In an interview on the Playstation Blog, Creative Director Guillaume Broche discussed the influences of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the meaning of the game's double-barreled title. There is no firm release date for it yet, but it is expected to release sometime in 2025.

Broche began by explaining the meaning behind the title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. "Expedition 33" straightforwardly refers to the protagonists belonging to the 33rd expedition to destroy the Paintress, the game's antagonist who can destroy generations of people by painting a number.

The first part is more interesting, referring to a French artistic movement that Broche said helped form the "overarching world of the game." He went on to cite some of developer Sandfall Interactive's favorite games. He noted the Tales of series, Persona, and Lost Odyssey influencing the game's RPG elements, while the combat takes cues from Devil May Cry, NieR, and the Souls series.

In case you missed it, here's the reveal trailer that offered a first look at the title's gameplay:

We got to see the title for the first time at the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase, with the announcement being accompanied by a trailer and a 2025 release window.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will release sometime in 2025 for the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

The post Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Director Explains Title Meaning, Influences appeared first on Siliconera.

Honkai: Star Rail developer HoYoverse changed the English voice actors for five-star character Argenti and of Huohuo's companion Mr Tail, both of which were previously portrayed by actor Adam Michael Gold. The company yet to announce the change, but it has been changed on the official website and was spotted by hxg_diluc on social media. [Thanks, hxg_diluc on X!]

In Honkai: Star Rail, Argenti is a five-star Physical Erudition character who specializes in area of effect damage with his Skill and Ultimate. Huohuo, meanwhile, is a Wind Abundance unit and healer who can refill her allies' energy and dispel debuffs. Both characters appeared in Update 1.5, with Huohuo being featured on the gacha banner for the first half and Argenti in the second.

While no reason for the replacement has been disclosed by HoYoverse, the company listed the new Honkai: Star Rail voice actors on its official website. Argenti will now be voiced by Talon Warburton, while Aaron Veach will voice Mr Tail.

You can find the tweet by @hxg_diluc embedded below:

Earlier in July 2024, HoYoverse announced that Chris Niosi would also be stepping down as the voice actor of upcoming character Moze after public outcry concerning allegations of abuse. Meanwhile, the company also released more details on Yunli, who will appear in the game as a Physical Destruction type character.

Honkai: Star Rail is available now for the PC, PS5, and mobile devices,

The post Honkai: Star Rail Argenti and Mr Tail Voice Actors Replaced appeared first on Siliconera.

The Star Named EOS is the latest game from Silver Lining Studio, and like Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery before it, the game tells a very personal story of art and connection in between puzzles set in panoramic scenes. Said puzzles aren't intended to be taxing, and I had a few issues with the slightly saccharine story, but if you can tune to the game's wavelength you'll find a very pleasant story with some lovely visuals here.

The game plays from the perspective of Dei, a young photographer following in the footsteps of his mother by recreating (very literal) snapshots of her life. Most levels in The Star Named EOS start with a letter from Mom as well as a photo, which you will need recreate with what you have available in the scene. There's some decent variety in the puzzles, though perhaps a few too many leaned on finding a code in the level and inputting it elsewhere. Sometimes you'll find what you need after a few puzzles and simply have to arrange it, but sometimes you'll need to get a little inventive. My favorite was one that involved holding cutouts against a poster to recreate a camping scene in the middle of a city. Complete the photo and you'll move to the area depicted as you piece together what happened to Dei's mom.

My copy of The Star Named EOS came on Switch, and while it ran perfectly and looked good I did find the point-and-click gameplay a bit clunky with the analog sticks. It was nothing huge, but searching out specific clickables without adjustable sensitivity was definitely more irritating than it could have been with a mouse and keyboard. This only got worse when I had to go back and forth between several screens to check the sequence I was inputting, so if you plan to play the game you should make things easier for yourself by bringing a notepad and, if possible, playing on PC.

The environments and art in general have a lovely, slightly painterly style and the game makes use once again of Silver Lining Studio's panorama tech. There are also a few cutscenes interspersed, usually where another character appears, and the designs there have this slightly Ghibli-ish quality to them that was pleasant. I especially liked the areas set in a train or a city cafe, which seemed like they might have had a mid-1900's aesthetic going on, though I don't know if the game is expressly set then.

There's a smidgen of replayability, should you want to go back and collect a few more bits of writing by photos of specific objects in levels, but otherwise you'll be done within a couple of hours. This will depend on how easily you take to the puzzles of course, but generally the game has a breezy pace that doesn't get bogged down despite the sentimentality of it all. I would say, however, that the pace left the story feeling a little too "broad strokes" at times.

Our protagonist Dei, for example, can come across as a little flat because we don't really know all that much about him. We're told several times that he's very talented at photography and is clearly very close to his mom, but I didn't get a sense of a real character beyond that. There's a part where a character says she envies how insightful he is, and it just felt very weird and unearned. Dei feels like a blank slate everyman meant to be projected onto, but the story feels like its meant to be personal in a way that didn't quite click together, at least for me.

[Note: The next section will contain spoilers for The Star Named Eos]

The Mom is similar, we get that she is clearly very idealistic and committed to her job but with such little information about what she's doing and why she's doing it the game kind of fails to convey the gravity of it. We don't really see what she believed was worth risking her life for, and I think that would have been a more concrete story beat for Dei learn that too. As it stands, it's not hard to come away from The Star Named EOS with the rather unflattering read that Dei simply replaces his lost mother figure with Nat, a character who appears towards the end, rather than coming to any realization or expressing any growth.

The Star Named EOS has a fairytale vibe to it like the start of a Pixar movie, but the same breezy pace and lightness of detail can also make the story feel flat or overly sentimental. Still, there's a pleasant and affecting time for those who can slow down and enjoy it.

The Star Named EOS is available for the PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Review: The Star Named EOS Is Short and a Little too Sweet appeared first on Siliconera.

HoYoverse released new details for the upcoming gacha banner featuring Zenless Zone Zero character Zhu Yuan. It is set to launch on July 24, 2024, alongside the banner for her featured W-Engine, and features two A-rank Agents as focus units.

Zhu Yuan is a limited S-rank character that fills the Attack role and deals Ether-aspected damage. Because she is limited, she will only be available via her specific banner, which this time also features Nicole and Ben Bigger as rate-boosted A-rank agents. Ben Bigger is a Belobog Defense unit who deals Fire damage. Nicole is a Cunning Hares Support who also deals Ether damage.

Zhu Yuan's featured W-Engine, which functions like weapons or Light Cones do in Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, is the Riot Suppressor MK VI. It will be available on its own banner at the same time. The two focus A-rank W Engines will be W-Engines The Vault (Support) and Big Cylinder (Defense), which would both work for Nicole and Ben.

In addition to the banner reveal, there is a new trailer for Zhu Yuan. It highlights her personality, rather than her gameplay. You can watch it below:

The banner featuring Zhu Yuan will become available in Zenless Zone Zero on July 24, 2024. The game itself is readily available on PCs, PS5s, and mobile devices.

The post Zenless Zone Zero Zhu Yuan Banner Characters Detailed appeared first on Siliconera.

Ahead of the event's rerun on August 2, 2024, NetEase Games released a new promotional video for the Identity V and Persona 5: Royal crossover collaboration. The company also released an overview of the essences that will be available during the event.

The event, which originally ran all the way back in 2019, introduced survivor skins based on Joker, Ann, Ryuji, and Yusuke. A second part of the event later introduced another set of skins based on Akechi, Haru, Futaba, and Makoto. This time, the two sets will be available concurrently. The new promotional video follows in the style of previous ones, but features all eight of the Persona 5 Royal characters in their Identity V forms.

The skins will be available via the Essence gacha system, with several portraits and a pet Morgana also available via game activities. For every six pulls on these Essences, players will receive a Soul of Resistance item via mail. These can be collected and used to ascend the skins and unlock the characters' Phantom Thief costumes.

You can find the new Identity V x Persona 5: Royal promotional video within the tweet below:

Here is the Essence information graphics with additional information:

Earlier in July 2024, Netease announced that we would see the Persona 5 Royal crossover event return to Identity V , giving players a second chance to obtain the skins. Meanwhile, Atlus also recently announced a line of Persona 5-themed hot sauces and coffees made in collaboration with Jade City Foods.

Identity V is readily available on PC and mobile devices, while the Persona 5 Royal crossover event will return on August 2, 2024.

The post See the New Identity V x Persona 5 Royal Crossover Video appeared first on Siliconera.

The Honda Racing Corporation announced that Hololive Vtuber Inugami Korone will be the ambassador for its annual Honda Racing eMS event, which is held using Gran Turismo 7. Qualifying races for the event will begin on August 2, 2024, while the final race will occur in Tokyo on December 1, 2024.

The Honda Racing eMS is an event held by Honda to promote motorsports, with 2024 being only the second time it has been held. Players can compete in Gran Turismo 7 races to get the best time, with the top 10 fastest competitors from the two categories (Under 17 and Over 18) qualifying for the final race called the GT Grand Final. Entry is now open to global participants, who can earn an in-game car livery and driver avatar by taking part. The final race will be held live in Aoyama, Tokyo, at the Honda Welcome Plaza.

Korone herself is not especially known for streaming racing games, but she has streamed herself playing Mario Kart and Assetto Corza Competizione. However, picking an ambassador not associated with racing was intentional on the part of Honda, as the company hopes it will help introduce new fans to the sport and company.

You can find the Honda Racing eMS announcement tweet, as well as Korone's comment, below:

This isn't the first time Korone has acted as an ambassador for a major brand, as she is also a brand ambassador for Sonic the Hedgehog and has appeared on official Sonic merchandise. Back in February, she also designed a mini-boss enemy for the game Lords of Exile.

Qualifying races for the Honda Racing eMS 2024 featuring Inugami Korone will be held on Gran Turismo 7 beginning August 2, 2024. The final race will take place on December 1, 2024, at the Honda Welcome Plaza in Aoyama, Tokyo.

The post Vtuber Inugami Korone Is a Honda Gran Turismo Ambassador appeared first on Siliconera.

The version 2.4 update for Honkai: Star Rail release date is set for July 31, 2024. It will bring with it new characters, storylines, and events. The update, titled Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue, was detailed during the July 19, 2024 Special Program.

During the new story missions, the Trailblazers are set to return to the Xianzhou Luofu for the Luminary War Dance festival. Players will also visit the Shackling Prison, an underwater dungeon containing enemies from the lupine Borisin race. Two five-star characters will also become available via the gacha system. One is Jiaoqiu, a Fire and Nihility character, and the Swordmaster Yunli, who is Physical and Destruction typed. Astral Express passenger March 7th will also take up the path of the Hunt as a free four-star Imaginary character.

A slew of new events will feature the Trash Can creatures that appeared in Penacony, asking players to take photos or fight alongside them. Free gacha pulls and double reward drop events are also set to return.

You can watch the 2.4 Special Program to get an idea of what's coming via Youtube below:

Ahead of the update, HoYoverse has begun drip marketing for future characters including Fire and Abundance alchemist Lingsha, and the Xianzhou General Feixiao, who will be of the Wind and Hunt types.

The version 2.4 update release date for Honkai: Star Rail is July 31, 2024, while the game itself is readily available for PC, PS5, and mobile devices.

The post Honkai: Star Rail Version 2.4 Release Date Falls in July appeared first on Siliconera.

Cover announced volume 2 of the Hololive Collection series of figures, this time featuring the English Myth Vtuber generation wearing Halloween costumes. The figures will cost 1,320 JPY (~$8.40) each and will be available to order on July 24, 2024.

The figures depict each of the members of Hololive English's first generation wearing the Halloween costumes used in the 2021 music video "Myth or Treat." Gawr Gura wears a dinosaur costume, itself a reference to a dinosaur mask worn the previous Halloween, while Kiara Takanashi dresses as a vampire. Calliope Mori is a blood-stained nurse, Ninomae Ina'nis is a mad scientist complete with lab coat and swirly glasses, and Amelia Watson is a pumpkin.

Each of the Hololive English Myth Halloween figures will come with a base and stand, and they will be be able to have their heads tilted upward. They keep the same "smol" art style as the previous collection, but won't be sold as blind boxes this time. Instead, fans will be able to choose which character to receive when they go on sale via Geekjack on July 24, 2024.

You can get a look at the designs for the figures below:

Hololive English Myth members also inspired a merchandise collaboration with SuperGroupies, which included acrylic stands, backpacks, and watches. Meanwhile, Cover also announced dates for the 3D debut of members from Hololive English Advent.

The Hololive Collection Vol.2 figures featuring Hololive English Myth in Halloween costumes will go on sale via Geekjack on July 24, 2024.

The post Hololive English Myth Vtuber Figures Are Dressed for Halloween appeared first on Siliconera.

Wuthering Waves developer Kuro Game detailed a new event coming to the game called Tactical Simulacra. The event is set to take place from July 20, 2024 until August 8, 2024, and it will award items like Astrite, class echoes, and tuners.

The event plays as a series of challenge battles, and it is available to those who have reached a Union level of 14. While the enemies in the event will receive enhancements and be stronger than usual, player teams will also be able to take advantage of effects like energy recovery on dodge or reduced enemy resistance. Doing well will result in more buffs becoming available, and achieving high scores will award us with useful items. These initially teased bonuses include 500 Astrite, the ever-valuable premium currency, as well as a level 1 and level 2 Malleable Elite Class Echoes and 150 tuners.

Developer Kuro Game recently teased two new characters for Wuthering Waves: Zhezhi and Xiangli Yao. Those will appear after the 1.2 update. The game is also set to appear at the Playstation booth of the 2024 ChinaJoy event.

The Tactical Simulacra event for Wuthering Waves is set to begin on July 20, 2024, while the game itself is readily available on PC and mobile devices.

The post Wuthering Waves Getting Tactical Simulacra Event appeared first on Siliconera.

Hotta Studio announced a new game called Neverness to Everness, with pre-registration available now. Several trailers and a website are also online, though a release date has yet to be announced for the PC, mobile, and "console" game.

Set in the city of Hethereau, Neverness to Everness is billed as a supernatural open-world RPG. While details are sparse on the official site, Hotta Studio released a gameplay trailer that shows action combat that will be familiar to anyone who played Tower of Fantasy, the studio's previous game. Drivable and customizable vehicles seem to also play a large part. At one point the player appears to purchase property from an estate group, which may suggest player housing will be in the game.

There is currently no indication regarding which consoles the game will launch on, though the site mentions PCs and mobile devices. Hotta Studio released Tower of Fantasy on the PC, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices. To pre-register for the game, click the "Book Now! Reserve Now!" poster on the official site.

You can get a look at the gameplay trailer here:

And here is the official release trailer:

Hotta Studio's previous game Tower of Fantasy is currently running on multiple platforms and receiving regular updates. This includes a collaboration event with the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise in 2024, which featured a playable version of Rei Ayanami wielding a hi-tech bow and arrow.

Neverness to Everness pre-registration is open for PCs, consoles, and mobile devices, however no release date has been revealed as of yet.

The post Neverness to Everness Pre-registration Opens appeared first on Siliconera.

Mobile developer KLab announced Bleach: Soul Puzzle, a match-3 puzzle game featuring characters from the Bleach anime and manga franchise. The title is set to launch worldwide sometime in 2024, though an exact date is yet to be declared.

The game will features items, special blocks, and special attacks on top of the basic match-3 mechanics. Chibi versions of characters from Bleach and the recent Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War anime appear in the game, and there appears to be a mode that allows players to arrange characters and scenery to recreate scenes from the series. There is also a pre-registration campaign going on, with the prizes like in-game currencies, items, and the chance to win an acrylic stand of protagonist Ichigo available.

You can pre-register for the game here and watch the teaser trailer below:

Earlier in July 2024, it was announced that Part 3 of the the Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War anime series would air in October, 2024. Meanwhile, a new game based on the series was announced at Anime Expo 2024 titled Bleach Rebirth of Souls, which is expected to launch on the PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Bleach: Soul Puzzle will launch for mobile devices sometime in 2024. The original anime and Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. Viz Media handles the manga outside Japan.

The post Bleach Soul Puzzle Mobile Game Will Appear Worldwide appeared first on Siliconera.

Developer HoYoverse announced the next Honkai: Star Rail Special Program, which will feature the new characters Jiaoqiu and Yunli as guests and detail the upcoming 2.4 update. The program will be livestreamed on Twitter and YouTube at 4:30am PT/7:30am ET on July 19, 2024.

Titled "Finest Duel Under the Pristine Blue," the program and accompanying update look to revolve around the Xianzhou War Dance Ceremony teased in the previous update stream. Upcoming Honkai: Star Rail characters Jiaoqiu and Yunli will feature as guest hosts alongside perennial host Owlbert, with the video description also promising more details on the upcoming path variant for March 7th. The exact release for the update is currently unknown and will likely be revealed during or shortly after the stream, but from the usual cadence of Star Rail updates we expect it to be around the time the current gacha banner for Jade ends on July 30, 2024.

The placeholder can be found below:

The most recent character to join the Star Rail roster was Jade, who appeared in a trailer earlier in July 2024. She also appeared in another video that gave us our first glimpse of some of her colleagues in the IPC's Ten Stonehearts.

The Honkai: Star Rail Special Program for 2.4 will air on Friday, July 19, 2024. The game itself is readily available on the PC, PS5, and mobile devices.

The post Honkai: Star Rail 2.4 Special Program Features Jiaoqiu and Yunli appeared first on Siliconera.

By taking a classic base-building/castle defense set-up and making it mobile, I feel Ark of Charon introduces some new quirks to a well-worn formula. But while it's certainly promising, it is also evident this Early Access title has some issues for Angoo and Sunsoft to work out if they want it to grow as strong and tall as the tree creatures within it.

The game itself plays as more of a colony-sim than its city-builder cousin The Wandering Village, and sees you taking care of a four-legged tree creature that is the sole offspring of the life-sustaining worldtree. As you travel the realm you'll need to defend it from attacking hordes of creatures, which you accomplish by building a bloody great fortress on the poor creature's back.

The building system looks simple, thanks to the side-on perspective, but each block you place has a weight and a bearing strength characteristic that prevents you building an enormous tower out of wood, or building too far out without support. As you progress through the technology screen you'll unlock new materials to construct from, with sturdier materials letting you build taller structures as well as being better at withstanding attacks. You'll also get new crafting stations and defensive emplacements as you'd expect, though there's a few issues that can make progression unsatisfying or even tedious at times.

The first is that the tech tree is laid out kind of flatly, so you have basic techs like cooking and mining next to mortar emplacements and laser cannons without any pre-requisites. They each cost the same, too, so if you're not careful you could find yourself accidentally spending your precious technology points on something you won't have the means to construct for quite some time. It also just lacks that general flow tech trees usually have, telling you subtly what sort of things you ought to be starting with before building up to more complicated technologies.

The second issue is thornier, and involves those structure upgrades. Say you've just unlocked stone or steel buildings, you'll likely want to start putting the plans to use right away. Except before you can really get to expanding your base with them you're first going to need to go back and replace all your old wooden structures first so they don't collapse under the weight of your new ones. Pillars and tiles are easy enough to upgrade by simply building the new one over them, but buildings can only be upgraded like this if the new blueprint fits perfectly over the old, which they rarely do. So you end up having to deconstruct and mess around with your layout every time you unlock new building parts, which completely buries the joy of getting new stuff under a load of busywork. It's a neat idea, it just doesn't shake out mechanically and it only gets worse the more you have to replace.

The combat is a simple case of building turrets in good firing positions, with damage bonuses based on how high you can get them. You have to manage ammunition supplies as well, but you can also take manual control of one of your emplacements to do some shooting yourself. It's fairly spartan for now, but with a few more enemy and weapon types I could see this really influencing how you design your castle layout.

Then there's Ark of Charon's pack-up-and-move mechanic, which is fun not just because you're no longer confined to just the map you start on, but because different areas hold different resources in abundance. You can decide you need to stock up on stone, and make a bee-line for a rocky area with lots of deposits. Even the enemies you face can change, which is important because collecting the souls of downed foes is how you reconstitute more golems, with different soul types boosting the speed of certain actions.

The downside is thematic rather than mechanical, as I couldn't help but feel like a greedy swarm of locusts stripping an area of natural resources before moving on. It's just a little at odds with Ark of Charon's whole "save the big tree to reinvigorate life" setup, which isn't helped by how little the sapling creature really factors into things. Some bonuses for building affinity with the creature would be nice, especially after letting you name it. Mine's called "Shrubby".

So there are a few flaws in the foundation, and a few areas that need a bit more meat to them, but otherwise Ark of Charon has a lot of room to grow. Providing the developers can find a way to wrangle those issues, I'll looking forward to seeing how it shapes up after a period in Early Access.

Ark of Charon is immediately available for PC via Steam Early Access.

The post Preview: Ark of Charon has Legs, But a Wonky Foundation appeared first on Siliconera.

Following in the footsteps of other visual novels like VA-11 HALL-A and Coffee Talk, Tavern Talk places you behind the counter of a medieval fantasy inn where you'll meet and serve a gaggle of adventuring customers. You'll hand out quests, as well as advice and drinks, influencing how various stories will play out from behind the counter of your cozy bar. While the tropes and motifs are well worn, they're also fairly well-executed and the game as a whole avoids slipping from "wholesome" to "cloying" as some of its fellow travelers do, even if it can play it a bit too safe at times.

Tavern Talk is primarily a visual novel during which you also have to serve drinks to your patrons, brewed from a number of stat-boosting ingredients. These start out simple enough. A patron asks for something to boost their strength, and you make the drink with a lot of the strength ingredient. Naturally the difficulty increases as you unlock more recipes and the requests get less obvious, but the game also mixes things up with the quest system. As the natural hub for adventurers in the region, your tavern also serves as a place for people to post missions (or for you to post ones pieced together from a the ramblings or rumors you pick up). Other patrons can then pick up these quests, but before they go they will often ask for a drink for the road. Whichever drink you serve can alter how they go about completing the quest and whether they succeed.

It's serviceable, but rarely challenging. Even with the addition of infusions, you rarely need to make more than the odd adjustment to a recipe. The entire time, I kept thinking back to a Honkai: Star Rail event called "Vignettes in a Cup," which had a similar, but slightly more involved, drink-mixing minigame that served as a more substantial puzzle. That said, you could make a good argument that a more complex system would only slow this game down and keep players from getting to the real draw: the characters.

Tavern Talk features a robust gallery of rogues (or fighters, or clerics, or... detectives), and each feels like they could be someone's player character. There's a grumpy dwarf that has no time for worldbuilding and wants to get on with the game, the stuffy cleric that rigidly obeys their alignment, and a changeling with the most rancid vibes I've ever seen. They bounce off each other well too, and sometimes buddy-up with interesting results. The edgy rogue and the optimistic kitten were a fun pair, as was the anxious elf taking charge of the imposing warrior woman. Their interactions also helped sell me on the setting, which I otherwise found to be fairly typical high fantasy fluff. The more I saw of how they talked about the world at large, the more lived in it felt.

Patrons can even bring back decorations they find on quests to spruce up your bar, though you don't get to place or customize them yourself. It's also a nice touch that Tavern Talk lets you open up a logbook at any time to read a bio on all your regulars, including their class and alignment. That last part was actually interesting to observe in the dialogue, as there were more than a few times I found characters agreeing (or perhaps, aligning) on certain topics despite having vastly different personalities. I usually despise the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system as limited and limiting, but here it felt less obtrusive and more like a consistency.

My biggest criticism of Tavern Talk is just that it doesn't really step too far outside that cozy comfort zone to re-evaluate things. To bring back a previous reference, VA-11 HALL-A (for all its problematic elements) used its 'worms-eye view' to show a different side of its cyberpunk setting, where you rarely have all the answers about whats going on and can do precious little when something happens to your friends and colleagues. It made the rapport you built with your regulars more meaningful, and in the end it felt like you had fostered a community that could mutually assist each other against the horrors of corporate dystopia. I never quite got that same feeling with Tavern Talk despite it hitting similar notes, or perhaps even because you have that little bit more agency in the story.

That's not to say the game fails, in fact Tavern Talk accomplishes everything it sets out to do: it has coziness in spades and plenty of entertaining characters to encounter. If you enjoy a gentle ride and the odd tabletop RPG, Tavern Talk will feel like ordering a favorite drink from your regular watering hole. It won't challenge you, but it might be just what you need to refresh after a long day.

Tavern Talk is immediately available on PC and Nintendo Switch.

The post Review: Tavern Talk Is Comfy, But Not Very Adventurous appeared first on Siliconera.

TechRadar reported that it seems UK-based chain store GAME will no longer be accepting pre-orders for games in-store, though they can still be placed via the company's online store. Existing pre-orders set to release before January 31, 2025 will still be honored, but all others are to be issued refunds. [Thanks, Eurogamer and TechRadar!]

Apparently the announcement came from an internal staff memo, and it has yet to appear on the company's social media accounts and site. Sources that spoke to both TechRadar and Eurogamer suggested the change is a result of plans to install new till (cash register) systems in store, intended to bring them in line with other companies owned by the Frasers group that acquired GAME back in 2019. Allegedly, the new "Enactor" tills are unable to process specific services GAME was known to provide, such as rewards cards, trade-ins, and sales of pre-owned games, and so the company has decided to discontinue the services.

GAME retail stores will apparently no longer be accepting in store pre-orders, though the company hasn't made any official announcements online yet. If things proceed as reports suggest, pre-orders set to release before January 31, 2025 will be honored, but orders for games releasing after or with unconfirmed release dates will be refunded.

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