It appears Capcom plans to show more gameplay of the recently revealed Street Fighter 6 characters almost every evening for the moment considering we’ve already seen bonus glimpses at Dee Jay and Manon.
This time around Capcom just shared new footage of Marisa in action, who does not hold back on the brutality at all.
As previously assumed, Capcom confirms Marisa can break through an opponent’s Drive Impact by charging some of her special moves, but even more than that, the new gameplay shows she’ll have armor while her giant Gladius punch is actively charging up too.
They also show off the Overdrive version of another special that’s a beefy leaping overhead punch that puts the opponent into a tumbling state though the ride doesn’t stop there.
It is then immediately confirmed that she can land an OTG Super Art, presumably her level 2, that picks Manon up off the ground before slamming her down even harder again.
You can get a closer look at Marisa’s fist meeting Manon’s face in the new Street Fighter 6 footage below.
True to her heritage, Marisa is an imposing force who has no trouble approaching opponents. She can even break through a Drive Impact with one hit from some of her charged Special Moves.
Yes, cower in fear. She loves that. 🦁 pic.twitter.com/5OQLd9vuRN
— Street Fighter (@StreetFighter) December 14, 2022
Last week, Gematsu” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/gematsu”>Gematsu had the opportunity to sit down with Forspoken [21 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/forspoken”>Forspoken director Takeshi Aramaki, co-director Takefumi Terada, and creative producer Raio Mitsuno to discuss the open-world Action RPG [527 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg/action-rpg”>action RPG‘s concept and creation, magic-driven gameplay, and more.
Get the full interview below.
Forspoken is your next major project following Final Fantasy [44 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/final-fantasy”>Final Fantasy XV. What has the process been like, shifting from a mainline Final Fantasy game to a new IP?
Takeshi Aramaki, Luminous Productions [26 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/square-enix/luminous-productions”>Luminous Productions Head of Studio and Co-Director: “Coming out of Final Fantasy XV, we really wanted to develop a new game—a new IP essentially. With Final Fantasy XV, we felt like we were able to do a lot of world building, and we felt like we did a pretty swell job in the sense of developing an RPG [14,721 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg”>RPG. But alternatively, there were still some challenges that remained on the scenario front. And so with our latest title, pairing up with western scenario writers like Gary Witta and Amy Hennig, and garnering their helping hands, so to speak, we felt like we would be able to create quite an amazing game that we really, truly love. So that’s where it all kind of started.”
Why did you decide to go that route rather than develop the story in-house?
Raio Mitsuno, Creative Producer: “It’s not every day we get an opportunity to create a new IP at this scale, so we wanted to really take advantage of that and deliver a game experience to as many players worldwide—as much as possible. We wanted to make sure that we maximize our efforts in every aspect. So instead of just limiting to our own idea and kind of creating a story within ourselves, we thought we would reach out to some amazing creative minds to help put something together that is bigger than the sum of its part, so to speak. So we have our development expertise and experience paired with amazing storytelling from the west and trying to come up with something that we wouldn’t be able to do on our own. And that’s kind of really the thinking behind wanting to do this kind of collaborative effort.”
To that end, can you talk about why you decided to incorporate the likenesses of real actors rather than custom character designs?
Mitsuno: “Part of the reason why we want to base our characters off of real actors and models is to really just bring an authentic experience to each character. I know for a lot of our other games, we just designed the original characters, and it’s kind of always acting alongside of it, but we really wanted to bring each character to life in the most authentic way possible. And the way we started with that—for example, for Frey, when we designed her, when we came up with her, we started from the inside out. We started with thinking about her personality, what is her character like? Does she like dogs or is she a cat person? Like, you know, just thinking of every single trait that defines Frey. And then we went to the casting process, and we came across Ella Balinska, who just was a perfect match in terms of conveying the dynamic character that Frey is—with how strong her determination is, the sense of humor that we want a Frey to have. But also a soft, kind of vulnerable side to her as well. So she’s a very multidimensional character, and we found an actor that can portray that. And then we said, hey, let’s model the character after Ella as well, just so we can really bring that experience as authentically as possible. So that was the process that started everything, and for every other character we thought the same way as well.”
Can you talk more about how the concept of Forspoken came about? Before the game’s announcement, I recall hearing whispers of the game being built off the Agni’s Philosophy tech demo Square Enix [5,067 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/square-enix”>Square Enix showcased some years back. Is there any truth to that?
Aramaki: “Agni’s Philosophy was actually revealed as a tech demo for Final Fantasy. So in that sense it’s unrelated to Forspoken. It is true that we wanted to create an experience that was based on magic, where magic was actually the concept. And so there are likenesses or similarities on that front. However, Agni’s Philosophy as a world stands on its own, and for Forspoken we really built the world and lore off of our discussions with Gary and Amy. So it is a completely different undertaking.”
Magic is the life and soul of Forspoken. Frey comes to an unknown world where she is gifted with supernatural abilities. One thing you’re really emphasizing here is magic through parkour. What made parkour of all things into such a key element?
Takefumi Terada, Co-Director: “Magic parkour is definitely a key element. As far as how we arrived at magic parkour, we initially started off with the plain old parkour that you see in our world—essentially something that’s humanly possible. And so we researched and built out parkour Action [815 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/action”>action based on what’s humanly possible first and foremost. And then by adding a magic element to it, we really felt like it would help expand and enhance what could potentially be possible, namely the high-speed fast-paced traversal, as well as being able to jump higher and so forth. It really allows for that range. And so that’s where we really strove to develop—that’s the flow in which we arrived at magic parkour.”
Other than parkour and fast travel, are there any other methods of traversal in Forspoken?
Terada: “As you mentioned, fast travel will be a method of travel in the game. But as far as other methods of travel, everything we have is focused around the parkour action. So basically when you start off in the game, initially you start off with, for lack of a better term, low level parkour skills that are humanly possible. But as you progress through the game, you will start to get additional parkour action of the magic-enhanced variety. And so step by step, you’ll be able to utilize even greater parkour skills throughout the game. And so it is really an experience to fully enjoy the parkour action.”
While we’re on the subject of magic, can we talk about combat? In a recent PlayStation [41,655 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation”>PlayStation Blog post, you mentioned really wanting to get the visual representation of magic down just right. What was the process behind defining and developing Frey’s magic?
Terada: “Let me start by explaining how we went about with the game design for magic and how that was all crafted. So given the fact that this is an action-based game, and we have 100 types of cells at the player’s disposal, we started off by really placing importance on the distance between the player and enemy. And so earlier on in the game, you will start off with more mid-ranged spells. And then as you progress to the game, you start to gain different types of spells—notably near-range, close-range, fire-based spells, as well as shorter boosts, like distance dashes. And then as you progress even further into the game, you’ll get a hold of more long-ranged magic. For example, you may be able to attack as you hide or otherwise. And so there is quite a variety of magic incorporated within this game, and we really want to cater to the player’ own play style so that they have the right to choose how they play.
“And so we really wanted to, again, cater to various different play styles. So after we had that overarching idea, we went in and looked at each and every magic spell available and decided on what kind of qualities that each magic will have. So, for example, there may be certain ones where you would set traps in order to defeat enemies, or there might be mine-like magic that you set that would automatically defeat enemies, or so forth. And so those individual characteristics of each magic were locked up by the planners, and thereafter the artists went in to design how that would visually look, as far as the visual effects go.”
Being a new IP, were there ever times during development that you looked at certain magic abilities and thought, “No, that’s too Final Fantasy,” or, “No, that’s too similar to Dragon Quest [46 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/dragon-quest”>Dragon Quest“?
Terada: “Yeah, so as you mentioned, given the fact that Forspoken is a new IP, we originally set out with the concept of creating a new IP that is neither Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, and so it true that we were conscious of not being too comparable to other Square Enix games. So we really strove for originality and intuitiveness, and we hope that comes through in the magic we’re presenting in the game.”
I had the opportunity to play the Tokyo Game Show 2022 demo of Forspoken a couple of months back and Frey had an impressive number of skills at her disposal. How many different skills and variations can players expect in the full game?
Terada: “We really wanted the main focus of this game to be magic and magic-based enjoyment throughout its gameplay and battles. And so as far as physical weapons go, you will not encounter any in this game. You’ll basically utilize magic to your heart’s content in order to really enjoy the battles and the defeat monsters and so forth. That’s really the crux of this experience.”
I think one of the biggest concerns when it comes to Open-World [151 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/open-world”>open-world games is that it will be riddled with cumbersome fetch quests or errands. How is this being handled for Forspoken?
Terada: “When looking at side quests specifically, within the world of Athia, there is a last bastion of humanity essentially called Cipal, where the survivors of humanity have gathered. So for side quests, it’s really about the human interactions with these NPCs, learning about their struggles and so forth. This is what most of the side quests are focused around—really getting an understanding for the people—the survivors.
“As far as detours or side content that is available throughout the open world, there are aspects where you can explore and enhance your magic, and there will be various bosses and dungeons that you’ll be able to take on and challenge. There’s also an aspect where you’ll be able to engage with these cute creatures. And then also there are archives where you’ll find remnants and records of life that once was in the open world, which will help you gain further understanding and depth into the history of Athia. And so those are the types of side content available outside of Cipal in the open world.”
Mitsuno: “Just for some additional context, you said you played the Tokyo Game Show demo in October. So that was a specially crafted gameplay demo just to give a feel for the mechanics of parkour and magic. So that was specifically kind of fetch quest-like in terms of the makeup, like, do these five objectives and then you get to fight a boss. So the full game isn’t actually designed like that, that was just specifically created for that demo experience.”
Sony Interactive Entertainment [4,620 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/sony-interactive-entertainment”>Sony Interactive Entertainment has been a very open supporter of Forspoken, even locking down a minimum two years of console exclusivity. Can you talk a bit about how that partnership came about?
Aramaki: “In developing and creating a new IP, we really set out to create a gaming experience that was catered to PlayStation, kind of drawing on their high speed SSD as well as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. We built our game design to cater to those features. And so Sony has been kindly supporting us on the promotion front in those terms.”
Looks like our time is about up. Is there anything else you would like to say to fans before we sign off?
Terada: “Forspoken is the debut title from Luminous Productions. We’re sure and confident we will be able to deliver to everyone’s expectations. So we hope that you will look forward to it and enjoy the game. Persona [10 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/persona”>Personally speaking, I put a lot of energy and a lot of effort into the open world’s magic parkour and combat. So we really hope that you’ll be able to enjoy traversing the vast and sprawling lands of Athia.”
Mitsuno: “And just to add to that a little bit. To go alongside the awesome gameplay that we have in Forspoken, is an incredible narrative that follows Frey’s journey through Athia, so that is something that we are very proud of as well, especially the tech that we’ve created. It’s something that we know players enjoy. Obviously, because the story is so important, we haven’t revealed too much about it. But rest assured, along with the gameplay, there’s going to be a very captivating story for players.”
Thank you so much for your time today everyone!
Forspoken is due out for PS5 [3,934 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5 and PC [16,526 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store on January 24, 2023. A demo is available now for PlayStation 5.
With a cast featuring the likes of Kim Basinger, Chuck Norris, and Michael Madsen, we had hoped 90s-inspired organised crime outing Crime Boss: Rockay City would be some kind of story-driven GTA-esque adventure. Unfortunately, the reality is that it’s a Payday-esque co-op first-person shooter, although there will also be a single player campaign, according to the press release.
This first gameplay footage is clearly heavily co-op focused, though. It starts out with a stealth infiltration-style sequence, before you and your teammates raid a vault and work together to extract the loot. While it certainly doesn’t look bad, we feel like we’ve played this before: the waves of resistance get stronger as the mission nears its conclusion, and so too does the amount of armour they’re wearing.
Square Enix [5,060 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/square-enix”>Square Enix has released the launch trailer for Action RPG [507 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/rpg/action-rpg”>action RPG remake Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion [7 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/crisis-core-final-fantasy-vii-reunion”>Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, and various outlets have published new direct-feed gameplay footage.
Here is an overview of the game, via Square Enix:
About
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is the high-definition remaster version of the smash hit prequel to Final Fantasy VII [68 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/final-fantasy-vii”>Final Fantasy VII.
In addition to all graphics being remastered in HD, fully voiced dialogue and new soundtrack arrangements make for a dynamic new retelling of a beloved classic.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion follows the story of Zack Fair, a young warrior admired by the boy destined to save the world, trusted by men renowned as heroes of legend, and loved by the girl who holds the fate of the planet in her hands. The tale of Zack’s dreams and honor—the legacy that connects him to Cloud—is revealed in full in this grand saga that has broken the limits of a high-definition remaster.
Key Features
All graphics fully remastered in high-definition, bringing the game to the latest console generation.
Renewed 3D models, including characters and backgrounds, enriching the visual experience.
Improved battle system providing a vastly smoother gameplay experience.
Fully voiced dialogue in both English and Japanese.
A newly arranged soundtrack from the original composer, Takeharu Ishimoto.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is due out for PS5 [3,821 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, Xbox Series [2,973 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-series”>Xbox Series, PS4 [24,270 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, Xbox One [11,624 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/xbox/xbox-one”>Xbox One, Switch [12,625 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch, and PC [16,397 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam on December 13.
Publisher Koei Tecmo Games [2,878 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/koei-tecmo-games”>Koei Tecmo and developer Gust [757 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/koei-tecmo-games/gust”>Gust have released the second official trailer and 18 minutes of Switch [12,611 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch gameplay for Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key [4 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/atelier-ryza-3-alchemist-of-the-end-the-secret-key”>Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key.
A new set of screenshots were also released, confirming Patricia Abelheim (voiced by Naomi Ohzora), Empel Vollmer (voiced by Hirofumi Nojima), and Lila Decyrus (voiced by Haruka Terui) as the game’s final set of party members, and showcasing the game’s real-time tactical battle system, evolved synthesis, and key system.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key is due out for PS5 [3,816 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, PS4 [24,258 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC [16,385 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam on February 22, 2023 in Japan and February 24 worldwide.
Watch the trailer and gameplay below. View the screenshots at the gallery.
Trailer #2
Japanese
Switch Gameplay
(Gameplay from 40:36 to 51:48, 54:02 to 58:02, and 58:39 to 1:01:14.)
D3 Publisher [475 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/d3-publisher”>D3 Publisher and developer Shade [65 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/shade”>Shade have released a new 10-minute gameplay trailer for SAMURAI MAIDEN [7 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/samurai-maiden”>SAMURAI MAIDEN.
Here is an overview of the game, via D3 Publisher:
Beneath the cherry blossom trees in stunning Japan, a young woman becomes…a samurai?? Experience fast-paced action in the Sengoku period as this everyday girl slays demons and slashes her way through the chaos!
A temple in flames. Swirls of black smoke rise high into the sky. The angry shouts of soldiers can be heard all around. Before you stands a bearded old man… Wait, is that Nobunaga Oda?!
A young woman from the 21st century with sharp swordsmanship skills finds herself in Honnoji during the Sengoku period! Together with a trio of newfound ninja friends, she races through the Underworld beneath Honnoji, confronted by enraged corpses at every turn! Nothing can stop this all-female powerhouse team, as the young woman turned samurai slashes up enemies while the ninja wipe them out with their fierce ninjutsu!
And when things get tough, activate the Devoted Heart technique to have samurai and ninja lock lips to enhance their abilities! There are so many exhilarating, epic battles to take on! Slay the Demon Lord of the Sengoku period and forge everlasting bonds with your ninja friends!
A brand-new female-led sword-fighting action game is here!
SAMURAI MAIDEN is due out for PS5 [3,793 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps5″>PlayStation 5, PS4 [24,237 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/playstation/ps4″>PlayStation 4, and Switch [12,592 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/nintendo/switch”>Switch on December 1 in Japan, and for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC [16,365 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/platforms/pc”>PC via Steam on December 8 worldwide.
Ubisoft’s upcoming remake of the original Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is still in its early production and prototyping phase, creative director Chris Auty said in a newly released video celebrating the Splinter Cell franchise’s 20th anniversary, but its creators offered a taste of what’s to come on Thursday, in terms of new features and concept art for the game.
As previously discussed by the Splinter Cell remake team, Ubisoft Toronto is “look[ing] back at the plot, the characters, and the overall story of the original game,” Auty said, and making some improvements to “things that may not have aged particularly well,” but pledged that “the core of the story, the core of the experience will remain as it was the original game.”
Christian Carriere, technical director, touched on the technical innovations planned for the Splinter Cell remake, highlighting advancements in AI that will simulate different kind of behaviors and reactions from enemies. “Obviously a special forces soldier will be better trained,” Carriere said, “[and] they’re going to breach differently or enter rooms differently to something like a regular security guard would.”
“We can really improve AI engagement, how they’re reacting and what they’re reacting to,” added Andy Schmoll, senior game designer. “And with all of that we can make improvements to the cat-and-mouse gameplay between Sam and the enemies, especially with our enemies behaving like trained professionals.”
Carriere also touted audiovisual updates like ray-traced global illumination for much more realistic lighting effects and better audio simulations, that will help “create some really, really, really compelling and detailed settings.”
The Splinter Cell remake team said they’re “going dark” for a while to focus on making the game, offering only a few glimpses of what players can expect in the form of early artwork. You can see some of that in the gallery below.
Need for Speed Unbound fulfills your need for speed, but in a way that’s unique and tailored to you.
Let’s be clear, you can still whip around hyper-realistic cars in breathtaking locales. In Need for Speed Unbound your self-exploration goes beyond the garage and expands your canvas, exposing you to all of the vast elements that make your need for speed an Adventure [506 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/adventure”>adventure, a lifestyle and an artform. With this new addition to the Need For Speed universe, your avenues and boulevards to self-expression are unbound – from the cars and clothes, to the streets and the tire marks your car leaves behind.
“We wanted to deliver an art style that matters for gameplay, one that clearly celebrates player Action [675 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/action”>actions, enhances the player experience, and rewards them along the way,” explains Darren White, Need for Speed Unbound‘s art director at Criterion Games. “We wanted to take players to that next level in Need for Speed Unbound with our driving VFX, which we call ‘Tags.’”
Just like the street artists who creatively subvert the cityscapes around them, you will be able to tag the world and leave everyone in your dust. Tags come to life when you deploy your boosting powers; which are earned through actions like drifting, jumps and near misses, and appear as dramatic, customizable effects that paint the surrounding world, including illustrative lines that etch around the curves of your car. Through Tags, you and your car become the artists, and the city is your canvas.
“Need for Speed Unbound‘s realistic-looking world and cars really help ground the visuals,” describes White of the game’s art style. “Taking inspiration from street art and other media, we creatively subvert the characters and visual effects, turning them into expressionistic illustrations of ‘you’ and ‘your actions.’ It’s literally ‘graffiti-coming-to-life.’”
Street art has always been an important aspect of street culture, with an irreverence that has long inspired Need For Speed. “It is an incredibly creative form of self-expression, and like street Racing [70 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/racing”>racing, it represents an unruly freedom to express yourself against rules and restrictions,” adds White.
Need for Speed Unbound features a diverse collection of street art styles from multiple artists across the world including Sentrock and JC Riviera. These revered artists are painting Need for Speed Unbound with their signature style, artworks that not only add to the backdrop of the game, but can also be collected and applied to your car in the form of wraps.
Alongside Tags, you can continue to express your personal style through your cars, in greater detail and grandeur. You will now have access to new wrap content and full kit selections, as well as exciting new ways of customization with part removal – where you can expose the mechanical guts of your car and intimidate competition before you even creep up to the starting line.
And it doesn’t end with Tags, wraps and parts; the player’s wardrobe will get an upgrade too! “Need for Speed Unbound‘s characters are unapologetically expressive with new fashion collaborations,” reveals White. “Character self-expression in Need for Speed Unbound goes beyond just the clothes you wear; with additional cosmetic changes and customizable poses, you can truly show off in key moments, like race wins, creating characters that are brimming with attitude.”
The same goes for Need for Speed Unbound. It’s full of attitude, creativity, adventure, style and camaraderie.
In what could be one of the biggest gaming bombshells of all time, Rockstar Games’ upcoming GTA 6 has suffered a major leak, revealing footage of an early build of the release and loads of unfinished gameplay. While this new leak seems to confirm certain previously rumoured elements, it also does dampen all the surprises the developers had in store for players. Grand Theft Auto 6 is among the most hyped and talked about video games on the planet, with speculation over the plot, characters and release date brewing long before its existence was even confirmed.
RELATED: Grand Theft Auto VI’ Confirmed by Rockstar Games
Image: Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games has been extremely secretive about the whole project and until recently there was almost nothing we knew or had seen of the game, but that has now completely changed, all thanks to more than 90 videos and screenshots that surfaced on GTA Forums. Recently, a user going by the name of ‘teapotuberhacker’ uploaded an overwhelming amount of GTA 6 footage to the forum, which they argued was from a test build of Grand Theft Auto 6, running with “GTA 5 and 6 source code and assets”.
The leaked screenshots and video footage have already taken over YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, and other social media forums, and align with some previous information from past GTA 6 leaks, such as the game having multiple playable characters, including a female protagonist, and the location which seems to be a Miami-like Vice City. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier substantiated the authenticity of the leaked clips and photos, saying, “Not that there was much doubt, but I’ve confirmed with Rockstar sources that this weekend’s massive Grand Theft Auto VI leak is indeed real. The footage is early and unfinished, of course. This is one of the biggest leaks in video game history and a nightmare for Rockstar Games”.
Image: Rockstar Games
Despite several sources claiming the videos were real, the internet was divided on the authenticity of the clips. However, just days later, the actual confirmation came with Rockstar Games officially taking to Twitter to share its disappointment in the reveal.
“We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorised third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto,” Rockstar Games confirmed on Twitter. “At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services not any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects.”
“We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations, We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready. We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support through this situation.”
Image: Rockstar Games
In one of the leaked videos, we can see a playable female character named Lucia looting a restaurant and taking NPCs as captives. Since the footage is from an early build of the game, you can see an abundance of placeholder texts such as ‘Time Until Cops Dispatched’, and dialogue texts like “Jason: GENERIC_CURSE_TO_SELF.” In yet another video, we see a playable character on the “Vice City Metro” train, which appears to verify the information that the game will take place in a fictionalised rendition of Miami. There’s another clip showing a poolside conversation where we hear dialogue like, “Oh yeah, he’s dead, is he? Just like there’s a country called Finland.” Other clips also reveal gunplay along with fleeing from Vice City police.
Take-Two Interactive already has begun filing takedown requests for a lot of GTA 6 videos uploaded on YouTube, with many videos now reading, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Take-Two Interactive.” However, there are still a few that remain online.
All the leaked videos and images are clearly from an alpha build of the game and it seems like an unfinished development build used for testing some facets of the game by the devs. While we don’t have any idea or confirmation as to how old this footage is or how far along Rockstar is in development, GTA 6 is still a way off and probably won’t be out before late 2024 or early 2025. However, these newly leaked videos and screenshots do confirm a wide array of information surrounding the game’s location and characters.
Did you love this story on Grand Theft VI? Check out some of our other recent GTA 6 coverage:
CONTRIBUTOR
Shubhendu Vatsa
Shubhendu Vatsa is an experienced reporter specialising in video game, eSports and technology coverage. A BTech IT graduate, Shubhendu has previously written for entertainment-based publications such as GiveMeSport, Touch, Tap, Play, Attack of the Fanboy, EssentiallySports, Twinfinite and The Load Out.
A screenshot from the leaked footage, showing a battle against a Hellcaller Nangari Oracle, that unfairly blurs the crisp textures from the game due to awful video quality.Screenshot: Activision Blizzard
It was quite the weekend for major game leaks. As well as the first ever footage from a very unfinished GTA 6 being plastered all across the internet midway through September, Sunday the 18th also saw a full 43 minutes of the unfinished Diablo IV get uploaded. Footage from the ongoing friends and family alpha test previously appeared last month, but not anything this comprehensive.
This is an odd one, honestly. It’s footage, as revealed on Reddit, of exactly what you’d expect Diablo IV to look like. It’s in ultra-wide, with a very neat, minimized UI in the bottom center, and a compact map and quest list top right. And then the rest of the screen is a character running around in the dark.
It’s definitely not helped that the screen is almost more watermark than footage, but behind all that you can make out some brand new features that look pretty neat, with a Barbarian character showing off some hefty attacks. There’s climbing, there’s jumping across gaps, and there’s loads more detail in the textures that are in place. It looks like exactly what anyone would want: More Diablo.
A much more representatively crisp moment from the game, but so dark it’s hard to make much out.Screenshot: Activision Blizzard
I do find it funny that features like climbing or jumping really stand out as I watch the footage. It’s completely daft that such staples of gaming feel like special new additions, but this is a series for which change is incremental and glacial. And, if such changes concern you (as they ought—we surely don’t want Diablo becoming a third-person action game), be assuaged by learning that they look like just more interesting ways to go up and down stairs, or move about a level. You’re not timing jumps, just pressing a button when next to a gap.
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But, crucially, it shows a game with a lot more verticality than we’ve seen from the series before. Caves feel far more three-dimensional, not restricted to ‘levels’ when going up and down. Combined with what we saw in August of the character creator and class information, honestly, this leak almost acts like an unofficial marketing campaign for an impressive-looking game.
Just as with GTA 6, it’s a fascinating insight into an in-development build. However, this is certainly a lot later in development, the game due at some point next year. It’s rather charming to see the bright green boardwalks and hear it played with stilted AI voiceover placeholder dialogue, though. The worst aspect about this leak is how poor the streaming quality is.
The footage shows a lot of placeholder textures, but also gives a good idea of the current UI.Screenshot: Activision Blizzard
There are some mission spoilers in there, which I won’t share because it benefits precisely no one. It’s worth noting, however, that rather strangely Activision Blizzard has yet to have the original leak’s files taken down. Perhaps, unlike Take-Two, they recognize the incredible free publicity such leaks offer, despite frustrating their marketing plans…No, I’m joking.
It’s a spectacularly stupid leak, as it happens. Whoever decided to stream this to chums (presumably on Discord, given the constant blee-bloops throughout) didn’t carefully vet whoever was watching, and did so playing a heavily watermarked build covered with “PRIVATE TEST BUILD” and then a unique number. Which is to say, just like last time, there won’t be any mystery for Blizzard about who is responsible.
Read More:Diablo IV Starts Leaking, And The People Doing It Are Plastered All Over It
The larger problem, presumably, is how it can effectively run a private alpha test if leaks like this are to be so prolific and extensive. These are very different times in which to be making a video game, compared even to 2012’s Diablo III. It’ll be very interesting to see how developers respond with future alpha/beta tests.
