Archived News:

Thursday, Jan 26, 2023 Australia Day

Dread Templar Official Release

Early Access has concluded for Dread Templar, and this retro first-person shooter is now officially available for Windows on GOG.com*, the Epic Games Store, and Steam, with each offering a 15% launch discount. This calls on you to party like it's 1999, which is shown off to great effect in the Full Launch Trailer. Here's word:
Made by a solo developer over the course of three years, Dread Templar effortlessly evokes classic shooters of the 90s, but with a modern twist and gameplay depth on par with contemporary FPS titles.

Players will embark upon a quest for bloody vengeance, blasting their way through hordes of diverse demonic enemies across multiple, distinct, unique campaign environments - from the dark realm of hell to frozen pirate ships - all brought to life by a detailed, retro, pixel-art visuals, supercharged by a head-banging original soundtrack.

A vast and varied arsenal of badass weapons and powers are on hand to aid players as they become the scariest thing in hell. Experimentation is encouraged, with over 100 different upgrades available to unlock - all of which can be endlessly combined to offer widely different and personally tailored playstyles.
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item. Continue here to read the full story.

For Honor New Hero and Free Trial Next Week

Ubisoft unveils Afeera, a new For Honor hero that will join the melee action game on February 2nd. The announcement comes with details about Year 7, which will feature four seasons and battle passes. Last, but not least is the news that the game will be free for everyone to try for a week from February 2-9. Here's the Afeera Hero Reveal Trailer, and here's more:
For Honor's newest Hero, the Afeera, arrives in Heathmoor on February 2. Announced during today's Warrior's Den livestream, the Afeera hail from Arabia and will be the third Outlander Hero type in For Honor, wielding a Mace and Shield in battle. The Afeera are trained to be precise and quick in their attacks, and are capable of acrobatic feats. As Outlanders, the Afeera hold no allegiance to any faction on Heathmoor; they have come to stop the Black Priors and repair the Celestial Sphere that Commander Ravier destroyed at the start of Year 6 Season 4.

The Warrior's Den also announced Year 7, which will feature four seasons, four Battle Passes, four new Hero skins, and two new Heroes. Additionally, you can play For Honor's Standard Edition for free from February 2-9 on Xbox, PlayStation, and Ubisoft Connect, and players who purchase the game after the free week will be able to carry over their progression. Plus, all players who log in from February 9-16 will be awarded an Elite Outfit in celebration of For Honor's sixth anniversary.
Continue here to read the full story.

The Day Before Delay Follow-up

IGN has a statement from Fntastic co-founders Eduard and Aisen Gotovtsev responding to the furor over the news that The Day Before is being delayed again. The pair explain delaying the release was in the cards before news of a trademark dispute over the title. They also express indignation at the suggestion that the project is a scam or is somehow not what it is purported to be:
"We understand that some players, not seeing the whole picture, might have doubts about the game. Our whole focus has always been on the product itself. We’ve been creating the game for four years. All these years have been full of sweat and blood to make this game, and for many members of our team, it is unpleasant to hear such accusations.

"We didn't take a penny from people: no crowdfunding, no pre-orders, no donations. The game is fully funded by Mytona, one of the largest mobile publishers in the world, who checked the game's build at every milestone per our contract.

"We made a real inner breakthrough when we decided to go for big challenges from the bottom—so big that some people would consider them impossible.

Oddballers Released

Duck! Ubisoft has launched Oddballers, a new party game based on the sometimes lighthearted, sometimes soul-crushing sport of dodgeball. This page has all the details on how to pick this up for all platforms, along with a cornpone-heavy Launch Trailer. Here's more on this chance to get in touch with your inner Patches O'Houlihan to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge your way to victory:
A dodgeball-inspired party game, OddBallers only has one rule: anything you can pick up, you can throw, from dodgeballs to turnips. Throw, dash, block, and push your way to victory in a variety of minigames, ranging from free-for-alls to team battles to boss fights. Each match consists of a random rotation of minigames, and the first player to get enough medals to earn a match point will win. However, beware mutator vote, which randomly pops up between rounds and allows you to choose a mutator that will add to or change the rules of the next game. Some of the mutators include disabling the ability to catch, awarding bonus points for eliminations, reducing hits a player can take to one, and many more.
Continue here to read the full story.

Hello Engineer Demo

A playable demo is now available on Steam for Hello Engineer, the multiplayer engineering game set in the Hello Neighbor universe. This post has the news along with a new trailer. In Hello Engineer, players are tasked with MacGyvering their way out of an amusement park, something many stranded Disneyworld visitors have had to accomplish over the years. Here's more:
In order to escape you will need to build incredible (sometimes even weird) constructions made of suspicious scrap, and challenge the creepy Neighbor and his minions. Sharpen up on the basics & learn game mechanics, put together different machines to overcome the Neighbor’s challenges, and experience the beginning of a multi-act campaign.

Scavenge, craft, create new vehicles with almost unlimited resources in a sandbox mode. You will find the variety of details scattered around the Amusement Park such as wooden planks, metal pipes, scrawny wheels, and even dynamite to invent ingenious constructions that will help you to conquer the landscape and find the best route to thard-to-reach places. Don’t forget to invite the rest of the Neighborhood Rescue Squad to have even more fun!
Continue here to read the full story.

Cook Serve Forever Demo

Vertigo Gaming offers a playable demo for Cook Serve Forever, the cooking adventure where players will attempt to climb the coveted ranks of celebrity chefdom. The full game is coming for Windows in April, but the demo is available as an amuse-bouche right now on Steam. Here's a trailer (a widescreen clip that's letterboxed into vertical format, now we've seen everything) and here's more:
Cook Serve Forever is a cooking adventure game where you play as Nori Kaga, a home-taught chef with nothing to her name but a food cart and a dream to make it big like her role model, the Culinary Queen, Chef Rhubarb. Chop, stir, and sauté your way through the bustling solarpunk city of Helianthus. Manage your menu, learn delicious recipes, and meet a diverse cast of friends and foes on your way to culinary greatness.

The dramatic fully-voiced story stars Elspeth Eastman (League of Legends), Maya Aoki Tuttle (Destiny 2), Emme Montgomery (Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!), Broden Kelly (Aunty Donna), SungWon Cho (God of War: Ragnarök, Boyfriend Dungeon), Jennifer Roberts (Triangle Strategy) and more!

Marvel's Midnight Suns: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead Released

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead is now available on the Epic Games Store and Steam, offering new DLC for the Windows edition of Marvel's Midnight Suns, the superhero strategy/RPG. In addition to three new missions, the add-on also brings Deadpool to the game, so get ready for some heavy fourth wall repair bills. This post discusses the news and includes a DLC Trailer showing what to expect using finger puppets. Word is, just like in the MCU, Deadpool's story basically stands alone:
This DLC also introduces new story missions in which the Hunter comes to Deadpool's aid after he fails to liberate a powerful artifact from Red Skull's private collection and runs afoul of Hydra forces as well as some particularly bloodthirsty vampyres. To access Deadpool's story missions you must first complete the "Spidermaaaans" story mission and see Spider-Man unmasked in the Abbey during the base game's first act.

Deadpool's storyline is separate from the events of the main game, but new story missions are available after completing the “Spidermaaaans” mission and Spider-Man unmasks in the Abbey during Act One. Once you beat the new "A Man of Culture" mission and he joins the Midnight Suns, you're free to include him when assembling a team for any mission. You can also customize Deadpool's appearance with options including 3 additional Hero Skins, 7 Abbey Outfits, and 3 Swimsuits.
Continue here to read the full story.

Evening Mobilization

Into the Black

Last Link of the Day: The best use for AI eye contact tech is making movie stars look straight at the camera. I started laughing just imagining this, and it did not disappoint. Turns everything into The Office/Abbott Elementary.

Get Adios and Hell is Others for Free

This week's giveaways are available on the Epic Games Store, where everyone is now entitled to snag free copies of first-person adventure Adios and/or top-down shooter Hell is Others for Windows. This process has been on repeat for a while, so you may be prepared for the conditions. Either or both is for keeps as long as you collect before next Thursday at 11:00 am EST, when Gamer Claus arrives with a new satchel of goodies. These will be management game City of Gangsters and FPS spin-off Dishonored: Death of the Outsider. Back to the present, here's what you need to know about today's freebies:
Adios is a cinematic first-person game about sticking to a complicated decision.
You're a pig farmer in Kansas. It's October. Cold, crisp mornings are the norm, and you have decided that you're no longer okay with letting the mob use your pigs to dispose of bodies. When your old friend - a hitman - arrives with his assistant to deliver another body, you finally screw up the courage to tell them that you're done.

A unique, multiplayer online extraction game, Hell is Others allows you to progress your character by way of customizable items you obtain for your apartment. Grow your own ammunition via blood-thirsty plants, explore the noir urban setting, confront The Others, and do your best to live to see another day… A day which never seems to come. Stalking the same pathways you do are monsters that feel familiar to Adam, close yet so distant, maybe The Others are just like you. As fast as predator can become prey, make sure you’re using all of Adams’s senses to stay on top of the food chain. The Others not only want your blood, but to strip away all the precious items you’ve collected for their own purposes.

HITMAN World of Assassination Launches

New January Patch Notes on Steam News have details on the new version 3.140 update that's now available for HITMAN 3 on Steam. This marks the launch of the promised new overarching HITMAN World of Assassination branding for IO Interactive's murder-for-hire series. For Windows gamers, there's a HITMAN World of Assassination bundle on the Epic Games Store and Steam with a 45% discount. There's also a HITMAN World of Assassination Deluxe Pack on the Epic Games Store and Steam with premium content for HITMAN 3 or HITMAN World of Assassination. The complete patch notes outline what's new, as shown off in the Launch Trailer. Here's word on the biggest change this all brings, the finale to Year 2, HITMAN: Freelancer:
HITMAN: Freelancer adds some new types of gameplay into the normal gameplay recipe of the main game.

An important example of this is what we call “strategic planning”.

Where the main game can be described as the VIP version of being an assassin, where the player has an organization that finds the targets and supplies both detailed briefings as well as gear, Agent 47 has a lot of the hard work taken care of for him.
Continue here to read the full story.

FTC Files EU Lawsuit Over Microsoft/Activision Deal

Bloomberg (may require registration or subscription) reports that the US Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit to prevent the EU from reaching a settlement with Microsoft over its contentious $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. VGC offers relief from Bloomberg's inexplicably hard paywall with some details from the story:
Those close to the transaction told Bloomberg that the FTC wasn’t expected to act until the spring, and that usually in these situations it would wait until closer to a deadline to try and figure out settlement terms that would be considered globally acceptable.

However, as Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP’s antitrust head Barry Nigro told Bloomberg, the FTC’s speedy lawsuit appears to be an attempt to “get out in front of the Europeans in an effort to shape the narrative”.

In its official statement following the filing of the suit in December, the FTC alleged that the deal would not only give Microsoft an upper hand in the console market, but also in other areas such as subscription gaming and cloud gaming.

Dead Space Remake Reviews

EA Motive's remake of the original Dead Space is due tomorrow, which will give players the chance to relive the space-based horror of this sci-fi action/adventure. The embargo for the game is now up, so here's a roundup of evaluations to see if this will live up to expectations:

GRUNND Out

GRUNND is now available on GOG.com* and Steam, offering a narrative point-and-click adventure from SEKTAHOUSE. This sci-fi game is described as "surreal," a quality that's on display in this new trailer. Here's more on GRUNND and its emphasis on story and exploration over puzzles:
In this bizarre and captivating adventure, inspired by the works of David Lynch and Franz Kafka, you decide how the dialogue progresses throughout the game to unravel the mystery. As much as GRUNND is about its characters, it’s about the protagonist’s introspective journey.

"I'm excited to see how my approach with less focus on puzzles and more on exploration and experiencing the story will be received, and how the players like the world I've created for them." Said Olafs Osh, the developer and director of SEKTAHOUSE.

In GRUNND you find yourself having overslept on the train ride home from work; In a panic, you jump off at the next station and find yourself in Bytown, a seemingly ordinary town just before the sundown. As it happens, you soon find out that the last train back to civilization has just left and you have no other choice but to explore the surroundings.
*Blue's News may receive a commission on sales of this item. Continue here to read the full story.

V Rising Sales Continue to Rise

V Rising continues to sell well on Steam since launching into Early Access last May. Stunlock Studios now announces the vampire survival game has sold another million copies since it announced reaching two million sales by June:
Swedish game developer Stunlock Studios have announced today that V Rising, the open-world vampire survival game, continues to reach new heights as it hits the 3 Million sales milestone since its launch on Early Access! Players are flocking to the continent of Vardoran to get their gory thrills as they engage in the combat, world building and atmosphere of one of the most immersive vampiric experiences around. V Rising is currently sitting pretty with over 88% positive reviews from the 51,000+ available. Get your copy now on Steam!

“We’re delighted by the community’s response to V Rising and we are working hard to give back as much as possible. Their feedback and engagement has been invaluable, providing us with everything we need to continue improving and making sure we deliver on the expectations for our upcoming expansion of the game. We can’t wait for everyone to experience V Rising in all its glory.” said Rickard Frisegård, CEO of Stunlock Studios.

Wantless Demo

Turn-based RPG Wantless is one of the many games participating in the Steam Next Fest February 2023 Edition, which gets underway a week from Monday on February 6th. But publisher Twin Sails Interactive and developer Drop Rate Studio are getting ahead of the curve, and a playable Windows demo for the game is now available on Steam, avoiding having to compete with hundreds of other demos for your attention. Wantless is expected to enter Early Access later this year. This post has details on the demo and hints on how to succeed for new players. Here's a new trailer and more details:
In Wantless, you play as Eiris, one of the last remaining Transposers - doctors who can delve into their patients' tortured minds to alleviate their torments, erase memories, or even consciousness itself.

Confront horrors made manifest, woes and sinister thoughts in this fast-paced and challenging Tactical RPG. Forge your skills, shape your build and engage in ruthless combat as you sail through a ghost metropolis and explore your patient stories in a series of runs.

You start your turn with 8 Action points but using one will also give it to each enemy. The more you act and the more your opponents will react! Thankfully, eliminating your foes also grants you action points, allowing for potentially devastating turns for you…or against you.
Continue here to read the full story.

Power Chord Rocks Out

Crank some old Kinks and BTO records to get in the groove for Power Chord, a rocking roguelike deckbuilder for Windows from Big Blue Bubble that's now available on Steam. This involves reclaiming dive bars from demonic forces (presumably to turn them into TGI Fridays) through the power of your card deck and your speaker stack. Here's the Launch Trailer with a look. Word is the game's release will be quickly complemented by the release of free musician DLC beginning next month:
Power Chord, the heavy metal roguelike deck builder from Big Blue Bubble, kicks off the tour on PC via Steam today with the final show scheduled for Nintendo Switch in the future. Four free post-launch DLC musicians will help shred through an encore setlist, with two of the rockstars taking the stage as early as next month.

Take back a beloved local dive bar from Helmoth’s heavy metal demons and close the tear between our worlds by winning a twisted battle of the bands! Assemble Earth’s mightiest rockers who form the Knights of Thunder Fist and embark on a monster ass-kicking debut tour.

Plug in the aux for easy-to-learn, yet intricate, turn-based combat inspired by deckbuilding hall-of-famers. Unleash a rig of powerful cards riffing off each bandmate’s extraordinary personality- a vocalist, guitarist, drummer, and bassist - each with cards matching their musical spirits.
Continue here to read the full story.

Top Apex Legends Lobbies Get DDoS Protection

Respawn tweets that players competing for the highest ranks in Apex Legends will now benefit from DDoS protection. Word is the system is a work-in-progress, and they welcome feedback:
Predator, Master, and Diamond Playapex players, this one's for you:

We've just rolled out DDOS protection for Diamond through Predator lobbies. This will be noted by a small shield symbol next to your server.

While this is still ever-evolving, we'd love to know what you think.

Out of the Blue

It's extra fortunate that we didn't get snowed in as expected yesterday, since I've been tending to Adler and Sandra the past couple of days. I've mentioned our neighbor's fun-loving pair of yellow Labs in the past. They are service dog dropouts, and the reason they washed out is because they are just too nice and peopley to be disciplined. But while this prevents them from working as planned, it does make them a delight to visit. I'm heading over now to give them a walk, and am looking forward to coming back home covered in doggie kisses. I'm less psyched about the coating of blonde hair that comes with the deal, but that's a small price to pay.

Obituary: Lance Kerwin Dead- ‘James At 15’, ‘Salem’s Lot’ Actor Was 62.

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