With E3 being put out to pasture, Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest (SGF) seems to have taken up the mantle as the go-to industry event for publishers, developers, and games media to flock to during summer. We had a chance to attend this year’s event, and have rounded up the best games that we got to check out, either through hands-on demos or closed-door presentations.

Afterlove EP

Chances are, Afterlove EP hasn’t popped up on your radar before. Developed by Indonesian studio Pikselnesia, this hybrid dating sim/visual novel/rhythm game stood out at SGF. That can (partly) be chalked up to its slower-paced nature (compared to something like Phantom Blade Zero, which was being demoed nearby), but also because of its deeply personal nature. Pikselnesia’s founder and creative director, Mohammad Fahmi, passed away during the game’s development, and in many ways, Afterlove EP feels like a tribute to him. Set in a digital recreation of Jakarta (where Fahmi) grew up, the story focuses on Rama, a young musician still dealing with his girlfriend’s death.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

As someone who fell off the Assassin’s Creed bandwagon a long time ago, Shadows might just be the entry that will bring me back into the fold. While we didn’t get to play this one for ourselves, the idea of being able to switch back and forth between a nimble, stealthy ninja and a lumbering behemoth of a samurai shows a lot of promise and it’s certainly a far cry from the rigid stealth mechanics that defined the franchise during its early years.

Delta Force: Hawk Ops

At this point, I’ve butchered this Delta Force Hawk Ops about a half-dozen times, usually referring to it as a jumble of words from the following list: Delta, Black, Ops, Force, America, and Hawk. My favorite so far is when I called it Black Ops: Hawk Force. Jokes aside, Delta Force is, in many ways, a mish-mash of mechanics and features from a few other AAA shooters. As a lapsed Battlefield fan, I instantly felt at home jumping into the attack/defend-centric Havoc Warfare, while Hazard Operations is geared more towards those who enjoy extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov. The third piece of the puzzle, Delta Force’s narrative campaign, was MIA at SGF, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled for its eventual reveal.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Not unlike Assassin’s Creed Shadows, we only got to see Dragon Age: The Veilguard as part of a developer-led gameplay presentation. Still, EA’s next entry in the long-running series has a lot going for it, and it could be the boost BioWare needed following the rather lackluster Anthem and the much-maligned Mass Effect Andromeda. The shift to more action-focused combat and a cinematic presentation might draw the ire of those who preferred the slower-paced nature of the first two games, but the dev team seems intent on delivering something that everyone can sink their teeth into. Appealing to a wide range of players is a lofty goal, so we’ll have to wait and see if BioWare can pull it off.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

Criminally, we only got to go hands-on with Elden Ring‘s upcoming DLC for a measly 30 minutes, but what we got to play was glorious. We won’t try to figure out the story based on our brief play session, but on the gameplay side, what we did see was very promising. From entirely new weapon types, enemies, bosses, and a huge area to explore, Shadow of the Erdtree is shaping up to be something special, and unlike every other game on this list, it’s set to release in just a few days. While I was sad to hear that this new DLC won’t add any new endings or impact existing ones, there’s a good chance this expansion will answer a lot of lingering questions that players have been obsessing over for the past two years.

Marvel Rivals

Yes, we are well aware that Marvel Rivals bears a few similarities to other hero shooters (namely, Overwatch), but this upcoming free-to-play title has a few tricks up its sleeve. Tapping into decades worth of existing material, Marvel Rivals features a sizable roster from the get-go, a mix of traditional shooter mechanics with more traversal-focused characters (Spider-Man, in particular, stands out from the pack), and a team-up system that lets specific characters play off each other. With a closed beta test rolling out in July, there’s a chance that some of you will get to take this for a spin before the rest of us.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Rounding out the trinity of “games we got to see but not play for ourselves” is Monster Hunter Wilds, though in this case, I kind of get why Capcom went this route. As an evolution of what we saw in Monster Hunter World, it should come as no surprise that Wilds is as complicated to jump into for the first time, and I can safely say that I would have died in record time if I was the one with my hands on the controls. Thankfully, the devs running the presentation know what they’re doing, and what we saw on display was incredibly impressive. As expected, the game’s environments are massive and constantly shifting, and it’s pretty wild (yes, pun intended) to watch how quickly the terrain and wildlife can change as a storm rolls in or out of the area. Thankfully, small quality-of-life inclusions like rideable mounts and mobile camps should ease the breaking-in process that every newcomer has to endure.

New World: Aeternum

I have to admit — I completely dismissed New World when it launched on PC in 2021, both because I’ve never been drawn to the genre and I primarily play games on consoles. New World: Aeternum, on the other hand, has piqued my interest. In fact, despite being an MMORPG, I was able to play through the first hour or so of the game solo, only teaming up with other players for a few combat encounters. As someone who prefers single-player RPGs that are more in line with say, the Witcher series, New World: Aeternum might just be my door into the world of MMOs.

Parcel Corps

On paper, Billy Goat Entertainment’s Parcel Corps is my dream game. It’s a modern mashup of everything you like about Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio, where you play as a freelance bike courier, diving headfirst into the gig economy as you scramble to deliver packages quickly. Like any good game, it’s easy to pick up, but mastering wall rides, rail grinds, weaving around traffic, and figuring out the fastest routes will certainly take some practice.

While Waiting

While Waiting is the only game on our list that isn’t confirmed to be coming to PlayStation, since the developers made a note to tell us that it’s fully playable with a controller, we’re certainly hoping that it makes the jump to Sony’s consoles. Much in the same way that Untitled Goose Game is a puzzle game disguised as a chaotic goose simulator, While Waiting is a puzzle game that’s disguised as… a game about waiting. In fact, you can technically “beat” each level (which typically only lasts a few minutes) by simply doing nothing, but the real challenge comes in poking around and experimenting with your surroundings to try and solve small puzzles. In many ways, While Waiting encourages players to intentionally cause havoc and push the boundaries of each level — as a game critic and game developer, it’s very much up my alley.

The post Our Favorite Games From Summer Game Fest 2024 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

As I sat down for one of EA‘s closed-door presentations of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it didn’t take long for me to sense the excitement in the air. Despite this being a hands-off presentation of the game’s first hour, it was hard not to notice the plastered smiles and excited whispers coming from my fellow writers and content creators to the left and right of me. And this makes sense; it’s been a decade since players have gotten their hands on a new Dragon Age, and BioWare‘s other offerings over the past 10 years weren’t exactly slam dunks.

With the game’s director, Corrine Busche, guiding us through the first hour of the game, it became clear that the dev team was looking to open up the world of Dragon Age to all types of players, from more casual newcomers to those who logged countless hours across the franchise’s other titles. Of course, as you’d expect from most western RPGs at this point, the presentation kicked off with an overview of the character creator.

Your Character

Now, if I’m being honest, spending an hour or two obsessing over my character’s and eye color and facial scars is not something I normally place a lot of importance on, but I know I’m probably in the minority on that. To their credit though, BioWare looks to have spend a lot time and effort to craft a robust character creation system, even going so far as to make sure skin tones and hair styles look great throughout the course of your adventure.

“We wanted to make sure skin tones were well represented,” Corrine explained, “including the under hues that influence how our skin shows up under different lighting conditions, even controlling for levels of melanin.”

And I have to admit, the end result looked rather good, thanks in part to the ability to look at your character under several different lighting conditions representative of in-game locales and settings. It only took a few minutes to throw together a great looking character, and there are plenty of presets and randomizers at your disposal should you want to get into the game in as little time as possible.

Your Combat

While Dragon Age: The Veilguard only features three core classes (Rogue, Warrior, and Mage), Corrine explained that each one can pick from different specializations to better align with one’s intended playstyle.

“Each class has three bespoke and unique specializations that are really classes unto themselves. The duelist plays much different to the saboteur, who prefers to use gadgets, turrets and bombs. The Veil Ranger is my personal favorite [Rogue] specialization, as it prioritizes the bow arrow and can magically infuse arrows. Now, each of these specializations are unique per class, and are backed up by an incredibly robust skill tree which is also unique per class. It really allows you to customize and curate how you exist and how your gameplay experience plays out to your tastes.”

Admittedly, I was a bit surprised to see the combat adopting a stronger focus on action — if you’ve checked out any footage of the game in action, you’ll probably notice how the camera is a bit closer to your player, lending a more intimate feel that I normally associate with third-person action-adventure games. It’s a noticeable difference compared to say the first or second Dragon Age, but BioWare has taken some steps to provide options for those who prefer a slower-paced, strategic experience.

Sure, you can’t control your companions directly, but along with firing off abilities using more recognizable button combos, you can also use any of these abilities by pulling up an ability wheel. This completely pauses the game, which helps to slow down the sometimes frantic pace for those who would rather not deal with juggling their companions in real time.

Your Companions

If you’re a purist who’s worried that The Veilguard isn’t your grandfather’s Dragon Age, you’ll be delighted to hear that the battle-tested dialogue and companion system from previous games is back in full force. Completely separate from class or species, you’ll be able to select a backstory for your created character, which also unlocks new dialogue options that are unique to that background.

As you’d come to expect, being able to choose your own dialogue can have both short-term and long-term impacts, whether it’s affecting how specific plot arcs unfold, or influencing how your companions think about and treat you. For those of you who are far more in touch with Dragon Age’s lore than I am, you’ll probably get a kick out of seeing fan-favorites like Varric or Harding, who serve as your companions (along with a few other new characters).

While I’m by no means concerned, one niggling thought that I couldn’t get rid of was that The Veilguard might be trying to appease too wide of an audience, losing its uniqueness and core identity in the process. That being said, if there’s a studio capable of striking a careful balance like this, BioWare would be a top contender — and I’m certainly hoping that they are propelled back into the AAA game dev spotlight when Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases this fall.

The post Dragon Age: The Veilguard Preview: A Little Somethin’ For Everyone appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Oh, there are also guns. And grappling hooks. And you can decapitate your enemies. Yeah, if it wasn’t obvious already, let’s just get it out of the way: Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a bit bonkers.

And to be clear, that’s not a bad thing. Ubisoft’s flagship franchise is nearly 20 years old at this point, and while it’s certainly showing no signs of slowing down, one could argue that the series could use a bit of a shakeup. While stealth and free-running play first fiddle in the vast majority of Assassin’s Creed titles, recent entries like Odyssey and Valhalla have gone the opposite direction, putting an emphasis on combat and exploration and stripping away the core mechanics that helped put Assassin’s Creed on the map all those years ago.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks to offer up the best of both worlds, and it’s pulling this off by revisiting the idea of having two protagonists. This time around, however, these aren’t simply reskins of the same character. Instead, Shadows puts players in the shoes (boots? I’ll be honest, I don’t know what samurai and shinobi wear) of Naoe, a female ninja who is trying to find her place in a rapidly evolving world, and Yusuke, a foreign-born samurai warrior who is simultaneously accepted and isolated in his new surroundings.

While I didn’t get a chance to go hands-on with Shadows, a few developers from Ubisoft Quebec walked us through the same section of gameplay to really hammer home just how different these two characters feel. Starting with Yusuke, it only took a few seconds to see how differently he is perceived by others. Shortly after arriving in the bustling castle town of Fukuchiyama, he’s met with an equal mix of reverence and fear; some townsfolk might bow in his presence, while others cower away in fear. Of course, it only took a minute or two before Yusuke found himself in combat with a few corrupt samurai, and this is when Assassin’s Creed Shadow’s brutality comes to light.

I won’t beat around the bush –– Yusuke hits like a tank, and the developers have not tried to downplay the gore. Starting out with his kanabo (translation: giant, two-handed war club), Yusuke quickly laid waste to his fellow samurai, with a few heads literally rolling on the ground by the end of it (I also caught a glimpse of a nearby oblivious NPC accidentally catching a devastating swing directly to his face, though as he flew off screen, I wasn’t sure if this was intended or not). All of this power does, as you’d expect, come with its own tradeoffs. Yusuke is a noticeably slow fighter, and while switching to his katana does speed him up a smidgen, he’s nowhere near as graceful or fluid as Ghost of Tsushima’s Jin.

And that’s where Naoe comes in. When infiltrating the town’s castle to assassinate a corrupt daimyo (read: Feudal Japan-era lord), she can make full use of the abilities you’ve come to associate with the series. As a nimble and light ninja, Naoe can hop across rooftops, scale walls, and use her grappling hook for both non-lethal takedowns and hiding on ceilings. She also has a few weapons to complement her hidden blade (the kusarigama, in particular, is a favorite of mine), and she has a few new stealth moves of her own, including crawling through shallow water while remaining hidden, complete with breathing through a bamboo reed.

On the second play-through of this same mission, I got to see how playing as Yusuke would unfold. True to his hulking size, Yusuke cannot hop from rooftop to rooftop or parkour his way to success, instead opting to systematically walk through the castle’s interior grounds, decimating anyone who comes in his way, whether it be with his trusty war club or his slightly-more-modern rifle. Oh yes, there are guns in this game, I wasn’t kidding when I wrote that earlier.

And it’s this dichotomy that has piqued our interest in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The franchise has previously explored swapping out stealth and free-running in favor of more direct combat, but it’s never tried to include both of these distinct playstyles into one cohesive experience. And yes, while this is accomplished by simply giving the player the option to swap between Yusuke and Naoe, the world Ubisoft Quebec has crafted looks to take both of these playstyles into account. Where Naoe would silently climb over a locked gate, Yusuke would barrel right through it. When she decides to pick off enemies from afar with her trusty kunai, he opts to beat them to a bloody pulp, sending their bodies (and, sometimes, heads) flying through the air.

It’s not entirely clear whether Assassin’s Creed Shadows will succeed in having its cake and eating it too, but it certainly looks like Ubisoft might pull it off, and I can’t wait to determine that for myself when the game launches on November 15.

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25 years ago, Silent Hill made waves on the PlayStation and enlightened the world of video game horror, helping to shape the future classics of the genre. Long before the renaissance of heroic and caring video game dads, Harry Mason was looking for his daughter in a fog-ridden town, facing down hellish monsters while fear ran rampant, but he wouldn’t let anything stand in his way. Team Silent worked hard to make their protagonist the everyman, but he was also a complex and engaging character.

Harry is a novel writer, intelligent and practical, but willing to believe in things he may not fully understand. He’s physically capable, able to make quick decisions, and decent enough with a gun to defend himself, but he’s far from an action hero. What makes him stronger is his devotion to his adopted daughter, Cheryl, who he and his wife, Jodie, found on the side of the road. With his ward gone missing in the corrupted town after a car accident, he braves the dangers and embarks on a mission to save her, never losing focus of that goal. He doesn’t seem religious, even with some of the apparent demonic influence and black magic he encounters. He’s rationalizing what they’ve seen, opening up believing in the Otherworld, but pessimism certainly acts as a cornerstone of his beliefs. Harry worries constantly about his daughter’s safety, which leads him to give his child a stun gun when she’s older and kill a cult member to keep her a secret, but that’s later on. 

“I don’t like this feeling. Like something bad will happen… No doubt, something terrible is going on.”

There are a lot of parents who say they’ll do anything for their children, but few people are asked to literally go through a nightmarish hellscape and battle a god. He’s a single father, as Jodie passed away four years prior, but at no point does Harry question his purpose or reconsider his actions for the child they took in. During his adventure, Harry encounters other residents of Silent Hill, most of them women with vastly different personalities. Potentially, these ladies remind Harry of his daughter, or at least the type of woman she could become. Not all of them have Harry’s best interest in mind, but that’s fine. They aren’t his primary concern either.

Our protagonist does have his moments where he can be despondent, blinded by his goals, and slightly caustic, especially in some of his conversations with his allies. Players see a prominent example of Harry’s coldness in his final conversation with Lisa Garland, who is really going through it at the end. She’s one of the most interesting and tragic characters in the game, but the moment Harry realizes that she might be a part of the darker world he’s seen, he refuses to embrace or comfort her, even pushing her back as she cries. He shuts her in the room, bracing against the door while Lisa bangs on it. It’s heartbreaking, but also hard to blame him, as she could have attacked Harry or become another obstacle in the way of reaching Cheryl.

We also see this in his willingness to slay Cybil Bennett, a police officer who is stuck in Silent Hill as well and becomes the victim of a parasite that forces her to attack Harry. The player can either acquire items to save her from the menace or simply murder her. I always felt that Cybil was a great character for what little time she had on screen, and I tried to help her (though I failed the first time). It turns out that canonically, she was slain by Harry, who does show remorse concerning her death and questions why it had to happen, but it feels like there had to be another way. In the end, Harry can’t save his daughter if he’s dead, and we cannot question his dedication, no matter how many other bodies are stacked up in the process. 

“Cheryl is my daughter. I will save her. No matter what.”

The game has multiple endings, even one that involves Harry being abducted by aliens. In my recent replaying, I made sure to get the Good+ scenario, which sees Cybil saved, Dr. Michael Kaufmann dealt with, and a chance for Harry to raise his daughter again, but I know that’s not the real outcome. The canonical conclusion sees Harry escape with the child, with no Cybil, making it back to the highway and questioning everything he just witnessed, but that isn’t the ending I preferred for many years.

I’m actually in favor of the Bad ending, partially because it was the outcome I received the first time I ever played the game, but also it seemed the most fitting for Harry’s story and his life as a writer. In this version, the player doesn’t do Kaufmann’s sidequest and kills Cybil, which means we fight a different form of the final boss, our own daughter, who thanks us for ending her pain. Instead of running out or taking a portal, we see our hero crumble, face down, and questioning how this could have happened as the place collapses around him. Then, after the credits, we observe one final shot of Harry back in his jeep at the site of the accident from the beginning of the game. His head is bloody, and the horn is sounding, as we realize he’s died from the wreck and everything we just did was his final thoughts of trying to save his daughter, all created in his head from his hyperactive imagination or as a defense mechanism to combat the realization he was dying. It makes this line from earlier in the game hit harder. 

“Was that another dream? Did I pass out again? I don’t want to think so, but maybe this is all just going on in my head. I could have had a car accident, and now I’m lying unconscious in a hospital bed… I don’t know what’s real anymore…”

I find that outcome compelling, even if it doesn’t align with later games or explain what happened to Cheryl in that version. Something about the inescapable dread and weight of the nightmare that is Silent Hill makes that ending feel right. Even if it means we failed, and Harry had no chance of making it, that’s a solid story. Harry is a good father, but he’s a complicated man who deserves an equally weighty ending. Janky combat, annoying puzzles, tank controls and all, I will always love Harry’s nightmare, even if I like to play with the outcomes a little.

The post Silent Hill 25 Years Later: Harry Situations appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Unfortunately, 2023 wasn’t the best year for PlayStation exclusives. The only title from Sony’s stable to make it on our Game of the Year 2023 list is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. However, there were plenty of third-party masterpieces to make up for it. Check out our favorite games of the year below!

PlayStation LifeStyle Game of the Year 2023 List:

10. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Cyberpunk 2077’s had a long road to redemption. When Son kicked the game off the PlayStation Store because of technical issues, we never thought its DLC would end up on our Game of the Year list two years later. Phantom Liberty has enough content to be a game in its own right and offers an alternate take on how V’s journey could have ended up. Unfortunately, the DLC and the 2.0 update that launched alongside it are only available on PS5. However, if you have the PS4 version, you can still upgrade for free!

Buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Amazon

9. Final Fantasy 16

It seems inevitable that Final Fantasy 16 will be one of the more divisive entries in the series. It primarily concentrates on one character, Clive Rosfield, as opposed to a huge party, and the story is focused on his perspective. For some fans, that eschews franchise tradition, but we appreciated the narrowed focus compared to Final Fantasy 15, which was a bit all over the place. Clive’s story stands out as one of the more poignant we’ve seen in a Final Fantasy, and it’s a spectacle to behold.

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8. Assassin’s Creed Mirage

This pseudo-prequel to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes the series back to its roots and pays homage to the original. Unlike the sprawling epics we’ve gotten in the last few entries, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is localized to 9th-century Baghdad and ditches many of the role-playing elements to emphasize stealth, assassinations, and parkour. We couldn’t help but be relieved to play a distilled experience, and Basim Ibn Ishaq’s origin story reminded us why we fell in love with the franchise in the first place.

Buy Assassin’s Creed Mirage on Amazon

7. Hogwarts Legacy

Despite the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter franchise, Hogwarts Legacy managed to captivate us with its rendition of the titular wizarding school and the surrounding countryside. For those of us who grew up alongside Harry, the chance to attend Hogwarts was a dream come true. Exploring its nooks and crannies, attending classes, and seeing the many easter eggs the developers included was a treat. Where Hogwarts Legacy goes above and beyond, though, is that the gameplay is fun enough to stand on its own merits. Even if this is your first visit to Hogwarts, you can still have a blast and leave wanting more.

Buy Hogwarts Legacy on Amazon

6. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order itched the scratch Star Wars fans had for years when it was released in 2019, and we couldn’t wait to get back to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. It’s everything the first game was, but bigger and better. Cal gets more abilities and equipment, environments are more expensive, and we even get to chill in a cantina whenever we want. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor provides the excitement that most of Disney’s projects have lacked and has done much more to keep the franchise alive than it gets credit for.

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5. Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 is our favorite fighting game of the year because of its respect for newcomers and veterans. It’s an excellent point to enter the series, thanks to its revamped mechanics and multiple control options. However, it still retains enough of the franchise’s traditions to keep from alienating those who cut their teeth on SF 2-5. We also loved the absolutely bonkers story mode that channeled Yakuza to make one of the best create-a-fighter experiences ever. If you have even a little interest in the fighting genre, it’s worth checking this game out.

Buy Street Fighter 6 on Amazon

4. Resident Evil 4 remake

Resident Evil 4 revolutionized the series when it debuted in 2005 and is lauded as one of the best games ever. Its influence on gaming as a whole is so strong that many doubted that a remake could do it justice. However, Capcom managed to pull off a fantastic retelling that complements the original perfectly. Almost every aspect of the original has been remade or expanded, and the updated gameplay makes blasting through Ganados a thrill. Resident Evil 4 remake is another excellent entry in the alternate continuity started with RE2 remake, and we’re excited to see which game gets reimagined next (fingers crossed for Code Veronica)!

Buy Resident Evil 4 remake on Amazon

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Marvel’s Spider-Man and its Miles Morales-centric follow-up were hard acts to follow. Somehow, Insomniac Games managed to outdo themselves and then some with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Peter Parker and Miles join forces to take on a multitude of threats while navigating their personal lives. From Kraven the Hunter’s militaristic menace to the symbiote Venom sapping Peter of both his good nature and healthy relationships, this gutsy sequel took an already solid foundation and gave both heroes an expanded inventory of unlockable abilities, gadgets, and suits with which fans could explore and defend New York City. While this movie could have resulted in a tired storyline or rote gameplay loop, instead it strengthened an already excellent series with thoughtful writing, inclusive characters, and comic book-powered combat to satisfy all players. The biggest problem with this tandem adventure is that it eventually has to end.

Buy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Amazon

2. Baldur’s Gate 3

Player agency has been a hot topic in the gaming industry for decades. Some studios like to keep players focused on the task at hand, while others open their worlds up for a bit more interaction. However, with Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios went beyond this. It removed practically all limitations to how a player could affect their surroundings. See a locked door? You can talk the key out of an NPC, blow it down, find a hidden route to completely bypass it, or simply ignore it. The challenge in this CRPG is to find your way, and there are so many possibilities and so much raw content that everyone’s playthrough will be different.

1. Alan Wake 2

It took 13 years for Alan Wake 2 to be released, but the wait was worth it. FBI agent Saga Anderson joins Alan’s struggle to escape the Dark Place, and we’re once again thrust into the madness surrounding the town of Bright Falls. The plot is a roller coaster examining family, religion, and the supernatural, and it had us hooked from beginning to end. Excellent pacing keeps the lengthy story from becoming a slog, and the ability to alternate between Saga and Alan’s story means each player will have a slightly different experience during their playthrough. While it’s rooted in survival horror, we recommend this game to anyone who wants a strong single-player experience.

The post PlayStation LifeStyle’s Game of the Year 2023 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

2023 gave us two exceptionally good remakes of classic horror games with Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 and EA Motive’s Dead Space, but the approach to each was different. Both approaches were right for the game involved.

Dead to Rights

Dead Space as a series is a fascinatingly frustrating and tragic tale—a franchise slaughtered in the space of half a decade at the altar of consumerism. What began as a promising new sci-fi survival horror series in 2008 had become a dread-inducing benchmark for the general attitude towards horror games and big-budget gaming at companies like EA.

Dead Space 3 is notorious for how far removed it was from the vision of the original. Bloated by microtransactions, a heavier action emphasis and crafting mechanics detracted from the genuinely good ideas in there (the co-op perspective shift, wintry Necromorph action).

Visceral Games would end up suffering hat most undignified of studio deaths as it was folded into EA’s other projects and eventually dissolved.

2022 held the promise of two exciting alternatives to that horrible end for Dead Space. Former Visceal Developers were bringing us a spiritual successor with The Callisto protocol, while EA Motive were tackling a shiny remake of the original Dead Space. Before The Callisto Protocol’s release, you’d be forgiven for thinking the spiritual successor had a better shot at taking the sci-fi horror crown. Still, despite releasing ahead of the Dead Space remake, The Callisto Protocol flopped critically and commercially. The,n of course, Dead Space remake was released at the beginning of this year and proved to be an accomplished reinterpretation of the original.

Its secret? It knew what the original had going for it and made sure to keep that in. But EA Motive also realized there were great moves forward in the sequels, both mechanically and in world-building. So using the skeleton of what came before, EA Motive fleshed out the experience with more intuitive controls, greater freedom, and crucially, made the Ishimura feel a lot less like a set of interconnected levels and more like a massive explorable ship.

Taking God of War’s real-time schtick was a massive benefit in that regard. Dead Space remake moves seamlessly from one horrifying situation to the next and, in doing so, draws you in deeper into Isaac Clarke’s terrible time aboard the Ishimura.

It helped that EA Motive make the game look like a beautiful nightmare. The detail of the environments, the disgusting viscera splattering the walls, the Necromorph’s horrifying human body distortion, and the ship’s greasy industrial thrum. Dead Space is an audiovisual treat.

A Familiar Resident Reemerges

Meanwhile, Capcom was faced with its own tough task, albeit one it had tackled successfully before. How do you remake a beloved survival horror classic?

Resident Evil 4 has aged far better than its predecessors, so there was a lot more opportunity for griping if things about it were changed too much for the remake. But there was no point in slapping a new layer of makeup on the 2005 game’s face beyond the more cynical and obvious ones. So Capcom did not budge from the reimagining vision it had for Resident Evil 2 and 3, but clearly looked at what had been done with the best remake of a Resident Evil game (2002’s Resident Evil) and brought that level of faithful overhauling into the mix.

Resident Evil 4 remake finds the balance between faithful remake and revitalizing reimagining. The knife parry seemed like an odd idea before the game was released, but not only did it get integrated beautifully into the rejigged combat. it fed into the signature mix of the horrifying and the absurd that makes Resident Evil such a magical series.

Where improvements were needed, Capcom addressed them, and inarguably made the overall game stronger for it. While the Ashley sections were never as terrible as some made them out to be in the original, they feel so much more natural in the remake, and giving the character herself more personality and engaging moments in the story ensured this wasn’t just Leon saving the damsel in distress.

With more remakes and remasters in the genre on the way in 2024 with the likes of other classic series returning such as Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, and Clock Tower, it will be interesting to see what approach they take in balancing fan expectations and appealing to a modern audience.

The post Battle of the Horror Remakes appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

From big-name franchise revivals to small-scale indie productions, horror gaming on PlayStation was in good health in 2023. PlayStation LifeStyle selects 14 of the year’s best horror games on PlayStation consoles.

Resident Evil 4 Remake (Capcom)

Few remakes would come with such expectations as Resident Evil 4, and yet Capcom managed to exceed them.

Resident Evil 4 Remake takes everything players loved about the 2005 classic and integrates a flurry of modern touches to make it feel like a natural evolution of the original.

Dead Space (EA Motive)

While Resident Evil 4’s remake reimagined the original, EA Motive’s Dead Space largely stuck to the script with a smattering of improvements where they were needed.

The spirit of the original is kept intact, but a PS5 sheen made every Necromorph encounter and gore-splattered outcome a grisly treat. But the real star of the new show is the Ishimura, which no longer feels like a series of interconnected rooms masquerading as a spaceship but more like an actual place.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse (Marevo Collective)

Finally getting a console release, Marevo Collective’s atmospheric PSX-style horror is a delightful slow-burner that makes the most of its minimalist structure.

The ambiguity of the story keeps players on edge, and when chase scenes kick in, the perspective shift adds another layer to the unsettling atmosphere.

Amnesia The Bunker (Frictional Games)

Frictional Games’ ability to rewrite the rulesets of its story-led horror games is admirable and with Amnesia: The Bunker, it does its biggest edit yet.

Amnesia: The Bunker is a self-contained sandbox set in a wartime bunker where the player has to find the means to escape whilst evading a deadly monstrosity. Think of it as small-scale Alien Isolation meets Immersive Sim.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 (Skydance Interactive)

PSVR2 had plenty of horror goodies in 2023. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners 2 was my personal pick from the brand-new bunch.

Why? Well, its immersive, intense gameplay translates so much better to the PSVR2 than the original game did with PSVR. The dread of getting cornered by the undead is offset by improvised weapons. Throw in a seemingly unstoppable behemoth out for blood and Saints and Sinners 2 will have you working up a sweat.

Killer Frequency (Team 17)

Killer Frequency stands out for me because it’s clearly doing something quite different in the horror space. Playing the part of a washed-up DJ who finds themselves having to help save locals from a returning legendary serial killer. Killer Frequency limits you to the radio station as to the extent of your help, but within that station is plenty of exploration and opportunity.

Not only can you find things to guide potential victims away from their fate, but you get the chance to play as a DJ, putting on records, ads, and, of course, taking calls. Killer Frequency does everything possible to immerse you in the role.

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals (Night School Studios)

Oxenfree’s dialogue system remains one of the most refreshing and ingenious of its kind, so a return to that with Oxenfree II would always be welcome. That system is more refined now, but it’s Oxenfree II’s story is where it excels.

After the teen-centric tale of the original, Oxenfree II shifts things to an adult perspective and, in doing so, gives us a wonderfully melancholy flipside to the first game.

Homebody (Game Grumps)

Homebody puts a modern spin on classic survival horror, with plenty of homages to Clock Tower, especially on show.

A young woman and her friends are stuck in a time loop that keeps them inside a strange old house. She must solve the many puzzles of the house in order to break the loop, but every time the loop begins, the threat of a masked killer arrives with it.

Trepang2 (Trepang Studios)

If you miss the frenetic supernatural shooter action of F.E.A.R. then Trepang2 has your early 2000s needs covered. A labor of love that transformed into a full game, Trepang2 is a lovely reminder that shooters can simply be big, loud, bloody slabs of nonsense.

The slo-mo ability turns large-scale chaos into a ballet of bullets and blood, but truly the art of Trepang2 comes in chaining together kills at full speed, utilizing the various other superpowers at your disposal.

Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment)

Thirteen years after Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake, a sequel finally arrived, and it’s the quintessential distillation of everything the developer has done up until this point.

It’s a weird, meta tale that blends mediums in an impressively seamless way. The shift between Alan’s and Saga’s sides of the story gives us two distinct flavors of horror that intertwine at key moments.

Stay Out of the House (Puppet Combo)

It was pretty remarkable that Amnesia: The Bunker condensed a horror immersive sim into such a small space, but Puppet Combo’s Stay Out of the House manages to pack that into an even smaller space.

You have to escape the house of The Butcher by utilizing whatever you can find. Get caught, and it’s back in your cage. Each run gives you the opportunity to discover more about how the house works and the backstory behind The Butcher.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Gun Media)

After an unfortunate licensing drama with Friday the 13th, Gun Media clearly wasn’t deterred from bringing beloved horror franchises to life in video game form, and we should be glad because it gave us The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Taking the asymmetrical multiplayer model of games like its Friday the 13th game and Dead by Daylight, Gun, and Sumo change things up by pitting a team of three family members against four unlucky potential victims. The change makes for an intense cat-and-mouse dynamic distinct to this game.

Dead Island 2 (Dambuster Studios)

Given the rocky history of Dead Island 2’s path to release and the emergence of rival franchise Dying Light by original Dead Island developers Techland in the years since it would have been understandable if Dead Island 2 turned out to be a bit of a stinker.

Yet, thanks to Dambuster Studios, it turned out to be not only good, gory fun but the best Dead Island game by far. Its tongue-in-cheek humor, detailed zombie degradation system, and general blood-splattered combat combine to make for a fine multiplayer hoot.

Dredge (Black Salt Games)

Fishing has been a staple of game activities for some time now, but few outside actual sims make that the basis for an entire game. Black Salt Games thought it was worth a go, and Dredge was the unholy result.

This open-world fishing sim has an increasingly dark undertone that taps into the core of Lovecraftian horror. The murmured warnings not to stray too far at night, the messed up fish you occasionally haul in, and the strange, ambiguous way locals talk about things. When the horrors of the deep do finally show themselves, your little fishing boat never felt more vulnerable.

The post Best of 2023: PlayStation Horror Games appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

FromSoftware’s games are a lot of things — beautiful, frustrating, obtuse — so it’s incredibly reductive to boil them down to just being difficult. “Just being difficult” wouldn’t have shaken the industry to its core because games like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and The Impossible Game would be the near-universal template if that were the case. 2023’s Lords of the Fallen is not as deft with its assessment of From’s template as it has taken the surface-level analysis of those games and pushed it forward to an annoying degree.

Lords of the Fallen’s irksome qualities are inescapable, too, and are most plainly displayed by how it places its enemies. Soulslikes often have a habit of putting a character just out of sight and behind a corner; a cheap trick that is meant to punish those who don’t carefully think through each step. Lords of the Fallen absolutely cannot help itself and seems to hide some asshole behind almost every other corner to a comical effect. It happens so often that it feels like a bit, only one that doesn’t ever loop round to being funny again and stays as eyeroll-inducing as the first time it happens.

Some of these foes are little snipers, which is yet another problem that cuts this game down. Lords of the Fallen is full of magical pricks with magical blasts that are anything but a magical time. Getting constantly pecked at from afar in the midst of a swordfight can have value if done correctly and sparingly, but it happens at an alarming frequency and at a distance that just further pours salt in the wound.

Lords of the Fallen already puts a lot on the player’s plate by constantly dumping in enemies. It hardly has fights with one or two tough foes and instead favors battles where their numbers are more important. Threat prioritization is a crucial part of this genre, but, again, it’s misunderstood here and meant as a stand-in for a hearty challenge. These grunts are rarely more than pushovers in small numbers and grouping them together seems like an attempt to mask their stupidity.

This is exponentially more evident in the Umbral, the game’s other, darker world. Spawns are constant and only get tougher as players spend more time in that decaying realm. Some of the best art is here and showcases some truly stunning design, but it’s all hard to admire when the clock is ticking down and the endless hordes are closing in. And, in carrying over a terrible genre tradition, there is no official pause menu to give players a breather. The Photo Mode is the only respite. It’s tedious to contend with endless grunts the first time but devolves into an absolute drag when having to backtrack and deal with the Umbral’s laborious puzzles and navigation challenges that require a lot of realm switching.

Backtracking is inevitable because of its stingy checkpointing and misguided checkpoint placing mechanic. Official safe spots are annoyingly few and far between and seem like a deliberate decision meant to highlight how players can plant checkpoints at certain spots. However, there can only be one at a time, so it’s a waste to go explore another area while one has already been planted, which only discourages exploration. New Game Plus also makes these the only types of rest stops and is yet another way the game has bent its challenge too far for no good reason.

Lords of the Fallen has other notable problems, as well. Combat is functional, yet has pathetic sound effects that undersell every hit and parry. Bosses, while consistent with the world’s inventive art style, only have a few attacks and don’t always telegraph them well. The dual world concept is visually and technologically impressive yet also hamstrung by how rigid switching between each realm is. Reclaiming lost “souls” and fishing around for Umbral leeches that buff enemies in the normal realm are both sluggish mechanics that lead to cheap hits.

And while destructive, none of these hold Lords of the Fallen back more than its sadistic and shallow stance on difficulty. Overcoming a challenge should evoke gratification, as is often the case with the best games in this genre, but there’s rarely that vital ebb and flow here. The uphill struggle is constant and that Sisyphean nature is exactly why the exhaustive effort to keep climbing isn’t worth the struggle.

Disclaimer: This Lords of the Fallen feature is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.010.000.

The post Lords of the Fallen Fatally Mistakes Tedium for Difficulty appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PlayStation LifeStyle spoke with renowned voice actor Yuri Lowenthal about some of his recent and most beloved roles in video games. Lowenthal discussed being somewhat of a newcomer to the Mortal Kombat franchise and his fondness for his Persona 4 character.

Spencer Legacy: A recent role that you’ve done is Smoke in Mortal Kombat 1, which just came out, and this version’s more involved in the main story than past ones. What was it like to come to that franchise and do all those nasty screams for the Fatalities?

Yuri Lowenthal: It was very new to me in that I was not hugely into Mortal Kombat before. I mean, everybody knows Mortal Kombat. I had played Mortal Kombat, but for years, I had just not been paying attention. So I embarrassed myself when I got into the first session with Dominic Cianciolo, who wrote it and who also directed the voice sessions with me. I was like, “So, tell me all about this new character, Smoke.” And he’s like, “Smoke’s not new. [Laughs]. We haven’t seen him in a while, but he’s not a new character. Let me give you some history.”

But as far as the sounds go, I mean, that’s part of my job on the regular. I’ve worked on so many different video games and all of them include, for the most part, varied deaths. So many of these games are combat games and with you getting set on fire and having bones broken and getting shot in the head. That stuff is sort of my métier or my wheelhouse. What was interesting is, thinking back, I’m trying to remember exactly what the direction was, but I’m pretty sure we did a lot of different stuff to cover a lot of different ground, and then they must have built the Fatalities or built the sounds from pieces of the things that we recorded. So even when I was recording it, I didn’t know exactly what it was going to look like specifically.

Another huge character that you played was Yosuke Hanamura. How do you look back on that time playing him in Persona 4 and through the different spin-offs?

Yosuke is my Brosuke. [Laughs]. I love him so much. I think part of that is … of the characters that I play, he is very easily one of the ones that’s closest to who I am in real life. I’m kind of awkward and goofy and I’m unsure of things. I love my friends to a huge degree. So I will always love Yosuke and I will always hope that they keep bringing him back, whether it’s a dancing game or a remake — whatever it is. I would always love to come back to Yosuke because I love that guy and I love that franchise and the group of people that I got to play with.

You’ve voiced Spider-Man and you’ve voiced Superman. What’s another big hero you’re really hoping that you get to take a crack at?

Man, I’m a nerd from way back, so there’s so much that I love. There are still pools that I would love to play in. I’ve always wanted to play Batman, and I always auditioned for Batman, even though I know that my voice tends more towards Robin. [Laughs]. Let’s be honest, between Batman and Robin, I’m always going to be Robin, but I still always shoot for it. I’ve always loved Moon Knight, which is basically Marvel’s answer to Batman. Since the ’80s, I have loved that character as well. I’m always pushing Brian Intihar is sick of hearing me try to get Moon Knight into any of the Spider-Man games. [Laughs]. But, of course, I’ve screwed myself by playing Spider-Man, because now they’ll never let me also play Moon Knight!

I love the the BPRD universe, the Hellboy universe that Mike Mignola created.While I don’t ever see myself playing Hellboy and there have been greater people to play it before me who I love, I love that universe. If we could ever do a BPRD show or a game or something like that, that’d be another. We could do this all day. I was going to Dr. Who and Star Trek conventions since high school, so my fandoms are many. [Laughs.] I love genre material, whether it’s fantasy or horror or sci-fi and superheroes. I just adore it. While I’ve been lucky enough to play Superman and Spider-Man and He-Man — I’ve been playing the Mans — there’s still plenty more. I certainly don’t feel that the well is going to go dry anytime soon.

I hope you get to be Abe Sapien or Johann Kraus or something — that’d be really exciting.

I always wanted to play Lobster Johnson!

The post Interview: Yuri Lowenthal Talks Mortal Kombat, Persona, & Hellboy appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Sifu just received its final update, one that adds a whole host of new combat arenas, modifiers, outfits, and more. Developer Sloclap not only released a trailer commemorating the patch, but also spoke about the game’s journey since its launch in February 2022.

The Sifu update contains 10 to 15 hours of free content, according to Sloclap

Head of marketing and publishing at Sloclap Felix Garczynski echoed what the team has already said elsewhere by noting that these new challenges are the toughest in the entire game. Players will have to take on multiple bosses at the same time, fight invisible enemies, and brawl through mazes to reach the end in some of these new arenas.

These 75 challenges will add about 10 to 15 hours of content and 10 new trophies, and it’s just part of Sloclap’s extensive post-launch strategy with Sifu. It has patched in 12 outfits, 70 modifiers, more difficulty options, a new scoring system, Chinese voice acting, a more involved training mode, a replay editor, and combat challenges.

Some of these features were initially meant to launch with the game, while others were in response to fan feedback. The custom Arenas mode in this update is one example of Sloclap listening to the players, as some felt it was too strict to always abide by the preset modifiers in the first batch of trials. Garczynski explained how it the team wanted to “feel that it was fully completed” after all this support, but had to move on at some point to its next mystery project.

“We gave ourselves some time and dedicated part of the team to work on these updates,” said Garczynski. “But as we chose to do only free updates and no [paid] DLC, we couldn’t maintain updates forever. So progressively, as parts of the team switched to new projects, we’ve concluded our update plan. We feel that as free updates go, it’s quite extensive. But at the same time, we also wanted to start working on the next project. We’re a small studio so it’s complicated to do both at the same time.”

Sloclap also extended that roadmap a little longer than it had expected. The studio initially announced one Arenas update only to reveal in December 2022 that there would be yet another one later in 2023. Garczynski chalked that up to the team becoming more ambitious as the months rolled on.

“The problem is that I believe we were less ambitious initially,” said Garczynski. “We wanted to add more content for players so they could keep experimenting with the combat in different situations. We planned originally to finish all updates by March of this year, but as the team started working on it with the original creative director from Sifu, they had lots of ideas and wanted to try lots of things, so we had to actually cut the Arenas update in two separate updates.”

With Sifu’s slimmer scope, it was clear that Sloclap had learned a lot while developing Absolver, its 2017 multiplayer brawler that was criticized for being unfocused. Garczynski explained how much the developer stepped up its craft making Sifu and explained how it strives to make “quality and creativity” at the team’s core even when it balloons in size.

“I feel the team is really satisfied with all we’ve done on Sifu,” said Garczynski. “It was a really ambitious project for the studio on the previous game [Absolver]. We always had less than 30 people. On Sifu, it was more than twice that number, so we had to organize ourselves in a new way and we had to spend a lot of energy and time in making sure everyone was involved.

“We had regular meetings where the team members would show their work, so we could have everyone always in the loop and playing the game. It was quite a challenge as the studio was growing in size. But it ended up working really well, so I think we’ve kept that for the next project. As a studio, we’ve learned to do bigger games and manage larger teams while keeping quality and creativity we have at the core.”

It’s unclear what that next game will be. However, it seems like it’ll benefit from what Sloclap has learned from making and supporting Sifu for so long. The developer has mirrored the journey of its protagonist in a way by spending quite some time honing its skills and trying to improve for the next fight.

The post Sifu Dev Reflects on Game’s Success Amidst Final Update, Is Moving to New Project appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.