Category: Video Games

Summoners War: Awakening Comic Expands On the World of the Mobile RPG

Skybound Entertainment is returning to the world of the popular mobile game Summoners War. Skybound is teaming with publisher Com2uS to release a second spinoff comic called Summoners War: Awakening.

Summoners War: Awakening is a direct sequel to the original Summoners War: Legacy comic. Awakening reunites writer Justin Jordan (whom you may also recognize from the Luther Strode franchise) and artist Luca Claretti, with Igor Monti (Radiant Black) coloring the series this time.

Summoners War: Awakening continues the story of aspiring summoner Rai. With Legacy having chronicled her origin story, Awakening ups the stakes by leaving Rai and her allies stranded behind enemy lines to deal with everything from sky pirates to one particularly tenacious bounty hunter.

“I’m so excited to explore more of Summoners War in this new series,” said Skybound Editor Amanda LaFranco in a press release. “As a personal fan of all things in the fantasy genre, Summoners War is one of those projects that lets you go big and bold, and really expand out a world, but I also really love Rai’s tenacity and Tomas’ cynicism. Continuing from Summoners War: Legacy, the focus of this story arc, Awakening, is all about Rai developing as a Summoner and finding new abilities, but also growing as a human being. Rai and Tomas have a lot to learn from each other in this arc, and Justin and Luca have developed so many cool new characters and set pieces. I think any fantasy fan can pick this up and enjoy diving into this world.”

Summoners War: Awakening #1 will release on April 19, 2023.

In other Skybound news, the company is set to release the second volume in the Clementine graphic novel series in October 2023. The first book made our list of the best comic book series and graphic novels of 2022, so we have high hopes for the sequel.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.

Ubisoft’s CEO reportedly apologises for comments that led to calls for strike action

Kotaku report that Yves Guillemot began a Q&A meeting with an apology for his suggestion that sorting out issues at Ubisoft was the responsibility of lower-level staff, summarised by the phrase “the ball is in your court”. Guillemot had come under fire from Ubisoft staff following his comments, which prompted calls from one French union for Ubisoft Paris staff to strike later this month.

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Like A Dragon: Ishin lets you kick back and carefully chop spring onions on a farm

Like A Dragon: Ishin‘s teasers had peaked, but no, my heart still swells at an alarming rate. And that’s thanks to a new trailer where Kiryu/Ryoma drop (kicks) his bruising samurai lifestyle to the side for a simpler, purer existence: chopping spring onions to a rhythm in what looks to be an in-depth farming side activity. Game Of The Year.

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Patent Suggests That New Nintendogs Is On The Horizon, Potentially For Mobile

Are we barking up the wrong tree?

It has been 12 long years since we last heard the infamous instructions of “Lucky, Daisy, Baxter” while we sat in a completely sound-proofed room attempting to teach our dog its name in the 3DS’ Nintendogs + Cats. Of course, this followed the six-year wait after the release of the original Nintendogs on the DS — a watershed moment where a huge number of us spent each day walking, cleaning and playing with the virtual pups. And now, it looks like there might be more dog content from Nintendo to come.

A recent patent, dated 17th January 2023, seems to suggest that Nintendo is working on a new way to bring the world of virtual dogs back into our homes (thanks, My Nintendo News). This time around, the technology all seems to be about augmented reality and the ability to place a virtual object (a dog, in the example given) into a real-world environment as captured through a camera.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Critically Acclaimed Action RPG ‘Nobody Saves The World’ Receives A Free Update

Celebrate the first anniversary in the Impossible Dungeon.

The critically acclaimed action RPG Nobody Saves The World is celebrating its first anniversary with a free update.

This update adds a carnival-themed “endless” dungeon and a new unlockable dinosaur form. The title is also discounted across “most” platforms by 40%. Nintendo Switch is fortunately included in this offer. Here’s a rundown of what what to expect from this latest update:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Cult Of The Lamb’s Latest Update Adds “Massive Quality Of Life Improvements”

Rename your cult, perform mass blessings and more!

At the very end of last year, the Cult of the Lamb developed mentioned how there was more content planned for 2023. It’s now kicked off the new year with a “massive” quality of life update – allowing plkayers to perform mass blessings, auto cook and fish, rebind controls and even rename their cult.

Below is a trailer showcasing everything in this latest update:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

We Didn’t Quit Our Jobs to Make Children of Silentown

Hi! This is Nils from Daedalic Entertainment, publisher of Children of Silentown, I’m here today to tell the tale of how this idea evolved into today’s game – as a full-fledged title by a small group of people in their off-hours from their full-time software development  and YouTube content creation jobs. Originally developed as an animated short, Elf Games and Francesca from Luna2 Studio collaborated to bring the Children of Silentown into the interactive medium. The passion this team exudes is infectious, poured into the project slowly but steadily over the years. Take a look at the Making Of video below to hear directly from the team. Even Jack, the punk, cannot wait to share it with everyone! Meet him and the team in the Making Of video embedded at the top this post.

Piero, the programmer of the team, shares that “we at Elf Games used four years of our free time to make Children of Silentown. It is a game that some say is a hauntingly beautiful point-and-click adventure game, but see for yourselves. We are very proud of it. But we are not full-time developers: Elf Games instead develops video games after business hours, as their members are already busy with their software development company.”

Children of Silentown is certainly a point-and-click adventure, however the team wouldn’t say it’s a conventional one. Most traditional point-and-clicks focus on finding items and combining them at the right time. Elf Games took these elements of course, but also combined them with elements from other classic adventure games. For example, they took inspiration from OneShot and A Bird Story, specifically, the camera view that allows more exploration and the quest-like structure in some parts. Moreover, the game features song-based mechanics that link directly to the story. By using songs, the player unlocks situations and puzzles. Each of these songs is linked to a thematic minigame that creates variety in the gameplay.

Screenshot

The short version of how Children of Silentown came to be goes like this: In late 2018 Francesca, known as Fraffrog on YouTube, showed Fabiola and Piero an original short movie she created for her channel but never published. She asked them what they thought about it and delighted, they told her that it would be perfect for a video game.

Children of Silentown is a game about Lucy, a girl living in a town surrounded by a forest inhabited by monsters. From a concept as simple as that, the team tried to create a story that could live on many levels. They wanted to create a story where every bit could be an additional piece to the puzzle the player has, to help them unveil how the town and the forest came to be.

Screenshot

“Video games are a strong passion in which we feel we can bring together our skills and creativity. We have spent the past four years creating this project in our spare time, mostly on weekends, so development has been slow, but steady. It is not easy to dedicate yourself to such a long project, but we really believed we could make it real”, Francesca recollects.

This is how it started, and, like many projects, the original plan was to make a small, simple project. But things changed very quickly. After releasing a short demo, and being amazed by how well-received it was, we decided it was worthwhile to make it a bigger project, enough to truly bring to light the characters and the story of the world of Silentown.

It makes sense that the development of Children of Silentown would also be a bit unusual, as was its original conception. The team has worked diligently to not only meet our vision for the story, but grow the game into something bigger than we originally planned. Many people today have multiple jobs or hobbies they pour themselves into, this is the case with Children of Silentown, which we are so excited to share with the world. We hope you can all see what a labour of love it was and you all enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed making it.

Children of Silentown is available now for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S!


Children of Silentown
Xbox Live

Children of Silentown

Daedalic Entertainment

☆☆☆☆☆
1
★★★★★

$19.99
Get it now

“Accompany Lucy and her friends in this grim, beautifully hand-drawn adventure game.

Lucy is afraid of the forest, just like any other child: every night, the echoing roars rob her of her sleep. Not even her dreams are a safe place where she could play.

People disappearing is nothing uncommon in the village, but this time, Lucy is old enough to investigate on her own. Or so she thinks.

Children of Silentown is a point & click adventure game telling a mysterious and endearing story. Explore the town and its dangerous surroundings, meet its quirky inhabitants, solve puzzles and master minigames.

Accompany Lucy on her adventure to get to the bottom of what is haunting the strange Silentown… if you dare.”

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Creating the Sci-fi Roguelike Shoulders of Giants
Combining Trauma with Feelgood — The Story of Wavetale

Tomb Raider Reemerges as PowerWash Simulator DLC That Lets You Clean Lara Croft’s Mansion

All of that time away has taken its toll on the Croft Manor, and now the iconic Tomb Raider locale needs a scrub down. To restore Lara Croft’s lavish dwellings, PowerWash Simulator will crossover with Tomb Raider later this month in a free DLC for all players.

On January 31, the bizarre crossover from Square Enix Collective and FuturLab brings a free Tomb Raider Special Pack to PowerWash Simulator owners on consoles and PC. The trailer shows off a few familiar places around Lara’s home, including an outdoors obstacle course reminiscent of her earliest PlayStation adventures.

It looks like the inside has plenty to tidy, too. The PowerWash Simulator footage teases a few clean-up jobs around the Croft Manor, where layers of grime and dirt cover everything from the walls to ancient artifacts.

It’s not her most thrilling gig, but it at least looks satisfying. In a press release for the special Tomb Raider DLC, FuturLab lead designer Dan Chequer added, “We can’t wait for players to get up close and personal with Croft Manor and explore its many secrets!”

As for what those secrets are, we’ll have to wait and see, but it’s the most recent adventure Lara Croft has been on in a while. The studio behind Tomb Raider and several others were recently acquired by Embracer Group, while Amazon Studios signed a deal to help publish Lara’s next big game.

PowerWash Simulator is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. Alongside the Tomb Raider Special Pack, it will launch on January 31 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Halo Infinite Director Joseph Staten Leaving 343 Industries to Rejoin Xbox Publishing

After today’s announcement that Microsoft will lay off 10,000 people, details on how internal restructuring will hit its gaming divisions continue to emerge, with Halo Infinite’s 343 Industries among the studios impacted.

According to Bloomberg, Joseph Staten, a Halo veteran who began his career with Bungie in 1998, will transition from his Halo Infinite creative director role and rejoin Xbox’s publishing division. Staten joined the team at 343 Industries in 2020 as the campaign project lead on Halo Infinite and later saw a title change to Head of Creative.

Bloomberg’s report includes an email from 343 Industries head Pierre Hintze, who explained the studio “made the difficult decision to restructure” and that support for Halo Infinite’s live service features will continue. Details on Staten’s new role and the exact degree of impact at 343 Industries remain unclear for now.

Staten’s credits include a long history with the Halo series, starting with his role as the cinematic director on Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3. His work on the Halo universe includes authoring some of its novelizations, and the studio lead also served as lead writer on Bungie’s sci-fi shooter, Destiny. He departed his role on the MMO and later rejoined Microsoft in 2014.

The Halo studio is among many impacted by Microsoft’s layoffs, including Gears of War studio, The Coalition, and the more recently acquired Bethesda. Microsoft’s blog notes that cuts impact 5% of its workforce. That’s in addition to the 1,000 employees let go in October 2022.

As cuts and restructuring extend into its game studios, Microsoft is still moving forward with acquisitions. A year ago today, the company announced it would buy Activision Blizzard for a record-breaking $68.7 billion. That deal later came under fire by regulatory bodies, like the US Federal Trade Commission, with investigations ongoing.

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She’s worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today’s FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.