Last month’s excellent ‘Ode to Castlevania‘ DLC has got us diving into Poncle’s beautiful bullet hell, Vampire Survivors, all over again. We’ve been having such a good time with the latest expansion that we’d be perfectly happy to see waves of DLC added to this one for years to come, but naturally, Poncle may one day want to move on to a new project. And yet, whatever comes next, it seems we shouldn’t expect it to blow the current project’s scope out of the water.
That is according to the game’s creator, Luca Galante, who, in a recent interview with Metro, stated that he wouldn’t want a follow-up game to “try and do something bigger just because it’s what everyone is expecting”. Instead, Galante claims, he’d rather keep working at his own level: “It would have a higher budget,” he told Metro, “but it wouldn’t be dramatically different in terms of scope, than Vampire Survivors”.
Planet Coaster 2 Is Out Now: 10 Tips to Take Your Dream Theme Park to the Top
Alex BoltonPR Manager, Frontier Developments
Summary
Planet Coaster 2 is available now on Xbox Series S|X, bringing the ultimate coaster and water park simulation to console!
Learn the basics and refine your skills in Career mode, set your own challenges and build with total freedom in Sandbox mode, and join up with friends to compete against players around the globe in Franchise mode.
Push the boundaries of creativity with piece-by-piece construction and share your designs with the world, or build your park quickly using blueprints and the Frontier Workshop.
Hayo Park Managers! Planet Coaster 2 is available now and is ready to create a splash on Xbox Series X|S. Build epic rollercoasters and dive into breathtaking water parks, bringing your creations to life with boundless creativity and enhanced management as you design and build the ultimate theme park.
Before you go grabbing your towel and rushing off to the flumes, we’re here with some top tips to help you build a park which will wow your guests:
Dive into water parks and remember those changing rooms!
Brand-new in Planet Coaster 2, water parks are making waves… quite literally, if you put down a wave machine! Create entirely free-form pools, relaxing lazy rivers and spectacular flumes, either as a standalone park, or integrated into your theme park. Place scenery pieces to theme your pools, add heated body dryers and even offer your guests a variety of colourful inflatables to use in the pool at a Queen Splash Emporium. Just make sure you don’t forget changing rooms so that your guests can get pool-ready – no one wants to swim in their park clothes!
Expand your creativity with piece-by-piece construction
Bringing your park to life has never been easier – Planet Coaster 2 gives you all the tools you’ll need to create buildings and displays from scratch, or add the finest details to put the shine on the perfect new attraction. With over 3,000 individual scenery items to choose from, you have more freedom at your fingertips than ever before to help shape your park, whether that’s scaling objects or attaching pieces to your rides and shops to create something truly unique. Once you’ve brought your ride to life, why not jump on board with the first-person camera, and experience your creations from a guest’s point of view!
Find your perfect way to play
We’d recommend starting your journey in Career mode, where the prologue’s tutorials will introduce you to the team from Coaster Coast, committed to helping you create the park of your dreams with a handy introduction to theme parks and water parks. Career mode offers increasingly challenging scenarios, set in extraordinary parts of the world. Sandbox mode is where you can set your own challenge level, allowing you to unleash your imagination and customise your own rules, creating your own gaming experience. Finally, Franchise mode lets you pitch your parks against the best in the world, attempting to earn a spot on the global leaderboards by competing in new online challenges.
Build an attraction’s prestige
Whilst everybody loves a day out at a theme park, we all have a ride that we absolutely need to try before we head home for the day. Each ride, flume and pool which you build will have its own Prestige rating – essentially, how appealing it is to guests. Everything from scenery to the ride’s Excitement, Fear and Nausea (EFN) ratings can draw additional guests into the queue, but if they’re turning away in favour of something else – maybe it’s time to look at a change. Remember that a park needs to cater for lots of different types of guests, you can use heatmaps to quickly assess which areas of your park might need some attention.
Control the flow of your park with paths
Every attraction is linked together with one common thread, vital for getting your guests from A to B… of course, we’re talking about paths! In Planet Coaster 2 you can create tight twisting walkways through your scenery, wide open plazas, and everything in between using a pathing tool redesigned with flexibility in mind. You’ll find a variety of tools to create, edit and connect your paths exactly how you wish, and you can use three different types of path to keep things moving; regular paths to connect every aspect of your park, queues for the entrances to rides and flumes, and staff paths to keep guests away from the inner workings of your theme park machine. Mastering paths gives you even greater control over the flow of guests and the aesthetics of your park.
The Blueprints to success
Blueprints allow you to place a pre-themed ride, slide, shop, even a group of different scenery items. They’re a great place to start when you just want to get things moving. The in-game Frontier Workshop also allows you to save your own creations as a blueprint for other players to drop into their park, so you can share your skills with the world, or add someone else’s creation to your own!
Share the park construction with a friend!
Have a friend who’s the most incredible coaster creator? Or maybe you’re looking for inspiration to take you to the top of the leaderboards? In both Sandbox and Franchise modes, you can team up with up to three other players to create a park together, passing your creation between players to work on one at a time. Whether you choose to build in the same space, or take your own section of the sandbox to sculpt, you’ll have to consider consistent theming and look at the guest experience in the same way real-world park design teams do. Collaboration is key!
It’s all connected… to the Power and Water systems!
As you play Planet Coaster 2, you’ll need to consider Power and Water as you expand your park. Rides and Shops will require Power in order to remain operational, and will need to be within range of a distributor to access the power you’re generating. Pools on the other hand, need a water pump and filter to keep them looking sparkling and ready for your guests to jump into! Connecting your pools and slides to a water filtration system will improve their cleanliness, and similar to power, you can use the radius of the water pump to see what’s covered. After all, no one wants to splash around in grimy water!
Come rain or shine
Dynamic weather also arrives for the first time in Planet Coaster 2, bringing with it new considerations for your guests. If it’s a hot sunny day, you’ll need to provide shade and adequate opportunities for guests to buy suncream. If it’s pouring with rain, an umbrella will keep your guests dry and happy. Make sure your vendors are appropriately priced for the demand and ready to offer the solution, whatever the weather!
Staff Management
Keeping your guests happy is one thing, but don’t forget to keep the people happy who are… well, keeping your guests happy! Cleaners will keep your park looking at its best, Mechanics make sure everything’s running smoothly, Lifeguards to keep a watchful eye on the pool, even through to Entertainers who can get your guests running for the hottest new food vendor in the park! Your staff members will need a break room, as well as a good salary to keep their morale high!
Ready to build the theme park of your dreams and splash into brand new water rides? You can purchase Planet Coaster 2 on Xbox Series S| X here! Hungry for more tips? (or maybe the mention of our in-game food vendors just made your stomach rumble…) – head over to the Planet Coaster 2 website, where you can find more guides and advice on how you can create your ultimate day out! You can also follow us on TikTok, X, Instagram and Facebook for more design inspiration.
Create a splash with Planet Coaster 2 – sequel to the world’s best coaster park simulator!
Reach new heights of creativity, management, and sharing as you construct the theme parks of your dreams combining epic water rides and coasters to delight and thrill your park guests.
Dive in now!
EMBRACE CREATIVITY
Expand your imagination: Enhanced and improved building and pathing tools let you create spectacular, true-to-life theme parks, complete with sprawling plazas. Make your mark on the world as you shape terrain and populate your park with stunning swimming pools and thrilling rides. It’s never been easier to bring your dream park to life.
Next-level customisation: Embark on the coaster park experience of a lifetime as you push the boundaries of creativity like never before! Unleash your imagination as you build the most awe-inspiring themed creations with unparalleled customisation tools! For the first time, intuitively add scalable scenery and objects to every ride to elevate your park and give your guests a day to remember.
Combine epic water and coaster rides: Create the ultimate experience for your thrill-seeking guests using piece-by-piece construction. Build a vibrant array of exhilarating rollercoasters and jaw-dropping thrill rides. Design a seamlessly interconnected park paradise with glistening swimming pools and twisting water flumes.
Create unforgettable experiences: Surprise and amaze as you bring the dramatic flair of real-world theme parks to your guests with the brand-new event sequencer tool, while sophisticated global illumination lighting brings the theme park experience to your home with stunning visuals and striking authenticity.
MASTER MANAGEMENT
Find the secret to success: Balance thrilling your guests with managing your budget – populate your park with amazing efficiently powered attractions and the right amenities to boost your rating and become a theme park master.
Take care: Provide for your guests’ health, well-being, and happiness so your park can thrive. With all-new waterparks comes the need for shade, sunscreen, lifeguards, changing rooms, and more to ensure everyone has their best day both in and out of the pool.
Satisfaction guaranteed: Understanding the wants and needs of your guests has never been easier! The new ‘heat maps’ feature lets you understand the wider park’s needs at a glance before diving deeper into the details -simply select any guest to see how they and their immediate group are enjoying your theme park.
SHARE THE RIDE
Create together: Unleash your collective creativity in Sandbox Mode. Take turns to work on building a park with players around the world using a shared cross-platform save!
Play together: For the first time ever, collaborate with friends in Franchise Mode to create the best theme park empire and compete with others to reach the top of worldwide leaderboards!
Visit together: Soak up the fun and get up close and personal, as you experience other players theme park creations first hand – explore their worlds in first person as a park guest!
Share creations: Share anything and everything! Upload coasters, rides, or even full theme parks for other players, and download and delight in other’s creations. All are easily accessible from the cross-platform Frontier Workshop both in-game and online.
The Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Surging Sparks set is now available for preorder at Amazon, bringing an electrifying twist to the TCG landscape ahead of its November 8 release. This expansion merges the highlights of two upcoming Japanese sets, Supercharged Breaker and Paradise Dragona.
At the center of Surging Sparks is a Terastallized Pikachu ex—a classic Electric-type Pokémon now supercharged to boost any deck. Pikachu is joined by Alolan Exeggutor ex, making a grand return with its Stellar Tera Pokémon ex status. With a mix of high-voltage power and formidable dragons, this set promises to be one of the most dynamic additions to the Scarlet & Violet series.
Pokémon TCG: Surging Sparks Preorders
Surging Sparks Elite Trainer Box
Packed with nine Surging Sparks booster packs, this box is a perfect starting point. The exclusive full-art foil Pikachu ex promo card is a must-have for any Pikachu fan, while the 65-card sleeves featuring Pikachu and other iconic Electric-type Pokémon keep your cards safe and stylish. Complete with energy cards, dice, and markers, this Elite Trainer Box has everything you need to electrify your gameplay.
Surging Sparks Booster Bundle
Surging Sparks Booster Bundle gives trainers a taste of the new set without committing to a full booster box. Containing six booster packs, this bundle is perfect for checking out new cards at a more accessible price point. It’s a great way to experience the mix of Electric and Dragon-themed cards that make Surging Sparks a standout expansion.
Surging Sparks Booster Box
Surging Sparks Booster Box holds 36 booster packs, offering a chance to pull some of the set’s most powerful and sought-after cards. Whether you’re chasing down the Stellar Tera Pikachu ex or looking for a new Dragon-type Pokémon, this Booster Box is where it’s at!
Surging Sparks Sleeved Booster
Surging Sparks Sleeved Booster provides one booster pack encased in a protective sleeve. Although we’d recommend a booster box for trainers looking to complete a master set or increase their chances of finding the best chase cards, Sleeved Boosters have an extra layer of protection that’s a massive win for collectors with grading in mind.
Surging Sparks Triple Blister Pack
Surging Sparks Triple Blister Pack combines value and variety with the bonus of an exclusive promo card and a collectible coin. Like the sleeved boosters, these boosters are well protected, and make sure those pulls are in the best shape possible!
Of all the first-party video game publishers, Nintendo is the most resistant to sales and discounts. The Switch is 7 years old, and Nintendo is still asking $59.99 for launch-year titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. That’s not great! However, there are certain times of year when Nintendo does drop prices, and Black Friday 2024 will absolutely be one of them.
With solid rumors and speculation pointing to the Switch 2 releasing next year, Black Friday 2024 is Nintendo’s last chance to make a big push to sell Switch hardware. Presumably, next holiday season will be all about the follow-up to the Switch (Nintendo expects to have plenty of stock available). So let’s hope for unprecedented discounts on all the best Switch games this year. Here’s what I’d like to see.
What We Already Know: Nintendo Switch Black Friday 2024 Bundle
Every year in the lead-up to Black Friday, Nintendo releases a Nintendo Switch + Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle for the price you’d usually pay for a Switch without a pack-in game. This year, Nintendo is also throwing in a 12-month individual Nintendo Switch Online subscription for good measure. These bundles (one for the standard Switch and one for the OLED) are already available. You can buy them at the links above.
First-Party Switch Games on Sale for $24.99, Please
On Black Friday, Switch games made by other companies besides Nintendo often drop to extremely low prices at retailers like Amazon and Walmart, sometimes under the $10 mark. I don’t expect Nintendo to go that far, but how about a Black Friday doorbuster sale that drops some of the older Switch games below half price? I’d love to see some Mario or Pokemon games from the first three or four years of the console’s life span drop to $24.99. I’m talking games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. We’ve seen some of these games go as low as $30 before, but not below that. It’s time, Nintendo.
Meaningful Discounts on 2024 Nintendo Switch Games
This year hasn’t been the most fruitful for Switch owners, at least in terms of new games. Don’t get me wrong: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is phenomenal, Mario Party people seem to love Jamboree, and there’s more upcoming Switch games than you’d expect. But a lot of this year’s first-party Switch releases were either remasters or smaller games that didn’t make much of a splash with audiences.
For instance, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a lesser game than the excellent Luigi’s Mansion 3. Endless Ocean: Luminous was a rare dud. Even Princess Peach: Showtime, the first game to star everyone’s favorite Mushroom Kingdom royal in forever, wasn’t exactly a blockbuster hit.
Maybe you took a pass on some of these games. So it would be great if we could see some deep discounts on them to entice Switch owners to pick them up before moving on to the Switch’s successor.
I’d also like to see deepest-ever discounts on other recent Switch games, like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Mario RPG. What better way to send off the Switch than by pricing these games low enough that fans will feel eager to pick them up?
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Threads and Bluesky.
A fan-made top-down action RPG take on Bloodborne has given fans a clear picture of what a Diablo-style spin-off might look like.
Developer Maxime Foulquier, who had ditched plans to remake Bloodborne in Unreal Engine 5 out of fear of a cease and desist from franchise owner Sony, has now started a new project called ‘Bloodborne Top Down Arena,’ and in the tweet below, showed gameplay off.
HUNTERS! I haven’t touched Bloodborne Remake for a year for 50 reasons (too big, too risky to finally be C&D).
But last week I decided to start a new project from scratch, Bloodborne Top Down Arena
The gameplay looks very much as you’d expect: FromSoftware’s hugely popular Bloodborne but with the camera pulled up into an action RPG perspective. The repurposed Bloodborne combat is action RPG snappy, perhaps a good fit for a Diablo-style game.
Foulquier said Bloodborne Top Down Arena is “less ambitious and different from a true remake” of Bloodborne, so hopes it will avoid falling into the crosshairs of Sony’s lawyers. “The Demake and the Minecraft Project didn’t receive CnD so I cross the fingers,” Foulquier added.
It’s worth noting that the developer behind Bloodborne Nightmare Kart ended up re-jipping the game after Sony got in touch, so perhaps Foulquier is being a little naive here. Foulquier insisted, however, that because Bloodborne Top Down Arena is not planned for release on Steam, it will avoid a similar fate.
Of course, what Bloodborne fans really want is a sequel to the PS4 classic, or, saving that, a next-gen update for the original game. Neither are so far announced from either FromSoftware or Sony. In February, ahead of the launch of FromSoftware’s Elden Ring expansion Shadow of the Erdtree, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that because the developer doesn’t own the Bloodborne IP, he can’t speak about its future. He did, however, admit Bloodborne would benefit from releasing on more modern hardware.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Formed in 2022 as a collaboration between North American publisher Limited Run Games and Japanese localisation company 8-4, Ltd, Superdeluxe Games may be focused more on Japan than the West, but the company is doing some exciting things in the realm of physical releases that the whole world should see.
With this in mind, Superdeluxe was kind enough to send us some samples of its latest games so we could see first-hand what all the fuss is about (thanks to the always-excellent Jake Smith for making this happen, by the way).
Discover Across The Obelisk – the Deckbuilder that Lets You Cooperate with Everyone
Javier de Miguel del Valle, Game Developer, Dreamsite Games
Summary
Across the Obelisk is out now for Xbox Series X|S.
All DLC and content from the PC version are available now.
Players can cooperate no matter where they play or what they own thanks to crossplay and DLC sharing.
Welcome to Senenthia, everyone! It’s an honor and a pleasure to invite Xbox players everywhere to join our adventuring party today, as Across the Obelisk is out today for Xbox Series X|S!
From our humble beginnings in early access over three years ago, our team has been hard at work building Across the Obelisk, our unique party-based deckbuilding RPG, through expansions, updates, and improvements. Now, we’re adding a whole new group of heroes to our world – all of you – and we’re going to make sure you can jump right in whether you’re bringing more new friends to the party, or whether you’re catching up with folks who already know their way around our expanding world.
For those of you starting your journey with Across the Obelisk today, perhaps you’re wondering exactly what a “deckbuilding RPG” entails. It is firstly a deck-builder, where your abilities are tied to a deck of cards, and you have to choose a few cards to play during your turn to attack monsters, cast spells, put up defenses, etc. Over the course of the game, you will add more powerful cards and remove ones that are cluttering your selection, and thus build a deck that better fits your play style and can overcome the challenges in your path.
Now, mesh that with a four-character party – with each character managing their own individual deck – and a branching map full of decisions, sidequests, and key items that open new doors across the world, and you’ve got our game!
Across the Obelisk plays great for anyone familiar with managing a full RPG party in a single player game, but where the game truly shines is in multiplayer, with each of your four characters played and managed by a different person. Finding ways to support your friends, coordinate (or argue!) your group’s choices, and battle as a team all really come through when you’ve got a full party. That’s why we built our multiplayer experience with absolutely no barriers to entry. As anyone who’s ever had an RPG group can tell you: learning the game is easy. Getting four people to coordinate a game night is the hard part! We didn’t want there to be any challenges from the game itself in building your party, so our game has a few extra features to make life easier and your adventure more variable.
For starters, Across the Obelisk has completely open cross-platform multiplayer. All of you joining us from the Xbox community today can jump right in and play with folks on PC or consoles; it’s possible to have a four-player party where nobody is gaming on the same system!
What’s more, we wanted to recreate that feeling at the RPG table where someone arrives with the latest expansion book and everyone can share the cool new options, so that’s what we’ve done with our own expansions. If anyone in your party owns any of our DLC, everybody gets to share! You can freely play any of our expansion heroes without worrying if your friends also own the DLC, and your party can travel to any expansion maps so long as just one of you has bought it.
With that in mind, we can’t wait to see what kind of adventures you all have in our growing realms. Load up on mages with four different damage types, build an indomitable defence and healing tank squad – go wild in a party with only animal characters allowed! We’ve got much more in store for you in Across the Obelisk, and we’re thrilled to have everyone on Xbox finally joining the party!
Team up with your friends and experience roguelite deckbuilding like never before!
Craft decks of enormous power and lead your party on a thrilling quest to rescue a realm in turmoil.
Choose wisely; your decisions have consequences. Dare you go Across the Obelisk?
• Plan your strategy, but be prepared to adapt as you encounter procedurally generated events.
• Build decks from 500+ cards, over 300 items and 16 heroes in four different classes.
• Take sole control of your party of four heroes, or bring fellow adventurers along for the ride in 2-4 player co-op.
• Coordinate your party in tactical combat and experiment with different class combinations for entirely new ways to play.
• Encounter powerful bosses and navigate events and quests where your decisions affect how the story unfolds.
• Enjoy endless replayability with three in-depth game modes to master.
Your quest carries great risk: rescue your king’s daughter from the clutches of the treacherous Lord Hanshek before she meets her end.
Your party’s fate, and that of Senenthia, is in your hands. How will you proceed?
Plan Ahead, but Expect the Unexpected
• The goal of your quest is set in stone, but there are twists and turns on every path. How will you fare when no two journeys are the same?
• Your choices matter. Which road will you take this time? Who will you save? Who will you leave behind?
• Cooperation is vital! Decide together what’s best for your party. Will you help the people of Senenthia on your journey or selfishly search for epic loot?
An Evolving Adventure
• Customize and upgrade your decks by earning XP and unlocking perk points. Tackle four acts – each with its own fearsome boss – but beware of random events on your journey!
• Build your deck from a vast choice of upgradeable cards and items. New and more powerful combos are yours to discover each time you enter Senenthia.
• Combine character classes in different ways to find your favorite play style. Will you overwhelm your foes with mighty warriors or use your cunning and employ sneaky scouts?
• Looking for a tough roguelike challenge? Try obelisk mode. Draft unique decks and embark on a randomized adventure where being prepared for anything is everything!
• Discover endless combinations of cards, items, heroes and classes. And just as many ways to strategize your way to victory.
A Deckbuilder for the Ages
• Regular updates and content drops will keep you coming back to Senenthia time and time again.
• Want to test yourself against other players? Take on the weekly challenge mode. The deck and map are predetermined; success comes down to your skill.
• Team up with other players on whichever platform they own, thanks to crossplay.
• Let your friends follow along on your adventure when Story DLCs you own are shared across platforms with your entire party.
• “Just one more run.” Enjoy unrivaled variety and endless replayability – Across the Obelisk rewards experimentation and keeps you coming back for more!
Paradox Account required for certain features of the game. You have to be 16 years or older to create a Paradox Account. See https://legal.paradoxplaza.com/eula for details.
Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket contains a secret, full art Mew card and continues the long-running tradition of only letting players grab the mythical pocket monster by completing some interesting quests.
The Mew card, which is part of the Genetic Apex set but comes unnumbered due to its status as an alternate art card (despite there not actually being a regular version), can only be obtained after players complete the Kanto Pokédex.
This means players must acquire the first 150 Pokémon from the original Red and Blue generation, meaning everything from Bulbasaur to Pikachu to Dragonite to Mewtwo. Once players have collected one of each of these Pokémon the 3 Star Mew card will unlock.
The only condition is the cards must also be from Genetic Apex, meaning, for example, that collecting the promotional Butterfree card from the special Lapras ex event won’t count towards the 150 total despite it being among the first 150 Pokémon. Any version of the Pokémon from Genetic Apex will work, however, whether it’s an ex or alternative art or regular or whatever else.
While simple, collecting so many cards may still take some time. One player recently worked out it could take almost two years of daily play to collect every card in the set, though thankfully hitting the 150 necessary for Mew will require considerably less time.
Mew holds a special place in the set as one of just four 3 Star cards, meaning it’s one of the special immersive cards with fully animated artwork. It joins Charizard, Pikachu, and Mewtwo in this category, the three Pokémon which feature on the booster pack covers of Genetic Apex.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October as a streamlined, digital version of the beloved trading card game. It has players opening packs, collecting cards, building decks, and battling others; a simple formula that’s already proved popular given it made $12 million in four days.
“Never read the comments,” is a truth much-rehearsed by senior games journalists, but I have long since levelled-up past this axiom and entered into a new world of benevolent narcissism. I always read the comments, for all commenters are my children. They exist to glorify and preserve me in my dotage. True, occasionally my children say things like “I think your writing and opinions are appalling, and that you deserve to be repeatedly run over by a herd of deer”, but it is the nature of children to rebel.
