TheSixthAxis News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

The first SMITE 2 alpha weekend will be taking place from May 2nd to May 5th, Titan Forge Games has confirmed. These alpha weekends will be taking place every weekend afterwards too, until SMITE 2 reaches 24/7 closed beta later this year. Players can register their interest in taking part through the official website, with a selected number being chosen. However, those who buy the Founder’s Edition, Deluxe Founder’s Edition, or Ultimate Founder’s Edition will have guaranteed access.

Capcom has announced that it will be delisting Dark Void, Dark Void Zero, and Flock! from Steam on May 8th. It has not yet confirmed if this delisting will also occur on the Xbox store but it does seem likely. If it does then Dark Void and Flock! will be impacted on that platform, as Dark Void Zero was not released on Xbox platforms. Dark Void was already delisted from the PlayStation store, but Flock! is still available.

Alien: Rogue Incursion has been announced for PSVR 2, Meta Quest 3 and Steam VR, in a dream come true for VR gaming fans of Alien: Isolation. The single-player action-horror VR game will be coming out in Holiday 2024.

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn has been given a release date of August 29th, SEGA and NatsumeAtari have confirmed. The game originally released 33 years ago for the NES, and the original team has got back together to remaster Shadow of the Ninja for a new audience. You can see the gameplay in the trailer below.

Kakao Games has confirmed that it will be closing the North America and Europe servers of ArcheAge on June 27th. The main reason behind this is the declining player count which has meant some of the game’s content is not as accessible as it should be for the remaining players. Players will not be able to migrate characters to other server regions for ArcheAge, with those respective regions placing IP blocks in too. The full statement can be read below.

As we come to the end of another cold and grey week, I’m heading into London to see what’s what at WASD. Before getting to that, though, I’ve had a few different games on the go this past week, with the remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door in my Switch and the puzzle-sniper action of Children of the Sun on my PC. I did also squeeze in one solitary mission in Helldivers 2 – every little bit helps when spreading Managed Democracy!

Gameloft has officially launched Disney Speedstorm season 7 “Sugar Rush” which introduces a wealth of new kart racing content based on Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph series.

You’ve heard of the Lands Between, but have you ever considered the Sands Between? That’s not a joke, that’s a genuine area in Another Crab’s Treasure, and I don’t think anything sums up the exact vibe that this game is going for better than the name of that one area. This is a love letter to and a sendup of so much of what FromSoftware has done, all wrapped up in a very cute crab protagonist just trying to get their home back, and a deeply unsettling message about pollution that we all already know, but don’t often get to play through.

It wouldn’t be a classic Mario game if he didn’t blindly follow the instructions of a letter or invitation and end up going on yet another adventure. That’s exactly what happens at the start of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, though in this rare instance, it’s actually a genuine invitation from Princess Peach to come and hunt down a mystical treasure, and not a dastardly ruse.

Bethesda has officially dropped its hotly anticipated Fallout 4 PS5 upgrade, coinciding with the recent launch of Amazon’s superb TV adaptation. Also available on Xbox Series X|S as well as PC, this beefy free update comes loaded with new features and improvements almost a decade after Fallout 4 was first released.

As popular as big multiplayer games are, there’s nothing quite like the solo escapism and wish fulfilment of playing single-player, is there? And when it comes to sports games, that wish fulfilment comes in the form of stepping into the shoes of a professional athlete and rising to glory, whether it’s becoming the world number 1 tennis player, leading an underdog football team to win the Premier League, or bringing your favourite F1 team both kinds of championship glory. F1 24 is bringing a bunch of great new options to the career mode, which will add just a few more variable and fun twists in your quest to be the best.

The gaming tech universe is incredibly competitive these days, but there’s always room for new and innovative entries from creators around the world. Hong Kong-based PB Tails are entering the controller arena with the Crush, a Bluetooth 5.0 enabled pad compatible with PC, Switch, iOS and Android. Fully customisable, it boasts Hall Effect sticks and triggers which will last you well into the next generation.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X|S upgrade for Fallout 4 is here, with updates rolling out for Xbox and PC players and a new PS5 version of the game available as a free upgrade for owners on Sony’s console – sadly not for PS Plus subscribers.

Stellar Blade is one of those action-adventure boob games. You probably know the ones I mean, where you fight off huge monsters using incredible powers whilst wearing skin-tight fetish outfits. We’re talking head-to-toe black leather that looks like it was painted on with incredibly thin paint, and that’s one of the more reserved options you have for dressing up Eve. Once you’ve adjusted to the constant fetishisation, there’s a pretty enjoyable game to be found in here with quite a few interesting quirks, along with a few not-so-interesting ones.

CI Games and Hexworks have released Lords of the Fallen update 1.5 – Master of Fate. This free update for the Soulslike action RPG is the last in a sequence of rapid updates after a troubled initial launch, but also a new Advance Game Modifier System that can twist the game into being more of a Roguelike, even.

Ubisoft has release Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora update 3.2, bringing with it a 40 FPS performance mode for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A potential downside to the update on PC is the removal of AMD FSR 3 support, while Ubisoft work to fix artifacting issues with FSR 3 Frame Generation.

First days on the job are always hard to deal with, but Nowa is absolutely thrown in the deep end at the start of Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes. Our hero is drafted into a joint military operation between their nation and the Empire, but before too long they’re raising an army for the resistance against imperial invasion. Along the way you’ll meet and recruit more than one hundred heroes (hence the name) to bolster said army.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a gaming Trojan Horse. I don’t mean to suggest that, instead of the beloved heroes in a half-shell, this 2D side-scrolling beat ‘em up stars a squad of teenage mutant wooden horses. Rather, Wrath of the Mutants has used a cunning disguise to sneak past the discerning gamer’s ‘bad game’ sonar, just as the Greeks cunningly snuck into Troy all those centuries ago. This console release rides on the coattails of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, but while the two games share many similarities, Wrath of the Mutants pales in comparison.

When it launches in just over a month, F1 24 will bring with it a significant overhaul to the series’ physics and handling. Codemasters says that every year, granted, but this year they really mean it with a big year-on-year update that introduces new suspension kinematics, revamps the tyre model, adds rake to the aero model, puts more ERS control in the hands of the player, and more.

Microsoft and IGN have announced the IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase, which will be taking place on April 29th. It will be commencing at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST, and will have updates from various projects including Vampire Survivors, Dungeons of Hinterberg, 33 Immortals, and Lost Records Bloom & Rage. Other games will be showcased too, including Palworld and what players can expect next for that.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is an ambitious. This is a Metroidvania not content with only including the usual genre constants of an underpowered protagonist, plentiful power-ups, and a vast labyrinthian land to explore. Instead, developer Surgent Studios has woven the theme of grief throughout everything the player does and experiences. From the visuals, to the combat, to even the rhythm and pacing of exploration; grief underpins it all. The only problem with this is that, so intent were the developers in building a palace of elaborate emotional adornments, they seem to have forgotten about some of the Metroidvania bits.

Embracer Group has announced its intent to split into three separately listed companies through 2024 and 2025 in the most drastic restructuring effort since the company fell into financial hardship last year, and bringing an end to the megalithic IP and studio acquisition project of the last decade. Asmodee Group will split off this year, with “Coffee Stain & Friends” and “Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends” then splitting up in 2025.

Tales of the Shire has been officially revealed by Private Division and Wētā Workshop, with the game adapting the Lord of the Rings IP to a cosy life simulator. In the game, you are a Hobbit living in Bywater, where you will make friends, go fishing, visiting the shops, and working towards throwing the Bywater Festival.

After a thirteen year hiatus, the TopSpin series is back with TopSpin 2K25, and with the weighty moment-to-moment gameplay still at its core, it’s a tennis game revival that doesn’t disappoint.

We’re coming to the end of the “get up obscenely early to watch Formula 1” season for UK fans, but that hasn’t been helped by F1’s decision to make the Chinese GP a sprint race, with a 4AM start time for the mini-race this morning. Having dutifully set my watch alarm to tap my wrist a few minutes before, I managed to sleep through it… but was then woken by a repeat alarm an hour later, and struggled to get back to sleep. All of the pain, none of the gain.

LittleBigPlanet 3’s servers will remain offline permanently, Sony has confirmed. The servers first went down earlier this year as a temporary measure, due to technical issues. However, Sony has stated that due to the ongoing difficulties the LittleBigPlanet 3 servers will remain offline forever. This now means that there are now no LittleBigPlanet games online, which means players can no longer access the millions of levels that have been created over the years.

Accompanied by strains of vocal-led orchestral music, the Moon Studios title rises into view. For many, this is reason enough to sit up and take notice of No Rest For The Wicked. For the studio behind the sublime Ori series, a visually arresting and emotional pair of platformers, this is the tricky third album: a new IP, a new direction, and a launch into Early Access along with it. Taking a swing at the action RPG genre, there’s echoes of From Software alongside Diablo here, and yet, Moon Studios’ enigmatic outlook shines through. On first impressions alone, there’s nothing to be worried about for fans of the studio – excusing the decadent horrors that lie within.

Prison Architect 2 has been delayed for a second time, ditching the previous launch date of 7th May until 3rd September, aiming to improve performance on lower-end PCs in particular. Prison Architect 2 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Insomniac Games has swung out with a new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 update on PS5. Available to download, this newest patch includes a list of minor fixes with no new content added.

The sun has got his hat on, at least in the north of England, but it’s still bloody freezing so I wouldn’t bother going outside quite yet. I’ve had a week of playing Fallout 4, and it’s very good indeed. Almost as good as the TV show that made me start playing it. Besides that, I’ve been sampling the somewhat confusing delights of Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, and made a start with No Rest For The Wicked’s Early Access launch. It’s very good!

If you asked me what my favourite football née soccer game is, it wouldn’t be anything as prosaic as FIFA, Pro Evo or Football Manager. It wouldn’t even be Sega Soccer Slam – though that’s a close second. It would be Inazuma Eleven. The fact that it is as much a Pokémon-esque RPG where you’re collecting football players as it is an actual game of football only makes it better. As does the fact that it, and its mainline sequels, were all played with the Nintendo DS’ stylus. If I’m being honest, the fact that it’s only vaguely a football game at all is probably what makes it my favourite football game.

Cities: Skylines 2 developer Colossal Order has posted a clear apology over the current state of the game and is issuing refunds for the recently released Beach Properties DLC, which went down like a lead balloon with the community. The console release of the game has been further delayed as a consequence of a renewed focus on improving the base game on PC.

Warhorse Studios has revealed Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, a sequel to their 2018 hit historical RPG. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is set to release later this year across PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Braid, Anniversary Edition has been delayed by a couple weeks, from 29th April to 14th May, but the good news is that it’s now confirmed with even more levels and special features to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the classic indie platformer.

There’s a fresh trailer for Zombie Army VR, teasing the game’s undead sniping antics ahead of a launch for PSVR 2, Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro, and PC VR via Steam later this year.

Sega’s classic arcade title Golden Axe will be heading to the small screen in the shape of an animated television series for Comedy Central. Star Trek: Lower Decks Mike McMahan and American Dad’s Joe Chandler are creating the series so you can assume that it will probably focus more on zingy one liners rather than smashing seven bells out of Death Adder.

The turn based superhero game Capes, developed by Spitfire Interactive and published by Daedalic Entertainment, will be released on May 29th. Capes was originally slated to be released in 2023, but was delayed. To confirm the release date, a new trailer has been released showing gameplay that echoes the likes of Marvel’s Midnight Suns and XCOM.

Thunderful has announced that SteamWorld Heist 2 is in development, and it will be released on August 8th for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. It comes nine years after the first SteamWorld Heist originally released for the Nintendo 3DS, and while some of the aspects are similar, the location has changed from space to the sea.

Green Hell is getting its 20th free update today for PC, and it is titled Anteater. The name gives away what to expect with this update, with the Giant Anteater being added to the game. In addition, this update also adds a composter, parrot keeping, and spawning anthills. A trailer showing off what players will get in the Green Hell Anteater update has been released too.

The story of Class VII and the Cold Steel saga has been going since the early PlayStation 3 days. With each entry in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, the lore expands, and new consoles come out to experience that lore on. We’ve seen all four entries in the series come to Nintendo Switch recently after debuts on PS3 and PS4 – but now the last 2 entries in this JRPG epic are finally playable on PlayStation 5.

Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends has got a confirmed release date from developer Catch & Release, and publisher Humble Games have announced. The laid back sushi restaurant management sim will be available on PC, and Xbox Game Pass day one on June 4th. A brand new trailer for Rolling Hills has been released too.

Ubisoft has announced that an Assassin’s Creed Mirage free trial is now live, and will be live until April 30th. The free trial will give access to the first two hours of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and any progression made will carry over if you decide to purchase the game. The free trial is available on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.

Supergiant Games has confirmed players can sign up for the Hades II technical test. To join you will need to head to the Hades II Steam Page, and click on the request access button. This will register our interest to play Hades II early. The population of the players that will be successful will small, but Supergiant will expand as time goes on.

The TopSpin 2K25 soundtrack has been unveiled by 2K Games, and it will feature 18 songs. Artists such as Drake, Fall Out Boy, Justin Timberlake, and Swedish House Mafia are amongst some of the musicians that feature. There is also an original score by BT, aka Brian Transeau, a musical pioneer in the world of trance. The ‎TopSpin 2K25 Soundtrack by 2K is on Apple Music, so those interested, and have an Apple Music account, can listen to it now.

Microsoft has confirmed the next additions to the Xbox Game Pass library, with Harold Halibut being the first of this cohort having been added to the service today. Orcs Must Die! 3 is going to be joining the service tomorrow, April 17th, followed by the likes of NHL 24, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Another Crab’s Treasure, Manor Lords, and Have A Nice Death.

Nintendo has announced that it will be having an Indie World Showcase tomorrow, April 17th, and it will last approximately 20 minutes. The showcase will feature new announcements and updates for games that will be launched on the Nintendo Switch in 2024. The Nintendo Indie World Showcase will start at 7am PT/ 15:00 BST/ 16:00 CEST.

There’s a view amongst some psychologists that boredom is a vital part of a person’s mental wellbeing. Take psychologists James Danckert and John D Eastwood, who in an article in the Guardian propose that “boredom can steer us towards realising our potential and living full, meaningful lives.” Indeed, the suggestion is that, in our tech-soaked culture, we don’t spend enough time being bored. Danckert and Eastwood believe that “boredom has been the push for much creativity, innovation, and growth” in human society. For anyone looking to improve themselves via the benefits of boredom then, I have the ideal solution: play through Harold Halibut. As good as it looks, it is sadly one of the dullest video games I’ve ever experienced.

Keanu Reeves has reportedly joined the cast of the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, stepping into the slick sneakers of Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic 3 is set to release in cinemas on 20th December 2024.

Climbing to a mountain’s peak is an arduous journey at the best of times, but fighting to reach and claim a summit in the midsts of WWI’s Battles of the Isonzo? It’s something else entirely. BlackMill Games’ exploration of Alpine warfare has taken a new turn with a time limited ‘Ascent’ event for their latest WWI game, Isonzo.

One Piece Odyssey will be available for Nintendo Switch on July 26th, Bandai Namco has confirmed. The game originally released on January 12th, 2023 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. The Switch release of One Piece Odyssey will include the Reunion of Memories DLC, and extra outfits including the Traveling outfits, including the Sniper King’s Traveling Outfit, and the City of Water outfits.

Slay the Spire 2 has been announced for PC by Mega Crit, with the sequel to the acclaimed deckbuilding roguelike set to initially launch into Steam Early Access in 2025.

A lot of games can lean heavily on having either great style or substance, with a rare few having both qualities together. Even rarer are the are the games that boast style and abundance – a sensory overload of bright visuals, bopping music, and a million different on-screen stimuli all going off at once. When I think of games like that, my mind goes toward the wacky eccentricity of a game like Katamari Damacy. In many ways, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom takes that same abundance of wacky style and non-stop jams and applies it to a throwback collectathon platformer that I can’t get enough of.

It looks like it’s going to be a lovely weekend, so I’ve got plans to head out into the garden and do some gardening. There will obviously be some gaming in the evening, but I’ve got to make the most of the weather! What are you getting up to this weekend?

Dead Cells co-developer Evil Empire has revealed The Rogue Prince of Persia, a new roguelike take on the resurgent platforming adventure series. The Rogue Prince of Persia will head into Steam Early Access on 14th May.

Video games are all about dying. Be it Pac-Man failing to escape a ghost and bursting into pixelated oblivion, Mario melting himself by accidentally leaping into a pool of lava, or being one of the 99 that fails to win in a battle royale, gamers worldwide have died a thousand deaths. Thankfully, the grim reaper is a mere inconvenience in these digital realms, another obstacle you must traverse in order to do a Cody Rhodes and ‘finish the story’. Far fewer games explore the topic of Death in real life, the one with a capital ‘D’ that we all try really hard not to think about and desperately hope doesn’t apply to us or our loved ones. Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, however, well, that takes a long and hard look at death. Indeed, death, sorrow, and loss, is the very reason for this metroidvania’s existence.

It’s Friday! And with Friday comes a look back at all the games we’ve played this last week. I’ve been hammering Unicorn Overlord, which might just be the best game of the year, while I also spent a bit of time sobbing over the Wii U and 3DS being fully put out to pasture. Beyond that there’s been a lot of Party Animals during the school holidays, and a spot of New Star GP to round things out.

Bethesda has announced that the long-awaited Fallout 4 upgrades for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are coming out later this month on 25th April. PC, PS4 and Xbox One gamers will also see some benefits.

The medieval survival strategy RPG Bellwright is heading into Steam Early Access later this month on 23rd April.

There’s a great deal of romance attached to leading a medieval revolution against an oppressive regime, thanks in no small part to the myths surrounding Robin Hood and his Merry Men. The reality would have been much colder, darker and damp, but Bellwright is a game that latches onto that idealised fantasy and runs with it, tasking you with liberating the lands and building an army strong enough to stand against the Crown.

Technology moves at such a rate that what was considered cutting edge just a few years ago is now achievable for a much lower price. While Sony and Bose used to have a stranglehold on the noise-cancelling arena, the technology has now reached a maturity that means other manufacturers can put out comparable products for a third of the prestige brands’ price – and they too have pushed it down to their more budget offerings. Enter the OneOdio A10.

Following rumours that EA had cancelled a Dead Space 2 Remake project at EA Motive, the publisher has taken the unusual step of shooting down the story with a public statement. Dead Space 2 remake wasn’t cancelled… because it never existed.

Fallout has extensive lore built up over many years, rich pickings for anyone adapting the franchise for the big or small screen so it’s surprising that it’s taken this long for that to happen, especially when titles like Battleship and Rampage  have been adapted before Fallout. There was an attempt to make a Fallout film around the year 2000 and it got as far as a script but was ultimately cancelled.

RKGK has been revealed by Wabisabi Games and Gearbox Publishing, and it is a single player 3D platformer that is anime inspired. The announce trailer does not show any gameplay, and is instead cinematic. It shows main character Valah spray painted a building and the security bots that come to catch her out.

MOUSE has got a new gameplay trailer from developer Fumi Games and publisher PlaySide Publishing. The game has been inspired by the animation of 1930’s cartoons, and the main character is a mouse. It’s a gritty, noir. first person shooter, and you can see lots of cartoon mice (not Mickey Mouse) getting their heads shot off.

Vampire Survivors will be released on PS5 and PS4 in the summer,  developer poncle has confirmed. In addition to the news about the PS5 and PS4 release, poncle has also announced the Operation Guns DLC, which based on the Contra franchise. It will be coming to all current platforms on May 9th, and will cost $2.49 / €2.49 / £1.99.

The latest Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble trailer is all about the single player adventure mode and shows off the game’s 4-player co-op. The NintendoSwitch exclusive game is coming out on 25th June 2024.

Yesterday saw Nintendo shutdown their online servers for the Wii U and 3DS consoles, cutting off any and all games from any kind of online functionality. But now Pretendo, the community-created replacement network, has announced a new hackless way of getting back online. No Wii U hacking, no Wii U homebrew, no Wii U custom firmware, just some DNS tweaks to the network settings.

miHoYo has announced that a Zenless Zone Zero PS5 technical test is on the way, with registrations now open for the studio’s latest ARPG for a limited time.

With Destiny 2’s The Final Shape delayed until June  Bungie had to find something to fill the space between the last Season and the new expansion. Into The Light is here to fill the gap and is available to all players from right about now, with the patch weighing in at around 3.5GB on PS5.

Ubisoft has revealed the Star Wars Outlaws release date, with the game set to launch across PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on 30th August 2024 with pre-orders now live. See the new Star Wars Outlaws story trailer here:

It’s never easy saying goodbye, but video game consoles aren’t people, animals or favourite stuffed toys, so why get upset about it? With the closure of the Nintendo Wii U and 3DS online servers overnight, Nintendo has carved another date into their respective headstones, cutting them off from multiplayer gaming and pretty much any kind of online experiences for the remainder of their usable lives. There’s a reason it hurts, but it almost certainly isn’t because you were still playing on them every day. This is the loss of childhood, the loss of communities and the loss of experiences that you still cherish. This is getting older, and let’s face it, it sucks.

The Fallout TV show will start streaming even earlier that previously announced. The new stream date and time for the eight episode first season of Fallout is April 10th at 6PM PDT – that’s 11th April at 2AM BST in the UK.

EA and DICE have confirmed that Season 7 of Battlefield 2042 will be its last, with the companies looking forward to “what comes next” for the Battlefield franchise. That will no doubt be another big blockbusting online shooter, but Motive Studio will be creating a new team for Battlefield at their studio.

What is it that draws people to the strategy genre? Is it planning ahead? Is it puzzling over the best course of action? Is it the orderly nature of grids and linear movement? Or, going off the Fire Emblem series, is it helping an unlikely group of sellswords and mercenaries become super best friends? Whatever it might be, Unicorn Overlord has ‘it’, an X-factor that ensures that it’s an early entry for strategy game of the year.