At THQ Nordic, we think of ourselves as a true variety publisher. No matter what kind of gamer you are, there’s a home for you in one of our digital worlds.

For our 2024 Digital Showcase we wanted to demonstrate exactly that, with games including a remake of a beloved Disney classic, a new IP from a team of horror legends, an adrenaline-fuelled wreck racer, and much more. Here’s what is coming to Xbox.

The Eternal Life of Goldman

This year’s stream opened with a new 2D adventure platformer from Weappy Studio, developers behind This Is the Police.

Navigate a mysterious archipelago as Goldman, realized in expertly-crafted 2D animation, every frame bursting with the passion injected by devs creating the game they have always wanted to make.

Weappy have put player freedom and a sense of wonder at the core of their design philosophy, rewarding players for exploring the archipelago’s many hidden nooks and crannies. Platforming sections pose a challenge, but a fair one – focused on helping you find the solution that works for you through experimentation.

We’ll have more news on The Eternal Life of Goldman to share before the year is out – until then, make sure to wishlist the game on Xbox to be among the first to receive updates.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

The time has almost come to pick up your brush and decide the fate of Wasteland! When Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed releases on September 24, the power to shape the world will be in your hands.

Use paint and thinner to restore harmony to a mysterious world and uncover its secrets in classic 3D platformer action, spending time with beloved characters and exploring side-scrolling levels inspired by Mickey Mouse’s history.

Whether you first journeyed to Wasteland fourteen years ago or it’s your first time taking up the brush, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is unmissable for any Disney fan. We can’t wait for you to join us on this adventure later in the year.

Wreckfest 2

Customize your ride and take your own personal wrecking machine online in a range of events designed for maximum vehicular mayhem! With never-before-seen damage modelling fidelity thanks to the power of Xbox Series consoles, you’ll leave every event with your car’s bodywork telling its own story.

The team at Bugbear Entertainment are devoting themselves to giving you the freedom to wreck how you want – whether it’s trading paint with other speed demons in a traditional race, bombing through obstacle courses, or settling scores in a classic destruction derby grudge match.

Keep the engine running, we’ll be back with more on Wreckfest 2 soon.

Titan Quest II

When we announced Titan Quest II a year ago, the support we received from the community was incredible, with the reveal trailer quickly becoming one of our most watched ever. We want to thank all of you who have expressed your excitement for the long-awaited sequel to the original mythological ARPG by taking you on the next step in Titan Quest II’s journey to release – our debut gameplay trailer.

In today’s broadcast, we gave ARPG fans their first glimpse of what awaits in the gorgeous Ancient Greek landscapes of Titan Quest II, and the legendary powers you’ll use to fight your way through Nemesis’ vengeful hordes. The team at Grimlore Games are hard at work crafting a world that feels rewarding to explore, with adversaries waiting around every corner, ready to drop meaningful loot that can completely alter your playstyle.

Your hero in Titan Quest II should feel personal to you, with deep customization at the heart of the experience – from how your hero looks, through to their own unique choice from thousands of different skill and equipment combinations. Whether you’re a solo adventurer or you team up with friends online to weave your legend together, Titan Quest II will take you on an odyssey unlike any other, offering a fresh experience for ARPG veterans and newcomers alike.

Gothic 1 Remake

Since our reveal back in 2020, the support for Alkimia Interactive’s Gothic 1 Remake has been nothing short of amazing. Seeing that not just die-hard Gothic fans, but also RPG players as a whole are excited for Gothic’s return has been the best motivation for the team.

Today, we showed you how Alkimia are crafting a world that feels like it extends far beyond the player, with a fully realized ecosystem and influential groups warring for control of the land.

Gothic 1 Remake will feel familiar to longtime fans, but some crucial updates have been made to harness the power of new gen consoles. Gameplay and visuals have been overhauled, with deeper progression and crafting systems, as well as varied NPC routines and interactions.

No matter which camp you lend your allegiance to – the ore-rich Old Camp, the plotting New Camp, or the Brotherhood of the Sleeper, who swear fealty to a strange new deity – the mysterious, unforgiving world of Gothic 1 Remake will soon be ready to explore.

Way of the Hunter: Lintukoto Reserve

As with last year, the THQ Nordic Showcase marks release day for the latest DLC for Way of the Hunter, this time taking the hunt to the Scandinavian wilderness. 

Venture to Lintukoto Reserve, a fictionalized vision of tranquil forests glowing with magical moonlight, vast meadows bustling with wildlife, and snow-dusted hills. A range of new endemic wildlife populates the beautiful scenery – lynxes, arctic foxes, and many others each with their own range of unique behaviors.

The team at Nine Rocks have spent months meticulously sculpting every inch of this new DLC – we can’t wait to welcome you to Lintukoto Reserve, out now!

A New Tale From Tarsier Studios

They’re coming.

A new vision of horror from the team behind Little Nightmares I & II.

Want to know more? Tune in to Gamescom Opening Night Live, Tuesday August 20, 11am PT/8pm CEST.  

It wouldn’t be our yearly showcase without one last tantalizing reveal…

The Future of Darksiders

The foreboding rumble of caverns eons old. Embers swirl through the air, cast up from pools of bubbling lava.

Three enormous heads, hewn from otherworldly stone suddenly burst into life with mystical flame. The Charred Council roar a single word in unison: HORSEMAN.

It won’t be long until we reveal more about where the Darksiders series is going next, but for now, know this… the Four Horsemen will ride again.

That concludes our wrap-up for the THQ Nordic Digital Showcase 2024! From the whole team at THQ Nordic and our dev partners – thank you all so much for your passionate support over the last year. We hope to see you soon in one of our digital worlds!

Valorant is now live on Xbox Series X|S– with some serious benefits for Game Pass members. So grab four of your friends and hop into our 5v5 tactical shooter where you’ll need creative strategy, effective communication, and clutch aim to climb up the ranks.

But launch is only the beginning for Valorant on console – here’s how we’ll be supporting the game going forward.

Our Philosophy

Riot Games was founded with the idea that competition should be enjoyable at any level – whether it’s your first Valorant Competitive game after hitting level 20 or you’re grinding to Radiant, competing in our games should feel fair. Competitive integrity is at the heart of everything we do, and it’s one element that sets Valorant apart from other shooters on console.

One thing we’ve learned after 4+ years of Valorant on PC is that y’all are pretty cracked. The Valorant playerbase constantly innovates around the meta and comes up with new strats that surprise even us. Players consistently find new ability synergy between Agents, new line-ups, new flank watches, new ways to use a weapon, better smoke placements – you get the picture. Honestly, we love to see it. And now we’re so excited to welcome the console community into that space and see what you’ll come up with next.

Because of the ever-changing landscape, we’re constantly monitoring how our maps, Agents, weapons, and abilities are performing across different skill levels.

Sometimes an Agent might skew too powerful as players learn and master their abilities. Or maybe a map becomes one-sided as teams figure out how to optimize Agent utility. Or maybe a certain weapon becomes too strong as players hone their aim and learn how to better synergize with Agent abilities.

Over time, seemingly small imbalances can make a game start to feel stale and predictable. And that’s just not Valorant.

What That Means for Players

So, what does all this mean for the game long term? For our devs, it means their work is never done. For our players who aren’t familiar, it means live service and live balance.

We put out patches every two weeks across all platforms to address things like game balance, bug fixes, or QoL improvements. And a few times per year, we release larger updates to an Agent’s entire kit when there’s an opportunity to bolster or tamp down their strength. These kinds of updates typically aren’t needed very often and will only be implemented at a time that won’t affect active Pro play schedules.

So far, since Limited Beta started on console two months ago, Valorant has already seen four patch updates. We’re updating the game frequently, but paying attention to the unique needs of each platform. Balance parity between PC and console isn’t necessarily guaranteed.

Why? While the level of competition and skill-expression is the same for Valorant on PC and console, the game needs to be balanced independently between platforms. With different input methods (controller vs. mouse and keyboard) comes different playstyles. Some Agents shine on console but aren’t as effective on PC and vice versa. So our game developers have to test each extensively and adjust only when it makes sense.

Beyond game balance, Valorant features a rotating map pool for Competitive queue to ensure players get more variety while ranking up, and even occasionally to make changes to a map when it’s out of the competitive rotation.

Ultimately, it’s up to you – our passionate community – to let us know how we’re doing and show us how you’d level up the game. We’re so grateful to those of you who helped us prepare for this day by participating in our Limited and Open Beta periods, and we can’t wait to see what you’ll do next. So hop on, queue up, and frag out.

GL HF.

In Closer the Distance, you play as Angela, who observes the village of Yesterby from afar. Angela soon discovers there’s been a fatal car accident in which she perished. Mysteriously, Angela’s sister Conny hears Angela after her death and begins to follow her guiding voice to help the other villagers. Miraculously, the sisters are able to work together to mend the villager’s grief, bringing hope back to Yesterby. Over time, they discover other villagers are also connected to Angela who also guides them in their lives.  However, this isn’t as simple as it sounds. The villagers of Yesterby have desires and dreams that are not easily achieved.

All of this combines to make Closer the Distance a slice of life-sim that combines a compelling dramatic narrative with fully simulated characters that act on their own – if you let them. Characters have “wishes,” big or small goals they want to achieve, and “needs,” which represent their physical and mental requirements. Fulfilling these Wishes and Needs is your main task in the game, but both vary greatly between characters.

Take Zek, for example: Zek is Angela’s boyfriend and a carpentry apprentice. He’d been fed up with Yesterby for a while and planned to leave, but stayed out of love for Angela. These desires are reflected in two of Zek’s core needs: “Achievement” and “Belonging.”

At the start of the game, Zek mourns Angela and wants nothing more than for her to be alive. His Belonging need is extremely high, making him feel directionless and lonely. We can try to fulfill his needs by looking at the overview that shows all interactions connected to any selected wish or need. From there, you the player can send Zek to play a song he wrote for Angela on the beach. Reminding him of Angela will partially fill his Belonging needs and stabilize his emotions. The better his needs are met overall, the better he will feel, which in turn affects his behavior and decisions throughout the game.

But just performing a song won’t make Zek’s grief magically disappear, nor will it quell his desire to leave Yesterby. Parts of his Belonging need will remain locked, so it can never be fully satisfied.

That’s where wishes come in. Wishes reflect things a character wants to achieve. With Angela gone, it’s no surprise that Zek eventually develops a wish to move to the city. Following the steps to complete this wish and helping Zek achieve this goal not only fulfills his needs but also affects his personality. When this happens, the limits on his Belonging and Achievement needs can change or be removed altogether, allowing Zek to feel happy again.

While Zek is mostly focused on himself, Galya is another story. Galya is the village doctor, a busy bee who feels responsible for everyone in Yesterby. She has a strong sense of loyalty to her best friend Pia, Angela’s mother, but also doesn’t want to neglect her partner, Leigh. Fulfilling her wishes and needs often hinges on social interactions and deciding whom to help or spend time with. On top of that, her “Diligence” need ensures that slacking off is not an option, as Galya will feel stressed quickly if she hasn’t been productive in a while. Luckily, Galya also has some emotional “Resilience,” which she can build up by working out, for example.

As you can see, no two characters are quite the same, and their wishes and needs shape personalities that feel and play differently. Often, there’s more than one way to tackle a wish or need, and sometimes wishes of characters will be intertwined with those of others or may even contradict them.

How you have them spend their days matters in Closer the Distance, as time progresses constantly. But if juggling multiple characters sounds stressful, don’t worry; the villagers are mostly pretty good at taking care of themselves, even if you’re not constantly looking after them. Still, the actions you choose for the characters will determine not only their own stories but the fate of Yesterby as a whole.

How will you guide the people of Yesterby? Will you have them overcome their grief and be able to feel happy again? Find out today, as Closer the Distance comes to Xbox Series X|S today.

Closer the Distance

Skybound Games

☆☆☆☆☆ 2

★★★★★

$19.99

Get it now

Closer the Distance is a deeply moving, slice-of-life sim that tells a story about the connections between family and friends in the face of tragedy. Following a fatal car accident, players take on the role of Angela, a young girl from the town of Yesterby, who finds herself watching over her loved ones as they navigate the grieving process. Using her ethereal ability to influence the townspeople she once knew, Angela’s choices will ultimately determine the fate of Yesterby. Closer the Distance combines several key gameplay features for an immersive playthrough. The game's compelling narrative is emotionally charged and highlights themes of empathy, community, friendship, grief, and closure. Choices-matter gameplay allows players to make decisions that affect the outcome of the story, making each playthrough unique. Closer the Distance offers something for everyone, and its emotional depth and engaging gameplay will leave players wanting more.