During the CAPCOM NEXT Summer 2024 broadcast, Koshi Nakanishi, Director of Resident Evil 7, confirmed a new Resident Evil title is in development. However, specifics about the title have yet to be shared. This includes a potential release date, and what characters will appear in the upcoming installment.

Nakanishi stated that there were some challenges in deciding what to do after Resident Evil 7, but that over time he was able to find a clear vision for the next title. He hopes to be able to share more information in the future. You can see what he has to say in full through the official CAPCOM NEXT Summer 2024 broadcast at 39:00. Due to age restrictions being put on the video, it cannot be embedded into this article.

In October 2021, Capcom announced Resident Evil 7 had surpassed 10 million units sold worldwide, making it one of Capcom's best-selling titles to date. The game received a direct sequel with Resident Evil Village, which starred protagonist Ethan Winters. And in June 2024, the developer announced that this entry in the Resident Evil series would be released on Mac and iOS devices on July 2, 2024.

A new Resident Evil title is in development. More information will appear in the future.

The post New Resident Evil Title in Development, Lead by RE7 Director appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix has been coy concerning information about Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, with very little information coming out since the announcement of the remake in May 2021. However, it recently invited Siliconera to give the game a spin and see what playing this HD-2D remake of a classic Dragon Quest title would be like.

I was able to sit down and play Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake during Summer Game Fest, and I was not disappointed. Granted, I have never played Dragon Quest 3, so I'm coming at this from the perspective of a newcomer. A majority of the Dragon Quest games I did play were a part of the Monster series, and knowing that Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D will be the place to start for those unfamiliar with the series was a relief.

Chronologically, Dragon Quest 3 takes place before the first Dragon Quest game, which Square Enix stressed. It would make sense that this game would be given the HD-2D treatment, and then subsequently released on modern platforms. Players assume the role of a nameless hero who is accompanied by a small party as they set out on a quest to defeat the fiend Baramos who is intent on destroying the world.

The section of the game that I was able to play took place at the beginning, which allowed me to explore one of the starting villages and really soak in the visual changes in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of HD-2D, since a lot of the finer details of pixel sprites are often hard to see through bloom and other visual effects like blur, like in Octopath Traveler, but the game is gorgeous. There is just the right amount of detail and saturation to make the sprites pop and the bloom effect isn't overwhelming. I spent some time wandering the town and talking to NPCs, trying to buy weapons and armor I couldn't afford, and meandering for a bit before I decided to make my way to the overworld map.

Fields of green were dotted with tightly condensed trees to make up small forests, which were home to a variety of monsters, including the iconic slime. Combat takes place from a first person perspective, with the menu allocated to the upper lefthand side of the screen. The monsters are pulled forward in perspective to give the background some depth, and their designs look great in the HD-2D style. Now, the game was a bit harder than anticipated. But we were warned that Dragon Quest 3 isn't the easiest game in the franchise by far. So I more or less just spent my time battling slimes and other creatures, getting the hang of the turn-based combat system and just soaking in how pretty the game was.

It was a good enough taste of what Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will be like on release, and has me excited. The game is gorgeous and the combat is cut and dry enough that it seems approachable to newcomers. Overall, I think Square Enix made the right decision to choose this art style for the HD-2D remake and that in choosing to remake Dragon Quest 3, that this could be the perfect place for those new to the franchise to jump in.

Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake is currently in development and will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

The post Preview: Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake Is Cute and Colorful appeared first on Siliconera.

A man sits in a dark room, his flaming red hair spilling from beneath his helmet. His eyes are golden, pupils slit though bearing the same cross found throughout The Lands Between. He raises a spear, a snake twining around his arm. Messmer the Impaler, the face of FromSoftware's Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, murmurs secrets to me as he pulls back his arm and proclaims me an enemy. Leaping into the sky a ball of red flame gathers in the mouth of a serpent, and he comes crashing down nearly killing me in a single blow. But I fight back. I fight for my life as the jaws of that terrible beast come down on me again.

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree doesn't open with the same kind of dramatics I described above. That's solely saved for more cinematic boss fights. Instead you are transported to another realm beyond The Lands Between. It's a new and foreign place where Miquella the Kind discarded his flesh and Messmer's flame ravaged the world of the undying. The setup is compelling enough in its own right, pulling on narrative threads left unanswered in the base game, while still managing to weave its own set of mysteries throughout.

Improvement in performance is one of the best things to come with Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. I did not experience major framerate issues, outside of a few instances when the game would freeze, somehow still be responsive to my inputs, and then rapidly catch up a few moments later. I do want to mention that this ended up affecting my entire system and my audio card. This has only ever happened with Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. Outside of that, I did run into one other issue which was isolated to a specific area in the DLC where if I stayed in one spot for too long, I would clip through the ground and fall to my death. I cannot explain why this happened, but I replicated it several times just in case if this was a one time issue. It was not.

While the performance for the Shadow of the Erdtree was a vast improvement, I still take umbrage with dropped frames or outright freezing in a game where movement and invincibility frames mean life, death, and progression. Obviously, this has impacted my overall score, which I think is fair given what I've just outlined. Elden Ring is a far from perfect game in that regard, but it is still functional enough that I was able to enjoy myself once I conceded that the build I had carried through the base game into the DLC was simply not going to cut it.

Through the course of my first review, I used the Reduvia Blood Blade to devastating effect. It carried me through a majority of the game before I switched over to the Hoslow Petal Whips that I enchanted with Frost and Bleed. These were powerful and had a significant amount of poise damage, on top of applying a generous amount of Bleed to common enemies and bosses. I'm not sure what happened between then and now, but whatever nerf happened made me hang up my whips and forced me to pick up the Reduvia once more before I ended up respecing to more effectively use Rivers of Blood and Mohgywin's Sacred Spear interchangeably. Bleed damage is still king. With enough finesse, I was able to clear most bosses with relative ease through the use of both and my Mimic Tear Ash... when I remembered I could use it.

Boss fights in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree are challenging and sometimes feel unfair. Some feel underpowered, while others feel vastly over-tuned in terms of mobility. There were a couple of fights that I did breeze through due to the sheer amount of Bleed damage both my Mimic Tear and I did in such a short amount of time, but others with more aggressive and agile movement were frustrating. The Dancing Lion shown in trailers more or less serves as a roadblock for players with its high mobility and how it dances between lightning and frost attacks. This isn't the hardest boss however, but is more or less a sign of what you will come to expect.

That said, I felt like the Elden Ring DLC was definitely trying to funnel me into specific builds or build certain stats that I had neglected, like Vigor. Even through powering up my resistances through the use of Scadutree Fragments and Ashes, it never felt like quite enough. The add-on does expect you to be at least moderately skilled and at around level 150 if you want an easier experience. I made the mistake of going in at around level 100, which was fine. It just made the game significantly harder, at least in my opinion.

The new weapons are also interesting, as their movesets are more agile than anything I've seen in the base game. A set of claws I took off of the body of a naked man I found wandering the forest with some animal companions had me leaping and lunging. A pair of twin blades I acquired from a boss allowed me to spin elegantly across the battlefield. But in the end I resorted to using my Rivers of Blood just to get through the DLC. I will probably go back and try out other weapons I acquired just to see what they're capable of as I help my friends through Shadow of the Erdtree, or help them get to the point of starting the add-on.

NPCs are aplenty in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree. This realm between realms is populated with them, each a servant of Miquella the Kind. I had no issues completing their quests, as they seem to be complete, with progression allowing me to summon specific NPCs as companions during boss fights integral their own backstories. One of my favorites was Ansbach, a follower of the Blood God Mohg. I thought his decision to forgo worshipping Mohg was strange until I reached a specific point in the story, which began to unravel more and more of the narrative which is arguably a lot more clean cut than Elden Ring or anything from the Dark Souls series. These characters' motivations are made clear and you understand where their allegiances lie, but there are still mysteries to be found and context clues scattered in items you can find around the map. One of my favorite additions in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree is how NPCs will actually talk during certain boss fights, allowing you to glean more lore. Ansbach had a lot to say during one specific encounter, with more dialogue spoken between Ansbach and several adversaries depending on how long it took me to kill certain enemies. Or even finding a random NPC after slaying a dragon that asked me to summon him for another fight to learn even more bits of lore. These were neat little touches.

Summoning them does have a downside, as they will affect how much health a boss has by specific increments. But I more or less bit the bullet and summoned them for at least one or two attempts to get as much dialogue out of them as possible. Even if it was something of a double-edged sword. It is also worthwhile going back and speaking to NPCs whenever you complete a boss fight or make any kind of progress, as they tend to move around the map constantly.

While I was interested in how Messmer the Impaler would fit into the lore and overarching narrative of Elden Ring, I felt like his inclusion in the DLC story was perhaps one of the weakest, with the aforementioned NPCs being the strongest additions. Messmer exists to be feared and is implied to be the favorite of Marika, but little else is known about him outside of obvious parallels to Jörmungandr. Miquella's role in the conflict between the Gods is expanded upon, along with his implied seduction of Mohg. You learn about this supposed realm of undeath, what the Warrior Jars truly house, and the misery that has swept over this world. Some of it feels superficial, and at times shallow, answers to questions we did not ask, but help flesh out certain narrative elements that existed in the base game. As you can imagine, there is a lot to sink your teeth into, and lore hounds will more than likely love this DLC. (It's me, I'm a lore hound.)

In regards to the map, Shadow of the Erdtree is smaller by far, but has more verticality. I was navigating up and down cliffs on the back of Torrent, carefully teetering on the edges of rocks and gravestones to find monochrome fields of red chrysanthemums, or racing through plains of dried grass. The castles and keeps are impressive, sprawling structures that reminded me of Anor Londo, though not half as large. There were other areas I chanced upon as well, which keeps the spirit of exploration alive that was present in the base game. And as I navigated these areas and discovered more secrets and defeated more bosses I clocked in around fifteen hours of total playtime. But I'm almost certain there is still more for me to do.

Shadow of the Erdtree is more Elden Ring, just with a much better performance. However, I was underwhelmed by some of the locations and felt as though the boss fights weren't challenging in a way that felt rewarding when I did manage to beat them. There's a lot of good in Shadow of the Erdtree, but as I sat on my feelings once I defeated the final boss, I realized that I thought it was really just alright. If you aren't a massive fan of FromSoftware games or adore the lore in Elden Ring, this DLC might be something you want to wait and purchase later. But if you adored Elden Ring, you will probably fall in love with the game all over again through Shadow of the Erdtree. Regardless, I'll probably spend another twenty or so hours in it, digging for nuggets of lore I might have otherwise missed.

Reviewer’s PC Specs

• Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor 3.70 GHz
• Installed RAM 32.0 GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

Elden Ring is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree will be available on all mentioned platforms on June 21, 2024.

The post Review: Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Weaves New Mysteries appeared first on Siliconera.

During Summer Game Fest 2024, I was given the opportunity to play Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. While I was given a limited number of characters to choose from, that didn't make the experience any less enjoyable. The cel-shaded characters look fantastic, and having the English voice cast reprise their roles made jumping into it all the more exciting somehow. It felt like being a kid again, eager to watch how the Cell Saga would unfold or what new power level Goku, Vegeta, or Gohan would unlock in some miraculous turn of events.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is every bit a fresh entry in the Budokai Tenkaichi series down to the controls. Everything is simplified, with attacks and dodges being easy to execute in comparison to Dragon Ball FighterZ. Instead, players navigate a 3D space where they can move to the side to avoid blasts, teleport behind their opponents, or ascend and descend through massive environments. What makes it different from its predecessors, however, is the Sparking system, which allows for you to perform a special attack associated with the character you're controlling. You need to charge your ki in order to perform this skill, along with anything that isn't just a quick jab or a kick, so you need to make sure you're in the clear to avoid taking damage or getting absolutely destroyed by your opponent.

There were several moments where I audibly shouted in excitement as I triggered environmental effects that included the destruction of the World Martial Arts Tournament stage as Majin Vegeta when using Final Explosion. (Yes, if you use Final Explosion you can, in fact, K.O. yourself.) Or when I was able to fuse Goku and Vegeta to create Gogeta to pummel Buu into the ground. Moments like these make Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero exciting. While I wasn't entirely sure how I managed to fuse Goku and Vegeta, other than the requirement being that the versions you select are from the same arc, it was still exciting.

Other than triggering these effects and fusions I spent a lot of time constructing teams that were accurate to certain showdowns in the Cell and Buu Saga. I played as Android 17 with Android 18 as my secondary character against Goku, Yamcha, and Piccolo. I blew myself up as Majin Vegeta while fighting Buu. But just to test the general strength of characters I also just picked a whole slew of Goku to fight Golden Frieza and Beerus.

I was informed that not all of the characters are balanced, but they were instead made to be accurate to their appearances in the Dragon Ball series. This meant characters like Mr. Satan would not be able to fly. Additionally, characters like Golden Frieza and Beerus would be exceptionally powerful. However, this didn't stop me. I managed to beat the CPU with little effort, but I still found the game fun and these little skirmishes were great to learn the base mechanics of Sparking Zero.

Everything I've seen has me extremely hopeful for the full release of Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. Even with the limited amount of characters we were given, the game was great. It was everything I remembered about Budokai Tenkaichi, and encapsulated the feeling of turning on my GameCube and squaring up against my friends. Bandai Namco has more than certainly captured nostalgia in a bottle, and while Sparking Zero may not turn out to be the most balanced fighter, it sure is a hell of a lot of fun.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC worldwide, and its official release date is October 11, 2024. The official website is also live now.

The post Preview: Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is Bottled Nostalgia appeared first on Siliconera.

Monster Hunter World catapulted the Monster Hunter series to international acclaim. Yes, the game had a solid following in Japan since its inception, and even dedicated pockets of fans appeared internationally. But World is what truly captivated a massive audience. With Monster Hunter Wilds following that success, it seems like everyone who enjoyed Capcom's latest forays into the series could end up impressed with the next installment. I had the opportunity to check out a presentation for Monster Hunter Wilds at Summer Game Fest. Wilds looks to be something that so greatly improves upon the foundations set by one of Capcom's best-selling titles that it feels like this entry will be another massive success for the developer.

What I have to say will more than likely echo already positive sentiment about the direction that Monster Hunter Wilds appears to be heading. The game is gorgeous, and the improvements to the foundations laid by Monster Hunter World and Rise are impressive. The lack of loading screens, the sheer verticality of the map, and the way the world feels alive due to the use of endemic life and persistent storms looks like it could be incredible. But this is Capcom expanding upon what the series has done in the past, because Monster Hunter has always managed to make its locales and worlds feel very much alive.

Monster Hunter Wilds just continues to iterate on that in the tried and true way of if something isn't broken, it doesn't need fixing. Instead, Capcom is just adding a few more bells and whistles to an already successful formula. Players can summon a mount similar to how they can in Monster Hunter Rise, except now there is an "auto-run" feature where your new feathered friend will automatically follow pyrefiles to your objective or the monster you are trailing as you sharpen your weapon or chow down on grilled meat to restore your stamina. Your Palico also talks now for some reason, and I'm not entirely sure if I like that decision. (I'll miss the meowing, truth be told.)

Players can also set up camp at various spots around the map to quickly change weapons and armor. However, these spots can be destroyed by monsters, which I feel is a nice touch. Speaking of weapons, players can now equip two at a time, with the presentation I saw showcasing the Greatsword and Longsword. Both weapons looked devastating, and while I've hung up my Greatsword, the mobility and option to block attacks from monsters with that massive blade made it look extremely appealing.

But I still couldn't get over how gorgeous the game looked or how alive it felt during the footage presented. I personally have an issue with these games feeling lonely, like I'm just wandering around looking for something without anything to signal true reactiveness in the world I'm trudging through. Monster Hunter World was decent enough in that with monsters roaming in and out of regions, and Rise had the same. But Wilds takes this a step further with the aforementioned endemic life changing and even migrating under various weather conditions. During the presentation, we saw the small toad-bird hybrid creatures nesting in a tree, their young croaking for insects. We saw the environment change during a "phase of abundance," with more greenery sprouting up on one section of the map, and changing again when that phase ended.

It feels like there is a lot to discover in Wilds, outside of the obvious improvements. There are new monsters, reactive weather conditions, monsters lurking behind every corner or slithering beneath the sands. And even if the monster designs shown thus far aren't to my liking, I cannot wait to play this next installment in the Monster Hunter series.

Monster Hunter Wilds is currently in development for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC and is set to release simultaneously worldwide in 2025. Capcom confirmed crossplay at Summer Game Fest 2024.

The post Preview: Monster Hunter Wilds Endemic Life Makes the World Feel Alive appeared first on Siliconera.

Consumers can purchase the Tales of Symphonia Festival 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray through the Asobi Store. It will cost 8,800 yen, or around $55, and it will include a total of two discs along with a Blu-Ray cover featuring a new illustration.

Orders placed after May 26, 2024 will be shipped approximately 3-5 days after being placed. Additionally, this item cannot be returned. International shipping for this item is not available.

You can take a look at the 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray below. This includes a look at the special sleeve, acrylic block, and two Blu-Ray discs. Alongside this, consumers will receive a special acrylic block with the same illustration and a 20 page booklet.

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Tales of Symphonia, Bandai Namco has continued to release exclusive merchandise. This has included four new Tales of Symphonia plushies of Raine, Regal, Sheena, and Corrin. Pre-orders for these plushies are open, with the expected release date to fall sometime in February 2025.

The Tales of Symphonia Festival 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray is immediately available to purchase. It costs 8,800 yen or around $55, and can be purchase through the Asobi Store Japanese storefront. There is no word of a potential Western release.

The post Tales of Symphonia Festival 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Sales Begin appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix announced the PC version of Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD for the Epic Games Store will receive texture updates following the Steam release. A preview of the update was enclosed in a tweet from the official Japanese Kingdom Hearts social media account. The texture update will arrive when Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue will release on the Steam storefront on June 13, 2024 (June 14, 2024 in Japan).

The Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance updates coming to the Epic Games Store will include improved backgrounds. The aforementioned tweet is available to view below, which includes a glimpse into how these textures have been improved.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is available on PC through the Epic Games Store, but it will release on Steam in June 2024 for the first time. It will be available to purchase as part of the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, which includes a total of three Kingdom Hearts titles. These are Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep – A fragmentary passage –, Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, and Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD. However, consumers will be able to purchase these games individually, as noted by the Steam storefront page.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is immediately available for PCs through the Epic Games Store. It will release on Steam on June 13, 2024. The Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance HD texture update will arrive on the Epic Games Store on the same day.

The post Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance Update Heads to Epic Games Store appeared first on Siliconera.

When Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo III in May 2012, the game was fraught with issues. The servers were overloaded, which caused an uproar among players. The game itself was wildly unbalanced, with only a handful of classes actually being viable for end-game progression. The real-money marketplace was a detriment to the in-game community as a result. Diablo IV had similar, but not as disastrous, hurdles to overcome. The game was arguably in a much better state, and those that experienced Diablo III at launch already understood Blizzard would more than likely tune the game after player feedback. Despite very much enjoying my time with Diablo IV pre-launch, I knew that it would be months or potentially a yearbefore Blizzard would course correct. Diablo IV Season 4 Loot Reborn is a great step in the right direction.

For those unfamiliar with those changes, either because they haven't had interest in Diablo IV up to this point or dropped the game after launch due to an otherwise middling end-game, Blizzard has done a complete overhaul of how items work and the systems surrounding them. I fell into the later camp. I was so uninterested in the Codex and Paragon systems that my overall interest in Diablo IV dropped off and I went back to play the latest season of Diablo III instead. Blizzard made acquiring Codices a lot simpler this time around, with passive attributes salvaged from gear storing itself in a compendium any and all characters across your account can use. Certain passives are still entirely locked to Dungeons, but this means that I only have to run through them once per Season instead of once per character. This is already a huge change.

Diablo IV Season 4 Loot Reborn also added Affixes through Tempering. These are additional attributes you can add to your weapons that can range from increasing damage to specific skills, their size, or even increase your elemental resistances. Masterworking items is also a new addition, which further empowers your items which results in a stronger character build. There is a lot to fiddle around with and, while Diablo IV still lacks some of the basic quality of life features of Diablo III like saving gear sets, it's a massive improvement over how the Codex system worked at launch.

But one of the most important updates, at least in my opinion, involved making Necromancer a viable class in Diablo IV. Before, you could kind of work Necromancer into being fun to play at a casual level, but your minions felt insignificant. Now, I simply summon my hoard of skeletons and tear through Helltides and Diablo IV's version of Rifts. I love Necromancer so much that I've effectively abandoned my Rogue, opting to burst into a swarm of bats as I rush through Dungeons with my skeleton army in tow. A friend of mine that is a dedicated Barbarian main also loved the item adjustments done to make their build more viable as well. It feels like there haven't been as many, if any, nerfs this Season, and instead Blizzard has focused on empowering the player.

Everything is fun now. Helltides, Rifts, even the leveling experience is exciting because it goes quick and rarer item drops feel more plentiful. Season 4 started on May 15, 2024 and I've already completed my Battle Pass at over twenty hours played on my Seasonal character. I had so much fun I even used what currency I had accrued through the previous Battle Passes to get a skin for my Necromancer. I just hope Blizzard continues down this path with Diablo IV, and characters keep feeling strong and item drops keep exploding out of enemies at the same rate that they have been. Because it would be a shame to see a step back from this, when Diablo IV is in the best state it's been in since launch.

Diablo IV is available for the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. It is also available through the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

The post Diablo IV Season 4 Loot Reborn Sets the Game on the Right Path appeared first on Siliconera.

FuRyu Hobby Mall is now accepting pre-orders for another set of Tales of Symphonia 20th Anniversary plush based on characters from the game. This round includes Raine Sage, Regal Bryant, Sheena Fujibayashi, and Corrine. [Thanks, Gamer!]

Pre-orders will open in Japan starting on March 24, 2024. The expected release date will fall sometime in February 2025. Raine, Regal, and Sheena are priced at 7,260 yen or approximately $46. The Corrine plush is available at a cheaper price point. It will cost 3,850 yen or around $25. This includes sales tax. International shipping for these items are available through Buyee. However, each of these plush will be made to order, and pre-orders cannot be cancelled.

You can take a look at the plushies below.

Sheena, Raine, and Regal come with "props." In Raine's case, she will come with her staff, Sheena will come with a talisman, and Regal will come with removable handcuffs.

The Tales of Symphonia 20th Anniversary Sheena, Raine, Regal, and Corrine plush of characters do have posable limbs, which means consumers can pose them as they'd like. Additionally, they will have a special Tales of Symphonia 20th Anniversary logo embroidered on them to commemorate the anniversary of the series. This is just like the first wave of plushies that was announced in October 2023 that featured characters like Lloyd Iriving, Kratos Aurion, and Colette Brunel.

The Tales of Symphonia 20th Anniversary plushies can be pre-ordered from March 24, 2024 to July 26, 2024.

The post 4 More Tales of Symphonia 20th Anniversary Character Plush Introduced appeared first on Siliconera.

I always wanted to properly get into deck-building games. Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the GameBoy Advance at the tender age of thirteen was my first exposure to this kind of game. I wouldn't run into anything even remotely like it until Slay the Spire burst onto the scene in 2017. However, nothing about Slay the Spire drew me into it. The visuals weren't enticing enough to hold my attention and, despite the deck building aspect being more than proficient (the game is a hit for a reason), I dropped it after clocking in a measly ten hours. When I was asked if I was interested in checking out Library of Runia, I gave the game a quick look and agreed, unaware that I would be spending weeks desperately trying to decipher the complexities of what has become one of the most challenging turn-based RPGs of my life. Honestly, I'm into it.

Library of Runia is a visual novel with deck-building components and all of the bells and whistles associated with turn-based RPGs attached to it. Players follow Roland, a Fixer from The City. He stumbles upon the titular Library and ends up meeting the Head Librarian, an enigmatic woman by the name of Angela. She ends up recruiting him as a member of staff. Through this, he becomes a Librarian, which you think wouldn't be all that exciting. However, in this world knowledge is power. Those that seek out the tomes within this illustrious building must fight the staff in order to obtain the books they desire. That is more or less the premise, which weaves itself into how the game itself is played.

Players can create a team of Librarians, each with a unique set of skills associated with whatever outfit they are wearing at the time. Each Librarian is given a default outfit, which contains a set of cards that will appear in their deck. Initiating combat requires players to offer a book, which then entices combatants to come out. This in turn allows you to take books off of their corpses to obtain more cards and their outfits. It is also how you progress through the story. You can grind stages for multiples of these books to burn, but the game does warn you that you should keep a copy of each, just to have the required offerings on hand to challenge a specific stage.

Now, I had no idea that this was a sequel to Project Moon's Limbus Company. Not having known that and immediately being thrust into the game, I actually advise those looking to play Library of Runia either experience Limbus Company themselves or watch a playthrough. The lore gets confusing and sometimes hard to follow, even if the premise is simple enough. I ended up setting time aside to watch a playthrough of Limbus Company just to get a better grasp of The City and the world in which these games take place while I grinded for more cards and experience, as I was often woefully underprepared for each fight.

As mentioned previously, Library of Runia is a turn-based game. However, there is an extra layer of complexity added onto this that requires some level of resource management. Every card (called "pages") costs a certain amount of Light points. So you don't want to blow all of your Light to take out one enemy if you have several stages ahead of you. Because while you need to factor in the cost of Light, you also have to take into consideration turn order which is determined by Speed Dice. I still don't have an idea of how Speed Dice work. I more or less pick a card and pray that I attack first, killing my enemies before they break my defense, stagger me, and force me to go back and grind.

Attacking isn't the only thing you can do in the game, as playing defensive cards are also an option. You see, each card has several status effects attached to it, some with more offensive capabilities and negative status effects, and others capable of guarding attacks.

This is where you need to be strategic in using your cards. Especially as the game progresses. At first you will fight one round of enemies at a time, picking off two or three combatants before you are given a break to burn books you've acquired from fallen foes to obtain their cards and outfits. But you are quickly thrown into tiered fights, sometimes facing upwards of three waves of enemies with no way to heal or recover what remains of your stamina. Rushing through stages no longer becomes an option. Instead you need to carefully consider what outfit you are equipping your Librarian with, and what cards will accompany that deck. Thankfully you can save builds and swap between them before entering stages very easily. Which is great. Because having to recreate your deck every time you switched out an outfit would be a chore.

It's these little bits of quality of life features that stop Library of Runia from being frustrating to the point of making the player never want to pick the game up ever again. However, I do wish the font was larger, as on the Nintendo Switch it's almost impossible to read any kind of text. This is especially true in handheld mode. I was squinting most of the time as I played the game during commute, and even docking it and projecting the game onto my PC monitor I was having issues reading the text just because of how cramped and small it was. This can be a make or break for some players, and for me it has actively factored into my score. As after a handful of hours with the game my eyes were tired, sore, and bloodshot.

That said, Library of Runia is a fantastic game. The voice acting is top notch, the story is intriguing enough to entice players who otherwise may not be interested in deck building games to give it a shot, and it forces the player to engage with its systems to meet each challenge. However, this means that it won't be for everyone. Those that have gotten tired of fiddling around with the same deck builders for hours on end may find Library of Runia enticing, especially with its heavy emphasis on story. Overall, I had a blast with the game, even if I'm still figuring out just how to optimize my deck some thirty hours in.

Library of Runia is available for PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

The post Review: Library of Runia Is a Challenging Switch Experience appeared first on Siliconera.

Behaviour Interactive, developer of Dead by Daylight, announced a Castlevania crossover for the asymmetrical horror title. More information will appear on August 6, 2024. However, a short trailer has accompanied this announcement, which teases the addition of Dracula as a possible addition to the roster of Killers.

You can watch the Dead by Daylight Castlevania crossover announcement trailer below.

The trailer shows the iconic titular castle in the background as a vampire stalks towards the camera before bursting into a swarm of bats. Outside of this footage, nothing has been revealed as to who the potential Survivors could be.

This is not the first time a Konami IP has appeared in Dead by Daylight. Previously, Cheryl (Heather) Mason and Pyramid Head of the Silent Hill series joined the roster as a Survivor and Killer, respectively. Since then, various Silent Hill characters such as Maria, James Sunderland, and Cybil Bennett have appeared as premium skins.

Dead by Daylight is an asymmetrical horror title that pits four Survivors against one Killer. Players must cooperate and repair generators to open exit gates to escape hazardous stages before the Killer eliminates them. Crossover stages include the Raccoon City Police Department, from the Resident Evil 2 remake, and Midwich Elementary School from Silent Hill.

Dead by Daylight is available for PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X. An Android and iOS version is also available. More information about the Castlevania crossover will appear on August 6, 2024.

The post Castlevania Dead by Daylight Crossover Announced appeared first on Siliconera.

Capcom announced the Akuma Arrives Fighting Pass will appear in Street Fighter 6 on May 22, 2024. The Fighting Pass will include a total of twenty rewards, with some limited to the paid Fighting Pass. Additionally, a new addition to the Battle Hub will appear alongside Akuma and the Akuma Arrives Fighting Pass called GIANT ATTACK.

You can watch the trailer, which includes a glimpse into the GIANT ATTACK mode, below.

As mentioned previously, a total of twenty rewards will be available for players to obtain. These include cosmetic items for your avatar, an emote, a photo frame, a wallpaper for your device, several titles, music tracks, stickers, and a piece of classic game artwork. We can see all of the rewards that will appear on the premium Street Fighter 6 Akuma Arrives Fighting Pass in the image below.

Capcom will continue to add characters into Street Fighter 6 through the Fighting Pass. While Akuma will be the first, he most certainly will not be the last. The next character that will arrive in Street Fighter 6 will be Rashid.

Street Fighter 6 is available for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC, and the Akuma DLC release date is May 22, 2024.

The post Street Fighter 6 Akuma Arrives Fighting Pass to Appear in Late May appeared first on Siliconera.

The first Hades was an absolute delight. I enjoyed the game so much that it became my very first 10/10 review. While the game was an exhilarating blend of fast-paced action combat and the exciting randomness that roguelikes have to offer, what really pulled me in was the story. Hades was the first roguelike where I was drawn in, ready to throw myself at waves of enemies to learn more about the narrative and engage with the characters. And given my time with the Hades II Technical Test, I can say that the characters in this highly anticipated sequel have already captured my interest.

Hades II is a sequel to the first game, where Melinoe, the sister of Zagreus and daughter of Hades and Persephone, is fighting to liberate her father and mother from the grips of the Titan of Time, Chronos. It's Supergiant Games' spin on Greek mythology, told through interpersonal relationships between Greek and Chthonic Gods. Melinoe herself is already an interesting character; the stakes of the war between the Olympians and the Titans are already high for her. The fate of her mother, father, and brother hangs in the balance. And Hades II drip feeds you her backstory through vignettes or through her interaction with notable mythological figures like Odysseus.

Hecate is also an integral figure, serving as a surrogate mother figure and mentor to the young Melinoe. It is implied that Melinoe was rescued by Hecate, and in a flashback, we learn more about the kindness she showed the young Goddess. There is a particularly touching scene where they are playing tag, which is later followed up by a conversation that adds a layer of depth to their relationship and Hecate's possible reason for rescuing her. Outside of a suggested closeness between Hecate and Persephone, Hecate has raised Melinoe with the intention to wage war against Chronos --- a weapon to use against those who imprisoned her family. Melinoe questions this briefly, but not before I exhausted the Hades II technical test of dialogue.

But it isn't just Melinoe and Hecate I'm interested in; it's Melinoe's relationship and rivalry with Nemesis. While Lord Moro, the manifestation of doom himself, is more up my alley in terms of looks, Nemesis and Hecate have something going on. They're rivals, trained under Hecate with the intention of war. However, Nemesis becomes increasingly hostile to Melinoe as she makes her way to the Underworld. There's a clear hostility there that has a history, further compounded if you give her Nectar. Melinoe asks Nemesis if they can pick up where they left off, to which Nemesis begrudgingly considers.

Hades II is a really excellent game, even in it's early stages. But the characters and story have already gripped me. There's a solid foundation there, which is no surprise. Hades was an excellent game, and I expect Hades II might even surpass that. Regardless, I'm so excited for Early Access and that full release further down the line, just to get to know these characters more.

Hades II will be released in Early Access sometime in the near future. A full release has yet to be announced.

The post The Characters in Hades II Are Already Enticing appeared first on Siliconera.

For a limited time, Final Fantasy XVI food items will appear at several Eorzea Cafe locations in Japan. This is to celebrate the Final Fantasy XIV and XVI crossover event, "The Path Infernal." From April 30, 2024, until June 17, 2024, a total of four FFXVI food items will be available to sample from at the Osaka and Akihabara Eorzea Cafe locations. Those that do purchase these food items will receive a special lunch table mats.

The four food items are based on Clive, Jill, Odin, and the Drake's Head location. Clive and Jill will be the inspiration for two theme drinks, which include a lemon black syrup strawberry flavored drink and a blue lychee syrup one respectively. The Odin and Drake's Head dish are a little more substantial, as the Odin food item is a black ink squid smelt risotto. The Drake's Head item is a tea chiffon cake to round out the meal.

You can take a look at the FFXVI Eorzea Cafe food items below:

The lunch table mats features promotional artwork of Clive, Jill, and Joshua fighting Leviathan, the star of The Rising Tide DLC. You can take a look below:

In the past, the Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe has released several distinct FFXIV-themed food items according to season. This has included special collaboration items to celebrate The Rising.

Final Fantasy XVI and The Rising Tide DLC are available for PlayStation 5. Final Fantasy XIV is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X.

The post FFXVI Heads to Final Fantasy Eorzea Cafe in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix announced that several Kingdom Hearts jewelry items will return to its Japanese storefront in 2024. These include the Kingdom Hearts crown and heart necklaces and two monogram rings.

All four items are currently available for pre-order through the official Square Enix Japan storefront and will ship on September 21, 2024. You can find the necklaces on the official site, alongside the rings.

Two variations of the heart and crown necklace are available. These include a silver version priced at 19,800 yen (or $125) and am 18 karat gold version which will cost 85,800 (or roughly $543). Consumers will also be able to pick a stone for their necklace, with each one representing a specific Kingdom Hearts character.

The list of stones and character tied to them are:

• Aquamarine - Aqua
• Blue Sapphire - Riku
• Blue Topaz - Sora
• Citrine - Terra
• Garnet - Axel
• Onyx - Shion
• Orange Sapphire - Roxas
• Peridot - Ventus
• Pink Tourmaline - Kairi
• White Sapphire - Namine

You can take a look at the Kingdom Hearts heart and crown necklaces below:

The two Kingdom Hearts monogram rings will come in silver, plated gold, rose gold, and black. The standard sized monogram ring will cost 19, 580 yen (or $124) whereas the wide version will cost 21,780 yen (or $138).

You can view the Kingdom Hearts monogram rings below:

In January 2023, Square Enix announced it would be producing a Kingdom Hearts necklace inspired by Kairi. Specifically her keyblade. This item was available for pre-order until May 2023.

The post Kingdom Hearts Heart and Crown Necklaces, Rings Returning appeared first on Siliconera.