Release trailer featuring praise from Broken Sword and Monkey Island devs teases mysterious investigation, stunning locations and satisfying puzzles

Check out gameplay here

Gothenburg, Sweden – May 6th, 2022 – Thunderful and Tag Of Joy are thrilled to announce that their mystery adventure game that blends stunning hand-painted scenery with a compelling  investigative story wrapped in secrets, Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit, is out today. Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is available on Steam, GOG and Epic from 5PM CET for ​$19.99 / €19.99 / £16.99 with a 10% launch discount.

Headed up by the art director from Broken Sword 2.5 and featuring a talented voice cast that have starred in the likes of The Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok, The Wolf Among Us and more, Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit takes you on a thrilling trip across beautifully rendered locations in Eastern Europe imbued with romanticism and conspiratorial intrigue. What begins as a personal story about Milda traveling to the home of her deceased Lithuanian grandfather after receiving a mysterious letter referencing a family secret, soon unfurls into a rich web of enigmatic danger that draws on the rich and underexplored history of the region. Milda’s family secret goes deeper than she ever imagined, leading her to investigate a lost relic, Lithuania’s most legendary royal and the clandestine machinations of the KGB during the Soviet era.

Praised by Broken Sword creator Charles Cecil for its “beautiful graphics” and “fascinating story” and given the “I dig it” stamp of approval by The Curse of Monkey Island artist Bill Tiller, you can get a look at what Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit has to offer in the new trailer:

From enigmatic anonymous messages, to logic-testing conundrums, to classic item puzzles, Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is packed with a variety of satisfying mysteries and puzzles for you to solve. For some of them you might even have to change Milda’s outfit, from clothes to hairstyle. Of course, you can also just tweak her look for fun! As you explore the game’s rich hand-painted scenes, you’ll meet a host of fun and eccentric characters, all with fully voiced dialogue, further building a rich world that’s a pleasure to inhabit.

The role of Milda is being played by Erin Yvette, who is due to appear in the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok, and also has a long list of impressive credits for roles in The Wolf Among Us, Oxenfree, The Walking Dead and Batman: The Telltale Series. She is jointed by Matthew Curtis, who has appeared in Unforeseen Incidents, The Hand of Glory and Smite, as well as adventure game veteran Denny Delk, who you might recognise as Murray in the new Return To Monkey Island, alongside his other roles in Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max Hit The Road and a host of Star Wars titles.

“We are so happy that Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is now available to play,” said game director Šarūnas Ledas. “We have a deep love of adventure games and the incredible experiences they have delivered over the years, so it’s long been a dream of ours to create a brand new adventure that draws on the best of the classics we’ve enjoyed. We hope you like it!”

Thunderful Games
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thunderfulgames
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thunderfulgames
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/thunderfulgames

Tag of Joy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tagofjoy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TagOfJoy/
Website: https://www.tagofjoy.lt/

About Thunderful
Thunderful Group is a group of companies that develops, publishes and invests in games as well as distributes Nintendo products, games, game accessories and toys. Founded in 2017 Thunderful Games is one of the two business segments in Thunderful Group, the other being Thunderful Distribution. Over the last few years Thunderful Games has, organically and via acquisitions, grown into a global organization with eight development studios and over 300 employees. Besides the award-winning internal development pipeline, Thunderful Games also publishes a large number of third-party titles and invests in external game projects.

About Tag of Joy
Tag of Joy is an award-winning, creativity-powered independent development studio focused on innovating games technologically, visually, and gameplay-wise. In 2014, the studio released Monster Buster, the first of its kind AR, location-based, treasure hunting, and monster collecting game for mobile. Currently, the team is aiming to bring novel ideas to narrative games. The studio has received multiple awards throughout the years and was a finalist at the Unity Awards in 2013 and 2015. More information can be found on their official website and Twitter.

Kick Off a Month of Freemode Bonuses, Starting with Triple Rewards for Business Battles this Week
Get 2X GTA$ and RP on Ron Contact Missions, RC Bandito Races and RC Time Trials, Plus Motor Wars Returns

Be on the lookout for special bonuses in Freemode all month long. This week, pay particular attention to Business Battles — which are available to all Motorcycle Clubs and Organizations in Freemode — and paying out Triple Rewards until May 11.

Freemode is at the center of the GTA Online experience — with an endless amount of structured and unstructured activities to enjoy. For instance, between Sell and Resupply Missions, MC Presidents and CEOs can trigger Work and Challenges for their respective Clubs and Organizations or bring their squad into Gang Attacks. You can also challenge fellow thrill seekers to Impromptu Races, compete to cause the most destruction across Southern San Andreas in Criminal Damage, vie for the top score in an assortment of Freemode Challenges, team up with other players to Hunt the Beast, and much more.

Those who successfully deliver Goods may also find the Pink or Green Wireframe Bodysuit among their takings.

Only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S

Hao’s Premium Test Ride: Grotti Brioso R/A

Players on the newest generation of consoles can drop by Hao’s Special Works in the LS Car Meet to scope out this week’s Premium Test Ride: a compact Grotti Brioso R/A bulked up with all the upgrades Hao could shove under the hood.

Hao’s Special Works Time Trial
Gun it between North Chumash and the Palomino Highlands in this week’s new HSW Time Trial.

2X GTA$ and RP on Ron Contact Missions
Noted free-thinker Ron Jakowski isn’t super fond of easily tapped phone lines, but if he deigns to get in touch with you, take him up on his offer — all Ron Contact Missions are paying out 2X GTA$ and RP, all week long.

2X GTA$ and RP on RC Bandito Races and RC Time Trials
This week marks the comeback of miniature mayhem with RC Bandito Races returning to GTA Online, alongside Motor Wars, Truck Off, and Special Vehicle Races.

Shrink yourself down to curb height and reap larger-than-life bonuses this week: the RC Bandito Races and RC Time Trials are both dishing out Double Rewards.

Car Meet Prize Ride: The Progen Itali GTB
LS Car Meet members who win a Street Race five days in a row will roll away with a set of keys belonging to the Progen Itali GTB for their efforts.

Give the Pegassi Infernus, Truffade Adder, and Pegassi Reaper a Trial Run on the Test Track
Give the Pegassi Infernus, Truffade Adder, and the Pegassi Reaper a cursory spin between the columns of the LS Car Meet’s Test Track, see how they fare in a competitive Scramble against your peers, or floor it and race against the clock in Time Trials — all at no personal cost.

On The Diamond Casino Podium: The Pfister Comet Safari
Gently park your car on top of the valet outside of The Diamond Casino & Resort and make your way to the Lucky Wheel in the lobby to spin and potentially win the camouflaged Pfister Comet Safari whirling atop the podium, beckoning to be taken off the beaten path and go mud-running in the hills of Blaine County.

Discounts:

Join the ranks of the nightlife glitterati: Nightclubs and their additional Storage are both 30% off this week, and read on for a list of discounted vehicles, some of which can be stored underneath your club’s bustling dancefloor.

Vehicles:

• JoBuilt P-996 LAZER – 30% off
• Progen GP1 – 30% off
• Mammoth Avenger – 40% off
• HVY Nightshark – 40% off
• Pfister Comet – 40% off
• Pfister Comet Retro Custom – 40% off
• RC Bandito – 40% off
• Festival Bus – 50% off

Prime Gaming Benefits

GTA Online players who successfully connect their Rockstar Games Social Club account with Prime Gaming will get GTA$100K just for playing anytime this week.

To ensure access to future benefits, make sure to visit Prime Gaming and sign up.

Check Rockstar Support for details and limitations.

Switch to an environmentally friendly life with My Universe: Green Adventure – Farmer Friends!

Go green on June 30!

Sydney, Australia, May 6^th 2022 – Desperately looking for some fresh air? Answer the call of nature and embrace your inner farmer with the game My Universe: Green Adventure – Farmer Friends, releasing June 30^th on Nintendo Switch and digitally on PlayStation 4 and PC/Mac (Steam).

Prepare your dungarees and wellington boots! You’ve just inherited an old family farm and it’s high time you gave it a new lease of life. Vegetables, fruits, flowers, it’s up to you to find the best way to grow your crops in line with nature. Watch your farm grow as you have fun! Care for your animals and make sure they’re in good health so that they provide you with the very best organic produce.

About the game:

• Become an environmentally friendly farmer! Explore your farm’s surroundings, clear your overgrown fields and find a new way to fertilize your crops. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to dig and water your crops regularly to reap the fruits of your labour. Be sure to follow the complete production cycle of a green farmer! Every day is an adventure thanks to the different quests.
• Make some animal friends! During your adventure, you will be in charge of the entire farmyard, cows, hens, goats, sheep, ducks, and more. You’ll have to renovate various buildings to home your new companions. Care for them, show them plenty of affection and have fun with them thanks to the many mini games.
• Meet the villagers’ needs! The further you progress in your adventure, the larger your choice of seeds will get. Flowers, fruits and vegetables, pay close attention to the villagers’ orders to be sure to meet their needs. With a little creativity you will improve your recipes and create new flavours for your yogurts, jams, etc. It’s up to you to show off your local production and your traditional recipes to the village’s inhabitants!

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Green Adventure – Farmer Friends joins My Baby, School Teacher, Fashion Boutique, Cooking Star Restaurant, Pet Clinic Cats & Dogs, Puppies & Kittens, Interior Designer and Doctors & Nurses already available in the My Universe series. The My Universe series is specifically designed for kids excited to jump into their dreamed adult life. It is also part of the Microids Life label, dedicated in providing gaming experiences for the entire family and all profiles of players.

Find Microids on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin

website: http://www.microids.com/

Find Microids Life on Facebook and Twitter

Or at https://www.microids.com/fr/microids-life-fr/

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About Microids Life
Microids Life label combines gaming experiences accessible for all ages and gamer profiles, hoping to complement each of their life’s milestones.Our goal: unite all gamers around experiences inspired by real life, offering everyone the chance to acquire new knowledge as they play and enrich their daily routine.

About Microids
Microids is a French video game publisher. Founded in 1985, Microids’ editorial strategy now focuses on 4 major areas: adventure games, racing games, retro gaming and games inspired by iconic titles. By collaborating with renowned studios and authors (Pendulo Studios, Eden Studios, Benoît Sokal, Paul Cuisset, Philippe Dessoly and Pierre Adane), Microids has become a major player in international video games. Taking inspiration from legendary titles, including Asterix & Obelix, and Titeuf, Garfield, Fort Boyard, XIII and Blacksad, Microids reaches a wide audience and creates original adventures which give gamers the chance to play as some of their most beloved characters.

Get your taste of the new turn-based strategy Western from Good Shepherd Entertainment & Ice Code Games

AMSTERDAM — May 5, 2022 — Good Shepherd Entertainment and Ice Code Games have announced that the open beta for Hard West 2, the supernatural sequel to the hit turn-based strategy game experienced by over half a million players, kicks off today on PC via Steam. Running now until June 5, the beta features a small slice of the game’s full campaign and introduces players to some of the special abilities they’ll acquire in their journey through the dark heart of the West.

Play the Hard West 2 Open Beta: Steam

Hard West 2 ups the ante on the original game in every way. The unique new Bravado system delivers a more aggressive approach to tactics and combat, rewarding you for going on the offensive so you can extend your streak and dish out even more damage. Experience shootouts on the move with dynamic levels that play out in changing environments to recreate the action-packed feeling of high-speed horseback chases and nail-biting train showdowns.

Demolish your adversaries with special abilities like Gin’s Shadow Barrage, which ignores cover and can hit several enemies; Flynn’s Shadow Swap, which lets her trade places with friend or foe; Old Man Bill’s Dead Man’s Revenge, which can hit anyone in line of sight and scales based on the amount of damage he’s taken; and Laughing Deer’s Wild Run, which increases in damage the further he is to the target.

Turn dire situations to your advantage by utilizing Luck, which you’ll gain when taking damage or missing shots and can be used to improve your chance to hit. Obtain new abilities and give your posse additional skills or enhance existing ones when you find and equip cards from the Deck of Haunts.

Key Features:

• Conquer the Dark Frontier: When first-class con man Gin Carter raids a legendary “ghost train” in search of gold, he discovers it haunted by the Devil himself! Now Gin must lead a posse of strange outlaws to save his soul in a land claimed by darkness. Explore the frozen wastelands and lawless frontier towns of the Wild West in a desperate battle against the living and undead.
• Unleash Your Bravado: Rack up kills to activate the new Bravado State and replenish your Action Points. Rush out of cover, go on the offensive, and chain together stylish kills to extend your streak as you take down anyone or anything brazen enough to stand in your way.
• Shootouts on the Move: Hard West 2’s turn-based combat is set in dynamically shifting environments, keeping your brain as busy as your trigger. Let your Western imagination run wild, from horseback chases to tense train holdups, as you hone your strategic skills to a fine edge.
• Supercharged Posse: Unearth mysterious playing cards to build your crew’s poker hands. Arm them with guns, explosives, trinkets, or just some beans and whiskey to keep them in top shape.
• Unnatural Leader: Responsibility for your growing posse of gunslinging outlaws, witches and other mysterious beings lands at your boots. Make the right calls to get more Loyalty Points and new skills for those closest to you, but choosing poorly will test their commitment to your cause.
• The Good, the Bad & the Undead: Wild West folk tales and the occult collide in a character-driven story featuring the voice talents of Kevin Conroy (Batman: The Animated Series), Darien Sills-Evans (Days Gone) and Adam Gifford (The Colony), plus a score by BAFTA Award winner Jason Graves (Dead Space) and story co-written by Origins Awards winner and New York Times bestseller Matt Forbeck (Deadlands).

Hard West 2 is available to wishlist on Steam. Visit www.HardWestGame.com for more information, and join the community on Facebook, Discord and Reddit.

About Good Shepherd Entertainment

Good Shepherd Entertainment is an award-winning video game publisher dedicated to creating long-term partnerships that create high-caliber, high-quality entertainment. Good Shepherd has established a strong global presence, having developed, published and marketed dozens of hits across multiple platforms, such as Monster Train, the Transport Fever and Hard West series, Phantom Doctrine, and the critically acclaimed John Wick Hex.

Drawing on decades of experience, Good Shepherd offers its know-how and network of award-winning writers, musicians and creative powerhouses, as well as access to pop-culture IPs. www.GoodShepherd.games

About Ice Code Games

Ice Code Games is a Polish indie game development studio based in Warsaw. Since its conception, it has developed and published several games, including a cyberpunk RTS about cults. It recently made its way to the Polish stock market and is working on several tools for game developers. Ice Code Games is made up of a veteran team of professionals with experience producing games ranging from indie to AAA. https://IceCode.games

Focus Entertainment confirms Dream Powered Games’ new fast-paced FPS is in development for PlayStation®5 & Xbox Series X|S

PARIS — May 5, 2022 — Warstride Challenges, the explosive FPS from Focus Entertainment and Dream Powered Games, has released its first update today, available for all players in Steam Early Access. The first of many to come, this update sees the arrival of Very Hard mode for Chapter 1, plus improvements for the level editor.

Today’s update gives players a first taste of Warstride Challenges’ Very Hard difficulty level, unlocked for Chapter 1 with 12 additional levels. Many improvements and fixes have also been made, with a focus on making the level editor more precise and accessible. A new Level Editor Guide has also been added on Steam to make it even easier to create your own devious trials – let your imagination run wild and share your designs with the community! In addition, Focus Entertainment and Dream Powered Games have confirmed that Warstride Challenges is in development for a future release on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Check out the game’s early access road map on Steam to see all content coming in subsequent updates.

Lesquin, France, May 4, 2022 – NACON and Piece of Cake studio, developers of the multi rewarded game Hacktag, are pleased to reveal their new game: My Fantastic Ranch, a management game for young players set in a magical world inhabited by fantastic creatures.

The gameplay, designed to be easy for children to access, involves developing and managing a dream ranch. The player has to adopt and care for new dragons and unicorns, arrange riding lessons and match the right student to the right creature, watching them progress together and helping them participate in events and tournaments that will raise the ranch’s profile.

“We wanted to create a management game that the youngest players can access, a game that makes them think and still leaves room for the imagination, and My Fantastic Ranch is the result. All of the game mechanics have been designed to be easy for children to understand, so they can have fun owning their imaginary ranch.” Marine Lemaïtre, CEO and co-founder of Piece of Cake studios.

My Fantastic Ranch has a unique design ideal for developing a child’s management game skills in a fantasy world full of incredibly cute creatures.

My Fantastic Ranch will be available on PlayStation®5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic Game Store in fall 2022.

Find all of our NACON games and accessories on our website nacongaming.com

About NACON
NACON is a company of the BIGBEN Group founded in 2019 to optimize its know-how through strong synergies in the video game market. By bringing together its 16 development studios, the publishing of AA video games, the design and distribution of premium gaming devices, NACON focuses 20 years of expertise at the service of players. This new unified business unit strengthens NACON’s position in the market, enables it to innovate by creating new unique competitive advantages and achieve its ambition to become one of the world’s leading players in gaming. https://www.nacongaming.com

About Piece of Cake
Piece of Cake Studios is an independent French video game development studio based in Paris. Founded by experienced professionals, Piece of Cake creates cooperative video game experiences. With the launch of its new label, Fabulous, the studio is seeking to develop original management, simulation and/or strategy games set in imaginary universes.