Hey Realmwalkers, we've seen a lot of discussion in recent days around our decision to make Nightingale online-only at our Early Access release. We understand that this can be frustrating for a number of reasons. Our vision for the game since inception was to create an interconnected series of Realms, with the idea of allowing for co-operative exploration in mind—a universe bigger than a single Realm or server. That meant we made a choice early in development between supporting co-op from day one or focusing development on an offline mode.

Co-operative gameplay associated with having party members across multiple Realms was the more technically challenging problem and therefore the one we chose to tackle first. Looking back on that decision, we misjudged what some of you were looking for in your experience.

Hello everyone - my name is Kei Komaki, I am the producer and together with Yuichiro Kitao, Development Producer and Director we want to give fans and newcomers a deep dive into the development process of Star Ocean The Second Story R! This brand-new remake of the classic PlayStation-era RPG launches for PS5 & PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC (Windows) on November 2, and expands the original adventure with revamped mechanics, a rearranged soundtrack with new music, and a bold new 2.5D art style. The whole team has put their heart and soul into this epic adventure, so as the game launches, I thought I'd take you behind the scenes and explain how we approached the challenge of remaking such a beloved game.

The remaster takes off
The first thing you may be wondering is: why remake Star Ocean The Second Story at all? The simple answer is that the fans continually requested it. Even as we continued to develop new instalments in the series, such as 2022's Star Ocean The Divine Force, fans kept asking for the return of Star Ocean The Second Story. This year is the 25th anniversary of the game's original release, so naturally we started thinking about what we could do to mark the occasion. At the time, I was lucky enough to meet Yuichiro Kitao from Gemdrops, Inc., who would go on to work on the development. We discussed the project, and he quickly got on board with the idea of a remake.

Heya Realmwalkers, Inflexion Games here. We have a new Developer Update for you all that covers Nightingale's August playtest details & challenges, what we're working on post-playtest, Quality of Life (QoL) feature updates, what Early Access means to us and much more. Watch it below. Set out on a journey of survival and adventure, into the mysterious and dangerous Fae Realms of Nightingale! Become an intrepid Realmwalker, and venture forth alone or with friends - as you explore, craft, build and fight across a visually stunning Gaslamp Fantasy world.

Nightingale is a PVE open-world survival crafting game played solo or cooperatively with friends. Build, craft, fight and explore as you venture through mystical portals into a variety of amazing and fantastical realms. You are stranded beyond our world, cut off by the collapse of the arcane portal network. This catastrophe has left you fighting to survive in a labyrinth of beautiful and dangerous Fae realms. Your goal: become a skilled Realmwalker, and navigate the web of transdimensional portals. Only then can you discover your way to the magical city of Nightingale, the last known bastion of humanity.

Earlier this month, we shared that PC Game Pass is now available in 40 new countries, the ability to take the expansive Game Pass library everywhere you go with the Asus ROG Ally, and the new PC Game Pass Friend Referral program where you can invite your friends and play together. You can find Friend Referral invitations on the Game Pass Home screen in the Xbox App on PC, just click the "Give PC Game Pass" button to share with up to 5 friends. Now, we're excited to share the latest Xbox app update to improve your PC gaming experience. Let's explore the new features and improvements.

Improved Discovery with Updated Game Card, Filtering, and New Collections
We've updated game cards throughout the app to give you more information and convenience. Now, you can see the game's title along with contextual metadata like publisher, pricing, HowLongToBeat time, coming to Game Pass date, leaving Game Pass date for those games leaving soon, and more! You will see all this information as you browse through games in the app. We have also made it easier for you to filter and sort game collections and your library with new filter options, including accessibility features and game ratings, as well as introducing HowLongToBeat as a new sorting option. This way, you can easily find the games you love and discover new ones that match your preferences.

Dear Combo Breakers - this winter will be Killer Instinct's 10th year on Xbox Live. Throughout that time, Xbox platforms and services have been constantly evolving. We have been able to keep KI operating and adapting to many of these changes behind the scenes. Over the last five years, however, it has become more challenging to deal with issues that crop up due to KI's reliance on legacy services. We have been working on solutions to address these concerns. Thank you for being patient and amazing fans through any bumps in the road.

We have started migrating KI's legacy services to PlayFab services, a process which will happen over the next several months. This is a quality-of-life (QOL) update and does not have any new content or tuning changes: it ensures the game you know and love continues to provide the best possible player experience. Today, we've kicked off the first migration build for Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and Steam.