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Everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 is done and dusted for another year, but it's certainly kicked off this year's Gamescom with a bang - and we've got all the news, trailers and announcements right here in one handy summary. Whether you missed the show itself or just want a handy reminder of everything announced at Gamescom Opening Night Live this year, read on below.

Of course, alongside the main show, this year's ONL also had a 30-minute pre-show that was stuffed with announcements as well, which we'll quickly run through here before getting into the detail of the main show announcements below. Here, we got new trailers for Dave the Diver's latest crossovers, spooky co-op adventure Begone Beast and construction sim Roadcraft, alongside Italian Soulslike Enotria: The Last Song, Cairn (that shouty, but lovely looking climbing game from Summer Game Fest), life sim Inzoi from PUBG publishers Krafton, as well as a Terry showcase for Street Fighter 6.

There were also new game announcements in the pre-show in the form of Sniper Elite Resistance (coming 2025), the Donkey Kong-esque platformer Nikoderiko: The Magical World (with music from David Wise, no less), "first person farming horror allegory" We Harvest Shadows, the also quite spooky-looking Aila, a tease for the sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet (aptly named Revenge of the Savage Planet), action RPG Tribe Nine from the creators of Danganronpa, and the Lashana Lynch-led Directive 8020: A Dark Pictures Game.

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Starfield Shattered Space expansion gets release date

Bethesda's first big expansion to Starfield, Shattered Space, will launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S on 30th September.

We got a quick look at the upcoming addition tonight during Gamescom Opening Night Live, in a trailer that mostly focused on the REV-8 land vehicle included in August's free game update.

Ahead of launch, marketing for Starfield felt fairly sober and dramatic - it's fair to say tonight's video takes a more upbeat tone. Previously, Bethesda's Todd Howard said that the lack of land vehicles was a deliberate choice - but it's now something that's being walked (or driven) back.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle confirmed for PlayStation 5

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - the Microsoft-owned-Bethesda-release set to arrive on Xbox and PC this year - is also coming to PlayStation 5.

At this evening's Gamescom Opening Night Live event, host Geoff Keighley revealed that everyone's favourite fedora sporting professor will be cracking his whip on Sony's platform as well.

In addition to this news, Bethesda announced a release date for the game. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release across Xbox Series X/S and PC on 9th December. Its PS5 release will then follow a few months later, during the spring of 2025.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle makes a timid but faithful first impression

To this day, I still hold Indy responsible for my penchant for hats. I have been enthralled by Indiana Jones ever since I was a little girl - but despite this deep affection, coming away from a hands-off preview of MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I just can't let myself get overly excited about the upcoming release just yet.

While I'm still looking forward to playing another narrative-driven adventure game, with that fun 'afternoon popcorn flick' energy Great Circle undoubtedly has, my immediate reaction from this first extended demo is to worry this is all it will be, leaning just a little too heavily on fan nostalgia and a tried and tested formula, but without the innovation to truly set it apart from the rest. (And, given the game is currently set to release this year, I really hoped to see more gameplay than I did.)

The demo, which is also being shown at this year's Gamescom, begins with Indy entering a large room within the Sunsparker Chamber, a mysterious underground temple and one of "several well guarded secrets and hidden ruins" you can expect to discover. With the camera in first-person, our archaeologist - gamely brought to life by a still-recognisable Troy Baker - looks around the ancient room before gameplay switches to a cutscene. Indy approaches a statue set upon a plinth at the back of the room, in a scene immediately reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark - which is fitting, given the Great Circle is set between the events of this film and The Last Crusade.

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The Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024 showcase

Just when Geoff Keighley had started to fade from your memory, he comes rubber-banding back with a vengeance - snap! It's Gamescom week and it kicks off with Opening Night Live this evening from 7pm UK time (other Opening Night Live timings here). A pre-show with additional announcements will begin at 6.30pm UK. We'll be watching and reporting on it live, as always, right here, so you can either keep abreast of announcements while you do something else, or you can join in with your thoughtful and amusing comments. Please keep us company. Please.

What do we expect to see today? Well, probably Geoff Keighley, but also the new Indiana Jones game, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Dune Awakening. We're also expecting Little Nightmares creator Tarsier to unveil its new project, which could be exciting. On top of that: Diablo 4 expansion Vessel of Hatred, Civilization 7, hero shooter Marvel Rivals, Lost Records (the project made by the creators of Life is Strange), Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (which was recently delayed), and Black Ops 6. Keighley's best pal Hideo Kojima has also been tweeting enigmatic silhouetted pictures of actors who are presumably playing roles in Death Stranding 2.

And before you ask, "Yes, there will be new game announcements," Keighley said on X.

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reportedly coming to PS5 next year

MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will reportedly launch for PlayStation 5 in the early half of 2025, following an Xbox Series X/S and PC release at the end of this year.

That's according to industry insider Nate the Hate (one of the first people to break the news of Microsoft's multi-platform plans at the start of this year) who made the claim on social media. "MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release on Xbox & PC this holiday (Dec) as a timed console exclusive," they wrote. "After this timed-exclusive window expires, Indiana Jones & the Great Circle is planned to come to PlayStation 5 in the first half of 2025."

Nate the Hate's claim tallies with a report by The Verge back in February, which said Microsoft was planning to go beyond its initial slate of comparatively low-key multi-platform releases by launching some of its flagship games on competing consoles. These were said to include Starfield and MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, with the latter supposedly due to arrive on PS5 "some months" after its Xbox and PC release.

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Doom and Doom 2: are Nightdive's latest remasters the definitive editions?

For many, scaling Mount Everest has stood as the ultimate challenge of one's strength and endurance. An achievement of a lifetime. For long-time Doom players, however, there is an equivalent: NUTS.WAD. Legend has it that NUTS.WAD descended upon Doom players in the year 2001: a map from the future in which players are dropped into a single map with more than 10,000 enemies and a handful of power-ups. And now - for the first time ever - it's playable on a games console.

I'm half-joking, of course, but the ability to load in any Doom mod is just one great feature found in the latest version of Doom and Doom 2. Helmed by Nightdive in cooperation with id Software and Machine Games, this new version is worth looking at as it is the most feature rich, best-performing version of Doom on consoles. It's available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series consoles, Switch and even last-gen PS4 and Xbox hardware. The game was transitioned over to Nightdive's KEX engine and brings with it a vast array of enhancements - 120fps support on consoles, 16-player multiplayer including co-op, and a new soundtrack from the legendary Andrew Hulshult.

But it was the mod support that was my first destination and with it, the chance to see how Nightdive's work would cope with the NUTS.WAD challenge. This pushes beyond the limits of what Doom engine was intended to handle and now we can test it on console and the results are interesting. Before we go on, it's worth stressing that all current-gen machines can handle 4K gaming at 120fps - and yes, that includes Series S. The engine is optimised and fast - all the included content and every map I tested runs like greased lightning. I wanted to raise this caveat because the challenge of NUTS.WAD is so extreme and cruel that I don't want people to get the wrong idea. The fact that you can run NUTS.WAD at all is cause for celebration!

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Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Launches December 9, PS5 Release to Follow

One of the big games featured at Gamescom Opening Night Live this year was Indiana Jones and the Great Circle from MachineGames and Lucasfilm Games. The new trailer shows more of the upcoming title’s narrative-driven adventure, which features cinematic set-pieces, puzzles, and hand-to-hand combat. It also revealed the release date of December 9 for Xbox Series […]

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 Release Date Window Set

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5
(Credit: Lucasfilm)

During Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live, Machine Games and Bethesda Softworks revealed the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date window.

When is the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date window?

Players won’t have to wait too long after its initial release on Xbox this December. Geoff Keighley took to the Gamescom Opening Night Live stage to reveal the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 release date window is Spring 2025. This means Machine Games’ next title is likely slated to launch for PlayStation sometime between March and June.

The Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Gamescom date reveal trailer offered a behind-the-scenes glimpse of actor Troy Baker as the titular character, visually portrayed by Harrison Ford. Baker recalls seeing Indiana Jones for the first time, and his excitement to take on the iconic role.

“It’s humbling playing a character so many people, myself included, look up to. As a kid, seeing Indiana Jones in the theater for the first time was a defining moment for me,” says Baker in the video. “I never would have guess that all these years later, I would be the one wearing the hat, but here I am. It’s been a dream come true. A dream I cannot wait for you to live for yourself.”

Machine Games announced it was making an Indiana Jones game back in 2021 with a short teaser trailer. The game is set between the films Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It will take Indy and his new companion Gina across the globe including the Himalayas and the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches December 9, 2024, for Xbox Series X|S and PC. Preorders for the Standard, Premium, and Collector’s Edition are available now for Xbox. Players can now wishlist the game on PS5.

The post Indiana Jones and the Great Circle PS5 Release Date Window Set appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle gets December release date, coming to PS5 in 2025

Publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer Machine Games have announced a release date for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is launching on December 9th for Windows PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store) and Xbox Series X|S, with a surprise PlayStation 5 release now coming next spring. Here’s a rundown on […]

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Starfield DLC “Shattered Space” launches in September, August update out now

Publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer Bethesda Game Studios announced the highly-anticipated Starfield DLC expansion “Shattered Space” is launching next month. Starfield downloadable content “Shattered Space” is launching on September 30th. Alongside news of the expansion launching is the reveal of a new update out now, adding a new and vehicle and more. Here’s a rundown on the […]

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Preview: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Feels Rightfully Cinematic

There is always an intriguing risk when it comes to adapting an existing movie or TV show into video game. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes an even greater risk with developer MachineGames introducing its own standalone story in the Lucasfilm saga. It certainly captures the cinematic feel of the movies, but it still has question marks regarding gameplay.

My recent Indiana Jones and the Great Circle preview for Gamescom 2024 was notably strictly hands-off. I had the chance to check out 30 minutes of particularly edited gameplay footage across different areas with narration. Since this was totally hands-off, it is hard to say exactly how this first-person action adventure game will play.

Image via Bethesda

That said, I walked away from the hands-off preview impressed by the visuals and spectacular presentation of the Great Circle, but uncertain about its gameplay. If there is one element I am certain about this game, it is the sheer scale and diversity of the various missions players will experience. In the short time, I saw clips of adventures in Vatican City, the Himalayan’s, and Egypt. Every location looks stunning in-engine and grandiose.

If these sections are anything to go by, these iconic and beautiful locales will also have the adventurous nature of the movies as well. Indiana Jones, played by Troy Baker, encountered plenty of traps and thrilling scripted sequences. These were extremely fun to watch, especially from the fascinating first-person perspective.

However, when it comes to the actual gameplay, especially in movement and combat, I am less thrilled. The movement, at times, seemed clunky and a bit too slow. This could be due to the slower nature of the edited footage, emphasizing the detail of the environments. However, I’m not confident in this, mainly because of the combat.

Fights seem to generally happen in a one-on-one nature, at least from what I saw. There are ranged weaponry and fighting, but I mostly saw up close and personal gameplay. Jones would swap blows with enemies but the animations seemed a bit too slow. I wasn’t particularly excited by the slow pace of the fights. There is a chance the actual end result will be smoother or be faster, but I’m not impressed with that part yet.

Image via Bethesda

Even still, I admire the exploration aspect of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. This is where the first-person perspective really shines from my short hands-off demo. MachineGames put a lot of thought into recreating these 1930s settings and, fortunately, it shows. Missions often have large open areas to explore, with merchants and even optional side missions to complete. Seeing the hustle, bustle, and many NPCs roaming around a market had me interested in spending time there. In some ways, these locations remind me of the historical adherence and detail of an Assassin’s Creed title.

This extends the player’s time with the gameplay beyond the typical scripted dungeon delving and crypt exploring main missions. Everything about these massive scripted sequences evoke feelings of watching the movies. I especially enjoyed the pit Jones fell into towards the end of the demo. This led to a creepier moment with scorpions and other creatures in the dark, which teased some thrilling sequences in the title. While I do have some concerns about linearity and lack of player input in these moments, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels incredibly cinematic.

Image via Bethesda

This movie-like quality and feel comes down to the story and characters. I only have bits and pieces of the story so far, but Troy Baker nails the voice of Indiana Jones as best as one can without getting Harrison Ford himself. In the end, this makes Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seem like a faithful cinematic game adaptation of the beloved movies. While it remains to be seen if it plays as well as it looks, there is some hope for Indiana Jones fans.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will release for Xbox Series X/S and PC on December 9, 2024 and in Spring 2025 for PS5.

The post Preview: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Feels Rightfully Cinematic appeared first on Siliconera.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle releases December 9th, will hopefully contain gameplay by that point

Oh, and new Indiana Jones And The Great Circle trailer! Great. I’ve been looking forward to a nice, juicy chunk of extended gameplay. You know, something to really convey the flow of the game, rather than the admittedly impressive but nonetheless very fragmented snippets we’ve gotten so far. Now to sit back and…oh, wait. Hang on. It’s just actor Troy Baker telling me about all the great acting he’ll be doing. It is great, by the way. He’s doing a fantastic job. Maybe just, you know, a crumb of acknowledgement or elucidation over the whole ‘interactivity’ part?

Anyway, don’t mind me. I’m just an old fool who likes to press buttons. And, to be fair, it's not like Machinegames don't have a great track record. Anyway, here’s some good news: The game releases December 9th this year. Have a release date trailer.

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Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is both a more "relaxed" Wolfenstein and Riddick plus Nazis

MachineGames have made a decent living as the creators of satirical alternate histories in which you messily murder Nazis using mighty double-handfuls of shotgun. There are Nazis to fight in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle - a globe-trotting, tomb-robbing adventure featuring a Lost Ark-era Harrison Ford - but as you'd expect from a Lucasfilm adaptation, there's rather less of the bloodshed.

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All five of you will get a free buggy when you next boot up Starfield

Fine, that was slightly mean of me. There’s clearly at least fifteen people still playing Starfield, and Bethesda are today rewarding their commitment with a free buggy named the Rev-8. Today! It actually looks pretty nifty. With it, you’ll be able to hop, jump, and skip the tedious ballache that was hoofing it across the RPG’s needlessly large planets. Here’s a looksie:

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Doom modders are annoyed at the "chum-bucket" of wrongly credited mods in the latest Doom remaster

Last week, Bethesda released a remastered edition of Doom and Doom II on Steam, with lots of extra episodes and improvements. One of these new features is a built-in browser for mods, and support for many existing mods that previously required a different version of the game. Basically, lots of good fan-made mods are now playable on the Steam version of ye olde Doom. That's neat! Ah, but there is some demon excrement on the health pack, so to speak. The mod browser lacks moderation and lets people upload the work of others with their own name pinned as the author. That's prompted one level designer to call it "a massive breach of trust and violation of norms the Doom community has done its best to hold to for those 30 years."

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Indiana Jones And The Great Circle releases December 9th, will hopefully contain gameplay by that point

Oh, and new Indiana Jones And The Great Circle trailer! Great. I’ve been looking forward to a nice, juicy chunk of extended gameplay. You know, something to really convey the flow of the game, rather than the admittedly impressive but nonetheless very fragmented snippets we’ve gotten so far. Now to sit back and…oh, wait. Hang on. It’s just actor Troy Baker telling me about all the great acting he’ll be doing. It is great, by the way. He’s doing a fantastic job. Maybe just, you know, a crumb of acknowledgement or elucidation over the whole ‘interactivity’ part?

Anyway, don’t mind me. I’m just an old fool who likes to press buttons. And, to be fair, it's not like Machinegames don't have a great track record. Anyway, here’s some good news: The game releases December 9th this year. Have a release date trailer.

Read more

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle is both a more "relaxed" Wolfenstein and Riddick plus Nazis

MachineGames have made a decent living as the creators of satirical alternate histories in which you messily murder Nazis using mighty double-handfuls of shotgun. There are Nazis to fight in Indiana Jones And The Great Circle - a globe-trotting, tomb-robbing adventure featuring a Lost Ark-era Harrison Ford - but as you'd expect from a Lucasfilm adaptation, rather less of the bloodshed.

Read more

All five of you will get a free buggy when you next boot up Starfield

Fine, that was slightly mean of me. There’s clearly at least fifteen people still playing Starfield, and Bethesda are today rewarding their commitment with a free buggy named the Rev-8. Today! It actually looks pretty nifty. With it, you’ll be able to hop, jump, and skip the tedious ballache that was hoofing it across the RPG’s needlessly large planets. Here’s a looksie:

Read more

Doom modders are annoyed at the "chum-bucket" of wrongly credited mods in the latest Doom remaster

Last week, Bethesda released a remastered edition of Doom and Doom II on Steam, with lots of extra episodes and improvements. One of these new features is a built-in browser for mods, and support for many existing mods that previously required a different version of the game. Basically, lots of good fan-made mods are now playable on the Steam version of ye olde Doom. That's neat! Ah, but there is some demon excrement on the health pack, so to speak. The mod browser lacks moderation and lets people upload the work of others with their own name pinned as the author. That's prompted one level designer to call it "a massive breach of trust and violation of norms the Doom community has done its best to hold to for those 30 years."

Read more

WolfEye's new first-person RPG is "an evolution" of Prey and Dishonored featuring mechs, magnets and a continuous world

WolfEye's debut game Weird West attempted to pack a little of Dishonored's immersive sim sorcery into a top-down action-RPG. For the studio's next game, co-founders Raphaël Colantonio and Julien Roby are leaning into comparisons with their old endeavours at Arkane more earnestly. The new game - currently untitled and without a release date - is a first-person sci-fi RPG set in an alternate-1900s North America, which ostensibly combines the ingenuity and gadgetry of Dishonored and Prey with a "real RPG" experience redolent of Skyrim and modern-day Fallout.

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WolfEye's new first-person RPG is "an evolution" of Prey and Dishonored featuring mechs, magnets and a continuous world

WolfEye's debut game Weird West attempted to pack a little of Dishonored's immersive sim sorcery into a top-down action-RPG. For the studio's next game, co-founders Raphaël Colantonio and Julien Roby are leaning into comparisons with their old endeavours at Arkane more earnestly. The new game - currently untitled and without a release date - is a first-person sci-fi RPG set in an alternate-1900s North America, which ostensibly combines the ingenuity and gadgetry of Dishonored and Prey with a "real RPG" experience redolent of Skyrim and modern-day Fallout.

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Fallout’s TV show boosted Xbox Fallout and Fallout 76 engagement over five times the normal

As if we needed more confirmation that Amazon’s Fallout series generated a lot of interest in Bethesda’s video game franchise, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed that the games saw a huge spike of continued traffic since the show released, including Fallout 76. During this week’s Microsoft earnings call, Nadella said that “hours played on [Xbox] […]

Xbox's Gamescom plans include daily livestreams and over 50 playable games

It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

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Fallout: London mod developers promise incoming fix for biggest issues

After years of anticipation mixed with a few unexpected delays, Team Folon's Fallout: London mod finally released last week.

The fan-made game-sized mod for Fallout 4 faced a number of challenges on launch, however. As our Ian discovered when he gave it a whirl last week, he couldn't explore very much of it because it kept hard crashing back to his desktop (he did get mauled to death by a fox, though, so still rates the whole experience very highly).

You can see Ian playing through some Fallout: London via the video below.

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Bethesda trademark points to future Starfield expansion, fans believe

Starfield fans believe a trademark for "Starborn" registered by Bethesda parent company Zenimax earlier this month points to the game's currently unrevealed second expansion, likely due in 2025.

Bethesda's space RPG released last year, and is set to launch its first expansion Shattered Space in the coming months. In conversation with YouTuber MrMattyPlays back in June, Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed there would be at least one more expansion to come after Shattered Space, stating the studio was already "planning for the one after this".

It now appears that this 'planning' has made further progress, thanks to that aforementioned trademark. As spotted by Timur222 on social media platform X, Bethesda has filed a trademark for something known as Starborn. What is a Starborn? We'll explain below - so beware of small Starfield spoilers.

Read more

Xbox's Gamescom plans include daily livestreams and over 50 playable games

It barely feels like five minutes since the last one, but, somehow, Gamescom is almost upon us again. Which means publishers are starting to detail their plans for the show - and in Microsoft's case, we now know that'll include daily livestreams for those at home, plus over 50 playable games for anyone wandering the Koelnmesse's halls.

Attendees visiting Microsoft's Hall 7 Gamescom booth in person will find 50 games from Xbox Game Studios, Blizzard, Bethesda, and third-party partners, playable across 240 gaming stations. These include Age of Mythology: Retold, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred, Fallout 76: Milepost Zero, The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, and Towerborne.

Playable third-party games, meanwhile, include Star Wars Outlaws, Space Marine 2, and the long-awaited Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl. A full list of games at the booth can be found here.

Read more

Fallout: London mod developers promise incoming fix for biggest issues

After years of anticipation mixed with a few unexpected delays, Team Folon's Fallout: London mod finally released last week.

The fan-made game-sized mod for Fallout 4 faced a number of challenges on launch, however. As our Ian discovered when he gave it a whirl last week, he couldn't explore very much of it because it kept hard crashing back to his desktop (he did get mauled to death by a fox, though, so still rates the whole experience very highly).

You can see Ian playing through some Fallout: London via the video below.

Read more

Bethesda trademark points to future Starfield expansion, fans believe

Starfield fans believe a trademark for "Starborn" registered by Bethesda parent company Zenimax earlier this month points to the game's currently unrevealed second expansion, likely due in 2025.

Bethesda's space RPG released last year, and is set to launch its first expansion Shattered Space in the coming months. In conversation with YouTuber MrMattyPlays back in June, Bethesda's Todd Howard confirmed there would be at least one more expansion to come after Shattered Space, stating the studio was already "planning for the one after this".

It now appears that this 'planning' has made further progress, thanks to that aforementioned trademark. As spotted by Timur222 on social media platform X, Bethesda has filed a trademark for something known as Starborn. What is a Starborn? We'll explain below - so beware of small Starfield spoilers.

Read more

What we've been playing - oil rigs, court cases, and great adaptations

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 enjoy poking around spooky oil rigs, we object in dramatic court cases, and we discover what we love about a game series through a TV adaptation of it.

What have you been playing?

Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.

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The 10 best immersive sims on PC

The immersive sim has seen a revival in recent years. Not only from larger studios like Arkane, keeping the faith alive with their time loops and space stations, but also from a bunch of smaller developers bravely exploring a typically ambitious genre. RPS has always had an affinity for these systemically luxuriant simulations, historically lauding the likes of the original Deus Ex as the best game ever made. But given everything that has come since, is that still the case? Only one way to find out: make a big list.

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Bethesda Game Studios developers "ecstatic" to announce a 241-strong "wall to wall" union

Late last week, 241 staffers from Fallout, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda Game Studios announced a "wall-to-wall" union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Alongside Bethesda Montreal’s unionisation last month, and the union of Zenimax QA workers last year, this marks a historic moment in the US game industry labour movement.

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The 10 best immersive sims on PC

The immersive sim has seen a revival in recent years. Not only from larger studios like Arkane, keeping the faith alive with their time loops and space stations, but also from a bunch of smaller developers bravely exploring a typically ambitious genre. RPS has always had an affinity for these systemically luxuriant simulations, historically lauding the likes of the original Deus Ex as the best game ever made. But given everything that has come since, is that still the case? Only one way to find out: make a big list.

Read more

Bethesda Game Studios developers "ecstatic" to announce a 241-strong "wall to wall" union

Late last week, 241 staffers from Fallout, Starfield, and The Elder Scrolls developers Bethesda Game Studios announced a "wall-to-wall" union under the Communication Workers of America (CWA). Alongside Bethesda Montreal’s unionisation last month, and the union of Zenimax QA workers last year, this marks a historic moment in the US game industry labour movement.

Read more

DF Weekly: Starfield mods unlock frame-rate on Xbox Series S - so how well does it run?

In this week's DF Direct, I spend a bit of time looking into the Starfield modding scene - more specifically checking out mods that aim to bring a performance mode to the Xbox Series S version of the game. As we've already covered, Bethesda did a creditable job in bringing performance options to the Xbox Series X rendition of the game, but the junior Xbox didn't get the same treatment. We pointed out that this was a shame at the time, and the mods appear to suggest that Series S could have benefited likewise.

Going back to the 'stock' game, it's essentially a match for the Series X version, albeit with very slight cuts to visual features. The big difference comes from the resolution. It runs at a reconstructed 1440p, using 900p as the base internal resolution. Bethesda maintains consistency by running at a capped 30 frames per second, the game rarely dipping beneath. The first mod for Series S I tried simply turns off v-sync, which also removes that frame-rate limit. So in essence, we're looking at something similar to Series X's 60fps mode running in the visuals preset (the difference being you'll need to put up with eye-rending screen-tearing on a non-VRR display).

It's quite interesting to see that - similar to Series X - this mode sees the game careen between GPU and CPU limits. Dense cityscapes with plenty of NPCs are where the CPU is the limit - and a run around Jemison or especially Akila will see the CPU limit brought to the fore. However, in most of the other game content, it's the GPU that is the primary factor in limiting performance and here, the limits can change dramatically - anything from the mid 30s to the high 50s in my testing. It may actually go higher than that in some content: if you set the console to 120Hz output, a 60fps cap is no issue - the console will happily move beyond that.

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Microsoft would like you to know Xbox WILL be at this year's Gamescom

With Sony having surprised precisely no-one by announcing that, once again, PlayStation won't be at this year's Gamescom, Microsoft has seized the opportunity to let everyone know that, by Jove, Xbox will be at this year's show.

Microsoft shared the news over on social media, inviting attendees to visit its "biggest booth yet" when Gamescom returns to Cologne, Germany, in August this year.

Microsoft will, of course, be the only major console maker to have at presence at Gamescom 2024; Nintendo confirmed it wouldn't be coming along back in April, saying there would be opportunities for players to try Switch games at other events throughout the year, and PlayStation confirmed a no-show earlier this week. Sony's absence hardly warrants a raised eyebrow, however, given it hasn't showed up since 2019.

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Bethesda feels no need to rush out a new Fallout, despite franchise's current popularity boost

Fallout has seen a renewed spike in popularity following the release of Amazon's TV adaptation. However, despite this, Bethesda doesn't feel under pressure to rush a new game out to placate fans.

Speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard acknowledged that the Fallout series is probably at its most popular, with the franchise boasting some record player numbers over recent months. Howard went on to state the studio gives "a lot of thought to franchise management" when questioned specifically about the future of Fallout as a whole.

"I spend a lot of time thinking about franchises I love... so, for us, it is sort of game planning out - number one, making sure Fallout is relevant in the world, and well, I think, clearly it is," the studio exec said.

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Bethesda's Todd Howard confirms at least one more Starfield expansion after Shattered Space

Todd Howard has shared more about Bethesda's future DLC plans for Starfield.

Speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, the Bethesda exec spoke about the studio's "annual story expansion" approach. When further asked about his comment and whether Bethesda was taking this approach with Starfield, Howard replied: "I would say we want to, more or less, yeah. How long that continues? Hopefully a very long time."

He then added the studio was already "planning for the one after this", confirming "there will be another one" after Shattered Space.

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Don’t expect Fallout 1 and 2 remakes from Bethesda any time soon - Todd wouldn’t want to “paste over” their charm

Like many I’m sure, I have extremely fond memories of the original Fallout games, 2 especially. I bought my first laptop for uni, barely suitable for much except typing long literature essays in which I’d complete assignments using my favorite university trick of writing “ah, but to answer this question, we must first explore (whatever I actually wanted to write an essay about.)” Faltering, bricky turnip that it was, I still had some of my favourite gaming memories on that thing, mainly around aging RPGs: Baldur’s Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, and the old Fallouts.

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Don’t expect Fallout 1 and 2 remakes from Bethesda any time soon - Todd wouldn’t want to “paste over” their charm

Like many I’m sure, I have extremely fond memories of the original Fallout games, 2 especially. I bought my first laptop for uni, barely suitable for much except typing long literature essays in which I’d complete assignments using my favorite university trick of writing “ah, but to answer this question, we must first explore (whatever I actually wanted to write an essay about.)” Faltering, bricky turnip that it was, I still had some of my favourite gaming memories on that thing, mainly around aging RPGs: Baldur’s Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, and the old Fallouts.

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For Xbox, could this finally be the year where it all pays off?

This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss everything shown at the Xbox Showcase last night: one of the best summer preview events in recent years, and one of Microsoft's best ever.

On the one hand, perhaps the trove of upcoming titles should be expected. After all, this is what you should get when you spend nearly $100bn buying up swathes of the games industry. On the other, well, Microsoft has seemed to perenially exist on promising that next year's crop of first-party games will finally be where its acquisition spree pays off, where Game Pass truly hits the big time, and where it at last starts clawing back some market share.

After watching the avalanche of announcements last night (Doom! Gears! Perfect Dark!) alongside everything else we knew was coming (Fable! Indy! More Diablo!) it's hard to see how the next 12 months couldn't make an impact - let alone the boost of launching Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 into Xbox Game Pass. Could Xbox finally feel like it's hitting its stride this console generation, after numerous misfires? Joining me this week are Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale and Victoria Kennedy to discuss.

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Indy heads to the Himalayas in new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle teaser

At this evening's Xbox showcase, Bethesda and developer Machine Games gave us all another little peek at Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.

The team shared a look at what it calls a "pivotal cinematic", in which Indy and his sidekick (for this game at least) Gina "make a startling discovery in the Himalayas". There is a kerfuffle over a stone, and of course, some explosions and bad guys getting thrown off cliffs.

You can check it out for yourself below.

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