News and Reviews

There seems to be at least a couple of people at Ubisoft still working on Beyond Good & Evil 2, in amongst its Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed remakes. A new job listing for a Technical Sound Designer was posted online by the French publisher within the last 24 hours, and the position is tied directly to the long-in-development project. Part of the Montpellier team, the successful applicant will "provide technical solutions for integrating and implementing audio systems to ensure that the audio assets created by the team work as intended, in line with the Audio Director’s vision". Whoever gets the job will begin work on Beyond Good & Evil 2 "as soon as possi…

Bafflingly buried within the questions and answers section of SEGA's Japanese website, the publisher finally confirms that Yakuza Kiwami 2 will run at 60 frames-per-second on PS5. The fantastic remake is being re-released for Sony's current-gen system on the 8th December, and it'll be a free upgrade for those who already own the PS4 version digitally. However, up until now, we've had no mention of any technical improvements, leading fans to question the point of even having a PS5 version to begin with. But 60fps performance is exactly what Kiwami 2 needs. The game's locked at 30fps on PS4, and it never received any kind of performance-boosting patch for PS5 when played vi…

Developer Grasshopper Manufacture has announced its third ever Grasshopper Direct, this time with a focus on its upcoming madcap action game, Romeo Is a Dead Man. Announced during a State of Play earlier this year, Romeo Is a Dead Man is a hyper-violent action title we've not seen a huge amount of yet, but our next glimpse at the game is coming very soon. On 5th December, the next Grasshopper Direct will go live on the studio's YouTube channel at 10am JST (that's 1am GMT, 2am CET; Thursday 4th December, 5pm PST, 8pm EST). "Among brand-new updates to pour over, next week’s Grasshopper Direct will showcase more of the studio’s upcoming, absolutely crazy, sci-fi action game,…

SEGA has confirmed that those who own Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, or Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS4 can take advantage of discounted upgrade paths when buying the new versions on PS5. All three PS5 re-releases are due to launch on the 8th December, but there is a catch in that these upgrade paths only apply to the digital versions of the PS4 games — and any games claimed through PS Plus subscriptions unfortunately don't count either. Here's a quick summary of the upgrade pricing, which differs between games: Yakuza 0 (PS4) upgraded to Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (PS5) - $14.99 / £11.99 / €14.99 Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) upgraded to Yakuza Kiwami (PS5) - $1.99 / £1.70 / €1.99 Yakuza Kiwami 2 (…

A few years ago, around the same time that Xbox's Activision deal was going through, Embracer Group went on a bit of a spending spree of its own, scooping up loads of studios from Square Enix and more. Major downsizing has happened since though, as Embracer struggled to handle so many different teams - and now two more studios have been sold off. Announced in a press release today, Arc Games (the publisher behind the Remnant series) and Cryptic Studios (the developer of Neverwinter and Star Trek Online) have been divested in the latest Embracer restructure. Embracer Group will retain the rights to Remnant, which will be published by spin-off organization THQ Nordic in fut…

An intriguing leak has cropped up on the Tomb Raider subreddit this week that hints at some major DLC coming to 2024's Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered in the near future. A set of Steam achievements have leaked for the Apsyr collection that are all tagged with the heading 'TRX:CR'. The achievements themselves talk about levels, time limits and gameplay modifiers - and some folks in the Reddit thread are speculating that 'CR' could stand for Challenge Run here; some kind of potential bonus mode for Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered? The development teams at Aspyr and Crystal Dynamic haven't officially announced this update/DLC yet, but these leaked achievements certainly suggest it ex…

Destiny leaks account Colony Deaks has today shared information on Destiny 3, which is apparently in "extremely early development" right now over at developer Bungie. The leaker profile, which typically shares datamined Destiny leaks amongst other bits and pieces about the franchise, says that it's been "sitting on the info for a few weeks now" - and has decided to share it following other reports on the game. It adds that it "plans to share more info in the coming months" once the project "takes shape" at Bungie. Now, we must admit that we're not super well versed in the Destiny leaking scene, and we're absolutely taking this as a vague rumour right now. Bungie hasn't co…

When we first caught wind of Beyond Good and Evil 2 back in May 2008(!), we have to say, even then, we wondered if the stellar original wasn't already getting a little old in the tooth to command a sequel. It's never too late, of course, but would the interest be there? That was just five years after Beyond Good and Evil first launched on GameCube, and unbelievably, following that initial announcement, the sequel then disappeared until 2017, when it showed up at E3 rocking a fancy pants trailer. Of course, we've heard nothing good about it since then, really, with a troubled development that's seen a new creative director replace OG Michael Ancel, amongst other issues. Bu…

Update [Wed 26th Nov 2025, 5:30am]: After launching on PC earlier this month, Team Cherry has today confirmed that the fourth Hollow Knight: Silksong patch is now "live on all platforms". Bumping things up to the catchily-titled Ver. 1.0.28891, the big addition in this one is the implementation of a new Simplified Chinese translation by Team Cart Fix, but there has been a general bug-fix pass applied too. You'll find everything included in the full patch notes, which we listed in our original post below. Original Story: Team Cherry has announced a new update for Hollow Knight: Silksong, and while it's already available for Steam users, it's been submitted for approval on …

If you've been looking for a new PC-98 title from the past to get stuck into and have an affinity for strategy games, then you're in luck. "BNK" has just released a new translation patch for the space adventure game Progenitor, allowing players to experience Koei's Japanese-exclusive game in English for the very first time (h/t: GameVecanti!). Released in 1994, Progenitor is the 7th in Koei's line of Rekoeition games, which was a general term used to describe games that blended tactical simulation and role-playing game elements. As a result, it features some similarities to earlier Koei titles, including Uncharted Waters (otherwise known in Japan as Age of Exploration), w…

Final Fantasy arguably has the edge over Dragon Quest when it comes to global fame, so much so that it's easy to forget that Yuji Horii's series came out before Hironobu Sakaguchi's. The early rivalry between the two franchises was quite heated in Japan, but, as Horii tells Game Informer, he never saw Final Fantasy as "competition," even if it was on his radar as a designer. He adds: Despite this difference, Horii reveals he's a fan of the series – and even lists his personal favourite in the lineage. "I do like Final Fantasy, though. When I first saw Final Fantasy X, I recall feeling this was the ultimate perfection of Final Fantasy." Ironically, both franchises are no…

When we reviewed the excellent Analogue 3D recently, one negative we picked up on was the fact that flash cart compatibility was inconsistent. Some Analogue 3D owners have reported that older flash carts work fine, while others have said that more recent examples, like the EverDrive X5 and X7, do not. From my testing, my X7 certainly didn't work with the FPGA console. Thankfully, EverDrive creator Krikzz has released a new firmware – OS-V3.09 – for X5 and X7, which solves this issue (thanks, ReCollect64). The catch is that you'll need an original N64 console to deploy the update on your EverDrive, as you'll need to install a new bootloader. This will only impact cartridge…

If you happen to love the Resident Evil series, then we have some interesting news to share with you. A new documentary on the original survival horror classic is set to air in Japan later this month, featuring new interviews with key members of its development staff, including the director Shinji Mikami, the producer Tokuro Fujiwara, and its system planner Hideki Kamiya, alongside others. Legendary Games Chronicle: Biohazard, according to Famitsu (via Genki_JPN), is set to air on NHK BS4K on November 29th, 2025, and will also be rebroadcast on the regular NHK BS on December 6th. It will cover various topics related to the game, from the threat of cancellation to technica…

Korean dev Shift Up already has an existing relationship with Tencent subsidiary Level Infinite on saucy smartphone shooter NIKKE: Goddess of Victory, so it’s perhaps not a surprise to see the company step in to publish its next title, Project Spirits. The game – developed using Unreal Engine 5 – will launch across PC, mobile, and console, with no specific platforms announced just yet. (Although, we think you can safely assume PS5 will be in the mix.) In addition to the publishing relationship, Tencent affiliate Yongxing Interactive will assist with development. It’s a studio made up of veterans from across various entertainment industries, including anime, comics, and ga…

Sony will publish Death Stranding 2: On the Beach for PC in the relatively near future, if an ESRB rating is to be believed. The original game was ported to other platforms by 505 Games, but this preceded the platform holder’s strategy of bringing more first-party titles to storefronts such as Steam. It took roughly eight months for the original adventure to make its way to PC, but we’d expect around six months of console exclusivity here. With the PS5 version launching on 26th June, we wouldn’t be surprised if the PC edition was out by Christmas, with an announcement possible at The Game Awards next month, where the title’s nominated for Game of the Year. It’s worth reme…

SEGA has confirmed that those who own Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, or Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PS4 can take advantage of discounted upgrade paths when buying the new versions on PS5. All three PS5 re-releases are due to launch on the 8th December, but there is a catch in that these upgrade paths only apply to the digital versions of the PS4 games — and any games claimed through PS Plus subscriptions unfortunately don't count either. At the time of writing, SEGA has only detailed the upgrade pricing in the US, which differs between the three games. Here's a quick summary: Yakuza 0 (PS4) upgraded to Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (PS5) - $14.99 Yakuza Kiwami (PS4) upgraded to Yakuza Kiwami …

Capcom recently prompted a backlash from fighting game fans when it revealed plans to place its official Street Fighter 6 finals behind a paywall — but fresh comments from Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada perhaps shed a little light on why the publisher's going down that road. The answer is money, obviously, but in an interview with The Game Business, Harada is quick to explain that pro tournaments simply don't make money for the fighting games that they're built around. "Lots of big companies are coming in and putting money into advertisements for these events, and a lot of influencers are making big money off of their streams," he says. "But the revenue for our games doesn'…

If you've been wondering what's next for the Switch Online's 'Nintendo Classics' service, the November update is now available. This latest update includes NES and Game Boy titles, with a total of four more games added to the service today. On the NES, there's Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos and Battletoads, and on the Game Boy, retro enthusiasts can look forward to Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters and Bionic Commando. Switch Online's Nintendo Classics service for Japan has received the same four titles in this week's update. To access these titles, you'll need to have an active base-tier Switch Online subscription. This update for the Nintendo Classics library …

Alongside the return of multiple retro games today, Nintendo has rolled out a new update for the Game Boy app on the Switch and Switch 2, bumping it up to Version 3.0.0. Apart from the release of Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters and Bionic Commando, this major update also comes with some cool new easter eggs. If you missed the boot screen of the Game Boy era featuring the 'Nintendo' logo (or 'Game Boy' one) and iconic sound, the good news is it's back! It works the same as it does on the GBA. Once you've installed the update, boot up the app and hold the left analogue stick, and you'll see the original Game Boy start screen appear. What's also neat is it's different depe…

It's taken some time to get to this point, but Nintendo finally seems to be getting underway with its Metroid Prime 4: Beyond marketing campaign. So far, we've got commercials and in-store demos, and now Nintendo's Canadian branch has announced it will be hosting a special event next week on 3rd December 2025, allowing fans to watch a "brave band" of "top streamers" explore planet Viewros as the renowned bounty hunter Samus Aran. These will be two sponsored streams featuring @tetraninja and @JeuSerieux. Here's a rundown about both channels: This news follows Nintendo's recent rollout of demos at select in-store kiosks across North America. Nintendo has also revealed some…

Super Mario 64 might be one of the most popular speedrun games of all time, and it's still absolutely huge. You'd think runners would know absolutely everything about this almost-30-year-old game, but recently, a brand new trick was discovered that will potentially change the nature of speedruns, particularly the 1 Star Speedrun, forever. Bubzia, a speedrunner who specialises in blindfolded speedruns, has documented the discovery of this new technique that has essentially wiped out one of the most famous skips in the game, the side backwards long jump (SBLJ, as it's more commonly known), which is used to skip the 30-star door in the basement of Peach's Castle. It's incred…

Rockstar Games have released a fairly rare improvement-heavy update to their launcher. The Rockstar Games Launcher is not everyone’s best friend but the new update published late on Tuesday should hopefully reduce friction between players and the application. This update comes a few months after a couple new features were added in the past few months. Those updates included the ability to choose which launcher to launch Rockstar titles from within the RGL. Discord Rich Presence and quicker access to settings and more. Patch NotesAs spotted by community member Tex2 (yes, he has renamed from Tez2), the patch notes for Rockstar Games Launcher Update 1.0.105.2705 was posted t…

Rockstar Games‘ FiveM just gained another close collaboration as the platform expands to GTA V Enhanced. Last week, the team behind FiveM, Cfx.re, released an asset conversion application for GTA V and FiveM. Titled Alchemist, the conversion tool for FiveM lets asset creators easily port over last gen content to the enhanced version of GTA V. Soon after, a new announcement was made. On Monday, Cfx.re Tweeted that they are joining forces with the Blender add-on called Sollumz. This move will offer another easy option for content creators to convert their GTA V Legacy assets to GTA V Enhanced. For those unaware, Sollumz’s purpose is a way to import, export, and create GTAV …

Remember Splitgate 2? This free-to-play multiplayer shooter arrived back in the summer, but following heavy criticism, developer 1047 Games took it back to a beta phase. Well, after many months of work, it seems the game is almost ready to come back. The studio has confirmed that the beta phase will finish on 4th December, and will make its proper relaunch later in the month. During Splitgate 2's time back in beta, the developer has made some pretty significant changes to the game in response to the negative feedback from the initial release. For example, the game has totally ditched factions, and the faction-based abilities have been reimagined as power-ups. More "roundl…

Helldivers 2 has announced the next premium Warbond coming to the game, and it looks purpose-built for destroying bugs. The Python Commandos Warbond is set to arrive on 2nd December 2025. Here's the trailer to give you an idea of what to expect: Players can look forward to several new weapons and stratagems, including a minigun, a drone equipped with a flamethrower, a powerful chainsaw, and an assault rifle/grenade launcher combo. As well as all that, the Warbond includes new cosmetics, with two new armour sets, capes, patterns, emotes, and so on. It's bringing big 80s action movie energy, with the jungle feel bringing Predator to mind. There's a little more info on the …