For the second half of February, we have some surprise games, some not-so-surprise games, Perks, and a DLC—plenty to get you gaming now and to prime your pre-install buttons! Whether you boot up Bluey: The Videogame to play with the family, jump into Madden NFL 24 to try and recreate the big game how you would have played it, or just want to play Maneater to see what it'd be like to be an absolute menace as a shark, we have you covered. Let's get to the games!

Available Today:
Return to Grace (Cloud, Console, and PC)
A daring space archaeologist has just unearthed the ancient resting place of a long lost A.I. god known as Grace. Adventure with various fractured A.I. personalities as you uncover the great mystery of why she was shut down all those years ago in this first-person narrative adventure set in a visually stunning '60s retro sci-fi world.

Get ready to dive into the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40,000 like never before in this PowerWash Simulator Special Pack, coming February 27th 2024. You can find PowerWash Sim and the Warhammer 40,000 Special Pack on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, Windows, and Steam. Are you ready to powerwash the galaxy clean?💦 The world of Warhammer 40,000 meets PowerWash Simulator, where you will be tasked with cleaning the vehicles of the grim dark future. This exciting announcement was made at IGN Fest, an event where fans from across the globe come together to celebrate the most anticipated upcoming titles.

Deep in the Indomitus Crusade, relentless campaigns across the galaxy have imbued a variety of Imperial machines with a litany of dirt. As a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, it is your singular honour to perform the ultimate purification protocol. You are blessed with an all new Adeptus Mechanicus character model and well-equipped for the ritual cleansing with a custom MKII Aqua-Santica Arquebus power washer; the perfect fusion of human and machine.

Chaos threatens humanity once again. Reports of a mysterious plague named 'the Bloom' emerge from the Tyrtaeus sector, and the arrival of an Imperial Inquisitor sets in motion a chain of events which will test your tactical prowess to its limits. In Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters, you'll take command of the Grey Knights, an elite chapter and secretive order of Space Marines, tasked with aiding the Inquisitor in the eradication of this foul corruption. Force Commander, given the grave nature of this new threat, I have been authorized to distribute the following confidential military doctrine to assist your encounters with this plague. I hope that these Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters tips serve you well. For the Emperor!

Turn-based tactics, Space Marines style
A single Grey Knight is an army unto itself, whether executing enemies at distance or purging them in melee combat. Your elite soldiers don't miss their shots, offering you total precision when they open fire on the forces of Chaos. Repeatedly attacking foes will stun them, creating an opportunity to target specific body parts and reduce your foe's effectiveness or even unleash a stunning execution to boost your entire squad with an extra action.

Murmurings of a delayed Nintendo "Switch 2" release schedule appeared online earlier this week—Brazilian games journalist, Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe, made claims during an "OX do Controle" videocast—based on insider information. Additionally, he broke the bad news on social media: "Nobody wants to hear this, but this one is pretty intense. After consulting five sources from three different continents, all echoing basically the same thing, we can reveal (that) the launch of the Switch's successor should only happen in 2025." Several global news outlets have performed their own investigations, following up on OX do Controle's declaration.

Eurogamer reached out to its network of "trusty" insiders—their Friday evening update stated that: "(we) can now corroborate the earlier reports/whispers that the Switch 2, once destined for release later in 2024, is now set for Q1 2025...The console's launch moving into early next year—but still within the coming financial year—is designed to ensure Switch 2's launch line-up features as many titles as possible, Eurogamer understands." Video Games Chronicle's Andy Robinson has similarly checked in with his pool of industry spies: "VGC has heard from multiple sources who said Nintendo has told publishers its next console will now launch in Q1 2025. According to the sources, third-party game companies were recently briefed on an internal delay in Nintendo's next-gen launch timing, from late 2024 to early the following year. One publishing source suggested the delay was so that Nintendo could prepare stronger first-party software for the console. It's possible the next-gen Nintendo console will now follow a similar timeline to the Switch, which was released in March but announced the previous year."

A state-of-the-art airship hovers above a vast toxic dust cloud, shrouding an ecologically devastated Earth. That's what most people notice when they see Forever Skies for the first time. And while this creates an interesting and unique premise to explore, it's one that was inspired by rather somber real-world circumstances. Read on to learn about the inspiration behind this first-person post-apocalyptic survival game, coming to PC and PS5 this year.

While our team is from around the world, a significant portion of us are based in Poland. For decades now, our country has been notorious for its poor air quality, particularly during the winter months. Iconic Polish cities such as Krakow or Wroclaw are frequently ranked alongside massive megacities like Beijing, Delhi, or Lahore. But these are massive metropolises with 10 or even 20+ million people living in them. Cracow or Wroclaw don't even exceed 700,000 people and yet we regularly get public warning announcements to stay indoors because of the current air pollution levels.

Aye, Banishers!✨We are pleased to announce that Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden launched with critical acclaim on February 13! Discover how the intimate narrative Action-RPG conquered the hearts of players, with a current 89% user score on Steam, and garnered worldwide praise from the press in today's Accolades trailer! Immersing players in an "atmospheric, lore-rich world," Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden strikes a chord thanks to its "engaging and well-written story, dynamic combat system" and "excellent character performances."

Focus Entertainment and DON'T NOD are thrilled by such a positive reception, and can't wait to hear what players will share in the future, as they take on an emotionally moving journey between life, death, love and sacrifices. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam and Epic Games Store. Buy the game, grab its Collector's Edition or the Red Echoes Edition, and sign up as a Focus member or subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest exclusive information and upcoming special offers for Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and the entire Focus catalog.

Hello! Over the years, we've seen many players on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, PC and Game Pass venture into No Man's Sky's universe and lose themselves in all there is to do, in some cases for hundreds of hours. Last year was a busy one for the small team at Hello Games, with lots of No Man's Sky updates and the announce of Light No Fire. We have big plans for 2024, and we're starting the year off with a very different kind of update. We're calling it OMEGA, and for the first time No Man's Sky will be available to play for free! Expeditions in No Man's Sky have become one of the most popular ways to play the game. They bring all players together to the same planet for an interstellar, shared experience. This weekend (Thursday 15th to Monday 19th February) we are allowing everyone, whether you own the game or not, to join the Omega Expedition.

This represents a moment for new players to try No Man's Sky, and existing players to welcome them into the community. There are no microtransactions, no free to play mechanics, just a huge universe to explore for free with your friends. The Omega update also brings a complete overhaul of expeditions, new on-planet missions, a new pirate dreadnought to own, and much more. Until now expeditions have been their own game mode, but we wanted to fully integrate them into our main game. Now, our new expedition system allows Travellers to join expeditions with bespoke provisions, bring along their favourite starships or custom Multi-Tools and return to their main save with loot and exciting rewards. We have revisited the "Atlas Path", allowing players to commune with the Atlas and honor it with a new Atlas staff, jetpack and helmet.

Xbox and Microsoft Flight Simulator are immersing gamers worldwide in the captivating world of Arrakis, commemorating the highly anticipated release of "Dune: Part Two." Enthusiasts can anticipate a free game expansion for Microsoft Flight Simulator launching, bespoke Xbox hardware, and an awe-inspiring gaming simulator-all intricately inspired by the film. Two prominent stars from the movie, Timothée Chalamet, portraying Paul Atreides, and Austin Butler, who embodies Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, captured the collaboration with a short video (see below).

Dune Comes Alive Like Never Before in Free Expansion
Microsoft Flight Simulator, working with Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, for the first time ever is taking you beyond Planet Earth into the harsh deserts of the world of "Dune" and the planet Arrakis. The skies of Arrakis are traversed by a deft craft called an ornithopter, a nimble flying machine propelled by four precisely tuned oscillating wings. The Royal Atreides Ornithopter is a special ultra-performance variant of the craft, renowned for its lightning acceleration, blazing speeds, and precision maneuverability when under the control of pilots skilled in its operation - and who have the fortitude to survive the harsh extremes of Dune.

A boundless sea of adventure and discovery awaits you in Ys X: Nordics! Join Adol Christin and his unlikely ally, the pirate Karja Balta, as they learn to work together to save the people of Obelia Gulf from the mysterious immortal monsters known as the Griegers. Exhilarating, fast-paced combat, a moving story of unexpected bonds, and naval exploration await you! Coming Fall 2024 to Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC!

About Ys X: Nordics
This journey takes place in the northern islands collectively known as Obelia Gulf. In this harsh land, the young adventurer, Adol Christin, encounters the Normans, a seafaring tribe, and is quickly drawn into the conflict between them, the townsfolk of Obelia Gulf, and the Griegr, undying monsters with mysterious agenda. Partnering up with the Norman warrior, Karja, Adol must take to the waters of Obelia Gulf, navigating vast stretches of ocean, consulting maritime maps, and even getting into naval battles with enemy ships. This latest title in the Ys series takes us back to a younger Adol, as he sets out on the open sea. Join him in his pursuit of the thrill of adventure!

We—Fool's Theory—are happy to share that the game is now complete, and numerous reviewers have it already in their hands. At the same time, taking February's busy launch period into account and the opening for a better release window, we've decided to take this opportunity to give The Thaumaturge more breathing room so it receives the attention we believe it deserves.

We want you to have enough time to enjoy the game in full, and we feel that the current release window is not the perfect moment for it. With that in mind, we are moving the launch date to March 4th, 2024. The additional time we're getting will be used to polish the game further so that your journey through the streets of 1905 Warsaw is even more enjoyable. We truly can't wait for you to play it, and thank you for your patience!

Hey Everyone,, thank you for your patience during the server maintenance. With it we deployed three "rapid-fixes" aimed at improving the situation with rewards often not being handed out properly, login-issues, and server capacity. To speak in technical terms, our services as well as our partner services have a rate limiter that denies connections beyond a volume per minute to prevent the entire system from failing. We managed to increase the rate limit from 10,000/min to 20,000/min and the total capacity of concurrent players was increased from 250,000 total to 360,000 total. This was however still not enough as the player count jumped to 360k after 5 1⁄2 minutes.

As such, the issue with login remains. If for any reason you get the "Failed to connect to server"issue it means that the maximum number of login requests for that particular minute is exceeded and/or that the servers are full and will require someone to log out before allowing new players in. As mentioned above, the increased capacity should require less retries to get in.

Indie games are known for their daring and often groundbreaking approaches to visuals and storytelling. Ultros is a new indie title coming to PS4, PS5, PC and Mac on February 13 (tomorrow!). The game is a twisted, time-looping sci-fi adventure. It's packed with high-stakes action, clever twists on classic game design ideas, intriguing, and often unsettling environmental storytelling, and crazy-colorful pop-psychedelic visuals that makes you wonder if the game came with its own built-in blacklight. This eye- and mind-dazzling adventure comes to PlayStation courtesy of Sweden-based developer Hadoque. It tells the story of a spacefarer trapped in a nightmare time-cycle within a bizarre, seemingly demonic black-hole acting as a womb for an unspeakable cosmic horror-the titular Ultros. In the words of game director Mårten Brüggeman, "It's a psychedelic sci-fi platforming adventure, a combat- and gardening-driven experience. It also asks a lot of existential questions if you dive into it, as you explore the sarcophagus spaceship and try to understand what it is a metaphor for and what is dwelling inside."

Fight or foster
Ultros is fundamentally a search-action game where you explore an ever-expanding map that opens up further and further as you acquire more abilities for navigation and combat. It's a popular indie game genre, and Ultros expands on it with some unique gameplay twists centered around the ideas of karmic cycles: creation and destruction, nurture and killing. "It's a game about choices," explains Brüggeman, "where you can choose to play in a destructive or constructive way, and the choices you make change your interpretation of your in-game actions." The environment oozes with otherworldly threats, requiring skillful combat to neutralize the assorted hostile lifeforms. Variety is a big emphasis here. Ultros encourages you to use a diverse arsenal of moves in fun and creative ways to dispatch foes: dodge-and-strike attacks, jumping strikes, and even launching foes into the air to turn them into a living projectile weapon. "We want to combat to feel intimate and visceral to emphasize destruction, ruining the balance of disruption and construction within the current cycle. We focused on movements, forcing you to be near them to fight them are integral to what we wanted to do, the intensity and intimacy of one-on-one combat."

As many of you know, two weeks ago, there were a series of changes made to the Overwatch team, as well as other teams across Blizzard. Writing a public blog is difficult in the wake of these events. I want to express gratitude for the absolutely amazing people who worked on our game that are no longer on our team. I want the community to feel informed, and I want to convey our excitement about what is to come in Season 9. To be honest, it's a lot to balance—but one of the things we've been most proud of is how we've kept lines of communication open between the team and our community, and we intend to continue that.

In that spirit, yesterday, we shared the exciting changes you are going to experience with Competitive starting in Season 9. I'd like to give a bit more insight into why we are making these changes. In our previous Director's Take, we talked about improving the game's core PvP experience. There are different ways that we look at improving the game, but one of the biggest is listening to your feedback. Season 9 starts in less than a week, and the two biggest and best changes coming to the season and a lot of it is driven by feedback from you - our players along with our team's vision to make the game more fun and challenging for everyone.

The PC version of Helldivers 2 has shot up the Steam charts since yesterday's launch (also available on PlayStation 5)—according to tracking sites, peak player population sits at 151,927. Games industry watchdogs believe that this is Sony PlayStation's most successful launch title on PC platforms—24-hour peak telemetry has Helldivers 2 attracting 81,840 players versus God of War's 68,000 (January 14, 2022). An abundance of technical issues has prompted the submission of negative feedback—around 12,200 reviews have been left on the game's Steam Profile. Its current status is "Mostly Positive," but launch evening impressions were "Mixed" following 5300 review submissions. Eurogamer has summarized the problematic period: "Chief among criticisms are complaints about persistent crashes, while others have singled out server and matchmaking issues. Then there's ire directed towards PC optimization, and its kernel-level GameGuard anti-cheat software, which some feel is cause for concern, as well as complaints around Helldivers 2's monetization—which includes a battle pass and premium currency in-game shop, despite its £34.99/$39.99 price tag."

The development team at Arrowhead Game Studios implemented day-of-launch matchmaking fixes and addressed the most common crash problems. Helldivers 2 Game Director, Mikael Eriksson, stated that a patch was in the making: "If it's a success, we'll trigger a hotfix and get it out to the Steam community first, then roll it out to PS5 players as quickly as we can. Thank you—seriously—for your patience. We really want you all to have a blast playing this game. Bear with us, we're almost there." Arrowhead have followed up on their promise(s) today with another set of fixes pushed out to PC gamer population—Eriksson shared some good second day news: "We've uploaded a patch to Steam that should improve matchmaking for PC. The patch also includes some other crash fixes we've identified. We know there's more to solve, and we're working our way through it. Nevertheless, we hope this rapid patch goes a long way to making your experience better. Now go smash some bugs (and bots)!"

Grab your dueling pistols and dust off those adventurin' boots, because Lara Croft is back, baby! Get ready to embark on a journey down memory lane as the iconic Lara Croft makes her triumphant return in this lovingly remastered collection of the first three classic Tomb Raider games. The launch of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered brings these adventures to a new generation of gamers, featuring enhanced visuals, polished gameplay, previously exclusive expansions, and a surge of nostalgia to boot.

This time around, you'll be able to share your globetrotting adventures with your friends thanks to the new "Photo Mode" feature. Classic exploration meets modern creativity and every snapshot gives you a chance to tell YOUR story through daring escapades and unparalleled adventure. While you embark on legendary expeditions with Lara, capture your own moments of discovery and triumph.

The Helldivers universe is one of noble soldiers, heroic deeds, and heartfelt, unflinching patriotism in the face of giant acid-spewing bug monsters. Stephen Flowers, Game Writer, Arrowhead Game Studios: "I personally love writing for a game with opportunities for comedy, and that doesn't take itself too seriously. I hope I can find a game like that soon…" If you want to catch up with the story of Super Earth and her valiant defenders before Helldivers 2 launches tomorrow (on February 8), read on. Plus, we share the first news that the story will continue in post-launch Helldivers 2 updates.

Since Helldivers 1…
Helldivers 2 takes place a century after the events of the first game, with Super Earth having emerged victorious against its adversaries - the deadly, bug-like Terminids, the grotesque Cyborgs and the inscrutable Illuminates. With its foes vanquished and the Galactic War won, an era of peace and prosperity ensued. The Helldivers, Super Earth's elite task force, were dismissed. The same faster-than-light travel technology, heroically liberated from the Illuminates, that gave Super Earth access to the galaxy, has since been used to colonize it. This period has come to be known as The Great Democratization. FTL technology is reliant on a steady supply of the precious substance E-710 which, luckily, can be found in decomposing Terminid bodies. So naturally, Super Earth has been farming Terminids on an industrial scale.

Skull and Bones, launching on February 16, will transport players to the Indian Ocean during the Golden Age of Piracy, where they'll battle ships in fast-paced naval combat, plunder ports, and take on contracts to grow their Infamy and eventually rise to the top as a pirate kingpin. It's a co-op open world pirate action RPG, where players can do everything from hunting crocodiles and harvesting jute fiber to battling ghost ships and sea monsters. In a multiplayer game of this size and scope, it's especially important to make sure that it can be experienced by as many players as possible. To find out more about Skull and Bones' accessibility, we spoke with Project Manager Samuel Soh at Ubisoft Singapore and Production Manager Yurii Martynchyk at Ubisoft Kyiv.

Skull and Bones is a huge PvE open world with PvP activities and lots to do. What kinds of considerations go into ensuring that it's accessible to a broad spectrum of players? Has it presented any specific challenges?
Yurii Martynchyk: In addition to "classic" accessibility features - remapping, colorblind options, subtitles, etc. - Skull and Bones also includes gameplay-related accessibility options, like the ability to disable camera shakes when you're sailing, and to automate the harvesting minigames and QTE sequences. In my opinion, it is very important to keep an eye on possible balancing issues when introducing accessibility features, and our team is working closely with colleagues from Singapore to ensure an equitable playing field for all players.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the newest installment in the Final Fantasy VII remake project and one of 2024's most-anticipated games, tells the tale of main protagonist Cloud Strife and his loyal companions who explore a massive world outside Midgar, the city of Mako, as they pursue Sephiroth, one of the most iconic antagonists in video game history.

Ahead of the full game's release on February 29, the demo releasing today allows you to not only take control of the protagonist, Cloud, but take full control of the legendary swordsman Sephiroth in battle. You will be able to play as Sephiroth as part of the extended flashback section, as Cloud recalls an earlier mission in his career as a Soldier - the Nibelheim incident. Taking place several years before the events of the game, this will set the stage for several important moments within Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. What's more, we're planning to release an update later this month that will allow you to explore part of the Junon region before the release of the full game on February 29. We hope you'll take this opportunity to venture into the world of Final Fantasy VII!

CD Projekt has been on a recruitment kick in the USA and Canada—"Project Orion"—AKA a sequel to 2020's Cyberpunk 2077—is in the early stages of development at the company's Boston studio (according to earlier reports). An official announcement—issued a few hours ago—outlines a series of new hirings destined for their New England and Vancouver, BC offices. Additionally, multiple members of the original Cyberpunk 2077 development team have moved from CD Projekt Red's principal Warsaw location to the East Coast NA operation—most notably game director Gabriel Amatangelo, associate director Paweł Sasko, and creative director Igor Sarzyński. The company's executive team confirmed (last month) that their Poland office(s) will preside over the embryonic "Project Polaris"—the next mainline entry in their Witcher franchise.

CD Projekt Red North America's hiring of Anna Megill's has received the most press coverage—she will become the Cyberpunk sequel's Lead Writer. The company press release documented her work history: "narrative contributions to such titles as Control (Remedy), Dishonored: Death of The Outsider (Arkane), Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Ubisoft Massive), Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet), and the upcoming Fable (Playground Games)." The Executive Producer position will be filled by Dan Hernberg, previously Head of Production at Amazon Games and Panic Button, as well as Lead Product Manager at Blizzard Entertainment—his CV includes "contributions" to New World, Apex Legends, and Diablo III. Ryan Barnard has been hired as Design Director, his past credits include: "Game Director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, as well as Gameplay Director at Hitman developer IO Interactive." Alexander Freed (a former BioWare lead writer) will be contributing additional plot content. Cyberpunk multiplayer elements have been teased by CD Projekt leadership, so it would make sense to have several MMO-experienced senior staffers onboard.

Hi, your local game slinger here (Megan Spurr, Community Lead), back to add more to your "to be played" collection! Maybe you want to simulate some football before the big game; simulate running from horrors, or simulate moving things a little to the left without having to actually organize your things… we have some games for you. Claim your Perks, check out some updates, and get ready to pre-install some games!

Available Today:
Anuchard (Cloud, Console, and PC)—The kingdom of Anuchard has fallen. Generations after the collapse, its surviving descendants have chosen you to become The Bellwielder of the magical Audros Bell. Go forth, battle monsters, solve puzzles, and restore Anuchard to its former skyward glory!

It's time for Classic and Modern Sonic to reunite in a remastered collection of iconic 2D and 3D Sonic levels! We unveiled Sonic X Shadow Generations during State of Play—the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog platformer delivering blistering platforming challenges at speeds only Sonic and Shadow can deliver. It's a greatest hits playlist of iconic 2D and 3D Sonic levels from Sonic Generations, both remastered and expanded for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. But that's not all—Sonic X Shadow Generations also introduces an all-new standalone campaign for Shadow the Hedgehog, making this the definitive blend of Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic and Shadow gameplay.

The announcement that premiered last week shows off a glimpse of the title with action-packed footage to get fans excited for the new additions to come. The original Sonic Generations provided an unforgettable experience to Sonic fans old and new, as it combined nostalgia from the early days of Sonic with the latest modern Sonic gameplay at the time. The story centers around Sonic and friends as their universe is thrown into chaos when an ominous power appears, creating "time holes," which take Sonic and his friends back in time. While in the past, Sonic runs into some familiar faces including a classic version of himself! Together, they must team up to defeat enemies, save their friends, and find out who is behind this diabolical deed.

Paradox Interactive and Triumph Studios have announced the release date for Age of Wonders 4: Primal Fury, a new content pack coming on February 27, 2024 to the award-winning fantasy strategy game for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. The studios also revealed the full list of features that will be included with Primal Fury, including a new Primal Culture themed around mastery of beasts and nature, new Tomes of Magic to wield the forces of mists and storms, new physical forms, mounts, and much more. Primal Fury will be available on all platforms for a suggested retail price of $9.99/£8.49/€9.99; players who purchased the Premium Edition of Age of Wonders 4 or the Expansion Pass will receive Primal Fury at launch for no additional cost.

In the Age of Wonders 4: Primal Fury content pack, players will discover new ways to conquer the realms, and bring the land itself under their control. The new Primal Culture will enable rulers to channel an animal spirit that shapes their empire, both physically and spiritually. The Tome of Fey Mists and the Tome of the Stormborne, both added in Primal Fury, include new spells to conceal troops in magical fog, gain advantages over seas and shorelines, and even transform armies into fearsome nagas. The pack will also launch alongside the free Wolf Update, which will add new features and improvements requested by the Age of Wonders community, including a rework of necromancy, new randomly generated items, and War Bounties to better direct allies in conflicts.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is out now on PC, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. PlayStation Blog sat down with the General Director, Tetsuya Fukuhara, and Director Yasuyuki Kaji from Cygames to discuss the efforts that went into this title. Granblue Fantasy takes place in the Sky Realm, a world where myriad islands float in a great blue expanse. Take your role as captain of a skyfaring crew, joined by a scrappy little dragon named Vyrn and a young girl with mysterious powers named Lyria. Together you sail with a colorful cast of crewmates, including kings and misfits alike, for Estalucia, a fabled island beyond the end of the skies.

PlayStation Blog: Tell us your feelings and thoughts about the launched title.
Tetsuya Fukuhara: Just like most team members, the reality hasn't sunk in yet for me. With the support of the company, we were able to focus on the development of the game, and the demo version received a more positive response than we had hoped for, so I feel all the effort we made to make this title as exciting as possible has paid off.

Hi everyone, we are Elise Galmard, Lead Narrative Designer, and Simon Svoboda, Lead Level Designer at Don't Nod. We're a part of the team bringing you Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, a supernatural tale of two lovers and ancient secrets. In this supernatural Action-RPG, play as two ghost hunters and lovers who face impossible choices that harbor dramatic consequences for the living… and the dead. From February 13, you'll get the chance to sift through the shadows of the past in New Eden, but before then we'd love to give you a glimpse into the world. Today we're talking all about haunting cases, a common form of quest you'll encounter in Banishers.

Behind The Veil
Our game universe is set in the world of the 17th century as we know it, with one major difference: the world is plagued with curses and ghost hauntings. During a Haunting Case, you will find ghosts that are still attached to the world of the living, which you as a Banisher, will be asked to investigate and solve. Haunting Cases serve as side quests in our game. A ghost is the lingering spirit of a dead person, holding onto some of their memories and feelings. Bound to the Incarnate world (the world of the living) by unresolved emotion that takes the form of an item called the Soul-tie, a ghost is also attached to one or more living beings, forever linked and wandering until you set them free. You must discover the truth behind each lingering ghost and why they're here.

On February 8 Arrowhead Game Studios invites you to customize your Helldiver, drop into hell, wipe out infestations, and repeat the victorious process. Have you ever watched the anonymous soldiers of a sci-fi movie get obliterated by aliens and thought to yourself, "I could do better"? Helldivers 2 is Arrowhead Game Studios' invitation to brave players dying to experience the chaotic fun of facing seemingly impossible odds. For the uninitiated, Helldivers 2 is a full sequel that maintains the 4-player cooperative essence of the 2015 top-down PS4 entry, while adding modern over-the-shoulder third-person gunplay and deeper customization options. I recently had a chance to suit up and drop into a hands-on session with Helldivers 2 on PS5, and lived to share this debriefing. I teamed up with three other Helldivers to learn the ropes and emerged with a whetted appetite for eliminating space bugs and murderous Automatons. Let's dive in.

Action sci-fi gunplay
Helldivers 2 is bursting with customization options and strategic depth, but shooting lots of enemies is your bread and butter. Arrowhead managed to translate the frenetic top-down energy of Helldivers into a smooth third-person shooter. Weapon recoil feels powerful yet predictable enough to maintain your accuracy. I specifically loved watching Automaton's armor dent and shatter off as I punched them full of sniper rounds. Players have options when it comes to gunplay. Hold the Square button to switch between single, burst, and autofire. Press L2 to shoulder your weapon and zoom in with R2. Click R3 button to aim-down-sights for even deeper precision and immersion. The direction buttons are used for quick actions, like switching to grenades by pressing right or pressing for a life-restoring stim. Remember to save a few 'nades to close up bug nests or destroy enemy factories. The moment-to-moment action is tight and reliable, which is key when all hell inevitably breaks loose.