Publisher Cygames [210 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/cygames”>Cygames and developer Cygames Osaka [15 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/cygames/cygames-osaka”>Cygames Osaka debuted the “second trailer,” new gameplay, and the latest information for Granblue Fantasy: Relink [33 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/granblue-fantasy-relink”>Granblue Fantasy: Relink at Granblue Fantasy [12 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/granblue-fantasy”>Granblue Fantasy Fes 2022 – 2023, confirming Narmaya as a playable character and introducing two assist modes.
Get the details below.
■ Release Window
The release window remains 2023, as previously announced, although without a concrete date. Granblue Fantasy series producer Tetsuya Fukuhara [11 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/people/tetsuya-fukuhara”>Tetsuya Fukuhara said that the end of development is in sight and that they are currently in the tuning stage.
■ Foes
Id (voiced by Robbie Daymond in English, Kenjiro Tsuda in Japanese)
Foreboding Blade.
A knight of unparalleled strength, currently serving as one of the three generals of Avia. He poses a threat to the crew as it traverses the Zegagrande Skydom.
■ Allies
Charlotta (voiced by Cristina “Vee” Valenzuela in English, Kaori Nazuka in Japanese)
Tiny Justice.
The captain of an order of holy knights, all of whom have sworn a sacred pledge. Her sword, a weapon that cleaves evil in twain, is equal to her in both size and power.
Yodarha (voiced by Peter Kelamis in English, Shigeru Chiba in Japanese)
Illusory Fencer.
Those felled by his illusory blade are unable to tell if it was real or merely a dream. Once a world-renowned swordsman, these days he spends much of his time fishing in seclusion.
Narmaya (voiced by Brianna Knickerbocker in English, MAO in Japanese)
Ephemeral Blade.
A sword master of warrior lineage, well-rehearsed in all forms of martial arts. Using the Dawnfly and Freeflutter sword styles, her blade dances with unmatched elegance when striking down her foes.
■ Live Demonstration
7:13:03 to 7:25:23 – Gran, Rakam, Lancelot, Charlotta, Siegfried, Yodarha, and Narmaya Showcase
7:28:16 to 7:34:50 – Full Assist Mode Showcase
■ What is Assist Mode?
A mode for beginners and casual gamers who want to focus on the story.
Perform combos automatically with a single button!
Auto Heal / Auto Guard / Auto Dash.
Automatically unleash Skybound Arts, Skills, and Link Attacks when conditions are met!
Assisted map navigation.
■ What is Full Assist Mode?
An accessible mode for players who still want to fully enjoy the game’s content.
Enjoy dynamic visuals in battle with simplified controls!
All Action [864 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/action”>actions are performed automatically—all you need to do is move the stick!
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is due out for PS5 [4,092 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, PS4 [24,521 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, and PC [16,690 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam in 2023 worldwide.
Watch a new trailer below. View a new set of screenshots at the gallery.
Following this week’s announcement of yet another delay for Skull and Bones, Ubisoft has shared 30 minutes of new footage from its beleaguered pirate adventure, focusing on what it calls the game’s “narrative gameplay”.
It’s perhaps something of an unexpected place to return after a lengthy absence, given Ubisoft insisted Skull and Bones was “not a narrative-driven game” last summer, but it does at least give players a better idea of how the publisher is attempting to inject a bit of variety into the action.
As Ubisoft explained last year, Skull and Bones is overwhelmingly focused on sailing and combat, with players only able to disembark their ships and explore dry land at a limited number of locations, defined as outposts. Functionally, outposts serve as places players can trade, cash in contracts, pay off factions, and meet other players – but, as detailed in Ubisoft’s latest gameplay devstream, they’re also locations where they might find narrative content Ubisoft is calling “investigations”.
Skull and Bones: The Deck – Gameplay Devstream.
Investigations are a “way to tell a story through a series of steps”, and can be initiated by discovering messages in bottles, unearthing scraps of lost journals, or simply by talking to characters in the world, and will provide clues to finding a specific treasure.
The investigation Ubisoft chose to demo in its latest devstream told the tale of a brother and sister who both believed themselves to be the rightful heir to the throne in the coastal African region the sequence was set.
Rather than taking players on a grand, cinematic narrative adventure, investigations – whose story elements are relayed entirely through on-screen text and accompanying narration – are more of a simple framing device, guiding them through several standard seafaring activities. In this instance, players must first sail to the location where the brother is said to have absconded with the crown, whereupon they’re required to complete a single stage of a settlement plunder (a core mechanic of Skull and Bones, as we learned last year) to receive another message leading to a new location.
Upon arrival, it’s simply a case of parking up alongside a shipwreck and hitting a button to retrieve the next clue, which then points players to a final location – in this case, a port where they can disembark and locate some buried treasure, bringing the sequence to a close.
Each investigation, Ubisoft explains, will fill in a little more backstory of a key character in Skull and Bones’ lore, Captain Freeman, who was said to have taken part in the biggest heist ever seen in the world’s fiction. Ultimately, by piecing together clues, players might be able to find the location of Freeman’s missing treasure.
The full 30-minute livestream also discusses some of Skull and Bones’ other features, including shanties and the variations seen in different parts of the in-game world.
Ubisoft is yet to share a new release date for Skull and Bones following its most recent delay, but says it’ll have more news “very soon”.
Bandai Namco Entertainment [6,263 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/bandai-namco-entertainment”>Bandai Namco has released the official gameplay trailer for Tales of Symphonia Remastered [4 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/tales-of-symphonia-remastered”>Tales of Symphonia Remastered.
Here is an overview of the game, via Bandai Namco:
About
In a dying world, legend has it that a Chosen One will one day rise from amongst the people and the land will be reborn. The line between good and evil blurs in this epic adventure where the fate of two interlocked worlds hangs in the balance. Follow the journey of Lloyd Irving as he and his friends try to save both worlds.
Key Features
An Epic Adventure [651 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/adventure”>Adventure – Explore a rich and lively world filled with unforgettable characters and experience an emotionally charged storyline like never before.
Fully Restored – Features graphically enhanced and improved gameplay.
Thrilling Battles – Play with up to three friends in local Co-Op [71 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/multiplayer/co-op”>co-op mode to fight powerful opponents in real-time battles. Combine hundreds of special attacks and magic spells.
A 3D Masterpiece – Watch stunning anime cutscenes and become absorbed in endearing cel-shaded characters designed by renowned artist Kosuke Fujishima.
Tales of Symphonia Remastered is due out for PS4 [24,462 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, Xbox One [11,741 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-one”>Xbox One, and Switch [12,813 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch on February 16 in Japan and February 17 worldwide.
SNK unveiled a brand new King of Fighters 15 trailer featuring new content reveals for Season 2. Sylvia Paula Paula and Najd have been officially announced to join the game’s roster as DLC.
On top of new fighters, the first in line for Season 2 has been fully unveiled now. Shingo Yabuki gameplay and his release date have been revealed, and SNK has shared an updated content road map for the upcoming season.
SNK noted that Shingo will be the first Season 2 character to join King of Fighters 15 when it kicks off on January 17. He will launch alongside a massive character balance update.
In his official gameplay trailer, Shingo can be seen encountering his idol Kyo and having a back and forth with him. His moveset in KOF15 features several flying kicks, large haymakers, and even a spinning uppercut that resembles Kyo’s.
For the first time, SNK has also revealed how King of Fighters 15’s Season 2 DLC release will work. Instead of seeing three characters released at the same time as a team, the company will launch six additional fighters all individually.
Shingo will start the season off on January 17, Kim Kaphwan will join in Spring 2023, and both Sylvie Paula Paula and Najd will follow in Summer 2023, though it seems as though they might release separately.
To round things out, another mystery character will see a release in Autumn 2023, and the final fighter of Season 2 will launch in Winter 2023.
GSC Game World [10 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/gsc-game-world”>GSC Game World has released a new trailer and screenshots for Open-World [159 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/open-world”>open-world First-Person Shooter [2,226 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/shooter/fps”>first-person shooter S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl [10 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/stalker-2-heart-of-chornobyl”>S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl dubbed “Come to Me.”
The trailer contains both cutscene and gameplay footage, and provides a better understanding of the Adventure [647 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/adventure”>adventure beyond.
Here is an overview of the game, via GSC Game World:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a brand-new entry in the legendary series, enjoyed by millions of players worldwide.
The unique combination of first-person shooter, immersive sim, and horror is back. With unprecedented scale, advanced graphics, freedom of choices, and the thickest atmosphere of a deadly adventure, it’s going to be the ultimate S.T.A.L.K.E.R. experience
Welcome to The Zone—an area of exclusion around the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Full of radiation, mutants, and anomalies, it keeps drawing adventurers from beyond the perimeter.
Bounty hunters dwell deep into the Zone, driven by its treasures and mysteries. These people are known as stalkers.
Are you ready to become one of them?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is due out for Xbox Series [3,096 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-series”>Xbox Series and PC [16,593 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG in 2023. It will also be available via Xbox [21,678 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox”>Xbox Game Pass.
Watch the trailer below. View the screenshots at the gallery.
One of the video game highlights of 2022 was Santa Monica Studio’s PlayStation exclusive God of War Ragnarok. The game arrived last month, and now that it’s been released to fans around the globe, it seems there’s some movement within the studio.
God of War Ragnarok and God of War (2018) gameplay producer Hannah Foell has left the studio to become senior manager of partner management at Nintendo of America. Here she’ll be helping build developer and publisher relationships with ‘AAA’ teams – to help bring “new experiences” to players on Nintendo platforms.
“I’m so beyond thrilled to join the 3rd party team at Nintendo of America to drive developer and publisher relationships. I can’t wait to get started working with AAA developers to put exciting new experiences in players hands.”
According to Foell’s LinkedIn, she worked as a gameplay producer at Santa Monica Studio between February 2016 to December 2022. Before this, she was at Harmonix Music Systems for just under a year working on Rock Band 4 as a producer.
The Nintendo Switch has seen plenty of success since starting out in 2017 but has struggled at times to attract certain third-party franchises. Fortunately, the situation has improved over the years with series like Persona, The Witcher, Borderlands, Portal and even recent Final Fantasy remasters making their way across to the hybrid system.
Microsoft also recently announced a 10-year deal to bring the Call of Duty series to Nintendo platforms:
Publisher Warner Bros. Games [579 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/warner-bros-games”>Warner Bros. Games and developer Avalanche Software [17 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/avalanche-software”>Avalanche Software have released new gameplay footage of open-world Action RPG [530 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg/action-rpg”>action RPG Hogwarts Legacy [13 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/hogwarts-legacy”>Hogwarts Legacy showcasing the open world, combat, and Room of Requirement.
Get the latest details below.
In the first section of gameplay, the player, a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft [62 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/witchcraft”>Witchcraft and Wizardry in the late 1800s, mounts their broom flying low over the open world. Flying above the Scottish Highlands, the player lands to explore a hamlet which provides an opportunity to meet different witches and wizards while also participating in quest opportunities. The player then mounts an Onyx Hippogriff (a Hippogriff variant exclusive to pre-orders) to traverse the landscape as it changes to winter and the land is covered by snow.
In a deeper dive of the combat, the player, wearing the Dark Arts cosmetic set, walks through the Forbidden Forest before riding a Thestral to the Dark Arts Battle Arena. The Dark Arts Cosmetic Set, Thestral Mount, and Dark Arts Battle Arena are available exclusively in the Hogwarts Legacy Deluxe Edition or for purchase in-game in the Dark Arts Pack. The player immediately casts an Avada Kedavra spell to show the enemy’s health bar instantly go to zero. Tools such as potions and plants from the Room of Requirement can be brought with the player into combat to help defeat enemies more efficiently.
In the final video, the player visits the Room of Requirement. The entire space can be personalized and the architecture can be changed as the player conjures objects into the space. Conjurations can be found at Tomes and Scrolls in Hogsmeade or rewarded for completing various activities throughout the game. Utility items like planting pots and brewing stations can also be customized. Over the course of gameplay, the player will be able to conjure the Loom which can be used to customize and add magical properties to their gear. And finally, the player walks to the Vivarium where beasts are cared for. A Graphorn, Niffler, Kneazle and Mooncalf are revealed. By petting and feeding a beast, they will give the player the magical ingredients needed to customize and upgrade their gear. A toy chest is also available to play with the beasts and the beasts can be given individual names.
Hogwarts Legacy is due out for PS5 [3,948 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, Xbox Series [3,066 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-series”>Xbox Series, and PC [16,547 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam on February 10, 2023, followed by PS4 [24,383 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4 and Xbox One [11,703 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-one”>Xbox One on April 4, and Switch [12,715 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch on July 25.
