Review Round-Up For Tunic

After a very long wait, Tunic is finally here, as are the reviews for it. If you’re looking to try out the isometric action-adventure game, Tunic is available on Xbox Game Pass. If you aren’t subscribed to the service, you can nab Tunic on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

In GameSpot’s Tunic review, Richard Wakeling praised its colorful world and gratifying challenge, likening its gameplay to something seen in a Souls-like despite its Zelda-like visuals. Below, you can find a wider critical reaction to Tunic–you can also check out GameSpot sister site Metacritic for even more impressions.

Game: TunicPlatforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PCDeveloper: Andrew ShouldiceRelease Date: March 16Price: $30 USD

GameSpot — 9/10

It’s the kind of game you would’ve purchased because the box art looked cool, eagerly flipping through the pages of its manual on the car ride home, not quite understanding it all but getting excited at the possibilities all the same. In Tunic’s case, this grand adventure lives up to the expectations. — Richard Wakeling [Full review]

IGN — 9/10

Though it may look adorably approachable thanks to its deceptively cute furry orange protagonist, Tunic quickly makes it clear that you’d best be ready for a fight. It is a fantastic Zelda-style game for the Elden Ring generation, and solving its ceaselessly clever campaign and challenging combat through careful studying of your indecipherable but intuitive in-game instruction booklet and agile controller work gave me a well-earned payoff and feeling of satisfaction that I won’t soon forget. — Ryan McCaffrey [Full review]

Polygon — Recommended

A person’s experience of playing Tunic will absolutely be what they’ve made of it. Those uninterested in secrets or super-challenging gameplay can move along the main path as they please, thanks to these different settings. But there will also be players that revel in knowing everything about the world and defeating all of its bosses. The amazing thing is how Tunic serves all of those players without compromising on either front. This is a delightful, puzzling journey. — Nicole Carpenter [Full review]

Game Informer — 9.75/10

I was constantly veering off from the main quest to track something down or look into a newly discovered path, and so it took me about 20 hours to roll credits. Despite that, I know there’s still a lot for me to do in the game, and I’m excited to go back in to find every secret and experience everything its aesthetically striking world has to offer. Tunic is a stunning achievement that manages to embody the best of nostalgia while being completely refreshing. It’s absolutely a must-play gem. — Jill Grodt [Full review]

Destructoid — 9/10

I frequently found myself muttering, “you devious bastard.” It speaks the language of games gone by while injecting both modernity and its own personal twist. It’s brilliant enough to stand apart, and this is one garment I recommend you slip into. Maybe with some leggings. It would look nice! — Zoey Handley [Full review]

Digital Trends — 2/5

Tunic desperately tries to recreate the magic of classic Legend of Zelda games, all too often doing so to a fault. It tries to be hands-off and instead leaves the player with no idea of where to go. It wants to have simple combat, akin to something like the Zelda Oracle games, but that approach gets stale incredibly fast here. More than anything though, Tunic left me feeling lost in its mysteries, which I didn’t want to solve out of need or drive, but because I couldn’t bear them anymore. — Otto Kratky [Full review]

VG247 — 5/5

Tunic comes at a perfect time; in the middle of a packed release schedule dripping with titles that delight in killing you, it’s a calmer, more mild-mannered take on the adventure game that wants to engage in a friendly dialogue. It doesn’t want to yell at you – it wants to encourage you. To explore, engage, and experiment. It’s the perfect palate cleanser, taking anywhere between six and 20 hours, and absolutely essential if you’ve got a fondness for adventure games with a potion in their pocket, a cape around their neck, and a twinkle in their eye. — Dom Peppiatt [Full review]

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Elden Ring Save Scum: When To Save So You Can Unlock All Endings

If you want to experience every single ending in Elden Ring or get all of the achievements without having to play through the game again, there is an excellent point right towards the end of the game where you can set up your save game. This spot is at the very end of the game and you will need to make sure you do the majority of steps to see all of the endings prior to doing this. Here’s what you need to do. Note: Elden Ring spoilers ahead.

Advance every ending as far as possible

One of the important things to do is make sure you have progressed every single ending as far as possible, without achieving any of the endings or locking yourself out of any of them. The majority of the endings you can do every step short of completing the game without issue, but the Lord of the Frenzied Flame ending has a soft point of no return so you need to make sure you don’t advance that one too far. You can read our Elden Ring all endings guide for the nitty gritty details, but below I am going to list the final step you should take for each ending, prior to finishing the game.

Elden Lord, Age of Fracture

This is the default ending of the game, so no extra steps are required to see this ending.

Elden Lord, Age of the Duskborn

Complete Fia’s questline and acquire the Rune of the Death-Prince.

Elden Lord, Age of Despair

Complete the Dung Eater questline and acquire the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse.

Elden Lord, Age of Order

Complete the Brother Corhyn and Goldmask questline and acquire the Rune of Perfect Order.

Age of the Stars

Complete Ranni the Witch’s questline. There is no required item for this ending.

Lord of the Frenzied Flame

Do not enter the Frenzied Flame door until you are ready to see that ending.Get to the Frenzied Flame Proscription Site of Grace just outside the Frenzied Flame door. Do not enter the door.You can reverse this ending if you do enter the door, but you are adding a bunch of unnecessary work for yourself.

When to save scum in Elden Ring

The best place to save scum is directly at the end of the game. After beating the final boss of the game, you will be placed near Marika and a Site of Grace. Since there is a Site of Grace here, you can leave and come back before picking an ending. You will want to set up the save they are reverting to, at this Site of Grace. If you are doing this to get all of the achievements, you will only need to see one Elden Lord ending, the Age of Stars ending, and the Lord of the Frenzied Flame ending.

From here, walk up to Marika and you will be presented with the choice to pick between all of the different Mending Runes you have collected. Pick whichever ending you want, reload, and pick the other ones. The Age of the Stars ending can be triggered by the blue summon sign on the ground, which will bring in Ranni the Witch. Once again reload.

The last one is the Lord of the Frenzied Flame. Do this one last in case your save scumming doesn’t revert the branding. That will let you avoid the possibility of getting locked out of the other endings. From the final area, fast travel to the Frenzied Flame Proscription Site of Grace, remove all of your armor, and walk through the door. After being branded by the Three Fingers, travel back to the final area and interact with Marika. You will likely be able to return to your save, but again, do this ending last just in case, otherwise you will have to do another side quest to remove the branding.

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ID@Xbox Showcase: The Biggest Games And Announcements

Microsoft wasn’t playing around with its ID@Xbox Showcase on March 16, with more than 90 minutes of game news and announcements. Many of the games shown are coming to Xbox Game Pass, and we saw everything from wrestling role-playing games to virtual escape rooms and interactive films. These were the biggest games from the ID@Xbox Showcase.

Tunic

The long-awaited adventure from Andrew Shouldice and Finji is finally here, and better yet, it’s free with Xbox Game Pass on both Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. A Zelda-like adventure starring an adorable fox, Tunic takes a decidedly less morbid approach to discovery and exploration than, say, Elden Ring, but you still get a sword and a lantern. Yes, they’re basically the same. Can’t even tell them apart now.

Immortality

Sam Barlow has made a name for himself with his interactive live-action adventures like Telling Lies and Her Story, and his new project Immortality looks like his most ambitious yet. Releasing this summer for Xbox Series X|S and Game Pass, the game will be an “interactive film trilogy” focused on locating a missing woman named Marissa Marcel. You’ll be using found footage to solve the case, and given the quality of Barlow’s past work, the bar is set pretty high.

Flintlock: Siege of Dawn

The developers of Ashen–itself a Game Pass day one release–are back with the gun-focused open-world action-RPG Flintlock. Aside from hyphenated descriptors, the game features a mix of “vengeance, gunpowder, and magic” and will see hero Nor teaming up with sidekick named Enki. It looks to be a bit more vibrant than the desolate and dying Ashen, albeit still in a world on the brink of complete destruction.

Escape Academy

Escape Rooms are fun. Going to one during a pandemic isn’t always a great idea. With the new game Escape Academy, you can play through a collection of virtual escape rooms designed by real escape room experts as you train to become an “Escape Room Master.” As with physical escape rooms, the whole experience can be played cooperatively, both online or in split-screen mode, or you can put your own skills to the test by trying to escape on your own.

WrestleQuest

No, not WrestleFest! This is WrestleQuest, a combination role-playing game and fever dream starring the late WWE superstars Randy Savage and Andre the Giant. Using a detailed pixel art style and featuring some of the biggest names to ever step into the ring, it looks to be a unique take on retro-style wrestling that doesn’t take itself too seriously–or seriously at all. Now, where is the mod to add in the Skyrim dragon?

Paradise Killer

The acclaimed detective adventure Paradise Killer is coming to Xbox consoles–or rather, it’s out now on Xbox Game Pass for both console and PC! The game was originally only released for PC and Nintendo Switch back in 2020 and offers a nearly unprecedented level of freedom in how you approach a case and who you decide to accuse. It’s also weird as hell, so you don’t have to worry about any brooding, shadowy investigator wearing a trenchcoat and smoking a cigar here.

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GTA 5: How To Make Money Fast In GTA Online

In GTA Online, the difference between a common street criminal and an all-powerful crime lord is usually just a few million dollars. That can seem like a wide gap to close when you’re just starting out or short on cash, but the full suite of modes, jobs, heists, and more in GTA Online means you’ll likely always be earning money one way or another. Still, some missions are more lucrative than others. Here’s how to make money fast in GTA Online.

Play modes offering bonus GTA$

GTA Online regularly offers extra cash for certain modes. This can be anything from stunt races to stealing cars to assassinating targets and more. At least a few times each month, Rockstar will highlight a mode or modes and reward you with bonus GTA$ for playing them. You can keep track of all the bonus cash on offer at any time on the Rockstar Social Club, the developer’s social network for its many games.

At the time of writing this guide for example, you can make three times as much cash as normal for completing Air Races. Find all jobs and modes within your in-game smartphone and jump into whichever path is paying top dollar. This is the most straightforward, approachable way to make money fast, though much grander paydays await further down this list.

Spin the wheel at the casino each day–but leave after that

GTA Online lets you gamble away your GTA$ at the Diamond Resort & Casino. You really shouldn’t do that. But you should still stop at the casino every real-life day to spin its gift-giving Lucky Wheel. It offers prizes such as new clothing, vehicle discounts, and even a brand-new car from the casino showfloor. Some spins will also net you GTA$ or casino chips.

Our suggestion: Don’t spend the chips. Trade them back in for more money. While the casino’s ultimate owners–Take-Two Interactive, really–would love you to buy into a few games of chance, doing so is most likely going to be a way to lose money fast, not earn it. Pocket any earnings the wheel gets you, then seek more cash elsewhere in the city.

Complete Treasure Hunts

GTA Online has a particular mission strand that exist as a nod to Red Dead Redemption. Randomly while exploring Los Santos, you may get an email from a mysterious “Vanderlinde” (Dutch, is that you?) who will send you a cryptic sepia-toned photo of a secret loot drop in the city. You’ll then be given a vague area to search for a clue–a note clung to a tree, pole, or some other surface. That note will then give you three more clues to explore. Once you’ve found all three clues, you’ll be given the location of your treasure.

While these Treasure Hunts reward modest sums, they also give you special weapons like a gold revolver, and they’re not very intensive, making them a good bet for when you want to make some money but also reap other rewards quickly too.

Pick a career and climb the ladder to the top

While the above financial tips are good ways to make small but consistent money, these next two are really the focal points of GTAO’s bustling in-game economy and gameplay loop. GTA Online offers a number of career paths for wannabe gangsters, kingpins, and corporate bigwigs. Deciding on a career path early, then focusing on building your empire is one of the best ways to find purpose early in GTA Online. Careers include becoming an executive, a gunrunner, a biker, and a nightclub owner, and your character’s path through Los Santos is largely up to you (and maybe sometimes to griefers).

Each business will need to start from the bottom and involves investing in the right career-building properties like offices, bunkers, MC clubs, and nightclubs for each respective career, but in time you’ll be able to make plenty of money doing any of them. You can even change careers if you want to.

If one career is better than the rest, we’d argue it’s the executive path. Going that route allows you to buy warehouses where you can source and export cargo such as vehicles. Selling cars in GTA Online is a fan-favorite way to make heaps of money quickly.

The trick is to fill your warehouse with low- and mid-tier vehicles. Your missions will always involve sourcing or exporting cars valued more than those you have already collected in your warehouse. Essentially, you’ll be forcing the game’s somewhat randomly generated cargo missions to favor the top-end vehicles, giving you the best possible paydays. If you’re strictly in it for the cash, that’s arguably your best bet, but you’ll be doing a lot of career-related missions, so you may also want to consider picking the career you find the most fun.

Your career trajectory in Los Santos is largely up to you.

Executives sell cargo, gunrunners steal goods, bikers manufacture drugs, and nightclub owners run businesses and supervise staff. This last career is often considered the game’s hardest career as it requires a lot of upfront money and the hiring of employees. Therefore, this is most likely going to be a career you may choose to switch to later in your GTA Online career, rather than one you’ll start out with from day one in Los Santos.

The important thing to know about career-building in GTA Online is it’s essential to any long-term player’s plans. Think of your GTAO career as the story mode for the multiplayer suite. Whatever else you’re doing–racing, TDM, et al–you should also be building your career. Some of the activities surrounding careers are passive, like hiring other players to do your dirty work, so you can make money without even actively engaging in some of the content. Not to sound too much like your parents, but you really should be planning for the future.

Take on heists, the game’s biggest overall paydays

GTA Online Heists are the centerpiece of an ever-growing online suite of things to do and see, and it earned that distinction by being the game’s biggest, most elaborate, and most lucrative missions. Heists are designed for co-op play and can’t be taken on alone (with one exception, the Cayo Perico Heist), plus they need some early investment from you or your allied criminals, so this isn’t something you can do right away as you arrive in Los Santos.

Instead, consider it something like an endgame. Once you’ve saved up roughly one million dollars in your GTA account, consider it time to plan out your first heist–and only after you’ve bought some of the heists’ necessary properties and vehicles, such as an arcade for the Casino Heist or the Kosatka submarine for the Cayo Perico Heist. You’ll need to embark on a number of planning missions before the final heist is ready to be attempted, and the entire process is challenging to say the least. Be sure to have a close-knit team, maintain voice comms if possible, and come loaded up on weapons and armor to survive.

Paydays for the game’s eight available heists are enormous and make most other earnings look like the coins you’d find under your couch cushions. If done in order, most heists also earn you more than the previous heist. While heist payouts are based on a number of factors, such as how many players were involved, whether you’ve played it before, how well you performed, and on what difficulty you played, the best possible payouts for each heist are as follows:

GTA Online maximum heist payouts

The Fleeca Job: $143,750The Prison Break: $500,000The Humane Labs Raid: $675,000Series A Funding: $505,000The Pacific Standard Job: $1.25MDoomsday: $812,500 (Act 1), $1,187,500 (Act 2), $1.5M (Act 3)The Diamond Casino: $3.61M (diamonds), $2.84M (gold), $2.58M (artwork), $2.32M (cash)Cayo Perico: $4.57M

Clearly these missions are the best possible lump sums in the game, but given their high barrier for entry, they aren’t going to be what gets you off the ground early in Los Santos. The most effective use of your time is going to be to start building your career from day one, fill downtime with the game’s easy (but modest) paydays, and build up to your eventual role as a crime lord and thief extraordinaire. Time is money in Los Santos. Spend your time wisely and the money will pour in.

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Amazon Won’t Reduce New World War Player Count Following Feedback

New World will not see the player count of its 50v50 PVP Wars reduced following player feedback, Amazon Games has confirmed.

“Based on the feedback we received, we’re going to hold off on the 40v40 change,” a member of the New World team writes on the game’s forums. “We were hoping to get it tested in PTR to validate our view that it plays better. But that hasn’t happened yet, and we underestimated how important losing 20 people in War is. Even if it is slightly better for the 80 people, those 20 missing out are really hurt.”

Massive inter-faction PVP Wars between rival guilds with in-game territory on the line is one of the main appeals of Amazon’s MMORPG New World, but those large-scale battles also come with their own problems. Performance issues and lag have been concerns in War since the game’s launch, as having 100 players all in one small area strains the server and causes performance to dip. Reducing the player count was one proposed solution, but Amazon said in an earlier forum post that improving performance wasn’t the only reason for the now-shelved change.

“While we love the epic-ness of 50v50, when we tested 40v40 internally, War still felt grand while playing better–felt a bit less chaotic, was easier to coordinate teams, and Wars felt a bit more tactical,” Amazon wrote.

The main reason a reduction in the number of players in War had many in the community upset revolved around how difficult it can be to participate in War in the first place. The companies (aka guilds) engaging in the War get to decide who will participate based on who signs up. Sometimes this means one larger company will field an entire army themselves, while other smaller companies will have to recruit players from other companies to aid in the fight. Reducing the War player count would simply mean fewer players would get to participate in what is one of New World’s most engaging and high-stakes features.

The idea of creating a more low-stakes version of War that players can participate in without in-game territory up for grabs has been floated, but such an addition is “far in the future,” according to Amazon. Once there are more ways for players to participate in Wars, Amazon has stated that it may return to the idea of 40v40 Wars.

New World is slated to receive new endgame content and a new weapon, the Blunderbuss, later this month. The new content is currently being tested on the game’s public test realm.

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Sifu Mod Turns You Into Neo From The Matrix

Sifu captures the bone-crunching brutality of martial arts and remixes it with a roguelike experience, but if you ever thought that it was lacking some breathtaking energy, then wonder no more. Over on Nexusmods, Halfmillz has put together a collection of mods that’ll transform you into Neo from The Matrix and allow you to live out your fantasy of fighting several dozen Agent Smiths in one big burly brawl. To get the full Matrix Reloaded experience, you’ll need these mods:

Neo: The One Skin–This dresses the protagonist up as Neo in his Matrix Reloaded costume, which includes the Blinde Elipse sunglasses.Agent Smith to All Enemies–Every face you’ll punch will now be that of Agent Smith.The Matrix ReShade–Sifu now has the trademark green tinge of the Matrix films.The Matrix Combat Sound Effects–Some punch and kick-focused sound effects to complete the package. Agent Smith’s choking sound, not included.

While the martial arts and gameplay of Sifu may not match Neo’s knowledge of kung-fu, the end result still looks terrific. This isn’t the first time that the Matrix Reloaded’s iconic fight scene has been adapted for video games, as it was featured in 2005’s The Matrix: Path of Neo. You can only image what a fight scene on this scale would look like if it was built using Epic’s Unreal Engine 5, which was used to create the impressive tech demo The Matrix Awakens.

The Matrix made a comeback last year when Resurrections was released last year. “The Matrix Resurrections will remind you of what you loved about the franchise the first time around… While it may not be nearly as good as the original Matrix, you shouldn’t be surprised to find yourself thinking about it weeks after your first viewing, wondering why it’s sticking with you so much,” Chris Hayner said in his Matrix Resurrections review.

If you’re looking for a physical release of the fourth Matrix film, then you can grab the The Matrix Resurrections Blu-ray later this month.

As for Sifu, the game has done well since launch and recently celebrated selling over 1 million copies. A new patch tightened up the action, and also added Chinese voice-acting to the hard-hitting game.

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course DLC: Release Date, Tracks, And Everything We Know

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is one of the most popular games on the Nintendo Switch, and after five years of racing rings around every other Switch game on the market, it’s getting a huge dose of DLC. The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass will add tons more courses to the game, spread out in six waves through the end of 2023. Here’s what we know about the new DLC, including its initial release date, confirmed tracks, and how to buy it.

What is the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass?

The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass takes a note from the successful Fighter Passes for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, giving fans regular content drops that expand upon an already popular game. Unlike the Fighter Passes, though, this content can’t be bought a la carte. The Booster Pass is the only way to gain access to the new tracks, and it entitles you to all of the new tracks as they’re released.

The pass will add 48 tracks over the course of six content drops that will last through the end of 2023. Each wave will include eight courses, and judging by the first pass, those eight courses will be split into two cups each. The courses are remastered versions of tracks from throughout the series history, from the Super NES original to the most recent, Mario Kart Tour for mobile.

The first wave will hit on March 18, 2022. Release dates for the remaining waves has not been detailed.

How much does the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass cost?

There are various options to purchase the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass. Purchasing the Booster Pass by itself is $25, which will grant you access to all the tracks as they’re released. But that’s not your only option.

The Booster Pass is also included with the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. That costs $50 per year, and also gets you other Switch Online benefits. It comes with all of the usual Switch Online perks like online play, NES and SNES games, and exclusive games like Tetris 99. The Expansion Pack adds extra perks like N64 and Genesis games, along with the Animal Crossing Happy Home Paradise DLC.

The most expensive option is the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack family plan, which costs $80 per year. That gets you all of the Expansion Pack perks listed above, and the ability to share those perks with your entire family group (up to 8 people).

What does the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass include?

The booster pass includes all 48 remastered tracks, to be released in six waves of eight tracks each. Nintendo has not announced all of the tracks coming–again, similar to the mystery roll-out of Smash Bros. Fighter Passes–but we know it will be a mixture of tracks from throughout the series history. That includes all seven previous console Mario Kart games, along with Mario Kart Tour on mobile. That’s a lot of tracks to choose from.

The original Mario Kart 8 Deluxe release includes 48 tracks–32 regular tracks and another 16 that were added as DLC when the game released on the Nintendo Wii U. MK8 Deluxe includes all of those DLC extras from the start. That means that once all of the Booster Pass tracks are released, MK8 will have effectively doubled in size, from 48 tracks to 96.

So far, we only know the first wave tracks, which you can find below. Mario Kart Tour is the most heavily represented, with three tracks out of eight represented. The rest of the selection runs the gamut with N64, Wii, GBA, DS, and 3DS all represented with one track each.

Wave 1

Golden Dash CupParadise Promenade (Tour)Toad Circuit (3DS)Choco Mountain (N64)Coconut Mall (Wii)Lucky Cat CupTokyo Blur (Tour)Shroom Ridge (DS)Sky Garden (GBA)Ninja Hideaway (Tour)

Why Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

You may have wondered: why Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Why now? Those are fair questions. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a five-year-old port of a Wii U game, which itself is eight years old. It hasn’t gotten many updates since launch, and it’s had no content updates during that time.

To start, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the Nintendo Switch’s best-selling game, by a huge margin. According to Nintendo sales data, it has sold 43 million copies as of December 31, 2021. Given that the same data says that Nintendo has sold 103 million Nintendo Switch units, that’s roughly a 40% attach rate. It makes sense that Nintendo would want to capitalize on its success.

Another factor may be the success of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Fighters Pass model showed that Nintendo can sustain interest in a game with a steady drip of new content. It’s probably no coincidence that the Mario Kart’s Booster Pass follows an almost identical model, right down to a single purchase paying for months of content, before much of that content has been revealed.

Finally, Nintendo is using the Booster Pass to enhance the value of its Nintendo Switch + Expansion Pack offerings. The tier of service is notably pricier than its standard online service, and Nintendo appears to be dropping DLC for its popular games as an extra bonus. It started this trend by including a DLC expansion for Animal Crossing: New Horizons–notably its second-best-seller–and Mario Kart continues that trend. We may ultimately see other games get their own content included in the Expansion Pack on a semi-regular basis.

The first wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass content hits on March 18.

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Starfield Devs Discuss New RPG Elements, Persuasion System, And Questioning Nature Of Existence

Bethesda Game Studios is launching its next big game, Starfield, this November. Ahead of that, the developer is teasing out news about the sci-fi RPG in its “Into the Starfield” series, and the latest episode is out now. Titled “Made For Wanderers,” this episode features game director Todd Howard, design director Emil Pagliarula, lead quest designer Will Shen, and art director Istvan Pely talking about how Starfield will try to “take on the next evolution of RPGs.”

More specifically, the developers talk about how Starfield gives players “the freedom to create their own journey through the cosmos.”

Howard says in the video that Starfield will offer players the ability to see and learn more about the “backgrounds, the traits, the ‘defining your character,’ all of those stats.”

“I think there are so many games that do those things that people are ready for something that does a lot of the things that older, hardcore RPGs–some of the things we used to do–doing those again in a new way,” he added.

Pely says in the video that the technology assets in Starfield are “severely leveled up.” It features face and body scanning based on real-world models similar to how the game uses photogrammetry for its landscapes. “It’s not just the appearance of your player and all that. We want all the personal interactions with NPCs and other characters in the game to be as impactful as possible, and for that you have to believe these are real people,” Pely said.

Also in the video, Howard said Bethesda’s games are known for how storytelling opportunities pop up for players beyond what Bethesda designed and intended itself, and the studio is leaning into this with Starfield. “It seems like no matter what story we write, the one the players tell themselves is the one they think about and love the most,” Howard said.

With Starfield, Bethesda really “leaned into” how the game’s companion characters feel about your character. The game will also have an Oblivion-like conversation persuasion system where players will have to weigh the risks of what they say to other characters to get the ideal outcome. “We didn’t want it to be a system where there was definitely the right thing to say,” Shen said.

Starfield is a game about the cosmos, in some respects, and Howard said he hopes players come away with grand questions about the nature of their place in the universe: “At the end of it, we want the players to have told their own journey, but then look back at it and… we’re asking the big questions. Why are we all here? Where is it leading? And what’s next for humanity?”

Additional episode of Into the Starfield will be released in the coming months.

Starfield is slated for release on November 11, 2022 for Xbox Series X|S and PC. It’ll be available day one on Xbox Game Pass, just like all first-party Microsoft games.

After Starfield, Bethesda Game Studios will launch The Elder Scrolls VI at some point further into the future. No release date has been announced, nor have we seen any gameplay so far.

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Returnal: Ascension Gameplay Reveals The Endless Tower Of Sisyphus Mode

New footage for Returnal’s upcoming Ascension expansion has been released online, showcasing the game’s endless tower mode. Described as an ascending gauntlet of increasingly dangerous phases, the Tower of Sisyphus will have its own story components and unique reactions from protagonist Selene depending on how far you are in your own Returnal campaign.

“We wanted to take the strongest elements of Returnal’s combat and distill them into a very focused package full of intense action,” Returnal game director Harry Krueger explained in the video. “Similar to a lot of the endless modes that we have made in the past, the tower of Sisyphus also tracks your progress from room to room and phase to phase. There’s also a score that will measure your success in each round, and in order to get the best possible score you’ll have a multiplier that you need to keep alive as well. We felt that this is a great way to add some depth and replayability to Returnal. A familiar package with an entirely new twist.”

Ascension also includes a campaign co-op mode that allows you to “share your entire journey through the shifting labyrinth of Atropos” with another player. It’ll be available for free on March 23 for all Returnal players.

After releasing Returnal in 2021, developer Housemarque was acquired by PlayStation. The studio is already working on its next game, although this project is still in its infancy. With the security of the PlayStation acquisition, Krueger added at the time that the deal gives the company “a clear future and a stable opportunity to continue delivering on gameplay-centric approaches” as it creates more experimental video game titles.

In case you missed it when it first came out, Returnal earned positive reviews for its blend of challenging bullet hell action, third-person exploration, and roguelike elements.

In our Returnal review, Mike Epstein wrote, “Do you need to be a little brave to play Returnal? Yeah. Do you need to be glutton for punishment? It helps. They say that anything worth doing should scare you at least a little bit. I’m not sure if that’s always true, but Returnal makes a strong case.”

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Bungie Offers Destiny 2 Players Free Emblem To Show Support For Ukraine

In the midst of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, Bungie has released a brand-new Destiny 2 emblem to show its support of Ukraine.

Last month, the developer shared how it intends to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine, announcing that it will be dedicating the entirety of its proceeds from the first 48 hours of its recent Game2Give charity drive to humanitarian efforts. $120,000 was raised, and Bungie promised it will continue to match its own employee donations to any US-based charitable organisations, including Direct Relief and International Rescue Committee.

Additionally, Bungie confirmed that the “Cоняшник” emblem, which was previously shared on March 9 in a separate blog post, is available now to redeem. Players can now input the code “JVG-VNT-GGG” in order to claim their free Destiny 2 item and show support for Ukraine.

“For ‘Cоняшник,’ we humbly tried to exemplify the hope and courage that has been so emblematic of the Ukrainian people during this impossible time,” Bungie said when describing the emblem. “Alongside Ukraine’s coat of arms, impressionistic sunflowers, Ukraine’s national flower, populate the peaceful countryside–a metaphor for hope and our way of expressing solidarity.”

Bungie previously announced that it would be also be suspending the sale of Destiny 2 in Russia and Belarus, and although players in both regions are still able to play any content they have already purchased, they are unable to purchase new content or Silver.

As the Russian invasion escalates, more tech companies and developers have announced how they are seeking to help Ukraine. Most recently, Sony announced it would be suspending all PlayStation game sales and hardware shipments to Russia, including the recently released Gran Turismo 7.

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