A Purrfect, Stylish Gorifest

If Devil May Cry and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater ever adopted a pet together, it would be Gori: Cuddly Carnage. In this flashy hack ‘n’ slash/skateboard hybrid produced by Angry Demon Studio, you get to play as the fluffy cat Gori, a pet wanted throughout the whole galaxy fighting his way against the evil corporation Cool Toyz alongside his two loyal companions, the cutting-edge hoverboard F.R.A.N.K and the AI cartridge CHIP, who follow our brave cat hero on his journey in search their owner: the Professor who created all of them.

Once the terrifying Adorable Army rebels against humanity and eliminates (almost) all humans in the process, the previously rejected synthetic pet Gori becomes their new target due to his loyalty to them. And despite sending their best and strongest unicorn soldiers to the task, they weren’t expecting to face such an agile, deadly and cute creature on their very first day.

Once Gori shows his claws (and his equally deadly hoverboard which just so happens to be equipped with sharp-edged rotating blades), they’ll know why he bears such a name, as the last thing they’ll see will be their own body pieces flying across the room.

Gori pulls from various inspirations at once and it gives them enough room to show themselves. While it’s your traditional hack ‘n’ slash, gameplay is done entirely by riding your hoverboard, accompanied by a charming platform-like level design that really shows some heart. The comic book style it sports brings the extra charm, making it incredibly visually appealing to whoever looks at it. If Sonic Riders wasn’t a racing game, it would probably play similarly to this. Just with a bit less dismembering and blood.

Gori only attacks his foes personally during his finishers, while F.R.A.N.K and his blades will do the job most of the time. And thanks to this, you’re always hitting the sickest airborne skateboard moves whenever you’re styling on your enemies, which range from cutesy unicorns to not-so-cutesy toys always ready to be ripped apart in the bloodiest way possible. The game’s not named “Cuddly Carnage” for nothing.

The game leans a lot of the “cute game goes bloody” genre as one of its main selling points, alongside its NSFW dialogue that feels like it came straight out of a South Park episode. If you’re not a fan of those, you might be icked out immediately. But there’s more to see than just this, such as the appealing futuristic visuals (because everything has to be a bit Cyberpunk these days), surprisingly great customization and a very easy-to-access Photo Mode to record your best moments while tearing your enemies apart. Oh, we also got a cute cat!

From Cat Owner to Cat Owner

Much like Stray, this is another title for cat lovers. You have a key entirely dedicated to meow. And you can just spam it. It’s almost impossible to stop! There’s also a lot of customization for Gori, and it wasn’t hard to turn him into one of my real-life cats. And nothing can convince me that making a violent but cute cat hack ‘n’ slash wasn’t a cat lover’s idea. If you never got a really bad scratch after innocently giving your hand to your cat to play with, can you even call yourself a cat owner? Cats were born for this type of game, and the developers here get it.

Gori is the only character who goes completely mute throughout the game (aside from meows, of course), and his companions will do most of the yapping, especially F.R.A.N.K. He’s the soul of the party with his constantly spicy remarks and his foul-mounted dialogue. Ironically, he’s the only one to be censored whenever he drops an F-bomb or anything similar. You can pay an almost insignificant amount of money to remove his profanity filter, but it’s honestly much funnier to keep it on.

CHIP, on the other hand, is a depressive, always gloomy AI that does prove his usefulness at all times despite his mood. These two rarely failed to give me at least a quick smirk whenever they started discussing the current mission. Vibes are high at all times, and you meet numerous troupes, parodies and references you discover as you explore the galaxy and its ridiculousness. We got annoying cute mascots, written onomatopoeias and even an It-like jack-in-the-box toy as one of the bosses. Can’t wait for a Freddy Fazbear look-a-like.

As previously mentioned, levels are ingeniously designed around the hoverboard, and they are one of the strongest points of the game. You’re always surfing at high speed through the levels and it doesn’t get repetitive, despite doing the same loops over and over. Exploring these futuristic planets while doing air flips with a talking hoverboard just hits differently. Especially when you’re a cat. A very cool cat with its own theme song. And cool cats don’t look at explosions.

Combat can be a bit weird to get at first, but becomes a lot more engaging once you get the hang of it. New upgrades such as the grenade launcher help immensely with that. However, some enemies can spoil the fun out of you with their obnoxious attacks and higher-than-expected resistances before they’re staggered. Juggling enemies on the air is still amazingly fun regardless, true to the game’s inspirations. They go even harder with features like the Witch Time-like buff you get by perfectly dodging an attack or the combo ranking score going from D to P (Paw-some!).

Out of the bosses I’ve faced on the first three levels, they were either a hit or miss. They all creatively use the environment during the battle but get really annoying if you’re not able to 1-cycle them. One of them, in particular, involved completing a small jumping puzzle before you could trap it in electricity to expose it to your attacks. Missing a jump and having to redo a whole platforming section was mildly infuriating, especially when the boss didn’t bring anything interesting to the table either.

Let Him Sharpen His Claws For a While

There were other letdowns, such as occasional performance issues despite being way above the recommended setting and the never-ending feeling that certain levels were just dragging on for too long. All of them range from 30 to 40 minutes on average, but some of them could do with a few less without compromising anything important. There was only a single collectible type too, and maybe there was space for some more.

But I know that some of these issues can (and probably will) be fixed by the actual release, as I was only playing a preview build after all. And it’s not like the game is completely ruined by it, as I still had a hell of a time slashing my way through fluffy creatures that curse like a sailor and become more twisted as I go forward. You’ll get a lot of giggles from time to time, but it feels just like the perfect palate cleanser if you’re tired from a long day or another more exhausting game.

Despite my gripes on the mentioned points, I still enjoyed meeting Gori and it’s something to keep an eye on during this year. The full game will be available for all modern platforms (including PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) on August 29th, 2024, so give it a shot if you enjoy living the fantasy of a cat single-handedly bringing down an entire corporation in the nastiest way possible. Would love to see it happening in real life.

Gori: Cuddly Carnage will be available on August 29th, 2024 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

The Best New Features Coming in Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail

With some of the most important changes already widespread to the public, many new features and changes will make our lives better in the game, even though they didn’t get that much attention during the Live Letters. Here are some of the most important ones, mostly announced in the Patch Notes for 7.0.

Auto-Advance Changes and Volume Adjustment For Cutscenes

As the game is very story-heavy, players often use the Auto-Advance option to enjoy the cutscenes without touching their controller/keyboard. However, it doesn’t won’t work as well for non-voiced cutscenes, as it often skips the dialogue faster than you could read it. Dawntrail addresses this issue by letting players ” adjust text auto-advance settings to apply only to voiced dialogue”. No more need to search for that exact bit later on YouTube!

While still on the topic of cutscenes, we can now adjust their volume while they’re happening instead of having to wait until it’s done. Some scenes have the loudest sound effects imaginable, only to go to such a soft mood that it becomes hard to listen. Players can use any of the following commands to adjust their respective volumes:

• /mastervolume
• /bgm
• /voice
• /systemsounds
• /ambientsounds
• /soundeffects
• /soundeffectsself
• /soundeffectsparty
• /soundeffectsother
• /performsounds
• /systemsoundsspeaker

Character Customization Changes

In addition to a new playable race (female Hrothgars), the character creator has been greatly expanded. We got all the lighting changes previously implemented in the Benchmark, but battle voices can also be sampled instead of just emote voices. These changes also apply to aesthetician visits (where you can also enable/disable your current headgear and facewear) and Fantasia uses, of course.

Speaking of which, players can now alter any aspect of their character up to 60 minutes after changing it through a vial of Fantasia. This will be particularly useful, as we’re all getting a free Fantasia through a new quest starting from Dawntrail.

Dozens of New Configuration Options

The System Configuration settings added several new options, with the most important being the Graphics Upscaling options (only available for Windows players). This can greatly enhance your visual experience with the game’s newly updated graphics. Many of these changes can also accommodate weaker PCs if they struggle with running the game, even if they passed the Benchmark tests.

Related: How to Download and Use FFXIV Dawntrail Benchmark

Another important change is to the “enable enemy’s remaining HP percentage” option. Previously, only the final percentage would display decimal values (0.9% to 0.1%), but now they’re always shown whenever you enable this option (letting you see 99.9%, for example). You can’t see the exact amount of HP remaining just yet, though.

Improved Wondrous Tails Experience

The Wondrous Tails is one of the best leveling methods in the game, but some of its duties were just too hard to get consistent queue times. To remedy that, certain target duties were now condensed into categories, and completing any of the duties in that category will give you a Seal for the book. Namely, all Eden Raids were condensed into their respective tiers, and all Alliance Raids are now divided by expansion. Doing any of the Crystal Raid series is now valid if you have “Alliance Raids (A Realm Reborn)” as your objective, for example.

FATEs Grant You Extra Bicolor Gemstones

The Forlorn Maiden is a special enemy that occasionally spawns in open-world FATEs starting from Stormblood areas. Killing it makes that particular FATE grant you extra experience, but it will now also give you more Bicolor Gemstones. The currency’s limit has also been increased to 1,500, but this will only apply to Shadowbringers zones and forward, as they cannot be obtained in previous expansions.

Tinctures Are Easier to Use

If you’re into high-end content, you’re probably aware of how awkward using Tinctures (popularly known as pots) can be due to their animation lock. Raiders rejoice! This is now something left in the past as the Patch Notes mentions how “the time until actions may be used after consuming certain medicinal items has been reduced”. The game’s most used medicinal consumables, often mandatory for clearing new content, are definitely the biggest winners of this.

This may allow players to do previously impossible rotations now, such as using a Tincture alongside an ability without clipping their other skills. This affects mostly end-game enjoyers, but it’s a huge change for comfort overall, making rotations feel much smoother than before. If restorative items (regular Potions, Ethers, etc) were also affected (which is very likely), this change also greatly improves content such as Deep Dungeons, making it even better than expected.

These were some of the most impactful changes applied to the game with the expansion that wasn’t as promoted as other big ones, such as the new Block/Mute features also added in the 7.0 Patch. And those were only the tip of the iceberg, as we’re certain to get lots of even better improvements as the expansion goes on.

Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail will be available on July 2nd, with Early Access starting on June 28th.

How to Get Prepared for FFXIV Dawntrail Expansion

The Dawntrail expansion arrives officially on July 2nd, with Early Access starting on June 28th. Pre-ordering the expansion allows you to enter during Early Access, while also giving you the Wind-up Zidane minion and the Azeyma’s Earrings, which increase all Experience obtained from defeating monsters up to Level 90.

Maintenance goes from June 26, 2:00 a.m. PDT to June 28, 2:00 a.m. PDT, so make sure you complete this list before the servers are closed!

Complete the MSQ (And a Few Side Quests)

Being caught up with all the current quests is mandatory if you’re willing to experience the new storyline as soon as possible. If you see the “To be continued…” message on your MSQ indicator, you’re good to go. But if you’ve been postponing those last few quests, it’s time to go and finish them once and for all.

And while they’re not mandatory, some Side Quests could greatly enhance your experience in the next expansion if you’re a lore fan or are still trying to learn more about the world. Game director Naoki Yoshida mentioned a few notable questlines during an interview back in 2023, and here’s where you can start them.

• Gods of Eld – The Pillars (X:11.7, Y:11.5), with Torsefers

The Warring Triad questline introduces the namesake group from the Heavensward Trial series, composed of Sephirot, Sophia and Zurvan. They’re directly inspired by Final Fantasy VI, which is also a huge inspiration for Dawntrail, so maybe we can learn a bit more about their origins during the newest MSQ.

• In the Middle of Nowhere – The Crystarium (X:9.7, Y:12.3), with Anxious Crystarium Guard

The Eden questline is a Normal Raid series that puts Ryne in the spotlight following the Shadowbringers MSQ, while also introducing Gaia. The Futures Rewritten Ultimate Raid (releasing on Patch 7.1) will be based on this series, so players can get to know more about the characters involved and, of course, what kind of encounter awaits them.

Gear Up Your Main Jobs

It goes without saying, but you should have the best equipment available for your favorite Jobs as soon as Dawntrail hits. Judging by the patterns from previous expansions, the currently maximum iLvl (665) will carry you up until the end of the third new dungeon. From this point onward, you’ll need to get new equipment from other sources. But don’t worry, though, as the MSQ always gives you some pieces of equipment to keep up with the challenge.

Related: FFXIV Yokai Watch 2024 Event Guide

You can get the strongest equipment available through Savage Raids drops or by purchasing them with Allagan Tomestones of Comedy. The best-in-slot is always a mix of those two, alongside the complete Manderville Weapon. If you’re not a raider already, the full Tomestone set is enough, so don’t worry about trying to learn those difficult fights at the end of the expansion.

Get Ready for Viper/Pictomancer

Viper and Pictomancer are arriving in Dawntrail, and it’s completely possible to do the new MSQ with them if you’re dedicated enough to level them to 90. They both start at Level 80, and you can do a few things to make your road a bit easier.

• Buy the correspondent Lvl. 80 Tomestone equipment beforehand at The Crystarium with the Mowen’s Merchant (X:10.1, Y:11.8). Viper uses the same gear as Ninja, and Pictomancer uses the same as any other Caster (Red Mage, Summoner or Black Mage).
• Complete as many Lvl. 80 yellow quests as you can to use them on VPR/PIC. Up to 30 quests can be saved on your Quest Log, but leave one space empty for the Job’s starting quest.
• Log out at the starting city for the Job’s quest. This is Gridania for Pictomancer and Ul’dah for Viper.

Spamming Dungeons is great for hitting 90 quickly, but you need some gear and to be at least 81 to enter the first Endwalker dungeon. Queues can also be a problem, so you can do some FATEs around the map while you’re waiting.

Alternatively, you can head to the third Zadnor zone (unlocked through the Save the Queen questline from Shadowbringers), where you can level up by doing Critical Engagements with others. This can be slower by the time you’re around 87, but you completely avoid the queuing problem.

The Wondrous Tails Trick

Wondrous Tails is a weekly book you get from Khloe in Idyllshire (X: 5.7, Y: 6.0). You get seals by completing the duties indicated in it, and delivering the book with 9 seals gives you exactly 50% of the experience needed for your next level.

Making lines with your seals gives you extra rewards, and you can use the Second Chance points (obtained as first-time bonuses when clearing duties) to shuffle these lines or to be able to do completed duties again.

You can get one book per week, but each book lasts for two weeks. Thanks to that, it’s possible to complete two books during the same week. If you grab a Wondrous Tails from June 18th to June 24th and complete it before the maintenance on the 26th but don’t deliver it, you can use it later when Dawntrail arrives to get half of your Level 91 (or Level 81, if leveling Viper or Pictomancer) experience done.

After this, immediately grab another Wondrous Tails (as you haven’t got the current week’s book yet) and clear lower-level duties (such Level 50 ~ 60 Trials and Raids) alone with the Unsynced Party option ASAP, then use your Second Chance points to reset them and clear them again until you get 9 seals. Deliver the second book to get a whole level done in less than 15 minutes.

In a similar vein, you can abuse the server’s reset timers if you manage to log in early. Daily Roulettes and Tribal Quests reset at 8 a.m. PDT, but servers will be open by 2 a.m. PDT. If you’re able to log in before that, you can squeeze Daily Roulette: Leveling for its bonus EXP before the reset, then do it again later that day. Tribal Quests work in the same way, with the Arkasodara (Level 80 Tribal Quest from Endwalker) being the best experience-wise.

Related: FFXIV Reveals All Upcoming Dawntrail Job Actions

Clean Up Your Inventory/Glamour Dresser

This is a tip for life, but especially huge for the pre-expansion period. As hundreds of new crafting items and gear pieces will be added with the expansion, this is the time to get rid of those you know you won’t be using anymore. We only have so much space for Glamour gear, so it’s important to know when to let go of older pieces.

If you’re a crafter, you know exactly how crazy inventory management gets while leveling up, so your best bet is to start right now so you don’t have to worry about it later.

Avoid Server Congestion

Login queues are the bane of every big release, and FFXIV is unfortunately not an exception. Queues were particularly bad during the Endwalker release, so Square Enix has added certain safety measures to avoid those 3-hour-long queues on release. The main addition was the creation of new Data Centers, giving players more alternatives to where they want to log in. NA has Dynamis, while EU has Shadow.

You can travel to either of these before the maintenance. This will likely give you faster queues on the expansion’s release, and you can eventually make your way back to your regular Data Center after the congestion is reduced a few days later. Some hours will be easier to log in than others (usually mornings), so try to enter the servers around these times if you can.

Make Some Space on Your Hardware

Whether you’re playing on a PC or console, the Dawntrail expansion will bring a significant increase in total file size due to the graphical update. Not to mention the new areas, models and all of the other usual stuff of a new patch. The Steam page recommends at least 140 GB for the update, so if you’re running low on free space, it’s time to get rid of unused software and games.

Preload times weren’t revealed just yet, but it’ll most likely be available way before the servers are officially open, so you’ll have plenty of time for that. Have fun in Dawntrail!

Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail will be available officially on July 2nd. Early Access begins on June 28th.

Scheduled for release later this year, this new title brings that ’90s energy back in full force with arcade titles such as Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, and more. The games are all ported into the Nintendo Switch and other modern platforms, allowing even some online action.

If you feel like you’re not good enough, don’t worry. Better training modes are now implemented so you can at least bring some challenge to your opponents. All games also feature a Museum feature, which lets players listen to their timeless soundtracks and enjoy the many titles’ concept art. Not only fighting games are included, but we also have things such as The Punisher beat’em up game in here.

Fighting Collection is a very similar game to Marvel vs. Capcom Origins, which also brought some of these older Arcade titles to modern audiences. However, while Origins only gave us two titles, this new compilation brings a total of seven different titles to Nintendo’s handheld console, making it the perfect compilation for everything Arcade and Marvel to this date.

The Marvel vs. Capcom series hasn’t received a new title in a good while, with the most recent installment being Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, which received mixed receptions due to various changes in gameplay and a somewhat bland story mode. No announcements for the series have been made since then, so getting this new ride is definitely an unexpected surprise.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics will be available for Nintendo Switch, Playstation and PC on 2024.

The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is confirmed to be the only stage where players will be able to fight in the local multiplayer mode. This info came from the latest Game Mode showcase, where producer Jun Furutani went over the latest trailer presented during the Summer Game Fest 2024. The trailer highlights some of the game modes included in the game, such as a new story mode, what-if scenarios for the main story, and creating your own custom fight scenarios, complete with cutscenes.

As Furutani explained these new modes, all eyes suddenly focused on the long-requested local multiplayer mode. Its existence was denied during the game’s first announcements, much to Tenkaichi fans’ dismay. However, it was added later due to popular demand, but not without the restrictions mentioned above. Local 1v1s were only implied to be Time Chamber-locked at first, but it’s now officially confirmed.

According to Furutani, one of their goals with the game was to demonstrate the current generation’s true power by adding effects like wind blasting with each attack and the weather changing whenever you charge up your Ki. Translating these elements into a split-screen game would be difficult, so they weren’t originally going to be included.

After some long consideration, they eventually decided to implement the feature. But to avoid further problems, they opted to lock the mode to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which has little to no environment to be messed with. Therefore, there shouldn’t be any problems with destructible scenarios, weather effects, or any other effects conflicting between the screens.

This is still a huge bummer, though. While technical limitations are understandable, I’m sure most fans wouldn’t mind having toned-down effects if it meant getting more stage options. They could at least have given us the World Tournament stage! We still have time until the game comes out, but it’s unlikely that more stages will be available on release.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero will be available on October 11, 2024, for Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

In this innocent browser game created by Woe Industries, you play by writing in a Word document, like usual. You can even export whatever you’ve just written to a regular .txt document. However, something funny happens whenever you make the smallest of typos.

Yeah, you’re dead. Cool. You can just return to the document later, right? Nah, it’s lost forever. Truly the Dark Souls of typing games. You shouldn’t have skipped all those grammar classes. That game over screen is all on you. FromSoft Word differs from other games in the genre (if we can even classify “typing games” as a genre) such as TypeRacer, which only notifies you when you make a typo.

At least in FromSoft Word, you’re free to go back and correct any mistakes if you notice them in time. As long as you don’t press space, you’ll stay alive. There’s no time limit either, so you can take as long as you want to keep writing your perfect document. Each correct word equals a point, so do your best to break your own records. And what do you get for scoring well? Surviving and bragging rights, of course!

The sheer impact that Souls games had in the industry is undeniable, and it looks like no games is free from being Soulidified at one point or another. No one would have believe me if I told them that we would have a crab Soulslike game a few years ago, and now we have a Word Soulslike. It seems like the whole world has fallen in love with these difficult games, and the huge anticipation for Shadow of the Erdtree is our biggest proof of that.

FromSoft Word is available now.

Two Paths, Numerous Destinies

As the original Shin Megami Tensei V was a Nintendo Switch exclusive, it’s about time Atlus (which has adopted a multi-platform strategy over the last few years) brought it to a broader audience. Taking inspiration from its traditional re-releases with enhanced features (with Persona 5 Royal as the latest example), Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the newest way to experience the fifth main entry in the turn-based RPG series.

We have numerous additions to the base gameplay, like new shortcuts added to the maps, being able to save at any time, a better auto-battle mode, the addition of Magatsuhi enemies (red glowing enemies that give better loot/EXP), new areas, new Demons, and much more. All of that with a stable performance.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Vengeance once again puts you in the shoes of an ordinary High School student who finds himself lost in a twisted Tokyo after surviving an accident. Before Demons can claim your life, a tall figure known as Aogami offers his hand to you, stating that this is your only chance to survive. By taking his hand, you become a half-human, half-demon being known as the Nahobino, who now fights its way through this changed world to figure out the truth behind these strange incidents.

But before meeting Aogami, you have now the choice of taking someone else’s hand too. Taking a girl’s hand when starting the game will put you into the Canon of Vengeance, a new route featuring different characters and a new plot. The original version’ story is included as the Canon of Creation, available if you refuse to take her hand.

Both Canons start out similarly but have massive differences halfway through. They also have multiple endings, so the replay value is huge here, true to the series’ tradition. Some content can only be witnessed through multiple runs. All new gameplay additions and enhancements are present in both Canons, but I’ll be focusing on Vengeance as it brings a new, original plot to this chaotic story.

The open world is a mixed bag, to say the least. The destroyed setting evokes feelings of loneliness and dread that follow you through all of the game’s areas, even though you’re always accompanied by someone else. This resonates perfectly with the difficult battles in the game, which, more often than not, leave you with little hope of living another day if you’re not well-prepared. You always find yourself between the sword and the wall here.

This mood is perfect for the story SMT V is telling, even if it might be off-putting for some. The narrative is much more polished in the new Canon, but the gameplay is still the brightest gem in the collection. However, its glow may be more than enough to push you through the slower parts of the story, as the payoff is more than satisfying.

As for the art direction, you probably know what to expect from Atlus by now if you’re into the genre. Vengeance dispenses the flashy menus and colorful palettes for a more traditional, straight-to-the-point UI here, as it better fits the series. However, other aspects such as OST and character design, are still some of the best available in the industry. The human cast has a simpler approach to designs (which is not bad), but supernatural creatures are quite diverse and always manage to hit the right spots. The Nahobino design speaks for itself, and that’s only one of the many examples.

The eerie soundtrack evokes the “word forsaken by God” feeling whenever you’re running through the wastelands, only to hit you with one of its many BPMs (Bangers Per Minute) whenever you’re thrown into combat.

Bringing Some Soul To The Party

The most important change in the Canon of Vengeance is the presence of Yoko Hiromine, the girl who offered her hand at the start. She’s your typical mysterious character who barely shows any emotion, but her interactions with other characters and meaningful presence in battle make her feel crucial to the game at all times.

Yoko’s presence draws out the Qadištu, a group of female demons called the Goddesses of Vengeance that threaten the world’s order. And the Goddesses of Vengeance always deliver whenever their menacing presence appears on the screen. Through terror, deception or temptation, they are some of the most devilish entities in the game. Especially compared to the game’s Demons, who act much more like ill-intentioned humans than actual hellish creatures depicted in myths and legends.

The first few hours of SMT V: Vengeance are slow, but the story gradually picks up as you start learning about the world and the goddesses make their moves against humanity. But fending them off isn’t enough, as there’s something more threatening the world, and it’s up to you (and your party) to uncover all of the hidden conspiracies for the sake of Law, Chaos or Neutrality. Whichever fits you best.

One of the main criticisms of the original game was how the human cast felt half-baked throughout the story. This is fixed in Vengeance by giving them a bigger role as actual JRPG party members. Not only do they help you in battle, but they’re more prominent in earlier sub-plots, too. You may actually care whenever something bad happens to them. And trust me, it will happen. It’s SMT, after all.

Human allies have fixed movesets that get gradually better as you advance through the plot and have access to items from the get-go. This makes a huge difference for the tough early game, but not to the point of completely trivializing it. The challenge is still there, but you have some better options to tackle it now.

Yoko is the first one to join the team, but others follow her soon after. Tao, Ichiro and Yuzuru will all join you at some point, even if they eventually leave due to story reasons. However, these brief moments are enough to give them some meaningful interactions during your regular exploration. It’s nice to see Tao and Yoko being polar opposites yet getting along, or witnessing Ichiro’s search for power and usefulness being built up over time.

This all culminates into a delightful (but slow) tale with interesting twists. Knowing the Canon of Creation’s plot will help you figure out some details earlier, but most of the stuff will still take you by surprise, making it appealing for both new fans and veterans. Around 60% of the Vengeance route can be considered entirely new content. Some plot points are reused, but they are often repurposed or presented through new lenses.

Suffering Builds Character (And Overpowered Demons)

Demons are your trusty comrades in arms. You can recruit them to your team and fuse them to create more powerful versions. They’re much more flexible than human party members (although they can’t use items at the start), and you’re constantly shifting between them to accommodate the punishing battles in the game. Just like the Nahobino, you can fully customize their kits, although they’re always specialized in certain areas.

You recruit Demons to your party through negotiation, convincing them to join you by giving them whatever they ask. That could be money, items, or even health. You’ll never be bored with Demons in your party, as some of the comments are straight-up shitposts. You may even get special dialogue if you have certain Demons in your party.

One of my favorite new aspects is the introduction of team abilities. By having specific Demons in your party, you get access to extremely powerful skills with unique animations and very interesting effects. Perfect for specific boss battles where those Demons can really shine. Need to hit some Ice-weak enemies? Hee-re comes the Jack family, ho!

The cycle of recruiting, fusing and adapting to enemies is the core of the game, which can extend for 70+ hours depending on your playstyle. But it’ll probably be a lot more, as your save file cannot record the time you lost before you had to restart.

If this is your first time playing an SMT title, get ready for suffering. The series is notorious for its higher-than-average difficulty, which remains intact here. Combat is quite similar to Persona, but there are some key differences. A few consecutive hits can easily kill the Nahobino, and if the protagonist falls, it’s game over. A difficult early game is common for RPGs, but regular enemies never stop being a real threat to you.

30 hours in and I found a glowing red Demon right after fully healing my whole team. But as soon as I engaged it, my excitement turned into regret. I audibly gasped as I saw the enemy taking its turn first. I knew exactly what was about to happen. One move and my fears were confirmed. My whole team took over 500 damage each when my highest HP was 360. Classic SMT moment.

You’re encouraged to abuse the Press Turn system, or you’re toast. Items are essential in higher difficulties, and some fights are borderline impossible without them (unless you are over leveled, of course). One error can be fatal, but that’s when creativity can be brought to light.

Developing clever strategies to overcome progress walls just hits you differently. I brought a few under-leveled Demons to use their team ability in a boss fight once, and I just couldn’t believe my eyes when it actually worked. I had a lot of luck, of course, but winning with weird strategies always gives me the biggest smile.

I see it as a “you’re overpowered, but so are your enemies” situation, which makes fights feel “fair” in a certain way. For those who say that games are just too easy nowadays, this is a nice change of pace. I was constantly engaged in the fights and just couldn’t get enough of them as I repeatedly died to my own mistakes. In fact, it only made me celebrate my victories more.

Hell Is Just Around the Corner

With all praises done, it’s important to know what kind of troubles you’ll be getting into. And as no title is perfect, there are still a few glaring issues lurking around. The introductory act is one of them. You get into action very quickly (less than 20 minutes into the game), but nothing meaningful happens until the end of the first Da’at area. Until then, you’re on your own, trying to figure out the systems and experimenting with combat.

This makes the early game a slog to go through, as progression still feels slow. Exploration is greatly improved, but some of the needlessly huge areas are just a drag. Many of them feel very similar and it’s hard to pinpoint where you are exactly. It makes sense given the setting, but it wouldn’t hurt to see some different scenarios earlier in the game other than destroyed cities. More variety is added later, but it might be too late to keep you engaged.

Parallelly, it still feels like certain things just happen too quickly without much explanation, especially during the early game. The writing is improved, that’s for certain, but some moments feel incomplete at times. The result is an uncanny feeling that nothing’s happening in the story during certain parts, as if you’re just dragging along to see what happens. And to listen to those awesome boss soundtracks along the way, of course. But it does get better.

Despite its flaws, I can’t recommend this title enough to longtime series fans or potential new players who want to give it a try. The 3D models are always on point and an open-world exploration can be more appealing than fighting for hours inside the same dungeon. The positives greatly outshine the negatives 100% of the time.

Verdict: Recommended

The original SMT V was considered a good game that could be great, and Vengeance lives up to that potential with enhanced combat, a cohesive plotline, and hours of new content. Chatting with slimes and paying them money to die for you has never been so fun.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance will be available on June 14, 2024, for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC. A code was provided by the publisher for review.

With a release date of June 27, the first update will bring the Japanese-inspired island of Sakurajima. And many Pals with the same inspiration can be seen throughout the trailer. We got some Yokai-like creatures, a mimic Pal and some heavy-armored dudes that I’m definitely adding to my team when they’re finally here. New subspecies for already-existing Pals can also be seen at some points.

And things are far from over as Xbox players can finally have their own dedicated server, something they’ve been asking for since the game’s release. Pocketpair is making sure they’re listening to all of the feedback from the last few months, and it feels great. However, no other requested features such as a Playstation port or Crossplay have been mentioned. Looks like we’ll have to wait a bit more on that.

Related: Palworld Is Finally Getting a Frog Pal – And That’s Not All

And if you’re already at the endgame, don’t worry; there’s still much to do here. For starters, we’re having an even bigger level cap now, so get ready to grind. A New raid is being added to the game, being the first one introduced since Bellanoir was added back in April. A new Stronghold and another Boss challenge are also here, so players will have their hands full, even if they don’t start a new server from scratch.

And finally, the long-teased Arena mode was also shown here. Looks like it’s time for some PvP – Pal versus Pal – action! There might still be a lot that we haven’t seen in this update just yet, but it might be just enough to make a few players return to their Pals, even if only for a while.

Palworld is available in Early Access for PC and Xbox.

By going through the socials of said creators, players can find videos and other info on how the new changes will affect the combat during this new expansion. We had a sneak peek of the changes during May with the previous Job Actions trailer, showing off some of the new skills we’ll have in this expansion.

If you’re interested in seeing more detailed info, you can head to popular FFXIV YouTubers such as Mr. Happy, WeskAlber and others. But if you only want to see the new tooltips, you can check this Google Drive containing all changes, courtesy of Skyakagreyfox. Most Jobs still play very similar to how they currently do in Endwalker, but others have some impactful changes.

Related: All Job Changes Announced in the Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Live Letter Part LXXXI

Notably, the existing Jobs Astrologian and Dragoon were reworked for the new expansion, bringing some new mechanics inspired by their previous kit iterations. RNG is now gone from the Astrologian’s kit, and Dragoon’s basic rotation has been simplified. And, of course, we got two new entries to the roster with Viper and Pictomancer.

Much akin to Samurai, Viper has a selfish DPS identity with a kit full of self-buffs and powerful GCDs, but no Raid-wide buffs. It does make up for that with a superior damage capacity and intensive skill rotation. Pictomancer does have one of these, though, and it uses different colors to create powerful spells based on the game’s usual elemental magics, as well as some original creations.

Overall, it seems like the combat we’ve been enjoying during Endwalker will be mostly expanded during Dawntrail. Be aware that all of these changes are not final just yet, and the actual game might be slightly different. But expect to see minor changes, if there are any.

Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail releases on July 2nd. Early Access begins on June 28th and it’s available through pre-order.

Being the first new Dendro character in a while, the arrival of Emilie was met with praise, but some people were very disappointed in the final result. Reactions are quite mixed throughout all platforms on which she was announced, but one thing is consistent across them all: a vocal portion of the community claiming their disdain for her design.

This is due to, as many comments made clear, info on her being leaked ahead of the announcement, including details on her possible design. Due to how widespread leaks are in Hoyoverse’s fandom in general, players already had made some fan designs based on initial descriptions of her.

Related: All Sethos Ascension Materials in Genshin Impact

Leaks are strictly forbidden by Hoyoverse, but lots of people still look out for them regardless, as everyone’s always eager to see the new characters ahead of time. Fans were excited about her possible looks, but one’s expectations rarely meet reality. When her actual design dropped, some people were shocked to see how inaccurate it was compared to what they had imagined.

Some of the most liked comments on her Instagram post mention how she “looks like someone’s OC” instead of an official character, but you can also see many people praising how good she looks. Another common complaint is people mentioning how out-of-place she looks for a Fontaine character, as she seems like she could’ve belonged to Sumeru. From what we can see from the comments, people were mostly looking forward to a lavender-colored design.

Hoyoverse isn’t known for altering designs after the official release (save for very minor changes), so it’s safe to assume that this should be her final look when she becomes playable roughly two months and a half from now. More info on her gameplay, weapon of choice and synergies should arrive on the 4.8 Special Program livestream, which might take a while to happen.

The announcement was first made public through the Chinese Bilibili forums, but was later posted on their global social media accounts too, as well as on their official website. They promised to improve the story-skipping function, a feature that has been very well received by the community so far. Certain currently unskippable parts will be skippable in a future update, and that’s just the beginning.

They’re also promising to improve the overall combat experience, as well as improving the controller compatibility, which isn’t the best, to say the least. And given how the game needs to play well on Playstation in the future, this is a must. Other general improvements have also been announced, but not before the main big prize from this news.

All players will be receiving a free 5-star character selector voucher. Yup, you heard that right. And the game has only been out for two days! The voucher will be coming via in-game email on May 26th, allowing you to pick any Standard 5-star you want (Jianxin, Calcharo, Verina, Lingyang or Encore), similar to the Targeted Convene banner.

However, you get them immediately without restrictions. The game already makes it easier for you to pick two other 5-stars early, so you can pick your three favorites for your team without much trouble.

New players will also be receiving this free voucher if they create their accounts from here on out until 2025/05/22 (a whole year from now), so basically everyone can get it. Oh, and they’re also giving out 10 more Radiant Tides later today. And those are different from the extra 10 they announced earlier.

Despite the performance issues and some other technical problems (which are already being looked upon), there’s no better time to give Wuthering Waves a chance. Generosity goes a long way for gacha games, and it looks like this one’s going hard on pleasing their player base.

The announcement was made in the latest Developers Discussion article on the Hoyolab forums, where they give players a sneak peek of what’s to come in the next few versions. Similar to the last time Resin was increased, players get a total of 40 extra Resin, increasing the cap from 160 to 200. Notably, this allows players to get five Condensed Resin to use later, if they want to.

With this new change, players can go up to 22 hours without opening the game without fully capping out on the resource. You’ll lose less resin if you’re unable to log in more than once a day, as is the case for many players.

But bear in mind that the resin recharge rate hasn’t received any changes, so while you can store more Resin than before, the total maximum you can get in a day is the exact same as before. You can’t store overcapped resin (like in Honkai: Star Rail) either, so your maximum progression per day stays the same.

This doesn’t mean the changes are bad or anything, as they’re a huge quality-of-life update for the game. But if you’re always spending Resin on time, don’t expect to see a big change in your daily gameplay. The rest of the article mentions other QoL changes, including a bigger limit for your Friends List and more ways to build your characters quickly. More should be made public in the proper 4.7 update Livestream.

Hoyoverse is, at the very least, aware of most complaints, and is carefully looking at some ways to address them. I don’t personally believe we’ll be getting a faster Resin recharge rate so soon, but knowing they’re willing to implement a few changes to the system is a bit reassuring.