News and Reviews

Earlier this week, G-Mode announced it would be reissuing another rare mobile spin-off to Atlus's 2004 tactical RPG, Stella Deus, as a G-MODE Archives+ title for Nintendo Switch and PC (thanks Gematsu!). Stella Deus: Time of Alchemy was originally released in 2007 for i-Mode compatible feature phones (mobile phones with limited functionality that predate modern smartphones). It is the follow-up to 2006's Stella Deus: The Spirit of Darkness, which G-Mode reissued back in September, and, much like its predecessor, once again focuses on a world embroiled in a bitter religious war, where a strange mist called Miasma has also begun destroying everything it comes into contact w…

The arcade market may be a shadow of its former self, but that doesn't mean its most distinguished veterans aren't still plugging away with new cabinets and titles. Sega Amusements has just revealed that it is updating its Daytona Championship USA arcade title with a new "motion" version, evoking the "taikan" ("body sensation") craze that Sega spearheaded in the '80s with games like Hang-On, Space Harrier, and After Burner. Here's what Sega Amusements has to say about the new model: As spotted by Arcade Heroes, this isn't an all-new cabinet – Sega Amusements previously used it in Apex Rebels, a racing title it co-produced with 3MindWave. Daytona Championship USA (also kn…

Yesterday, AYANEO held a special "Sharing Session" for its upcoming "premium" handheld, the AYANEO Pocket VERT, going over some of the features that will be included with the Game Boy-style device. Many of these features we'd already heard about in the past, such as the fact that it will include diamond-cut shoulder buttons, a 3.5" 1600×1440 LCD screen, and will offer "10× pixel-perfect Game Boy scaling". But there was also another surprise announcement from AYANEO's CEO, Arthur Zhang, which we can safely say we didn't expect. That announcement was that the device will actually include a large hidden dual-mode trackpad located beneath its glass front, which will be situat…

With three weeks to go until the Mega Dimension DLC drops, Pokémon Legends: Z-A has unveiled its next brand new Mega Evolution, and this time it's a Mythical Pokémon getting an upgrade. Zeraora was first introduced in Pokémon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, way back in Gen VII, and its Mega form makes a few subtle changes to its original design. Its mostly-yellow fur has turned black, and there's now a lot more blue on its knees, head, and chest. its blue tuft on its head has turned to something resembling a horn, and it has a few blue spikes across its body in general. And, lastly, it now has two ponytail-like features instead of one. It's definitely one of the lighter Mega …

If you're into cozy games with crafting, farming, and the like, but also like driving around in an open world, Dutch studio Square Glade Games has announced that Outbound is coming to Switch 2. Previously announced for the original Switch (don't worry, it's still coming to that console if you're a Switch 1 faithful), the game was a Kickstarter success back in 2024, raising a chunky €265,679 to bring Outbound to PC and consoles in Q2 2026, and that now includes Switch 2. The trailer above will give you a good idea of the gameplay blend the small team is working up, but it looks to be combining elements of open-world exploration (co-op with up to three other players if you …

Genvid CEO Jacob Navok, the former Director of Business at Square Enix, has shared his two cents' worth on the ongoing debate surrounding the use of AI in game development. While it's far from a glowing endorsement of the practice, Navok argues that most players "generally do not care" about it (thanks for the heads up, GamesRadar+). "For all the anti-AI sentiment we're seeing in various articles," Navok wrote in a recent post on X, "it appears consumers generally do not care". Alongside the successful launch of ARC Raiders, the source of Navok's argument is Steal a Brainrot, the Roblox game that racked up 30 million concurrent users ("approximately 80x the ARC Raiders co…

It was announced a little while back that the Gran Turismo series reached a whopping 100 million copies sold in total, making it comfortably one of Sony's most successful franchises. In celebration of this milestone, developer Polyphony Digital has announced a couple of things for Gran Turismo 7. The first is a major free update named Spec III, due for release in December. Additionally, a premium DLC called the Power Pack is also on the way, arriving at the same time as the update. Now, a less splashy bonus has been unveiled, but rather than rewarding existing fans, it's something only new buyers can enjoy. As announced on the game's socials, both editions of Gran Turismo…

Capcom has announced a new sales milestone for its fan favourite action RPG, Dragon's Dogma 2. As revealed on its official social channels, the cult hit sequel has now surpassed 4 million copies sold: Dragon's Dogma 2 launched in March 2024, meaning it's taken around 20 months for it to reach the milestone. The first 3 million sales were within the game's first few months. While fans are happy to celebrate the news, many responses are asking after some sort of DLC. The original Dragon's Dogma eventually received the Dark Arisen expansion, and players are hopeful that the sequel will get the same treatment. However, it's not clear that any such extra content is coming; Cap…

Today's Xbox Game Pass roundup has delivered some lovely upcoming additions - which we're very grateful to see given that the post-Black Ops 7 XGP lineup was looking a little thin. One game that's really standing out to us here is The Crew Motorfest; Ubisoft's 2023 racer set in open-world Hawaii. At the time of its release, we said that a true Forza Horizon competitor had come to market, and today, we're doubling down on that. Motorfest is a really good open world racing game, and one that's absolutely worth your time on Xbox Game Pass. If you've played any of the more recent Forza Horizon titles you'll pretty much know what to expect here. Rather than The Crew 1 & 2 …

Right now, it's a pretty good time to be a fan of shoot 'em ups! Not only did Polygon Bird's Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga-esque shooter Birdcage recently release on Steam, earning some incredible early reactions from players. But we also have a ton of other exciting indie shoot 'em ups on the horizon to look forward to, with the latest of these to be added to our own personal wishlist being the promising 2D sidescroller, AGGRESTA. The promising shoot 'em up first came to our attention earlier this week, thanks to the regular Time Extension collaborator, Ashley Day, and is an independent game from the Japanese developer named Tetsu (てつ), who has been sharing updates of th…

It appears Rockstar Games have introduced some GTA 6 assets into GTA Online before the new game has come out. That’s according to a couple of dataminers who have delved into the game’s files from the Money Fronts update. Last week, Rockstar launched a series of new mansion teaser missions called the New Listing missions. As part of it, it led dataminer Lucas7yoshi_RS to examine how the missions work. He found some interesting things such as how the pool cover at Devin’s mansion is actually a bunch of fences with tarp, which are existing assets, placed horizontally. This is a neat trick by the developers at Rockstar to avoid making a brand new asset for this one area. Anot…

Tetris Effect (by the same developer as Lumines Arise) was a breakthrough puzzle game in the way it utterly transformed how we look at action puzzle games as audiovisual experiences. It was, essentially, an interactive music video with some of the coolest, most rhythmically vibrant music. The way it inspired the fingers to dance across the controller, pulling you totally within a trance-like zone, is quite possibly the best VR experience I’ve ever had, and the non-VR version then proved to be every bit as mesmerising. Since then, there have been a few attempts to capture that same vibe, perhaps most notably a better-than-people-give-it-credit-for revival of Fantavision. I…

After all of the Pokémon Legends: Z-A: Mega Dimension DLC news earlier this month, The Pokémon Company announced that another trailer drop would be heading our way on 19th November (that’s tomorrow, if you were wondering). Well, with the day almost upon us, we’ve got some more specific details about when we can expect things to get underway. As brought to our attention by Serebii.net, tomorrow’s new trailer will debut on the official Pokémon Company YouTube channel at 2pm GMT / 9am ET / 6am PT / 3pm CET. Much like the last news drop, this announcement will only be a trailer, but we’re sure that there will be plenty of reveals in store. You’ll find the precise time that th…

EA Sports and Codemasters have been churning out yearly Formula One games for a while now, and it looks like it's time for a shake up. The publisher has announced its plans for the next couple of years of the franchise, and in a nutshell, it's skipping a new, standalone game in 2026, instead opting to overhaul the series for a big return in 2027. The 2026 season won't go completely unrepresented, however, as a paid expansion for F1 25 will be released in lieu of a full new game. "Today, EA SPORTS confirms future plans for F1 25, with the game set to represent both the 2025 and 2026 FIA Formula One World Championships," reads the update on the official website. "This news …

EA has confirmed a free trial for Battlefield 6 will go live for one week on 25th November 2025, allowing anyone access to five multiplayer modes and three maps until 2nd December. While the Battle Royale mode Redsec is free-to-play, the main game is a full-priced title. Through the free trial, you could get a taste for the action before committing to a purchase if you like what you play. In addition to the free trial, today marks the second content update for Season 1. There's another new map called Eastwood, a time-limited mode in Sabotage, and an assortment of new weapons, vehicles, and features to try. Then, over in Redsec, you have a fresh Gauntlet mission named Rode…

Some games embrace their inspirations in an obvious display of affection, which is exactly what developer Zenovia Interactive has done with Neon Inferno. This 2D run-and-gun platformer has a ton of similarities to classics such as Contra, yet manages to achieve its own identity with an interesting narrative and engaging gameplay mechanics. At first glance, the game makes a strong impression with its gorgeous, retro-inspired, cyberpunk art style. A lot of effort has been put into character design and the overall aesthetic, which carries through the entire game. Neon Inferno boasts two playable characters, Angelo and Mariana, assassins who are set on eliminating their syndi…

Demonschool is a tactical RPG that follows a demon hunter named Faye and her collected companions as members of the Black Magic Club at a poorly-ranked university on a peculiar island by the same name. The school element of Demonschool should be taken with a big grain of salt, as Faye and her group of weirdos find out for themselves after arriving on the island. They’re given an assignment each week that has little to do with education and everything to do with the mysteries of the university and the impending apocalypse. Characters can 'study' techniques to unlock equipable abilities for the squad, and there is a weekly quiz on the weekends. Outside of furthering the mai…

It's been quite the wait for Analogue's FPGA-based N64 clone. Announced all the way back in 2023, the Analogue 3D has been delayed multiple times, leading some sceptics to claim it was slowly but surely entering the realm of vapourware. However, having had a review unit for over a week now, we can confirm that the Analogue 3D is very real – and downright remarkable, too. But is it worth shelling out $250 for, especially when N64 emulation is available on Switch and there are other ways to play these games in 2025? Let's find out... Analogue 3D Review: Hardware While the Analogue 3D retains some of the design language of Nintendo's 64-bit console, it's still very much its …

Subscribers to PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium have less than a month left to revisit Liberty City, as Grand Theft Auto III – The Definitive Edition is set to leave the service on December 16. This marks the end of the title’s current six-month stint on the platform, following a pattern of rotation common for Rockstar Games titles on subscription services. A Familiar DepartureThis isn't the first time the classic open-world title has cycled out of Sony's game catalog. The game, which has been available to Extra and Premium subscribers since June, has appeared on the PlayStation Store’s "Last chance to play" section. The departure aligns with previous trends for the Def…

Switch development continues to grow, and thanks to a now properly cemented community, the emulation scene for the Switch can thrive above and beyond where both Yuzu and Ryujinx left off. The current main three Switch emulators as of right now are Citron, Eden and Ryubing, with the first two being based off Yuzu, and the later being based on Ryujinx. Over the course of several months, a lot of emulation drama has been going on behind the scenes, be it with Switch emulators popping up only to be left in the dust after some initial commits, or some ordeals involving developers disagreeing and leaving projects. All in all, and despite the hurdles that Switch emulation went…

Following Neo Geo Arcade 1 and Neo Geo Arcade 2, Blaze has returned with another collection of classic titles in the form of this third helping. While you might assume we're looking at diminishing returns here, any SNK fan will tell you that the Neo Geo's catalogue of games is positively bursting with excellent titles – and that is certainly true when you inspect the majority of what's included on this cart. The King Of Fighters '97 might be one of the earlier entries in SNK's team-based fighting franchise, but it's still a solid example of the genre. Sure, its sequel might be considered one of the best in the entire series, but '97 has all the hallmarks of a classic; I'm…

A North American arcade operator has reported over $25,000 worth of items stolen recently, sparking a heartfelt campaign to recover the missing items. Charlie Mosley, owner of the Seattle-based Gamecenter arcade, found that his truck was missing one morning last week. Contained within were two arcade machines and a selection of other components, the total worth of which is estimated to be between $25,000 and $40,000. "On Wednesday, our 26' box truck with tens of thousands of dollars in PCBs, arcade cabs, tools, and more was stolen from us," says the arcade's owner on social media. "With the help of social media, the truck was spotted and retrieved, though almost the entir…

Publisher Capcom appears to confirm that Resident Evil Requiem won't be receiving a pre-launch demo. For many of the previous games in the series, Capcom has released some form of playable demo ahead of release, allowing fans to take the latest survival horror title for a spin. Even going as far back as Resident Evil 6, the company has kept up a streak of demos for the franchise, but it seems Requiem might be breaking the combo. Speaking during an interview with Stevivor, producer Masato Kumazawa is asked whether one is coming for the next title. "So, in terms of a demo play, we actually have no plan for one [for the general public] at the stage," he says. "None at all. W…

Square Enix's excellent release Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles has received a new game update this week, bumping it up to Version 1.4.0. This update includes "various improvements" which should enhance the overall experience. There are some fixes (including addressing an issue that prevented the Akademy report "Master of All Trades" from being completed), character name fixes, adjustments, and much more. Below are the official patch notes via the game's Steam page: Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles (Version 1.4.0)Update Announcement (version 1.4.0) An update featuring various improvements is now available. The game will be updated to version 1.4…

Biped initially launched in March 2020 as a cooperative adventure title that focused on moment-to-moment teamwork between two players and racked up glowing 85% average scores across review aggregate sites. Biped 2 is the next evolution in the series and offers one to four player action, with an expanded co-op experience and 2v2 modes to boot! Interesting Mechanics, Cute StorylineHaving never played the original game, Biped 2 has a similar visual appeal to it as something like AstroBot or Tearaway, albeit with a more simplified aesthetic and more mobile-friendly-feeling controls and UI. The story goes that, having completed their mission on Earth (Biped), Aku and Sila emb…