Author: Zach Barbieri

Developer CyberConnect2 has announced a new game in the .hack series of video games. The series included four part .hack series that were released in 2002 and 2003, as well as the .Hack// G.U. series released between 2005 and 2007. This will be the first new title in the series since 2012, with the last major release from the series being a compilation of the G.U. series released in 2017, titled .hack//G.U. Last Recode, which was released in 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcjZq9RWAH8 Entitled .hack// Z.E.R.O., the title has been described by developer CyberConnect2 as a project 10 years in the making, being…

Ys X Nordics was one of my favorite games of 2024, but unfortunately, I never had a chance to review it. At the time, I was moving, and maybe in my emotional state, the impact of playing the game alone in a half-finished room hit harder than it would have otherwise. Like so many times in my life, Adol Christin saved me from myself. I regretted at the time not having the words to say that. This is what brought me to an impasse when reviewing Ys X: Proud Nordics. On the one hand, I never got to put my…

Silent Hill Townfall, the next spin-off in the Silent Hill franchise, received a new trailer during PlayStation’s State of Play broadcast, along with more information concerning gameplay during a Silent Hill Transmission following the event. The game is being developed by Screen Burn Interactive, a Glasgow-based studio, with Annapurna Interactive and Konami Digital Entertainment serving as joint publishers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPE5XdS1OBw The game will feature players taking the role of Simon Ordell, who continues to find himself waking up in the sea near the town of St. Amelia. In this, action and exploration will play out in a first-person perspective as players…

Developer Ember Labs announces Kena: Scars of Kosmora during the PlayStation State of Play in February. It will serve as a direct sequel to Kena: Bridge of Spirits, which was initially released for PlayStation back in 2021. It was announced to be released on PlayStation 5 and PC, though only a tentative 2026 release window was given at this time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12EQpTwn4lY&t=10s Set several years after the first title, lead protagonist Kena is now an older and more self-assured spirit guide in the new setting of Kosmora, made up of large lands and multiple communities. Where the previous title focused on…

Insomniac Games, the developer behind the highly anticipated Wolverine, has set some expectations concerning the upcoming State of Play event broadcast. The State of Play is set to be held on February 12, at 2 PM Pacific/ 5 PM Eastern time, and with over 60 minutes of content to show, many fans were hoping that Wolverine was set to get a showing or potentially even a release date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Oua6Dn4mY This, however, looks like it will not be the case, as Insomniac posted a response to the question of when we would get additional information, appearing to rule out the State…

The upcoming Pokémon cozy title Pokémon Pokopia draws influence from several titles, but it probably has the most in common with Dragon Quest Builders due to its central narrative, which will drive players through their community-building exploits. According to the game’s director, the game’s story can stretch between 20 and 40 hours to complete, with much more to do even after the credits roll. This information comes via an interview with Takuto Edagawa, the chief director of Pokopia, conducted by IGN. In this interview, he was asked about the approximate length of the upcoming title, stating: So for this game, the main…

The lineup for February’s PlayStation Plus catalog additions has leaked online, suggesting that Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 will be added to the service. This leak comes via Dealabs leaker Billbil-Kun, who has a positive track record and has suggested that Sony is set to announce the title as this month’s headline title. Other titles set to join Marvel’s famous webslinger include racing title Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, as well as the artistic indie game Neva, which will be available for PS4 and PS5. It has also been stated that all three of these titles will be added to the service…

Monster Hunter Wilds is set to receive a “large-scale” expansion, which will arrive later this year from developer Capcom. This news comes from series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, who, during a video addressing fans for the title’s first anniversary, teased a similarly sized expansion to that of Monster Hunter World’s Iceborne. Beyond this, very little information concerning the DLC was given, other than the fact that this will be the final DLC of this Monster Hunter iteration. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_NjU8O6qSQ He stated: We are currently at work on a large-scale expansion similar to Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak for…

Suda 51 has had a fairly substantial impact on my formative years of gaming. This was a time before, or at least early on, in the indie market, in which double-A developers in particular had to take significant risks trying to crack that space with nothing but a desire to be as not mainstream as humanly possible. That was Goichi Suda in a nutshell, and that’s why I loved Romeo is a Dead Man. It’s not like Suda ever went away; he has been developing titles consistently since the 90’s and last year teamed up with developer Swery to release…

Sony has announced that they will be streaming a major State of Play broadcast later this week, which will feature over an hour of new reveals featuring first and third-party studios. The event will be held on February 12 at 2 PM Pacific / 5 PM Eastern time. https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/2020845405362163855?s=20 Sony’s last major State of Play was held back in September of last year, an event that finally gave fans a more in-depth look at Insomniac Games’ upcoming Wolverine title. Other games showcased during that event were HouseMarque’s upcoming game Saros, as well as Team Ninja’s recently released Nioh 3. With…