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.

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.

Last Epoch is releasing Wednesday, February 21st, 2024, at 11:00am CT! Welcome everyone to the patch notes for Last Epoch's Release! It's been an amazing road to this point, and it's unreal to be writing patch notes without using the term "Beta Patch". With this patch Last Epoch will officially be leaving Early Access. We couldn't have made it to this point without all of you, our amazing community driving the world of Eterra alongside us. We can not say it enough, Thank you.

We also want to mention again here that to prepare the servers for our release on February 21st, we will be shutting down our servers 24 hours before the patch, starting: Tuesday, February 20st, 2024, at 11:00am CT. While the servers are down, authentication will not be possible. If you are already playing in offline mode before we take down the servers, you should be able to continue your play session, however offline will not be able to authenticate to log in once the servers are down. This is also a good point to note that one of the features being added with 1.0 is a true offline mode, which will prevent this kind of interference with offline mode in the future.

Paradox Interactive, a publisher of challenging games about running empires, today announces their partnership with XperimentalZ Games to publish Escape the Mad Empire, a dungeon-crawling game with intense tactical pause combat and base management gameplay that will release in Early Access on Steam in 2024 under the Paradox Arc publishing initiative. You can try Escape the Mad Empire today by playing the demo, including a mini-campaign and a challenging boss fight! You can find the demo here.

Escape the Mad Empire is a rogue-like dungeon-crawling game where you control a party of heroes facing near-impossible odds in a series of procedurally-generated, apocalyptic dungeons, filled to the brim with foes, traps, and deadly boss fights. Leverage the tactical pause system to execute complex strategies in the blink of an eye and clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. As you overcome the threats of the apocalypse, manage your heroes' instability, grow your base, and fight to survive until you Escape the Mad Empire or fall to its horrors.

As we enter the year of the dragon according to the Chinese zodiac, we have a week full of new game releases to look forward to, although none of them are unfortunately dragon themed. This week's AAA release has a more caribbean theme and has been a long time coming. As for the remaining releases, we're looking at a dash of phobia, banishment, some insight, dwarves, colonisation and a dark town.

Skull & Bones / This week's AAA release / Friday 16 February
Enter the perilous world of Skull and Bones, a co-op pirate open world action RPG experience, to become the most infamous pirate kingpin. Engage in thrilling naval battles, craft a variety of unique ships, forge unlikely alliances as you overcome the odds, and bring mayhem on the seas. Be part of an immersive world that introduces new challenges and features every season

AMD FSR 3 Is Coming To The Thaumaturge—a Gripping and Dark RPG. The Thaumaturge is a story-driven RPG with morally ambiguous choices, taking place in the culturally diverse world of early 20th century Warsaw. In this world, Salutors exist: esoteric beings that only Thaumaturges can truly perceive and use for their needs. The Thaumaturge launches February 20th, with AMD FSR 3. Watch the brand new story trailer below.

When it launches later this month, The Thaumaturge will feature AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3. FSR 3 transforms gaming experiences with massive and responsive framerates in supported games using a combination of temporal upscaling technology, advanced frame generation, and built-in latency reduction technology.

Hi everyone, we have received feedback from players about the quest progression of Enshrouded. Many of you are frustrated with the fact that it is currently mainly server-side instead of player-side. We have some good news to share. Put your reading hats on, this one's long...When designing this system, we believed that the best way to enjoy Enshrouded was with a group of friends who are all working cooperatively together. However, we know that having quests completed while one player is offline might feel bad for those who feel they are missing parts of the gameplay experience. We designed Enshrouded as a co-op game. While working on it, we envisioned one group of friends experiencing the world together—sharing bases, resources, crafting recipes, and loot.

Furthermore, we wanted players to be able to play together meaningfully with different groups of friends and on different servers. We developed a game environment where a new player could join a long-running server and jump into the same action as their friends. Skipping the "tutorial" server quests to instead learn through conversation and cooperation, uniting the group. Our reasoning was that players shouldn't feel forced to participate in quests. Our player base is diverse, after all. Not everyone is bound to enjoy our combat or puzzles as much as building a base or exploring. If some players in a group want to focus on building or farming, while others are going on adventures, both making meaningful progress for the group, that should be fine.

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!

Paradox Interactive, a publisher and developer of deep and strategic games for cerebral players, has announced their collaboration with SquareNite to publish Darfall, a roleplaying strategy game with settlement-building mechanics that will be released in Early Access in 2024 under the Paradox Arc publishing initiative. Darfall is a strategy game where you take control of a hero who must explore and adventure through the land to gain power while simultaneously managing a nascent village in its efforts to expand and grow into a larger town. However, as the sun sets, the dark forces plaguing the land unleash their minions against your base and it is your job as a hero to take a stand in defense of its home. Each night that the forces of evil are thwarted, the more dangerous and numerous the nighttime raids become.

Big Announcement
Hello, Darfall community! It's me Lukas and we have some thrilling news to share that marks a new era in the journey of Darfall. We are incredibly proud and excited to announce our partnership with the renowned game publisher, Paradox! More specifically, their Arc initiative. This collaboration is not just a milestone for us at SquareNite, but also a testament to the potential of Darfall. For us, collaborating with Paradox is a dream realized. Their commitment to crafting quality, strategic games that captivate players for countless hours aligns perfectly with our vision for Darfall.

Ken Levine (Creative Director, Ghost Story Games), creator of the BioShock series, unpacks how Judas will be an experience where players influence how relationships and the story unfold: "Characters have always been the driving force in every game we've ever made. Whether fighting beneath the ocean to assassinate Andrew Ryan or escaping a city in the sky with Elizabeth, these personalities have always been at the heart of our stories. But what if you could choose between who to befriend and who to stab in the back? With Judas (coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S), we wanted to craft an experience where these decisions and how the story unfolds is up to you. Because you, as Judas, are the driver of every event in a story with a new cast of characters to get to know—and change—in ways you haven't experienced before in our games.

In Judas, we give you a whole new world to explore: the corridors of the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense. Where machines control every aspect of business, art, and government. The ship's leaders tried to turn you into something you're not: a model citizen. And you sparked a devastating revolution to tear it all down. Do you want to fix what you broke or leave it all to burn? That's a decision only you can make."

Sony Interactive Entertainment's State of Play confirming the title of the game, DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH, arriving exclusively on PlayStation 5 in 2025. In Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, embark on an inspiring mission of human connection beyond the UCA. Sam—with companions by his side—sets out on a new journey to save humanity from extinction. Join them as they traverse a world beset by otherworldly enemies, obstacles and a haunting question: should we have connected? Step by step, legendary game creator Hideo Kojima changes the world once again.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach sees Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, and Troy Baker return to Hideo Kojima's genre defying universe. They will be joined by Elle Fanning, Shioli Kutsuna, and Academy Award-winning film director George Miller. Hideo Kojima is joined by longtime collaborator Yoji Shinkawa who will direct character and mechanical design, with Ludvig Forssell and Kyle Cooper reprising their roles as musical director and title designer, respectively. In conjunction with the release of the new Death Stranding 2: On The Beach trailer, be sure to visit the PS5 Game Hub to add the game to your wishlist and stay tuned for more information!

Good evening Kindred, in our recent Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 stream, we shared exciting news about the game and our first extended gameplay trailer. On the stream, The Chinese Room (TCR) Community Manager Josh Matthews was joined by Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director at TCR, who shared insights on the game, the narrative background, and how the game plays. If you missed the stream, you can check it out below. The gameplay stream contains several spoilers, and if you wish to avoid them, there are sections marked in the video timeline, or you can watch the trailer version of the gameplay video, which does not contain any major spoilers.

Matthews and Skidmore highlight an early-game mission, discussing why the player character, Phyre, infiltrates an abandoned warehouse to uncover clues about the mysterious mark on their hand. Players must choose their actions wisely, whether confronting the court's secret keeper like Willem or meeting unruly ghouls and illusions that cloud the environment. Acting as "The Sheriff" of the Court, Phyre's choices impact how the world perceives them and bring them closer to uncovering Seattle's secrets.

Ken Mendoza, Promotion Producer at Capcom, said: "Hi PlayStation Blog readers! We are very excited to share the newest trailer for Dragon's Dogma 2 revealed today during State of Play. In this article we will be diving deeper into some of the information revealed in it: the brand new Warfarer vocation, the vocation maisters, and the mysterious dragonsplague."

Introducing the Warfarer vocation
Wield a greatsword, chant high-level magick, and deceive enemies with illusions. The Warfarer is a vocation that allows you to engage in combat while switching between the weapons of other vocations. The Warfarer is a vocation exclusive to the main character, the Arisen. Warfarers can use all weapon types and learn the core skills of all vocations. It is the "ultimate vocation," so to speak. Some vocations excel at close combat, or are skilled at support, and the Warfarer can utilize the strengths of each vocation as the situation demands. The Warfarer has the potential to release powerful combos, such as using Trickster skills to deceive enemies and open opportunities to chant powerful attack magick. However, the Warfarer is not an all-mighty vocation. Their basic stats are not high, and they must carry many weapons in order to use their various skills. They will require the player's skill to exploit strengths in different situations, or else the vocation will remain a lesser version of each of the respective vocations. Only those who have honed their skills and adaptability will be able to bring out the full potential of this vocation.

Hey, everyone! We're excited to bring you some big (and heartwarming) news today! Today is the day! Get ready to trade in John's bang-bang gun for a watering can, and embark on a tranquil new life in Octopia. (Don't worry, you'll still need that frying pan 🍳). In Eastward: Octopia, Sam and John return in a parallel world adventure, leaving the miasma and monsters behind them, to start a simpler life, living off the land. Get ready to trade swords (or may we say rusty pans?) for shovels and embark on a tranquil world of rural life, fishing, and culinary magic in Octopia, the brand-new DLC for Eastward, landing on Steam and Nintendo Switch TODAY at $5.99 / £4.99 / €5.89 / 700円 / ¥22 CNY, with a special launch offer of 15% off the DLC running from today until February 14th! We're also running special limited-time offers on the base game & bundle too.

"I haven't played Eastward! Do I have to play the base game to get the most out of the DLC?"
Eastward: Octopia takes place in a parallel universe, so there's no need to have finished (or even started) Eastward's base game story to enjoy the simple life—you can even play it straight from the menu. However, please note that a copy of Eastward is required to access the DLC. Although many familiar faces appear in Eastward: Octopia, the plot, gameplay and character 'settings' will be a completely new experience. Once you've purchased and downloaded the DLC, make sure the DLC is 'checked' in the base game properties. After starting the base game of Eastward in your Steam Library, you can then travel to the pastoral time and space of Eastward: Octopia is a single click from the main menu interface! 🚞

Beneath the cathedral of Tristram, past the catacombs and deep caves, a Prime Evil grows in strength. Terror grips the townsfolk. They pray for someone to descend into the darkness, avenge their fallen friends, save Tristram, and destroy their demonic malefactor. Will you answer the call? Return to 1997's Diablo, the title that launched one of gaming's most enduring action-RPG franchises. Warriors, Rogues, and Sorcerers can now grab the game from the Battle.net Shop and stand against darkness once again in this genre classic.

Experience the legendary action-RPG that defined a genre
1997's Diablo set the stage for a new type of game that combined fast-paced action, deep character customization, intense multiplayer combat, and dark gothic fantasy in one bone-chilling package. Choose your destiny—storm Diablo's halls as either a Warrior, a Sorcerer or a Rogue, each with unique skills and abilities. Unite to destroy Diablo—join forces with up to 3 other players, delve into the hellbound depths beneath Tristram, and face the Prime Evil together.

As we're about to enter February, there are a bunch of new releases to look forward to this coming week, oddly enough many of them Japanese, just like this past week. This week's major release is based on a DC comics movie, which may or may not be appealing. As for the rest of this coming week's releases, we got a turn-based roguelike, some corsairs, punching, but only once, a fantasy action RPG, an anime 3D fighter and a JRPG. Hopefully there's something here for almost everyone.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League / This week's major release / Friday 2 February
From Rocksteady Studios, the creators of the Batman: Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a genre-defying third-person action shooter where the ultimate band of misfits must do the impossible to save the world: Kill the Justice League. Join the newly "recruited" members of Amanda Waller's infamous Task Force X (aka the Suicide Squad), Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark, as they set out on an impossible mission to Kill the Justice League. Drop into an expansive and dynamic open-world Metropolis ravaged by Brainiac's invasion and terrorized by the heroes who once protected it.

Experience an epic emotional drama. Two larger-than-life heroes brought together by the hand of fate, or perhaps something more sinister…Ichiban Kasuga, an unstoppable underdog who's no stranger to crawling up from rock bottom, and Kazuma Kiryu, a broken man facing down his last days. Join the fight with best-in-class RPG action. Experience one-of-a-kind combat with dynamic, fast-paced RPG battles where the battlefield becomes your weapon, and anything goes. Adapt your party's skills to the situation with outlandish jobs and customizations to strategically subdue enemies with over-the-top moves.

Prepare for infinite adventure—live it up in Japan and explore all that Hawaii has to offer in an adventure so big it spans the Pacific. Unforgettable moments await at every step of the journey with a unique mix of quests and activities to enjoy at your leisure. Will Kiryu accept his fate? How will Ichiban blaze a path of hope? And… wait, Tomizawa is a lovable what? Learn more about the personalities & motivations of the main characters from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Reuters has conducted an interview with Adam Badowski and Michał Nowakowski—Joint Chief Executive Officers at CD Projekt. The news agency wanted to find out more about the current roster of projects in development across the Polish gaming group's globally-scattered studios. The Boston branch of CD Projekt Red has started work on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel—codenamed "Orion"—as revealed by Igor Sarzyńsk (Narrative Director) earlier this month. The sequel's scope could grow beyond a single-player campaign—Nowakowski mentioned in the Reuters interview that multiplayer elements are under consideration by "Orion's" design team, but he declined to elaborate any further. CD Projekt Red downed tools on Cyberpunk 2077's multiplayer aspect around launch time (December 2020), and instead focused on improving the game's core functionality. A "triple-A" multiplayer spin-off was teased a few years ago, but abandoned at some point in favor of a new "more systematic, agile approach."

Badowski stated that "Orion" is still in a conceptual phase of development, and its team is expected to grow over the course of 2024—he anticipates around eighty members of staff by the end of the year. The North American team appears to be on a recruitment drive, while the European "Orion" gang is not expected to expand as quickly. The priority for CD Projekt's Warsaw studio is "Polaris" AKA the next mainline Witcher title—Badowski elaborated on their hiring goals in Poland: "we'd like to have around 400 people working on the project by the middle of the year." The joint-CEOs want "Polaris" entering into a full production stage in 2024—industry analysts predict a 2026 or 2027 launch window. Reuters brought up the obligatory question about artificial intelligence's place in CDPR operations—Nowakowski responded with: "We think that AI is something that can help improve certain processes in game production, but not replace people." When grilled about lessons learned from launch day disasters, Badowski stated that his company's production pipelines have undergone a positive overhaul: "We believe that in the future we'll avoid a premiere like the one we faced with Cyberpunk 2077"

At the recent Xbox Developer_Direct 2024 broadcast, Obsidian Entertainment shared its most comprehensive look yet at its upcoming fantasy-action RPG, Avowed. But even that only scratched at the surface of what's coming your way this fall. On today's special episode of The Official Xbox Podcast, Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel and Gameplay Director Gabe Paramo shared an extended look at the quest showcased during Developer_Direct, providing more detail on the moment-to-moment experience of the flexible combat system, and where this side quest fits in the larger narrative of Avowed.

This latest look at Avowed gives us a good idea of what to expect from Shatterscarp, one part of the ecologically diverse island of The Living Lands, all in the same universe as Obsidian's CRPG series Pillars of Eternity. But what makes Avowed a very 'Obsidian game' goes far beyond the commonality of setting in the world of Eora. "It's really about our player-centric approach to role play," Patel shared during this week's Podcast. "The way we really approach consequence and choice is giving players the opportunities to define who they are in this world, how they want to behave - what fantasy, what challenges they want to undertake." It's all part of Obsidian's "your worlds, your way" approach, and players will feel the weight of their choices moment-to-moment with every slash, parry, and spell cast.

If you like Japanese games, then the fourth week of the new year is for you, as we have no less than four new Japanese games being released this week, which almost has to be something of a record for simultaneous releases in a week. The AA title this week is one of the famous 3D fighting titles and if that's not your cup of matcha, then we have plenty of other games on offer for you. As for the rest of this week, we have some pirates, gates to other worlds, an open world co-op RPG and the aforementionedJapanese games.

Tekken 8 / This week's AA Title / Friday 26 January
Get ready for the next chapter in the legendary fighting game franchise, Tekken 8.
Completely redesigned character visuals. Elaborate, highly-detailed models built from the ground and high-fidelity graphics break the limits of new-generation hardware by adding a new weight and atmosphere to Tekken's signature battles. Vivid environments and destructible stages combine to create an overwhelming sense of immersion, creating the ultimate play experience.

As we enter the third week of the new year, we have the first major release of the year, although it might not quite be a AAA release it combines something old with something even older to try and make it into something new. As for the rest of this coming week's releases, we have a steampunk RPG set in the Victorian area, a co-op FPS, a turned based 4X god game, a city builder with a twist and a world full of your pals.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown / This week's major release / Thursday 18 January
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new Time Powers and unique super abilities.

Welcome to the second week of new game releases in 2024 and yet another week full of minor releases. Don't let that put you off though, as there are plenty of new games launching, some of which are not quite what you'd expect. As such, you can look forward to a week of RPG titles, a game where things go boom, a lot of beer, some bonesaws and repairing computers.

Archaelund / Monday 8 January
Explore a vast open world and crawl through dungeons in first person, then fight tactical turn-based battles from a top-down perspective. Guide your adventuring party through Archaelund, mankind's last frontier, and uncover its many secrets.

Welcome to the first week of new games of 2024, although the first week of the year isn't exactly starting with a bang. In fact, there are so few new releases that we couldn't even get one per day, but luckily there were enough new games being released on other days for a full roundup. We got everything from bootleggers to tiny cars and a point and click adventure to keep you busy this coming week.

Bootlegger's Mafia Racing Story / Monday 1 January
Step back in time to the roaring 1930s and immerse yourself in the high-stakes world of bootlegging during America's Prohibition era. Get ready to join John Hamerton, a retired car engineer and mechanic, as he embarks on a daring journey to save his house and pay off his tax debt.

Here's a sight for sore eyes if you're Mana fan - we're excited to announce an entirely new entry in the series coming in 2024: Visions of Mana! This beautiful new game is the first mainline instalment in the Mana series in over 15 years and returns to its action-RPG roots for an expansive, vibrant adventure across a semi-open field. You can get a look at what to expect in the new trailer or read on and we'll tell you all about this exciting and vibrant new adventure!

What is Visions of Mana?
You take the role of Val - a curious and carefree young man who lives in the Fire Village of Tianeea. Once every four years, the Faerie visits regions of the world to choose alms - people who are fated to travel to the Tree of Mana, which presides over the world's vital flow of mana. Val invites his childhood friend to a festival to welcome the visitor, but as the night falls, the sky lights up with sparkling lights and the Faerie chooses her as the alm. With the blessings of his village, Val sets out on a journey to accompany his friend to the Tree of Mana as her soul guard.

Paradox Interactive and The Chinese Room have announced that the Banu Haqim are a playable clan in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Focusing on stalking, assassination, and outmaneuvering enemies, the Banu Haqim specialize in combat from the shadows with unseen maneuvers and silent takedowns. Known for keeping their bloodlust in check, the Banu Haqim are fiercely devoted to upholding a moral code, dealing with threats, and handing out consequences. They lurk in the shadows, using their vampiric Disciplines to hunt and remain hidden, dealing swift and precise strikes to enforce their sense of justice.

"Making Phyre a Banu Haqim changes how players approach combat, offering a unique perspective to the game's world," said Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director at The Chinese Room. "Players must approach encounters carefully to make the most of this clan's gifts, timing their strikes with finesse and precision to achieve their goals. These Kindred are patient and careful, making them ideal for players looking for a strategic experience."