Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Release: August 30, 2024

As Kay Vess, the main protagonist in Star Wars Outlaws, you must work within the thriving underworld to accomplish your goals. Because Kay's adventure takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the underworld is thriving. The Empire is focusing its efforts on finishing off the retreating Rebel Alliance. While many of the moons and planets are under Imperial occupation, its primary focus is finding Rebels. Kay must take advantage of the criminal underworld, which led developer Massive Entertainment to create the Reputation System, a reflection of her standing with the criminal organizations she interacts with.

After Sliro of Zerek Besh puts a bounty on her, Kay must work towards the goal of pulling off the ultimate heist to attain freedom for her and her companion Nix. Navigating the Star Wars underworld, Kay interacts with four syndicates, each with its own leader. Jabba the Hutt is the most iconic as the leader of the Hutt Cartel, but Kay also crosses paths with Lady Qi'ra (who many know from Emilia Clarke's portrayal in Solo: A Star Wars Story) of Crimson Dawn, Queen Ashiga of the Ashiga Clan (a new syndicate created in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games), and Gorak of the Pyke Syndicate.

Massive Entertainment wanted to create a game in which you must navigate an underworld where, as a scoundrel, you live and die by your reputation. You can improve your standing with the syndicates by taking on jobs, performing tasks, and making choices in favor of the various criminal organizations. If you have a good relationship with one syndicate, your life will be easier when interacting with them or when you're in their territory. 

"Very early on, we knew that we wanted to do a scoundrel story and we knew we wanted the game to be about choice and consequences," lead systems designer Matthieu Delisle says. "So pretty naturally, reputation came as the medium for the player to interact with the game. That's the foundation for the game and then we built the game around that. So, all the features in the game are, one way or another, connected to reputation."

Through having a good relationship with a syndicate, you get access to more jobs to take on, better deals and special stock at shops, high-stakes Sabacc tables, intel, rumors, and more access to that syndicate's territory. Not only that but if you get into trouble with another syndicate and find yourself in a chase, a syndicate with whom you have a good relationship might jump in and help you get away. But it's never so simple; Massive assures me that as a scoundrel, you will get into trouble.

While I don't get a sense of just how challenging the balancing act is, an example that emerged during my hands-on demo demonstrated that sometimes your choices will force you to take sides. During my demo, I found a sensitive video file that showed a member of the Pyke Syndicate looking to overthrow Gorak. Kay's original plan was to take it to the Pyke Syndicate leader to fetch a pretty penny and improve her standing, but when she turns in the job she was doing when she uncovered the evidence, the client is revealed as a member of Crimson Dawn. Kay thinks that they might have a keen interest in that sensitive data, so the player is given a choice of who they want to hand the video file over to, with Kay's reputation with that syndicate getting a bump with Crimson Dawn. Because of this newfound standing with Crimson Dawn, my next mission is a bit easier as the Crimson Dawn guards let me walk right into their territory.

"It's really about choosing whichever syndicate benefits her in the moment," senior systems designer Alice Rendell says. "It's really up to the player to decide how they want to balance their reputations throughout the game. You can go all in with one syndicate, but obviously at the risk of displeasing others, or you can try and play the underworld a bit more and try to find something a bit more balanced."

But reputations are designed to ebb and flow. Your reputation with a syndicate can take a hit from making a decision against the syndicate or through your actions. For example, if I go into a part of a syndicate's territory where I'm not supposed to be and get spotted, Kay's reputation will take a hit. Similarly, if you're spotted on a security camera or you raise an alarm, your reputation takes a hit. In one sequence, I alerted the Pyke Syndicate to my presence and began piling up bodies; I didn't get to experiment too much more with my reputation with the Pyke Syndicate, but I imagine I'd have some work to do to repair that relationship.

Still, even with that transgression against the Pyke Syndicate in their own territory, you're never entirely cut off from any of the factions. After all, you're dealing with criminal organizations who are primarily concerned with how you can benefit them. If they think you're the right person for the job, they'll still let you do work for them. 

"The way that people in the world react to Kay will vary depending on the reputation, but it is very transactional," Rendell says. "These aren't friendships, so it's still very, 'Okay, can Kay help you out in this moment?'"

But Kay doesn't just have to manage her reputation with the Hutt Cartel, the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, and the Ashiga Clan. While they're all key players in the criminal underworld, in this period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the Galactic Empire is arguably at the peak of its power. While they are largely distracted in their relentless hunt for members of the Rebel Alliance, if you get in the way or break their rules, they won't ignore you for long.

Because the Empire holds such power, you don't have a reputation meter with them. Instead, the Empire reacts to you based on your wanted level. If you break enough rules, your wanted level rises. The more wanted you are, the worse the Empire makes your life. 

More imperial troops join the hunt for you as your wanted level goes up, with the maximum level summoning elite enemies to hunt you down. You can try to hide to decrease your wanted level, but the higher your wanted level, the longer it takes the Empire to call off the search. You can also meet with corrupt Imperial officers who might take a bribe or, in the worst-case scenario, participate in a challenging in-world event at the maximum wanted level to get the Empire off your back. 

I didn't get a chance to experiment with the Wanted System at all, nor did I get a chance to truly push the Reputation System beyond the standard interactions and botched stealth sequences of my demo, but I did get a feel for it in action. I'm excited to see how the system reacts to player choices, particularly since when I ask creative director Julian Gerighty if there's a way to max out all syndicates' reputation meters, he says, "Not that I've been able to find." 

The Reputation System feels like an essential piece of the scoundrel video game puzzle, and if it can deliver in all the ways Massive touts it to, it's the element of Star Wars Outlaws I'm most excited to play around with. If it can, indeed, provide the level of player agency and systems flexibility an adventure like this all but necessitates, we should be in for an incredible adventure when Star Wars Outlaws arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on August 30.

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Reviewed on: PC
Platform: PC
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: René Rother
Release: April 9, 2024

Children of the Sun is hellbent on occupying your mind. During the six hours it took me to hit credits, I was engrossed in mastering its simple, yet wonderfully executed central mechanic. At first, taking down dozens of cultists with just one bullet was a fun gimmick to tinker with. As time passed, I became obsessed with pushing the tools at my disposal to their limits, repeatedly using people as target practice until I had concocted a satisfactory murder plan.

Introduced as a puzzle shooter, Children of the Sun has you incarnating a young woman who lost her family after getting involved with the eerie namesake cult. Using just one bullet of your sniper rifle, you plunge through over 20 levels by connecting kills until you take everybody down in one swift sequence. As you make progress, the foundation gains complexity with special foes that require different strategies, as well as a handful of abilities around the bullet itself.

It's easy to see the influences from the likes of Killer7, Sniper Elite, and the latter Hitman games. But there are echoes of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective as well, infusing inanimate objects with a paranormal force to interact with the environment, and people's bodies, to your advantage.

At the start of a level, you only get a narrow view of the whole map, so to speak. Ideally, you want to tag every single cultist before pulling the trigger, so you can plan ahead of time – similar to scanning a room in Hotline Miami before kicking down the door. More often than not, you first need to kill a few of them just to tag others or get a better view at the far end of an area. It makes for a compelling exploratory phase that doesn't frustrate but rather encourages you to fail until you've gathered all the visual information you need.

Time slows down when you're moving the bullet. It also completely stops once you hit a target. This gives you some breathing room, and a chance to gain a different perspective. You can shoot birds to gain altitude or gas tanks to find an angle that allows you to continue chaining down targets, for example. Yet, you're rewarded via a scoring system for executing a killing with style and aggressiveness. It works as the perfect contrast to the exploratory phase, forcing you to see whether your plan can be executed swiftly or if you need another strategy. There's a leaderboard at the end of each level that incentivizes you to push for this cruel finesse, as well as vague clues for challenges to uncover.

 

The macabre tone of Children of the Sun pairs well with its human gamification. Shooting an arm gives you 25 points. Shooting a groin rewards 50 points instead. The over-the-top violence turns gratuitous after seeing the words "I Just Killed a Man, Now I'm Horny" before playing a Pac-Man-style minigame during a special level. The abrasive tone never comes off as mere window dressing for the sake of shock value but rather thrives in its repulsiveness.

Both the visual and sound design work make for a haunting sensorial stimulation. There were times when I felt underwater, zip-zapping from one corner of an ocean to the next as the bullet pierced head after head, like waves colliding against each other. The effect of a late-game ability, which allows you to increase the speed of a shot, sounds like an electric guitar distorted to the brim with effect pedals.

Children of the Sun is a prime example of an experience born from a straightforward premise and then iterated for the right amount of time before it loses its charm. On occasion, the central mechanic can't keep up with itself – I missed more than a few finicky shots that should have landed, forcing a retry. But once you successfully execute a strategy and finish a level, the satisfaction is unmatched. You then seek to replicate the feeling during subsequent hunts, completely alienated from the messiness of your actions as you chase a higher score.

Score: 9

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Today's Nintendo Indie World featured 20 minutes of new indie game reveals and updates to anticipated titles. If you missed the event, we've gathered each announcement here for a cursory glance at what showed up. 

Little Kitty, Big City - May 9 

As the title suggests, you control a small cat in a mini-open world set within a bustling, Japanese-inspired metropolis. Your goal is to find a way home, but plenty of distractions and opportunities to help fellow animal friends or cause chaos will likely delay your departure. 

Yars Rising - Late 2024

Wayforward and Atari are teaming up for a 2D Metroidvania spin-off of the 1982 classic Yars’ Revenge. This side-scrolling platformer stars Emi Kimura, a young hacker (using the handle of Yar) who gets embroiled in an intergalactic conspiracy centered around a corrupt corporation. Yar can blast robots, climb platforms, sneak through vents, hide in doorways, and more. 

Refind Self: The Personality Test Game - Summer 2024 

This 2023 choice-driven adventure stars an android whose creator has passed away. Unaware of its purpose, you’ll piece together your past by interacting with characters and making decisions to determine what the doctor had in mind for you. Decisions mold the android into one of 23 personality types. Are you a hero, researcher, artisan, or gambler? Whichever the case, Refind Self encourages multiple playthroughs, and you can share results and compare choices and personality results with other players. 

Sticky Business - Today

First arriving last summer, this cozy shop simulator is now available on Switch. Players run a sticker shop where you’ll use over 400 elements and effects, such as sparkles and glitter, to fulfill specific customer requests. Giving customers their desired stickers causes them to open up to players and share their individual stories. The Plan with Me DLC adds new sticker elements and customer stories, and a bundle containing the DLC and the base game is also available. 

Antonblast - November 12

As Dynamite Anton or Annie, smash through levels to reach Satan himself, who stole your prized spirit collection. Levels begin by setting bombs, then use your powerful hammer to smash enemies through destructible environments Reaching the end triggers a timer where you must race back to the start before the entire level detonates. A demo will be available later today, and Antonblast will launch as a timed console exclusive when it releases. 

Valley Peaks - 2024

As a mountain-climbing frog, use your tongue to swing across mountain peaks to place radio towers and reestablish communications with fellow climbers. Each mountain presents its own platforming puzzle, challenging players to find the correct path. Along the way you’ll find equipment to ease climbing, play minigames, and take on side quests from other froggy climbers

Lorelei and the Laser Eyes - May 16

This Annapurna-published non-linear puzzle game finally hits next month. Created by the team behind Sayonara Wild Hearts, players control a woman invited to take part in a project set in an old European hotel. Her journey becomes a nightmarish and surreal adventure sporting over 100 puzzles with shifting mechanics and perspectives. 

Europa - 2024

This vibrant sci-fi fantasy game could be mistaken for a Studio Ghibli joint. Players control an android boy with a jetpack-like device who explores a picturesque alien moon. Soar through levels to uncover the secrets of a lost civilization. A free demo is available later today. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate - July 2024

Originally an Apple Arcade exclusive, this roguelike adventure sees the Turtles traveling through reality-bending portals to find a kidnapped Master Splinter. Each turtle has their own abilities to take down the Foot Clan and other familiar foes, with every room granting new powers and upgrades. Spending earned currency at the sewer base unlocks permanent upgrades, and you can play alongside three other players in drop-in/drop-out co-op. TMNT: Splinter Fate is launching on Switch as a timed console exclusive. 

Cat Quest III - August 8

Sail the seven seas as an adorable feline pirate to engage in navel combat alone or with a friend in co-op. When you’re not sailing the waves, you're blasting enemies in dungeons using a refined combat system with tighter combos and new weapon swapping. 

Stitch - Today

Embroidery fans rejoice! Apply those skills (sort of) to complete over 180 Picross-esque puzzles, called Hoops, to bring embroidery patterns to life. Completed hoops can be replayed endlessly in free play mode where you can recolor them as you wish. Limited daily puzzles offer tougher challenges, and weekly hoops are themed after holidays and other real events. First released on Apple Arcade, Stich is a console exclusive on Switch. 

SteamWorld Heist II - August 8

The sequel to SteamWorld’s 2015 turn-based strategy game takes to the seas. New features include the ability to perform trick shots to ricochet enemies off each other, a revamped job system, and an interactive world map with real-time naval combat. You can befriend new steambots to join your crew and your actions impact their lives. 

Quick Release Date Updates

Bzzzt - Summer 2024

Schim - July 18

Animal Well - May 9

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami - May 23

Another Crab’s Treasure - April 25

Which announcement interested you the most? Let us know in the comments!

With 2018's Marvel's Spider-Man, Insomniac Games began building one of the richest video game interpretations of the Marvel Universe that we've seen to date. The studio nailed the tone of Peter, Miles, and their supporting cast, but it was the care put into the rest of the universe that makes Insomniac's universe stand apart. Yes, the Easter eggs and references to heroes like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Black Panther, and more make this feel like an established universe full of superheroes, but Insomniac took things to the next level with its rogues gallery. 

As a longtime Spider-Man and Marvel fan, I've delighted in watching my favorite villains – and those I rarely think of – pop up throughout the multi-game journey. Check out all the villains in Insomniac's Spider-Man universe below, and let us know which ones you got most excited to see appear in the game.

Warning: This list contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Which villains are your favorites in Insomniac's Marvel Universe? Which villains do you hope show up in future games? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section! 

April’s second batch of new Xbox Game Pass titles has been revealed. The headliner is the long-awaited Suikoden-inspired Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, which hits the library on launch day. Other anticipated indies include the Soulslike Another Crab’s Treasure and the hotly anticipated strategy city-builder Manor Lords, which enters Xbox Game Preview.

Check out what’s joining and leaving Xbox Game Pass as well as our reviews for applicable titles. You can also see the games that arrived during the first half of April here. 

What’s Coming 

Harold Halibut (Xbox Series X|S, PC, Cloud) - Today

Orcs Must Die! 3 (Console, PC) - April 17

EA Sports NHL 24 via EA Play (Console) - April 18

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (Console, PC, Cloud) - April 23

Another Crab’s Treasure (Cloud, Console, and PC) - April 25

Manor Lords (Game Preview) (PC) - April 26

Have a Nice Death (Console, PC, Cloud) - April 30

What’s Leaving on April 30

7 Days to Die (Console, PC, Cloud0

Besiege (Console, PC, Cloud)

EA Sports NHL 22 (Console) | Our Review

Loot River (Console, PC, Cloud) | Our Review

Pikuniku (Console, PC, Cloud)

Ravenlok (Console, PC, Cloud)

With huge winter game releases behind us and huge summer announcements right around the corner, the games industry is set for a relatively quiet month or two. Luckily, Nintendo plans to briefly step in to fill that void. Today, it announced the next Indie World Showcase, a live stream event focused on the latest indie titles to come to the Switch, for tomorrow, April 17. The showcase will air at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET and last for around 20 minutes.

New #IndieWorld Showcase incoming! 💡

Tune in tomorrow, 4/17 at 7am PT for roughly 20 minutes of announcements and updates on indie games headed to #NintendoSwitch in 2024.

Watch live here: https://t.co/jGiccyBhME pic.twitter.com/V31Dfuxs0N

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 16, 2024

It's in the name so it might be obvious to some, but don't expect any first-party games or hardware announcements out of this event. An Indie World Showcase is also not the same thing as a Nintendo Partner Showcase, which is just a show about third party games. This can include indie titles (the last one had a trailer for Another Crab's Treasure, for example) but also includes larger developers, like Sega or Atlus.

If that's confusing, you can get a sense of the games that have been showcased in this type of presentation in the past by visiting the official Indie World site. Fans will most likely be clamoring for a trailer or release date for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the sequel to the 2017 bug-themed Metroidvania. But while it's (hopefully) right around the corner, there's no specific reason to believe it will appear at this event other than the fact that it's an indie game coming to the Switch.

We won't know until the Indie World Showcase properly airs tomorrow. When it does, you can watch it right here.

Keanu Reeves is joining the cast of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, according to a report by The Hollywood Reporter (and first broken by The John Campea Show). The outlet’s sources report that the John Wick and Matrix star is voicing Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is set to premiere on December 20 and will pit Shadow alongside a returning Dr. Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey) against Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The returning cast includes Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, James Marsden, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. The film's first trailer premiered in front of a select audience at Cinemacon in Las Vegas last week and it provided the first real look at Shadow. Unfortunately, the trailer has yet to be publically released. 

Paramount has yet to officially confirm Reeves' casting, but if this is true, he will join fellow new cast members, including Krysten Ritter, Alyla Browne, James Wolk, Sofia Pernas, Cristo Fernández, and Jorma Taccone. Shadow's debut was teased at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but his voice performer has been a tantalizing mystery since the third film was announced in August 2022. 

Meanwhile, the standalone Knuckles series premieres on Paramount Plus on April 26. You can watch the first full-length trailer for that here.

[Source: The Hollywood Reporter]

Final Fantasy XIV’s next expansion, Dawntrail, arrives this summer alongside the game’s first graphical update. As such, Square Enix has released a new benchmark software to let PC players test how well their machines will handle these new bells and whistles while getting a small head start on Dawntrail.

Available as a free download for Windows, the benchmark software uses playable characters and actual maps to assign a performance score to your PC. This will provide a peek at the new graphical update, which spruces up the game with enhanced textures, shadows, material qualities, and other elements. You can download the benchmark here. 

The benchmark includes a character creator for players to craft a fresh hero ahead of Dawntrail’s launch. It also includes access to the new female Hrothgar race. Existing characters can also be imported into the benchmark, and the appearance data from these characters can be imported into the full release of Dawntrail on Windows. 

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail launches on July 2. You can learn more about the expansion here. The game currently has a crossover event with Final Fantasy XVI that runs until May 8

Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Massive Entertainment
Release: August 30, 2024

As you navigate the galaxy in Star Wars Outlaws, you do so as Kay Vess, a pickpocket-turned-thief who gets in over her head and winds up with a bounty on her head. Early in conversations, Lucasfilm Games and developer Massive Entertainment agreed that telling a scoundrel story was the way to go. Through these discussions, Massive decided it wanted to portray a "resourceful underdog" for its main character rather than the trained soldiers that star in The Division.

In the various meetings with Lucasfilm Games, Massive Entertainment looked at the various archetypes available to players in the Star Wars tabletop RPGs, including Jedi, spies, operatives, and more. Massive wanted to create a game with a unique perspective within that universe. Several games put you in the shoes of lightsaber-wielding Jedi or the Empire-fighting Rebel, but fewer let you play as the archetype that stuck out to Massive: the scoundrel.

In the Star Wars galaxy, the scoundrel is personified by Han Solo, but even though this story takes place during the Original Trilogy, Massive didn't want to retread that ground by making a Han Solo game. "Not once did that come up," creative director Julian Gerighty says. "We wanted to tell different stories with different main actors, as well."

"We felt that one of the venues in Star Wars that, especially recently, hasn't been explored as much is that of the scoundrel character," associate narrative director John Björling says. "A relatable character, a rookie kind of taking their first steps into the galaxy, exploring the world, and really getting involved with the people and factions that make up the fabric of the galaxy. That was something that we knew very early on we wanted to pursue: to have that personal story and really make the galaxy come to life."

Once Massive set its sights on a scoundrel experience set during the beloved Original Trilogy between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it needed to create the right character for the adventure. "A scrappy underdog is going to use every trick in the book to get out of a tricky situation," Gerighty says. "Sometimes, a scoundrel should avoid getting into combat, so stealth became incredibly important for us as well."

To that end, Kay Vess started out as a mere pickpocket growing up in the worker's district of Canto Bight, the planet most known for the casino scene in The Last Jedi, but after graduating to full-on thief and getting in with the wrong crowd and having a bounty placed on her head, she has to pull off the ultimate heist to attain freedom. Because of her resourcefulness, cunning, and scrappiness, she can approach situations through both stealth and gunslinging; the choice is often up to the player.

Her rough and tumble upbringing equips her well for her adventures, and the team reflects that background in her visual design. "We put a lot of care into her design and what she's wearing and how she looks to tell her story," associate art director Marthe Jonkers says. "She has a lot of elements in her design that tell a bit of her story. For example, she has a broken nose. She's been through a lot; you can see that she has scars and stuff. She also has a hairpin; I love that element because she uses that to lockpick doors, and you can use that from the beginning to do some thieving."

The team clicked particularly well with Kay because she's neither a Jedi with superhuman reflexes nor one of the greatest fighters or pilots in the galaxy. "I think it's very relatable as a human being on planet Earth that this character doesn't have any magical powers or properties beyond her daring, her skills, her tools, and her buddy Nix," game director Mathias Karlson says. "The personality type is also perfectly suited for going on a swashbuckling adventure. I think that's something I really resonated with thinking about this character in terms of building a game and gameplay around it."

"I think she's a much more modern protagonist than we usually see in games," Gerighty says. "She's somebody who is very much a street thief who gets thrown into things that are beyond her control, and that she kind of has to think her way out of, and that makes it a little bit more relatable than somebody who has all the confidence and sarcasm and just comes off as somebody who is not believable. So having her be relatable in that way was something extremely important for us."

But Kay is not the only protagonist in Star Wars Outlaws. Massive looks at Kay and Nix as dual protagonists. As such, players are always in control of Nix as well, since Kay has the ability to send him off to perform tasks like pressing buttons, retrieving items, and distracting enemies. "Nix comes from a real gameplay need, which is to give the scoundrel character a little bit more reach, a little bit more possibilities while going through the environments while sneaking and while fighting," Gerighty says. "We really considered them as a scoundrel/thief duo. And Nix is absolutely adorable towards Kay, but very fierce and protective as well, so he has two sides to his personality, and we're very proud of what we created."

Nix is a merqaal, a new species created by Massive in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. Nix comes from an unknown rainforest planet, but at a certain point, Kay and Nix meet and become partners. When creating Nix's design, Massive looked toward the various pets that members of the team have in their households. "Basically, he has something of all our pets in there," Jonkers says. "Everybody had a bit of an influence on that, I would say. But also real-world animals, for example. We really wanted him to be very helpful to Kay, so he could pick up things so we looked at lemurs or monkeys. But the other side we wanted him to also have a bit of a tough side, so he has some skills, and is more reptile-inspired."

Another crucial part of Nix's design is his ears, which help him express his emotions and mood. "When Kay's sneaking around, you will see that he'll put them onto his body and make a smaller silhouette," Jonkers says. "When he's alert, he will put them up, and I think that's also a unique element to Nix that really gives him a lot of personality."

When I ask if the relationship between Kay and Nix is similar to that of Han Solo and Chewbacca, Jonkers quips, "I always say, 'Kay's not a Solo, Kay's a duo.'" 

"We have Kay as the main character, but it's actually Kay and Nix," Jonkers continues. "They are the main character. We really wanted to bring this unique duo as the main character to the Star Wars galaxy. They work together a lot, and Nix helps you, but he's really her buddy. [...] That relationship and having this duo is what makes Kay a very unique character, like a unique scoundrel. She's not on her own. She's not doing this all by herself. She actually has her partner in crime. That brings a unique take on the scoundrel archetype."

For more on how the gameplay between Kay and Nix works, be sure to check out our hands-on preview here. Star Wars Outlaws arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on August 30. For more, be sure to visit our exclusive coverage hub through the banner below!

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Despite currently being in the midst of a crossover event with Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fortnite is teasing an upcoming event with a returning collaborator: Star Wars. The details have yet to be disclosed, but attentive fans of the science fiction juggernaut will notice something about the start date right away. The event is set to take place on Friday, May 3. The following day, May 4th, is known to many as Star Wars Day.

We have a good feeling about this...Star Wars is returning to #Fortnite. pic.twitter.com/6MCkDkolNb

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 15, 2024

The most newsworthy piece of info here, however, is the fact that the teaser indicates collaborations across several of Fortnite's new modes. This includes the classic battle Royale mode, the survival/crafting Lego mode, and the rhythm Festival mode, though Rocket Racing was notably excluded. Crossovers between Fortnite and other IPs usually just include cosmetic bundles, but this seems to imply that it will provide content for three different areas of the game.

The current Elements event pass technically includes a Lego variant skin as well as a guitar for Festival mode, so this Star Wars event could be as simple as that, but it's not unreasonable to speculate that Star Wars is a big enough property to warrant a larger scale crossover event. That said, this is just speculation.

Previous Star Wars crossovers included a Darth Vader boss battle, lightsabers, blasters, and force abilities, as well as a huge roster of skins spanning the movies and shows. Most recently, Ahsoka joined the fray as a part of the Chapter 4 Season 4 battle pass. 

If you're interested in more Star Wars video games, you're in luck – we just launched our latest cover story, which features an exclusive look at Star Wars Outlaws. We've also got a hands-on preview, a video interview with the developers, and an entire hub devoted to this month's coverage of the game.

What are you hoping to see from the upcoming Fortnite x Star Wars crossover? Let us know in the comments!

The 2017 low-gravity hero shooter LawBreakers is coming back from the dead. However, this isn’t an official revival but rather due to the work of a dedicated group of fans.

LawBreakers was created by Boss Key Productions, a team led by Gears of War lead designer Cliff Bleszinski. Upon launching for PlayStation 4 and PC in August 2017, it garnered a generally positive critical impression (read our review here). However, it failed to find its place in the competitive multiplayer shooter market of the time, resulting in poor sales and low player engagement that eventually led to its early demise in September 2018. 

Now, a team of passionate fans has worked to bring LawBreakers back. Dubbed The RELB Project, the project has been in the works since at least 2020. Its FAQ states that “This is a project to bring back the game LawBreakers, it's done by creating 'fake' servers that the original game client uses. You can join by downloading the launcher, patching your game and playing like normal.”

RELB’s website allows you to download the launcher. Despite this revival being an unofficial project, Cliff Bleszinki (who has been vocal about wanting to see LawBreakers come back) has given it his blessing and enthusiastically shared RELB’s Discord on Saturday. 

Somehow LawBreakers is coming back, see below!!!
---
If you're interested in this weekend's public test or future tests, join the RELB discord server to learn how to get set up and keep up with the current news! https://t.co/1COV57FZQ5

— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) April 13, 2024

The RELB Project is still very much a work in progress, but the team held its first series of public playtests this past weekend. Although several modes and features from the game were disabled, these sessions appear to have been largely successful. The next playtest has not been scheduled, and the team is currently seeking more developers.

What did you think of LawBreakers and are you excited to see it playable again? Let us know in the comments!

The rogue-lite and roguelike genres have been growing in popularity over the years They’re challenging games where players attempt runs with different abilities and random elements that generally force the player to restart from zero or near-zero for each attempt. They are born from the 1980 game Rogue which established many of the mechanics now considered staples of the genre.

But the difference between rogue-lite and -like has always been confusing, so we asked an expert from Evil Empire, the co-developer of Dead Cells, to explain it to us. Lucie Dewagnier is the game director of the upcoming The Rogue: Prince of Persia (a rogue-lite) and defines the subgenres like this.

Dead Cells (2018)

“Roguelike is – like the game Rogue – a game where you play, you die, you hit replay, but nothing is kept between your attempts. You will always replay the game from a blank slate.

Rogue-lite may add some things like permanent upgrades and enhancements that make your future runs – your future tries – easier and has progression systems that do not exist in roguelikes.”

Returnal (2021)

My hope, and I presented this plan to Dewagnier, is we drop the -lite and -like suffixes from the genre name and just refer to all games as existing within the Rogue genre. Dead Cells, Hades, Undermine, Returnal, etc. are no longer variations of rogue-lites and roguelikes – they’re all Rogue games.

“Yeah, even now there are games like Spelunky that are part of Rogulikes, but they have progression systems with new content you can get, so maybe it’s rogue-lite? Maybe it’s Roguelike? They’re Rogues.”

To read more about Evil Empire and Dewagnier’s next game, The Rogue: Prince of Persia (which is a rogue-lite, “With a ‘T’,” Dewagnier says), head here.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet series rolls on with the latest expansion. This newest set, Temporal Forces, continues the Ancient and Future conventions introduced in Paradox Rift, giving players new strategies featuring a variety of easily playable Basic Pokémon. 

The Pokémon Company sent along a bunch of booster packs for us to open to see what we could pull. The set is one of the smaller recent expansions, but still large by the long-established standard of Pokémon TCG. Players picking up Temporal Forces can expect to pull from a pool of more than 160 cards. In addition to the additional Ancient and Future Pokémon, Temporal Forces reintroduces Ace Spec cards, first implemented during the Black & White series of cards. Those Ace Spec cards were some of the more unique cards I pulled, but the full-art Pokémon and ex cards most wowed me; I particularly love the Arbok and Minccio full-arts I grabbed. 

Check out my favorites I pulled from Pokémon Trading Card Game's Scarlet & Violet – Temporal Forces expansion below!

 

 Pokémon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet – Temporal Forces is available now. For more Pokémon TCG content, including galleries of past expansions, interviews, and the latest news, visit our hub by clicking the banner below.

As part of this month’s exclusive cover story, Game Informer’s Brian Shea sat down with Star Wars Outlaws creative director Julian Gerighty to discuss protagonist Kay’s backstory, how Massive Entertainment created her sidekick creature Nix, the game’s intriguing Reputation System, and what it’s like crafting a Star Wars game in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.

How Massive designed the first open-world Star Wars game:

Are you seeking more exclusive details about Star Wars Outlaws before its August 30 release date? Be sure to read our 12-page cover story, which you can read by purchasing an annual Game Informer magazine subscription right here.

After The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reinvented the series in 3D and became its new gold standard, Nintendo followed up with a surreal sequel in Majora's Mask. Set two months after the events of Ocarina, Link finds himself transported to an alternate version of Hyrule called Termina and must prevent a very angry moon from crashing into the Earth over the course of three constantly repeating days. Majora's Mask's unique structure and bizarre tone have earned it legions of passionate defenders and detractors, and one long-time Zelda fan is going to experience it for the first time to see where he lands on that spectrum.

Join Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard today and each Friday on Twitch at 2 p.m. CT as they gradually work their way through the entire game until Termina is saved. Archived episodes will be uploaded each Saturday on our second YouTube channel Game Informer Shows, which you can watch both above and by clicking the links below. 

Part 1 - Plenty of Time
Part 2 - The Bear
Part 3 - Deku Ball Z
Part 4 - Pig Out
Part 5 - The Was a Bad Choice!
Part 6 - Ray Darmani
Part 7 - Curl and Pound
Part 8 - Almost a Flamethrower
Part 9 - Take Me Higher
Part 10 - Time Juice
Part 11 - The One About Joey

Watch on Twitch!

If you enjoy our livestreams but haven’t subscribed to our Twitch channel, know that doing so not only gives you notifications and access to special emotes. You’ll also be granted entry to the official Game Informer Discord channel, where our welcoming community members, moderators, and staff gather to talk games, entertainment, food, and organize hangouts! Be sure to also follow our second YouTube channel, Game Informer Shows, to watch other Replay episodes as well as Twitch archives of GI Live and more. 

Nintendo Switch Online’s Super Nintendo catalog is three games larger today thanks to the additions of Super R-Type, Wrecking Crew ‘98, and Amazing Hebereke.

Super R-Type is a side-scrolling sci-fi shooter launched in 1991, and it’s essentially an enhanced port of the arcade game R-Type II. It includes elements from that game while featuring new stages and enemies of its own.  

Wrecking Crew ‘98 is the Japan-only sequel to the NES classic Wrecking Crew. First released in 1998 for Nintendo Power’s download service before getting its own cartridge, this marks the game’s first release in the West.

Amazing Hebereke is a 1994 fighting game by Sunsoft that pits up to four players battling to knock each other out. The game is a spin-off of the Hebereke series (known here as Uforia: The Saga, of which its long-awaited sequel recently launched). 

Be sure to check out our complete database of every classic game available on Nintendo Switch Online.

At the Triple-i Initiative earlier this week, Gearbox Publishing and developer Wabisabi Games unveiled RKGK. Sporting an eye-popping art direction that blends anime and graffiti art influences, this promising-looking action platformer is coming this year.

RKGK (pronounced “Rakugaki”) unfolds in a Cap City, a futuristic metropolis caught in a vice grip by the oppressive B Corp led by the villainous Mr. Buff. The plot centers on rebellious graffiti artist Valah, who rages against this machine by using her art to bring life back to the city and inspire its citizens to stand up and rebel.

Valah gets around by using her graffiti paint to stylishly grind on rails while chaining jumps, dashes, and glides. She also has appears to have her own drone to soar across the cityscape. High-speed platforming is the name of the game, and maintaining a smooth flow state sends her into Defacer mode, transforming the world into a dreamy animated version of itself. Although the trailer doesn’t show off gameplay, it depicts Valah spraying paint to destroy B Corps’ robotic minions. You’ll also be able to create graffiti art using an array of paint and cosmetic tools. Check out the screenshots below for an in-game look at RKGK. 

 

RKGK is Wabisabi Games’ debut title and looks to follow in the graffiti-soaked dystopian future footsteps of games like Jet Set Radio and Marc Ecko’s Getting Up (remember that?). It’s coming to PC later this year.

We recently revealed the newest big cover story from Game Informer – our blowout look at Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws. We were excited by the chance to visit the studio in Sweden to play the game and interview the team. We were especially thrilled at the gorgeous art from the game that we shared on the cover, where we see protagonists Kay Vess and Nix firmly ensconced in the scum and villainy of that fictional galaxy far, far away.

To celebrate the new cover, we’re giving away five numbered copies of this issue’s Game Informer Gold Edition. If you’re not in the know, our Gold issues are numbered limited editions of each issue, featuring top-quality paper and ink, thicker cover stock, and a gold foil Game Informer logo. We produce an extremely limited number of copies of each issue, which are not available for sale. A sweepstakes like this is one of the only ways to snag a copy.

Even better, you’ve got many chances to win. Every individual who signs up for our new print subscription program is automatically entered for one chance to win. Already signed up at subscription.gameinformer.com? Then we’ve got good news! You’re already in the running for one of these gold editions.

If you haven’t yet subscribed, there’s still time! Subscribe by Thursday, April 18, when the contest closes and you’ll have a shot at gold. Of course, you’ll also receive 10 standard issues of Game Informer in the mail for only $19.91, or $34.95 for 20 issues, and support our ability to continue bringing you exclusive stories every month.

We also have fun (and one daily) entry options below, giving you many free chances to enter. Good luck to everyone!

No purchase necessary to enter or to win. A purchase does not increase your chances of winning. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes open to residents of the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico ages 13 and older. Daily entry is available until 11:59 PM CST, April 18, 2024. Winners will be drawn randomly from all entries received. You will be contacted via email after the sweepstakes close, so be sure to use an email you check frequently. Full sweepstakes rules are available below with each entry method. Good Luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

The 20th Annual BAFTA Games Awards have concluded, and we’ve gathered the full list of winners. Baldur’s Gate 3 leads the pack with five awards, but other games such as Alan Wake 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Hi-Fi Rush, and Viewfinder didn’t leave empty-handed. 

In case you missed it, check the complete list of nominees here. And the winners are:

Best Game - Baldur’s Gate 3

Animation - Hi-Fi Rush

Artistic Achievement - Alan Wake 2

Audio Achievement - Alan Wake 2

British Game - Viewfinder

Debut Game - Venba

Evolving Game - Cyberpunk 2077

Family - Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Game Beyond Entertainment - Tchia

Game Design - Dave the Diver

Multiplayer - Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Music - Baldur’s Gate 3

Narrative - Baldur’s Gate 3

New Intellectual Property - Viewfinder

Performer in a Leading Role - Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales (Marvel’s Spider-Man 2)

Performer in a Supporting Role - Andrew Wincott as Raphael (Baldur’s Gate 3)

Technical Achievement - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

EE Player’s Choice - Baldur’s Gate 3

With Rise of the Rōnin’s release, Team Ninja has added another strong action title into its vaunted portfolio. The samurai epic, which tells a fictional story within a historical Japanese period of revolution, is one of the studio’s most ambitious titles from both game design and story perspectives. We got the opportunity to sit down with producer Yosuke Hayashi and director Fumihiko Yasuda to probe into how Rise of the Rōnin got made.

One aspect of the game that sets it apart from other Team Ninja titles is the monsters or demonic enemies that pervade its other games are nowhere to be seen in Rise of the Rōnin. Being set against a historical backdrop, Rōnin is limited just to human enemies of various fighting styles.

“This game is based in historical 19th century Japan,” Yasuda explains, “partly because we wanted to emphasize the bond system and the bonds that the player forms with historical figures that appear in the game. And for that reason, there are no supernatural elements. We also wanted to emphasize the dynamic between two samurai dueling each other by looking at their opponent, assessing what weapons and combat style the opponent is using, and adjust accordingly.”

The bonds system Yasuda mentioned has the main character gain affinity with a number of real-life historical figures, like Ryoma Sakamoto, a hero of Japan's Bakamatsu era in the late 1800s. Hayashi explains why that era was a good fit for their latest game thematically, as well.

“The Bakumatsu period marked the end of the age of the samurai and the beginning of Japan's modernization. Because of this, there were many ideals and value systems that were converging on at this moment in history. As our title focused on forming bonds with characters and making choices, we felt that this dynamic provided by this historical period was a good fit for the concept of the game.”

The name Ryoma Sakamoto is likely familiar to those with knowledge of Japanese history, but also maybe to those who played 2023’s Like a Dragon: Ishin from Sega. That game also starred Ryoma Sakamoto during the same era, creating some unintentional crossover story between Team Ninja and RGG Studio’s games.

“Yeah, so the timing…there was quite a bit of overlap,” Hayashi says, laughing. “But you know, we saw that – but at the same time, we weren't really surprised that Japanese developers would be releasing or remastering a game set in the same period as [Rise of the Rōnin]. It's a very popular period in Japanese history.”

As Team Ninja’s first real open-world game, Rise of the Rōnin had quite a bit to prove for the developer. Hayashi and Yasuda indicated that the ambition was worth any trade-off, as they saw making an open-world game as a challenge the studio had to eventually rise to meet as a natural step. Doing all this while retaining the core of the action gameplay from its linear titles was an important obstacle for Team Ninja to surmount.

Another challenge, Yasuda said, was making sure the cat animations in the game were accurate.

“I'm also a fan of cats. I own a cat myself and there are other members within our team that own cats and we've spoken with other media who have enjoyed that aspect of the game. And, of course, we were very particular about the movements that you know about cats in the animations. I wouldn't say it was too difficult, but maybe we got a little too obsessed with it,” he admitted.

In a previous generation, Team Ninja found itself struggling with how to create action games for Japanese and Western audiences. While it is fairly recent, the TV show Shogun ended up exemplifying an answer for them.

“Yeah, we are watching it,” both Hayashi and Yasuda said, with Hayashi continuing. “It’s really that the show has a lot of visuals that are very Japanese that reflects how a lot of the production involved in it was Japanese. I think there is some cultural crossover there just like I feel there was some crossover with our titles.”

And if you’re curious about what movies the pair recommend watching for your samurai fix?

“Yojimbo,” they both nodded, referring to the Akira Kurosawa classic about a Rōnin samurai being courted by two rival clans. “Rise of the Rōnin is really similar to it, actually.”