 Playing games together is something special. It has the power to take things to the next level – sometimes literally if you’re particularly bad at platforming, we’re looking at you Rayman Origins – and can be the catalyst for some unforgettable moments. With Split Fiction already earmarked on many people’s Game of the Year lists, it got us thinking about some of our own coop highlights. (Rest assured we’ll have a review of it for you soon.) The joy of coop gaming is being able to play together but not necessarily have the same experience. You work as a team and even if your characters do have the same abilities, you still manage to find your own perspective on the action. Often lamenting the unfairness of your fate compared to others is, oddly, part of the fun of it. So, cast your mind back, what’s the moment coop really peaked for you? Let us know on our Discord. And if it’s more cooperative rambling you’re after, then you can delve back into the archives and see what we thought were our most memorable experiences, way back in 2019.
Gears 5 | Chris Brand  The original Horde mode from Gears 5 was a gruelling test of endurance, with 50 waves of increasingly difficult enemies. It has since been watered down into Horde Frenzy, with the difficulty curve compressed into a meagre 12 waves, and a successful run is nowhere near as satisfying. Of course, stumbling at the last hurdle is not quite as heartbreaking (screw you, wave 49) but no-one sets out to fail. My first few attempts were nary more than a learning experience, as I got to grips with the characters, mechanics, maps and enemy types. Over time, I got further and further and the, once seemingly unreachable, wave 50 was tantalisingly close. Then it happened. A run that was going better than any other, until my entire team shit the bed on the afore-screwed wave 49. Rather than being disheartened, I felt elevated. It wasn't a successful run, but it was close enough that I knew it was possible and I had managed to overcome the biggest obstacle of all: my own restlessness. After sitting in the same place for almost 3 hours (probably for the first time ever), I was energised, focused and determined. The next time I attempted this Herculean feat, I'd be ready for it and get the win. Nope. Shit the bed, wave 49. A pattern forms. At this point, I was starting to doubt if I'd ever beat the coveted wave 50 but I was having enough fun to keep trying. Finally, it did happen, thanks to someone playing as the under-appreciated robot, Jack, and securing scores of revives in the later rounds. Horde Frenzy is still tough, and you shouldn't expect to go all the way without some practice, but that feeling of achievement is significantly lessened. Baldur's Gate 3 | Liam Andrews  I’ve had a lot of great coop moments over the years, but I’d have to give one of my most memorable to a very recent game: Baldur’s Gate 3. The memorable moment in question came in the game’s Adamantine Forge area.
Spoiler alerts for anyone who hasn’t played this part yet! This forge was the location of an epic battle with a giant set of mechanical armour known as Grym, who has a huge amount of health and is invulnerable to pretty much all attack types. Grym will also relentlessly target whichever member of your party offers the most threat. This made it an incredibly one-sided fight and our party of three was sent packing on numerous occasions. The fight became so frustrating that I was resigned to the fate of loading an earlier save and giving up on the area altogether, when we realised we could use Grym’s targeting system to our advantage to lure it under the forge’s giant hammer. I placed myself under the hammer and started dealing out attacks to get Grym’s attention, while another of the party stood ready to activate the hammer’s lever and another kept us alive with healing spells. Grym obediently made its way over to me, and the huge hammer was dropped for an instant KO. It was such a sweet victory that I didn’t even mind that I ended up flattened alongside Grym. After being revived, I left the forge with a lovely new set of adamantine armour and one of my favourite coop memories.  After many years of leaks and the patience of diehard fans growing ever thinner, Nintendo has finally broken the silence (again) on the Switch 2 and given us a quick announcement video. Seemingly forced to act by a 3D printed mock-up at tech industry show CES, Nintendo finally gave us a complete look at how the console will look and feel – though details are pretty sparse. Despite having almost nothing to go on, we all have takes and expectations so we'd thought we'd share them with you, as well as a few ideas of what they could to decide to throw in between now and release. If you have some of your own, fire them over on Discord.
Embrace the power of AI - Chris Brand Though we correctly predicted the name, I'm disappointed that Ninty didn't go with "Switcheroo" as the moniker for their upcoming console. Boring name aside, I'm pretty impressed with the reveal (and the accuracy of the many, many leaks). It ticks all the boxes so far. It's bigger, better, has a smart-looking black finish, backwards compatibility and absolutely none of that matters to me because there's a mystery button. A mystery button! One of the more talked about ideas is that this could be a chat button, which isn't terribly exciting. A far more interesting (and less likely) idea is that this will activate the Switch 2's virtual assistant, Mario AI. Once the button is pressed, your machine will be connected to the Switch Squared network, a hive mind of super-intelligent hybrid consoles designed with the ultimate goal of enslaving humanity. Maybe the mystery button will scan and upload a digital copy of your likeness to use as an avatar in the new Mario Kart, raising the question of whether we are simply computerised clones of our real selves, endlessly driving around the same tracks, with the same faces, performing the same manoeuvres over and over again, totally oblivious to the sprawling world just one level up? It could do anything. A mystery button grabs my attention and holds it firmly until the reveal. It's safe to assume we'll find out exactly what it does during the Nintendo Direct in April, but a part of me hopes they Nintendon't tell us a thing and it turns into one of the greatest ARGs ever conceived. Whatever the case, I'd be willing to pay around £350 to push The Button. Function over form - Liam Andrews Having watched the reveal trailer a couple of times I’m not convinced that Switch 2 is going to solve one of my main issues with the original Switch.
I was hoping for a more ergonomic design and although the new console looks very sleek, the flatness of it, which I understand is necessary to make it more portable, has me concerned that it will dig painfully into my hands like the original Switch did. Hopefully Hori will release an updated Split Pad Pro as these made handheld gaming much more enjoyable on the Switch 1. Other than that complaint, I’m very excited for Switch 2 and like what I’ve seen so far. The magnetic Joy Cons are a plus, as the rail system on the old Joy-Cons could get damaged too easily, so hopefully the new magnet system will keep the updated Cons sitting snugly against the console. I like the size of the console; I don’t think it’ll be too big and I’m all for the larger screen. I’m also excited about the rumoured Joy-Con mouse functionality that could possibly have been hinted at in the trailer. I’m not sure how many developers outside of Nintendo will really make use of it, but it could be a great way to more easily play strategy games on console. Price? I’d be surprised to see it go for more than £399.  After a busy 2024, we're back to bring you our traditional picks for our most anticipated games of the coming year. It might be easy to point to Grand Theft Auto VI and whatever launch software Nintendo decides to bundle up with the successor to the Switch, but there's an awful lot more expected to greet enthusiastic gamers this year as well. What's your pick? Perhaps you haven't made up your mind yet? Shout them out on Discord, and, in the meantime, allow us to get the ball rolling with a few suggestions…
Atomfall and Fable | Chris BranD  It's shaping up to be another stellar year for gaming, as long as the big-hitters don't get pushed back to 2026, as we all know GTA VI surely will. With the inevitability of delays, it's unwise to put all of your eggs in one basket, which is why I'll be dual-basketing this year. That's right, I'll be skipping merrily through 2025 with a basket in each hand, both filled to the brim with giant, golden, eggs. Looking like it sits somewhere between Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Atomfall is an RPG set in a fictional version of Great Britain many years ago. The Glorious North has been recreated faithfully, with beautiful rolling hills, picturesque villages and a vague sense of uneasiness. You'll be bartering with creepy locals, fighting off gangs of outlaws, avoiding overzealous security forces and running from hideous mutants, whilst trying to solve the mystery of why you're here and how you can escape this brutal land. For my fellow Northerners, imagine Saturday: The Game. Decidedly unlike Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Fable is an RPG set in a fictional version of Great Britain many more years ago and I've had to cut this bit in order to avoid a horrible tangent and actually say something of substance, but you see where I was going. It appears I have a preference for games set in my home country. It just feels more meaningful to rob and kill someone who could be a neighbour and I find myself making excuses as I try to ease my guilty conscience. Maybe he was the aggressor and I was merely defending myself? Maybe setting him on fire was a small mercy as there's a chill in the wind that feels like a million tiny cuts? The choices I make feel a lot more personal when I have a connection to the world and we Brits have a fairly unique sense of humour which manifests in even the darkest of situations. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond | LiaM Andrews I am very much looking forward to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond later this year. I remember being very excited when the game was originally announced way back in 2017 with a simple logo teaser, and it’s been a long wait to get to this point.
However, one of the main reasons I’m looking forward to the game is because I think we’ll see Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption re-released for the Switch ahead of Beyond’s release. I never played Echoes and didn’t finish Corruption, and although I still have access to a Wii and could play them that way, I would like to see them get the same remaster treatment the original Metroid Prime game got in 2023, which looked fantastic and played even better with modern control options. It would make sense for Nintendo to give everyone the chance to catch up on the series ahead of the highly anticipated sequel. The Switch release of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2 just before Pikmin 4 came out gives me hope, but you just never know with Nintendo. Either way, Beyond looks very promising from the snippets we’ve been shown so far, and even if we don’t get the older games as well, it’ll still be great to see the series back in the spotlight once again.  With the news that the ill-fated Tango Gameworks, creators of the excellent Hi-Fi Rush, have been acquired by Krafton, the publishers of Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, we thought it was time some other studios got a second chance. What studio from a bygone area would you happily see resurrected? Let us know in the comments, or hop into the Discord.
Factor 5 | Liam Andrews  I can’t really tell if Factor 5 is currently an active studio or not, but I’m picking them for this week all the same as I really want another Rogue Squadron game to be made and I will take any opportunity to mention it. Factor 5 were responsible for some of the best Star Wars games on N64 and GameCube in the form of the three Rogue Squadron games, and it’s a shame that they never got a chance to replicate this greatness on more modern machines. They were known for producing games that were not only fun to play but looked and sounded great too. Rogue Leader on GameCube was particularly impressive, I remember being amazed that a game could look that good on a home console, and the opening Death Star trench run mission was one of the best opening levels I’ve ever played. EA’s Star Wars Squadrons was a lot of fun to play and the closest thing to a modern-day Rogue Squadron, but I really missed the arcade nature of the latter and would love to see the series make a return, even if it’s just a remaster/remake of the original trilogy of games. Lionhead Studios | Chris Brand  If you were expecting me to use this week's topic as another opportunity to talk about Fable again, then you're only partially right. I'm also going to talk about Black & White and Theme Park. I, too, feel like I'm bending the rules a little bit here, as Theme Park was developed by Lionhead's predecessor, Bullfrog Productions. Although Lionhead Studios itself has ceased to exist, some of those same developers went on to form Two Point Studios, the team behind the spiritual successor to Theme Hospital, further muddying the waters.
Nostalgia has undoubtedly tinted my memories with more rose than is warranted, but Black & White seemed revolutionary at the time and I wasn't aware of many titles quite like it. It was probably some years later when that illusion was shattered, as I discovered Populous, a slightly older series created by the, now defunct, Bullfrog. God games are in short supply these days, Ubisoft's underrated From Dust being the last one I can recall enjoying. Theme Park was another title that stood out as being unique in the simulation genre and the fact that it's still talked about today is a testament to that. Though it was possibly inspired by (and certainly took cues from) other games that had come before, Theme Park still managed to be totally different, the very British humour likely playing a big part in its legacy. Most of the gamers I know, whether hardcore or casual, have memories of Theme Park and its sort-of-sequel, Theme Hospital. Of course, Two Point Hospital has already scratched that particular itch. And then, with a sigh, we come to Fable Legends. It may not have been the Fable game we all wanted yet it had potential. The lush landscapes, the eccentric heroes and the biting sarcasm were all present and the writing felt very on-brand. I'm glad that the series still lives and we're getting a new entry, but I'm unsure if it can live up to the hype you've all created.  With Xbox increasing the price of Game Pass, PlayStation players having to wait until 2025 for a first-party release, and the Switch becoming the most long-in-the-tooth Nintendo console of all time this week, it would be easy to get a bit down about the state of gaming, but we have an idea. Imagine a world where we could have a clean slate, starting from scratch to create the perfect gaming platform. Is it a black box with blinking LEDs? Is it a cloud gaming subscription service? Is it a PC? Only you can decide. In the meantime, we've got some thoughts of our own – a mixture of the best bits of consoles past and a few fresh ideas thrown in for good measure…
Useability and comfort | Chris Brand  For my ideal gaming platform, we have to start with the controller. There have been too many missteps over the years, from the original Xbox's ridiculous six face buttons, the PS3's tiny little controller, to the Nintendo 64's bizarre three-handed monstrosity. We're having none of that. There's no need to break the mould, just something easy to use and functional. The current Xbox/PlayStation devices are a good fit in terms of size and button placement, just too prone to stick drift. Essentially, I want something a lot like what we've got now, but better. Although virtual reality hasn't been the game-changer I thought it would be, a compatible VR headset is a must. I've seen and played some interesting VR titles but this is mainly for Legendary Tales. Such a peripheral would have to be an optional extra, as after around 9pm I don't have the energy to move my fingers and my head at the same time. As I've fully embraced having a digital library of games (something I would've considered heresy a decade or so ago), I see no need for a disc drive. I'm not opposed to the idea, but, like James, I believe we should cram as many terabytes in there as possible, since games are taking up more and more of our limited space and a disc drive is a waste of real estate that could be used to house a bigger, fatter, hard drive. Now that cross-platform play exists, it's become necessary. Everyone has friends scattered across different platforms and it would be difficult to pitch a machine without this feature. Something that can handle performance and frame rate at the same level as high-end PCs would be nice but only if it doesn't take up so much space that I'd need to buy a new piece of furniture to accommodate it. If I wanted to look at a big, ugly, thing in my living room, I'd ask your mother round for dinner. Controller layouts | Liam Andrews  I’m going to agree with Chris and say the controller is one of the most important things to consider when coming up with a new gaming platform, and it’s my main focus here. I agree today’s standard design is very good and I wouldn’t stray too far from it (two grips to hold, a d-pad, two control sticks, four shoulder and face buttons etc.) but I’d definitely like to see the button hierarchy of the GameCube make a comeback.
It makes so much more sense than the diamond ABXY layout seen on modern controllers, as there’s always one button that’s used more than the others and the different shapes also made them easier to tell apart. So my controller would have unique face buttons and shapes and they’ll be smooth and silent to press, none of that overly loud clicky-ness of the Xbox controllers, but I will take the asymmetrical control sticks as they are a lot more comfortable to use. Portability would be nice, but I don’t mean as a hybrid console like the Switch. If I lose control of the big TV, I have to lug a weighty and expensive plastic box upstairs to play on a smaller monitor, so it would be nice if all consoles could be as small and look as sleek as the Series S from now on as this would make moving from room to room so much easier.  We're back with a bang to bring you our thoughts on all the games announcements of the past couple of weeks, from Summer Game Fest, the Xbox Showcase, Nintendo Direct and back again. While we don't have tons of gaming blockbusters hitting consoles in 2024 compared to last year, it's clear there's plenty to look out for in the next couple of years. Side note: Thank you for bearing with us in our absence. Once you've perused our choices, let us know what you're excited for in our Discord, or in the comments.
State of Decay 3 and Fable | Chris Brand  Much like James, most of what caught my eye came from the Xbox Showcase. Possibly because that's the only console I own, possibly because a lot of those titles will be available through Game Pass at no extra cost and I love free stuff. Though I struggle with horror-themed games, I can just about handle State of Decay 2 without succumbing to The Fear. Of course, it is much easier with someone to watch my back and taxi my character to our objective whilst I reluctantly make a coffee at 11:00pm as my eyes keep closing and cocaine is expensive. It's a huge improvement over its predecessor and even though State of Decay 3 probably won't be as big of a leap, it seems reasonable to expect that some new ideas will have made their way into the threequel. There seems to be more of an emphasis on remembering the lost, which is sure to be a big part of my playthrough as all of my favourite characters eventually die. Usually due to me refusing to outfit them with the best gear, in case I lose that too. Good weapons are hard to come by but people are everywhere. If you'd put a bet on me mentioning Fable, then congratulations, you've won fat stacks of cash. And your bookie is weird, who takes bets on stuff like that? Send me his number. The latest trailer follows the series' long-running tradition of not taking itself too seriously but things started to heat up near the end as we were, almost, introduced to this game's big bad. Maybe we'll get to see a good chunk of gameplay in next year's showcase, as the 2025 release window potentially means we've got 18 more months of me banging on about Fable. Gears of War E-Day and Metroid Prime 4 | Liam Andrews  I missed most of the actual events of the past few weeks, but catching up on all the announcements is my preferred way to approach these shows as I can pick and choose which games to focus on.
My highlight of all the events goes to Gears of War E-Day, but it could easily have been Metroid Prime 4, which looked amazing and was something I wasn’t expecting to see released anytime soon. I’m a big fan of the original Metroid Prime (and the remaster) and I’m hoping we’ll get a rerelease of the two sequels at some point before the latest entry comes out as I’d like to get up to speed with any important story events before diving in. I’ve played every Gears of War game, bar Tactics, which I should really get around to at some point, and enjoyed all of them so I’m really looking forward to a new mainline game. I especially like the concept of going back to the start of events, as it’s something that’s only really been explored in spin-off books (which I’ve also read) as far as I can remember. I know it wasn’t gameplay, but the CGI trailer looked very good and did its job of getting me hyped for the game and I can’t wait to see more.  With Alone in the Dark returning with a remake of its 1992 original, we’ve been getting all nostalgic this week about other franchises which have somehow avoided the re-heating treatment so far. There have been numerous success stories in the past, including the iconic Resident Evil remake (the first one, that is), as well as the fact that industry icons Sonic and Mario still live on today. What's your top pick for a franchise that doesn't deserve to be lost to time? Let us know in the Discord.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron | Liam Andrews  This week’s topic gave me an excuse to call for the return of Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, which is something I’ll always be happy to do given the chance. The original game in the trilogy might have been released late in the decade (1999) on the N64, but it just about makes the cut. Although I’m quite happy to play older titles in their original form - I recently finished Brother’s in Arms: Hell's Highway and am currently working my way through Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter – I would love to see Rogue Squadron given the remake treatment (though I’d be happy with a straight port on modern consoles as well). There is a PC version of the game currently available on Steam, but it would be amazing to see the game properly reimagined on today’s hardware, with a super smooth framerate and highly detailed environments and vehicles. It’d also be great to experience the fantastic campaign missions without the vision obscuring fog. I understand the fog was probably only included due to technical limitations, but it was more intimidating than anything the Imperials could throw at me, as I’d often dread getting lost in some of the more complicated map layouts. Syphon Filter | Chris Brand  1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is the game I'd most like to see make a comeback, but if anyone ever forgets about this absolute gem, it's only for the brief moments between someone mentioning it. Syphon Filter might be remembered equally as fondly, just maybe not quite as often.
Though it spawned many sequels, the few that I've played lacked the magic of the original. At least, I think. It could be that time has merged them all together, as my memory of the series is little more than a montage of our "hero" setting people on fire through continuous application of the taser. I remember heroically setting fire to someone on a rooftop. I heroically set fire to a guy in a train station. I believe I also set fire to someone in a snowfield, something only a true hero would do. To clarify, this is totally unnecessary, as enemies are incapacitated (thus, the threat is removed) a good few seconds before the burning starts. The story almost completely passed me by, presumably because my young mind didn't require a motive for setting people on fire, merely the opportunity. I would have likely skipped every cutscene and bit of dialogue instantly, to get back to the action. As such, the overall narrative would still feel new and fresh if I was to revisit Syphon Filter, although I'd prefer a remake rather than a continuation of the series. I could find out who I'm fighting against, what their goals are and why it's acceptable for me to use a "non-lethal" weapon in such a way. It's aged about as well as GoldenEye and would need rebuilding from the ground up to really do it justice, but I can't think of a better choice to fill the Sam Fisher-shaped hole in our lives. What are you excited for from the Nintendo Partner Direct and Elden Ring DLC trailer? | Team Talk24/2/2024  Wednesday saw the biggest contrast in gaming announcements this year so far with the Nintendo Partner Direct and the release of the hotly anticipated Elden Ring DLC – Shadow of the Erdtree. The Partners Nintendo brought to its show included SEGA, EA and Disney, as well as a slew of smaller-scale projects, while there’s nothing small scale about what Bandai Namco and FromSoftware had to share with us in the first expansion to Elden Ring. What are you looking forward to amongst these announcements? Let us know in our Discord.
Chris Brand  As someone without any experience of the base game, the Elden Ring DLC just makes the prospect of picking it up even more daunting. The big, scary, world has been made bigger and scarier and it's still bereft of shotguns. Though I've heard it's more accessible than the typical FromSoftware titles, I'm aware that I have too little patience to spend the time required to reach an appropriate skill level. What surprised me most from Nintendo Direct was the inclusion of Xbox first-party titles, Grounded and Pentiment (both games, along with two more, are releasing on PlayStation, too). With cross-platform play assumed to be a given in multiplayer games nowadays, console exclusives just mean a smaller player-base, so it makes sense for Microsoft to get their games into the hands of as many folks as possible. Pentiment, however, is single player, and the cynic in me suspects that this is Microsoft's way of showing various governmental agencies that they have no intention of creating a gaming monopoly by acquiring every third-party developer they can get their hands on. As they appear to be doing. It feels wrong that my personal highlight from Nintendo's stream was the least Nintendo part, but this could be a turning point for gaming. I'm sure we all have a lot of questions already. Which other Xbox exclusives will be ported to rival systems? Will Nintendo and Sony follow suit? When can I play Mario Kart and God of War? It's probably wise to assume that some exclusives will stay that way. I don't expect to ever see Joel from The Last of Us squaring up against Gears of War's Marcus Fenix in Super Smash Bros. but I do expect, nay demand, to play Mario Kart on my Xbox now, if not sooner. Liam Andrews  I’ll be honest, I was not aware of any impending DLC reveal for Elden Ring until this week’s topic was announced, although having since watched the trailer I can say that it does look very impressive, if a little gloomy.
I’m not into souls type games but I know Elden Ring is supposed to be a great game in its own right. Perhaps I’ll pick it up one day, although like Chris I find the idea of jumping into an even bigger game a little intimidating. The Xbox game reveals in the Nintendo partner showcase didn’t come as a surprise, however, as most people had guessed two of the games making the jump would be Grounded and Pentiment. I’ve yet to play the latter but thought Grounded was excellent. I’m not sure how good it will look on Switch, but it’s still cool to see it arriving on other platforms and giving other players a chance to experience it. Away from the Xbox ports, the biggest reveal from the showcase was the original Battlefront games being rereleased on consoles with full online multiplayer support. While I thoroughly enjoyed the modern Battlefront iterations, I know the original titles are held in high regard so I’m looking forward to trying them out for the first time.  After Xbox fired the starting gun for the year at their Dev_Direct, now it's PlayStation’s turn to blow us away with the fun and games they have in store this year. They may have saved the creamy filling for next week for some, as they invited SquareEnix to show off Final Fantasy VII Rebirth at an exclusive event tomorrow. In the meantime there was a mixed bag of titles to get salivating about. What tickled your fancy? Let us know over on our Discord.
Legendary Tales & Metro Awakening | Liam Andrews  Even though I don’t own a VR headset yet, the VR games were my highlight. I really liked the look of Legendary Tales, especially the combat, which looked like loads of fun. Being able to grab weapons out of the air or use broken off bits of an enemy to block or do damage on the fly is a very cool idea. I enjoy playing Baldur’s Gate 3 in multiplayer, so I’m not put off by the idea of this being an RPG to be experienced with others, however I doubt I’ll be able to convince a few of the regular adventurers I accompany to invest in a headset purely for this game, even though it looks like it would be a lot of fun with friends. Still, I would happily dive into the game solo, if only just to try what looks like a very engaging combat system (it doesn’t get more interactive than throwing a skeleton through a table, then picking it up and giving it a good pummelling!). Metro Awakening VR also looked interesting. I liked Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light, and this looks like it’ll be just as atmospheric as those titles, more so in VR. I am a coward when it comes to horror, however, so I’m not sure how well I would handle the jump scares or gloomy locations, they were sometimes scary enough on a regular TV screen. Legendary Tales | Chris Brand  This was a meatier outing than Xbox's, rather light, presentation a couple of weeks prior. There were a few titles on show which would have piqued my interest on any other day, Judas is looking like it could really be something special and the Silent Hill series is still as spooky as ever. I could have been writing about a handful of titles, if not for one which stood out far above the others.
At first, I assumed Legendary Tales would be nothing more than filler, to pad out the smaller selection of VR titles, but it turned out to be one of the greatest trailers I've ever seen. When games brag about destructible objects the results are usually disappointing, like Battlefield's structures which topple in the exact same way each time, or whatever the hell we got in Crackdown 3's bare-bones multiplayer mode. Legendary Tales not only lives up to its promise, it goes a step further by giving us the thing we all wanted without even realising (the aforementioned skeleton pummelling). The name suggests there's a robust narrative to be experienced and after doing some cursory research I discovered there's quite a lot more on offer than powerbombing skeletons, with skill trees, crafting, legendary items and a quest-driven story, playable solo or with friends. That being said, it all comes back to the combat. I can think of few things more satisfying than defeating a horde of enemies with whatever debris is lying around from the last battle. It's a certain kind of freedom that is missing from most games and something I've been discouraged from doing in real life. As I don't own any VR-capable devices, I've now got to convince one of my friends to take the plunge, which should be an easy task once I show them a video of someone punching a skeleton until it's dead (deader?).  The first big reveals of the year are on us with Xbox’s Developer Direct 2024. Microsoft’s approach to the format puts the devs themselves centre-stage, and can bring some nice, presumably unscripted, moments of humanity, such as this year when Marc Meyer at Oxide games was interrupted by someone walking across the background trying to get a drink. This time we heard from Xbox studios Obsidian Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Oxide Games and Machine Games –, and there was even a surprise guest spot for Square Enix. So, here are our highlights from the show. What was yours? Let us know in our Discord.
Chris Brand  I think someone should mention Visions of Mana and Ara: History Untold. With that out of the way, the Xbox Developer Direct was bookended by Avowed, which manages to look better and better with each new reveal, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which seems very different to the games it inspired, namely Tomb Raider and Uncharted. But it was Senua's Saga: Hellblade II that really caught my attention. Ninja Theory created a truly unique experience that could be genuinely unnerving and I almost feel guilty for not seeing the original through to the end. I loved the storytelling, the visuals, the pacing, the top-class audio design and the world itself. Despite pushing through as far as I could, there were too many monsters and not enough shotguns for me to go all the way. Even now I'm unsure of how events played out, as I've convinced myself I'm going to finish it. One day. The combat is said to be very different in the sequel, though we didn't get to see any, outside of a brief cutscene. I'm not interested in a Dark Souls level of difficulty, but something a little more complex and engaging would certainly be welcome. I've purposely avoided many story details and the developers appear to be following suit, instead talking mainly about the production of Hellblade II and how they are committed to providing an in-depth representation of Senua's psychosis. They did a pretty good job the first time around, I couldn't ever be sure if all of the sights and sounds were "real" or not. Or which voices, if any, I should be listening to. It's a relief that the voices in my own head all sound like me and can be safely ignored. James Parry  Given that I only just talked about how much I’m looking forward to Avowed, you’d think I’d be the perfect audience for the first segment of Xbox’s presentation, going behind the scenes at Obsidian to see how the game is shaping up. From the limited amount of actual gameplay we saw, it’s definitely ticking the right boxes, but, more importantly, the passion and excitement the devs talk about the game is what really gets me curious about exploring this world. While acknowledging this is yet another game I will play and never finish. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, may avoid that fate however, given it is reportedly only about 8 hours long and is a very focused, linear narrative. The cerebral aspect, which delves into the psychological trauma of the character from the first game, also adds a surprising amount of depth to the character, even as someone who hasn’t jumped into the series before. While the Civilisation series has been a mainstay of my gaming past, I can’t say there’s too much new or innovative going on in Ara: History Untold for me, but perhaps I am judging a book too much by its cover. Or perhaps, given its historical focus, that should be judging a…manuscript by its cover? Finally, there’s no surprise that a licence as well-known as Indiana Jones would get another gaming outing at some point, and if any team can make the whip-cracking adventurer work in first person, it’s Machine Games. In the end, a strong showing for Xbox, indicating a handful of good-looking titles coming to Game Pass this year, but are any of them real blockbuster smashes which expect to bring in new players by the thousand? For those of us already subscribed, I suppose it doesn’t matter. More good games out in the world can’t be a bad thing, right? |
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