June 1, 2026— In celebration of 30 years of Pokémon, The Pokémon Company International today revealed a commemorative expansion for the bestselling Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG), 30th Celebration, available at participating retailers around the world beginning Sept. 16, 2026.
Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration marks the first-ever Pokémon TCG expansion to debut with a simultaneously coordinated global launch in participating markets, followed by additional product releases throughout the year.[1] Furthermore, the upcoming expansion will feature all foil cards and the return of fan-favourite classic cards.[2]
In 30th Celebration, fans can look forward to discovering an all-new card rarity, Futuristic rare, which will feature vibrant new visuals illustrated by the renowned Japanese artist YOSHIROTTEN. Each Futuristic rare card will depict Pokémon in striking artwork evocative of hope toward an unknown future.
Every 30th Celebration booster pack will also include one of 30 unique foil cards featuring Pikachu, each illustrated by a different artist. Additional new cards in 30th Celebration will depict an array of Pokémon during different moments throughout daytime and nighttime.
In addition, fans can discover 30 classic Pokémon cards from across the game’s decades-long history that are making a return in 30th Celebration. Each of these classic cards will feature a stunning foil treatment.[3]
For a sneak peek at the Pokémon TCG cards included in 30th Celebration, fans can check out a new trailer on the official Pokémon YouTube channel.
To learn more about Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration, please visit, www.pokemon.co.uk and stay tuned to Pokemon.co.uk/TCG for future updates on the expansion.
[1] This Pokémon TCG expansion will launch on the same date around the world in participating markets. Exact time on launch day may vary across countries and regions. [2] Each Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration booster pack will contain five foil cards, one foil Basic Energy, and one Pokémon TCG Live code card. [3] Classic cards included in Pokémon TCG: 30th Celebration booster packs will not be legal for play in the Standard format but are eligible in formats that allow the original prints of these cards.
Don’t miss your chance: Sign Up Starting Todayto Experience the Brand-New, Narrative-Focused Story Mode Ahead of its Official Launch in June.
Milton Keynes, UK – June 1st, 2026 – 505 Games and INGAME STUDIOS are calling all bosses! Registration opens today, Monday, June 1st, for an exclusive, limited-time Steam Playtest of Crime Boss: Rockay City.
The Playtest will run from Friday, June 5th (10:00 AM BST) to Monday, June 8th (10:00 AM BST), giving registered players a massive weekend to jump into the highly anticipated Story Mode before anyone else.
This update drops the classic Turf War and Roguelite mechanics to offer a completely focused, cinematic narrative campaign. Here is what to expect from the playtest:
New Cutscenes & Edits: Experience the story like never before with never-before-seen cinematic moments.
Added DLC Missions: Action-packed DLC missions are now seamlessly woven into the main narrative.
A Focused Journey: Live through the whole story of Travis Baker and claim your crown as the King of Rockay City!
Keep Your Progress: Your hard work won’t go to waste! All progression and save files from the playtest weekend will carry over to the final public update.
The Playtest build focuses exclusively on this new narrative experience, but the final public update arriving later this June will include even more surprise content.
The crown is waiting! Head over to Steam and register for the Story Mode playtest now!
About 505 Games
505 Games, a subsidiary of Digital Bros, is a global publisher of video games across all major platforms. With a diverse portfolio of critically acclaimed titles, 505 Games is dedicated to delivering unique, high-quality gaming experiences.
After captivating more than 3 million players across eight years of development, ConchShip Games prepares to unleash its sprawling martial arts RPG phenomenon onto the global stage
YUNNAN, China – June 1, 2026. Indie developer ConchShip Games is thrilled to announce that The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome will officially leave Steam Early Access and launch as V1.0 on June 17, 2026.
Blending ancient Chinese mythology, deep sandbox RPG systems, and sprawling martial arts storytelling, The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome has already attracted more than 3 million players throughout its eight-year Early Access journey, becoming one of China’s most acclaimed indie RPG experiences. Now, for the very first time, the complete Taiwu experience will launch with full English language support*, opening the gates of its vast martial world to players across the globe.
The V1.0 release marks the culmination of years of development and community-driven refinement, delivering the definitive version of the Taiwu saga alongside three brand-new storylines, enhanced NPC A.I., a redesigned user interface, expanded gameplay systems, and countless improvements shaped by player feedback throughout Early Access.
“We can hardly believe seven years have passed since The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome was first released into Early Access,” said Zhen Jie, Founder of ConchShip Games. “It is only through the unwavering support from our passionate community that we have made it this far, and we are thrilled to share the martial world with long-time supporters, newcomers, and English-speakers alike!”
Watch The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome release date trailer here
Set in the mythological land of Shenzhou, players step into the role of the mysterious heir of the Taiwu clan, tasked with confronting Xiangshu, an ancient evil threatening to plunge the world into endless chaos. Every playthrough unfolds in a completely procedurally generated world filled with rival martial sects, dynamic NPCs, hidden techniques, dangerous enemies, and life-altering choices.
Freedom sits at the heart of the experience. Players can forge alliances or blood feuds, master thousands of martial arts techniques across numerous sects, build and expand their own Taiwu Village, craft powerful weapons and medicines, raise families, and pass their knowledge down through generations. Every NPC lives an evolving life of their own, aging, forming relationships, falling ill, and reacting dynamically to the player’s actions, ensuring that no two stories ever unfold the same way.
Combat in The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome combines strategic positioning, inner Qi cultivation, weapon mastery, and realistic martial arts principles inspired by traditional Chinese combat philosophy. From swords and fists to poison-infused weaponry and hidden techniques, every battle demands careful planning, adaptability, and skill.
Beyond its expansive RPG systems, the game also blends roguelike progression, settlement management, crafting mechanics, simulation gameplay, and even nostalgic diversions such as cricket fighting competitions, creating an experience unlike anything else in the genre.
Key Features
A Living Martial Arts Sandbox – Explore a vast procedurally generated world where every NPC, region, and playthrough tells a different story.
Full English Support at V1.0 – Experience the acclaimed RPG phenomenon in English for the very first time as the game opens to a global audience.
Master Thousands of Martial Arts Techniques – Learn powerful abilities across numerous martial sects, refine your inner Qi, and create your own unique combat style.
Build Your Legacy Across Generations – Establish villages, forge relationships, marry, raise children, and pass your martial knowledge down through future heirs.
Deep Strategic Combat – Wield swords, fists, poison, hidden weapons, and traditional martial techniques in battles inspired by authentic martial arts philosophy.
A Genre-Blending Epic – Experience a unique fusion of sandbox RPG systems, roguelike progression, life simulation, crafting, settlement management, and emergent storytelling.
After eight years of evolution, The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome is finally preparing to open its gates to the world. Wishlistnow ahead of its V1.0 launch on Steam June 17, 2026, and prepare to forge your legend in one of the most ambitious martial arts RPGs ever created.
*The language support includes English and Simplified Chinese
About ConchShip Games
With an RPG Maker demo, Zhen Jie created a passionate community around The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome and released its Early Access version in 2018. Although all founding members were new to coding, the team continuously updated the game to share a story that they are eager to create — a story about courage, Chinese mythology, and Wuxia.
More than 3.4 million players have now experienced that story, and ConchShip Games has inspired numerous Chinese indie developers to follow its path and create their own Chinese indie games. Now the team is dedicated to refining The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome and bringing a grand finale to this long-lasting tale.
Examine bodies, photograph evidence, and venture deep into a swamp-ridden nightmare where survival and investigation become inseparable
[June 1, 2026] – Hanging from trees. Floating through flooded swamps. Watching from the darkness. Steelkrill Studio, creator of the NYX Award-winning horror game The Backrooms 1998, has officially unveiled Where Dolls Hang, a psychological survival horror game inspired by Mexico’s infamous Island of the Dolls (Isla de las Muñecas). Players step into the role of a detective investigating disappearances inside a living forest overrun with mannequins, puppets, and unnatural figures that seem to appear where they shouldn’t. Check out the haunting reveal trailer below.
What begins as a missing persons case slowly becomes personal as players search for clues tied to the disappearance of the detective’s own daughter. Investigate crime scenes, examine bodies, photograph evidence, and survive a hostile wilderness that grows increasingly dangerous after dark. Beyond the forest trails, flooded swamps, and hidden waterways can be explored by boat, leading to isolated locations filled with disturbing discoveries and hidden dangers.
Between investigations, players return to a customizable safehouse where they can craft supplies, upgrade equipment, and prepare for the next descent into the unknown. Dynamic weather systems, adaptive threats, survival mechanics, and immersive detective gameplay combine to create a horror experience where uncovering the truth can be just as terrifying as surviving the forest itself.
Key Features:
Detective Investigation Gameplay: Examine bodies, place evidence markers, bag corpses, and photograph crime scenes using an in-game camera system
A Living Forest Inspired by Real-World Folklore: Explore a disturbing wilderness inspired by Mexico’s infamous Island of the Dolls
Survival Horror Exploration: Scavenge resources, craft tools and weapons, and upgrade your safehouse to survive increasingly dangerous nights deep within the forest.
Boat Traversal & Swamp Exploration: Navigate flooded regions and hidden waterways while uncovering isolated areas cut off from the main map, and customize boats with unique perks and storage options
Dynamic Threat & Weather Systems: Adapt to changing conditions as weather and darkness directly impact visibility, stealth, and enemy behavior
Where Dolls Hang launches on PC via Steam in 2026. Players can wishlist the game now and prepare to uncover the horrifying truth hidden deep within the forest.
About Steelkrill Studio Steelkrill Studio is a solo indie developer focused on creating atmospheric horror experiences that merge innovative mechanics with strong audiovisual identity. The studio gained recognition with The Backrooms 1998, an NYX Award-winning psychological horror game that resonated strongly with players and content creators worldwide.
Paris, May 31, 2026 ; Publisher SUPER AC announces the release of PROHIBEAST, its real-time tactical infiltration game, launching on PC on June 3. To celebrate the upcoming release, a brand-new Release Trailer is available today.
Set in an anthropomorphic 1930s Chicago, where carnivores and herbivores coexist in harmony, meat has become an outlawed commodity controlled by organized crime. Players step into the shoes of Eliot Ness and the Untouchables as they take on Al Capone’s criminal empire.
Focused on infiltration, strategy, and squad coordination, PROHIBEAST delivers a real-time tactical experience where observation, stealth, and improvisation are key to infiltrating hostile environments and outsmarting the underworld.
With its noir-inspired Prohibition setting, distinctive anthropomorphic art direction, and freedom of approach, PROHIBEAST aims to deliver a fresh take on tactical infiltration games, a genre too rarely represented today.
The Release Trailer, available now, offers a first look at the game’s gameplay, atmosphere, characters, and high-stakes conflict ahead of its official launch on June 3.
SUPER AC is a collective of independent studios pooling their expertise and knowledge to maximize the quality and visibility of their games. Passionate about creating independently developed titles, the teams focus on delivering high-quality player experiences and pure gaming enjoyment. With the ability to handle games across a wide range of themes and styles, their passion and drive to surprise players allow them to offer a highly diverse catalog. By emphasizing originality and creative commitment, SUPER AC champions a new way of making video games.
Witch Hat Atelier | For fans of: Studio Ghibli, Harry Potter, beautiful things
In a world where only witches can cast magic, they must avoid being seen by ordinary people while casting. While Coco does her chores, she daydreams of becoming a witch. When a young witch named Qifrey visits her village, Coco uncovers the “absolute secret,” becomes Qifrey’s apprentice, and begins her studies. This is the story of children who encounter despair, yet reach out toward hope.
Daemons of the Shadow Realm | For fans of: Fullmetal Alchemist, dark fantasy, edge-of-your-seat storytelling
Yuru, a young hunter who lives in a small village deep in the mountains, hunts wild game and leads a humble life with Asa, his younger twin sister. Their peaceful lives are torn apart when a dragon’s roar echoes across the sky. What secrets lurk within their village? What fate awaits them? Enter a breathtaking mystical fantasy as exciting Daemon battles intertwine the mysterious and supernatural.
Subaru, lost in a new world, meets a silver-haired girl who saves him. To repay her, he joins her quest.
Go For It, Nakamura-kun! | For fans of: slow-burn romance, awkward gay yearning, saying “just talk to him” at your screen
Love at first sight is no myth — just ask Okuto Nakamura. Whenever his dreamy classmate Aiki Hirose enters the room, his heart skips a beat, despite the fact that they’ve never actually spoken. Not to mention, Nakamura is a complete klutz with zero friends. Will he ruin his chance at love before it even begins?
Dr. STONE: SCIENCE FUTURE | For fans of: science, problem-solving, the satisfying feeling of being the smartest person in the room
Modern society is lost when a mysterious light turns humanity to stone. Thousands of years pass and high schoolers Senku and Taiju awaken in an overgrown version of the world they once knew. With Senku as the brains and Taiju as the brawn, they’re determined to revive the petrified masses and rebuild civilisation — but of those they’ve rescued, Tsukasa will rock their plans.
ONE PIECE | For fans of: epic adventures, 1000+ episodes, becoming a different person by the end
Monkey D. Luffy refuses to let anyone or anything stand in the way of his quest to become the king of all pirates. With a course charted for the treacherous waters of the Grand Line and beyond, this is one captain who’ll never give up until he’s claimed the greatest treasure on Earth: the Legendary One Piece!
Corporate worker Mikami Satoru is stabbed by a random killer, and is reborn to an alternate world. But he turns out to be reborn a slime! Thrown into this new world with the name Rimuru, he begins his quest to create a world that’s welcoming to all races.
Suzuki Iruma, human, 14, is taken against his will into the world of demons, where his doting owner and self-appointed “Grandpa” is the chair-demon at his new school. In order to survive, Iruma must deal with a haughty student who challenges him to a duel, a girl with adjustment issues, and so many more scary beings! Can this ultimate pacifist dodge the slings and arrows that are flung his way?
Wistoria: Wand and Sword | For fans of: underdog stories, sword fighting, magic academy settings
In a world where magic reigns, Will Serfort can’t cast a spell. Though hardworking, Will’s classmates think less of him for it. However, he has a secret strength: his sword. Can Will defy expectations with muscle over magic and blade over wand? Find out in this epic sword-and-sorcery adventure!
For centuries, the deadly arts have been perfected by Masters, and Five Great Families hold the greatest power and influence. Hikaru Gero, an heir to the Gero family, lives in the underworld as an elite assassin. When his sister is pressured to produce an heir, Hikaru asks Mei Kinosaki, a brilliant marriage swindler, to find him a bride. The most challenging mission of his life begins!
Assemble for the reveal of the Thanos Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes card on June 2
Melbourne, Australia, June 1 – Today, Wizards of the Coast is thrilled to announce an epic world-exclusive card reveal set for the heart of Melbourne, Australia. Ahead of the highly anticipated launch of Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes on June 26, 2026, fans are invited to assemble to witness a one-of-a-kind first card reveal of Thanos from the Marvel Universe.
On June 2, at 12PM AEST, at Melbourne Central on La Trobe Street, the Mythic rare card will be shown in a larger-than-life mural in titanic grandeur.
Magic: The Gathering® | Marvel Super Heroes launches worldwide on June 26, 2026, bringing the most recognisable Marvel characters to the iconic world of Magic: The Gathering, with Prerelease events from June 19 at WPN Stores. Assemble your favourite Super Heroes and Super Villains, creating previously unthinkable team-ups, and triggering page-turning comic book action.
About Magic: The Gathering Magic: The Gathering’s compelling characters, fantastic worlds, and deep strategic gameplay have entertained and delighted fans for more than 30 years. Fans can experience Magic through the tabletop trading card game, the digital game Magic: The Gathering Arena, a New York Times bestselling novel, and a critically acclaimed comic book series. With more than 50 million fans to date, Magic is a worldwide phenomenon published in more than 150 countries.
About Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast develops and publishes legendary games that inspire creativity, forge friendships and build communities of global fans. A division of Hasbro, a leading games, IP and toy company (NASDAQ: HAS), Wizards delivers premium experiences for gamers across tabletop, video games, and digital platforms based on both new and time-honored brands, including its best-known franchises MAGIC: THE GATHERING and Dungeons & Dragons, and from Hasbro’s unparalleled portfolio of thousands of iconic marks.
Wizards’ diverse studio network includes first-party developers Archetype Entertainment, Invoke Studios and Skeleton Key as well as co-venture and license partners. Headquartered in Renton, Washington, Wizards fosters world-class talent to create unforgettable play experiences on all platforms. To learn more about Wizards, visit https://company.wizards.com or Wizards of the Coast on LinkedIn.
About Hasbro Hasbro is a leading games, IP and toy company whose mission is to create joy and community through the magic of play. With 165 years of expertise, Hasbro delivers groundbreaking play experiences and reaches more than 1 billion fans annually around the world, through physical and digital games, video games, toys, licensed consumer products, location-based entertainment, film, TV and more.
Through its franchise-first approach, Hasbro unlocks value from both new and legacy IP, including Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, MONOPOLY, HASBRO GAMES, NERF, TRANSFORMERS, PLAY-DOH and PEPPA PIG, as well as premier partner brands. Powered by its portfolio of thousands of iconic marks and a diversified network of partners and subsidiary studios, Hasbro brings fans together wherever they are, from tabletop to screen.
For more than a decade, Hasbro has been consistently recognized for its corporate citizenship, including being named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by 3BL Media, a 2025 JUST Capital Industry Leader, one of the 50 Most Community-Minded Companies in the U.S. by the Civic 50, and a Brand that Matters by Fast Company. For more information, visit https://corporate.hasbro.com or @Hasbro on LinkedIn.
About MARVEL Marvel is one of the world’s most prominent entertainment brands, built on an unparalleled library of iconic characters and stories that have shaped pop culture for 85 years. The Marvel brand spans entertainment, including film, television, publishing, licensing, games, live events, digital media, and more.
Starting May 29, a free demo of Cemetery Simulator will be available on PC. This title allows the player to manage the cemetery, care for the necropolis, organize funerals, and develop their cemetery business. The demo features single-player game modes and online co-op for up to 4 players simultaneously. The full version of Cemetery Simulator on PC is scheduled for 2027, and the game will later appear on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Cemetery Simulator is being developed by Ultimate Games S.A., which is also the publisher of the game.
Step into the role of a gravedigger and dig graves alone or with friends
Cemetery Simulator lets you manage a cemetery. The gameplay blends funeral home simulation, creative design, and hands-on gravedigger tasks such as cleaning and digging.
You start as a cemetery manager in Cemetery Simulator. Your tasks include cleaning tombstones, mowing grass, making repairs, and expanding the cemetery. You also organize funerals, from digging graves to engraving tombstones.
You can play Cemetery Simulator alone or online with up to four players. In co-op mode, players share responsibilities and can split tasks. You can carry coffins together, work as a team to dig graves, and take on many other activities to manage and care for the cemetery.
While managing and caring for the cemetery, you’ll sometimes deal with unexpected events. These can include issues like vandalism or even paranormal activity.
As you progress and complete tasks, you unlock new features and upgrades. You’ll also need to improve your cemetery’s reputation.
You can try Cemetery Simulator for free – the demo is already out
The Cemetery Simulator Demo has been on Steam since May 29. In the demo, you’ll manage a small cemetery in the forest and get to know the main game mechanics.
The demo includes tasks like organizing standard funerals. You can play solo or online with up to four players.
Cemetery Simulator – Key Features:
Become a gravedigger and organize funerals
Develop a cemetery business
Act alone or in co-op (up to 4 players)
Face unexpected problems
Care for the cemetery and reputation
The release date of the full version of Cemetery Simulator on PC is planned for 2027. There are also plans to release the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2, a co-op crime sim coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 17 June 2026, targets 60 frames per second – even on the least powerful current-gen platform. See the version comparison. Review keys are available and will be dispatched soon.
Drug Dealer Simulator 2 is a game for 1-3 players where you start your very own production and distribution business on the sunny yet dangerous Isla Sombra. By growing, processing and selling all kinds of, uh, “refreshments”, you’ll build up your base of operations and acquire new, fully furnishable hideouts.
It’s all about planning, timing, and smartly adapting to changing circumstances. Climb the ladder, up to the position of a true cartel lord!
A console-tailored experience
The ambition of the publisher/IP owner Movie Games was to make DDS2 fit the console platforms in an organic manner. A lot of effort was put into optimization, where the target is 60 frames per second for all platforms, including Xbox Series S.
“We identified several areas with noticeable framerate drops, particularly in densely populated regions. Among the key optimizations was NPC animation processing, including updates for characters outside the player’s view and body part components. By eliminating redundancies – supported by the integration of solutions from the latest versions of Unreal Engine 5 – we significantly reduced the overhead, resulting in a noticeably smoother experience in the game’s busiest areas,” says Dominik Zgutka, Technical Director at Road Studio S.A., the team co-developing the ports.
The game will be supported after release, also on PC. The roadmap includes quality-of-life changes, including UI improvements based on player feedback, bugfixes, and new content. Movie Games intends to bring the optimization improvements to the PC version.
The first and original
The Drug Dealer Simulator series has been innovating the sim genre since 2020. DDS1 is already available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series and Xbox One. Drug Dealer Simulator 3 is also in development and will be another step in the evolution of this unique series. Follow our Discord for more!
There are times that an RPG comes along and tries to reinvent the wheel or make a name for itself in some unique fashion. A few of these games manage to succeed and become household names while others fail due to poor implementation. Then there are RPGs that feel more like they’ve taken inspiration from the past and keep things rather basic across the board. Not looking to re-invent the wheel, but keep spinning along with their own coat of paint. This happens to be the case with NIS America and IKINA GAMES’ Starbites, a mecha RPG that may not offer the freshest or unique game around but still delivers a satisfying enough journey along the way.
Story
Set on the desert planet of Bitter, where the remnants of an ancient space-war that saw every ship in orbit crash down into it, a plucky scavenger named Lukida thinks she has finally found her ticket off of the dusty world, literally. She has managed to find a ticket to set out into the stars and while she is happy to show it off to her two best friends Gwendoll and Badger it isn’t long before everything goes tails up. Shortly after leaving their scavenging site, Lukida is attacked out of nowhere by a massive mecha that no one has seen before and wipes out her and her motorbot (mecha) in one attack. She awakens in her home town of Delight after being rescued by the local service team and told that her already significant debt to the town’s overseer, a woman named Fennec, has grown even higher as a result.
Finding that the ticket is now lost, Lukida enlists the help of her two friends and sets out not only on a job to work off paying off some of her debt but also track down her ticket off of this desert planet. Though that quickly becomes the last of their worries as the trio soon finds that the local bandit groups have begun to gather and encroach on the city of Delight, an unknown element has begun damaging their power supply, and even other towns are suffering on the outskirts of the world. What begins as Lukida’s personal quest to escape to the stars soon becomes a party-wide adventure that will change the course of power on Bitter and reveal far more secrets than she could ever have expected.
Starbites‘ narrative actually ends up going into some rather interesting places once players get far enough long into the story and uncover the many secrets that lay beneath the sands of Bitter and the different twists that happen. Unfortunately the road to these developments is a bit on the long side and while a slow opening is perfectly fine for most RPGs, that only works if the characters can help hold it up along the way. This isn’t the case with Starbites since, while Lukida herself is a lovable goof and eventual party members are far more interesting, her starting allies of Badger and Gwendoll are as generic as they come. Badger is a man of scars and muscle but a heart of gold while Gwendoll’s whole personality revolves around drinking anyone under the table. This leaves a lot to be desired before the eventual additions of new party members and revelations that we won’t spoil here come along.
The antagonists that players face down throughout the various acts are also similarly one note, at least until near the end of the game, so nuance really isn’t Starbites‘ strong suit. The same can be said regarding side-quests since most of them simply involve fetching things from the desert overworld or gathering/crafting certain items for random citizens. There is little plot development or even character development to tie these side-quests in other than in-game rewards and oddly enough players are almost punished for doing things “out of order.” This includes finding an item out in the desert, or buying one, ahead of actually taking on the quest and then rather than being able to complete it right then and there, players will need to actually travel back to where they originally found it just to trigger the flag to let them complete it, making side-quests often annoying more than anything for players who like to explore beyond the story’s pacing.
Gameplay
Starbites will see players traveling around as a team of three active fighters at any given time with, eventually, three supporting characters that can be attached to each frontline fighter. These supporting characters can also fight for themselves on the frontlines, it mostly just matters how players want to dictate their skills and preferred playstyle. Either way, while out in the field players will find that every map is split into various ones that can be traveled to through simply reaching the edge of another area and traveling through. There are some fast-travel locations but these are almost always limited to major towns, meaning players will need to backtrack through the desert for any side-quests or new adventures and even fight old enemies once again.
Rather than letting players perform an attack in the field to either instantly slay enemies they are far stronger than or even stun enemies, players will just bump into foes (or be targeted by them if seen) and start a fight normally, triggering the turn-based combat system. The turn order is handled through a simple manner, by character speed, and displayed in the upper left of the screen. What does make things interesting is the fact that every enemy has their own unique weaknesses to certain attack types and striking this weakness will lower their “defense” gauge. When fully depleted they will end up in a “broken” state that not only delays their turn but allows them to take way more damage from any incoming attacks. Also, should the character that broke the enemy have an assistant then they will perform a devastating follow-up attack that will generally slay most enemies.
Speaking of attacking, every character will have a variety of elemental attack options at their disposal such as their default attack, various special attacks that will be learned as players level up, and even the ability to apply buffs and debuffs through Talent Points, or “TP,” gained from leveling up and applying it to a large skill tree. This skill tree can thankfully be reset as many times as players like, meaning there is no punishment for exploring a certain playstyle and finding out it might not pay off as good as players may have hoped. While fighting, using skills, and taking damage, every character will fill up a “Driver’s High” gauge that, when filled entirely, can allow that character to instantly launch an enhanced attack or enhanced skill even if their turn is way back in the order. This can help play a role to instantly wipe out tough foes or pull a heal out of thin-air in a clutch moment if needed.
That isn’t to say that Starbites is a hard game, if anything it’s too easy. There are three difficulties available and players can swap between them at any time but it is worth noting that playing on Normal will likely feel too easy for most fans of JRPGs with standard enemies feeling like cannon fodder and only the occasional boss encounter actually pushing players to put a bit of extra thought into fighting, thankfully there is at least a double-speed option in combat to hurry things along. Of course, part of this is thanks to the many ways that players can upgrade their motorbots. Every mecha has unique weapons and pieces that can be bought at stores, obtained through side-quests, or hidden out in the desert with some of the strongest gear offering significant damage improvements and defense.
This includes different torsos, chassis, legs, and even a core engine. To top this off, every engine allows players to equip “mech cores” that are easy to craft to their highest level and do things such as instantly healing a character when entering a fight, providing significant attack or defense boosts for a few turns, and more. To top that off, the fancier engine a mecha has equipped the more cores it can hold, allowing for some truly frightening combinations that will make some characters turn into complete killing machines capable of wiping out entire generic enemy mobs with a single skill. This gives players plenty of options to customize their party to be extremely overpowered to the point that even bosses won’t pose much problem, even if a few do throw a few spanners in the works by having some unique mechanics to them.
Audio & Visuals
Starbites looks like it was designed to capture the nostalgia of the early 360 era of RPGs with some dated but decently detailed character models and some impressive looking designs for the in-game mecha, with many having their appearances change slightly depending on the frames they have equipped. The enemy variety is handled quite well and the boss battles remain a standout every time players come across one. The 2D character portraits are impressively drawn and a number of CG artworks are spread throughout the story as well. Sadly this level of quality does not extend to the actual world players will be traveling through as the dusty wastes players navigate and almost every dungeon is lacking in detail and feels unpolished. It is also worth noting that, during conversations, random NPCs in town have a tendency to just wander in front of the camera where players are trying to talk or vanish into thin air.
The voice acting for the English dub of the game is handled exceptionally well and it is really what helps add a bit of extra life to some of the humdrum characters while making Lukida shine even more as the plucky scavenger with a dream. As for the game’s soundtrack players can expect a collection of decent sounding background tracks and some rather impressive boss music.
Overall
Starbites does what it sets out to do and little more than that by delivering a solid turn-based RPG that may have a slow start but also a lot of heart thanks to some excellent voice work and writing for Lukinda to help carry the story until it starts getting more interesting. Combine this with a satisfying enough combat loop that is a bit too easy but also equally comfortable and Starbites is the type of RPG that allows players to enjoy it at their own pace without expecting too much from them in return, though players should similarly keep their expectations in check.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
