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The Winters’ Expansion is set to roll out across Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and PS4, and Steam on 28th October 2022, offering a new story scenario and some shake-ups to the original title, including an optional third-person perspective for the base game. Ethan’s face will remain a mystery though, according to game director Kento Kinoshita, who said that “Ethan will look away” if you turn the camera to face him....

Previously, Odyssey’s AI-piloted Apex Interstellar taxi service was the only way to get around the galaxy during the alpha, forcing players into an endless series of lengthy journeys with nothing much to do but stare out the window at the infinite expanse. Now, however, with the arrival of the alpha’s combat-focussed second phase, players can fly themselves around the available systems - touching down on planets for more of Odyssey’s centrepiece on-foot traversal along the way - as their whims take them....

Like previous entries, this is an action game cast firmly in the mould of Devil May Cry (Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya returns here as executive director for Bayonetta 3), with whip-quick third-person combat at its core. Unlike something like Devil May Cry 5, however, which saw Capcom retool and refine that core combat towards something like perfection, Bayonetta 3 builds outwards in a work of maximalist beauty. This is a game that throws in the kitchen sink, the dishwasher and tumble dryer and just about anything it can at you, and the result is intoxicating if never exactly coherent....

Todd Howard, the game’s director, spoke to IGN and offered further details on the game - including the length of its main quest. However, when asked whether players can fly seamlessly to space, Howard said the feature is “really just not that important to the player” to justify the extra engineering work required. “People have asked, ‘Can you fly the ship straight down to the planet?’ No. We decided early in the project that the on-surface is one reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality,” he said....

Air Twister is a fantasy “swipe” shooter - developed by Shenmue 3 studio YS Net - that asks players, in the role of Princess Arch, to battle alien invaders and save their planet from destruction using their trusty homing arrows. As the trailer reveals, there’s a definite Space Harrier vibe to the whole thing - with a touch of Panzer Dragoon thrown in when our lead takes to the skies on the back of a giant swan - and, according to an interview attended by GameSpot, Air Twister is based on a fantasy shooting game Yu Suzuki envisaged in the 80s, before he adapted the idea into Space Harrier due to the technical limitations of the time....

Set for release in early 2022 when it was announced last year, it would have been the first new game in Sega’s strategy series since 2009. It was being developed by Hive, a Japanese subsidiary of Korean developer Vespa (the studio behind mobile role-player King’s Raid) but development has ceased due to development costs and time required, according to Touch Arcade. The game was set for release across North America, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and other Asian countries....

I couldn’t just block her blades with my forearms, and struggled to time her whirling, leisurely strikes. But eventually, I learned to dodge and parry well enough to fit in a few combos of my own - a steadying palm to the solar plexus, then a cathartic shoulder barge and a running ankle-sweep, flooring my willowy adversary and allowing me to land a couple more punches… before helping her gallantly to her feet....

Sifu, out next year on PlayStation and PC, is an incredibly stylish take on kung-fu. Developer Sloclap experimented with hand-to-hand combat with its previous game Absolver, so a kung-fu game seems like a natural progression. The focus is solely on combat with little story given, at least in the short section of the game for this preview. It takes place in a private members club, all shadows and paper lanterns with splashes of purples and pinks....

The project, named Voxverse, will allow players to buy and own land using cryptocurrency, and mine resources which can then be turned into items for sale. Wright discussed the project with Axios alongside collaborator Lauren Elliot, the co-creator of Carmen Sandiego. Together, the pair have a blockchain-focused startup working on the game alongside engine maker Unity and NFT game platform Gala Games. Apart from Wright’s involvement, it’s difficult at this point to discern much difference in the project and other attempts at building a blockchain-based virtual world....

Completing the Pokédex is one of the major goals of any mainline Pokémon game and, in these editions, you’ll have to travel through the Pokémon Hideaways of the Grand Underground, surf the seas, climb mountains, fish and walk through a lot of grass to obtain this achievement. Below you’ll find complete Pokémon lists for both the Sinnoh and National Pokédexs, along with how to unlock the National Pokédex. On this page: By that, we mean you must encounter Sinnoh Pokédex Pokémon either in the wild or in a trainer battle....

In a virtual preview of the upcoming shooter attended by Eurogamer, Sledgehammer Games studio head Aaron Halon addressed the allegations before revealing game details. “The stories and the pain people have shared are simply devastating,” Halon said. “We love making games. That’s what we do. It’s our life’s work, and we love it. But more importantly than that, we’re all humans, we’re here for each other, working side by side, and looking out for one another in good times and bad times....

Responding to questions posed by fans via social media, the team - consisting of CEO and creator Keiichiro Toyama, game director and CTO Junya Okura, plus COO and producer Kazunobu Sato - offered some tantalising teases about the new title, including the hope that it will appeal to “players who don’t usually play horror games”. “The game doesn’t fully enter the horror genre. It spans over multiple genres where horror is expressed....

Last week, the embattled World of Warcraft and Call of Duty maker announced it would no longer require office-based staff to have had Covid jabs, while encouraging a gradual return to in-person working over the coming months. The decision, announced in an email by Activision Blizzard exec Brian Bulatao, was immediately criticised by staff who said it risked employees who may be immunocompromised or who lived with others who are, and was poorly timed as the US faces up to Covid’s current Omicron BA2 subvariant....

Yet the more I think about Quantum Leap - and all five soul-nourishing seasons are, at time of writing, available to stream on Now - the more I reckon it would make for a tremendous gaming chassis. The concept of “leaping” into other people has gradually become a familiar trope, from the creepy sight jacking of Forbidden Siren to the vehicular hopscotch of Driver: San Francisco. Titles as varied as Dishonored, Beyond: Two Souls and Superhot all allow you to borrow a passer-by to achieve your next objective, while Watch Dogs: Legion made recruiting an army of remote-controlled London meatbags its main selling point....

38-year-old Taisuke Sazaki, whose video game credits include work on numerous Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts titles, allegedly bought shares in Japanese development company Aiming shortly before Square Enix publicly announced the studio was working on a new Dragon Quest mobile title. Nippon reports that Sazaki acquired shares worth 20.8m yen (around £125k) between December 2019 and February 2020, after allegedly hearing details of Aiming’s project. A friend of Sazaki, 40-year-old Fumiaki Suzuki, reportedly acquired 26....

In this video, shared by IGN, Starfield lead artist Istvan Pely introduces us all to one of his “favourite campanions in the game”. Here, Pely states VASCO is a “reliable companion that an intrepid explorer like yourself can depend on”. Pely additionally reveales VASCO is an expeditionary robot currently in the service of Constellation (as shown by his somewhat faded white and red paintwork), and an early model built by Lunar Robotics....

Just like PlayStation’s annual Wrap-Up feature, Steam Replay tots up “all of your playtime between the first second of January 1 and the last second of December 14 (GMT)” - albeit only the games you’ve played whilst online; offline play and time spent “running tools” is not included - and presents it as a convenient infographic. As well as a highlight panel that shows how much time you’ve spent on the games that have kept you busiest over the last 12 months (for me, it’s been indie ghosthunting hit Phasmophobia), you also get a summary of your achievements - including the “rare” ones - and your longest streak, as well as data that lets you know how you compare with the rest of Steam’s community....

From now until 6pm UK time on 3rd February, PC players can “save on tens of thousands of titles”, including heavy discounts on games like Dead by Daylight (50 per cent off), Sekiro (50 per cent off), Rainbow Six Siege (60 per cent off), and Red Dead Redemption (50 per cent). It’s not just AAA action blockbusters, either. There are savings to be had on plenty of indie and party games, too, with all of the games on offer neatly divided into categories according to genre, theme, mood, and even features to help you whittle down your most wanted list....

We also learnt that Stray will be available at launch via the new, pricier PlayStation Plus tiers: Extra and Premium. In Stray, you play as a cat abandoned in a futuristic Hong Kong-esque city populated by robots. Here’s the new trailer: Developed by former Ubisoft developers at indie studio BlueTwelve, Stray has now been in the works for six years. It’s being published by reliable indie hitmakers Annapurna Interactive.

“I’ve been waiting to speak and to stream until after I see how the RFLCT website has been updated,” she said. “I also wanted to say that all of the hate and the doubt and concerns and the criticism are all warranted and valid. I understand completely where you’re all coming from. “I also was very upset and confused when I saw the website and there were no links to the studies or credits to the labs or the people that worked behind the scenes to make RFLCT happen....