of the things I loved about working with Todd [...] he'd come over by everybody's desk, he'd walk around the whole studio to see what you're doing, come talk to you for a little bit - to all the developers - and I had a really strong relationship with him." Mejillones said Howard was "very reasonable" when it comes to listening to his staff and understanding them. He never pulled rank, Mejillones claims, and the only real problem as time went on was that Howard could no longer manage Bethesda the way he used to due to the company growing tremendously. "His attention was very scattered," said Mejillones, the implication being that this is one of the reasons Starfield might not have delivered on all fronts. "Some of the people that took Todd's place, they?'re not Todd. It takes a lo?t to be Todd."

Of course, I cannot hope to summarize all the phenomenal insight Mejillones gives in this interview. There's lots of stuff he references, going so far as to discuss why Elder Scrolls 6 is under heavy scrutiny by Microsoft, and how Bethesda was sure Skyrim would fail mere months ?ahead of its release. For that (and lots more), absolutely do watch the interview featured above.

One last bit I do wish to reference here is somewhat random, and it's got to do with Starfield's confusingly neutered blood and gore systems: "That has a lot of implications with all the different suits," Mejillones explained. "From a technical perspective, there's a lot that has to go with it." According to him, the original plan was for Starfield to feel a tad more Fallout in that respect, but the technical challenges were simply too great. In fact, Mejillon?es says that systems were already in place for limb dissection and in-depth visual body damage systems, but it quickly turned into a "rat's nest" of mesh and model problems.

So, there you have it. Once again, I cannot recommend watching Kiwi Talkz' interviews enough, and if you're even remotely interested in what's u?p at Bethesda and with Todd Howard ??specifically, this is the place to be.

The post Former Bethesda artist praises Todd Howard, provides more context for Starfield’s development, and its surprising lack of gore appeared first on Destructoid.

Marvel Rivals is rapidly becoming one of the most popular multiplayer video games running right now, and it's just reached a massive milestone on Steam. For a few hours, Marvel Rivals was the most-played game on Steam, outpe??rforming some top-tier competito??rs and proving its staying power within the multiplayer scene.

Marvel Rivals' Season 1 launch turned it into the most-played game on Steam

When Marvel Rivals launched in December last year, it instantly became one of the most popular games on Steam. The game amassed over 2,000,000 players on Stea?m within hours of its release, shattering expectations. However, some people remained unconvinced the game's time in the spotlight would last long. Some onlookers, including former Blizzard head Mike Ybarra, downplayed the game's success, pr??edicting its post-launch hype would fizz?le out fast.

Luckily for fans, Marvel Rivals' harshest critics got a huge reality check when Season 1 dropped on January 10, 2025. According to SteamDB, Marvel Rivals racked up 644,269 concurrent players in the hours after Season 1 went live, breaking its previous all-time peak player count and sending it fly??ing to ?the top of Steam's most-played game chart.

While Marvel Rivals would lose its spot at the top of the pyramid within a few hours, it's impossible to deny how impressive that accomplishment is. In the short time it was the most-played game on Steam, Marvel Rivals outperformed some stiff competition. This included Path of Exile 2, Palworld, and Counter-Strike 2, all of which ??have become mainstays on Steam's most-pla?yed lists.

With Season 1 in full swing, the odds of Marvel Rivals' player count getting swelled by word-??of-mouth are pretty high. If that happens, the lit??tle hero shooter that could might end up topping Steam's most-played list soon.

The post Marve??l Rivals was briefly the most played game on Steam appeared first on Destructoid.

Back when Final Fantasy XIV announced that they were altering the Blacklist system, some players pointed out that the new system could enable players to access information that shouldn’t be for their eyes??. Worryingly, this prediction has come true in the form of the PlayerScope plugin. 

FFXIV is strictly against any use of plugins or mods. Anyone caught using any type of game-changing software is permanently banned, which should be enough to put anybody off. However, this hasn’t stopped people from creating or using mods, and the latest doing the rounds is particularly troublesome, and it seems to have been enabled by changes made by Square Enix themselves and were warned of at the time.

The changes made to the Blacklist feature with the release of Dawntrail gave each player a unique account ID, which can be picked up by the PlayerScope plugin, allowing anyone who uses it to track not only specific characters, but alt ch??aracters tied to the same account, movement of each character, and appearance changes as well. This poses massive risks for things like harassment and stalking, which is already something of a problem for the ??MMO.

Players who have tested the plugin, such as wetsh0laze on Reddit, have reported that in order to prevent their data being leaked through the plugin, they had to download it themselves, connect to it usin??g a Discord account, and then finally opt out of the process.&n?bsp;

However, a re?cent update from the developer of the mod has revealed that they will be removing the option to opt out from ?the mod itself, instead inviting players to join the Discord server and join a certain channel to “whitelistâ€?their account. This will, however, require people to “verify their Lodestone account through the pluginâ€? which still leaves the entire process open to misuse and abuse. 

Dalamud, the third party tool that many use to implement mod usage in FFXIV, has issued a statement regarding the plugin. It states that it “fundamentally does not approve�of the plugin, but “it’s not possible for the Dalamud project to prevent plugins?? from gaining access to these values (Account IDs)� It’s also not possible for them to ban the mod from a custom repository such as where PlayerScope is stored, so it??’s here to stay, unfortunately. 

Considering their one-strike policy on mod usage, it can only be hoped that Square Enix take swift action against creators and users of this plugin. The only viable solution that would prevent the further use of the mod is for FFXIV to overhaul the Blacklist system again, perhaps backtracking it to the system that was in place?? before. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem likely, but hopefully a way forward can be found that will protect players from those who abuse the system.

The post FFXIV Plu?gin is causing huge risks fo??r both privacy and security appeared first on Destructoid.

Though you may feel that B??ungie has f??umbled Episode: Revenant's grand finale, Destiny 2 is thankfully more than just its latest narrative beat. 2025's Festival of the Lost, for example, is bound to be a hoot, and now's the time to vote on each Guard?ian Cla??ss's cheeky new armor set.

After Festival of the Lost 2024's wizard-t?hemed armor sets, Bungie is now steering back towards the event's horror roots. Wh?at better way to do so than with a suite of monster costumes from contemporary pop-horror media, then? Once again, players get to vote on each of the three Cla??sses' respective armor sets, and it is going to be a tough choice.

Vote for Slasher or Specter armor sets for Destiny 2's FOTL 2025

The vote for 2025's FOTL is now up, and you can participate either by entering the survey via this link or by checking in with Bungie's promotional email newsletters, which should be coming our way sometime soon. The choices are a??ll rather phenomenal, if I may say? so myself:

• Titan Class: Jason Vorhees (Halloween) vs the Babadook (Babadook)
• Hunter Class: Ghostface (Scream) vs La Llorona (Mexican folklore)
• Warlock Class: Scarecrow vs Slenderman (internet creepypasta)

I don't believe there's any chance of the generic scarecrow costume beating out the literal Slenderman, but you never know! We'll need to wait and see how the armor sets look and feel in-game, but the designs as they appear in the ??featured artwork seem like they'd work well when mixed and matched with other assorted sets. A huge boon, that, and not something that fashion-minded Guardians will take for granted.

The really good news is that the armor sets that lose the vote won't be gone forever: "While you’ll still vote on which armor set is going to be released during Festival of the Lost, we will commit to producing the runner-up sets later. While we aren’t promising a specific timeline, they’ll typically be released before the next year’s Festival of the Lost event," says Bungie in this week's TWID.

As for all those wizard and witch-themed armor sets that lost in 2024, those are set and primed to release this year?, in a surprise twist: "We know a lot of you loved the Wizards who didn’t make the cut for 2024. We felt the same way, so we’re making plans to release those armors during Heresy this year. We aren’t planning on producing all past runner-up armor, but we felt like the fashion could use a few more wizard hat options," the post reads.

So, Destiny 2 fashionistas are going to have their hands full this year 'round no matter what. The Festival of the Lost 2025 will kick off sometime late in October, and if you'd like to get a sense of what to expect, look no further than this handy guide to last year's FOTL. It's a grind, for sure, but one that's often very well worth it.

The post Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost 2025 vote is now on, featuring Slenderman Warlocks and Friday the 13th Titans appeared first on Destructoid.

Motion blur sucks, and that's coming from someone who does use it. In video games,?? it generally helps smooth out the perceived frame-rate in a video game, but it also smears the image to a ridiculous degree. The good news is that BlurBusters might have an alternative.

As you may or may not know, the old cathode-??ray tube screens weren't wi??thout merit. Heavy, clunky, and egregiously outdated in some respects, CRTs handled motion much, much better than any modern screen does. This isn't magic, justthe nature of the beast: Black Frame Insertion came part-and-parcel with these dis??plays, drawing lines of pixels (phosphors, really) so quickly that motion remained crystal-clear no matter your refresh rate. Modern displays don't have BFI by default except in select rare cases, and there's usually a caveat attached.

Now, BlurBusters has been dedicated entirely to the elimination of perceived motion blur in games, and the team's new Refresh Cycle Shaders may be key to this problem. How? By emulating the CRTs' strobing effect, of course. Here's a 60 FPS 120Hz side-by-side demo to demonstrate the transformative ef??fect of the shader, if y?ou don't believe me.

Check out Refresh Cycle Shaders via BlurBusters today

Now, BlurBusters' Refresh Cycle Shaders aren't Black Frame Insertion as such: it's much more involved and effective than that. The baseline shader is already available via GitHub and ShaderToy, but the web browser demo I included above should illustrate how effective it is without any added fuss?.

The obvious kicker is that this tech won't be too useful by default to a large subset of users: you ideally want to have a 240Hz (or faster) display for it to render properly, otherwise you ??may get loads and loads of flicker. Pixel response times are crucial, too; you want those to be as fast as possible. In other words, the shader isn't even close to being universally applicable. Still, it's the start of a potential solution for motion blur as fas?ter displays become more readily available on the market.

BlurBusters is also already in talks with Valve for SteamOS implementations, which is exciting in its own right: "Blur Busters is currently communicating to Valve and has now committed to adding a refresh cycle shader system to SteamOS that runs independently of content frame rate," says the official blog post. The shader has also been implemented into the cutting-edge build of Retroarch?? for those who are ready to give it a shot right? away.

The use c??ases for Refresh Cycle Shaders are almost too numerous to keep track of:

• Display simulation of CRTs, plasmas, and other exotic, unavailable screens.
• Adjustable pixel-response and overdrive settings.
• Deflickering and de-stuttering features.
• Massive motion blur reduction.
• Fixes for non-standard subpixel layouts (QD-OLED, WOLED, etc.).
• Professional esports gaming.

And that's just scratching the surface of what else might be possible with RCS, even if there are many requirements for th??em to work properly, too. These include an appropriate level of hardware (i.e., a dedicated GPU), support for independent refresh cycle processing, VSYNC virtualization, and linear nit support, just to name a few.

BlurBusters' work on RCS is still rat??her arcane from a layperson's point of view, but this may well be the killer of motion blur some of us have been waiting for all along. With a bit of luck, it's just a matter of time before hardware makers and OS developers pick RCS up and run with it.

The post BlurBuster??s announces Refresh Cycle Shaders in a breakthrough solution for motion blur appeared first on Destructoid.