Microsoft has confirmed the next batch of titles headed to Xbox Game Pass for the latter half of August: Atlas Fallen, Core Keeper, and Star Trucker.

Then there's that little known game called Call of Duty Black Ops 6. You'll be able to participate in the early access open beta when it kicks off for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on 30th August, 2024, with pre-downloading available from 28th August.

"Sure, it takes itself way too seriously and the loot chase can get monotonous, but everything outside of the monster-slaying is just an excuse to get right back to the monster-slaying. Or make the monster-slaying cooler with upgrades," we said in our Atlas Fallen review.

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First person shooters (FPS) have been around for quite a while. Of all the gaming trends to come and go over the last four decades, it seems like FPS games refuse to go down. Ever since the likes of Wolfenstein and Doom popularized the idea of shooting from a first person perspective, the genre has continually dominated as some of the best selling and highest rated games of all time. There's a huge resurgence of sorts happening in the FPS world right now with countless games attempting to recapture one of the best time periods for the genre itself – the 1990s.

Games like Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Hexen, Heretic, and the aforementioned Doom were at the top of the gaming food chain in the '90s. Recently coined "boomer shooters," these fast-paced shooters had an emphasis on movement, crazy over-the-top weapons, minimal story, huge set pieces, and intricate level design. This is in stark contrast to the more modern realistic take on the FPS genre we've seen over the last few years. Action was the name of the game. You didn't always need to know why you were shooting these awesome guns at these oftentimes disgusting and monstrous baddies, just that shooting them felt exhilarating and challenging. The point of these games wasn't to move you emotionally or challenge your world view; it was about turning you into an action hero defying the odds and (usually) saving the world.

Recently coined "boomer shooters," these fast-paced shooters had an emphasis on movement, crazy over-the-top weapons, minimal story, huge set pieces, and intricate level design.

The last 10 years have provided an influx of modern boomer shooters to introduce a new audience to the woefully underrepresented genre. A game like Doom Eternal is a perfect example of modernization within in the retro FPS space. Doom Eternal, and a lot of games like it, tend to skew towards a complete modern version of every aspect of the boomer shooter itself. This modernization arguably makes for an objectively better gaming experience overall, but it fails to scratch that itch of the pixelated masterpieces of the 1990s. Doom Eternal feels like the best Doom game, but it doesn't feel exclusively like Doom. That's where a game like Phantom Fury steps in, and boy does it scratch that itch hard.

Phantom Fury was developed by Slipgate Ironworks and Phoenix Game productions. It is the sequel to 2019's Ion Fury, which is itself a sequel to 2016's Bombshell. At first glance, Phantom Fury may not look like anything too unique. Like many titles in this genre, Phantom Fury presents itself with the modern retro aesthetic; pixelated textures, blocky and polygonal in-game models, and a vintage level design. The devil is definitely in the details, however, as Phantom Fury takes advantage of how many more pixels can be packed into these tighter spaces thanks to the "modern" part of today's technology. The game can look downright beautiful at certain points, especially during the outdoors sections, and it really captures that ever-so-important aspect of modern retro games – it feels like how I remember games looking like back then.

As far as gameplay is concerned, it is a little bit less exciting than the art style direction may make it seem. Phantom Fury covers the basics of what a boomer shooter should be: there's a huge arsenal of fun and inventive weapons that all serve different purposes, ammo can sometimes be hard to come by and as such forces the player to switch weapons and be thoughtful with their choices, staying in one spot for too long means you'll get chewed up by enemy fire, and your health and armor are pickups that don't regenerate when you're outside of combat. While this may be all pretty standard stuff when it comes to boomer shooters, Phantom Fury is still really fun to play. Guns feel decidedly punchy and devastating to use, with the aim of the game not necessarily being the best crack shot in the room, more-so just annihilating all of the enemies in front of you. So many of the weapons – like the main character's delightfully over-the-top triple-barrelled revolver known as "Loverboy" – look like they should put bowling ball sized holes in people, and Phantom Fury understands this. Many of the more powerful weapons will kill a weaker enemy in a single shot, making mowing down your combatants extremely satisfying.

The real beauty of Phantom Fury shines through in its loving depiction of those who came before. There are so many games in this genre (such as the much maligned Duke Nukem Forever) that takes these references way too far. This not only forces the experience to lose all of its own identity, but it causes the games to slide from "cheeky little reference" to "irreverence and envy for a game it considers its better." Phantom Fury doesn't do this, instead taking much of what made FPS games from previous time periods great and drawing from them exclusively.

Doom Eternal feels like the best Doom game, but it doesn't feel exclusively like Doom. That's where a game like Phantom Fury steps in, and boy does it scratch that itch hard.

So many times I found myself smiling at how well this game did at feeling like an experience I've had before while being something completely new. So many shooters from the past strove to be an example of how intricate physics engines could get and how to implement them in a fun and dynamic way. A symptom of this is that every single object in a lot of these games are interactable, oftentimes for no good reason. Appropriately, pretty much everything in Phantom Fury has some sort of physics. Whether you're throwing a bottle across the room for fun or spinning an office chair endlessly while it squeaks, if it looks like you can mess with it, you probably can. When you read computer terminals to activate objects or read information, it zooms in on the actual terminal itself; arcade and claw machines are totally usable, with some going as far as giving you ammo or keeping up with your high score; using keypads means physically manipulating each individual button with a virtual outstretched finger. It seems like a lot of these aspects of the retro shooter have been deemed unnecessary, but it all went so far in immersing the player in the world around them. Sometimes it can slow down the pace of the game, but for the most part, it's a net positive to make more of the world feel real, despite the pixelated textures. This goes as far as being able to use the physics to solve puzzles or circumnavigate an obstacle, which can show a real relationship between the player and the world they're in. One of my personal favorite aspects of boomer shooters makes a return here as well, being that you are able to get your health and armor over 100% if you're able to find health capsules and armor pieces after you're already full. It isn't a huge change, but it's enough to make diving after health and constantly checking every nook and cranny for secret areas (of which there are many if you look around) worth it. This includes the various food items found throughout the game, and there's something so charmingly video game-y about opening up a bedside table, seeing a half-eaten slice of pizza, and devouring it without hesitation for the single percentage of health boost. All of this speaks nothing to the literal references to other games found within Phantom Fury. Little extra details go a long way, and whether it's porta potties named after Portal or a soda brand named after Doom's cacodemons, there's always more fun Easter eggs right around the corner if you look hard enough.

There's a certain level of jank present in Phantom Fury that's very easy to adore. AI can sometimes be a little bit wonky, movement can feel a little bit strange, and hit detection can seem off. Even though these aspects can easily be interpreted as a negative, it truly does add to the feel that you're playing something from an antiquated era. Those of you who are familiar with boomer shooters may see Phantom Fury as just another entry in the popular genre, but for me, it helped satisfy a craving I've been having for a good long while. Even though it never hits the same level of high as these titles, there were multiple times throughout where I had the feeling I was playing the original Half-Life or even the cult-darling Timesplitters. If a $25 USD fps released to relatively quiet reception can do that, I think it hits every mark it sets out to.

The obligatory sewer level still sucks, though.

Mai Shiranui will be making her return to the Fatal Fury series in SNK's newest fighting game Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. A trailer for her came up as the latest announcement for the game at gamescom 2024. The game appeared with a new trailer featuring Mai in both a brand new design for the new entry and her classic look.

You can take a look at the gamescom 2024 Mai Shiranui Fatal Fury trailer here:

The trailer showcased Mai Shiranui's combos and highlighted her design through the ages before revealing her new black jacket and pants ensemble. It showed off some of her specials and supers as well. After that, SNK revealed the classic look, which involves the red and white kunoichi dress from her previous appearances.

Mai Shiranui is one of many stars making their way to Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves. Characters like B. Jenet, Terry Bogard and Rock Howard will also be taking the stage alongside new fighters.

The trailer also featured a release date for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves: April 24, 2024. That was followed by the contents of the special edition. The special edition will feature the base game and the first season pass, featuring five new characters to play as, for $59.99. In addition, pre-orders of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will give players the Fatal Fury 2 look for Terry Bogard and along with three-day early access. So people who pre-order can play starting on April 21, 2025.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will be available on the Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox Series S/X and PC on April 24, 2024.

The post Mai Shiranui Returns in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves appeared first on Siliconera.

Katharine (RPS in peace) thought Dome Keeper's blend of tower defence and mining was both "meditative" and "perfectly formed" in her review. So it comes as great news, then, that the devs have somehow taken that perfect dome, expanded it and polished it to an even greater sheen. We're talking about new guild assignments, new gadgets, better world generation, a new world, new monsters. The list is enormous and designed expressly around improved replayability - take that, Las Vegas Dome.

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Katharine (RPS in peace) thought Dome Keeper's blend of tower defence and mining was both "meditative" and "perfectly formed" in her review. So it comes as great news, then, that the devs have somehow taken that perfect dome, expanded it and polished it to an even greater sheen. We're talking about new guild assignments, new gadgets, better world generation, a new world, new monsters. The list is enormous and designed expressly around improved replayability - take that, Las Vegas Dome.

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I liked Fights in Tight Spaces. It mashed together two things I'm fond of: Roguelike deck-builders and badass secret agents. FITS gave me a turn-based experience that made me feel like Jason Bourne, punching and kicking and weaving my way around enemies on cramped battlefields. I stepped around their punches and redirected them back at them. I slammed their heads into walls and tables. I dodged bullets - whoa. I even booted people off the wings of aeroplanes. I survived insurmountable odds. FITS did what it promised and fulfilled my hand-to-hand spy-fight fantasy. But where does the series go from here? Well, the answer is hundreds of years back in time, to medieval times, to Knights in Tight Spaces.

KITS swaps suits for suits of armour, guns for bows and arrows, and stark primary colours for a more wood-carved, tavern-table look. Underneath, though, the core is more or less the same. It's still turn-based, still grid-based, and you're still fighting in tight spaces and building a deck with card-based abilities. And it's not just a reskin. KITS has changed the formula in ways that make a surprising difference.

The biggest difference is the game no longer revolves around one character - you are no longer the lone spy infiltrating an enemy base. Instead, and as in the grand tradition of fantasy role-playing games, you now do it with a party, which makes for a fundamental shift in gameplay. There are a few elements to this.

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Street Fighter 6 is done with its first wave of DLC fighters after Akuma. Now, it’s starting its second wave, and there are some major players about to join the roster. Capcom revealed the next four fighters coming to the game during their Summer Game Fest presentation, and M. Bison, the long-time antagonist of the…

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It’s been almost a decade since Rebel Galaxy ably picked up the sci-fi trading and exploration mantle handed down by Freelancer, but it looks like a successor to the serene galaxy-venturing vibes of both is finally upon us. Star Trucker is exactly what it sounds like, transplanting the chill A-to-Z courier journeys of Euro Truck Simulator to the interplanetary, uh, roads of space. It’s out this September, and it looks wonderful.

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Hello! Welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing over the past few days. This week we return to an old series to see how it's evolved, we go to the underworld and play with the gods, and we go back to the Arkham game that started it all.

What have you been playing?

If you fancy catching up on some of the older editions of What We've Been Playing, here's our archive.

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I regret not covering Skald Colon Against The Black Priory when its developer told us about it 2019. I'd get to be so smug now.

Skald is terrific. I've tried to come up with a clever angle on its journey, but they all wind up saying the same thing: For all its retro stylings (right down to party portraits taking up an unnecessary quarter of the screen at all times), it's an accessible, charming treat, and the best modernisation of 80s RPGs that I've ever played.

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Hurtling along on top of a train full of goons in Phantom Fury you will see another rushing train pulling up at matching speed, inviting you to hop from one to the other. A helicopter will soon join the fray. Many things will soon explode, and you will take a short break from the minigunning to calmly physics some boxes into a set of steps with a crane. This FPS is not so much writing a love letter to a bygone era of noughties shooters, as it is standing underneath the window of its respected elders earnestly serenading them with a busted old keytar from the attic. There are bum notes and the singing voice is not exactly boy-band beautiful, but the love is unmistakably there. And, hey, singing is hard.

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Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, along with her robotic arm and famous three-barrel revolver, is back in Phantom Fury, a new FPS boomer shooter adventure set after the events of 2021’s Ion Fury and its expansion.

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Look, I certainly wouldn't call myself a trucking nerd - I'm not even sure I could tell the difference between a carburettor and a carbonara - but I do like to truck. American Truck Simulator has long been my equivalent of one of those mindfulness apps that whisper gently evocative nonsense at you in the dead of night; a world of seductively monotonous rhythms and repetitions set against a soothing soundtrack of engine drones and indicator clicks. And for the eyes, the majesty of nature: lakes, mountains, forests (or at least a decent enough facsimile thereof), sprawling from hard shoulder to sky. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across Star Trucker – all that calm and the most expansive natural vista of all: space!

Ordinarily, these X meets Y comparisons feel a little trite, but in Star Trucker's case – going on the evidence of its Steam Next Fest demo, at least - you're going to struggle to find a more apt description than 'American Truck Simulator in space'. This is big rig cargo hauling on an interstellar scale, a stately back-and-forth between pick-up and drop-off set against an ever-shifting canvas of shimmering nebulae and screen-filling worlds.

For all its fanciful sci-fi flavour, though, Star Trucker plays the whole thing surprisingly straight, grounding its slightly ridiculous high-concept premise in the minutia of the mundane. Which isn't to say it doesn't have bags of personality – this is the far-flung future by way of Route 66, with an ever-present country and western twang on your radio, an incessant southern drawl on your CB, and just enough quaint Americana to give the endless void a distantly familiar sense of place - but its eye is firmly on the road, not on the stars.

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Look, I certainly wouldn't call myself a trucking nerd - I'm not even sure I could tell the difference between a carburettor and a carbonara - but I do like to truck. American Truck Simulator has long been my equivalent of one of those mindfulness apps that whisper gently evocative nonsense at you in the dead of night; a world of seductively monotonous rhythms and repetitions set against a soothing soundtrack of engine drones and indicator clicks. And for the eyes, the majesty of nature: lakes, mountains, forests (or at least a decent enough facsimile thereof), sprawling from hard shoulder to sky. So imagine my delight when I stumbled across Star Trucker – all that calm and the most expansive natural vista of all: space!

Ordinarily, these X meets Y comparisons feel a little trite, but in Star Trucker's case – going on the evidence of its Steam Next Fest demo, at least - you're going to struggle to find a more apt description than 'American Truck Simulator in space'. This is big rig cargo hauling on an interstellar scale, a stately back-and-forth between pick-up and drop-off set against an ever-shifting canvas of shimmering nebulae and screen-filling worlds.

For all its fanciful sci-fi flavour, though, Star Trucker plays the whole thing surprisingly straight, grounding its slightly ridiculous high-concept premise in the minutia of the mundane. Which isn't to say it doesn't have bags of personality – this is the far-flung future by way of Route 66, with an ever-present country and western twang on your radio, an incessant southern drawl on your CB, and just enough quaint Americana to give the endless void a distantly familiar sense of place - but its eye is firmly on the road, not on the stars.

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