Styx: Shards of Darkness Review

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March 20, 2017

Styx: Shards of Darkness

Developer: Cyanide Studio
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows (Reviewed)
Release Date: 14 March 2017
Price: $49.99 USD – Available Here / $79.95 AUD – Available Here

Video Review

Overview

Master assassin Styx is back on a brand-new adventure in Styx: Shards of Darkness. After the success of their old school stealth game Styx: Master of Shadows, Cyanide was able to expand the size and scope of their new game, including the introduction of co-op multiplayer. Styx is now packing brand new skills and equipment, opening up a wide array of new possibilities.

Story

Styx finds himself in a new adventure when he strikes a deal with an unlikely employer. The goblin extermination organization C.A.R.N.A.G.E. hires Styx to smuggle them into a diplomatic meeting in Korrangar. Business soon becomes personal as Styx becomes embroiled in a personal feud with the Dark Elf outcast Djarak.

The game’s plot is entertaining, though it’s nothing that will keep players glued to the edge of their seat. As a character, Styx is hilarious in a Deadpool sort of way. He constantly breaks the fourth wall and has an endless supply of wisecracks that lightens the mood. The writers seem very aware that the game was designed to pay homage to early stealth games and make every opportunity to drop references to other stealth games like Thief and Assassin’s Creed.

Gameplay

Styx: Shards of Darkness continues the tradition of old school stealth gameplay. Modern stealth games have moved into the direction where the hero is a predator in the shadows just waiting to strike. Being a small goblin, Styx lurks in the shadow because it is the only way for him to survive. Styx can handle a short toe to toe encounter with a single enemy at lower difficulty levels, but fleeing the scene is often the only way to make it out alive. At the two highest difficulties, Styx cannot even parry enemy blows; he can only run away. Although Styx’s size puts him at a distinct disadvantage in combat, his small stature creates a wide variety of hiding spots and alternative paths. The traditional hiding spots of dark shadows, closets, and ledges are all available to Styx, but his size also means that open barrels, storage chests, and small crawlspaces are also in play.

The game features a talent tree system to help Styx adapt to the player’s preferred playstyle. Completing mission objectives will reward players with a base number of points to spend on talents. Players are then judged on how long it took to complete a mission, the number of kills, the number of alerts, and the number of collected tokens at the end of each level. Higher ranks will award bonus points. The talent trees are well designed, with each tree having two paths that are capped off with an ultimate skill that needs a special item to unlock. Many talents are linked with another talent on the same tier, giving players more flexibility on only purchasing talents that will be helpful to their play style. Styx’s starting skill set is already quite broad, so many of the talents focus on giving players a few specialized tools or improving the quality of life.

Styx has an arsenal of equipment and spells to give him the edge on his enemy. His two simplest items are sand to extinguish open torches from a distance and a glass bottle to lure guards. With points into the crafting tree, Styx is able to craft both single use items like acid traps and new equipment for Styx to wear. The equipment is very well balanced, providing both a bonus and a penalty that is ideal for certain playstyles. Styx has handy spells that give him more supernatural abilities like a temporary cloak or conjuring clones to distract guards. All spells except Amber Vision will sap Styx’s Amber reserves, which must be replenished with potions that are either crafted or pickpocketed from guards. All in all, Cyanide provides players with an incredibly diverse move set that gives players plenty of options.

Styx: Shards of Darkness easily ranks in my top five stealth games in terms of level design. With the popularity of open world games, it seems that many developers opt to make their levels as wide as possible so they can add “massive levels” to their feature list. Cyanide Studio turns that thinking on its side quite literally, creating large levels that focus on building upwards. The vertical design makes levels an absolute joy to explore. There are so many ways to traverse a map, from low lying areas that allows guards to be pulled off ledges and thrown into the abyss or sneaking past enemies by using ropes and hand holds to stay above the fray.

The biggest undoing of Styx: Shards of Darkness is its controls. A game that focuses so heavily on vertical space needs to have absolutely flawless controls because no one likes falling to their death. Hanging off ledges and jumping from one to another never seemed smooth to me. There were times I would be shuffling across what seemed to be a perfectly straight bridge railing only to suddenly stop on an invisible wall. Styx also has tough time with corners where one surface is diagonal and the other is horizontal. Equally frustrating is the difficulty jumping from ledge to ledge at times. I found the Styx either prefers to jump up onto the ledge or into the air and then requires the player to do a little bit of maneuvering midair. I also question the logic of having Styx walk off a ledge and fall and having a button for Styx to walk off and grab a ledge by default. By switching the default behaviour, Cyanide Studios can easily prevent a lot of silly deaths resulting from walking too close to the edge. The camera also is an exercise in frustration at times. The camera has a bad habit of suddenly looking at the ground below Styx while he shuffles between ledges for seemingly no reason at all. While none of these control issues are game breaking, having to learn to contend with some of the game’s quirks is rather annoying.

The default key layout for both the controller and mouse and keyboard works well. Both control schemes are easy to pick up and keep all the necessary abilities and items close at hand. For controllers, the range of possible camera sensitivity settings is perfectly usable, but I find the camera sensitivity controls for PC to be a little stingy. I am a low sensitivity gamer and I still found myself maxing out the camera sensitivity just to get something playable. I believe a range double in size would be much better for PC users.

Visuals

Styx: Shards of Darkness features classic fantasy art style built on Unreal Engine 4. The animations, models, and textures are all high quality and show off Unreal Engine 4’s capabilities well. Although this is a stealth game, there are portions of the game that are set outdoors during the day, which contrasts nicely with the dark interior and night maps.

Audio

Styx: Shards of Darkness’ soundtrack is dark. The music sets the right mood for creeping in the shadows and builds just the right amount of tension. The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Some characters are voiced by excellent actors, while many smaller roles are poorly acted. The switch between acting quality tends to be quite jarring and makes the poorer quality acting seem even worse. The game’s sound effects are good, but how the game positions the surround sound audio seems a little off to me. I can’t seem to pin down if it is a glitch or just poor processing as I have run into multiple occasions where sounds generated by enemies seems to be of similar volume whether the source is in the same room or a floor above.

Overall

Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid old school stealth game with some quirks. The level design is spectacular, and the game provides a lot of opportunity for creativity. On the other hand, the controls could use for some improvement and the audio processing does not always reflect the actual location of individuals. While Styx: Shards of Darkness is an absolute must play for hard core stealth fans, most gamers will probably fall in love with the game if they can get over the game’s issues.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

Re-Kan! Review

K. Roberts

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March 18, 2017

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Re-Kan!

Studio: Studio Deen
Publisher: Hanabee Entertainment
Platforms: DVD (reviewed)
Release Date: January 19, 2017
Price: $49.99 AUD – Available Here

Overview

Hibiki Amami is a high school student with a sixth sense. She inherited the ability to see and interact with ghosts from her late mother. Most of her friends are ghosts as a result, but she eventually finds herself in the middle of a group of lively classmates. These friends include: Inoue, who is scared of ghosts, Esumi, who used to be a ‘delinquent’ and still acts tough, Uehara the blogger, Ogawa the air-headed zombie fanatic and Yamada the egotistical boy. Hibiki’s ghost friends are compassionate towards her and actively help her out every day, and she does her best to make them at peace with their past lives and their present situations.

Story

If the anime adaptation of Re-Kan! was produced for a reason other than to help sell copies of the original manga series of the same name, it was to provide the sort of uplifting entertainment occasionally found in the genre of moe slice-of-life anime. If one positive thing can be said about this series, it is that that goal is achieved, albeit in an unoriginal way. Each and every episode is almost entirely predictable right down to what lame jokes are going to be made and when, but many episodes effectively demonstrate the possibility that ghosts might just want to do one last nice thing for a relative before moving on, as opposed to wanting to get revenge on a murderer or haunt others. Hibiki helps them realise their wishes, and everyone moves on. Unfortunately, each resolution can be seen coming from a mile away and loses most or all of its impact as a result, so it would be misleading to say the resolutions are going to be emotional for the viewer. Whether or not the attempts at emotional engagement will work on you depends on how familiar you are with modern anime tropes.

If the above description of each of the human characters seems one-dimensional, it is because the characters seriously do all have just one trait, maybe two at best. They are generally supposed to be kind at heart, but they come across as poorly designed facsimiles of humans with no real personalities. Once a character has been introduced, they do not develop at all. There are flashbacks for some of the characters, but each and every one of them feels like a matter-of-fact explanation or a futile attempt at being funny rather than an attempt at character development. It seems that the original author read a manual on how to write a generic moe series instead of going to the effort of interacting with real human beings and subsequently portraying their behaviour based on real observations. Anime is fundamentally unrealistic, but diverging too much from reality in a work of fiction in this way makes it impossible to relate to any aspect of it.

There are a few annoying characters in Re-Kan!, but none so much so as Inoue. Being scared of the concept of ghosts, or even the real ghosts that happen to be around her everyday, is not worth labelling as unreasonable. What is unreasonable is this being one of just two character ‘traits’ she has, the other being that she is an archetypal tsundere. She is even called a tsundere, which is not a new joke or a funny one at that. She is the least human-like character in a series about a person who can see ghosts and understand the words of a perverted cat. Said cat constantly jokes about looking at girls’ underwear, but the ‘jokes’ are not funny in the slightest, nor are they funny after being reused over a dozen times. Neither is Inoue, who is constantly complaining about everything in public and getting upset every time she acknowledges that she wants to be nice to Hibiki. It does not seem like any of the students study or do homework, and it often seems as if shopping and cooking are about the only things these characters are capable of doing, aside from complaining and helping ghosts. The ghosts, fortunately, are not particularly annoying; they are somewhat sweet and give this series a desperately needed sense of lightheartedness and positivity.

Visuals

The animation is basic, but the character designs do stand out. Unfortunately, they do not stand out in a good way. Hibiki’s defining visual feature is her purple hair, which glows significantly more than is realistic for some unknown reason. It looks as if it is perpetually covered in some kind of transparent substance, although it is hard to imagine that the character designer for this anime adaptation wanted her to look like a greaser in a Japanese school uniform. Inoue’s hair has an inexplicable faint purple glow as well. Esumi has red hair, which is only worth mentioning because that apparently designates her as a violent character who gets angry at everything. Esumi and Uehara both have hair covering their one of their eyes, but those eyes are visible through the hair anyway. Looking at their hair is the easiest way to identify each character, except for the ghosts. The ghosts that are not bland silvery blobs or invisible are easily identifiable. No fan-service is present, which is one good thing this series has going for it, but there is frequent slapstick violence.

Audio

The voices are what you might expect from a recent moe anime. That is to say, they are shrill. Typical one-season anime adaptations essentially feature the same types of voices every time, but it is getting to the point where it is simply impossible to suspend even the slightest bit of disbelief in order to accept that Japanese girls actually sound anything like they do in Re-Kan!. An English dub may have actually improved this series. There is background music, but it is not noteworthy. The opening song is surprisingly decent, but the ending song is just another example of a forgettable pop song that does not need to exist. The subtitles are generally fine, but even a basic understanding of Japanese will often render them pointless due to the large amount of overly-simplistic dialogue used. Sentai Filmworks’ subtitles do include some useful translation notes, however.

Extras

The textless opening and ending animation sequences are included on the second disc. Trailers for some of Hanabee’s other recent releases are also included on that disc.

Overall

Moe should have disappeared from the world after Lucky Star, but it did not. If you or someone you know is new to anime, you might find Re-Kan! to be a sweet and touching story about a young person who dedicates most of her time to helping ghosts. The attempts at comedy fall flat, although it cannot be stated the production team did not follow the unwritten how-to guide for simple moe series to the letter. Had there been an attempt to depict Inoue genuinely growing as a character, or an attempt to depict realistic characters at all, it could have decent.

Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.

New The Surge Cinematic Trailer is Stronger, Faster, Tougher

Jamie Laike Tsui

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March 18, 2017

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New The Surge Cinematic Trailer is Stronger, Faster, Tougher

Focus Home Interactive and Deck13 released a new cinematic trailer for their upcoming action RPG The Surge today. The video is called “Stronger, Faster, Tougher” and is set to a CREO promotional ad. As the promo video runs in the background, our hero Warren battles a variety of out of control mechanical foes at CREO, from tiny dog like creatures to a massive robotic boss.

The Surge is an action RPG set in a dystopian world where the world has been destroyed by climate change and hampered by an aging population. Humans of working age have been reduced to physical labourers in special exo-suits. A mysterious blackout strikes one of these projects, leaving the humans insane and the robots rampaging out of control. To survive, Warren must repurpose industrial machines into weapons of war.

The Surge launches on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows on May 16th.

https://youtu.be/xOObG3RmQqI

BUXOM BEAT-‘EM-UP SERIES LATEST ENTRY, SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS, LAUNCHES ON PC

Press Releases

Philip Federico

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March 18, 2017

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BUXOM BEAT-‘EM-UP SERIES LATEST ENTRY, SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS, LAUNCHES ON PC

Celebrated with Two New Trailers, XSEED Games Continues to Delight Fans with Steam® Release of Series Most Robust Title plus Long-Awaited ‘Ikki Tousen’ DLC for All Platforms

Torrance, Calif. — March 17, 2017 — XSEED Games, the independent-minded console publishing brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., today announced that SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS, the latest iteration and first home console release in its beloved busty brawler series, is now available for purchase on Windows PC via Steam®. To celebrate the occasion, the game is being offered at 10% off its regular list price of $39.99, €39.99, and £29.99 for the first week after launch (other international pricing may vary). Furthermore, most DLC on PC will be offered at 33% off during the first week, while the ‘Dual Blooming Hearts’ PC DLC containing extra mission packs and the ‘Shinobi Pack’ PC bundle consisting of 7 additional costumes and 9 accessories will both be free during that special promotion period.

In addition, Ikki Tousen characters Sun Ce, Lu Bu, and Guan Yu are now finally playable characters as premium DLC across all of the game’s platforms, which include the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, PlayStation®Vita handheld entertainment system, and Windows PC versions. Each character is priced at $3.99, €3.99, and £2.99 on PlayStation platforms, while a bundle containing all three is offered for $8.99, €8.99, and £6.99 on PlayStation and Steam®. A new trailer ushers in the addition of the three battle vixens, who are sure to spice things up near the one-year anniversary of the series home console debut.

In SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS, a mystical phenomenon transports the nubile ninjas of the titular series to a parallel dimension to face off against their rivals in a new kind of battle. In this strange world – which resembles a sunny, sandy island paradise – the girls are thrown for another loop as they encounter departed loved ones and ultimately have to decide if they can bear to part from them a second time. The Windows PC version of ESTIVAL VERSUS follows successful Steam® releases of previous entries in the SENRAN KAGURA series, including SENRAN KAGURA SHINOVI VERSUS and SENRAN KAGURA Bon Appétit! – Full Course.

With over twenty-five playable characters, making this the biggest roster in the series’ history, SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS boasts more moves, more story, more attitude, and more destruction online with matches that can support up to 10 players (Windows PC and PS4™ system versions only; “PSVita” system supports up to 4 players). All of the series’ previous Shinobi girls return with a host of upgraded moves to master, and new playable characters offer more challenges to conquer, along with a story that’s equal parts sexy and shocking, serious and scandalous, busty and bouncy.

The faithful adaptation to PC has been handled by the original developers at Marvelous Inc. and Tamsoft, with added Steamworks support including Steam Achievements, leaderboards, cloud saves, and trading cards. XSEED Games published SENRAN KAGURA ESTIVAL VERSUS on March 17 for Windows PC via Steam® for $39.99, €39.99, and £29.99 with a 10% launch week discount. The title is currently available as a limited “Endless Summer” physical release for the PS4™ and “PSVita” systems, while the digital release of the game is available on both platforms via the PlayStation®Store. The Windows PC version of this title is not rated by the ESRB. The PS4™ and “PSVita” system versions have been rated “M for Mature.”

More details on the game can be found at the product website www.hanzonationalacademy.com/skev/. For more information on XSEED Games products, please visit www.xseedgames.com. Fans can also follow XSEED Games on Facebook at www.facebook.com/XSEEDGames and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/XSEEDGames

Indie Gala Friday Special Bundle #47 Now Available

Jamie Laike Tsui

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March 18, 2017

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Indie Gala Friday Special Bundle #47 Now Available

Celebrate the end of a long work week with a brand new indie bundle! Indie Gala’s Friday Special Bundle #47 is packing ten great indie games for one low price.

For a minimum purchase price of $1.00 USD, buyers will receive:

The Albatross – Players take on the role of a private agent known Albatross as he investigates weird incidents happening all across the United Kingdom.

The Safeguard Garrison – A 3D tower defence that featuring 12 different towers with three upgrades each and 50 levels to survive.

Open Sorcery – A text based adventure that mixes technology and magic and stars an elemental firewall coded in C++.

For a minimum purchase price of $3.49 USD during the first 24 hours of the sale, buyers will also receive:

Big Buck Hunter Arcade – Experience the thrill of the hunt while you stay warm and dry at home in a fast paced arcade style format.

Captain Lycop : Invasion of the Heters – A space shooter with elements of adventure, action, and management; Captain Lycop must discover the true intentions of the incoming alien ships.

Draw Slasher – A challenging beat ’em up that is controlled only with a mouse.

Dashing Dinos – Battle your friends using the all powerful dash ability in this intense couch multiplayer game.

Friday Night Bullet Arena – A top down shooter with a twist: each player only gets one bullet and must catch a bullet before firing again.

Mortificatio – An adventure inspired by the history of alchemy, players must learn about the alchemist Eloakh to escape death.

CrossWorlds: Escape – A hardcore survival game that requires players to adapt to the changing seasons to stay alive.

The special $3.49 price will only last for 24 hours. Head on over to Indie Gala and grab a bundle before the price goes up!

Firestorm Officially Revealed for Injustice 2

Travis Bruno

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March 17, 2017

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Firestorm Officially Revealed for Injustice 2

Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios have officially released an overview trailer to introduce Firestorm as Injustice 2‘s latest newest roster member. As you can see in the video Firestorm will play more like a rushing and zoning type of character rather than a projective heavy fighter.

Also the company announced that Source Crystals are something that will be used as an in-game currency that can be purchased with real money. These crystals can be used to purchase cosmetic adjustments to their fighters and while these premiere skins will not provide any gameplay advantage, players can Transform Gear with these crystals, meaning they can apply the visuals of one piece of gear to another.

Yasuhiro Wada Discusses Birthdays The Beginning’s Challenge Mode

Travis Bruno

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March 17, 2017

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Yasuhiro Wada Discusses Birthdays The Beginning’s Challenge Mode

The third and final interview with Yasuhiro Wada has been released by NIS America for his upcoming game, Birthdays The Beginning. In this final video the game’s creator talks about the various ways that players can enjoy the game and how they can build upon a creature library that will show a player’s captured life-forms, its rarity, and some insight on what life-form you’ve captured. He also discusses the “Challenge Mode” that gives the player a specific organism that they must “birth” within a certain time frame with certain limitations.

You can check out the video below and as for the game itself, Birthdays The Beginning is set to be released on the PlayStation 4 and PC in North America on May 9th and Europe May 12th.

Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada’s Castle Life Detailed

Travis Bruno

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March 17, 2017

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Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada’s Castle Life Detailed

In Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada players will be able to do a bit more than simply slay thousands of enemies on a field. As detailed recently by Koei Tecmo players will also be able to make use of Castle Town facilities by exploring the area and talking to soldiers as well as townsfolk. By expanding the town over the course of the game’s story mode new facilities will be added such as the Blacksmith, Stables, Shops, Dojo, and even a Teahouse. In fact players can even take part in mini games such as planting seeds and harvesting ingredients, fishing, and taking part in a shell game called Jinzō.

Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada is currently set to be released on May 23rd for the PC and PlayStation 4 in North America and May 26th in Europe and you can check out a number of screenshots as well as a new trailer showing off castle life below.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Limited Editions Revealed

Travis Bruno

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March 17, 2017

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Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Limited Editions Revealed

With Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age set to be released on the PlayStation 4 on July 11th in North America and Europe Square Enix has announced a handful of special editions that fans can look forward to picking up if they feel like spending a bit more money.

The first one is a special Collector’s Edition that is priced at $199.99 and can only be purchased through Square Enix’s online store and it comes with a copy of the game, the game’s soundrack CD, an exclusive steelbook case, a collection of “Judge Magisters” bust set featuring busts of the Judges Bergan, Drace, Gabranth, Ghis, and Zargabaath, a six card art set, and some special background music DLC.

Those who only want to pick up a special “limited edition” version of the game will find it at certain retailers priced at $49.99 with a copy of the game, a limited edition steelbook case, and background music DLC.

HORIZON ZERO DAWN GLOBAL SALES EXCEED 2.6 MILLION

Press Releases

Philip Federico

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March 17, 2017

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HORIZON ZERO DAWN GLOBAL SALES EXCEED 2.6 MILLION

Critically acclaimed PlayStation®4 exclusive debuts with over 2.6 million copies sold through in two weeks

SAN MATEO, CA, March 16, 2017 – Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) today announced global sales of Horizon Zero Dawn exceeded 2.6 million units during its two weeks of launch^*1. The PlayStation®4 (PS4™) system exclusive, developed by Guerrilla, was released globally beginning February 28 (March 1^st, ANZ) to widespread critical acclaim. Praised for its unique world design, wide array of strategic action and fascinating story line, it instantly became one of the most celebrated games of the current generation. The impressive launch also makes Horizon Zero Dawn the best-selling new first party IP launch on the PS4 system to date and Guerrilla’s biggest debut ever.

Horizon Zero Dawn is an exhilarating new action role playing game where you play as Aloy, a young hunter on a quest to discover her destiny among the remnants of the ancient past. The game is set in a lush, post-post-apocalyptic world where machines roam the land and mankind is no longer the dominant species.

“We knew Horizon Zero Dawn was going to be something special, so to see the incredible critical reaction to a brand new game world translate into this level of sales is really gratifying,” said Shawn Layden, Chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios. “Guerrilla has created a game that is nothing short of exceptional, and the reaction we have seen from fans – from hours and hours of gameplay streaming to endless photo sharing – shows just how impactful it has been.”

“We’re thrilled that Horizon Zero Dawn has been embraced by critics and players alike. Developing the game was a labor of love, so it’s extremely satisfying to see that it elicits the same passion and enthusiasm from the gaming public that we felt during its development,” said Guerrilla Managing Director Hermen Hulst. “This is only the beginning of Aloy’s story and our exploration of the world of Horizon Zero Dawn, with the team already hard at work on an expansion to the story.”

SIE is committed to the continuous expansion of the world of PS4 through the introduction of attractive software titles and network services.

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*1 Includes both Blu-ray Disc™ sell-through quantities and download version sales on PlayStation®Store. Sales data in SIEJA regions collected 03/02/17 – 03/13/17, in SIEA regions 02/28/17 – 03/12/17, in SIEE regions 03/01/17 – 03/12/17.

About Sony Interactive Entertainment

Recognized as a global leader in interactive and digital entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is responsible for the PlayStation® brand and family of products and services. PlayStation has delivered innovation to the market since the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan in 1994. The PlayStation family of products and services include PlayStation®4, PlayStation®VR, PlayStation®Vita, PlayStation®3, PlayStation®Store, PlayStation®Plus, PlayStation™Video, PlayStation™Music, PlayStation™Now, PlayStation™Vue, PlayStation®Original and acclaimed PlayStation software titles from SIE Worldwide Studios. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, SIE is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation and has global functions and regional headquarters in California, London and Tokyo.