Developer Mixed Realms and publisher Maximum Entertainment are bringing deckbuilding RPG Gordian Quest to PS4 and PS5 on April 30^th. It is currently available on PC and Nintendo Switch, but will now bring its turn-based card-battling ways to Sony’s systems.

Players explore the sinister world of Wrendia with their party of heroes and deck of cards. Choose from 10 heroes and more than 700 cards in one of three modes – campaign, adventure, or realm. In campaign mode, the choices you make can alter the Wrendia for better or worse. Meanwhile, adventure mode creates a procedurally generated map to explore if you don’t want the structure of the campaign, and realm mode is a roguelite mode. Gordian Quest also features multiple difficulties if you need more (or less) of a challenge.

Check out the PlayStation launch trailer below:

During the Nintendo Nindie Direct, a game about the adventures of a black cat exploring a Japanese inspired city has a release date. Little Kitty, Big City comes out soon, and May 9th is the day that you will be able to cause all sorts of CATastrophe. In what is being dubbed as a mini-open world, You'll be able to carry out tasks on your list, make friends, rescue animals in need, and do what all cats do...cause mischief. You will also be able to customize your cats with hats, or chat with other dogs and cats.

It seems to me like a light hearted version of Stray, but don't tell Double Dagger that. Pre-orders are live now with a 10% discount at the time of writing. Look at this cat knocking things off shelves and tripping people below, AS CATS DO!

I may have reacted a little too much over this brand new metroidvania, and the first new game featuring the Atari IP Yars in a very long time. And no, I'm not talking about Yars Revenge Recharged. I'm talking about a full side scrolling shooting adventure. And it's coming to all platforms!

Announced during this morning's Nintendo Nindie World broadcast, Yars Rising puts you in control of a hacker named Emi Kimura. You are to infiltrate the Qotech corporation, and find our why you're bonded to an alien race that has gone on for far too long. Looking at video, it has that Wayforward polish that we love, and I can't wait to get my hands on it. 

The release date is "late 2024", but we can wait to see if it comes out for the new system. For now, watch this trailer, and get ready to get even more revenge. 

This is pre-Early Access, but the devs over at Supergiant Games are now live-streaming Hades II. Calling it a technical test, the devs are playing through the new mechanics, power ups, and levels to the sequel to what I gave a perfect 10 in my review. There is possible an opportunity to join this technical test over on the Steam page for Hades II, where you will find a "Request Access" button below the "Add to Wishlist" option. As the devs are explaining, the technical test will start with a smaller number of players that will increase over time, and when the game moves into the next stage, Early Access, more characters and game options will be available. Access for the Technical Test will be handed over to players in the coming days and if you don't get in, the devs are explaining they are hoping to move through this phase and into Early Access as soon as they get this play test data back to ensure the game is stable for that next step. 

Have you ever heard about Sand Land? I hadn’t until a few weeks ago. It’s an upcoming action-RPG with a few names attached that interested me. For starters, when you see a screenshot from Sand Land you may think of another famous video game franchise, Dragon Quest. Hell, you would be crazy not to see the comparisons. Well the good news is that you are not crazy, Sand Land is based on a one-volume manga that was illustrated by Akira Toriyama. Some of us might recognize that name, in case you don’t, he designed the characters of Dragon Quest. He also created a little-known manga called Dragon Ball. Yeah. It not just becoming a video game. A film came out last year, and a tv series on Hulu is available to watch. What I’m saying is Sand Land is becoming a thing; jump on now and claim you have liked it from the start before it’s too late.

Sand Land takes place in a desert wasteland. A rag-tag group has come together in search of a rumored source of water to help free themselves from the tyranny of an evil king who controls the only known source of water. Needless to say, when I learned that the guy who helped design the look of Dragon Quest is also the creator of Dragon Ball, I felt the need to play this game. I am in the middle of working on my review, so no spoilers here just yet. To help get into the mood of Sand Land, I picked up the one-volume manga to familiarize myself with the world. I will say Sand Land the game looks, sounds, and feels a lot like the manga. You can see from the above trailer alone how much Sand Land looks like it has come alive from the page. Sand Land releases on April 26 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

I don’t care that I set the highest score for Hammerwatch II on Metacritic. In fact, I’m proud of it. I had a lot of fun playing Hammerwatch II. I went in expecting an upgraded version of the initial game and found more here than some people realized. While I might not defend Hammerwatch II with my dying breath, it is excellent, and it is totally worth playing. It’s got an old-school feel; there is little to no hand-holding in this sequel. Thankfully, more people will soon be able to give Hammerwatch II a shot, and hopefully come out feeling the same way. Hammerwatch II is making its way to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 4, on April 23.

Watching the trailer, I can't get over how much I enjoyed that pixel art style. The best part about Hammerwatch II is that you do not need to play the original or the Heroes of Hammerwatch spin-off; it also has a great title. “Journey through Hammer Island, the Fallowfields and the dark mountainous regions of Blackbarrow, all created in the signature Hammerwatch pixelated art style, as you work to aid King Roland’s resistance against Blight the Horrible and his dragon army. Build a custom Herian Hero and choose between five distinct character classes: Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard and Warlock before customizing your appearance and leveling up to unlock powerful new abilities and skills.”

After getting indefinitely delayed last Fall, Ubisoft’s free-to-play first-person shooter XDefiant has a pulse once more. Today, the team at Ubisoft San Francisco announced that a free and open “Server Test Session” will take place from 1:00PM Eastern Time on April 19^th until 1:00PM Eastern Time on April 21^st. Pre-load of the test client is available now across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. One note of housekeeping – this test client is a new store item across the various digital marketplaces. So, if you previously participated in last year’s closed test, don’t download that – search for “XDefiant – Server Test Session”.

Ubisoft says the test session will allow them to test the integrity of the game’s servers and provide critical data as the team prepares for launch. Elsewhere, website Insider Gaming reports that, according to its sources, if all things go well with this test period, the development team will finally be able to lock in a launch date, which is believed to be sometime this Summer. Fingers crossed on that one.

Players who participate in the test session will be rewarded with a few in-game goodies. Just playing in the session will grant an MP5 Shamrock weapon skin, playing in a party the MP Ember weapon skin, and hitting level 18 three weapon XP boosters, all of which will be available to use when the full game releases.

As someone who is highly anticipating XDefiant, I’m thrilled to see signs of life, and more importantly, movement towards the game’s launch. See you out there, my friends.

Frostpunk 2 is releasing soon and developers 11 bit studios have released a gameplay deep dive for the game giving us details about the story and the new gameplay elements. 

The first game was all about surviving the storm and the incoming apocalypse. Frostpunk 2 takes place 30 years after the storm and while humanity has survived, the question is "what's next?".

The city looks even bigger this time around and the unity that was there in the first game since it was all about everyone's survival has gone out the window. The apocalypse is over, we survived, the city is growing, what could be called "normalcy" is returning so now people are now thinking about their own interests. 

This time around instead of acting as the great ruler, you will need to assemble a city council so all of the various factions around the city can have a vote on how they want the city to grow. Of course this will be easier said than done as various factions will break off and try to influence the city in their own vision. What becomes a paradise for them can become hell for everyone else. It's looking like the moral choices you are going to have to decide are going to become even more intense this time around as I can see situations where terrorist attacks start happening around the city, factions start setting up their own governments or even coup attempts can happen if they aren't getting what they want. 

Frostpunk 2 launches on June 25th for PC and PC Gamepass.

SMITE fans have a lot to be excited about as the new SMITE 2 gears up for release later this year. For those that want to be absolutely sure that they have access to the upcoming SMITE 2 alpha tests in May, the SMITE 2 Founder's Editions are now available for purchase. 

There are three tiers of Founder's Editions, including Deluxe and Ultimate versions. Each version comes with a variety of goodies, but it's important to note that even the basic Founder's Edition will gain players access to every god in the new game, forever.

My son Aidan is a huge SMITE guy, and he assures me that these goodies are indeed good. For those that prefer a bit of personality with their edition breakdown (and those that want to have a peek at the new skins), here's a video that makes it all clear:

It's important to note that you can't do much with your Founders Edition just yet. You can download the client for the alpha on Steam, and then load it up and stare at it longingly, but that's about it. Still, better to be prepared and know you are getting into the beta.

SMITE 2 is expected to release on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Epic Games Store in 2024. For more information, check out the official website.

After calling Helldivers 2 "the best Starship Troopers game" in my review, we are again reminded that there is a pretty good Starship Troopers game out there already. Starship Troopers: Extermination is nearly a year old now, although officially only in "Early Access." This is why the latest patch, Update 0.7.0, is still working under a version 1.0 moniker and why only now are se seeing the class system in the game really coming to life. 

But with that 0.7.0 update we are getting six new classes: the Sniper, Ranger, Guardian, Demolisher, Medic, and Engineer. Each carries with them their own unique roles, progression tracks, weapons, utilities, and perks. The weapons can carry over to the other classes so long as you achieve "Weapon Mastery" at rank 10. 0.7.0 also introduces side missions to ARC Slam mode, a new bug - the Bombardier, and more. The full patch notes are on the game's Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1268750/Starship_Troopers_Extermination/