Detective Dotson is far and away one of the most charming games I’ve played this year. It’s as if you were to throw Ace Attorney and classic Monkey Island games together, wrap it up in a Bollywood film, and then set it in modern-day India. That should give you an idea of what independent developer Masala Games is trying to achieve, as Detective Dotson is fast approaching its April 24, 2025, release date for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC with support for Xbox Play Anywhere.
The developer, which houses talent that has worked at studios like Pixar, Electronic Arts, and Prana, was one of the featured teams at this year’s ID@Xbox Showcase during GDC and it was a standout experience for me at the show — I also had a chance to speak with Director Sharlin Shodhan separately about the game’s support for Xbox Play Anywhere.
In Detective Dotson, you take on the role of the title character, an aspiring actor turned amateur detective who is trying to track down who killed his father. That’s the high-level pitch. But the fun of the game are the wild adventures he’ll embark on as he becomes a more honed gumshoe, taking on unexpectedly riveting cases like who shunned someone from attending a prominent tea party, or who’s responsible for stealing someone’s lunch to ruin a film production.
These lighthearted quests play out in a traditional adventure game style, where you guide Dotson across a 2D plane with a brightly colored, Indian-influenced 3D backdrop, talking with other characters for clues, picking up objects for your inventory, scanning the environments for hints, and taking down notes to later piece all your evidence together.
Once all your notes and clues are assembled, you’ll then head to an evidence board to solve the active case. Here you’ll effectively move sticky notes with clues on them like, “Broke Up With,” “Trained by,” and “Hides in,” to then draw lines between all your suspects to solve the mystery at hand.
What I enjoyed the most during my time with the game is that it taps into classic adventure gaming, a genre I love. It’s not quite point-and-click, but it’s similar enough in its functions that it scratches that adventure game itch. It also feels like an incredibly accessible, cozy experience that gamers of all skill levels will be able to enjoy.
It also looks like nothing I’ve seen before, with its brightly colored world, diverse characters, and dance-offs. I’m not proficient in the realm of Indian customs, but the game does a good job of easing you into the experience with its terminology, presentation of characters, as well as the cases you’re given. There’s a reason why being shunned from a tea party can have a dramatic impact on someone’s social standing, which makes it the kind of thing Dotson would want to solve for – who seems to not only be a better detective than advertised, but also a standup dude who is just trying to do right in his community.
Even though my demo was short, it’s clear there are many more layers to explore within Detective Dotson, ones that I’m eager to uncover. This lighthearted story of a reluctant hero has already moved to the top of my “Can’t Wait to Play More of This” list – which thankfully isn’t a long wait: Detective Dotson is set to launch April 24, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC with support for Xbox Play Anywhere.
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
Breakout Beyond – March 25 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery Breakout is back! Choice Provisions (Bit.Trip) has flipped the legendary series on its head. Or rather side. In this neon-drenched take on the classic, you’ll need to literally break through each puzzle by clearing bricks to breach the final goal. Longer play will rack up a combo and increase the intensity of the effects creating a spectacular light show as a reward for the most skilled players.
Atomfall – March 27(Deluxe Edition March 24) Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery, Xbox Play Anywhere A survival-action game inspired by real-life events, Atomfall is set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England. Explore the fictional quarantine zone, scavenge, craft, barter, fight and talk your way through a British countryside setting filled with bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rogue government agencies. From Rebellion, the studio behind Sniper Elite and Zombie Army, Atomfall will challenge you to solve the dark mystery of what really happened.
Blue Wednesday – March 27 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery An interactive game where the player can move through the city and chat with various NPCs, play the piano, and interact with lots of other items through the main character, Morris. The main parts of the game are mini games and adventures, and learning more about Morris’s story through vivid cutscenes that pop up at key moments in the game.
Sports: Renovations – March 27Optimized for Xbox Series X|S Your hometown basketball court is in danger – once home to a top-tier league team fostering many new talents in the field, now covered in cobwebs and dust. And now a big developer is only waiting to get his grubby hands on the place, tear it down and build a new shopping mall instead. But you won’t accept that. Give sports facilities a second life in this relaxing story-driven simulator. Restore the glory of old gyms, courts and pitches, and add a sprinkle of your own style.
The First Bezerker: Khazan – March 27Optimized for Xbox Series X|S The First Berserker: Khazan is a hardcore action RPG based on the Dungeon Fighter Online (DnF) universe, Nexon’s flagship IP with more than 800 million players worldwide. Set 800 years before the events of DnF, the game unfolds on the continent of Arad and explores the untold story of Khazan, the first Berserker. Players will experience Khazan’s legendary journey firsthand as they master intricate and engaging combat mechanics and strategic battles that bring his epic tale to life.
Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror – March 28 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S Dollhouse: Behind the Broken Mirror is a terrifying first-person horror adventure game that tells a dark and mysterious story in a cinematic style. Enter the broken mind of Eliza de Moor, once a celebrated singer, now trapped in the labyrinth of her own forgotten memories. Since collapsing on stage during a performance, Eliza has been suffering from amnesia. The only hope for recovering her memories lies with Dr. Stern and his experimental medicine.
Why Nightdive Remastered System Shock 2 Instead of Remaking It
Morgan Shaver, Communications Manager, Nightdive Studios
If Nightdive Studios were a home, it would be built upon the foundation of System Shock. As one of the studio’s formative projects, the Kickstarter campaign for its acclaimed System Shock remake put Nightdive on the map. But it wasn’t System Shock that inspired Nightdive’s creation, rather its sequel, System Shock 2.
With the recently announced June 26, 2024, release date for System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster fast approaching, some have wondered: why a remaster instead of a full remake?
To answer this, let’s look back at Nightdive’s origins, remasters as a form of preservation, and the many enhancements that make System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster a worthy tribute to a beloved classic!
Where It All Began
“Like many others, my first experience with System Shock was the sequel,” begins Nightdive Founder and CEO Stephen Kick, who recounts being introduced to the game while eating lunch with his friends at school.
After sharing how much he loved Half-Life, his friend Marshall suggested giving System Shock 2 a try. “The next day, he came back to the table and handed me the Big Box. That night, I installed the game and was instantly captivated. Every aspect of it congealed into an unforgettably immersive experience that still gives me chills every time I think about it.”
Little did he know at the time, this pivotal moment would later contribute to Nightdive’s founding in 2012 when Kick had the nostalgic desire to replay System Shock 2. Unable to get his game to run, and unable to re-purchase it on digital platforms, Kick began reaching out to license holders and was ultimately rewarded with the rights to re-release System Shock 2 in 2013, followed by the original.
“After System Shock: Enhanced Edition introduced mouse look and other quality of life improvements, we knew we had the unique opportunity to re-introduce the gaming world at large to one of the most influential and overlooked experiences ever created. The decision was then made to assemble a team to remake System Shock to not only honor the original, but to celebrate the legacy it created,” Kick explains.
“While we’d already announced an enhanced edition of System Shock 2, the success of the remake caused us to pivot and re-evaluate our goals for System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, ultimately leading to a remaster that’s much grander in scope and ambition.”
So, why didn’t this pivot with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (formerly System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition) lead to another remake?
Remaster vs. Remake
“With System Shock 2, the game was already in a playable state, it just needed the same care and attention we’ve brought to other games we’ve worked on from that generation,” Kick clarifies. “Improved graphics, performance, and the ability to play on console — so it was decided to remaster the game instead of completely remaking it.”
Nightdive’s mission extends beyond ‘bringing lost and forgotten games back from the depths’ with its commitment to game preservation. As Nightdive developer Alex Lima points out, remasters and remakes are “two very different approaches” to game preservation.
“In a remake, we have the liberty of using modern engines, and we need to seek a specific type of talent when assembling a development team. In a remaster, we’re adapting legacy source code and doing lots of reverse engineering when that source code is lost.”
If you think of games as art, like Nightdive VP of Business Development Larry Kuperman does, a remaster is closer to restoration work done with old paintings while remakes are akin to creating a replica. “Games are a form of interactive art and should be preserved as art deserves to be preserved,” says Kuperman.
Being able to leverage as much of a game’s original content as possible is not only valuable from a preservation standpoint, but from a modding one too.
“In a remaster, we adhere to the modding standards the original developers or community have already established. In a remake, we’re able to create the modding ecosystems with modern practices and standards. All in all, we do both with passion, and it’s up to the public to decide which one they favor,” notes Lima.
“We decided to go with a remaster because we care a lot about the System Shock 2 fanbase, and we know a modding community has built around this game that’d benefit from the addition of advanced features. A remake would also be great, but it wouldn’t affect the modding community in as positive a way as this remaster will.”
Bringing a Horror Classic to Xbox
Modders aren’t the only ones who’ll benefit from the enhancements of System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster. With a wealth of fixes and improvements, the game’s shaping up to be more approachable than ever.
For example, as you explore the creepy corridors of the Von Braun, one of the first things you’ll notice is the game’s visual enhancements. “Menus and in-game UI elements have been upgraded to high-resolution assets, providing enhanced clarity and readability,” confirms Lima.
“The Xbox family of systems has the kind of hardware that PC players in the ‘90s could only dream of, and we make use of that extra muscle,” adds developer Lexi Mayfield. “The game runs natively at 4K resolution on the Xbox One X and Xbox Series X|S with 120Hz also supported on the Xbox Series X|S version.”
It’s not just looks — System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster plays better, too.
“The 3D renderer used by System Shock 2’s “Dark” Engine has been modernized. You can expect to see high-resolution assets, modern materials and shaders, support for ambient occlusion, and many of the performance bottlenecks of the older renderer addressed,” explains Mayfield.
As expected for a game releasing on consoles, System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster offers comprehensive controller support.
“Every interface in the game, from PDA screens to hacking tools, can now be quickly navigated with the directional pad and face buttons. Cycling between PDA interfaces is done with the triggers, and tabular interfaces in those screens are cycled with the bumpers.”
You can do more with the bumpers than cycle between screens, thanks to the game’s newly added quickbar system. Now, switching between weapons and psi powers is both faster and easier thanks to two quick-access bars bound by default to the Left and Right bumpers.
“You can also slow down your aim for the sake of accuracy, and instead of multiple lean buttons there’s now a single lean toggle that uses the control stick for the lean direction.”
If the default setup doesn’t work for you, “nearly every control except looking and walking with the analog sticks can be remapped. You can even swap the sticks to a southpaw configuration if you prefer.”
And if you’d rather stick to mouse and keyboard, Mayfield assures “we have you covered there too.” While the team can’t delve too deep into either of these just yet, multiplayer and co-op are in development for System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster. “Crossplay functionality is also supported, allowing players across different platforms to connect and play together,” notes Lima.
A Look to the Future
Nightdive’s remaster of System Shock 2 isn’t a highly-polished reimagining; it’s the same game you remember from 1999… but better. With visual enhancements, optimized performance, and full controller support, Xbox players are in for a real treat.
Perhaps more than one. With several projects in active development, including some highly requested fan favorites, the Nightdive team shows no signs of slowing down. While a full remake of System Shock 2 isn’t on the list (yet), it’s certainly not outside the realm of possibility.
According to Stephen Kick:
“Our team has been working within the world of System Shock for the last 10 years and I couldn’t think of a more qualified group of developers to tackle a project like that should we decide to take that on.”
So, whether you’re a first-timer or a longtime fan, Nightdive looks forward to welcoming you aboard the Von Braun when System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster launches on June 26, 2024, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S!
How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?
System Shock® 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster by Nightdive Studios brings to you the modernized remaster of the FPS/RPG classic.
It’s the year 2114 and as you awake from cryo sleep on the FTL ship Von Braun, you are unable to remember who or where you are… and something has gone terribly wrong. Hybrid mutants and deadly robots roam the halls while the cries from the remaining crew reverberate through the cold hull of the ship. SHODAN, a rogue AI bent on the destruction of mankind has taken over and it’s up to you to stop her.
Delve through the corridors of the derelict ship Von Braun and immerse yourself in the story rich atmosphere and environments. Explore deck by deck and unravel the horrifying fate of the Von Braun and her crew.
System Shock is the fully fledged remake of the ground breaking original from 1994, combining cult gameplay with all-new HD visuals, updated controls, an overhauled interface and all-new sounds & music; it even has the original voice actor of SHODAN, one of gaming’s most iconic villains. Witness the rebirth of one of the greatest and most influential games ever created.
A first-person fight to the death in the depths of space!
SHE IS SELF-AWARE AND AWARE OF YOU
Meet SHODAN: The psychotic AI has taken control of Citadel Station and turned the crew into an army of cyborgs and mutants; She now plans to do the same to Earth. You must explore and battle your way through the depths of a space station gone to hell. Stop SHODAN and avert humanity’s destruction.
If you’ve never heard of XPA before, let us give you a refresher: when you buy a digital game that supports XPA through the Xbox Store or the Windows Store, it’s available to play on your Xbox console, Windows 10/11 PC, and supported handheld gaming devices at no additional cost. Even better, your progression comes with you across all platforms.
While the benefits of XPA for players are clear, we wanted to show you how developers have embraced this feature for their games. At this year’s annual ID@Xbox Showcase event at GDC, we chatted with the teams behind upcoming XPA games Clair Obsur: Expedition 33, Detective Dotson, and Towerborne to learn more about what influenced their decision to implement this feature and what benefits it may hold for their gaming communities.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
“I mean, I think for us it’s all about discovery,” says Detective Dotson Director Sharlin Shodhan. “Making a game is hard enough, but selling a game in 2025 is super hard. This just gives us all the surfaces that Xbox and Microsoft have as a common access point to sell our game.”
In chatting more with Shodhan, he cites that being able to connect with players across multiple platforms is a key benefit in supporting Xbox Play Anywhere. Having all types of players access their game, and know that it can be played on multiple owned devices, is important for them because it widens the surface where people can access it — and thus share it.
The upcoming Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, launching day one with Game Pass on April 24, will also support Xbox Play Anywhere at launch. Again, allowing a variety of gaming communities on different platforms to come together thanks to XPA was seen as a tremendous benefit, especially for a new studio.
“Forming new friendships with players who are discovering our game is really the most we can hope for,” explains Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Producer and Studio Co-founder François Meurisse. “Having players able to play our game on different devices they already have at home is ideal. This helps them discover the game and feel a link with the universe, to the characters, and maybe even follow-up [for] future games [we make].”
Detective Dotson
Other teams I talked to had Xbox Play Anywhere on their mind from the get-go. In talking with Towerborne Game Director Daniel McLaren, whose game is focused heavily on co-op, implementing XPA was necessary so anyone could join their community, whether they’re on PC or Xbox.
“We have built a game structured around playing together. From couch co-op to online co-op, or even just sitting by yourself with someone next to you telling you how to play. We needed to implement Xbox Play Anywhere so that anyone could join our community, whether they’re on PC or Xbox,” says McLaren. “No matter how you access your Xbox, be it through Game Pass or direct purchase, it was important for us to make sure we had the maximum number of players able to sit down anywhere, anytime, and just be able to play together.”
And it’s not just about utilizing XPA to connect with their gaming communities. As players themselves, these developers are also huge fans of what it means to play games they own with their friends and family, then taking that learned experience to implement into their games. In chatting more with McLaren, having XPA as an option to play across platforms is a huge benefit both personally and professionally.
“Well, the fact that I don’t have to segregate my audience [is what I like most about the Xbox Play Anywhere feature]. When trying to build an online game, It [would be]’s absurd that I can’t sit down at my PC on some games and play with my buddy, who is not a PC person at all, who only has an Xbox console, it just boggles my mind. So, being able to do this… I don’t understand why everybody wouldn’t do it,” McLaren says.
Towerborne
Shodhan also looks at it from a player perspective. “This is how it should be: If I own a game and several devices, the developer will want me to play their game on as many devices as possible without paying each time or having to go through different store procedures. So, I think that’s the ideal player experience, and that’s why I’m happy to support this for our players and make it a great experience.”
“As a player and a Game Pass member, I really enjoyed the experience,” says Meurisse. “I haven’t got a Steam Deck yet but being able to play games on my iPad (with Xbox Cloud Gaming) while in bed is fantastic. The bigger screen of the iPad, combined with a controller, makes for an enjoyable gaming experience.”
Xbox Play Anywhere offers incredible convenience to players and a strong benefit to developers in fostering a cross-platform community for their games. And only having to purchase a game once to play it on both Xbox and PC is a huge perk for playing on Xbox, wherever you are. When you’re a developer, at the end of the day, you just want more people to play your game — XPA is here to help make that happen.
There are numerous features developers must consider implementing when developing their games. These could be large, overarching ones – ‘How big should the game world be?’ ‘Will it need to support multiplayer?’ – or some of the less critical, but no less important, questions to answer… like what color should the doors be on a house?
Accessibility in gaming has grown significantly in recent years among game developers who have been more conscious of adding these types of features into their games, ensuring more people can play them across all facets of the gaming community. This could be anything from including a color-blind option, a high contrast mode, or game difficulty adjustments to name a few.
At this year’s ID@Xbox Showcase event at GDC, I had a chance to talk with Philip Crabtree, technical director and co-founder of Kaizen Game Works Limited, who was showcasing Promise Mascot Agency, which had the Xbox Adaptive Controller as well as the newly launched Xbox Adaptive Joystick enabled at their demo station. I was immediately curious to ask how the team decided to dedicate development resources to accessibility, and why it was important to them.
“I don’t think there was a decision; I think it was just something we wanted to do. And I think it was pretty much an unspoken understanding. Whenever an idea came up for an accessibility feature, we didn’t have a meeting about it. It’s just, ‘I’m putting it in,’ it’s as simple as that,” explains Crabtree. “If something comes to us, like a suggestion from someone who played the demo or something we’ve seen in another game, then it’s just mentioned, and we put it in where we can. It’s not a very complicated process.”
In Promise Mascot Agency, you play Mitchy, an exiled Yakuza living in a dying town who is seeking redemption. Your goal is to rebuild a mascot agency by recruiting mascots, helping them regain confidence, and renovating the town where they live. Crabtree describes it as an open-world narrative adventure game that combines crime drama with mini-games – and car battles.
Crabtree’s previous game, Paradise Killer had several accessibility settings that Kaizen’s community responded well to, but they also identified several limitations, such as the inability to alter the style of text dialogue. So, with Promise Mascot Agency, accessibility was a feature they wanted to push further and prioritized it early in development.
“In our Promise Mascot Agency, you drive around in a truck, so we wanted to make sure you could do things like drive without having to hold the triggers. So, we’ve implemented modes where you can just tap to drive and tap to reverse. Same thing with boosting — tap to do this or that. We also wanted to introduce options like high contrast mode so you can easily see objectives on the screen,” Crabtree says while detailing some of the accessibility settings they’ve implemented. “Where there are elements of difficulty, like timers, we wanted to make all those settings changeable so you can make it easier to chase or have more time to read the text. Anything we could think of that was achievable for a small team, we tried to get it in there.”
I asked Crabtree if there were any specific accessibility features the team really wanted to ensure worked well with Promise Mascot Agency, including those that may center around playing with the Xbox Adaptive Controller – which was on-hand at the event for attendees to try. The answer? Everything.
“Everyone wanted the whole game to work (with it). There’s no point in just having 10 percent of the game accessible — we wanted the whole thing. So, once we had [the Xbox Adaptive Controller] in front of us and we could use it, it was then just trying to figure out what the correct method of control is,” explains Crabtree. “As I mentioned before, rather than holding a button down to accelerate, you could tap. And then when you want to brake, do you tap the same button? Do you tap a different button? It’s just trying options to see what fit — we wanted every feature to work with it and I think we managed to get that.”
The team also got to experience using the new Xbox Adaptive Joystick with their game. “The new Xbox Adaptive Joystick is great — I didn’t realize it existed until very recently. I’m happy just to have held it – it’s a wonderful little thing,” says Crabtree.
“When we got the first [Xbox Adaptive Controller], the obvious downfall was we needed an analog stick — the games we make need an analog stick. So, you’d need most if not all the buttons on the controller. That was the first problem when looking at our old games before the new controller came out. But the Xbox Adaptive Joystick is very flexible to assign how you want. It didn’t take anytime at all to figure out how to just control it.”
As Crabtree points out to me, it’s about spotting opportunities in how you approach accessibility. It’s not that a developer needs to think too hard about getting it perfect or questioning who will like it or who won’t like it. “It’s about giving players options and trying to identify what they might be; it’s fairly straightforward,” he says. “Any developer making a game just wants people to play it and wants people to enjoy it. And with these controllers, more people can enjoy it. It feels pretty good to be able to let people find it and connect with the games that previously might have been out of reach.”
And for those developers who are just starting to look at ways to make their game accessible, Crabtree boiled it down simply here as well: Just do it.
“Don’t overthink it. Just have a look at your game and say, ‘Well what is accessibility?’ Don’t just think about motion. Think about things like timers, which could add initial stress or cognitive issues, where you can give people more time to understand what they need to do to take things at their own pace,” Crabtree details.
“Think about all the actions players take in a game. How can you make it more accessible? You don’t have to hit everything. It’d be wonderful if you could, but every little bit helps. And once you’ve done one implementation, then that bit of knowledge can go forward to implement something else. And then on your next game, you can start with that and then keep expanding. So, just do it. People want to play your games. Help them play it.”
From the creators of Paradise Killer comes a mind-bending open-world narrative adventure mascot management simulator where mascots are more than just symbols – they’re unpredictable forces of nature! Step into the chaos, unravel the conspiracies, drive a tiny truck and try to keep it all together in Promise Mascot Agency!
Welcome to the Mascot Hustle
You thought mascots were just fluffy, innocent brand ambassadors? Think again. The Mascots are all living, breathing, fully formed personalities, with dreams, fears, and the occasional breakdowns of their own- just like us! Whether it’s Trororo, a charming cat who’s a little too obsessed with “adult video” or sweet, silken To-Fu, who can’t stop sobbing, your job is to befriend, mentor, and (hopefully) get these mascots to finish their jobs without causing a major catastrophe.
Play Your Cards Right
Sending your mascots out to work is never as easy as it sounds. One minute they’re promoting delicious food, the next they’re stuck in a doorway or starting a kitchen inferno. Need help? Good thing Kaso-Machi is full of intrepid everyday heroes ready to lend a hand (if you’ve managed to befriend them, of course). Unlock Hero Cards, featuring Kaso-Machi’s lovable local weirdos like Captain Sign, Japan’s only road-sign superhero (don’t ask questions), or Mama-San, a bar owner with a serious latex collection. These heroes will step in to provide help when your mascots inevitably lose control.
Tear Through Town in Your Upgradable Kei Truck
Kaso-Machi is a town full of secrets, and Michi isn’t just stuck in an office managing mascots – he’s on the road in his rusty (but upgradeable!) Kei Truck. This nifty little ride may look like a heap of junk, but with a few tweaks, it’ll have nitro boosts, glider wings, and even the ability to launch Pinky☆ – Michi’s maniacal mascot assistant – like a missile. Use your truck to explore the strange, forgotten town, unlock collectibles, and uncover hidden mysteries. Who knew a Kei Truck could be your best friend in a town where literally everything else hates you?!
Crime! Drama! A Walking Finger?!
Exiled after an ambush that left his clan in shambles, Michi finds himself piecing together the mystery of what really happened, while the town seems to actively conspire against him. Nightmare spirits seem a little too interested in your business, and there’s an ever-present sense that something’s very, very wrong in this place…
Think you can resist? Think again. The mascots know where you live. Step into the world of Promise Mascot Agency and claim your place in this brave new world of mascot domination.
From the creators of Paradise Killer comes a mind-bending open-world narrative adventure mascot management simulator where mascots are more than just symbols – they’re unpredictable forces of nature! Step into the chaos, unravel the conspiracies, drive a tiny truck and try to keep it all together in Promise Mascot Agency!
Welcome to the Mascot Hustle
You thought mascots were just fluffy, innocent brand ambassadors? Think again. The Mascots are all living, breathing, fully formed personalities, with dreams, fears, and the occasional breakdowns of their own- just like us! Whether it’s Trororo, a charming cat who’s a little too obsessed with “adult video” or sweet, silken To-Fu, who can’t stop sobbing, your job is to befriend, mentor, and (hopefully) get these mascots to finish their jobs without causing a major catastrophe.
Play Your Cards Right
Sending your mascots out to work is never as easy as it sounds. One minute they’re promoting delicious food, the next they’re stuck in a doorway or starting a kitchen inferno. Need help? Good thing Kaso-Machi is full of intrepid everyday heroes ready to lend a hand (if you’ve managed to befriend them, of course). Unlock Hero Cards, featuring Kaso-Machi’s lovable local weirdos like Captain Sign, Japan’s only road-sign superhero (don’t ask questions), or Mama-San, a bar owner with a serious latex collection. These heroes will step in to provide help when your mascots inevitably lose control.
Tear Through Town in Your Upgradable Kei Truck
Kaso-Machi is a town full of secrets, and Michi isn’t just stuck in an office managing mascots – he’s on the road in his rusty (but upgradeable!) Kei Truck. This nifty little ride may look like a heap of junk, but with a few tweaks, it’ll have nitro boosts, glider wings, and even the ability to launch Pinky☆ – Michi’s maniacal mascot assistant – like a missile. Use your truck to explore the strange, forgotten town, unlock collectibles, and uncover hidden mysteries. Who knew a Kei Truck could be your best friend in a town where literally everything else hates you?!
Crime! Drama! A Walking Finger?!
Exiled after an ambush that left his clan in shambles, Michi finds himself piecing together the mystery of what really happened, while the town seems to actively conspire against him. Nightmare spirits seem a little too interested in your business, and there’s an ever-present sense that something’s very, very wrong in this place…
Think you can resist? Think again. The mascots know where you live. Step into the world of Promise Mascot Agency and claim your place in this brave new world of mascot domination.
South of Midnight’s soundtrack, created by Olivier Deriviere, is available today on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Bandcamp. To celebrate, we spoke to Deriviere and Audio Director Chris Fox to find out how they created a unique gaming musical experience.
South of Midnight has also gone gold! Compulsion Games has reached a major milestone, with the game’s development now complete and approved for release.
South of Midnight will be available on April 8, 2025, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox app for Windows PC, Steam, cloud, and will be available day one with Game Pass. And with Xbox Play Anywhere, play on Xbox consoles, Windows PC, and cloud with full cross-entitlements and cross-saves. Play up to five days early, starting April 3, 2025, and get access to digital extras with the Premium Edition.
Pre-order The Art and Music of South of Midnight, developed in collaboration with Dutch design house and publisher Cook and Becker. The box set includes a two-LP vinyl with the full soundtrack of the game presented in a beautiful gatefold – alongside a 160-page art book, a comic book inspired by the game, and more.
Composer Olivier Deriviere has a very elegant way of summing up South of Midnight’s approach to music: “This game is singing with the player.”
Xbox Wire spoke to Deriviere, and Audio Director Chris Fox, on an important day for the team – South of Midnight had just gone gold, with development complete ahead of the game’s April 8 global release date. On the day this article publishes, it’s another important milestone – South of Midnight’s soundtrack is now available on all major streaming platforms. It felt only natural, then, to discuss how this game uses music in an all-new way for the genre.
In most games, the soundtrack is something like a mood board – something to prompt you on the fact that you’re in an important battle, or experiencing the joy of exploration. But Compulsion Games has woven music far more intricately into the experience of playing South of Midnight. As you progress through its levels, melodies and harmonies repeat, snatches of lyrics float like a breeze through the experience, offering hints at the wider story you’re taking part in. And, as you reach each level’s crescendo, taking on the game’s mythical creatures, it explodes into life as a fully performed track, ebbing and flowing, reacting to your actions, and telling the creatures’ tales through lyrics.
It was, as you might imagine, a complex task. “It’s the biggest music production I’ve ever done,” explains Deriviere. “But, at the beginning, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Musical Introduction
Compulsion did a huge amount of research in the early parts of production, with Creative Director David Sears and his team undertaking multiple trips to the American South in order to properly capture the look, feel, and stories of the region they aimed to depict. And it was at the end of one of these trips that Sears returned with an idea.
Audio Director Chris Fox tells the story that started it all: “David came back from one of his trips to the South and said, ‘I really feel like I’ve had this epiphany – players’ actions should equal musicality.’ So that was kind of the first big challenge, and then I had to go away and kind of think about what that meant.”
Music is a huge part of the identity of the South – blues, country, jazz and more can all trace their roots to the region – and that was always going to be represented. But the gauntlet thrown down to Fox and Deriviere was to create a game in which that music needed to feel tied to what the player was doing, where they were, and what story they were unravelling.
“So I was like, ‘OK, how can someone make music while they play, but not [just make] a music game?’” explains Fox. “That was how it started, and then we just went into lots of brainstorms.”
It’s rare for an action-adventure like South of Midnight to try something like this, and it’s rarer still for the songs created to have lyrics. This wasn’t just about creating a technical system for how music reacts to the player, but for how it told distinct stories around them.
“We started with story, of course,” says Fox. “We needed to know the story of the creatures first, which then spawned the narrative – our version of the [real-life] tales – which in turn spawned the lyrics. The lyrics and the narrative have to go hand-in-hand. We worked with the narrative team, and then we had to make sure Olivier had what he needed. I was very pleased with the content that we got – it’s always a worry at the beginning when you talk about making original songs, it’s not something that’s normally done. Anything could happen – and the most important thing was just to put trust in everyone.”
That trust meant that Olivier was given another unusual task – to create a concept song, in the same way a game’s production will often begin with concept art.
“This was the first time I’ve had to think of [traditional] songs within a game,” Deriviere continues. “How can we make a song happen, and how is this relevant? How do we arrange the song? The starting point was this concept song – and I had to sing it. And when the song was there, just by me, it was enough for David and Chris to be like, ‘OK, with that, we can go into production.’”
The Art of Science
From here, the team worked together to create the full suite of songs you’ll hear in the final game. And unexpectedly, at least for Deriviere, the practical element of getting the game to adjust its music to how you’re playing was actually one of the easier parts of the process.
“Technology in video games has immensely improved over the time, and we are now able to very much tailor – throughout any situation in a game – [how the music reacts to] whatever we want. The difficulty is that you have the technology, but you still have to have the creativity and the coherency of using the technology in the right way. For instance, for music, you don’t want the system to be complex [to the point where it] doesn’t make musical sense. It’s just years and years of practicing and experimenting. And we did experiment – it’s fail-and-retry, basically.”
The systems Fox and his team created mean that the soundtrack will ‘know’ if you’re stopping to explore, or charging headlong into a combat section, adjusting the track around that to feel right, while still carrying the core themes.
“We had to deconstruct each song to make it work within the levels,” Deriviere continues. “At the end of the level, you visit the creature and you have this song at its peak – but previously [in the level], you have sections that are building up, and it’s not in the same form as the final song. It’s a completely different form, with different harmonies, different melodies. Sometimes there’s even a corrupted aspect to the melody, because the world is corrupted, and we wanted people to feel this way.”
In effect, it’s turning music into a part of the wider soundscape – the same way a game will have different sound effects for walking through water as opposed to mud. “I think that’s why I wanted to work with Olivier,” enthuses Fox. “He sees the audio and not just music. It’s music woven into sound effects, sound effects woven into music. It’s the audio experience for the player, and they’re not separated necessarily.”
Pushing that idea even further, in South of Midnight, music is quite literally a character: “At the end of the level, the song is always performed by a top-talent singer, but within the levels it’s by a kids’ choir,” explains Deriviere. “The kids are basically the star of the show – they’re all over the place, and they mean so much to the game. These are the Strands, the entities, whatever magic you want to call them, that are helping [lead character] Hazel find her way through this magical world.”
Southern Charm
And to add to the complexity of all this, there was a final piece of the puzzle for Fox and Deriviere – going all the way back to those original research trips, the music needed to feel as if it belonged in the South, across multiple regions, while still offering up a single, coherent soundtrack.
“At the beginning, you know, talking with Chris and David, it was more about trying to find something that would be interesting, get something inspired by the Deep South, but create something that was unique for the game,” explains Deriviere.
He realized that, in order to do that, he needed to look outwards, not inwards: “Oh, we may need to hire some talents to record live music. But [then it became] multiple talents, on a scale that I’ve never done. [We had] more than 50 people involved, not even including the orchestra.”
This was a much bigger task than the team had gone in expecting. ““It was something that evolved over time,” says Fox. “We started with like an hour of music, or something ridiculous like that, which was obviously way too little. But at the beginning of a project, you just don’t know what the needs are.
“I appreciate the belief in us that when I said, ‘We’ve got this really cool idea, we need to we need to go with live performers.’ And then later on, ‘Oh, actually, I know I said we weren’t going to use an orchestra, but we actually need to go and record an orchestra now.’
“For the higher-ups here at Compulsion to say, ‘This wasn’t necessarily budgeted, but we think you’ve got a strong vision, and what you’re doing with Olivier seems really good, so here we go’ – that was something I really appreciated from Compulsion and Xbox, to roll with us on that.”
But even with all of this in place, Deriviere needed to create music that managed a tricky balance:
“We worked with various established musicians from the South, but we were never willing to copycat – it would have been inauthentic, because I’m not from there, you know? It was not the goal. The goal was to be inspired and to turn the music into something else. So yes, there is of course influences from country, bluegrass, blues, jazz. But the best reaction was from these [musicians] – one of them plays blues, one of them country – and they were playing the songs, and they were like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do this, but this is super interesting!’
“They were doing what they were used to, but with the twist that I would do. I thought they would be a little bit lost in the process, but it was completely the opposite. They embraced it so much. For me, that’s the success in this production, working with these people, getting their genuine, authentic vibe from the South, and [bringing them] into the world of Compulsion, the world of this music.”
The result is a soundtrack that Deriviere and Fox believes represents the South, but doesn’t simply copy its homework – this was a true collaboration with the real musicians from the region:
“You can feel, hopefully, when you’re listening to the soundtrack or the songs, that there are people there,” says Deriviere. “It feels like they’re there, and they want to provoke emotions, move you, tell the story, bring you into this world.”
It’s an idea that lends extra weight to the idea that South of Midnight sings with you – it’s not just the game itself singing, but the many, many people who made that music.
South of Midnight will be available on April 8, 2025, on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox App for Windows PC, Steam and cloud, and arrives on day one with Game Pass. If you want to immerse yourself into the macabre and fantastical world of South of Midnight early, get the Premium Edition to play up to 5 days early, and get access to digital extras.
The South of Midnight soundtrack is available to stream today on all major streaming platforms. You can also pre-order The Art and Music of South of Midnight, developed in collaboration with Dutch design house and publisher Cook and Becker. The box set includes a two-LP vinyl with the full soundtrack of the game presented in a beautiful gatefold – alongside a 160-page art book, a comic book inspired by the game, and more.
Immerse yourself into the macabre and fantastical world of South of Midnight with the Premium Edition, which includes the full game, up to 5 days early access, and digital access (in English) to:
• South of Midnight Artbook
• Original Soundtrack composed by Olivier Deriviere
• The Boo-Hag Comic book by Rob Guillory
• Music Video: Songs & Tales of South of Midnight
• Documentary: Weaving Hazel’s Journey, Director’s Cut
UNRAVEL THE PAST
From the creators of Contrast and We Happy Few, South of Midnight is a spellbinding third person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South.
As Hazel, you will explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When disaster strikes her hometown, Hazel is called to become a Weaver: a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new abilities, Hazel will confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family’s shared past and – if she’s lucky – find her way to a place that feels like home.
A DARK MODERN FOLKTALE
When a hurricane rips through Prospero, Hazel is pulled into a Southern Gothic world of memory made real and must embark on a journey to rescue her mother and safeguard her hometown. In this folktale for modern times, Hazel will need to reconcile the weight of family, history, and legacy against her own identity.
CONFRONT MYTHICAL CREATURES
Wield an ancient power to restore creatures and uncover the traumas that consume them. Cast weaving magic to fight destructive Haints, explore the diverse regions of the South, and reweave the tears in the Grand Tapestry.
HAUNTING BEAUTY OF THE GOTHIC SOUTH
Discover the lush, decayed county of Prospero and its locals. Experience a crafted visual style, touching storytelling, and immersive music inspired by the complex and rich history of the South.
From the creators of Contrast and We Happy Few, South of Midnight is a spellbinding third person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South.
As Hazel, you will explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When disaster strikes her hometown, Hazel is called to become a Weaver: a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new abilities, Hazel will confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family’s shared past and – if she’s lucky – find her way to a place that feels like home.
A DARK MODERN FOLKTALE
When a hurricane rips through Prospero, Hazel is pulled into a Southern Gothic world of memory made real and must embark on a journey to rescue her mother and safeguard her hometown. In this folktale for modern times, Hazel will need to reconcile the weight of family, history, and legacy against her own identity.
CONFRONT MYTHICAL CREATURES
Wield an ancient power to restore creatures and uncover the traumas that consume them. Cast weaving magic to fight destructive Haints, explore the diverse regions of the South, and reweave the tears in the Grand Tapestry.
HAUNTING BEAUTY OF THE GOTHIC SOUTH
Discover the lush, decayed county of Prospero and its locals. Experience a crafted visual style, touching storytelling, and immersive music inspired by the complex and rich history of the South.
The Square Enix publisher sale is here! Starting today, we are excited to bring you huge discounts across our Xbox catalogue. Whether someone is playing a new release or an all-time classic, our goal at Square Enix is to deliver unforgettable experiences to every player. Here are a few of the games that aim to do just that.
Kingdom Hearts – HD 1.5+2.5 Remix
Kingdom Hearts -HD 1.5+2.5 Remix– is an essential collection of the first six stories in the Kingdom Hearts series, a collaboration between Disney and Square Enix. Wield the legendary Keyblade and unlock the true power of friendship as you explore Disney worlds and defend them from darkness.
Final Fantasy I-VI Bundle
The games that inspired a generation come to life once more in the ultimate 2D pixel remaster! Enjoy universally updated 2D pixel graphics and a beautifully rearranged soundtrack as well as the original version. Experience improved gameplay including modernized UI, auto-battle options, and more. You can even access additional boost features to expand gameplay options, including switching off random encounters and adjusting experience gained multipliers between 0 and 4. There has never been a better time to check out the games that started it all.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Max Caulfield is thrust into a thrilling supernatural murder mystery – more dangerous than ever before! Forge allies and pursue suspects across two versions of reality, shaping both timelines through unforgettable choices. A relentless detective has Max in his sights, and Safi’s killer grows closer with every clue uncovered. Can Max survive long enough – to do the impossible?
Nier:Automata: Become as Gods Edition
Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on… A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world.
Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition
Noctis, crown prince of the magical Kingdom of Lucis, embarks on a quest to reclaim his homeland in this action RPG. In an action-packed battle system, channel the power of your ancestors to warp effortlessly through the air in thrilling combat, and together with your comrades, master the skills of weaponry, magic and team-based attacks.Long time fans and fresh faces alike, get ready to experience cutting-edge interactive entertainment in this fantasy based on reality.
After about my third death, it became very clear to me that it’s dangerous to go alone in 33 Immortals. My sinful pride was getting the best of me as I navigated the Inferno, inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” filled with all manner of infernal beasts, creatures, and tortured souls, presented with crisp, beautiful hand-drawn animation. I thought my experience with ARPGs would be enough to push back against this enemy horde alone – I was wrong. It’s once I found other Rebel Souls (fellow players) to tag along with when my journey through Hell became a bit more manageable.
33 Immortals describes itself as a distillation of the MMO raid experience, an action-packed roguelike where 33 players are placed together on a large world map, a land littered with charred buildings and jagged spears of stone surrounded by flames. It’s also full of monsters. Lots of monsters.
In the first part of this game, conquering Hell is an exercise in structure. Your goal is to defeat Lucifer, the “boss” of Inferno, but first you must work with other players to unlock an Ascension Battle just to reach him. How do you do that? Glad you asked: You must complete 12 Torture Chambers, mini raids where you are grouped up with up to six players to battle multiple waves of monsters. Complete these to earn a variety of helpful loot and resources that you can then put into your character, increasing your odds of success as you proceed to tackle the next Torture Chamber, and then the one after that, and so forth.
This multi-tiered approach to finishing your roguelike “run” is challenging, yet very fun to play with — even though I only managed to complete just three Torture Chambers before succumbing to the elements (aka ‘ripped apart by monsters’). As I would learn during repeated runs – it seems the number of completed Torture Chambers is retained should you die and reenter Inferno — the larger the group of fellow Souls I traveled with, the larger my chances of survival became – and you can imagine how much bigger those chances get with 32 other people on your side. Leaning on one another’s skills and class abilities to unleash a balanced attack against waves of monsters is a key to success.
And becoming familiar with your abilities – and how they interact with others – is deeply important. Before you enter Inferno, you’re given the choice to pick one of four weapons, which also assign you a class: Bow of Hope (Shooter), Sword of Justice (Tank), Daggers of Greed (Fighter), and Staff of Sloth (Specialist). Each of these weapons have a primary and secondary attack that rely on you inflicting damage on enemies to build up their respective gauges.
For example, hitting enemies with the Sword of Justice will generate ‘Justice’ points for you to execute special attacks like Heavy Slash or Guard. Or like with Daggers of Greed, you generate ‘Greed’ off enemy hits; the amount of ‘Greed’ you build up determines the amount of damage you’re able to inflict with a takedown attack.
Of all these choices, I liked playing with the Bow of Hope the most, as it kept me at a decent length away from enemy attacks. Also, its Guiding Light feature, where returning arrows sliced through monsters on the way back into my quiver, allowed for a nice interplay of positioning to my targets so I could double-up on damage. I really like how 33 Immortals’ combat system is constantly finding ways to encourage you to go on the offensive.
There are three types of currency used in 33 Immortals that you’ll want to get a handle on. First, there’s Dust, which you earn from defeating enemies and can be spent at a Dust Shrine to upgrade characteristics like Attack, Vitality (Health), or Empathy (Co-op). There are also Bones which can be found in Urns and world chests in Inferno, used to buy healing, teleport stones (lets you warp across the world map), or a chest key that can open a locked chest full of useful loot found only in Torture Chambers’ chests. And then there are Shards, found inside the chests of Torture Chambers, used to spend on weapon upgrades and more when you’re in the Dark Woods (I’ll touch on this in a moment).
Upgrading your character and focusing on strengthening your class abilities is what will keep you in the fight through Inferno, along with working with other players, and the variety of currency you can earn here feeds into that. The reliance on other Souls to unlock the more difficult sections of 33 Immortals is a unique approach to cooperative gaming that I didn’t realize I was going to enjoy as much as I did. I primarily enjoy single-player experiences where I’m free to suddenly drop without letting my party down – I’ve become an unreliable online raider with growing adult responsibilities that can pull me away at a moment’s notice.
33 Immortals’ elegant solution here is to have a surplus of souls available on the world map at seemingly any given time – 33 to be precise – ready to jump in and help fill up any open slots. But should any Soul die, they will go back to the Dark Woods and not be replaced in that instance, making it vital to collaborate to give you and your Souls the best shot at taking down Lucifer. That also means you can join an open game at any time – there are more than enough enemies around should I just want a quick “pick-up and raid” session to earn some Shards to spend on cosmetics and Perks in The Dark Woods, your home base on this adventure. Having a constant flow of Souls in and out Inferno also fits nicely within the narrative of 33 Immortals — with this being Hell, there’s no shortage of damned souls looking for a chance of redemption. And loot, apparently.
The above-mentioned Dark Woods is a staging ground outside the realm of Inferno, free of enemies, and where you’ll be able to upgrade your Soul for its next run by speaking to some notable literary characters. It’s here where you can spend some of the Shards you’ve earned from those Torture Chambers or in your fights with Elite Bosses in Inferno.
Speaking with Dante will help you equip and upgrade various Perks like Fortitude of Heart, which increases vitality, or Guiding Light, which lets you inflict Status Effects on monsters. As your Feat level grows you can equip additional Perks (a maximum of six). Beatrice (Dante’s guide in “The Divine Comedy”) can also be found here in the Dark Woods to help with your progression, managing your Feats, like “Kill 35 Monsters” or “Complete 5 Torture Chambers.” Completing a Feat gets you Feat Points (XP) which then contribute to your Feat level. As this grows you can unlock additional features like weapon upgrades and more.
You’ll also find Charon, who manages the in-game shop, where you can equip and manage cosmetics for your Soul. One of those customization options is a pet by your side – I’ve got my eye on a little beagle companion. Finally, Virgil (based on the ancient Roman poet) is also here, managing the Compendium should you need a refresher on how the game works and if really wanted to know the official name of that creepy silkworm with teeth that killed you on your last run (for the record, it’s called a Mangiatore).
Of all of these, I found myself spending most of my interactions with Beatrice, tracking my various Feats and working to increase my Level and eventually unlock even more features. But I liked the vibe The Dark Woods area offers, letting me recover a bit from the hectic Inferno, and interact with these characters to help the story of 33 Immortals unfold.
Just a short time with 33 Immortals revealed a surprising amount of depth for what could first appear to be a simple action-roguelike. And there’s so much more for me to see: What’s the Ascension Battle like? How hard is it to face down Lucifer? How much more difficult will the second world, Purgatorio, be compared with Inferno? How badass can I make my weapons? What’s it like to run around hell with a beagle by your side? These are all exciting questions I’m looking forward to answering once 33 Immortals launches into Game Preview on March 18.
33 Immortals (Game Preview) launches March 18 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, and Cloud.
33 Immortals® is a co-op action-roguelike for 33 players. Play a damned soul, and rebel against God’s final judgment. Pick-up and raid, cooperate to survive hordes of monsters, defeat massive bosses, and face the wrath of God in a fight for your eternal life.
Join the rebellion
Your mortal life has been judged sinful, and your soul’s fate is to be punished for all eternity – but an uprising is brewing among the damned! Press on as a renegade in the immortal rebellion against God’s final judgment, and fight for your eternal life.
Pick-up and raid
Jump start your rebellion – dive straight into epic co-op battles with instant matchmaking. Fight through a lean, mean distillation of the MMO raid experience.
33-player co-op
Find true strength in numbers. Optimize your skills and tactics to bolster your 33-player team, and tip the odds in your favor through powerful cooperative moves. Sustain your numbers as best you can, for only the strongest group of survivors stand a fighting chance in brutal boss battles.
Rise above the Almighty
Face the Wrath of God, and stay bold – for He will end your quest swiftly and often. Expand your epic arsenal with weapons empowered by sins and virtues, loot the spoils of His realms, equip potent new relics to match your playstyle, and gain permanent upgrades to your soul.
Inspired by the Divine Comedy
Experience your soul’s epic journey through the afterlife rendered in beautiful hand-drawn animation. 33 Immortals is a unique take on Dante Alighieri’s literary masterpiece, the Divine Comedy.
This game is a work in progress. It may or may not change over time or release as a final product. Purchase only if you are comfortable with the current state of the unfinished game.
