Relationships News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Atlus' upcoming RPG, Metaphor: ReFantazio, seems built around systems that wouldn't feel out of place in the developer's Persona series. It's got turn-based battles that hinge on striking enemy weaknesses, it's got warrior spirits that you can summon in combat, and — most crucially to this article — it's got a bonding system where you can hang out with key characters, learning more about them in the process.

Romance has factored into many Bethesda games over the years, everything from The Elder Scrolls to Starfield. So, it's no surprise, then, that Fallout 4 has plenty of characters whose hearts can be won over. You just need to know how to press the right buttons.

Baldur's Gate 3 allows players to make a wide variety of choices, whether that's moral decisions or even just deciding the order in which you approach the game's quests. However, one player has discovered that it even takes into account which companions make it to the end of the game - and changes the dialogue for those who beat it without any of them.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the next big title to be released this year by developer Atlus, and it recently gave us a bunch of new details and a release date to get us all nice and excited about this October. Over the past 24 hours, Atlus has been showcasing gameplay and answering questions about Metaphor, which is where it was revealed that the game will not feature any romance options.

After slipping into theaters just before Christmas of 2023, the romantic comedyAnyone but You became a sleeper hit, lingering in theaters and racking up hundreds of millions at the box office, thanks to its sexy stars and flirty banter. Now that it’s on Netflix, it’s likely to find a whole new audience and start a whole new round of conversation about what makes rom-coms exciting these days. But the steamy scenes and its stars’ off-screen chemistry isn’t what really makes the movie enjoyable — the real draw is the stellar supporting cast.

Get your hands dirty without leaving your couch with Humble’s Down on the Farm bundle. Through May 10 you can add eight eccentric farming sims to your Steam library for just $20 at Humble. If you’d like to try your hand at starting a homestead outside of Stardew Valley, this is a bundle you’ll want to check out.

The inclusion of one confusing mechanic could enhance its sequel,. While there have been several updates to, and there's still the possibility for some smaller additions in the future, it has been confirmed that CD Projekt Red has largely shifted work toward the sequel, so rather continue to amend what came before, players can look forward to seeing what features can be improved or built upon going forward.

Team Ninja's is one of the most expansive RPGs of 2024. The game features a complex combat system, a detailed skill tree, important story choices, and bonds that can lead to romance, otherwise known as Veiled Vows. There are several ways to develop bonds with characters in, including bringing them on missions, giving them gifts, and agreeing with them in conversation.

In 2023, Strange Scaffold released El Paso, Elsewhere, a horror-tinged throwback to the likes of Max Payne that also told a deeply personal and unsettling story about a toxic relationship. Its next game, Life Eater, puts players in the shoes of a serial killer seeking out new targets to kill and sacrifice to a god he’s starting to question the existence of. This isn’t a Manhunt- or Hitman-style stalk-and-kill game; it offers a feeling of detachment by having players parse through timelines to learn everything they need to abduct and properly sacrifice a target.

In the ever-evolving realm of relationships, a recent study by the Indian dating app QuackQuack reveals a fascinating trend among young adults in Tier 1 and 2 cities. According to the findings, a significant 35 percent of GenZ daters view dating apps not just as a means to find love but as a tool for exploring their own identities. This revelation sheds new light on the role of technology in modern romance.

Expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) push, Microsoft has announced that it will be investing $1.5 billion in United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm G42, giving the U.S. giant a minority stake and a board seat, allowing the two to deepen ties amid the global battle for tech dominance. AI has become the buzzword of the last few years, with companies around the world competing to leverage this technology.

With recent job listings suggesting that a new game could be in the works at Santa Monica Studio, there's some speculation as to what the story could be. Previously, it was confirmed that would conclude the Norse saga of the series, leaving it as a duology, but in December 2023, the studio released a free, roguelike DLC,, which took place after this ending, suggesting that there is room for more stories set within the Norse mythology.

Inside all of us are two wolves. This is true for everyone except Nicolas Cage. Inside Nicolas Cage are two Nicolas Cages: the somber, dialed-down Nic Cage of Pig and Leaving Las Vegas, and the screaming, manic Nic Cage of Vampire’s Kiss, The Wicker Man, and Mom and Dad. Which one wins? The one he decides fits a given role, sometimes regardless of the movie around him. (I will never stop wondering why calm, internal, straight-faced Nicolas Cage showed up for the otherwise nutballs supernatural action movie Drive Angry.)

America is on a puritanical streak. Politically, individual states and the federal government keep looking for ways to completely outlaw abortion (and birth control, and health care for trans people, and books), while on social media, there’s been one hand-wringing discussion after another about whether movies should ever have sex scenes. The push to get blockbusters in front of a global audience has come with widely noticeablerestrictions on sexual content — or even basic kissing. In modern studio movies, as R.S. Benedict put it, everyone is beautiful and no one is horny.

Invincible’s reputation for hyper-violence is well earned. The Prime Video show’s season 1 massacre of the Guardians at the hands of Nolan/Omni-Man (J.K. Simmons) is harrowing, and it sets the tone for the show’s commitment to realistic superpowered gore and destruction. And few scenes in television history are as gnarly or horrifying as the destruction of a train and everyone on board in the first season’s finale.

The Joker 2 trailer has arrived – and it's spurred a very convincing fan theory. 

Telltale Games has given a very brief update on The Wolf Among Us 2 and confirmed that it's still in active development at the studio, although fans are still hesitant to get their hopes up too high.

There are some secrets that feel too big or too painful to share. It’s easier to take on the burden yourself, you say, to withhold knowledge in the desperate desire to prevent someone else’s pain. Open Roads, the Gone Home-style road trip game published by Annapurna Interactive, is about those secrets, and what happens when those secrets slip — no, explode — out into the world.

A report about the internal struggles at Life is Strange: True Colors' developer Deck Nine has revealed that Square Enix didn't want the series to be viewed as "the gay game".

Early last year, while working on the next entry in the Life Is Strange franchise, a few developers at Deck Nine stumbled upon something that didn’t belong in their game: Nazi symbols.

The teams behind The Elder Scrolls 6 and The Elder Scrolls Online work as "equal partners" and share lore responsibilities.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau will be available as part of the PS Plus Game Catalog from launch day, which is April 23rd. PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers will be able to get their hands of the 2.5D action game without having to wait. The game was first announced during The Game Awards on December 8th, 2023.

There's no bonking in Dragon's Dogma 2, but that doesn't mean your Arisen doesn't get it on. One Redditor by the name of TianAnMen_8964 gathered a bunch of evidence in an attempt to prove that you sleep with your main pawn off-screen when you go to bed.

 have been revealed. The episode titled “The Last Time” will be broadcast on AMC Plus. It centers on Rick Grimes and Michonne, who encounter new obstacles in their relationship amidst a transformed world. Despite facing separation and encountering difficult trials, they strive to reunite and redefine themselves in unfamiliar situations. The final episode has a duration of 45-47 minutes.

More than 30,000 attendees registered to visit the 2024 Game Developers Conference.

The American Society of Magical Negroes is an uncomfortable film for many reasons — most of them deliberate. The title spells this intention out plain as day. The film’s protagonist, a biracial Black sculptor named Aren (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves co-star Justice Smith), tiptoes through an art gallery — and his own life — as though he were perpetually walking across eggshells, consciously and unconsciously agonizing under the weight and expectations of the white gaze. Incapable of asserting the value of his work as an artist or his worth as a person — or simply unwilling to — he radiates an aura of discomfort that immediately draws the attention of Roger (David Alan Grier), a kindly older Black man who just so happens to be, you guessed it, a “Magical Negro.”

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empiredirector Gil Kenan knows his way around a family-friendly horror movie. Kenan’s first film was the cult-classic animated flick Monster House, a spoopy horror tale involving a haunted house that eats people, and the three young kids who venture into its depths. It’s up there with Henry Selick’s Neil Gaiman adaptation Coraline in terms of how scary it gets while still walking the line of what’s acceptable for a kids’ movie.

Misfits Gaming has launched a new games studio called Misfits Interactive.

Romancing is a gaming tradition that goes way back, especially in the RPG genre.

Judas, the game in development at Ken Levine's Ghost Story Games, just had a huge amount of details revealed by the man himself. Levine was featured in a fresh 75-minute interview with IGN's Ryan McCaffrey and Geoff Keighley, who had just played four or five hours of the game.

The development team behind Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has seemingly taken a side in the great Tifa-versus-Aerith debate.

Folks seem pretty down on Dungeons & Dragons lately, and not for no reason. The company that owns it, Hasbro, continues to stick its foot in it — first with the whole OGL fiasco this time last year, and most recently with some conflicting comments from the company’s CEO regarding its stance on AI. But the gang at Worlds Beyond Number, the wildly popular Patreon-funded actual-play podcast, is still all-in on the seminal role-playing game. In fact, their most recent behind-the-scenes episode is serving to remind me why 5th edition D&D remains so popular — both with at-home players and with performers at Dimension 20, Critical Role, and elsewhere.

Nearly 50 talented artists recently joined together to create an amazing mural in tribute to the late Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. Earlier this month, fans of anime and gaming alike were saddened by the heartbreaking news that Toriyama had passed away from acute subdural hematoma at age 68. Dragon Ball itself has spawned countless video games, but Akira Toriyama also had a hand in creating legendary titles like Chrono Trigger and the Dragon Quest series, and numerous other franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog have drawn influence from his work.

Over the years since , CD Projekt Red has released several major patches with new features such as a working Metro system, multiple apartments, car combat, and more. With the studio recently confirming that no more major updates are coming to as its developers turn their attention toward the game's sequel, there are some further improvements to one of its later features that should be incorporated in 's launch.

Almost four long years after its original announcement, Red Thread Games has confirmed Dustborn will launch for PS5, PS4 on 20th August 2024. A new trailer debuted during today's Future Games Show announcing the release date, which you can catch above. The game will cost $29.99 on the PS Store, with a physical edition available at a higher price.

Norwegian developer Red Thread Games (Dreamfall Chapters, Draugen) and publisher Quantic Dream have unveiled the release date of Dustborn during the Future Games Show - Spring Edition.

Red Thread Games and their publisher Spotlight by Quantic Dream have announced that Dustborn will launch on 20th August 2024 across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One and PC. Check out the new gameplay trailer.

For Gil Kenan (Monster House), the chance to co-write Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a dream come true. Directing the sequel was an even taller order — and one he jumped to take. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire brings the series back to New York, expands the roles of both the legacy Ghostbusters cast and the new additions introduced in Afterlife, and pushes the spectacle level to contend with modern blockbusters.

News that The Sims was getting a big-screen adaptation – with Barbie's Margot Robbie executive producing, no less – made waves on the internet overnight.

HoYoverse, with its absurd gacha-fuelled riches, has taken to releasing more and more animated shorts to promote its game’s updates. This latest five-minute Honkai: Star Rail clip delves a little deeper into the relationship between Black Swan and Acheron, the latter of whom will headline the v2.1 update which is launching next week.

It isn’t really clear who the Ghostbusters franchise is for anymore. In Jason Reitman’s 2021 sequel/reboot, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, it seemed like the series had a clear trajectory, and that he was aiming at finally making it the kids’ franchise that Halloween costume companies always dreamed it could be. But the latest entry, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, clings so tightly to the franchise’s past that it’s hard to see how it could appeal to anyone at all.

Apple established its business relationship with Chinese suppliers around 30 years ago, and while the company has formed alternatives in other regions, it will be a difficult task to sever ties with a region that has remained a reliable partner for all these years. In the latest interview with Tim Cook, the company’s Chief Executive highlighted how critical China’s supply chain is to Apple, likely hinting that both will be working with each other for the foreseeable future despite the U.S. government making trade relations difficult.

If you were a fan of X-Men: The Animated Series, there’s a lot to look forward to with the reboot, X-Men ’97. Is Charles Xavier truly dead? Will Cyclops ever find out that Cable is his son from the future? Will the show introduce any characters we’ve met over the past couple decades? Oddly enough, one lingering question involves Morph, a character most casual comics or MCU fans might not even know.

This article contains spoilers for The Dark Urge run of Baldur's Gate 3.

In the new French sci-fi film The Animal Kingdom, the world is changing and humans are changing with it. A mutation begins transforming humans into animal hybrids, creating a variety of bird-humans, insect-humans, mammal-humans, and many other new types of beings. Caught in the middle of this upheaval are a divided family — the mother, in the middle of mutation, has gone missing from a medical transport, which leaves the father and son desperately searching for her. The fantastic movie is finally out in American theaters and on VOD, after originally screening at Cannes and other film festivals in 2023.

Two titans of monster cinema return to the big screen for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – and director Adam Wingard reveals that he took inspiration from two other Hollywood greats for the MonsterVerse franchise's fifth installment.  

As a big fan of romantic comedies, both in movie and book form, I have a shortlist of beloved tropes. Enemies to lovers? Sunshine and grumpy? Second chances after a missed connection? Love, love, love.

Games outsourcing company Virtuos has bought visual effects studio Beyond-FX.

Jennifer Lopez’s upcoming Netflix movie casts her as a “brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence” in the sci-fi action flick Atlas. But the first teaser for Atlas doesn’t really get into that relationship with AI or the renegade robot with whom Lopez’s character “shares a mysterious past.” What the teaser does do is raise one question: Who on the production of this movie played a ton of Titanfall?

Lover OTT release: What's more comforting than watching a romantic dram from the comfort of your home? While such movies come with a lot of emotion, this Tamil movie called Lover will teach you how to withstand personal differences even after years of relationships. The film made its theatrical debut in February and now it is all set to stream online on the OTT platform. If you are looking for such a comforting movie then you must add Lover to your watchlist as it may well be to your liking. Know more about Lover OTT release, plot, cast, and more.

For whatever reason, romance and marriage have become one of the most essential parts of tactics games such as Unicorn Overlord. Just like combat, however, each game handles the relationship system a little bit differently. It might seem straightforward here, but there is an extra step or two needed to fully commit and marry one of your companions. Aside from just building a strong bond with your favorite character, there are a lot of benefits to improving your relationships. Here’s a full tactical rundown of how romance works here so you can form an everlasting bond.

Daggerheart is officially in open beta. An early version of the anticipated TTRPG system from Critical Role’s Darrington Press is available for free via a downloadable packet of PDFs from DriveThruRPG and from the Daggerheart website. You can also try out an early version of the game’s character creation tool at Demiplane. Darrington Press is encouraging players to share feedback on the game’s systems throughout this process, and will be releasing improved versions ahead of the full release in 2025.

The past couple decades or so have seen fairy-tale subversion afterfairy-tale subversion where a princess doesn’t want fancy dresses and a handsome prince, and instead decides to pick up a sword or split-kick her attackers. In fact, it’s such a common play in media these days that “Pretty Princess Powerhouse” has become a trope of its own.

During the recent Capcom Highlights showcase, one particular quote from Dragon's Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno caught everyone's attention. He stated: «Over 1,000 characters inhabit the world [of Dragon's Dogma 2], each with their own unique stories and motivations.» That's a lot of NPCs.

ECI collaborates with OpenAI to safeguard elections from AI interference; Teja Manakame urges caution against bias in AI models; Majority of workers optimistic about AI improving work life balance, Study; Hit songwriter Guy Chambers voices concerns over AI's threat to songwriting- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.

There was a slight chance that Samsung would have partnered with MediaTek to bring its Dimensity 9000 to its flagship Galaxy S series in the past. Given that the Taiwanese company took the premium Android SoC market by surprise with this release, competitors started taking note of MediaTek and where it could be headed. Unfortunately, the deal between the two firms could not materialize, with a tipster sharing that there was a scarce supply of the chipset, amongst other reasons.

The Sims 4 was a runaway success when it launched in 2014, and a decade later it’s still going strong. Part of the reason for its continued popularity is that it lets players enjoy the game however they see fit. Whether that means building a sprawling mansion, watching a family grow through the generations, or just messing around with fireworks, there’s no limit to how you can play The Sims 4. That includes using cheat codes, as the game features a massive list of built-in cheats to modify your experience.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman was cleared of any wrongdoing that would have mandated being fired from the company late last year, according to a report based on a monthslong investigation into the events leading up to his brief ouster.

Final Fantasy 7 writer Kazushige Nojima says he "regretted" how Aerith and Tifa's relationship was handled in the original JRPG, and therefore saw Remake and now Rebirth as opportunities to make good on the friendship he envisioned all those years ago.

Lego and DC's relationship goes back years. From real-life Lego sets to a series of games and even a star-studded Lego Batman movie, it's hard to imagine the two entities still have any ideas they can collaborate on to wow us all these years later. Enter what might be Lego and DC's best team-up yet. A Lego Batman: The Animated Series set that turns Gotham's skyline into an elaborate Lego set launching this April.

During the first day of the Capcom Highlights event, the Japanese publisher announced the release of a free character creation tool for Dragon's Dogma 2.

The director of Dragon's Dogma 2 has warned future players to take care of their favorite NPCs, as the developer takes death "seriously" and isn't afraid to kill characters off. 

Earlier today, rumours started swirling that PlayStation was moments away from announcing its acquisition of Arrowhead Game Studios, the Swedish team behind the wildly successful Helldivers 2. While the two parties already have a strong relationship – Sony has published both of the Helldivers titles – founder Johan Pilestedt was quick to pour cold water on the reports.

Outward developer Nine Dots is moving into third-party publishing.

Persona 5 Royal and Persona 5 probably have the most in-depth romance system that the series has seen. If you enter a relationship with someone, you'll be able to take them on dates and you'll unlock multiple special scenes that play out at set points during the story. The waifu wars have never been quite so engaging.

One of the most memorable moments from the original Final Fantasy 7 is the date scene at the Gold Saucer. There was no way that Square Enix would leave that part out of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. In the original, it was almost an Easter egg of sorts to learn that you could end up going on a date with almost every member of the cast, not just Aerith. That’s because the relationship system was hidden and almost impossible to manipulate without a guide. Thankfully, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth makes things much clearer with the new bonds system that shows you just how strong your relationship with each character is. That plays directly into who you end up sharing a touching moment with near the end of the game.

The United States' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has released its verdict on Dragon's Dogma 2, detailing its sexual content among other things.

Bonds between friends is one of the core themes in Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, and plays a bigger role than ever in terms of gameplay. By building strong relationships between Cloud and the entire cast of characters, you will not only unlock powerful new moves for every pair you can perform, but also open them up as potential partners on a date in the latter part of the game.

The team behind Helldivers 2, presumably fully aware that Steam Deck and PC players would go digging into the game's files, have left a funny little detail in there.

It looks like Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista could one day return to the MCU, but only if a bigger and better role is offered to him. 

When you get into your vehicle for the first time in Pacific Drive, it doesn’t feel any different than your average junker. Sure, it seems like it could fall apart any minute, but it somehow manages to stay mostly together… as long as you don’t run it into trees or through mysterious anomalies. It’s just an average car — until your friends on the radio start questioning how it exists at all. They say it should be impossible for a car to work in the Olympic Exclusion Zone, where the game takes place. The car also has some interesting characteristics: It’s able to take some technologically advanced upgrades like a champ, and despite being a 1950s station wagon, it can handle a paranormal storm with only minimal damage.

Andrew Haigh’s dark love story All of Us Strangers arrived to Hulu on Feb. 22, after two quiet months of building up word of mouth in theaters. Debuting just before Christmas and competing with a lot of more bombastic releases, it initially reached a small audience — but it was evident that it made an impression, as critics and viewers spun out lengthy online analyses and discussions of its memorable, divisive ending.

“If he plays League, run,” they told me. I didn’t listen.

Dungeons of Hinterberg, a gorgeous new Xbox exclusive indie that mixes Stardew Valley-like relationship building with Breath of the Wild's exploration, has a release window. It'll be out this summer.

Director of the Mother series Shigesato Itoi has finally told the story of where the name for the iconic RPG series comes from, and it's not as simple as the other explanations that have spread over the years.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth reviews are out now, giving us a taste of what the highly anticipated sequel has to offer. And while we won't delve into spoilers just yet, one thing that's stood out from our time with the game is that Rebirth is full of queer representation, much more so than previous games.

The live-action version of Sokka in Avatar: The Last Airbender is still the character "we know and love" according to actor Ian Ousley – amid fan backlash to the perceived changes from the Nickelodeon cartoon in the upcoming Netflix series.

Times & Galaxy has been revealed by publisher Fellow Traveller and developer Copychaser Games, and it places players a robot intern at a galaxy spanning news outlet. The game has been developed by former journalists, and in it players will be sent off to find stories, chase leads, and interview people. You will also be able to create the headlines to try and make a big of a splash as possible.

Times & Galaxy has been revealed by publisher Fellow Traveller and developer Copychaser Games, and it places players a robot intern at a galaxy spanning news outlet. The game has been developed by former journalists, and in it players will be sent off to find stories, chase leads, and interview people. You will also be able to create the headlines to try and make a big of a splash as possible.

Despite the name, True Detective has really never been about tying up every loose end to a mystery. Sure, the detectives at the heart do their damnedest, but if you’re here for procedural and ethical police work, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree; this tree is more about glimpsing supernatural terror, refracted through the prism of human cruelty and violence.