If you want to unlock some of the most important blueprints in Skull and Bones, you need to find a variety of different outposts across the map. Some blueprints are only sold by specific merchants who are located at a single outpost, making it imperative that you explore the East Indies as much as possible.

However, even if you've explored a solid chunk of the map, there are likely some outposts you have missed. One of those might be Dragon's Back, which is tucked away on a small island in a remote location. Dragon's Back is a terrific outpost with a couple of high-profile blueprints and an intriguing contract. You can see the exact location of Dragon's Back and what you can purchase there in the guide below.

Dragon's Back location in Skull and Bones

Dragon's Back is located on an island in the Islands of the Moon region in Skull and Bones. You have to sail directly toward the island before you even get an icon indicating that something of significance is nearby. The island you're looking for is on the northern side of the Islands of the Moon text on the map. It's the largest island out of the three that encompass the region, as you can see in the screenshot below:

The outpost is located on the northeast side of the island and once you're close enough to it, you can disembark and explore everything it has to offer. I suggest first talking to the Ungwana Merchant who's right nearby where you dock your ship, who has a variety of blueprints, resources, and food on hand.

More specifically, the merchant sells the blueprint for the Fire Long Gun I, which is a fantastic upgrade over the regular Long Gun cannon. The fire variant sets whatever you hit ablaze, dealing more damage. In addition to the Fire Long Gun I, you can buy some other smaller blueprints, such as the Bombard Bomb Crate, cosmetics for you and your ship, and a plethora of food. The merchant also has a contract available called "We Seek Warriors," which is a fairly easy contract to complete.

After you speak with the Ungwana Merchant, you can head over and spread powder at the Pirate's Bonfire, which raises your crew's stamina for 30 minutes. There's also a pirate camp with additional vendors that sell more resources as well as a Fara Camp. The Fara Camp vendor sells Fara-specific cosmetics in addition to regular resources.

That wraps up everything you need to know about finding and exploring the Dragon's Back outpost in Skull and Bones. If you're looking for more outposts, you can read our previous guide about where to find the Sacred Tree outpost.

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There are 10 total ships you can acquire throughout your time in Skull and Bones. Each ship has a different name and class and you need to be a specific level to captain certain ships. One of the best early-game ships you can build is called the Defender, which is in the Hulk class.

As you might expect with a name and class like that, the Defender is a part of the Tank Ship Type, meaning it has extra defenses and specializes in reducing damage when bracing. You can read more about the Tank and the other Ship Types in our previous Skull and Bones guide. For now, though, if you want to get your hands on the Defender, you need to find its blueprint in a specific spot on the map.

Defender blueprint location in Skull and Bones

All ships, weapons, and other parts require you to find a blueprint before you're able to craft them. Sometimes the blueprints are awarded to you after completing a quest, but for the most part, you'll be purchasing these blueprints through merchants around the map in Skull and Bones.

For the Defender specifically, you'll have to travel to the Sacred Tree outpost in the Red Isles region. I've previously gone over where to find the Sacred Tree, but it's located west of Sainte-Anne down a series of canals near the Hova's Hill part of the map. At the Sacred Tree, you can find a Fara Warrior merchant right near where you dock. This Fara Warrior is the only merchant in Skull and Bones that sells the blueprint for the Hulk ship class, which right now only includes the Defender.

You can purchase the Hulk ship blueprint for the following materials:

• 12 Fine Jute
• 6 Bronze Ingots
• 6 Iroko Plank
• 1,080 Silver

All of these resources are fairly easy to obtain in the early game of Skull and Bones. You can find Fine Jute by harvesting Jute around the map and bringing it to a Refinery. The same can be said for Bronze Ingots if you bring the Refinery plenty of Copper as well as Iroko Planks, which are refined from Iroko wood.

As for the Silver, if you need some extra cash, I suggest completing contracts and main story quests. You can also Plunder settlements if want extra resources along with more Silver.

Whenever you have the necessary materials for the Hulk ship blueprint, you can purchase it from the Fara Warrior, head to the Shipwright in Sainte-Anne, and then craft the Defender. Once it's finished building, you can equip it as your active ship at any dock.

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The Xbox February update is on the way, bringing new ways to play on your phone, more organizational tools, and other quality-of-life features.

You can now play Xbox games via remote play with touchscreen controls. These are the same controls as offered with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Most games support basic touch-control layouts. Over a hundred games support custom controls, including Psychonauts 2, Sea of Thieves, and Minecraft Dungeons.

In other control news, a new thumbstick calibration tool has been added to Xbox. You can use the tool to address minor thumbstick issues, like inconsistent responses. Bigger issues, like drift for example, cannot be fixed with this tool. You should also recalibrate your controller if you repair it yourself.

The "My Games And Apps" now has new filters and sorting options. You can now filter games by supported languages, and accessibility/technical features, like touch controls. In the subscriptions tab, you can now sort games by "recently added," making it easier to find out what was just added to Game Pass or EA Play.

Additionally, a new "restrict access" option has been added to assist-share consoles in hospitals. This options allows profiles to be deleted on sign-out, making it easier for the console to be wheeled between rooms.

As for other Xbox news, a new report has named the first two Xbox exclusives reportedly headed to PlayStation. A business update on Xbox is due to release on February 15.

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Calling all Renegades! Xbox players can embark on the ultimate treasure hunt in Hawked, a brand-new online extraction shooter launching tomorrow, February 15 on Xbox Series X|S. Whether you’re a solo adventurer or looking to squad up with a buddy or two, a brave new world of daredevil escapades, exploration, and thrilling PvP and PvE combat awaits you on X-Isle.

If you’re ready to heed adventure’s call, here’s an overview of everything you should know before finding your fortune in Hawked.

Write Your Renegade Origin Story

A rich tapestry of our favorite comic books and pulp adventures inspired Hawked‘s art style and narrative. The game’s story unfolds in Issues, seasonal chapters released quarterly chronicling the exploits of treasure-hunting mercenaries known as Renegades. Issues will introduce new questlines, rewards, events, weapons, gear, and treasures to hunt, all while driving the story to weird and wonderful new places.

In Issue #1: Renegades, the adventurers guild GRAIL sets its sights on an uncharted world called X-Isle. This verdant paradise was once home to a lost civilization whose temples, ruins, and treasures still cover it. GRAIL is particularly interested in the treasure part… but there’s a snag. A monstrous faction called the Disciples have also made their way to X-Isle in pursuit of this treasure, and they’re proving to be a bit of a thorn in GRAIL’s side. That’s where you come in!

Together with a vibrant cast of rogues and rapscallions, embark on quests as you battle Disciples and rival Renegades, undertake daring heists to reclaim ancient treasures, and safely extract your hard-earned loot. Your Renegade legend is about to be written, and it’ll only get wilder from here on out!

Explore the Mysterious World of X-Isle

X-Isle is the kind of place you see on postcards. Gorgeous views. Tropical jungles. Beautiful beaches. Reptilian monsters. Well, maybe it’s not quite picture-perfect.

This newly discovered world is indeed beautiful, but it’s crawling with hostile enemies and dangerous locations. The good news is you’re equipped with exploration gear, standard issue courtesy of GRAIL. Your trusty Traverser is a multitool you can use to whack Disciples, ascend and descend cliffs, cross ravines, ride ziplines, or get out of a tough spot. If you want to make use of X-Isle’s plentiful waterways (and look cool in the process), your Hoverboard is the right tool for the job.

Discoveries await you on every adventure. As the story develops in limited-time events and Issues, the island will continue to grow and evolve, as will your relationship with GRAIL. Visit X-Isle often to see what’s new!

Extract Artifacts

You’ll find many treasures across your excursions, but you’re looking for the real deal: Artifacts. Complete encounters across X-Isle — such as puzzles, freeing helpful beasties from their prisons, and fighting off waves of Disciples — to obtain Glyphs. Once acquired, these mysterious symbols will grant you a temporary power-up for the duration of the match. Collecting five Glyphs will lead you to your prize.

Artifacts are locked safe and sound behind a Treasury Vault somewhere on X-Isle. Deadly traps and Disciple legions defend them, and the journey is treacherous, but it’s worth it. Solve the puzzle on the Treasury’s door to unlock it. Grab the Artifact and treasures within. Then get the hell out of there via Extraction Point — just stay frosty, as rival Renegades are itching to get their hands on your score.

Adapt Your Loadout for the Heist at Hand

A fully loaded arsenal of weapons and superpowered abilities is at your disposal. Scavenge shotguns, assault rifles, pistols, SMGs, sniper rifles, grenades, and more from chests to stand a fighting chance as your heists heat up.

Turn the tide by adding Exo and Ward Gear to your Loadout, along with their super-powered attacks and abilities. Take the Infernat Lantern, for example — it can unleash a fiery swarm to hunt down and inflict burns on enemies. Backed against the wall? Deploy Gelatinum to put a jelly wall between you and your opponents to slow them and their projectiles right down. Add new Gear to your Loadout via the menu before every treasure hunt to experiment with new tricks.

Your looted Artifacts can also be incorporated into your Loadout to get game-changing new powers, be it a speed boost, reduced cooldowns, health regeneration, or other useful effects.

Customize your Renegade

Unlock a massive suite of customization options. Switch up your Renegade’s look with full-body Avatars, Outfits, new Color Schemes for your clothes, striking Weapon Skins, new wraps for your Gear, and lovely sets of decorations for your Quarters. You can also express yourself mid-hunt with Emotes!

One of the best ways to unlock new cosmetics is via the Renegade Pass. Its Free and Premium tracks are themed to each Issue, with the Renegade Pass #1 available to start at launch. Tackle quests to progress your Pass and unlock more than 60 exclusive rewards. Complete the blazing Aztec Spirit Avatar and its full collection of variants, earn the Reptile Slayer and Sky Captain Outfits, wield the Veteran’s Blade Exo Gear, and brandish the Jungle Gods Weapon Skin in Issue #1: Renegades! There’s even more to unlock, so level up and see how much loot you can score.

Ready to rock X-Isle to its core? Hawked will be available to play for free tomorrow, February 15 on Xbox Series X|S.

HAWKED

MY.GAMES

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

Embark on the ultimate treasure hunt in HAWKED, a free-to-play online Extraction Shooter full of daring adventures, boundless exploration, and all-out PvPvE action in pursuit of ancient treasures. Adventure through a mysterious world where roguish Renegades battle monsters — and each other — to reclaim powerful relics from a lost civilization. Time to flip the page on your Renegade origin story! OUTFOX & OUTGUN! Play solo or team up in 2- or 3-player squads. Fight monsters and rival Renegades in explosive PvPvE combat. Switch up your loadout for the heist at hand with powerful weapons and superpowered abilities. EXPLORE AN UNCHARTED WORLD! Traverse X-Isle, a world lush with verdant vistas, dense jungles, gorgeous beaches, and ancient ruins to raid. Use your Traverser and Hoverboard to get around while dodging traps and enemies! RECLAIM ANCIENT TREASURES! Solve puzzles to collect Glyphs, unlock the Treasury, and claim the Artifact. Get it to an Extraction Point to cash out and upgrade it — wield extracted Artifacts to unlock new powers! BECOME A RENEGADE! Experiment with different playstyles by combining weapons, Gear, Artifacts, and Boosters in your loadout. You can also change your look with hundreds of customization options like Outfits, Weapon Skins, and more! FIND FORTUNE IN AN EPIC, EVOLVING ADVENTURE! Join the adventurers guild GRAIL, complete quests to unlock exclusive rewards, and witness X-Isle change and evolve as new threats rise, alliances shift, and adventure calls. FORTUNE FAVORS THE BAD

The post Hawked Is the Comic Book Adventure-Shooter You’ve Been Hunting For appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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Sony has unveiled its PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium game catalogue additions for February, which this month include Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Need for Speed Unbound, The Outer Worlds, Tales of Arise, and more.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is arguably the biggest biggie in there, whisking players away for a Viking adventure set against an open-world backdrop of Anglo-Saxon England at the end of the ninth century. A lavishly designed "saga for the ages", is what Eurogamer called it back in 2020.

Valhalla is joined by the developer Criterion's equally recommended arcade racer Need for Speed Unbound - the "best Need for Speed in a generation" we said when it released in 2022 - as well as Obsidian Entertainment's slightly less gripping 2019 satirical adventure The Outer Worlds, a "conventional, easygoing scifi RPG...that fades very quickly from the mind." And here's the full list of February's PlayStation Plus Extra games.

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The post Experience the Iconic Nordschleife in Forza Motorsport Update 5 appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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An update to the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth demo will improve the visual quality of Performance mode.

The update is due 21st February and will add a section of the Junon area specifically for the demo, as well as this visual improvement which will also apply to the full game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth supports both Graphics and Performance modes, with the latter providing a smooth 60fps.

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Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has officially exceeded 10 million copies sold on PlayStation 5, marking a new milestone for the game.

According to Sony's latest earnings report, it says that Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man franchise has now sold over 50 million copies, which includes the PC ports. As of February 4, 2024, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has contributed over 10 million of those sales.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 sold 2.5 million copies within 24 hours and more than 5 million within its first 11 days on the market. the game is also receiving a major update in March which includes new features such as New Game Plus and story mission replay.

In December 2023, Insomniac Games suffered a devastating data breach, and one of the pieces of information that was leaked was that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 needed to sell at least 7.2 million copies in order to break even on development costs. The updated sales figure suggests that the game is now making a profit.

While Insomniac is working on its next game, Wolverine, Sony has recently said that it would not be launching any games from its major first-party franchises until April 2025 at the earliest. This hints that the Wolverine game is still further away from being released.

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The Fantastic Four finally arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year, and Marvel Studios has officially revealed who will don the team’s iconic blue suits.

The Fantastic Four was first announced in 2019 and is scheduled to premiere next year as the second film in Phase Six of the MCU. In a sweet Valentine's Day message, Marvel announced the following actors will portray Marvel’s First Family: 

Happy Valentine’s Day from Marvel’s First Family! Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn are The Fantastic Four.

Marvel Studios' #TheFantasticFour, in theaters July 25, 2025. pic.twitter.com/dOmLG0m7ie

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) February 14, 2024

Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic - Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian)

Sue Storm/Invisible Woman - Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon, The Crown) 

Johnny Storm/Human Torch - Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, Overlord)

Ben Grimm/The Thing - Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, The Punisher)

Pedro Pascal has been a roll lately, starring as Joel in HBO's The Last of Us, portraying the titular Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, and starring in films such as The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and the upcoming Gladiator 2. Vanessa Kirby made her name portraying Princess Margaret in the Netflix series The Crown, most recently played Joséphine in Ridley Scott's historical epic Napoleon, and has appeared in the recent Mission: Impossible films as Alanna. Stranger Things season 4 fans know Joesph Quinn best as the season's breakout character, Eddie Munson. Ebon Moss-Bachrach has recently been known as Richard "Richie" Jerimovich in the FX series The Bear and as Arvel Skeen in the Star Wars series Andor. 

WandaVision director Matt Shakman will direct The Fantastic Four, though its story details remain scarce. The Fantastic Four is scheduled to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.

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Arrowhead Game Studios, the developer behind Helldivers 2, is going on a hiring spree to capitalize on the co-op game's success. According to CEO Johan Pilestedt, the process is about to start, with the aim of helping the team "accelerate and beef up content plans" around the shooter.

As tweeted by Pilestedt on February 13, job listings will be "going up soon," but Arrowhead encourages senior devs to express their interest regardless via an open form. At the time of publication, there's a total of 10 positions available on Arrowhead's site. These range from production director to programmer roles, and half of them offer a hybrid remote model.

Pilestedt has also been sharing updates about the server issues surrounding Helldivers 2, which have affected both PC and PlayStation since its launch. The latest server maintenance saw three "rapid-fixes" to address login issues, server capacity, and rewards not being handed out properly. "The total capacity of concurrent players was increased from 250,000 total to 360,000 total," Pilestedt said in the message shared on Twitter. "This was however still not enough as the player count jumped to 360k after five and a half minutes."

The community is still soaring through Helldivers 2, creating an unofficial co-op etiquette. Despite the constant server maintenance, the game has sold over a million copies. Arrowhead issued a new patch earlier today to address general stability and stuttering, as well as matchmaking issues.

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Square Enix will roll out an update on on February 21 that will improve the visual quality of the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth demo.

More specifically, the improvements to the visual quality will be applied when selecting "Performance Mode" from the graphics options. Square Enix has also confirmed in a Twitter post that that these changes will apply to the full game.

Square Enix released the demo on February 7, shortly after its dedicated State of Play presentation. While many have enjoyed the demo, some have criticized the game's visuals when switching between Performance and Graphical modes, saying that the former option makes the visuals noticeably worse, more so than in other games.

In Graphics mode, the game prioritizes high-fidelity visuals while running at 30fps. When switched to Performance mode, the game runs at 60fps, resulting in a smoother experience, but the graphical fidelity is toned down.

In GameSpot's Final Fantasy VII Rebirth preview, we said, "After a four-hour demo with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and a conversation with its director and producer, the scale and depth of this small slice are impressive and promising."

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launches exclusively on PS5 on February 29.

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Zombies, Vampires, Mechs…and Sponge Bob? Oh MY! Plenty to play this weekend with Free Play Days! Dead Island 2, Code Vein, Warstride Challenges and Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 are available this weekend for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to play from Thursday February 15 at 12:01 a.m. PDT until Sunday, February 18 at 11:59 p.m. PDT.  

Game Pass Core will give players access to our advanced multiplayer network, a select collection of over 25 games to play with friends around the world, and exclusive member deals! Read more about Game Pass Core at Xbox Wire. 

How To Start Playing

Find and install the games on each of the individual game details page on Xbox.com. Clicking through will send you to the Microsoft Store, where you must be signed in to see the option to install with your Xbox Game Pass Core or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership. To download on console, click on the Subscriptions tab in the Xbox Store and navigate down to the Free Play Days collection on your Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Keep The Fun Going

Purchase the game and other editions at a limited time discount and continue playing while keeping your Gamerscore and achievements earned during the event! Please note that discounts, percentages, and title availability may vary by title and region.

Free Play Days (Game Pass Core or Game Pass Ultimate Required)

DEAD ISLAND 2 GOLD EDITION

Deep Silver

☆☆☆☆☆ 3000

★★★★★

$89.99 $49.49

Get it now

Dead Island 2 
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery
The much-loved zombie saga is back with a unique formula of horror, dark humor and over the top zombie-slaying, spanning an epic pulp adventure. Dead Island 2 is a thrilling First-Person Action RPG, stylish, vibrant, and flooded with zombie infection. Explore an iconic, gore-drenched Los Angeles. Meet larger-than-life characters. Slay countless foes in exquisitely bloody detail. And evolve to become the ultimate Zombie Slayer! 

CODE VEIN

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc.

☆☆☆☆☆ 302

★★★★★

$59.99 $8.99

Get it now

Xbox One X Enhanced

Code Vein 
In a post-apocalyptic world, embark on a journey to unlock your past and reach salvation. In this Action RPG, explore an intricate story-driven dungeon system, customize your own character with unique abilities and combat styles, and test your skills against challenging bosses. Play with an AI buddy or a friend online to use teamwork to overcome your enemies with myriad combat strategies.  

Warstride Challenges

Focus Entertainment

☆☆☆☆☆ 11

★★★★★

$19.99 $14.99

Get it now

Warstride Challenges 
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S
Race, aim, fire! Blast hordes of demons at lightning speed in bloody gunfights across a series of increasingly intense trials. Slow time to pull off impossible headshots, bunny hop to pick up speed, slide around corners and shred foes with destructive shockwaves! Die and retry to pull off the perfect run, then prove your worth on the global leaderboard to let the world know you’re the greatest demon slayer.  

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2

GameMill Entertainment

☆☆☆☆☆ 51

★★★★★

$49.99

Get it now

Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 
Optimized for Xbox Series X|S, Smart Delivery
In the Brawl that rules them all Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 lets you have it out with the biggest and best fighting character roster yet, including the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Squidward Tentacles, Jimmy Neutron, and more! 

Master the unique moves of your chosen brawlers and land the final blow with all-new powerful Supers!  Mix it up with your friends or play the new single-player campaign and save the Nickelodeon-verse from some dastardly characters.  

Don’t miss out on these exciting Free Play Days for Xbox Game Pass Core and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members! Learn more about Free Play Days here and stay tuned to Xbox Wire to find out about future Free Play Days and all the latest Xbox gaming news. 

The post Free Play Days – Dead Island 2, Code Vein, Warstride Challenges and Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2  appeared first on Xbox Wire.

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Nintendo has revealed some more of Peach's transformations in Princess Peach: Showtime!.

Following on from last month's reveal of Ninja Peach and Cowgirl Peach, Nintendo has shown off four more roles Peach can don in the upcoming Switch game.

Take a look at the second transformation trailer showing Figure Skater Peach, Dashing Thief Peach, Mermaid Peach, and Mighty Peach.

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Ys X: Nordics, the latest entry in the long-running Ys series, is making its way to the West. Nordics stars a younger version of series hero Adol Christin embarking on an adventure in the Obelia Gulf, a collection of northern islands.

He finds himself thrown in the middle of a conflict between the islands’ residents and a seafaring tribe, as well as mysterious immortal monsters called the Griegers. Adol joins a Norman warrior named Karja to sail the seas aboard a ship, including exploring an open ocean and engaging in naval combat. 

Ys X: Nordics was first released in Japan last September and will come stateside this fall. It will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC.

Have you always been curious about the Ys series but don’t know whether to jump in? Former editor John Carson explains in this feature why RPG fans shouldn’t sleep on Ys. You can also check out our 40-year retrospective on developer Nihon Falcom. 

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Forget about playing together this Valentine's Day. Instead, go solo with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, an auto-shooter spin-off that takes inspiration from Vampire Survivors. The roguelike title is now available in Steam Early Access.

Along with not offering co-op, another main difference with Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is the three-quarters viewpoint. However, there are similarities between the original game and this new spin-off. For example, Survivor offers the same four classes for players to choose at the start of each run--with three subclasses.

"The idea to make a bullet hell spin-off of Deep Rock Galactic was born over a beer we had with the Funday team during Gamescom, and it's amazing to see what it has become," said Søren Lundgaard, CEO of the original game's developer Ghost Ship Games.

Other features for Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor include 40 weapons, 20 enemy types, and three biomes. Remember, this is a Steam Early Access title, with developer Funday Games planning to add a biome, daily missions, an endless mode, and more.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor isn't the only spin-off in the works for the franchise, either. Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core is a roguelite shooter that sounds similar to Risk of Rain 2. It's also in development by Ghost Ship, while Funday focuses on Survivor.

There is a 10% discount currently on Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, which retails for $10, so the Early Access title is $9 right now on Steam.

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RPG fans have another game to look forward to, as the latest sequel of a long-running franchise has been confirmed for release worldwide. After launching the game in Japan this past September, Falcom and NIS have confirmed that Ys X: Nordics--the latest entry in the RPG franchise--is coming to Western shores this fall.

Ys X is set one month after the events of Ys II--which originally launched in 1988--and it serves as the third game in the franchise's timeline. The game will follow the returning hero from every Ys game, Adol, as he teams with a new female protagonist, Karja, and meets a nomadic tribe of sailors called the Normans.

NIS has unveiled a brief announcement trailer for Ys X's Western version, which confirmed the Fall 2024 release window. The video highlights the game's traversal, naval combat, and shows off a a few of Adol and Karja's moves in combat.

The Ys franchise began in 1987, when the original game--which was named Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen in Japan--launched on Japanese PC-88 home computers before making its way to the NES. The previous entry, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox, launched for PS4 in Japan in 2019 before being ported to the West in 2020.

Ys X: Nordics is scheduled to launch later this year for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

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Sons of the Forest will leave early access on Steam and launch on February 22, and developer Endnight Games released a new trailer showing off what to expect in the game's 1.0 version.

The trailer shows footage of players being able to rescue others by calling an SOS, paraglide, and fight off infected monsters. In Sons of the Forest, you're sent off to a remote island with the task to find a missing billionaire. However, upon arriving, you find that it's filled with cannibals. As with many survival games, you must craft and build in order to come out alive.

Sons of the Forest was released into early access on February 23, 2023 on PC and is a sequel to 2014's The Forest. So far, the game hasn't been announced for other platforms. However, its predecessor eventually came to PS4 in 2018, which opens up the possibility Sons of the Forest might be released outside of PC.

Endnight Games announced the release date of the full version back in November 2023. Actor Shawn Ashmore voices Timmy, a character introduced in The Forest's final cutscene, who has been given a bigger role in Sons of the Forest.

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Sony has confirmed that Koei Tecmo's upcoming PS5 exclusive, Rise of Ronin, is not releasing in South Korea. This comes after reports that the Korean PlayStation Store pulled the game from its listing. A brief search of "Rise of Ronin" confirms that the game is not listed on South Korea's storefront. Sony, the game's publisher, said the game was never officially coming to the country, making the reports of it being pulled unfounded.

In a statement to IGN Japan, Sony Interactive Entertainment said, "Rise of the Ronin for PlayStation 5 was never officially announced for release in Korea. We can confirm that the title is not going to be sold/published in South Korea in any form (physical/digital)."

First reported by the Ruliweb (and explained by Eurogamer), the reason for the game's removal wasn't stated, but it could be because of its premise. Game director Fumuhiko Yasuda spoke about the game's inspirations, which includes the scholar Shoin Yoshida and his influence on the Meiji Restoration.

Yoshida's students ended up in high positions of political power during the Meiji period, which expanded Japan's military power. In 1873, the Meiji government considered Seikanron, which was the idea to invade Korea at the time in order to strengthen Japan. Also known as Jeonghanrok in Korea, Japan ultimately decided not to do it. However, imperial Japan ended up occupying Korea from 1910 to 1945.

With this context in mind, Korean communities have criticized Rise of Ronin, which launches on March 22 exclusively for PlayStation 5.

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Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has just received its first big post-launch patch, plugging several exploitable holes in the game with a variety of fixes. The most prominent of these was a bug found when dealing Burning damage, as players discovered that they could exponentially stack this elemental effect to be far more lethal than what was intended.

As it explained on the Suicide Squad Discord group, Rocksteady originally planned for Burn to scale more modestly as players took on tougher Mastery levels in the game's Elseworld missions. Instead, a "major unintended" bug saw those damage numbers soar and it "basically meant that if you used a Burn build, every Mastery Level had the same difficulty," the developer said.

This update will see Burning damage scale correctly, and Rocksteady plans to introduce a new leaderboard as well. All unlocked Mastery Levels, Finite Crisis rank, and gear earned in Elseworlds missions using the Burn exploit won't be removed, and Rocksteady expects players to discover other game-breaking builds in the future.

Other big exploits being jettisoned out of the airlock include infinite XP grinds, as players discovered ways to quickly reach the level cap of each character by paying a visit to Toyman to stack XP-generating augments on their gear or by running a Gizmo support squad mission to generate an endless supply of enemies to annihilate.

Lastly, Rocksteady has slightly tweaked the Heat Wave's Molten Skin and The Turtle's Shell, and you can expect these items to reduce damage by 90% instead of making you invincible for a few seconds.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is out now for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and its first season will introduce a new Joker when he joins Task Force X in March. Fans have also unearthed clues around Metropolis, possibly hinting at the return of a beloved Arkhamverse character.

"Rocksteady's first game in nearly a decade can't shake the superhero-as-a-service genre's ubiquitous feeling that it exists to keep players mindlessly engaged," Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League review.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League patch notes

Bug fixes

• Fixed a bug that was causing Burning damage to scale with both player damage buffs and enemy debuffs. Burning damage should only be scaling via enemy debuffs.
• Fixed a bug that allowed Toyman to stack multiple of the same Augment on your gear.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented modifications to Augments on your gear from saving after exiting a multi-player session and joining a single-player session.

Changes in this release

• Heat Wave's Molten Skin & The Turtle’s Shell have had their damage reduction reduced from 100% to 90%.
• Due to some players exploiting certain mission mechanics, vehicle kills during Gizmo's Support Squad missions no longer grant XP. You are still awarded XP for mission completion.
• With the fix to Burning damage, players will be less likely to get to the same Mastery Level as before. As a result, we will be creating new Leaderboards in the interest of fairness. Fear not though, as we will be archiving the existing Leaderboards, so those currently atop the rankings will live on in infamy!
• With the fix coming to Burning damage scaling and hearing the concerns around hitting a wall when climbing Mastery levels, we have reduced enemy health scaling for Mastery levels 46 and above.
• To keep things challenging, enemies at Mastery level 46 and above will now deal more damage.

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We've already seen Princess Peach as a ninja, musketeer, cowboy, chef, and more in the leadup to Princess Peach: Showtime's March 22 launch. It seems she has a few more tricks up her sleeve, as Nintendo has revealed four more transformations that she'll be using in her upcoming adventure.

The four new forms are Mermaid Peach, Dashing Thief Peach, Figure Skater Peach, and Mighty Peach, and a new gameplay trailer has shown off a little bit of each form's action. This brings the number of transformations Peach will use in the new game to 10.

Specifics on each new transformation are below:

• Dashing Thief Peach uses stealth, gadgetry, and infiltration techniques to sneak past enemies, defeat them, and escape.
• Figure Skater Peach jumps, spins, and twirls through enemies, while her skating increases her speed.
• Mermaid Peach solves puzzles and opens new paths using her voice, as she can control fish and perform with an underwater orchestra through song.
• Mighty Peach turns Peach into a super fighting robot hero, with energy weapons, flight, and the ability to grab and throw foes.

Peach's latest starring role sees her enter the Sparkle Theatre, where she teams with its director Stella to take on a nefarious group called the Sour Bunch. Using multiple transformations thanks to the power of "Sparkle," Peach must save the theater from the group and its leader Grape before they take over.

Princess Peach: Showtime launches March 22 exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Those who preorder with Best Buy will receive an acrylic display featuring Peach in her Swordfighter costume.

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You wish you played ball like this girl. MLB The Show 24 will highlight the Negro Leagues story of Toni Stone, meaning she will be the first female player featured in the long-running baseball series.

The official MLB The Show account on X (formerly known as Twitter) noted that Stone will show up in Storylines: Negro Leagues Season 2 alongside the likes of Hank Aaron--who broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record--and Josh Gibson, who may have hit more home runs than both of them. Stone became the first woman to play in the Negro American League for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953.

According to MLB, Stone actually replaced Aaron at second base for the Clowns. She played for Indianapolis for one season before joining the Kansas City Monarchs in 1954. She hit .243 over those two seasons before retiring from professional baseball.

Earlier this month, Sony revealed the MLB The Show 24 Collector's Edition, which comes with a limited-edition New Era hat as well as steelbook. It costs $125, with a dollar from each purchase going to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City. Its president, Bob Kendrick, narrates the Storylines: Negro Leagues mode in MLB The Show.

In addition, MLB The Show 24 will also join Xbox Game Pass when the title launches March 19. The baseball game will arrive on Nintendo Switch as well. Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. serves as this year's cover athlete.

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Arrowhead has released another patch for Helldivers 2 and it's good news for those incredibly popular players among us - the game will no longer crash if you have too many friends.

This patch - Patch 01.000.006 to give it its full name - also addresses those crashes that could occur during the extraction cutscene and when users disconnect during the joining cutscene.

Along with stability fixes, this patch also improves matchmaking experiences.

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We're now several years into the current generation of consoles, and according to Sony, the PS5 has now entered the "the latter stage" of its life cycle. Sony senior vice president Naomi Matsuoka has predicted sales of the console to start slowing down in the next fiscal year, which runs from April 24 and concludes in March 2025, which will result in Sony adopting a more flexible strategy.

"Looking ahead, PS5 will enter the latter stage of its life cycle," Matsuoka said (via Bloomberg). "As such, we will put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales. For this reason, we expect the annual sales pace of PS5 hardware will start falling from the next fiscal year."

According to Sony, 8.2 million PS5s were sold during the third quarter of its current financial year ending on December 31, 2024, but these numbers were lower than expected. The company has revised its sales forecast from its ambitious goal to sell 25 million PS5s during the current financial year ending March 31, 2025, and it now expects to reach 21 million sales.

54.7 million PS5 consoles have been sold since November 2020, and the gaming system will be four years old by the end of 2024. Sony has begun phasing out the original model with a slimmer version, but it hasn't commented yet on a next-gen PlayStation 6 or a rumored mid-gen refresh, similar to how the PS4 generation saw the launch of the more powerful PS4 Pro a few years into the lifespan of that console.

On the software side, Sony has also confirmed that no major existing PlayStation franchise games will be released before April 2025, with the company pointing specifically to series like God of War and Spider-Man during its financial call.

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Yoshitaka Murayama, the creator of Konami's fan-favorite RPG series Suikoden and the head of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes studio Rabbit & Bear Studios, has passed away on Feburary 6 at the age of 54.

His passing was announced via a statement on the official Rabbit & Bear website, which confirmed that his death was caused by "an ongoing illness." He served as the scenario writer for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a game his studio funded via a successful Kickstarter in 2020.

"His hard work on Eiyuden Chronicle as scenario writer was finished," the statement reads, "but as his co-workers and friends, it saddens us to know that he won’t get to see the reactions from his fans." The statement also says the team "want[s] to maintain his legacy and vision with this game and know that he would have wanted the rich world he has created with Eiyuden Chronicle to live on."

Murayama began his career in the games industry in 1992, when he joined Konami as a QA tester. He eventually worked his way to producer, writer, and director of the first three Suikoden games, as well as two spin-offs. After leaving Konami in June 2002, he worked on 10,000 Bullets for Taito--which only launched in Japan and the EU--and The Alliance Alive for Atlus.

Murayama's final game, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, launches April 21 for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The GameSpot team sends its heartfelt condolences to Murayama's family and friends for their loss.

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