Podcast: Forza Motorsport, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Detective Pikachu Returns enter, who wins?

After a three-year hiatus, Assassin’s Creed returns with Mirage. From a visuals and technical perspective, the team at Ubisoft has gone for a “less is more” approach. Powered by the latest iteration of the Anvil engine, Mirage looks stunning, often due to the myriad features it sports that are still not commonplace in all games or engines, such as real-time lighting systems that incorporate time of day, global illumination bounce of light, dense cities, vast landscapes, and huge vistas with rich and colourful flora and fauna.

The latest episode of VGC: A Video Game Podcast is now available for listening.

Catching up with Pikachu and Tim two years on from the 3DS original, Detective Pikachu Returns takes us back to Ryme City. The duo might be hailed as heroes for solving what was sending Pokémon into frenzies, but they still haven’t found Tim’s father and Pikachu’s owner, Harry Goodman, who went missing before the events of the first game. So our duo continue to solve cases in the city with the hope of finding the missing detective.

The latest episode of VGC’s new weekly show, VGC: A Video Game Podcast, is now available on all major audio platforms.

In , there are several cases for Tim and Pikachu to solve, however, there are also civilians with Local Concerns that require assistance as well. Local Concerns are the side quest equivalent for and are completely optional tasks, but necessary for anyone looking to 100% complete the game.

In , there are several local tasks to complete while working through the main storyline cases; one of these additional tasks comes from the Quiz Professor. The Quiz Professor will be found in several locations throughout the game, each time with a new question to solve.

Nintendo’s Detective Pikachu Returns, a sequel to 2018’s Detective Pikachu on the Nintendo 3DS, is now available on Nintendo Switch. It sees Tim Goodman and Pikachu (not that one) working to investigate Tim’s father, who has strangely disappeared. Check out the launch trailer below to see it in action.

New DLSS 3 mods have been released for Assassin's Creed Mirage and Lies of P. The DLSS 3 mod for the latest chapter in the Ubisoft franchise was crafted by PureDark, who released it a few hours ago alongside a demonstration video.

While it may not have been on everyone’s “wish list” for 2023, Detective Pikachu Returns has arrived for Nintendo Switch. The game is a sequel to the hit Nintendo 3DS title that inspired the equally popular adaptation that starred Ryan Reynolds as Detective Pikachu. The game puts players in a unique version of the Pokemon world where a young man named Tim Goodman can understand a particular Pikachu that can solve mysteries and drinks a heck of a lot of coffee. The unusual game was much different from the mainline series, and that’s likely what drew people to it, and now, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are hoping it draws people in again.

Another somewhat worryingly warm week is coming to a close, so it’s time to check in on the video games that we’ve been playing. First and foremost in my own gaming time has been Forza Motorsport, which toes the line between reinvention and continuation for Turn 10’s Xbox counterpart to Gran Turismo. It’s a game that I’m looking forward to seeing grow over time, that’s for sure.

The release of for Nintendo Switch has highlighted a problem that the main series has had for decades. is a spin-off game in the franchise and a sequel to 2016’s, which was originally released for the Nintendo 3DS. The new game follows the story of the titular Detective Pikachu and his investigative partner, Tim Goodman. The duo’s goals are to search for clues in order to solve the several mysteries that shroud ’s Ryme City. There are curious events taking place in the city, such as the disappearance of Harry Goodman, Tim’s father.

October is here and the month brings a non-stop train of game releases. It is perhaps the busiest month in gaming this year, with major titles fighting for space in the tight window of four weeks. Kicking off things on October 5 is Assassin's Creed Mirage, Ubisoft's next chapter in the long-running assassin's saga. This time, the game opts to shrink its scope and return to its roots with a more stealth and assassinations-based approach. The last three AC titles had adhered to a Witcher 3-style expansive RPG style, drawing criticism for open-world bloat.