I’m not a big fan of inventory management as a general rule of thumb. It tends to be a needless hassle in most games because it doesn’t have a point beyond restricting you. However, when inventory management is the point of the game, instead of an inconvenience, it becomes a fair amount of fun. The first experience of this I had was with Backpack Hero, and I initially assumed Backpack Battles would be something very similar, but it turns out I was wrong – so let’s unpack it.
Backpack Battles is a PvP game, for starters, and also an auto-battler. Rather than worrying about what attacks you’re using though, you just have to collect items. You aim to stack up as many wins as possible, and as you do so you’ll get stronger and stronger. Before each match, you get the chance to buy new items from a shop and organize them in your backpack.
You can also fuse some items, so if you put some items together they’ll evolve into something stronger. It’s a cool system, and because each match is incredibly fast, and even each full run of matches doesn’t take much more than 15 minutes, it’s also a game that’s very easy to keep jumping back into.
Backpack Battles is a lot of fun, so if you’ve been looking for a game that gives you the joy of cleaning your home and suddenly ending up with an obsidian dragon to aid you in battle, then this is the game for you.
In the world of roguelikes, Inkbound is one you have probably not heard of and this wouldn’t have been helped with its Early Access teething issues. Despite this, however, it has since proven to be an exceptionally enjoyable game with plenty of both tactical and gameplay depth and it also happens to be lovely to look at too. It’s also from the developers behind Monster Train, which remains one of the best deckbuilding roguelikes around, so there’s that.
Rather than worrying about cards here though, Inkbound puts you in a world of books and magical stories. It’s set in the Atheneum, which is a magical thing that contains every story ever written, so it’s like the Internet, but infinitely better in most respects. You then go through portals to fight off evils, via an interesting mix of real-time and turn-based battles, and get stronger as you do so.
You move in real time to figure out how to use your attacks and what to do, and then end your turn to let everything else take effect. It’s fun, and it means that there’s always more you can do to get better at the game outside of just learning what all of the abilities are. There are multiple character types too, so you can mess around to find the one you like the most.
One of Inkbound‘s stand-out features though, is that it’s co-op. Co-op roguelikes are always a good time, but while many require you to pull in friends, through brainwashing or bribery, you can just party up with people you find in Inkbound’s little hub area. It’s a nice touch and helps make the game feel a bit more approachable for outsiders and first-timers. Plus, while it’s been in Early Access for a while now, the full release is coming in April, so now’s a great time to get started on it before the full release.
Essentially kicking off the whole third-person survival horror genre a good four years before Capcom stepped up to the plate with its now legendary Resident Evil franchise, Alone in the Dark did the whole shtick first back in 1992. Though you can certainly make the case that the series has been on something of an uneven trajectory since its first instalment, it’s also equally true that the resurgence of Alone in the Dark in 2024 promises a resurgence that is not only much more in line with its more than three-decade-old origins but which can also stand shoulder to shoulder with the survival horror efforts of today. As such, there is arguably no better time to plumb the history of this often overlooked series that in large part birthed the modern survival horror genre.
Alone in the Dark (1992)
Kicking the whole thing off roughly thirty-two years ago, the first Alone in the Dark was a trailblazer in more ways than one. Brought to grim, unholy life by director Frédérick Raynal and his extremely talented, though small development team at French studio Infogrames, Alone in the Dark resulted from the desire to create a video game inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft and hoo boy, did it nail that premise and then some.
Not only was Alone in the Dark one of the first games ever to overlay fully three-dimensional characters over pre-rendered backgrounds (a trick that Resident Evil would repeat to greater success in 1996) but so too did it also craft a genuinely terrifying tale in which players took control of Edward Carnby. A private investigator, Carnby sought to delve into the depths of Derceto, a haunted Louisiana mansion in 1924 to unravel its secrets, solve puzzles and uncover the horrors that lay within. The new Alone in the Dark title which will reboot the story and events of this original entry in the series, essentially bringing everything full circle.
Jack in the Dark (1993)
A strange little entry in the Alone in the Dark franchise, Jack in the Dark was a much smaller game that was developed while production was concluding on Alone in the Dark 2. A bite-sized adventure in which players take control of youngster Grace Saunders, Jack in the Dark has Grace attempting to escape a toy store after she is locked inside during Halloween. Of course, with this being an entry in the Alone in the Dark franchise, the toys are very much alive and to make matters worse Grace is also tasked with rescuing Santa Claus from the titular and nefarious Jack-in-the-box, too.
Aside from the oddly festive premise, what also separates Jack in the Dark from the other Alone in the Dark titles is the fact that there is no combat whatsoever, meaning that Grace must rely on her puzzle-solving acumen to get the job done. Interestingly, Grace Saunders would return thirty years later in a separately released Prologue to 2024’s Alone in the Dark reboot that embraces the same combat-free, puzzle-solving shenanigans as Jack in the Dark.
Alone in the Dark 2 (1993)
Representing a sizable shift from the more considered atmospheric beats of its predecessor, Alone in the Dark 2 not only veered away from the creepy cosmic horror of the first game in favour of a plot that had Edward Carnby rescuing Grace Saunders from voodoo zombies and immortal pirates, but it also brought a strong focus on gunplay rather than the sort of exploration and puzzle solving that defined the original.
The downside to this, of course, was that combat was never really counted among Alone in the Dark’s strengths and so Alone in the Dark 2 felt a lot more clunky and far less atmospheric than the game that originally inspired it. To say that Alone in the Dark 2 was a missed opportunity to capitalise on the success of the first game in the series would be something of an understatement.
Alone in the Dark 3 (1995)
The third Alone in the Dark title released before Capcom even got out of the starting blocks with its Resident Evil franchise, Alone in the Dark 3 whisked Edward Carnby off to the not-so Wild West in 1925 as our beloved series protagonist finds himself drawn to a mysterious ghost town, searching for a film crew that has gone missing in the area.
Clearly not learning the lessons from Alone in the Dark 2, the third instalment in the series would once more double down on combat as Edward Carnby found himself tackling all manner of undead cowboys, radioactive mutants and more besides. Needless to say, Alone in the Dark 3 lacked so much of what made Alone in the Dark so compelling in the first place that it ended up being a resolutely forgettable offering as a result.
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (2001)
With Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise being both three core entries deep and having gained millions of fans across the world by this point, it was clear that when Alone in the Dark did re-emerge it would have to be something different from what we saw previously, while also matching up with the redefined genre expectations. What we got was Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, which ditched the jarring pirates and cowboy enemies of the previous two games in favour of legitimately terrifying horrors that would emerge from the bowels of the earth. Though Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare doesn’t wholeheartedly leave the series’ prior and misguided obsession with combat entirely behind, it does reinvigorate the exploration and puzzle-solving side of things.
The way this is achieved is that the player has a choice of two very different protagonists to take control of in the early going. Edward Carnby returns as one of these characters and somewhat predictably, is the one who takes part in all the gunplay, while Aline Cedrac, a university professor who accompanies him largely handles much of the puzzle solving and frequently the two individuals meet up, combining their narratives in the process. Though far from perfect and certainly not quite up to the lofty new standard for the survival horror genre that Resident Evil had established, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare nonetheless set down a promising blueprint for where the franchise could have gone next.
Alone in the Dark (2008)
Sadly, that blueprint was almost completely ignored when Alone in the Dark would re-emerge some seven years later. 2008’s series entry, which was just called ‘Alone in the Dark’, took a conceptual hard left in terms of what the previous games in the series had given players. Splitting up the story into a series of interconnected episodes allowed players to tackle a specific episode rather than having to go through the whole game from the beginning each time (triggering a neat “Previously on Alone in the Dark” cutscene to catch players up in the process), 2008’s Alone in the Dark would instead embrace a fully three-dimensional world in which players could switch between first and third person perspectives.
While the updated technology was welcome, along with the move to a suitably spooky occult-style narrative, a baffling focus on combat, extinguishing fires, poor puzzles and a general lack of atmosphere, together a raft of sometimes game-breaking bugs would all conspire to condemn 2008’s Alone of the Dark to the nadir of the series and the bin of time.
Alone in the Dark: Illumination (2015)
Speaking of bins, the game that essentially forced the Alone in the Dark franchise into hibernation for the last nine years, Alone in the Dark: Illumination was an online-only multiplayer first-person shooter(!) that utterly missed the point of Alone in the Dark in ways that can only be described as utterly spectacular. A quarter-baked, fad-chasing take on the likes of Left 4 Dead masquerading as an Alone in the Dark title, Alone in the Dark: Illumination had up to four players playing as different characters from the Alone in the Dark mythos, all the while completely ignoring the atmosphere, puzzle solving and storytelling that had served as the original design bedrock for the series.
Quite simply, every aspect of Alone in the Dark: Illumination’s design feels compromised. From the less-than-satisfying combat, poorly balanced classes, enough bugs to create a new Starship Troopers movie and a pointlessly grindy progression system that just made you want to shrink into the earth to never appear again, Alone in the Dark: Illumination was just awfulness incarnate.
The best games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 will have you clambering and climbing, fighting and flexing, and both magicking and mighting. Essentially, you can expect big games with beautiful worlds to explore, plenty of big enemies to fight, and an engrossing story. Ideally, they’ll also have some RPG systems to play with as well. Whilst we are a few weeks away from Dragon’s Dogma 2, and we don’t have a full grasp of what the game will be like, there are enough previews out there to help us figure a lot of it out.
Best Games Like Dragon’s Dogma 2
The easiest thing to do here would be to recommend Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, which we definitely do, but it’s not deserving of a spot on this list because, frankly, it’s a bit too obvious. With that in mind, let’s get our climbing gloves out and ascend this wonderful list to find you a new game to love.
Elden Ring
Ah Elden Ring, what a game. Aside from being quite possibly the most fascinating open-world game ever made, Elden Ring also feels as though it takes a lot from Dragon’s Dogma. It has the same exciting exploration where every stone that you unturn and every corner you creep around can contain some kind of secret or a horror you’ll have to beat.
It’s also got a deep fantasy setting and a world where nothing is clear-cut. Elden Ring is an extraordinary game in every right, and there are also mods out there to add even more spells, weapons, and bosses to the game and even a seamless co-op experience. The latter is a huge deal for this style of game, and something hard to replicate with anything else.
Monster Hunter: World
The Monster Hunter series is made by Capcom, the same people behind Dragon’s Dogma 2, so it’s not a huge surprise that it’s got some of the same spirit. While Monster Hunter Rise is also very good, and a little newer, it’s not quite as polished as Monster Hunter: World. World lets you and some friends explore an array of different biomes, each of which is filled with absurd and over-the-top monsters to hunt.
As you push through, you get to upgrade your equipment by farming materials from these enormous creatures, and then use that new equipment to kill even bigger things, and then farm materials from those as well. It’s a fun gameplay loop, and thanks to the substantial support it got after launch, as well as the amazing Iceborne DLC, there are hundreds of hours of hunts to enjoy.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
It’s absurd to think that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was released all the way back in 2015, and that means it’s nearly 10 years old. That’s a very long time for a game that not only still looks amazing, but still pushes the meaning of what a fantasy open-world gamer could be in terms of both gameplay and narrative design.
You play as Geralt, a Witcher who’s been chemically created to hunt down monsters, and then make some very morally grey decisions about whether or not to kill them or let them live. You also need to find your adopted daughter and figure out what’s going on with an ongoing war, and all of the strife that creates.
Shadow of the Colossus
If the thing that you love about Dragon’s Dogma is the ability to climb all over massive creatures, then you should play Shadow of the Colossus. The best way to play this is via the remaster on PS4, so if you can do that, do it.
This game is about exploring a mostly empty world filled with a handful of incredible and majestic creatures, which you’re compelled to kill off. It’s a game that consistently makes you feel bad about what you’re doing. Killing in this game isn’t something you just do by accident, it’s something that takes careful planning and a huge amount of guilt. It’s a very special game, and it’ll stick with you for a long time.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Finally, we’ve got Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Assassin’s Creed has gone back to its roots a bit more with the latest game, but Origins, Odyssey, and Valhalla are all incredible sprawling worlds filled with things to do, loot to find, and stories to discover. They’re very big games, which can be a little overwhelming, but we think that Odyssey does the best job here.
Odyssey is set in ancient Greece, and aside from that meaning there’s lots of sun to soak up and a big old sea to explore, it also means you can come across Greek myths in the flesh. If you think that Dragon’s Dogma could do with more sailing, swearing, and Spartan kicking, then you’re going to absolutely love Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
Well, hello there. Do you like twin-stick shooters that give you that intense arcade feel and the deep satisfaction that comes from destroying wave after wave of enemies? Do you also like pinball and the satisfying cling-clang of rolling into things? Well, good news, because Go Mecha Ball is here, and it’s here for you specifically.
Released at the end of January, Go Mecha Ball is a game that you might have missed which is why we’re shouting about it now. While many games require a lot of time and commitment, Go Mecha Ball is a lot happier to be played in bursts and the mechanics are simple enough that picking it up as a new game isn’t a daunting task either.
It’s incredibly easy to just hop in and play for a little bit before you go to work, school, bed, the void, you know? It also happens to be pure fun. The world you battle through is filled with neon colours and over-the-top action, and the mix of pinball and shooting not only works but is extremely satisfying and feels seamless from start to finish
You also get to play with four different mechs, each of which feels a little different to play thanks to a nice mix of weapons and abilities. Alongside its approachable mechanics, this mech variety is a great way to keep the game feeling fresh; and there are even a few platforming bits thrown in to enhance the variety further.
Every aspect of Go Mecha Ball feels incredibly well thought-out, but also like it was designed with fun at the forefront of their mind. It’s the kind of game you can come back to again and again with no issue, or just blast through and have it dangling fondly in the rearview mirror of your memory.
You can tell we are in the busy release season, as there are an almost uncountable number of games heading our way nearly every week at the moment. You’ve got big games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Dragon’s Dogma 2, and Persona 3 Reload, but that’s not all.
Alongside these heavy hitters, you’ve also got a huge number of impressive indie games as well. These can sometimes fly under the radar, and we’re not having that so we’ve done the hard work and whittled the potential options down to a more respectable and digestible list. So, whether you’re looking for intense action or something more thoughtful, we’ve got you covered.
Mixture is a VR game where you take control of two characters at the same time, each of whom has their own skills to master. You’ll need to utilise every single thing at your disposal to overcome the challenges ahead of you in this action-adventure game and overcome not only puzzles but also plenty of boss fights as well.
There’s a small chance that we included Yolk Heroes: A Long Tamago because it’s fun to say out loud, but it’s mostly because it looks cool. This game puts you in charge of an egg that you must hatch into a powerful hero. You’ll need to raise them to be strong, play with them, practice skills, and just generally look after them to make sure they can take on The Dark Lord. It sounds adorable.
If you’re itching for a new Metroidvania, then Berserk Boy could well be the game you’ve been waiting for. Aside from having a soundtrack that features Sonic Mania composer Tee Lopes, it also has a really vibrant visual style and promises plenty of weapons, monsters, and upgrades to enjoy on your quest to save the planet.
Zoria: Age of Shattering is a squad-based tactical RPG. That means plenty of management, tactical decisions, and probably a fair amount of funny interactions as well. It’s giving us Baldur’s Gate 3 vibes, and we’re excited to see if its high-fantasy world can scratch the same itch and offer the same depth of gameplay.
Bore Blasters is a game all about mining and upgrading things. There’s this whole subgenre of games where you delve deep into the ground, go back to the surface, sell things, and then upgrade your gear, and all of them are deeply moreish. What makes Bore Blasters look really compelling, however, is that you’re not using a pickaxe, but a machine gun drill on a mining ship. It looks like a blast, pun intended.
Sometimes a game grabs you because it’s doing something genuinely visually unique, and even if that’s all Death of a Wish manages, we’d be pretty happy. Death of a Wish is an action RPG that has an incredible visual style that makes it look like an inverted kid’s doodle in motion. As you fight your way through the various enemies, you’ll get to upgrade your powers and customize your skills. We’re all in.
If you like the idea of farming simulators but just wish that you could do it all in a mech, first of all, that’s very niche, but also, Lightyear Frontier is exactly that. This game plonks you on an alien planet, gives you a mech, and then lets you farm, upgrade, and explore as you like. It looks like a wonderful experience, and it’s certainly a nice twist to the usual farming sim experience.
Parry Nightmare looks completely absurd. You play as a girl trapped in a nightmare who has to work alongside her other self to defeat it. You need to use a special parry system to counter huge waves of enemies and attacks, building up special attacks as you do so. It’s got a great style, and it sounds like an interesting concept too.
A good RTS can be a hard thing to find, which is why we’re keeping an eye on this one. Godsworn is a mythological RTS where you get to be a part of the clashes between pagan gods and the armies of heaven. You get to choose a divine hero, try and bring worshippers together, and even fight alongside some cool mythological beasts as well.
Generously awash with all manner of traditional fantasy settings, glossy sci-fi backdrops and the Dark Souls-inspired grimdark worlds, increasingly it seems that the sense of a truly unique setting is becoming harder and harder to realise in the RPG genre. Enter The Thaumaturge. The latest title from Fool’s Theory, a Polish-based studio comprised of former CD Projekt RED staffers (who have also been tasked with working on the upcoming remake of the first Witcher title), The Thaumaturge instead taps directly into the geographical and cultural heritage of its creators, offering up a supernatural RPG that unfurls itself within the confines of alternate history early twentieth-century Warsaw and it is unlike anything else you’ve seen.
Certainly, while The Thaumaturge paints an eye-opening picture of a time and a place that is firmly ensconced in familiar history, it is nonetheless a setting that developer Fool’s Theory has decided to take down a different path. Though The Thaumaturge does indeed take place in the year 1905 and within a Warsaw that finds itself very much under the brutal Tsarist boot, so too does it also apply a schism of sorts to that very grounded and historical backdrop by generously injecting a wealth of supernatural elements that feel enriched by that real-world setting, rather than superimposed on top of it.
Deftly anchoring players to the world of The Thaumaturge is the story. The Thaumaturge casts players as the titular protagonist Wiktor Szulski, a travelling conjurer for whom the gift of Thaumaturgy has been passed down through generations. As its most recent heir, Wiktor must use these arcane gifts to summon ethereal entities known as ‘Salutors’ to destroy his enemies, uncover secrets and gain access to the secrets of the human soul as he seeks to resolve a family mystery. It’s heavy stuff for sure and while the turn-based combat and leveraging of external entities might remind one of Atlus’ superb Persona series, the differences between the two are as stark as they can be.
A big part of that difference and what serves to separate The Thaumaturge from other entries in the RPG genre is, again, the setting and in particular how developer Fool’s Theory has leveraged such a grounded backdrop in a way that few have before. For the longest time, Warsaw was and is a waystation of sorts for many people who would make that perilous trek across Eastern Europe and this is very much reflected in the social kaleidoscope that The Thaumaturge puts in front of the player.
The Warsaw that is depicted in The Thaumaturge reveals a sprawling urban expanse that is a veritable and diverse socio-economic melting pot. As Polish townsfolk, Russian soldiers, Jewish traders and more each intersect with one another, their philosophies, ancestries and attitudes come together in a rarely harmonious whole. This creates a setting that feels a world away from the all-too-common paper-thin and numbingly one-note realisation of NPCs that is present in many RPGs.
Just about every significant character in The Thaumaturge is deeper than any surface analysis might reveal. Wealth, status and even past deeds are no guarantee that the moral compass of each individual can be reliably mapped to these variables but rather, much like Warsaw itself during this time, are subject to the whims and winds of change. This provides players with a cast of characters that are sophisticated, dynamic and representative of the socio-economic status of that era.
Additionally, it’s also important to realise that the year of The Thaumaturge’s setting is key since it coincides with the unfolding of the first Russian revolution. Much more than just incidental background for The Thaumaturge, the convergence of these events also has an indelible impact on the denizens of Warsaw. Sure enough, while the iron grip of its Russian Tsarist masters is still keenly felt, the fact that the spirit of revolution blooms in the bosom of the Russian homeland itself empowers more than a few of Warsaw’s populace with the confidence that they need to strike back at those that would oppress them.
Crucially in The Thaumaturge, the city of Warsaw is as much a character as any of its flesh and blood inhabitants. A bustling metropolis where fortune is book-ended between the rich and poor, lucky and unlucky, Szulski’s nonlinear tale of adventure, exploration and investigation might very well fit into other contemporary cities of opportunity such as New York, London or Paris. However, the fact that the story of The Thaumaturge unfolds in turn of the century Warsaw – a location that finds itself underrepresented in ambitious fare such as this – immediately marks the entire endeavour as something more refreshing than one would normally expect from the genre.
From humble, yet decorative bakeries, shops and taverns which line sun-kissed cobbled streets, through to the opulent buildings of aristocrats, noblemen and local governors, Warsaw feels both familiar and refreshing at the same time, with developer Fool’s Theory offering up an evocative vision of the Polish capital quite unlike any other to date. Most importantly, that tangibly lived-in, historical feel which oozes out of every pore in The Thaumaturge’s realisation of an alternate Warsaw from more than a century ago, rigidly binds players to that irresistible temptation to explore every nook and cranny of the city as Wiktor Szulski’s own story unfolds against this rich historical tapestry.
In the hands of perhaps any other developer, The Thaumaturge might find itself devoid of any such geographical and historical identity and its intriguing, supernatural RPG beats would find themselves begrudgingly wrapped up in an all too familiar shell. Luckily for us, developer Fool’s Theory has lovingly plumbed both the depths of its own development experiences and an innate understanding of the country that it calls home to whisk players off into an RPG that at once balances the historical with the fantastical in a way that feels utterly invigorating and unique.
Arguably one of the most anticipated titles of the last decade, Dragon’s Dogma 2 brings with it the sort of gargantuan expectations that one would readily expect from such a tremendous sequel. An epic action RPG with scope to spare, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also looks to meaningfully iterate upon its Game of the Year award-winning predecessor with massively improved visuals, refined combat and the sort of gorgeously realised fantasy world that just begs to be explored.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Dragon’s Dogma 2 including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specs and more.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Release Date
Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S\X and PC via Steam on March 22, 2024. Right now, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is not currently scheduled to release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch console platforms. Additionally, an Epic Games Store release date for Dragon’s Dogma 2 has yet to be confirmed at this point.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Pre-Order Bonuses
There are different Dragon Dogma 2 pre-order bonuses depending on whether you’re pre-ordering the Standard or Digital Deluxe Editions of the game. If you pre-order the Standard Edition of Dragon’s Dogma 2, you gain access to the Superior Weapons Quartet. Meanwhile, if you put down a pre-order for the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Digital Deluxe Edition you’ll not only get the Superior Weapons Quartet but also get a rather nifty Ring of Assurance thrown into the bargain too.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Digital Deluxe Edition – What Do You Get?
Being one of the most anticipated titles of 2024, it should come as little surprise that Dragon’s Dogma 2 will be getting a Digital Deluxe Edition which includes all manner of special goodies.
In addition to the base game, the Dragon’s Dogma 2 Digital Deluxe Edition contains:
A Boon for Adventurers – New Journey Pack:
Explorer’s Camping Kit – Camping Gear
Dragon’s Dogma Music & Sound Collection – Custom Sounds
1500 Rift Crystals – Points to Spend Beyond the Rift
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Setting
Firstly, it should come as some relief to know that it isn’t a requirement to play the first Dragon’s Dogma before playing Dragon’s Dogma 2. Largely, this is because Dragon’s Dogma 2 unfurls in the realms of Vermund and Battahl which in turn both form a world that exists in a parallel universe from the original Dragon’s Dogma. Though the characters and story are all-new, there are still many touchstone story elements which are present in Dragon’s Dogma 2 that players will recognise from the original game. Chiefly, players take control of an ‘Arisen’, a gifted hero that commands a group of ‘Pawns’ – warriors that are essentially plucked from the ether to do the bidding of the Arisen. Throw in a heart-stealing dragon, unstable kingdoms and enough dark political intrigue to make George R R Martin blush and you’ve got a sequel that very much sticks to the narrative throughline of its predecessor.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Gameplay
Much like the story side of things, Dragon’s Dogma 2 certainly doesn’t stray too far from the third-person, real-time action RPG trappings which made the first game so compelling when it was released back in 2012. Broadly this means that once more you’ll be viewing the action from a third-person perspective, following the main story, completing side-quests and getting stuck into more than a few real-time battles with your Pawns.
Thankfully, like any good sequel worth its salt, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also brings a wealth of gameplay improvements to the table over its predecessor. As well as being able to climb a range of towering monsters as you could in the first game, Dragon’s Dogma 2 allows you to stand on them and use all of your abilities and skills as if you were on regular terrain – such is the scope and scale of some of these adversaries. In addition, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also brings new finishing attacks, and a range of new monsters which include Minatours, Sphinxes, Taloses and much more.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 also reworks the vocations (essentially classes) from the original game. While the Sorcerer, Mage, Fighter, Warrior and Magick Archer vocations return, the Ranger and Strider vocations have been dropped in favour of the new Thief and Archer vocations.
Further afield, Dragon’s Dogma 2 also now allows enterprising players to destroy elements in the environment to deal with groups of enemies. From dams that can be busted open to cause floods, to logs that can be brought down onto enemies; Dragon’s Dogma 2 provides no shortage of ways for players to innovate in each battle. Finally, the lengthy loading screens which plagued the first Dragon’s Dogma and would appear when moving from one region to the next have now been completely removed in Dragon’s Dogma 2, resulting in a much more seamless action RPG experience as a result.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Dragon’s Dogma 2 is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Shining a spotlight on the Wayfarer vocation that can use the weapons and skills of every other vocation, this latest batch of gameplay footage from Dragon’s Dogma 2 provides an enticing glimpse at the thunderous real-time combat which Capcom’s action RPG sequel looks set to revel in.
PC System Requirements
Leveraging the very latest iteration of Capcom’s in-house RE Engine, Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks to not only effortlessly its predecessor, but also cement its place as one of the most opulent action RPGs on the market with an extraordinarily detailed (and not to mention well-lit) fantasy world with some of the most detailed character models you’ll ever see. Somewhat predictably, all of that shiny visual fidelity comes at a price and you can see whether your rig is up to the task by taking a peek at the PC system requirements for Dragon’s Dogma 2 below.
Additional Notes: Estimated performance: 1080p/30fps. Framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 is required to support ray tracing.
Additional Notes: Estimated performance: 2160i/30fps. Framerate might drop in graphics-intensive scenes. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 6800 is required to support ray tracing.
Physics-based games are always far more satisfying when they’re in VR, and Dungeons of Eternity not only has very good physics but also a great gameplay loop that’s easy to understand and deeply gratifying. The game takes place on a planet called Eternity, and there’s story stuff abound, but honestly, it’s a tertiary aspect of the game.
Instead, Dungeons of Eternity is all about fighting your way through all manner of beasts using any mix of acquired daggers, swords, hammers, axes, shields, bows, crossbows, magical staves, and occasionally Christmas-themed candy cane weapons. It is, in essence, a dungeon-crawler that’s all about the loot.
Weapons you get deal more damage as you go, and can have different modifiers on them, like a crossbow that can be rapid-fired four times before needing reloading, or a dagger that steals health from enemies when it hits. There’s no real driving force behind the game besides levelling up and getting better gear, but honestly, it doesn’t need much more than that to be a lot of fun.
It helps that the game is fully co-op too, because even with people you’ve never met, fighting your way through dungeons and taking on floating eye monsters or heavily-armoured skeleton soldiers is just pure joy. Plus, the roadmap has promises of more weapons, enemy types, and more. Basically, as good as Dungeons of Eternity is at the moment, and it is very good, it’s only going to get better from here. It’s great on Meta Quest 2, but it shines with the little boosts that the Meta Quest 3 provides in-game. Also, you can throw up one weapon and hit it with another one to kill enemies off, and trying to do trick shots like that is pure VR joy.
Dungeons of Eternity is available to purchase on the Meta Quest Store.
Lethal Company is likely a game you’ve heard of. It fancies itself a co-op horror game, and with a plethora of horrifying enemies chasing you as you’re trying to survive capitalism in outer space, it’s not too wrong. However, despite the scary monsters (that you’re powerless against), and moments where you’ll be screaming and running as fast as you can in any direction, it’s more of a party game.
The game itself is pretty simple. You and your crew have a quota to meet, and the only way you can fill that quota is by going to different planets and plumbing them for the treasures. It’s very easy to understand, and as with so many great games, that’s a big part of the appeal. There are no complicated controls to master here, which helps the accessibility of the game massively.
As you’re going through the planets picking things up, you’ll start to hear and see strange things. A scuttle there, a glimpse of a shadow that seems to be moving there, and a constant feeling of being watched. These are the horror elements, and the interesting part-cel-shaded graphical style helps make it all feel just sort of wrong. It’s wonderful.
However, despite all of that, the most memorable moments in Lethal Company aren’t really from the game itself, but from the constant idiocies that your friends will offer you. A teammate deciding to go into a room you’ve warned them to stay out of, only for the last noise they make to be a scream; or someone behind you warning you to run as fast as you can, only for you to find some other horror waiting around the corner.
Lethal Company is one of those rare games that delivers on its premise almost perfectly but is elevated entirely by how it is played – oh, and by the inclusion of proximity voice chat. There’s nothing funnier than hearing your friends and loved ones yelling as they run away and get quieter and quieter. If you don’t believe us, just play it and try it for yourself.
It’s early days for Into The Necrovale, with the game having only recently hit Early Access, but it’s already got the bones and undying flesh necessary for a pretty satisfying time. One of the most fascinating parts of it is that, despite what it may look like, it’s not actually a roguelike…
If you die, then you start the level over again, sure, but you keep all of your loot and anything else you’ve picked up, so there’s always a chance to grow stronger, even in failure. You also don’t have to complete every level without dying, which makes it a fair bit more approachable than a lot of games out there with similar vibes.
Storywise, you take control of a prisoner thrown into the Necrovale by the All-Father, who certainly sounds important. The long and short of it is that you don’t really want to be in the Necrovale and you’re going to get into a lot of fights to get out.
Each dungeon is broken into different levels, and you’ll unlock more levels as you beat previous ones. You will also collect crystallized hope to use on either making NPCs more friendly towards you, upgrading things around your little hub town, or unlocking new paths. It’s a really intriguing system that lets you save for things if you want to, or just immediately gift an NPC with some hope, to make them a little happier.
Combat is simple but gratifying. Whatever weapon you’re using, whether it’s a sword that summons meteors or a wand that fires out shards of ice, has a basic attack and a powered-up one. The latter charges up as you land basic attacks, and so your options are to dodge or block your way through enemy attacks before unleashing a wave-ending blast or just cut everything down to size with faster weapons.
The graphics are good, the soundtrack is well-suited, and the whole thing just has a good, and very approachable, vibe. Definitely check out Into The Necrovale if you like the idea of a roguelike but not the reality, and also if you just like a game that’s replete with loot.
Sometimes you just want to ruin colourful things. Maybe that’s because you, like so many people, are secretly still a goth at heart. Maybe it’s because you’re sick of sunlight and are secretly a vampire. Or maybe, you’re The Beast from No More Rainbows, and it’s because parasitic little cherubic things have invaded your Underworld and put colour and love all over the place.
Assuming it’s that last one, then boy howdy do we know what you mean, and so does No More Rainbows. In this awesome virtual reality first-person platformer, you take control of a demon called The Beast, no last name given, and your entire purpose is to break stuff and just generally cause a bad time, which is a good time for you.
You do this entirely using your arms to move. You can walk by swinging your giant paws into the ground in rhythm, leap by smacking them into the floor, or even climb by extending mighty claws and hooking onto some of the surfaces. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but the result is a locomotion system that’s not only a huge amount of fun but also quite a nice little workout.
Your aim is very simple: cause destruction. With that one mission in mind, you just get to have fun in a playground filled with toys to tear apart and throw into the fiery depths. There are loads of levels to dash through with plenty of mini-games and secrets to find, and if you ever decide that the singleplayer version of the game isn’t thrilling enough, or if you’ve just finished the campaign but want more, then you can hop online and play a deathmatch against other players, or try the Chicken Catch mode which is just the kind of silly we love.
Strikingly unique, Pacific Drive combines open-world driving, survival horror elements and a thickly slathered atmosphere of genuine mystery to create a very different take on the survival genre.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Pacific Drive including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specs and more.
Pacific Drive Release Date
Pacific Drive will be released on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on February 22, 2024. As of this writing, Pacific Drive is not currently scheduled to release on Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch console platforms.
Pacific Drive Digital Deluxe Edition – What Do You Get?
In addition to the Standard Edition of Pacific Drive, wannabe survivors of the Olympic Exclusion Zone can also nab a special Digital Deluxe Edition which packs in a range of exclusive goodies.
The Pacific Drive Digital Deluxe Edition contains:
Space shuttle-themed decal kit
Custom glow-in-the-dark stars decal kit
Wishing star antennae
Laika the Space Pup bobblehead
Spaceship steering wheel
UFO rearview mirror with its little tractor-beam
Starfighter hood ornament
Various rocket ship, astronaut & moon stickers for the window on your trunk
Custom astral shifter
Pacific Drive Story
Despite its rather reductive and somewhat unsophisticated title, Pacific Drive sets out its stall as one of the most genuinely intriguing survival titles to come along in a good long while. Set in a surrealist take on the Pacific Northwest, Pacific Drive has you and your trusty station wagon speeding through a sprawling area known as the Olympic Exclusion Zone.
Filled with supernatural peril, otherworldly monsters, extreme weather and skin-peeling amounts of radiation, the Olympic Exclusion Zone is also home to the remnants of the research carried out by the enigmatic ARDA organisation which holds the answers to the origins of the Zone.
With a makeshift abandoned garage which doubles up as a home base, together with a station wagon that not only requires constant maintenance to withstand the extreme conditions of the Zone, but can also be extensively upgraded, Pacific Drive is all about balancing survival with a burning need to discover the long-forgotten truth behind a broken world.
Pacific Drive Gameplay
Unfolding primarily from a first-person perspective, Pacific Drive is at its most basic an open-world survival game with a focus on exploration elements but as you’ve already likely guessed, there’s a whole lot more to it than that. First off, the Olympic Exclusion Zone is a deadly place in every sense of the word. As such, the only way you’ll be able to make any sort of headway in your quest for the truth is to ensure that your trusty station wagon has been properly outfitted to withstand the dangers that exist every step of the way.
In practice, this means that in addition to making sure that more rudimentary concerns are addressed such as ensuring your tyres are hardy enough to keep you on the road, not to mention making sure you commit sufficient fuel to your ventures, you also need to take stock of the shielding panels needed to protect yourself from the radiation that can be found in every part of the Zone. Not only that but the motor vehicle that serves as the instrument of your salvation must also be well taken care of as well, with constant repairs proving to be nothing less than a necessity to keep both you and your quest for the truth alive.
That won’t be enough, however, as the threat that the Zone presents you differs each time you leave your garage. This impresses the need upon you to scoop up as many materials and resources as possible to craft upgrades and new equipment to ensure that you’re able to survive whatever the Zone can throw at you. Of course, the cataclysmic Zone Storms, a veritable rolling tempest of elemental destruction that lays ruin to anything it touches, is one such hazard that simply cannot be endured, but instead must be fled from – as quickly as humanly possible.
As we alluded to earlier, there’s also truth that must be found in the deepest depths of the Zone too, since uncovering its tragic origin, in a bid to aid in the prevention of a similar calamity elsewhere, is also an objective of paramount importance. It’s here that Pacific Drive’s risk and reward dynamic comes firmly into play, too. Do you risk staying out in the Zone a little longer than you normally would to track down some long-lost ARDA research, or, do you err on the side of caution and head back to the garage while the going is good and stay whole to venture out again another day?
Where Can I Watch The Latest Video?
The latest trailer for Pacific Drive is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. A rather lengthy video, this latest chunk of footage from Pacific Drive provides an extended look at the gameplay and mechanics players can expect to get stuck into. Deftly narrated by Seth Rosen and Alexander Dracott, the game director and creative director of Pacific Drive respectively, we’re provided an in-depth look at everything from the sorts of mysterious things you’ll witness while you’re exploring the Olympic Exclusion Zone to the maintenance of your trusty car and just about everything in-between.
PC System Requirements
Boasting a veritable wealth of environmental effects together with a blisteringly detailed take on a world riven by mystery and extreme weather phenomena, it’s certainly fair to say that Pacific Drive will demand a more powerful PC rig than your standard survival title. Just how powerful though? Well, you can find that out by casting an eye across the PC system requirements for Pacific Drive below.
Minimum Requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5 8600
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
DirectX: Version 12
Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
Recommended Requirements:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-10600k
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia RTX 2080/3070
DirectX: Version 12
Additional Notes: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
One of the most entertaining aspects of Palworld is that it fuses a few different genres into one very silly package. It means that finding a game that’s a lot like all of Palworld is tricky, although not impossible. It also means that if there’s a part of the game you enjoy, you can find games that go all-in on that specific thing, which can be very satisfying. So, to help you find your next game, we’ve gone ahead and compiled some options for you.
Best Games Like Palworld
Before we get into the list proper, we’re just going to explain how this works, as it’s a touch different to normal. Each game here captures an aspect of Palworld, and we’ve listed that aspect in the subtitle below the game name. So, if you’re here trying to find a game about automation, we’ve got you covered. If you want cute creatures, we’ve got you covered. If you want horrible ethical decisions, you can just read a newspaper. Let’s get into the best games like Palworld.
Moonstone Island
Most Like Palworld Overall
If you like everything that Palworld does, but wish it was just a smidge cuter, then Moonstone Island is the game for you. Moonstone Island is a creature-collecting life-sim, which means you get to farm, fish, brew potions, and make friends, but also get to go out into the world and collect spirits to do battle with in some cool card-based fights.
While it lacks the base-building, it has an approximation of pretty much everything else from Palworld, and also makes a lot of the other systems a little deeper too. It’s a nice change of pace to Palworld, and while it lacks co-op, it makes up for it with some very lovable NPCs.
Satisfactory
Best For Automation Lovers
There’s a certain type of player in Palworld who adores the automation side of things. There’s something undoubtedly gratifying about putting pieces together to make everything just work. If that’s what you really love about Palworld, then you absolutely need to check out Satisfactory.
Satisfactory is a first-person open-world factory-building game. You can play it with friends, which is our preference, but even alone it’s an exercise in absolute perfection and forethought. Not everyone’s into that, but if you are, this game’s going to scratch that itch in an unmatched way.
Enshrouded
Best For Survival Fans
In any other month, Enshrouded would have been the most exciting survival game released. However, Enshrouded had the misfortune of launching just after Palworld. It’s a sublime take on the survival genre though, and brings in a lot of cool action RPG mechanics to make it just that little bit more exciting.
Enshrouded casts you as a Flameborn, and your only mission is to try and stave off an evil corrupting fog. It’s a fairly hard mission, but you can not only build up a home base to set out from, but also constantly learn and craft new weapons, armour, and even spells. Plus, it has co-op and is a blast with friends.
Siralim Ultimate
Best For Creature-Breeding
Do you like smushing your creatures together to see what happens? Good news, Siralim Ultimate also likes doing that, and it likes doing it a lot. In fact, because of the way it all works, there are over 1,200 different creatures in Siralim Ultimate, each of which has its own skills and talents, and they can be combined to have the best of those talents in one place.
It’s an excellent old-school RPG with more than a touch of the old Dragon Quest Monsters games, and aside from the story itself, has a nigh-on infinite end-game if you’re the kind of person that enjoys that kind of thing. You can also get this game on mobile, which is a good place to have a potentially endless game.
World of Final Fantasy Maxima
Best For Creature-Catching
Finally, we have World of Final Fantasy Maxima, which is the ultimate version of World of Final Fantasy. This is a creature-catching game that pulls together all sorts of parts of the Final Fantasy multiverse into one seemingly adorable creature creature-catching experience. You can get tiny, medium, and huge monsters, and you fight as towers of these critters. It’s very, very, cute.
It also shares a similar darkness at its heart that belies its cute visual style. The story goes to some pretty intense places, and it’ll keep you hooked from start to finish. The Maxima version adds a few cool things as well, so grab that version if you can.
Tomb Raider, and we’re talking about the original one that is frustratingly hard to play on any modern consoles or PCs, is nearly three decades old now. Seriously, it’s 28; it’s old enough to be grappling with all of the same existential and financial horrors the vast majority of us who played it back in 1996 are, and that’s almost comforting.
With Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered out this month, we thought it’d be fun to revisit the original game and see how well it holds up.
The first thing you’ll notice if you’re going back this far, and this is true of any game really, is that control schemes have gotten substantially better since then. Seriously, just the biggest ‘thank you’ to every game developer out there who’s let us move towards smoother controls.
With that out of the way, however, the rest of the game holds up surprisingly well. The sheer volume of places you visit is worth playing the game for all on its own. You quite literally go to Atlantis at one point, and it does a good job of showing off the graphical power of the time with a good mix of different colours and hazards to deal with.
Hazards that include a T-Rex boss fight – the old-school style, not the dark-souls type – and a few other dinosaurs to battle as well. There’s just no denying how cool it was, and still is, to not only be able to raid some tombs with Lara wielding her signature dual pistols but then also get the chance to face off against some of the coolest animals that have ever walked the Earth.
We’re not saying you need to go back to the original to enjoy the game, and the new remaster will likely be the best way to experience the game, but it’s always nice to relive your youth, at least if you’re as old as we are.
With Horizon Forbidden West™ Complete Edition now officially confirmed to storm its way onto PC in enhanced form next month, it’s worth remembering the myriad of ways that Guerrilla Games’ superb open-world sequel improves upon its much-celebrated predecessor. So to break this all down, here are ten meaningful ways in which Horizon Forbidden West improves upon Horizon Zero Dawn.
A Much More Varied Game World
To say that the story of Horizon Forbidden West takes Aloy places would be something of an understatement indeed. Unfolding across the titular Forbidden West, Aloy’s second adventure has our flame-haired protagonist leaping, shooting and smashing her way through all manner of arid deserts, long-lost underwater kingdoms, sandy tropical beaches and of course the same sort of lush forests, jungles and snow-capped peaks that were such a staple of Horizon Zero Dawn. Add in the entirely new region of the Burning Shores that is automatically bundled in with Horizon Forbidden West™ Complete Edition, which itself boasts an almost otherworldly beauty to add to the proceedings, and it’s clear that Guerrilla’s sequel greatly expands the scope of Aloy’s world and then some.
Soaring Through The Skies
As part of that much more varied game world, Horizon Forbidden West now allows players to not just tame machines that can be found stomping around on the ground as seen in Horizon Zero Dawn, but they can also soar through the skies on the back of a tamed Sunwing; a graceful airborne machine that Aloy can use to cover great distances very quickly. Along with the improved underwater traversal, this helps to make the exploration throughout the world of Horizon Forbidden West feel more free and expansive than its predecessor ever managed to achieve.
Greatly Improved Visuals
While there’s no doubt that Horizon Zero Dawn is a resoundingly handsome effort, it’s also clear that Horizon Forbidden West elevates the visual presentation side of things even further. Not only is the game world more densely detailed with sizable upticks in lighting, shadows and reflection work; but the character models have also seen a massive improvement, boasting much more detailed skin, facial animation and lip-syncing. Indeed, it’s really in the numerous real-time cutscenes that these much-improved character models are noticeable. Thanks to a more comprehensive suite of motion capture, characters move and react in a fashion that is much more lifelike compared to what was accomplished in Horizon Zero Dawn. Also, the Burning Shores expansion just so happens to have the best clouds of any video game in recent years to boot.
More Refined Climbing
Though climbing and leaping from place to place was already the done thing in Horizon Zero Dawn and very enjoyable, its sequel takes it all a bit further. Not only does the world design lend itself to more verticality in Horizon Forbidden West, but the UI has also been helpfully tweaked to make those crucial hand-holds and points of interaction in the scenery that much more noticeable when compared to the previous game.
Revamped Swimming
In Horizon Zero Dawn, Aloy’s interactions with bodies of water were pretty much limited to just being able to swim across them, rather than permitting anything more sophisticated. For the sequel though, Aloy can now fully dive into bodies of water, which in turn greatly increases the game world that is available for exploration and also by proxy, the possibilities for exploration that are on offer. Not only can Aloy explore the briny depths of the Forbidden West, but her machine adversities can too, resulting in the sort of underwater scraps that just weren’t possible in the first game.
The Extremely Useful Shieldwing Glider
Speaking of traversal, another massive advantage that Horizon Forbidden West has over it’s predecessor is the addition of the Shieldwing Glider. An energy-powered glider that Aloy can trigger as soon as she leaps from a height, the Shieldwing Glider enables Aloy to avoid falling damage entirely and also cover a significant distance in the process. Beyond its basic traversal applications, the Shieldwing Glider also provides stealthy attackers with a unique opportunity, as it allows Aloy to quite literally drop in on her foes and take them by surprise.
How The Pullcaster Improves Traversal
If you thought that the Shieldwing Glider was the sole extent of new gadgets that would be aiding Aloy around the Forbidden West, you would be mistaken – she can also get her hands on the Pullcaster. Essentially a hook shot-style device, the Pullcaster isn’t just used to pull stubborn grates free or grab loot that would normally be just out of reach. It can also be used to propel Aloy at high speed toward certain areas of the map that would otherwise prove inaccessible. A veritable swiss-knife of usefulness you might say.
The Spear Resonator Blast System
One of the biggest additions that Horizon Forbidden West brings to the combat side of things is the new spear Resonator Blast system, which elevates Aloy’s trusty spear to one of the most useful weapons in her entire arsenal. Once the player has inflicted sufficient successive melee hits on an enemy the spear will become supercharged in a blue hue, at which point a well-timed heavy strike will place a resonance orb upon Aloy’s enemy. If this orb is shot with an arrow, this causes a Resonator Blast which in turn creates a devastating amount of explosive damage. Brilliantly, this Resonator Blast system is hugely satisfying not just because of the huge damage it kicks out, but also because it encourages the player to more freely mix-up their melee and ranged attacks in turn.
Additional Skill Trees
Horizon Zero Dawn has always been noted for the creative latitude that it affords to players, in particular when it comes to creating a specific functional build for Aloy that maps against their preferred playstyle. Horizon Forbidden West expands upon that notion by introducing an additional two skill trees which in turn provide a wealth of new abilities and specialisations for players to embrace in line with their chosen style of play.
The Valor Surge Mechanic
Another sizable addition to the core formula established in Horizon Zero Dawn is the new Valor Surge mechanic. Embedded into each of the skill trees that Aloy has access to, Valor Surges are cooldown-based powers that provide Aloy with a temporary boost to either defence, healing, attack power, melee power and more depending on the tree. Often capable of turning the tide of a challenging battle, Valor Surges aren’t just useful at getting Aloy out of a jam, but they also happen to look rather cool too thanks to a neat little animation that plays out each time one is activated.
The month of love is upon us, and with it comes not only a good chance to pick up chocolate every five seconds (by accident) but also to grab some great indie games, of which there are plenty to choose from. Seriously, shout out to game developers for releasing games so many interesting-looking games this month, because Valentine’s Day is a farce and we all know it…
We’ve selected a few titles from the great multitude on offer and put them into a little list for you to peruse and enjoy. There’s something here for everyone, whether you’re looking for sci-fi shooters, eldritch dating sims, or something about a cosmic uterus. So, let’s get into it.
First up, we’ve got CLeM. This is a strange narrative-driven puzzle game with a lot of darkness at its heart. Aside from having to figure out a bunch of puzzles which will either have you feeling like a genius or like you need to go back to school, you’ll also be following along with a strange notebook to find the truth of where you are, and maybe even what you are.
Fight Crab 2 lets you play as a crab wielding weapons against each other…again. It’s just silly enough to be challenging, and as well as a campaign mode that you can battle your way through it also has a PvP mode that lets you go online and fight it out with friends, foes, and anyone else.
Sometimes we just feel it’s necessary to copy and paste a description in here. So here goes: “ULTROS is a psychedelic Metroidvania where you wake up stranded on The Sarcophagus — a cosmic uterus holding an ancient, demonic being. Trapped in the loop of a black hole, you will have to explore The Sarcophagus and meet its inhabitants to understand the part you play.” Honestly, it sounds incredible, and we’re here for it.
Survival games can be a bit hit-and-miss, and for us, it’s largely down to the concept. While January saw us going into Enshrouded, for a more action RPG time of things, February has Nightingale. This game has you trying to survive in a huge fantastic labyrinth made of Fae realms. Your aim is to master these realms and become capable enough to find your way to the magical city of Nightingale. It sounds fun, and the cool concept has our interests very piqued.
Promenade is a platformer that looks so sweet it might actually rot your teeth. It has you trying to fix something known as The Great Elevator and doing that means trying to interact with loads of cute characters, solving puzzles, and even facing down some surprisingly large bosses too. It just looks like pure joy.
Finally, we have Ad Infernum and nothing says ‘love’ better than demonic first-person survival horror. Stranded at an abandoned gas station, you must discover a missing cult and follow in its footsteps in the hope of escaping before it’s too late. Beats receiving gas station flowers, we suppose.
With some nine years existing between Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Batman Arkham Knight, it’s reasonable to say that developer Rocksteady Studios latest effort has been a long time coming. Now Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has finally arrived, embedding DC Comics most ruthless group of antiheroes into a hyperkinetic open-world, online multiplayer shooter that is set to be supported for years to come.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, PC specs and more.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Release Date
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S\X consoles and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on February 2, 2024. Built for current generation gaming hardware, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is not scheduled to release on last generation PlayStation 4, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch console platforms.
Early Access Details
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League early access lasts for 72 hours prior to release and begins on January 30, 2024. Early access to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League can obtained by pre ordering the digital deluxe version of the game.
Pre Order Bonuses
Pre-ordering Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League ahead of its release on February 2, 2024 will get you a bunch of goodies depending on the edition that you decide to plonk your cash down for.
The Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Standard Edition pre order bonuses are:
Classic outfit for Captain Boomerang
Classic outfit for Deadshot
Classic outfit for Harley Quinn
Classic outfit for King Shark
Meanwhile, the Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Digital Deluxe Edition pre order bonuses include all of the above classic outfits plus the 72 hours of early access detailed previously.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Digital Deluxe Edition – What Do You Get?
As well as the standard edition of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, players can also get their villainous mitts on the content packed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Digital Deluxe Edition too.
The Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Digital Deluxe Edition contains:
Justice League outfit for Captain Boomerang
Justice League outfit for Deadshot
Justice League outfit for Harley Quinn
Justice League outfit for King Shark
Three Notorious Weapons
Four Weapon Dolls
Four Colour Swatches
One Battle Pass Token
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Story
A massive departure from the other DC Comics video game adaptations to date, though just the mere title of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League sets out the stall for its setting well enough, there’s a little more to it than that. In a world where the cosmic super-villain Brainiac has corrupted the Justice League to use as his pawns to aid in an invasion of Earth, government agent Amanda Waller realises that the only way to prevent the invasion is to kill the titular Justice League in order to reach Brainiac and perform the same act. A dysfunctional quartet comprising of Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn and King Shark, the Suicide Squad are forced into action by the bomb collars fastened around necks, resulting in a messy detonation if the group aren’t successful in their mission as they find themselves up against vicious, supercharged versions of The Flash, Batman, Superman and more.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Gameplay
Though Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League embraces a similar sort of open world design to the Arkham games that were previous released by developer Rocksteady Studios, the similarities largely end there. Marking a departure from the melee focused single-player only adventures that the London based developer has typically been known for, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Lague is instead an cooperative online multiplayer offering that mostly swaps out close quarter combat for long distance violence. Though it’s also worth mentioning that the entirety of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s story campaign can be completed from start to finish solo, too.
With the shift to ranged weapons (though not exclusively as some characters can still perform melee attacks), Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League also brings a much more frenetic pace and a sense of verticality to the proceedings as players can boost, wall-run and fly to astounding heights as they tangle with the forces of Brainaic and the corrupted Justice League across the besieged city of Metropolis.
Perhaps more similar to live service titles such as Destiny, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is all about combining the different kinds of squad types that each member of the group embodies (support, attack and so on) to ensure that you have an optimum group of misfits for taking on the harder missions and most challenging encounters. Another aspect of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s gameplay design that echoes Bungie’s wildly successful first-person shooter franchise is the gear scores that are used to denote character progression. This essentially means that by upgrading equipment and collecting better gear, your character will become more powerful in turn with certain missions and encounters requiring a certain gearscore becoming available as a result.
As well as a series of story missions, there are also plenty side missions and activities to complete in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League too. Often taking advantage of the game’s frenetic traversal and explorative beats, these additional missions can also yield up valuable gear to help improve that all-important gearscore as you barrel your way towards that final showdown with Brainiac. With Rocksteady Studios promising potentially years of post launch content and a Battle Pass system that allows you to nab some nifty looking cosmetic items, it’s clear that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is absolutely intending to be around for the long haul.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. The latest in a series of in-depth gameplay videos, the latest trailer for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League puts an emphasis on the support squad role and the crucial job that they have in bolstering the attack and defense capabilities of the group.
PC System Requirements
Doubling down on the sort of open world spectacle that developer Rocksteady Studios managed to execute so well with the Arkham games, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League allows players to sprint, leap and fly around a hugely detailed take on DC’s Metropolis. As you might well expect, such a large detailed world comes with the a hefty technical cost and so with that in mind, you can catch the PC system requirements for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League below.
Minimum Requirements:
OS: Win 10 (64 bit)
Processor: Intel i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.20 GHz
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 65 GB available space
Additional Notes: RAM: 16 GB (2×8)
Recommended Requirements:
OS: Win 10 (64 bit)
Processor: Intel i7-10700K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X3D
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2080 or AMD RX 6800-XT (16GiB)
With nearly a decade existing between Helldivers 2 and its predecessor, it’s fair to say that the wait for Arrowhead Game Studios latest has been a little protracted to say the least. Nonetheless, Helldivers 2 is almost here and looks set to reinvigorate the third-person shooter formula with an emphasis on Starship Troopers inspired fast and furious gunplay, tactical gear management and enough cooperative shenanigans to give Helldivers 2 legs for months and perhaps even years.
Be sure to keep this guide in your favourites as we cover everything you need to know about Helldivers 2 including the release date, gameplay details, latest trailer, crossplay details, PC specs and more.
Helldivers 2 Release Date
Helldivers 2 will release on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam on February 8, 2024. As of right now, Helldivers 2 has not been confirmed for a release on the last generation PlayStation 4 or on the Epic Games Store, though the latter could change in the near future.
Helldivers 2 Pre Order Bonuses
Pre-ordering Helldivers 2 ahead of its release on February 8, 2024 not only gives you peace of mind that you’ll definitely be getting your hands on what looks to be one of the best cooperative multiplayer games of the year, but pre-ordering the game will snag you some neat bonuses too.
The Helldivers 2 pre order bonuses are:
‘TR-7 Ambassador of the Brand’ Armour Set.
‘TR-62 Knight’ Armour Set.
‘TR-9 Cavalier of Democracy’ Armour Set.
Helldivers 2 Super Citizen Edition – What Do You Get?
In addition to the standard edition of Helldivers 2, eager armchair troopers can also get their paws on the Helldivers 2 Super Citizen Edition which packs in all manner of neat goodies to help them along in their provision of democracy and liberty to the galaxy.
The Helldivers 2 Super Citizen Edition contains:
‘DP-53 Savior of the Free’ Armour Set.
‘Will of the People’ Cape.
‘MP-98 Knight’ Weapon.
Super Citizen Status.
Stratagem Hero Ship Game.
‘Steeled Veterans’ Premium Warbond.
Helldivers 2 Crossplay
Yes, Helldivers 2 on PC does support crossplay. This means that players on both PC and PS5 can join forces as they attempt to spread liberty and democracy across the galaxy.
Helldivers 2 Gameplay
At its core Helldivers 2 maintains the essence of the first game with aplomb. This is to say that you and up to three other gun-toting buddies are tasked with dropping onto various planetoids and blasting the resident bugs/evil aliens/bad cyborgs to pieces. By far the largest change that Helldivers 2 brings to the formula established by its predecessor however is the shift to an over the shoulder, third-person perspective from the more traditional top-down viewpoint embraced by the first game. Not only does the change in perspective allow Helldivers 2 to showcase a massive leap in visual fidelity, but so too does it also provide players with a much more immediate and visceral connection to the battlefield – not to mention some of the best explosions ever seen in a video game.
It’s also worth noting that there is more to Helldivers 2 than just blasting apart your foes en-masse. Much like the original game each mission in Helldivers 2 not only takes place on a procedurally generated world with a common set of environmental characteristics, but so too does it often demand that players complete additional objectives such as hacking communication beacons, destroying enemy nests and tackling massive bosses to name just a few.
Of course like the first Helldivers game before it, Helldivers 2 truly shines as a cooperative experience with friends and developer Arrowhead Game Studios has sought to double down on this aspect of its design. First off, though Helldivers 2 very much isn’t a Destiny like effort where you have multiple classes and deep specialisations, it does still prescribe a welcome degree of collaboration in terms of the loadouts that each Helldiver can bring with them to the battlefield. By picking between light, medium, heavy armour types and choosing a mixture of weaponry and defence items, Helldivers 2 very much encourages players to tailor their loadouts in tandem. This means if you’re heading to a planet where there are more hardy foes that are in fewer numbers, you might want to have a heavy armour loadout to distract the more powerful enemies while your fellow Helldivers in lighter armour can pile in the damage, for example.
Another part of the cooperative experience in Helldivers 2 is the use of Stratagems. Familiar to anybody who played the original Helldivers, Stratagems allow players to deploy a broad swathe of support items and ordnance to the battlefield at a moment’s notice. From devastating cluster bombing runs, automated sentry guns and hulking mechs through to handy shield generators and supply pods that provide limited use weaponry, the offensive possibilities that Helldivers 2 offers is pleasingly substantial to say the least. In case you’re wondering, deploying Stratagems is done exactly as before, requiring that players hastily enter in a sequence of button presses to obtain the gear that they want (not to mention the in-built stress and entertainment that comes with fluffing up the inputs during a heated battle).
Helldivers 2 also places a larger emphasis on weapons that require multiple players to use too. With the hefty railgun making a return among some newer chunky armaments, it’s clear that the cooperative spirit that so well permeated the original game is alive and well in its sequel. Not wanting to shy away from the friendly fire aspect of the first Helldivers that made it so unintentionally entertaining, you might be relieved/horrified to learn that Helldivers 2 not only allows you to ‘accidentally’ blast your teammates once again, but so too can you once again ‘accidentally’ land your drop pod on top of the noggin of your fellow players when you respawn, too. Put simply, Helldivers 2 looks set to capture the frequently intense and hilarious of the cooperative gameplay design that made the original such a hoot to play in the first place.
Where Can I Watch The Latest Trailer?
The latest trailer for Helldivers 2 is available to watch right now and you can catch it above. Focusing on the cutting edge features of the PC version, this latest trailer for Helldivers 2 not only rams home the sequel’s particularly amusing brand of sly imperialist satire, but so too does it provide us with a neat glimpse at the intense third-person combat that Helldivers 2 looks to boast in spades, while also confirming it supports crossplay. Happy days indeed.
PC System Requirements
With the shift to a fully three-dimensional, over the shoulder perspective, the level of visual fidelity in Helldivers 2 has also taken a corresponding climb, meaning that you’ll need a fairly decent rig to get the most from the game. You can catch the full set of Helldivers 2 PC requirements below.
Minimum Requirements:
Renders at 1080p @30 FPS with ‘Low’ graphical presets
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 470
Storage: 100 GB available space
Recommended Requirements:
Renders at 1080p @60 FPS with ‘Medium’ graphical presets
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-9700K or AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 6600XT
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Recommended
Performance Requirements:
Renders at 1440p @60 FPS with ‘High’ graphical presets
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i5-12600K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Recommended
Ultra Requirements:
Renders at 4K @60 FPS with ‘Very High’ graphical presets
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-12600K or AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth looks set to provide franchise fans and action RPG players alike with the biggest series entry to date, boasting a massive game world, a reliably entertaining cast of characters and an almost overwhelming amount of quests, side-quests and other activities to get stuck into.
Given that Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is technically the ninth core entry in the series, excluding the various last-gen versions and the 19th century set Like A Dragon Ishin!, there’s a lot of story to catch up on. Luckily, we’ve cobbled together this handy abridged recap to do just that.
Yakuza 0
Unfolding against the neon twilight of Japan during the tumult of the 1980s, Yakuza 0 introduces us to a fresh faced Kazuma Kiryu who immediately finds himself framed for murder in an empty lot within Kamuorocho’s development district, forcing him to flee the Dojima family in order to safeguard his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. Shortly after, Kiryu joins forces with Tetsu Tachibana, a real estate mogul who promises to clear his name, bringing Kiryu in direct confrontation with the sprawling Dojima Yakuza family and more specifically, Dojima lieutenants Hiroki Awano, Keiji Shibusawa and Daisaku Kuze. Realising the danger, Kiryu’s oath-brother Akira Nishikiyama severs their ties as a means to protect them both as Kiryu sets about protecting Tachibana and taking on the Dojima lieutenants that want to see him dead.
Meanwhile over in Sotenbori, disgraced Shimano Yakuza Goro Majima is tasked with managing a hostess club as a means to work off his punishment for getting involved in the Ueno-Seiwa assassination which took place in 1985. Under constant surveillance by Tsukasa Sagawa, a member of the Omi Alliance and rival to the Tojo Clan, Sagawa tasks Majima with assassinating Makoto Makimura, a blind woman who also happens to be the sister of Tachibana and the unwitting owner of the seemingly lucrative empty lot. Refusing to do this, Majima soon discovers that another high ranking Yakuza, Sera, has captured Makoto and handed her over to Kiryu who in turn finds himself betrayed by Oda, spy under the employ of Shibusawa who eventually captures Makoto and holds her prisoner on a private boat.
Racing against time, Kiryu discovers that Kuze has imprisoned Tachibana and though Kiryu defeats Kuze it isn’t before he tortures Tachibana to death which leads to Kiryu storming Shibusawa’s boat, defeating him and rescuing Makoto. Before he can kill Shibusawa his oath-brother Nishikiyama appears and dissuades him from doing so, at which point Kiryu rejoins the Dojima family and begins a journey as a new Yakuza. Elsewhere, Majima discovers that Chinese assassin Luo Gui has not only murdered Dojima lieutenant Awano, but is also responsible for the empty lot murder that kicked everything off in the first place. After killing Gui and refusing to assassinate the head of the Dojima family on the orders of Sera, Majima returns to the Shimano family and leaves Makoto in peace to live with her new partner. Permanently traumatised by events, a wild-eyed Majima meets Kiryu in Kamurocho as Yakuza 0 draws to an end.
Yakuza Kiwami
Framed for the murder of Sohei Dojima, the patriarch of the Dojima family, (honestly, can this guy catch a break?) Kiryu takes the hit and subsequently spends a decade in prison, during which time his longtime friend and oath-brother Nishikiyama ascends and becomes a feared Yakuza crime boss in his own right. After leaving jail, Kiryu not only discovers that it was Nishikiyama that had him framed, but also that Yumi, his former lover, has gone missing along with ten billion yen from the Tojo Clan. Additionally, Kiryu also encounters a young girl called Haruka and learns that her father is none other than Kyohei Jingu, a corrupt politician that will stop at nothing to take down the Tojo Clan.
After being defeated by Kiryu atop the Millenium Tower and subsequently sacrificing his life to kill Kyohei Jingu, Nishikiyama’s death also results in the missing ten billion yen being showered across the city. With Yumi succumbing to a gunshot wound, Kiryu becomes Haruka’s adoptive father and subsequently leaves the Tojo Clan.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Taking place one year after the events chronicled in Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2 sees Kiryu called back into action after the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, Yukio Terada, is assassinated by hitmen employed by the Omi Alliance. Enraged by this, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho only to discover that Ryuji Goda, the Omi Alliance’s deadliest fighter and self-styled ‘Dragon of Kansai’, is gunning for him. After a titanic battle in which Kiryu defeats Goda, the latter succumbs to his wounds while Kiryu helps to establish Daigo Dojima as the new Tojo Clan chairman.
Yakuza 3
With the Tojo Clan now stabilised under the leadership of Daigo Dojima, Kiryu opens an orphanage to honour the sacrifice of his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. Six months on, Kiryu is once again pressed into action as Daigo informs him that the land the orphanage is built on has been targeted for acquisition by Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya, who wishes to swallow the orphanage as part of a “Military Base Expansion Bill”. Two years after Kiryu seemingly secures the orphanage, Daigo is shot and left comatose which also results in the theft of the deed to the orphanage.
It’s soon revealed that Yoshitaka Mine, the chairman of the Hakuho Clan, has not only ordered the destruction of the orphanage but is also intending to kill Daigo in his sleep and take over control of the Tojo Clan as a result. After a lengthy battle, Kiryu defeats Mine who in turn sacrifices himself by tackling Andre Richardson, the leader of an arms smuggling gang, off the hospital roof before he can kill Kiryu. After being stabbed by Goh Hamazaki, a bitter Yakuza that stood to profit from the sale of orphanage’s land, Kiryu retreats to the newly rebuilt orphanage and rests as Haruka takes care of him and sees to his injuries.
Yakuza 4
After building his loan company with the money from ten billion yen that fell from the sky in Yakuza Kiwami, friendly loan shark Shun Akiyama encounters a woman named Lily who asks to borrow one hundred million yen for unknown reasons. Soon Lily goes missing and Akiyama encounters Goro Majima, who is also in pursuit of Lily. Elsewhere, Taiga Saejima, former blood brother of Goro Majima and perpetrator of the 1985 Ueno-Seiwa assassination, escapes from prison and is washed up on the beach outside Kiryu’s orphanage. After being nursed back to health by Kiryu and Haruka, Kiryu and Saejima speak to Majima who confesses that he was prevented from backing up Saejima on the day of the assassination, resulting in Saejima taking the entire brunt of the prison sentence.
Detective Masayoshi Tanimura meanwhile meets Lily and discovers not only that she is actually Yasuko, sister to Saejima, but that she has been blackmailed into handing over 100 million yen to corrupt police officer Isao Katsuragi who has promised to reexamine Saejima’s case, unaware that he has already broken out of prison. At this point, Tanimura returns the money to Akiyama and together with Yasuko begin to suspect that the rot of corruption runs deep in the Kamurocho police force. Forced back into action once more after the death of Yasuko at the hands of the corrupt police unit, Kiryu unites with Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura atop the Millenium Tower as they face down the forces of Police Chief Seishirō Munakata and manage to defeat them all, causing Munakata to take his own life in the process rather than be arrested.
Yakuza 5
Working as a taxi driver under the alias Taichi Suzuki, Kiryu hears that Tojo Clan chairman Daigo Dojima has gone missing and sets off back into the neon jungle of Kamurocho to find him. Back behind bars once again, Saejima learns that Goro Majima has been killed and subsequently makes his escape to Kamurocho to track down the killer of his oath-brother. Now much older, Haruka seeks to make a career for herself as an idol and is promptly taken under the wing of Mirei Park, who it turns out was not only responsible for forcing Kiryu into hiding to protect Haruka’s reputation, but is also the ex-wife of Goro Majima to boot. With Mirei turning up dead shortly after in a fake suicide, Shun Akiyama takes Haruka under his protection and the two head to Kamurocho.
Kiryu arrives in Kamurocho shortly after and discovers that a cellmate of Saejima, Shigeki Baba, is part of an elaborate operation by the Omi Alliance to trap and kill Kiryu and Saejima, thus leaving the way clear for the syndicate to take over the Tojo Clan’s operations in Kamurocho. Soon, it is revealed that both Daigo and Majima faked their disappearance and death respectively in order to investigate Tsubasa Kurosawa, the terminally ill kingpin of the Omi Alliance. After defeating the forces of Kurosawa, Kiryu finds himself drawn into combat with Masato Aizawa, who reveals himself to be the son of Kurosawa. On the brink of death, Kiryu defeats Aizawa and is helped to his feet by Haruka, who declares that she is no longer an idol and will instead spend her time with Kiryu.
Yakuza 6
Released from prison in 2016 after agreeing to serve a sentence for his past crimes, Kiryu finds out that Haruka has secreted herself away in Onomichi to avoid the prying eyes of the paparazzi after she stepped down from her career as an idol three years earlier. Worse still, Kiryu learns that not only is Haruka in a coma due to a hit and run accident, but she also has a son called Haruto that Kiryu takes with him on his journey to Onomichi, discovering in the process that Onomichi has its own powerful Yakuza group known as the Yomei Alliance. Not long after, Kiryu discovers that Yuta Usami, Captain of the local Hirose family, is actually the father of Haruto and it isn’t long before Haruto is kidnapped by the Jingewon Mafia who delivers them into the clutches of the Yomei Alliance.
Yuta and Kiryu, together with other members of the Hirose family storm Millenium Tower (seemingly the place where all scores are settled in the Like A Dragon/Yakuza games) and manage to rescue both Haruto and a freshly recovered Haruka, who was kidnapped as soon as she awoke from her coma. It’s revealed that an elderly and highly corrupt politician named Minoru Daidoji was the mastermind behind not just these events, but also a plot to co-opt a secret battleship for use against the American forces that happen to be garrisoned within Onomichi.
After Daidoji passes away of old age, Kiryu is visited in January 2017 by his successor who demands his silence about Daidoji’s rather shady dealings. Kiryu accepts, but only so long as the imprisoned Daigo Dojima is released to stabilise the Yomei Alliance, Haruka is left alone and Kiryu’s own death is faked to ensure that Haruka can never again be used as a means to get him. With the agreement in place, Yakuza 6 ends with Kiryu paying one last visit to the Sunshine Orphanage to make sure that Haruto and Haruka are well and then leaves just as one child sees him disappear into the distance.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Marking the debut of new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, Yakuza: Like A Dragon begins in 2001 as Kusaga is convinced to confess to a murder that Masumi Arakawa’s captain has seemingly committed. After being released 18 years later, it appears that the world has greatly changed. Not only was Arakawa not present to greet him on his release, but the Omi Alliance has taken Kamurocho from the now defunct Tojo Clan. Shortly after, Kasuga runs into police officer Koichi Adachi who informs him that Arakawa was the cause of the Omi Alliance takeover as he betrayed the Tojo Clan, leading to their ruin. Furious, Kasuga and Adachi beat their way into an Omi Alliance get together only for Kasuga to be shot by Arakawa and Adachi to be arrested.
After a homeless fella by the name of Yu Nanba discovers Kasuga and nurses him back to health over the course of three days in the town of Isezaki Ijincho, Nanba and Kasuga reconcile with Adachi and newcomer Saeko Mukoda and set off to uncover why the Tojo Clan collapsed in the first place. Eventually the group discover that the Seiryu Clan and Geomijul Mafia had been running a money counterfeiting racket that Yutaka Ogikubo, a career politician, was using to bribe the local police force to keep the peace. Akira Mabuchi, second-in-command of the Liumang group meanwhile, catches the group and reveals that everything until this point had been engineered to frame the group as Seiryu Clan members that wanted to disrupt the peace. Freed by Joon-gi Han, the second-in-command of the Geomijul group, the party venture to the headquarters of the Geomijul to try and stop the Seiryu Clan and Geomijul Mafia from going to war.
Eventually, it is revealed that Kasuga is the legitimate son of Arakawa and after encountering an older Kiryu who uses intel from his Daidoji faction to reveal that Tokyo governor Ryo Aoki is the de facto leader of the Omi Alliance (now operating under the name ‘Bleach Japan’), the group manage to tempt out Aoki and Yosuke Tendo, a bloodthirsty member of the Omi Alliance. After learning that Tendo has killed Arakawa, Kasuga enrages and defeats Tendo in battle while Aoki escapes. However, Aoki in turn is killed by his right hand man who feels betrayed by Aoki’s use of the Omi Alliance. After incriminating evidence discovered in Arakawa’s office results in prison time for every official who took Ogikubo’s bribe money, Kasuga is last seen at the funerals of Aoki and Arakawa and resolves to stay in Ijincho.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Presumed dead by friends and family alike, Like A Dragon: Gaiden sees Kiryu living a secret life as a special agent for the Daidoji faction, using the codename ‘Joryu’ to undertake missions selected by his handler Kihei Hanawa. Crucially, completing these missions pays money that is in turn used to finance the Sunshine Orphanage. Soon after in 2019, Kiryu has a meeting with Watase Family captain Yuki Tsuruno, who tells him that his group will free him from the Daidoji and return to the Sunshine Orphanage if he pledges his allegiance to them – so long as Kiryu’s fixer, Hanawa, is killed as part of the bargain. Obviously something of a non-starter for Kiryu, he refuses the offer and later tracks both Tsuruno and Watase Family lieutenant Kosei Shishido to Sotenbori where after an extended battle with the Watase Family, Kiryu rescues Hanawa. At the end of the battle, Tsuruno reveals that he wanted Kiryu’s help to destroy both the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan completely. Kiryu refuses, but it soon transpires that the Daidoji have made a deal with the Watase Family, one that allows them to make use of his services for an indefinite period of time.
A week or so after, Kiryu meets up with the Watase Family in an abandoned construction site only to realise that the Shishido has betrayed the family’s leadership and instead turns the Watase Family against Kiryu and Tsuruno. After the battle, Kiryu, the elder Watase and Tsuruno are accompanied by Hanaway to the Omi Alliance headquarters where it is announced that both the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance will be disbanded. Predictably a massive brawl kicks off, with Kiryu, Tsuruno and Ichiban Kasuga securing the safety of both Daigo Dojima and the elder Watase – ensuring that both organisations continue to exist. Eventually, a hostile faction of Omi Alliance remnants led by Shishido attack the group, only for themselves to be headed off by Daigo and the returning Taiga Saejima and Goro Majima. Finally, Kiryu confronts and defeats Shishido, who is kept alive by the Daidoji for possible use as an agent in the future.
One year later, Hanawa and the Daidoji reward Kiryu for not only securing the freedom and life of the elder Watase, but also in helping Kasuga in his mission to stop the corrupt Tokyo Governor Ryo Aoki. This reward is not only a tear-jerking recording of Kiryu’s two adopted children, Ayako and Taichi visiting his grave along with a drawing from Haruto, but he is also given some much needed time off outside of the country – on the condition that he takes on a new name, Taichi Suzuki. Later in 2023, a much older Kiryu is seen in Hawaii honouring Yumi, his former lover, as the events of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth begin.
