The list of new PS5 and PS4 games for the week beginning July 8, 2024, is made up almost entirely of indie games although there is plenty of choice. The highlight of the week will be truck driving simulator Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition, although there’s also a blast from the past in the form of Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III.

All PS5 and PS4 July 8 to 14, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of July 8 to 14, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Cazzarion: Mosquito Hunt (July 8)
• Let’s Journey (July 8)
• Racing Bros: Mafias Revenge (July 8)
• Lifeless Moon (July 9)
• Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master (July 9)
• Spin Rhythm XD (July 9)
• No Brakez (July 10)
• True Colours – A Date With Deception (July 10)
• Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition (July 11)
• The Boys Escape (July 11)
• Disaster Band (July 11)
• Hamster Playground (July 11)
• Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III (July 11)
• Prune & Milo (July 11)
• TimeMelters (July 11)
• Astral Escape (July 12)
• Cola Riders (July 12)
• Deathchron (July 12)
• Infinite Inside (July 12)
• Platform Twister (July 12)
• Thief Simulator 2 (July 12)
• True Virus (July 12)
• Cubic Riders (July 13)

PS4 Games

• Rescue Team 911 Simulator – Ambulance, Police, Firefighter (July 9)
• Spin Rhythm XD (July 9)
• No Brakez (July 10)
• True Colours – A Date With Deception (July 10)
• The Boys Escape (July 11)
• Hamster Playground (July 11)
• Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III (July 11)
• Astral Escape (July 12)
• Cola Riders (July 12)
• Deathchron (July 12)
• Platform Twister (July 12)
• Thief Simulator 2 (July 12)
• True Virus (July 12)
• Cubic Riders (July 13)

A total of 23 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 13 titles. Alaskan Road Truckers: Highway Edition does exactly what it says on the tin, challenging players with extreme weather, truck maintenance issues, and risky shortcuts as they try to make money as an Alaskan Trucker. Other simulators offer experiences such as a thief or, on the other end of the scale, members of the emergency services.

Bubble Bobble III makes its way to modern-day consoles more than 30 years after its initial release. With the aid of magical parasols, Bubby and Bobby must save their neighboring planets from an evil menace. Other notable games include the dungeon builder Naheulbeuk’s Dungeon Master and the visual novel True Colours – A Date With Deception.

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Team Asobi launched a new Astro’s Playroom update, with the second of four new Bots available now. Players who unlock these new bots can bring them into the upcoming Astro Bot, which releases on September 6.

What’s in the new Astro’s Playroom update?

Team Asobi’s studio head, Nicolas Doucet, reiterated in Monday’s PlayStation Blog post that the upcoming Astro Bot game sees players rescuing 300 bots scattered across multiple galaxies. Half of them are cameo Bots referencing other PlayStation games. These include Bloodborne and Returnal, from which Astro’s Playroom got the first two new Special Bots. Players have been able to unlock Lady Maria since last month, with the Bot version of Returnal protagonist Selene arriving in the second update.

As with the previous Astro’s Playroom update, the studio tasked the player with finding Selene somewhere in the game and then completing a puzzle to rescue her. According to Team Asobi’s Studio Head, Nicolas Doucet, players found and freed Lady Maria in under three hours. The next new Bot arrives in August, with the fourth coming in September. Based on the trophy names and teasers, they will be based on Gran Turismo and Ape Escape.

How to unlock Lady Maria and Selene

To unlock Lady Maria, Astro’s Playroom players need to head to the Render Forest area in the CPU jungle. Maria’s capsule will appear when players climb to the top of a large plant behind the Bloodborne Hunter Bot. They then need to search the trees above for a clock symbol matching the one on the pod. Standing near the clock and pressing the Options button brings up a screen where players must enter the date 24/11/2015, the release date for Bloodborne’s The Old Hunters DLC. Doing so unlocks Lady Maria and the Hunted Down trophy.

Meanwhile, the Selene Bot is in the Deep Dataspace of Astro’s Playroom’s SSD Speedway. To the left of the buried Ball Shooter chest is a swirling vortex. Players must jump toward the vortex to land on the hidden platform to reveal Selene’s pod. Then, they must proceed through the shooting section, stopping in the room with the low-hanging lights. They will find a small astronaut doll on the walkways above. This being a Returnal reference, players then need to die and respawn to free Selene.

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During the Capcom Next show, the publisher released a demo for Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess that allows players to unlock Okami tie-in items. By working together and completing a challenge, the Okami collaboration weapons and costumes can be unlocked for free in time for the game’s release later this month.

How to get the Okami items for free

The Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess demo offers several early stages from the main game that can be replayed as many times as wanted. While doing this, players have to collaboratively complete two challenges across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. The deadline for completing these is 3:59 BST on July 18, 2024, when the demo will be removed from the PlayStation Store.

The first challenge is to exorcise the defilement or the Seethe to drop a total of one billion crystals in the demo. Completing this will unlock Amaterasu’s Soh costume and the Thunder Edge weapon.

The second challenge is to find 15 of the hidden Lucky Mallets. Those who find the mallets must then take a photo of their achievement and post the picture as a reply to the campaign post on X (formerly Twitter). Completing this will unlock Waka’s Yoshiro costume and a special Okami collaboration soundtrack. Knowing that Twitter integration has been removed from PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Capcom says that players can take a picture of their TV/monitor screen via devices such as smartphone if trying to transfer an image via the console’s photo-sharing feature is too cumbersome.

The game’s official website features a progress tracker for both challenges, although this doesn’t update in real-time. If the two challenge targets are met, the items will be delivered in a free title update at launch on July 19. Capcom didn’t specify what would happen if players didn’t manage to complete the challenge, although we assume the items will be available from the PlayStation Store at a later date.

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A PS5 vs Xbox Series X performance analysis conducted by tech experts over at Digital Foundry finally explains why games tend to run better on the PS5. Despite Xbox Series X being labeled the most “powerful” console in the market today, games on the console often suffer from relatively inferior performance, and as part of their research into the matter, Digital Foundry spoke to developers to get some insight.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X performance: why Sony’s console outperforms Microsoft’s

It all seems to come down to the way the PS5 is set up (thanks, Mark Cerny). Digital Foundry has heard from developers who have said that PS5’s GPU compiler is far more efficient than Xbox Series X’s, and that Sony utilizes its graphics tech better than Microsoft. Apparently, Xbox Series X’s split memory is also impacting performance.

Then comes the GPU. Developers have said that the PS5’s GPU simply runs faster, and as a result, works better with some game engines. “A more efficient GPU compiler, lower-level APIs and higher clock speeds allows PlayStation 5 to match or even exceed the outputs of Xbox Series X in some scenarios,” Digital Foundry concludes.

The full article is an interesting read, so make sure to check it out over on Eurogamer.

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Kruger & Flint’s hardcore throwback shooter Bloodhound has spilled onto PlayStation consoles in all its gory glory.

In Bloodhound, the player takes on the role of a member of a secret faction of the Templar order, which must stop the demonic cult of the devilish Astaroth.

Bloodhound trailer

The gameplay refers to classic games, focusing primarily on dynamics and a high level of brutality. The creators point to inspiration from old shooters such as Doom, Quake and Painkiller. The style of the game mainly refers to various apocalyptic motifs.

In July 2023, the game debuted on PC, and later also received a free expansion – Juicy Retro Style!, thanks to which Bloodhound becomes a pixel boomer shooter. The update also improved gunplay and introduced additional story inserts. The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions also include this DLC.

Bloodhound – main features:

· intense and bloody gameplay;

· 16 types of enemies and 5 bosses;

· various gameplay modes;

· satisfying arsenal of 10 weapons;

· energetic heavy metal music by Sons of Amon.

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We enter the second half of the year on a quieter note, although the list of new PS5 and PS4 games for the week beginning July 1, 2024, does have some notable titles. The highlight of the week is likely to be Zenless Zone Zero, the latest game from Genshin Impact developer MiHoYo. There’s also free-to-play shooter The First Descendant and the latest in the The Legend of Heroes: Trails series.

All PS5 and PS4 July 1 to 7, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of July 1 to 7, 2024.

PS5 Games

• The First Descendant (July 2)
• Hot Blood (July 2)
• Backrooms Brotherhood (July 3)
• Offroad Mechanic Simulator (July 3)
• Parkitect: Deluxe Edition (July 3)
• Elemental Cube (July 4)
• Fate Seeker II (July 4)
• Scholar’s Mate (July 4)
• Zenless Zone Zero (July 4)
• Bouncy Chicken (July 5)
• Creature Lab (July 5)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero (July 5)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak (July 5)
• Overdrive Blaster (July 5)
• Platform Twister (July 5)
• The Street 10 VR (July 6)

PS4 Games

• Aquatic Life: Fish Simulator RPG (July 2)
• The First Descendant (July 2)
• Hot Blood (July 2)
• Backrooms Brotherhood (July 3)
• Parkitect: Deluxe Edition (July 3)
• Border Police: Contraband Simulator 2024 (July 4)
• Elemental Cube (July 4)
• Fate Seeker II (July 4)
• Scholar’s Mate (July 4)
• Bouncy Chicken (July 5)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero (July 5)
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak (July 5)
• Platform Twister (July 5)

A total of 16 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly shorter list of 13 titles. Hoyoverse’s urban fantasy action RPG will be hoping to replicate the success of Genshin Impact. It’s off to a great start as the target of 40 million pre-registrations has been smashed and players can still grab the rewards by signing up before the game’s release date.

Elsewhere, third-person online co-op looter shooter The First Descendent will pit player-controlled Descendents against alien invaders taking over the planet of Ingris. There’s also The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak; the first game in the Trails Through Daybreak story arc finally makes its way west after a release in Japan two years ago.

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Astro Bot’s file size has been revealed, and it’s not a small game. While Astro’s playroom, which comes pre-loaded on PS5, is only around 11 GB, the sequel takes up more space than the base game of Elden Ring.

What is Astro Bot’s file size on PS5?

Team Asobi’s upcoming platformer weighs in at around 66 gigabytes, or about six times the size of its predecessor. As one Reddit user quickly pointed out, that’s more than Elden Ring, which is only about 60 GB before the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Astro Bot’s file size information comes from a photo of the back of the box shared on Twitter. While most of the text is in Japanese, the file size is clearly shown below the lower-left screenshot.

This file size doesn’t necessarily mean that Astro Bot is bigger than Elden Ring. Still, it’s a good indication of what fans are getting and how much space PS5 users will need to keep clear.

Releasing September 6, Astro Bot is the third game in the series, which started with Rescue Mission for the original PSVR. The second game, Astro’s Playroom, served as a tech demo for the PS5’s DualSense controller. However, while it only had 16 levels, the highly anticipated sequel is a full-length game. It has more than 80 levels split between 50 planets in 6 galaxies. Astro will also have new abilities, and the game features new mechanics like boss fights at the end of each galaxy.

Like Astro’s Playroom, Astro Bot also features unlockable “VIP bots” based on other PlayStation properties. Players can recruit over 150 of these crossover robots in the upcoming game.

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Don’t Nod has delayed the release date of its upcoming narrative adventure Lost Records: Bloom & Rage to avoid the release of the next installment of Life is Strange. Life is Strange: Double Exposure is set to be released on October 29, 2024, and Lost Records’ new release date window will avoid this completely.

The new Lost Records: Bloom & Rage release date window

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage will now be released on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in early 2025, after the developer performed an “in-depth assessment of recent trends and developments in the industry.” The game will be released in two parts, with the second part to follow a month later. This means it is now avoiding its previously announced late 2024 release date window.

Don’t Nod’s CEO Oskar Guilbert said: “We know that many of our fans are eagerly awaiting this game, just as they are the recently announced next installment of Life is Strange. Let’s give both titles the space they need to be enjoyed by our players within the large community we have built. We firmly believe that the wait for Bloom & Rage will be worth it. We look forward to sharing this new adventure, which we hope will become another memorable chapter in the DON’T NOD universe.”

Bloom & Rage will be the first game in Don’t Nod’s new Lost Records universe. The game is set in the fictional town of Velvet Cove during the summer of 1995. Swann, Nora, Autumn, and Kat are four high school friends spending the summer together. Players assume the role of Swann, who films her friends through her camcorder.

However, a downward spiral leads to an unexplained event that changes all of their lives. They promise to never speak or see each other again until, 27 years later, fate forces them back together to confront these dark secrets. Players will get to shape the course of the storyline in 1995 and 2022.

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The final season of Telltale Games’ Sam & Max series is back with a new look thanks to indie studio Skunkape Games. The studio announced the release date for Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered on Thursday. While the original was a PC and PlayStation 3 exclusive, the remaster is available on all current and last-gen platforms.

When is the Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered release date?

Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse launches for PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on August 14. Skunkape announced the remaster with a new trailer showing off the updated graphics. The studio also released a set of images demonstrating the improved lighting, shadows, and visual effects. The developers also fixed bugs, restored cut content, and overhauled many of the game’s environments. The remaster also features an improved user interface and new accessibility settings.

Originally released by Telltale Games in 2010, Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse sees the titular duo caught up in psychic shenanigans. It begins with the unhinged rabbit Max stumbling across a supernatural toy that gives him a vision of the future. Their search for the Toys of Power pits the Freelance Police against villains from across the galaxy.  “As those who seek the Devil’s Toybox close in and Max’s psychic abilities grow beyond his control,” says Skunkape, “the Freelance Police will come up against their most frightening adversary yet: the power of Max’s mind.”

The Devil’s Playhouse Remastered is the third Sam & Max remaster from Skunkape. Made up of former Telltale developers, it acquired the rights to the series following Telltale’s shutdown in 2018.

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Dead by Daylight spinoff The Casting of Frank Stone may have had its release date revealed, according to a supposed leak.

A post on the leaksDBD subreddit shows that the Supermassive Games title will be released on September 3, 2024. The game will also be hyped up within Dead by Daylight.

The leak also includes a QR code for a “Buy Now” page, but it is currently offline. The message featured in the leak reads as follows.

“Step out of The Fog and experience a never-before-seen side of Dead by Daylight with The Casting of Frank Stone, available September 3. Decide the fate of four friends in the summer of 1980, and guide their shoot of Murder Mill, a soon-to-be cult classic with an insidious influence.”

The Casting of Frank Stone details

The Casting of Frank Stone takes place in the world of Dead by Daylight, but will be a narrative-driven adventure akin to Supermassive’s The Dark Pictures anthology and The Quarry.

The shadow of Frank Stone looms over Cedar Hills, a town forever altered by his violent past. As a group of young friends are about to discover, Stone’s blood-soaked legacy cuts deep, leaving scars across families, generations, and the very fabric of reality itself.

In the depths of an Oregon steel mill, the gruesome crimes of a sadistic killer spawn horrors beyond comprehension. Delve into the mystery of Cedar Hills alongside an original cast of characters bound together on a twisted journey where nothing is quite as it seems.

Every decision you make shapes the story and impacts the fate of the characters within it. Brimming with emotional gut-punches and high-stakes horror, discover how a simple decision can become a truly heart-wrenching dilemma

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