Stolen Realm is a game that's been partly inspired by the work of Larian Studios, via the fantastic Divinity: Original Sin games, so while we've been finishing up Stolen Realm over the last few months, it's been fantastic to see Baldur's Gate 3 explode and show there is a huge appetite for games like ours. If you're one of those Xbox fans looking for a new game to scratch that Baldur's Gate 3 itch, we hope Stolen Realm will do that for you. However, we also want to tell you about the unique twists our game has that helps speed up combat, keeps you making fun choices and makes it perfect for co-op.

Stolen Realm has a synchronous turn system. This means that all the players on your team can all take their turns at the same time, the enemies likewise. With this system, our game offers the same kind of tactical combat you'd expect from the likes of Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sun, but with combat encounters that move at a far quicker pace. This means that when you're playing co-op with your friends, there's no waiting around for your turn while your buddy ponders his next move. You'll be onto the next step of your adventure in no time, so you can spend less time waiting and more time having friendly argument about whether you should go for another combat encounter, a special event, or some treasure as you move through our games diverse fantasy environments.

Hello! Nick Suttner here. You may have seen my name on PlayStation Blog before in various guises (most recently, as the writer behind Carto), but I'm super excited to be coming to you today as co-founder of the small studio Furniture & Mattress, to reveal our debut game Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure. What the heck is role-puzzling, you may ask? Well, we've spent the past few years building the kind of world that you'd expect to find in a role-playing game: curious towns and moody wilderness areas to explore, quirky characters to meet, and weirdo monsters to battle in dungeons. But in Arranger, everything is expressed through the language of a puzzle game. Hence: role-puzzling!

The entire game world exists on a sprawling, interconnected gameplay grid, and as our protagonist Jemma moves around, everything on the same row or column moves with her. She can also loop herself - or other objects - from one edge of the grid to the other. Over the course of our 8-10 hour, single-player adventure, we regularly twist and subvert these simple mechanics in a host of interesting ways, trying to keep things breezy while still providing some satisfying head-scratchers. (And several assist options to skip past them if you're not in the mood.)

Just in time for the highly anticipated new Amazon Prime Fallout series, we're dropping the Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology. The Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology contains seven incredible Fallout games and will launch on April 11. Pre-order yours today! Whether you're new to Bethesda Game Studios' Fallout, or this isn't your first time stepping out of the vault, get a crash course in wasteland survival from the very beginning of the award-winning role-playing game series that blasted onto the scene in 1997. Just in time for the highly anticipated new Amazon Prime Fallout series, we're dropping the Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology. The Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology contains seven incredible Fallout games and will launch on April 11.

Whether you're new to Bethesda Game Studios' Fallout, or this isn't your first time stepping out of the vault, get a crash course in wasteland survival from the very beginning of the award-winning role-playing game series that blasted onto the scene in 1997. Inspired by Fallout 76's in-game perk cards, the Fallout S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Anthology contains seven collectible cards, stored in the core of a miniature bomb (though disarmed, the painted mini-nuke features an explosive sound effect!). On these S.P.E.C.I.A.L. cards, Vault-Tec's fan-favorite Vault Boy makes the best use of his Charisma points to depict the core skills of any exceptional vault-dweller, from brute Strength to sheer Luck.

Welcome to February proper, a week that brings one fairly big AAA release, followed by a few lesser titles. We have sparky tales, a remake by MicroProse, dungeons, inquisitors and a space based RPG game for you, none of which can be considered major releases, but might still be fun to play.

Helldivers 2 / This week's AAA release / Thursday 8 February
Helldivers 2 is a 3rd person squad-based shooter that sees the elite forces of the Helldivers battling to win an intergalactic struggle to rid the galaxy of the rising alien threats. From a 3rd person perspective, players use a variety of weapons (pistols, machine guns, flamethrowers) and stratagems (turrets, airstrikes, etc.) to shoot and kill the alien threats. Players can also aim down the sights for a more accurate 1st person camera view. Combat is accompanied by frequent sprays of blood and dismemberment as players exterminate the alien forces or players and squad mates are hit by environmental explosions or friendly fire. Enemy encampments and battlefield environments depict bloodstains and dismembered corpses.

Late last year, Square Enix unveiled Visions of Mana—the Japanese publisher stated that they had set a general 2024 launch window for their colorful action role-playing sequel, with a planned release across PC, plus current and past generation console platforms. Microsoft's recent Xbox Developer_Direct presentation included a prominent slot for Visions of Mana and its development team—many news outlets started to speculate about the ongoing relationship between Square Enix and Xbox Game Studios. The game appears to be scheduled for a "Summer 2024" launch, although some leaked material alludes to a "Day One" release on the Xbox and PC Game Pass subscription service.

Square Enix is perceived—by the wider gaming community—to have close ties to the Sony PlayStation ecosystem, due to a regular rollout of exclusive titles. For example, the Final Fantasy franchise back catalog is not well represented on Xbox systems—this could change in 2024 and beyond; a port of Final Fantasy XIV Online was announced by Phil Spencer last year at a Fan Fest event. The embracing of Xbox platforms is certainly a novel concept at this point in time, but Microsoft's gaming division has been fighting hard to form new allegiances. Eurogamer has reported that references that tie Visions of Mana to a "Day One Game Pass launch" have been scrubbed from the internet: "There's no longer any mention of Game Pass when searching for the game and its entry on the Xbox website simply states "coming summer 2024" on both console and PC. As such, this could be a mistake. But many fans are hopeful of its Game Pass arrival."

Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from the award-winning creators behind Skyrim and Fallout 4, Bethesda Game Studios. Gamers from around the world were excited to jump into this interstellar universe rich with adventure, peril, and excitement. But before anyone hops into space, they need something critical: a spacesuit. So, Xbox has partnered up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to give Starfield fans around the world a chance to win the spacesuit of their dreams, in real life, in addition to other incredible Xbox prizes. This is a physical, wearable, one-of-a-kind garment, fabricated for the most intrepid explorers.

Whether using a provided template as a base, or pushing their imagination to the limit with any creative format of their choice, fans will be asked to provide both a visual illustration of the suit from all sides—hand-drawn, 3D-rendered, or however their vision sees fit—as well as a description of the inspiration of the suit. More specifically, Xbox, Bethesda and the ESA want to know what you would wear in outer space - how would your spacesuit reflect your personal style, individuality and vision for space travel?

As it's getting darker in the northern hemisphere, we're seeing a continuing stream of new game releases and this week's AAA title appears to involve hammers and ruins of some kind. The rest of this week's releases includes tiny civilizations, rhythms, faith, flashbacks and a Japanese game. Take a gander below to see if there's something for you or maybe you're suffering from new game release overload already?

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin / This week's AAA title / Friday 17 November
Wage a campaign of brutal conquest in this realm-shattering real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe. Explore the nature of war from the perspectives of righteous champions and villainous warlords. Battle for survival and dominance across a campaign featuring four major factions, including Stormcast Eternals, Orruk Kruleboyz, Nighthaunt and the Disciples of Tzeentch! Experience a cinematic plot, penned in conjunction with acclaimed Black Library author, Gavin Thorpe.

Hello, Doods! We're very excited that Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is out now! For console as well as PC players, the development team has worked hard to provide a version that can be enjoyed by everyone. Unique considerations have been made for playing the game on PC so that it works on decked-out rigs, the portable Steam Deck, and everything else in between.

Celebrate the launch of Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless with exclusive launch savings for a limited time! Take advantage of discounts up to 30% as well as exclusive giveaway items now through October 16, 2023. Save an additional 5% on the Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Deluxe Edition, and an additional 10% on the Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless Ultimate Edition which comes with loads of added bonuses including cosmetic and weapon DLC, Bonus Stories, a digital soundtrack and Art Book, and more!

The Drop Bear Bytes team is excited to announce that Broken Roads is coming to PC, Xbox One & Series X/S on November 14, 2023! Embark on an unforgettable journey across a post-apocalyptic Australia full of danger and tough decisions. Stay tuned for release date information on other platforms coming soon! Broken Roads is a narrative-driven RPG that brings exploration, strategic turn-based combat and meaningful philosophical choices to an all-new Australian post-apocalyptic setting.

BROKEN ROADS IS A NARRATIVE-DRIVEN RPG FOR PC AND CONSOLE COMING 14 NOVEMBER 2023
Bringing exploration, strategic turn-based combat and meaningful philosophical choices to an all-new Australian post-apocalyptic setting.
Broken Roads was born of a love for traditional isometric computer role-playing, and will provide a rich, engaging narrative in which players make their way across a desolated Australia. Blending together traditional and all-new role-playing elements on top of a classless system offering near-unlimited character development options, Broken Roads presents players with an original morality system: the Moral Compass. This novel design sees dialogue options and questing decisions influence, and be influenced by, a character's philosophical leaning.

If you've ever dreamed of launching into space and exploring new worlds, a much-anticipated new video game can take you there in rich detail and immersive storytelling. With Starfield, the first new universe from Bethesda Game Studios in 25 years, your role-playing journey can lead to more than 1,000 planets. It's available day one on Xbox Game Pass on Sept. 6, and on Xbox Series X|S consoles, Windows PCs and Steam.

"We love the idea of exploring space and always wanted to turn it into a game. People love to get lost in games we build, and we do as well," says Todd Howard, game director and executive producer of Bethesda Game Studios, which Microsoft acquired through parent company ZeniMax Media in 2021. "This one is easily the most ambitious one we've built. It's something we've really poured ourselves into over a long period of time."

This coming week, one of the most hyped AAA games of the year will launch and early previews of the game suggests it might just manage to mostly live up to the hype. However, the rest of this week is rather slow, maybe because all of the other publishers know most people will be busy playing their fancy new space game and won't be interested in what else might launch this week, although some appear to be riding on the wave of said space game. That said, there are still some minor releases this week, with at least a couple that might appeal to some of you.

Starfield / This week's AAA title / Wednesday 6 September
Starfield is the first new universe in over 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity's greatest mystery. In the year 2330, humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. You will join Constellation - the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy - and navigate the vast expanse of space in Bethesda Game Studios' biggest and most ambitious game.

Just when you think the post-apocalyptic world being overrun by hordes of deadly enemies couldn't get any worse, along comes Remnant 2 with a whole new terrifying world of deadly creatures and god-like bosses. Remnant 2 is the continuation of the best-selling game Remnant: From the Ashes, and we (Xbox Wire) connected with David Adams, President of Gunfire Games, to talk about what you can expect from this intense Remnant combat experience.

Since this is a sequel, the first and most obvious question is, how does Remnant 2 align with everything we experienced in Remnant: From the Ashes, and what do those players who never played the first game need to know? "Story wise it picks up from the end of the first game's final DLC. The main threat has been seemingly defeated, and mankind is starting to fight back and take back the Earth," shares Adams. "However, something is obviously not perfect, or we wouldn't have a sequel. We try to keep the stories in our games simple, so players should have no trouble picking it up."

Baldur's Gate 3 is a big RPG. A great, big, uncompromising RPG! It shows in the numbers: more than 170 hours of cinematics and featuring three times more cinematic dialogue than all three The Lord of the Rings novels combined, a library of more than 600 spells and actions, and plenty more. Dungeons & Dragons is all about player freedom - the freedom to define your character, to explore vast territories with your allies, and decide the fate of the world. We've spent the last six years bringing the unlimited freedom D&D is known for into the realm of video games. We've written two-million words of dialogue across the thousands of characters that populate the world of Faerûn, with an exhilarating story and in-depth character creation that puts you at the helm of the adventure. The dice may define your luck, but you define the story.

Originally due to launch on August 31 (PC version is unaffected by this delay), we've decided to release Baldur's Gate 3 for PS5 on September 6. This brief delay allows us more time to achieve our ambition of 60 frames per second, thanks to the power of PlayStation 5. For those of you who purchased our gigantic Collector's Edition (limited stock still available), don't worry, we've got your back. We'll be emailing you codes so you can jump in on September 3, at the start of the September 3 72-hour Early Access period that comes with the Deluxe Edition. We've talked about how Baldur's Gate 3 is an ambitious game, so let's take a look at some of the features you can expect when it launches on September 6, or for those of you with the Deluxe Edition, September 3. The PC version is launching earlier than expected—its release date is now set for August 3.

The official NieR Series Twitter account declared a sales milestone this week, and showed a great appreciation for its fanbase: "You'll be delighted to hear more than 7.5 million copies of NieR: Automata have been sold or shipped to date. Thank you for your love and support!" PlatinumGames' action role-playing game has accumulated very decent numbers over a six year period - NieR: Automata first arrived on PlayStation 4 and PC back in March of 2017. Thanks to highly favorable reviews from the computer game press, and word of mouth spread throughout the gaming community, the unlikely spin-off (from the Drakengard series) has become an enduring classic. It also helps that NieR: Automata broke free from being a PS4 and PC timed exclusive, and later on found its way onto the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

It is probably safe to assume that NieR: Automata has made a return on its production budget, so talk naturally turns to the prospects of a hypothetical third entry in the series. PlatinumGames and the game's creator, Yoko Taro, have remained very tight-lipped about a possible continuation. The normally eccentric video game director took a more straightforward approach when sharing good news about his game's healthy sales figures: "It seems that 7.5 million copies have been sold. It's so awesome that it makes me dizzy. I can't exceed this number for the rest of my life…I can only thank everyone who supported me!" Taro has taken a more evasive stance when dealing with questions regarding a third Nier title.

Life is a journey of chivalric adventure, so why don't you embrace yours, ruler? Create your very own epic story with the major expansion, Crusader Kings III: Tours & Tournaments. Be awed by the sights and events that await you, from bold, mock combat in the jousting area to adventuring perilous wilds with your royal entourage. Don't get too comfortable at court, because some of the greatest stories are out there in the world. Travel your realm, plan great hunts and take part in grand demonstrations of arms in Crusader Kings III: Tours and Tournaments, coming 11 May 2023. Tours and Tournaments is available for pre-order now, and is also part of the Chapter II Crusader Kings pack, with three other upcoming add-ons.

Let wanderlust overtake your ruler's desires during a monumental Tour, and seek out your subjects in a realm that can be both dangerous and richly entertaining. Prove yourself in one of the many forms of gallant Tournaments, either abroad or at home, or use the festivities to murder a quarrelsome rival. Be the host of new Grand Activities, be it grand weddings or stirring falconry hunts. But beware! Many celebrations are the perfect cover for the dastardly scheme against foes… or family.