Travel the world and protect humanity as Haroona, a heroine with mystical powers, and enter a narrative universe expanding into novels, podcasts, comics, and more
Tap into the powers of the Fold to right the wrongs of Haroona’s past and stop a secret society from taking control of powerful knowledge in the narrative-driven action-adventure game, Unknown 9: Awakening, out now for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.
Published by Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe and developed by Reflector Entertainment, the game is set at the turn of the 20th century and takes players on a globetrotting mission to prevent the world’s best-kept secrets from falling into the wrong hands. The game’s heroine, Haroona, is portrayed by the talented actress Anya Chalotra in her first video game role.
Unknown 9: Awakening follows the story of Haroona, a Quaestor born with the ability to venture into the Fold: a mysterious dimension that overlaps our own. On her quest for powerful hidden knowledge, she will learn to master her unique connection to the Fold, which allows her to channel its powers into our world. But such power does not go unnoticed. Haroona quickly becomes the target of the Ascendants, a splinter faction of a secret organization known as the Leap Year Society, which wants to use the Fold to alter the course of human history.
Mastering Haroona’s umbric abilities will prove critical to defeating the Ascendants and seeking the revenge the heroine craves. Players can choose to ambush opponents from the shadows, engage in melee combat, or “step” into foes to take control of their bodies and weapons, and turn them against each other. Haroona can dodge bullets, shield attacks, hurl energy, and perform creative combat combinations to take down whatever stands in the way of securing humankind’s continued existence.
Unknown 9: Awakening is the key entry point into the Unknown 9 IP’s expansive narrative universe, which consists of interconnected standalone stories told across web series, comic books, podcasts, novels and more. Players can extend their Unknown 9: Awakening experience by following these other adventures, and those who know where to look will uncover their share of crossovers, callbacks, secrets and more.
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About Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe S.A.S.
Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe S.A.S. is a leading global publisher and developer of entertainment content for platforms including, but not limited to, all major video game consoles and PC.
Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe is producing intellectual property for a global audience and is building its reputation with franchises such as LITTLE NIGHTMARES™, PARK BEYOND™ and UNKNOWN 9™ Awakening – developed by Reflector Entertainment based in Montreal, QC.
Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe serves as the Headquarters of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. for mainland Europe, which is known for creating and publishing many of the Toy & Entertainment industry’s top franchises, including PAC-MAN™, TAMAGOTCHI™, GUNDAM™, TEKKEN™, DARK SOULS™ and the recently released ELDEN RING™.
Founded in Montreal in 2016, Reflector Entertainment is a new breed of studio that specializes in the creation of immersive narrative universes. Its products, which are as enjoyable as standalone experiences as they are when consumed all together, span various entertainment formats and empower audiences to craft their own unique journeys across vast narrative landscapes. In 2020, the studio was acquired by Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, the headquarters of Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. for mainland Europe, recognized internationally for top franchises including PAC-MAN™, TEKKEN™, and the award-winning game, ELDEN RING™.
Original game owners can upgrade at a discount starting today
Sydney, Australia, October 18 2024 – Welcome back to where it all began — Arizona Sunshine® Remake, a complete rebuild of the iconic zombie apocalypse VR game, is now available on Meta Quest 2 and 3, PS VR2, and PC VR.
Starting today, owners of the original Arizona Sunshine® can get a discounted upgrade to Remake, also including the Federal Containment Agency pack.Meta Quest users can take advantage of the upgrade until November 30th. Upgrading requires the original game to be purchased and installed on the respective platform.
Developed and published by Vertigo Games, Arizona Sunshine® Remake brings an even bloodier, more intense survival experience. Experience the original story and all the DLCs, now with GORE-geous new visuals, including high-res textures and brutally detailed environments that bring the undead world to life like never before.
With next-gen combat, you’ll physically wield a lethal arsenal—shotguns, machetes, and more—blasting, hacking, and slashing your way through relentless hordes of Freds. Plus, a brand-new mutilation and gore system offers even more satisfying ways to take down the undead, from severing limbs to turning Freds into a bloody pulp.
Face the undead alone or up to three fellow survivors in a post-apocalyptic southwestern America overrun by zombies, and experience a zombie-infested Arizona like never before:
GORE-geous graphics: Immerse yourself in stunning new visuals, including high-resolution textures and realistic environmental details.
One complete edition including all DLZ:Arizona Sunshine® Remake includes all original DLCs and updates – Dead Man DLC, The Damned DLC, Old Mine update, Trailer Park Update and Undead Valley Update.
Co-op multiplayer: Join forces with a friend in co-op campaign mode or multiplayer Horde mode for up to four players. But beware, more warm brains mean more hungry undead.
Next-gen combat and weapons: Experience the thrill of combat as you physically wield weapons, from shotguns to machetes.
Relive the original story: Built in bite-sized VR chunks that together form a full narrative, the campaign allows you to jump in for a short session or stay for the complete ride.
Brand-new mutilation and gore system: Discover all the ways to slay a Fred through our upgraded mutilation and gore system.
About Vertigo Games
Vertigo Games, the VR publishing and development arm of the global PLAION Group, is a multi-platform VR publisher and developer with offices in Rotterdam & Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Los Angeles, California. With teams in the areas of development, publishing and LBE (location-based entertainment) distribution, the company offers a portfolio of quality VR games that provide novel, powerful and full-featured gaming experiences both inside of the home. Games include Vertigo Studios’ Arizona Sunshine® 2, The 7th Guest VR, and the epic VR action FPS After the Fall®. Upcoming titles include Arizona Sunshine® Remake and Metro Awakening. Vertigo Games is a PLAION (previously Koch Media) Group company. http://vertigo-games.com
PlayStation Australia is pleased to share some additional information on Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered from the PlayStation Blog, written by the Nixxes Software team. Insights from the developers include details on improvements in visual quality for foliage and environment, enhancements to the living world, improvements to terrain with assets used from Horizon Forbidden West, over 10 hours of additional motion-capture data for characters, as well as updates to lighting. The link to the blog is here.
Nixxes shares developer insights on remastering Guerrilla’s action adventure for PS5 and PC.
Hey everyone, you may be familiar with Nixxes as the developer behind PC ports of PlayStation games, but behind the scenes, we have also been hard at work on a project of a very different nature. Working closely with our friends at Guerrilla, we set out to create Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered for both PS5 and PC.
In our announcement last month, we shared details of improved features and technology, such as the completely revamped sound mix by Guerrilla’s audio team, support for DualSense controllers, and new motion capture for conversations. Today, I’d like to introduce you to some of the team members at Nixxes to give you more insight into some of the enhancements that have been made in the remaster.
Overhauling nature
Foliage plays a big role in portraying the lush, overgrown ruins of a long-lost civilisation in the world of Horizon. Our team of Environment Artists considered the foliage in Horizon Zero Dawn to be an industry standard, and Horizon Forbidden West added to that with significant improvements in visual quality. For the remaster, the team wanted to give the foliage the same care and attention.
Patrick Blankenzee, Senior Environment Artist: “To bring the foliage in the remaster up to the same level of quality as in Horizon Forbidden West, we enhanced the shaders, textures, geometry and foliage interaction. We assessed all the foliage assets in Horizon Zero Dawn and upgraded them with all these new features. We did this for hundreds of plants, bushes, flowers and trees.”
“We looked at the biomes in the original game and compared them to the concept art. We found places that we could enhance and bring closer to the original intent, with the rainforest biome being a good example of this. With powerful procedural technology, we injected new foliage and raised the quality and density to new heights. The riverbanks have also been upgraded with more biodiversity to bring them closer to the original intention as seen in the concept art.”
Julian Hofman, Environment Artist: “Working with the original team over at Guerrilla, we were able to ask questions, and directly compare their latest work on Horizon Forbidden West to the work we were doing for the remaster. This gave us some very specific goals to work towards, like the fresh generation of moss that you can now see in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered.”
“For me, the foliage changes make the game feel more alive and make it live up to the incredibly high standards of the Horizon games. The result is a coherent world to replay or experience for the first time.”
Enhancing the living world
The Design team at Nixxes made several key improvements to Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. One of the most significant changes is the enhancement of the living world.
Brian van Nunen, Senior Technical Game Designer: “To achieve this, we reviewed all villages, outposts and cities, identifying areas that felt empty or where we could improve realism and immersion.”
“Building the game for PS5 allowed us to leverage the increased amount of memory available, enabling us to significantly boost the number of non-player characters. We added many more places for NPCs to stand, sit, work and fulfill their needs. We gave them more varied schedules to increase movement and liveliness in different areas. We also tried to make creative use of existing animations. For example, there is now a woman feeding geese at the well in Meridian, reusing an existing sowing animation. Additionally, on the bridge to Meridian, we’ve made significant strides in improving the atmosphere and sense of activity.”
Improving terrain and building blocks
Our Tech Art team used the library of next-gen materials that were created for Horizon Forbidden West to enhance the quality of assets used for terrain, objects and buildings significantly in the remaster.
Sander Bronkhorst, Senior Technical Artist: “We began by replacing all the Horizon Zero Dawn terrain materials with their new Horizon Forbidden West counterparts. This was only the first step, as the sequel’s terrain materials didn’t always align with the original aesthetics. To address this, we carefully tweaked and polished each individual terrain material to closely match the look and feel of the original game, while maintaining the visual fidelity of the terrain materials in Horizon Forbidden West.”
“In addition to updating all the terrain textures and materials, we incorporated features like deformable snow and sand. Snow deformation was first introduced in the Frozen Wilds expansion, but in the remaster, you will find this feature outside that area as well.”
“In settlements like Meridian and Daytower, the ground required a more unique aesthetic. Previously, Guerrilla used custom meshes and materials for the floors in these settlements, exclusive to these locations. For the remaster, we initially followed this approach, exploring the possibility of increasing texture resolution and adding parallax mapping to areas such as brick floors. However, after initial tests, we concluded that in these specific cases, this wasn’t going to give us the visual quality that we were aiming to achieve. Therefore, we decided to completely remake the floors in Meridian and Daytower from scratch. This involved creating new high-resolution textures, setting up new materials, painting blend maps, and creating new high-resolution geometry supporting the shapes from the textures used in the material.”
“Another aspect of the upgrades to the game environment in the remaster is Building Blocks. To give a bit of context here: Building Blocks are the individual assets that are used for set dressing the world of Horizon Zero Dawn. Think of objects like rocks, plants, utensils and even buildings.”
“Building Blocks can be divided into two categories: natural and man-made. For both types, we increased the resolution of the textures and adjusted the level of detail (LOD) ranges to ensure higher mesh fidelity.”
“We performed a separate pass on all the man-made Building Blocks, creating new high-resolution geometry for assets that would benefit from this. We found that buildings greatly benefited from having more detailed geometry, as most were using brick-like textures on the walls without the shape of the bricks being reflected in the geometry.”
“To address this, we developed custom tools for generating more detailed geometry for these buildings. The artists used these tools to create new geometry, then manually tweaked and adjusted each individual building for the best visual result.”
Lively conversations
A big change in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is the addition of over 10 hours of additional motion-capture data for characters, directed and captured by Guerrilla at their motion Capture Stage in Amsterdam, making the game’s conversations much livelier and in line with those in Horizon Forbidden West. Implementing this additional data was handled by our technical artists and animators.
Mark Bazelmans, Senior Technical Artist: “Horizon Zero Dawn has almost 300 conversations and well over 3100 dialogue options, so we needed to find a way to easily integrate this huge number of updated animations into the conversations. We created a tool with Python to process the almost 2500 mocap files that Guerrilla provided to replace the original animation in the conversations, removing deprecated events and replacing those with the mocap and setup.”
“We then focused on creating a pipeline in Maya for our animators to easily load, edit and re-export the individual mocap files for any other edits that were needed, such as finger animation, art direction feedback and fixes. Animators could select the conversation and subsequent dialogue option from a list which created the scene from scratch, or simply opened it if it already existed. Our tool referenced the characters and imported the dialogue audio, so the animators could time the movement better and create the camera cuts and layout. Later, we extended this pipeline to also include existing animations for both conversations and cinematics, as some of these also required edits. Our animators could then go into Guerrilla’s DECIMA engine and edit or change the updated conversation.”
Alexander Georgiev, Animator: “Since all mocap footage comes from actors with different height or gender, there was a lot of data that needed to be covered and checked. For example, characters looking up or down too much, shoulders not matching the rest of the pose, arms clipping through clothing and fingers that are too static.”
“To solve this efficiently, we created tools to help us. With these tools we visualised helpers that brought a closer connection between working in Maya and the DECIMA engine. One example was that we could not see the eyes moving the same way as in the DECIMA engine, as that was a complex, automated system. With the toolset we created a head and eye aim helper that made it clearer where the characters were looking, and with that we knew how much we should adjust the head of a certain character.”
“We made small, automated scripts to fix shoulders and arms clipping. All these tools gave the animators a way to focus more on enhancing the acting of the characters to support what they want to say. By developing these tools, we created a strong workflow and were able to significantly speed up our iteration time per conversation.”
Mark Bazelmans, Senior Technical Artist: “Alongside the updated body animation, new facial animations were captured for the conversations. Initially, this was deemed a straightforward ‘overwrite and replace’, but after seeing some of the results we decided to build a pipeline to be able to edit the updated facial animations.”
“We created tools in Maya that could process a facial animation file in proprietary format into a Maya scene with literally a talking head including audio. We also wrote our own exporter that could then export a Maya scene back to the same proprietary format.”
“Next to updating the animations in conversations, we did a pass on the camera and lighting setup for both conversations and cinematics. For the cameras, we batch updated the camera setup and values. In most conversations, the automated pass didn’t quite give the desired result because the contrast between the original movement and the new mocap was too big. The new body animations allow broader movements, often leading to characters stepping out of frame or being completely offscreen. Therefore, a manual pass was done by our Camera Layout Artists, aided by our custom DECIMA tools to easily edit cameras and settings.”
“We updated the lighting toolset to be closer to that in Horizon Forbidden West, which allows for editing settings of character and environment lighting across similar shots using a visual representation of shots. Lighting was controlled by a single setup for each character in a conversation that would apply to all dialogue options in a conversation. Then our lighting artists could do their magic on a particular shot type and all similar shots of that character would be lit the same, with of course room to edit individual shots if needed. This way lighting had maximum control with as little tweaks as possible.”
Shining new light on Horizon Zero Dawn
The work for world lighting and cinematic lighting was divided between Guerrilla and Nixxes Lighting artists, with Guerrilla providing direction and technical support. The Atmospherics team at Guerrilla recreated the sweeping cloudscapes from Horizon Zero Dawn in the new Nubis cloud system from Horizon Forbidden West. The cherry on the cake was the creation of the set piece volcano cloud in the Frozen Wilds expansion, using a combination of the latest innovations in voxel cloud rendering, first pioneered in the Burning Shores expansion for Horizon Forbidden West, and traditional particle VFX.
It was important to retain the strong mood lighting in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, ensuring a seamless transition when playing both games back-to-back. Nixxes’ Senior Lighting Artists Myvanwy Broers, Niels Iburg, and Lighting Artist Thomas Schrama talk about their approach and workflow:
“A lot of the world lighting had to be rebalanced or re-lit from scratch to reach the same mood and to bring it in line with the slightly updated art direction. Horizon Forbidden West has some workflow improvements that we used for the remaster, making the process quite enjoyable!”
“To use the improved features to their fullest potential, we revised all the atmospherics settings that control the biomes within the game world. This included changing the light intensities to Physically Based Rendering values. This is true for the sun and the moon itself, but also detailed lighting in areas such as caves and ruins that players can explore. Think of fog, the colour of the sun, glow intensities and so forth.”
“This meant that after rebalancing the light intensities into PBR, it was necessary to relight entire areas to create the best visual fidelity possible. It was a joy to revisit these iconic environments to do so!”
“To speed up our workflow, we used Guerrilla’s prefab system – an object which contains geometry, particles, sound, and lights that we can place anywhere. All these assets exist as referenced content within a prefab, which means that if the value of a torch light needs adjustment, this will simultaneously happen for every torch in the world. This enables large scale changes and high iteration speed.”
“Light bakes are an important aspect of the lighting – a system that is versatile enough for each time of day, yet providing the detailed light bounce that Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered needs. The quality of such bakes is adjustable per volume that we set as lighters, which is great when we require the light bounce to be more detailed in an area without affecting the rest. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered uses the improved baking system from Horizon Forbidden West, resulting in at least twice as much detail in the light bounce compared to the original.”
“With lighting in cinematics and conversations, we wanted to match the art direction and visual quality of Horizon Forbidden West. This, combined with all updated animations, motion-capture and camera shots, meant we built all the cinematic lighting in the remaster from scratch. We used a lot of new technology and workflow that was created for the cinematic lighting in Horizon Forbidden West.”
“Horizon Zero Dawn used a lighting rig around each character with roughly two lights. For the remaster we used the upgraded lighting rig from the sequel, which uses five lights in total: one key-light, two profile-lights and two rim-lights. These lights are then tweaked on a per shot basis changing position, orientation, colour and intensity.”
Detailed characters
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered features significant upgrades to character models and how they react to lighting. Many enhancements in areas such as detail, skin tones, hair quality, and outfits have been carried over from Horizon Forbidden West.
Patrick Blankenzee, Senior Environment Artist: “Working on the varied cast of characters in the remaster was a big undertaking. We enhanced various shaders to improve the visual quality and made changes to ensure the models react better to the new lighting in the remaster. We gave Aloy’s model – both adult and child – the full cinematic treatment, including peach fuzz, upgrades to hair, eyes and materials.”
“We looked at the original concept art of Aloy as a child and aimed to make changes to her outfit, hair and skin, to match the look envisioned in the concept art, as well as bring the model up to par with the quality of the improved model for adult Aloy.”
“In Horizon Zero Dawn, only the character model for Aloy reacts to environmental elements like weather. For the remaster we wanted to give all companion characters the same level of interaction to bring that cinematic feel to the whole world. For example, you will now see both Aloy and her companions react to warm and cold weather.”
On behalf of the teams at Nixxes and Guerrilla, we cannot wait for you to experience Aloy’s journey (again) with all the visual enhancements, upgraded features and tech improvements.
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Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is available for pre-order now and launches on 31 October on PS5 and 1 November on PC (Steam, Epic Games Store). Account for PlayStation Network required on PC.
Existing owners of Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4) and/or Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition (PS4, PC)* can upgrade to the digital version of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on both PlayStation 5 console and on PC (via Steam or Epic Game Store) for $15 AUD. *Redemptions via PlayStation Plus are not eligible to upgrade
Next Wave of Free Content Revealed, Along With Year 1 Edition and Year 1 Pass
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 18 OCTOBER 2024: Get ready to pull off the ultimate score. PAYDAY 3 Anniversary Update: Part 2 is the latest free content drop for the fantasy co-op heist shooter and is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X and PC on 31 October 2024 (AEDT).
Loaded with enhancements, new features and community driven requests, this expansive update will ensure your next heist is the smoothest getaway yet. In addition, PAYDAY 3 is rolling out the Year 1 Edition and Year 1 Pass – your all access tickets for those serious about mastering the art of the heist.
The definitive Year 1 Edition is the perfect entry point for newcomers, offering the base game along with every piece of paid and free content released since launch. For existing heisters, the Year 1 Pass ensures access to all the latest content, including the four gripping expansions – Syntax Error, Boys in Blue, Houston Breakout and Fear & Greed.
As a bonus for fans, a Legacy Heist will return later this year for free, allowing all players to relive one of the game’s most popular challenges. Additionally, a brand-new paid character pack will be released, offering heisters and operators the tools they need to stay ahead of the law.
Whether you’re a newcomer or a hardened criminal, it’s time to re-live or discover some of the most explosive heists of the year.
Free Updates:
PAYDAY 3 Anniversary Update: Part 2 gives players a powerful lineup of free improvements and features ensuring the heisting experience is more immersive than ever before, including:
Server browser: the much sought-after server browser returns. Pick freely with or without filters and dive straight into the action with the perfect crew.
Cross-platform VoIP and text chat: communication is key to any successful heist. Whether it’s the panicked cries of your team being gunned down, the sweet sound of coordination, or the heroic rescue, you’ll hear it all.
UI update:PAYDAY 3 now has a revamped UI to complement the brand-new content and features released in the past year.
Lobby kick: manage your lobby and control exactly who you want in your heist.
Twitch drops: Watch PAYDAY 3 streams on Twitch to receive in-game cosmetics for free.
New masks: Get spooky with a new Halloween mask or freshen up your heisting attire with two new Masks of the Week.
PAYDAY 3 Year 1 Edition – the definitive heisting experience:
The PAYDAY 3: Year 1 Edition offers the ultimate entry into a life of crime, now even more appealing with recent Steam player reviews shifting to “Mostly Positive”.
This edition is free to those who own the Gold Edition and available for separate purchase on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X and PC. It includes the entire first year’s paid and free content and every improvement:
The base game PAYDAY 3.
PAYDAY 3 Year 1 Pass, including all four major DLC bundles – Syntax Error, Boys in Blue, Houston Breakout and Fear & Greed, introducing new heists, a variety of weapons and cosmetics.
Starbreeze is an independent developer, publisher and distributor of PC and console games targeting the global market, with studios in Stockholm, Barcelona, Paris and London. Housing the smash hit IP PAYDAY, Starbreeze develops games based on proprietary and third-party rights, both in-house and in partnership with external game developers. Starbreeze shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the tickers STAR A and STAR B. For more information, please visit starbreeze.com
About PLAION
PLAION is a dynamic and diversified business in the global entertainment sector, masterfully crafting franchises that captivate audiences worldwide. Boasting a vast network of eight game development studios, fifteen regional publishing offices, three game publishing labels including Deep Silver, and PLAION PICTURES as an independent film publisher and distributor, the company extends its influence with merchandise production and expansive distribution capabilities across the globe. Founded three decades ago, PLAION has firmly established itself within the entertainment arena. With a diverse range of services and solutions, PLAION stands as the premier publishing partner for console and PC games across both physical and digital channels. Moreover, its strong foothold in the Virtual Reality (VR) domain highlights the company’s commitment to varied gaming experiences. PLAION is an Embracer Group company.
About Deep Silver
Deep Silver is PLAION’s flagship publishing label, and the home of captivating gaming worlds from the gripping post-apocalypse of Metro, to the twisted paradises of Dead Island to the authentic Medieval landscapes of Kingdom Come Deliverance .
Slashers Creep Up on Locals as Halloween Chaos Escalates – Plus, Increased Reports of UFO Sightings, North Yankton Nightmare Community Challenge Update, Día de Muertos Rewards, and More
Reports of Slashers stalking Los Santos are through the roof, including bruised and blemished clones wandering the streets in search of prospective targets. There’s also an added paranormal streak to the citywide chaos, with increased UFO sightings alongside reports that these alien vessels are teleporting anyone within touching distance to undisclosed locations.
2X GTA$ and RP on Slasher
Stalk a team of up to seven Hunted as the Slasher, armed with a shotgun. After three minutes, the dynamic shifts as the Hunted become the hunters, receiving shotguns of their own. Both sides of this conflict walk away with Double Rewards all week long — swelling to 4X for GTA+ Members.
Jump into the action by entering the Featured Series in Legion Square or by navigating to Adversary Modes in the Pause Menu.
North Yankton Nightmare Community Challenge
Congratulations! After making quick work of the North Yankton Nightmare Challenge’s initial target by vanquishing over 200 million zombies in the popular new Ludendorff Cemetery Survival over the span of two days, we upped the ante to 800 million and now you’re poised to soar past that mark imminently.
Play GTA Online this week to receive the Orange Glow Skeleton Onesie and the Red Hooded Skull Mask, and look for the Purple Glow and Green Glow Skeleton Onesies to arrive as early as next week.
Bravely continuing to fight off these waves of ambling, reanimated corpses also continues to yield Double Rewards.
Get a Pair of Creepy Cat Masks
Picture a pair of eyes and a grin glowering in the darkness, and you’ll begin to see the appeal of the Brown Creepy Cat Mask, awarded upon logging into GTA Online anytime through October 23.
Killing your Clone Slasher will complete the Weekly Challenge and land you the Black Creepy Cat Mask and GTA$100,000. For the best chance of encountering these doppelgängers, make sure to enter Freemode at nighttime.
Día de Muertos Rewards
Celebrate Día de Muertos with a pair of decorated candy skulls to hide your visage — you’ll receive the Maritime Calaca Mask and Royal Calaca Mask simply by playing anytime this week.
2X GTA$ and RP on Acid Lab Sell Missions
Join up with Dax and the Fooliganz to dose the world — or at least the city of Los Santos — by completing Acid Lab Sell Missions for 2X GTA$ and RP through October 23.
Premium Deluxe Motorsport Showroom
Simeon Yetarian’s chosen a fleet of vehicles to coincide with the intensifying vibes outside. Visit the showroom on Power Street to peruse his selections:
Declasse Scramjet (Super)
Benefactor Stirling GT (Sports Classic, 30% off)
Grotti Cheetah (Super)
Chariot Romero Hearse (Sedan, 30% off)
Canis Bodhi (Off-Road)
Luxury Autos Showroom It’s a Vapid takeover at Luxury Autos this week as the window display features the Vapid Dominator FX (Muscle) and Vapid Aleutian (SUV).
Other Vehicle Offerings This Week
Premium Test Ride (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S only): Grotti Brioso R/A (Compact)
Prize Ride: Karin Futo GTX (Sports), awarded to players who place Top 5 in the LS Car Meet Series for three days in a row.
On the Test Track: the Coil Raiden (Sports), Grotti GT500 (Sports Classic), and Benefactor Surano (Sports)
The Lucky Wheel: Dinka Kanjo SJ (Coupe)
Halloween Discounts and More…
On top of receiving this week’s special celebratory Calaca Masks just for playing GTA Online, all Skull Tattoos and Sugar Skull Face Paints are free through November 6. See the full list of this week’s discounts below:
Skull Tattoos – FREE
Sugar Skull Face Paints – FREE
Albany Fränken Stange (Sports Classic) – 30% off
Albany Lurcher (Muscle) – 30% off
Albany Brigham (Muscle) – 30% off
Declasse Tornado Rat Rod (Sports Classic) – 30% off
In addition to receiving the Mummy Outfit for playing the new Ludendorff Cemetery Survival mode, GTA+ Members get 2X GTA$ and RP on Halloween Adversary Modes, with a stacking bonus of 4X GTA$ and RP on Slasher this week.
GTA+ Members can also claim a free HVY Nightshark (Off-Road) with limited-time Skulls livery at The Vinewood Car Club and much more, including monthly GTA$ deposits into your Maze Bank account and access to a library of classic Rockstar Games titles in the GTA+ Games Library.
Explore the world of Eldritch nightmares, Battle the Great Old Ones
BARCELONA, Spain – Oct. 17, 2024 –RailGods of Hysterra, a cooperative base-building survival action game set in a twisted Lovecraftian dreamscape from developer Troglobytes Games and first-time publisher Digital Vortex Entertainment, will plunge into darkness on PC via Steam and PlayStation 5.
Enter a ruined world of ghoulish horrors wrought by the GreatOld Ones: ancient cosmic beings beyond human comprehension that took over the world. Survive procedurally generated nightmarish environments, face the wrath of eldritch abominations, and forge a bond with the RailGod – a roaming fortress composed of steel and flesh forged through arcane and obscure rituals.
Climb aboard and craft additional custom train cars for storage, loot, and workbenches. Explore ever-changing hellscapes with axes, firearms, and spells, to battle otherworldly creatures and cultists, or take them prisoner to feed the hungry locomotive. Approach the RailGod’s beating heart to cure accumulated madness and unlock powerful GodKeeper skills.
Collect supplies to fashion tools and weapons. Install upgrades from the engine to the caboose while enhancing abilities to unlock perks and character builds. Fine-tune skill sets for distinct playstyles and eventually take on gargantuan foes from the frayed ends of sanity. Conquer cruel and unforgiving environments alone or with up to four friends via online co-op.
“We’re very excited to announce our first-ever collaborative project as a newly established publisher,” said Digital Vortex CEO and Co-Founder Alex Izotov. “RailGods of Hysterra will be one of many upcoming titles in our expanding catalog.”
RailGods of Hysterra is coming to early access on PC via Steam, and PlayStation 5, and will support English, French, German, Russian, Spanish – Spain, Portuguese – Brazil, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Turkish languages. Wishlist on Steam and stay up to date by visiting the RailGods of Hysterra official site, follow on X/Twitter and Facebook. Steam Playtests will soon be available for participation, join the official Discord for notifications and to give the developers feedback.
About Digital Vortex Entertainment
Digital Vortex is a new publisher made up of game industry veterans who have worked on titles such as Atomic Heart, Lost Ark, PUBG Battlegrounds, and more, not limiting themselves to specific genres or game formats, and always striving to create games they themselves would like to play.
About Troglobytes Games
Troglobytes Games is a small development studio founded by Luciano Iurino (Art Director), Saverio Caporusso (CEO, Lead Designer), and Matteo Alessandrini (Lead Programmer) in 2015. The team’s main objective is to create games as they were in previous generations, focusing on unconventional gameplay mechanics and aesthetics while utilizing modern technology. They’ve worked on many indie titles including popular hits Hyper Parasyte and Blind Fate: Edo no Yami, with RailGods of Hysterra being the latest title in their portfolio.
Developer and publisher Double Eleven drops unique new futuristic neo-noir shooter that takes place entirely in the dark on to Steam, Epic and Xbox today for $8.99, PlayStation version coming this year
Teesside, UK (October 17, 2024) – Blindfire is the newest and darkest FPS to hit Steam and Xbox as the title was shadow-dropped on the Xbox Partner Preview today from publisher and developer Double Eleven (Rust Console Edition, Rimworld Console Edition). A fast-paced streamlined social shooter, Blindfire is full of fast-action in short bursts – but there’s a big twist: you are enclosed in a pitch-black arena with up to seven other players, armed with only a versatile pistol and eight bullets in your magazine (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2854480/Blindfire, $8.99).
Survive Blindfire’s short rounds of play to be the last one standing in free-for-all or team based matches. Alone in the dark, players must dodge an arena filled with traps and obstacles – including UV lights that activate randomly and security gates and sirens strategically placed to trigger audio and visual alarms that give away your position.
In Blindfire, players must rely on brief flashes of light and sound cues to locate opponents before they locate you – silence is golden, and in this case, silence is the key to survival. But don’t stay still for too long, Blindfire’s anti-camping mechanic triggers a mask flash which will alert other players to your position. Your muzzle flashes lights you up when you fire, so you might want to rethink any “spray and pray” strategies.
Set in the near-future, Blindfire has emerged as an illicit blood sport on the dark web, where the ultra-wealthy bet on the lives of desperate contestants. Contestants are lured in by the promise of immense wealth. Clad in identical, dehumanizing jumpsuits and full face masks, they fight in pitch-black arenas filled with traps, relying on their heightened senses to survive.
For spectators, the game offers a voyeuristic thrill, watching every desperate move through cutting-edge night vision technology and the ability to tilt the outcome of a match by triggering traps and alarms. Victory brings a bitter choice: escape with the winnings or risk it all for another round.
Blindfire is available today on Steam Early Access, the Epic Game Store and Xbox Game Preview, with PlayStation versions coming this year (including crossplay). Keep up with Blindfire and Double Eleven at the official website: blindfiregame.com or Twitter @LightThemUpGame. Go dark on the official Discord: https://discord.gg/CVdtttQ62f.
Now’s the perfect time to grab Focus Entertainment and Hutlihut Games’ co-op space-action roguelite at a special low price
PARIS – Oct. 17, 2024 –Focus Entertainment and Hutlihut Games are excited to announce that the 1.0 version of Void Crew, the chaotic, co-op roguelite for 1-4 players,will officially launch on Steam on November 25, leaving early access after fifteen months of content updates, improvements, bug fixes, and more driven by feedback from the game’s growing community. Watch today’s new release date reveal trailer and join the crew now while Void Crew is on sale for 25% off!
Welcome aboard, Ectypes!
Gather your friends and join the ranks of METEM’s chosen clone warriors, embarking on a Pilgrimage into the unknown. As a crew, you’ll take on the role of Pilot, Gunner, Engineer, or Scavenger to face the threats lurking deep in METEM’s domain. Your mission? Stand against the mysterious HOLLOW, an alien force like no other, to restore order. Try not to panic!
Jump from objective to objective, expand your ship’s loadout on the fly, and survive epic space battles against swarms of enemies and massive bosses. Void Crew challenges you to customize and upgrade your spaceship in the face of relentless foes. Get ready for chaos: in the Void, the only plan is improvisation. Will your teamwork keep the ship together, or will you die trying?
It’s time to find out – the galaxy awaits your Pilgrimage… may METEM Preserve You!
Last chance to grab the game before the price increases!
This week, Void Crew has its last discount of 25% off, marking the end of early access. Players have the opportunity to enjoy this promotion before the game gets its final price point for the 1.0 launch.
Void Crew is available now on Steam Early Access and will release into 1.0 on November 25.
An All-New Survival Horror Experience from the Acclaimed Developers of Layers of Fear, Observer, The Medium and This Year’s SILENT HILL 2 Remake
KRAKOW, POLAND – Oct. 17, 2024 – Just a few days after the release of SILENT HILL 2, Bloober Team has announced Cronos: The New Dawn – a brand-new sci-fi survival horror game set to be released in 2025. The game is being developed for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Cronos: The New Dawnis Bloober Team’s first original IP in the survival horror genre, marking a significant step forward for the Polish studios’ evolution as the masters of horror, known most recently for the acclaimed SILENT HILL 2 remake. Revealed today during the Xbox Partner Preview, fans can watch the official cinematic reveal trailer with a short tease of the gameplay below:
Cronos: The New Dawn is a twisted time travel story set in an unforgiving post-apocalyptic future in 1980s Poland.
Players will take on the role of a Traveler, an agent of the enigmatic Collective with a mission to extract selected people who didn’t survive the apocalypse from the past.
To complete the Collective’s mission, players will need to survive a deadly wasteland created by a cataclysmic event known as the Change, filled with monstrous abominations that will challenge players’ combat abilities.
“Following the success of Silent Hill 2, we are proud to present Cronos, an exciting new IP from Bloober Team,” said Piotr Babieno, CEO of Bloober Team. “Our commitment to redefining the horror genre continues with this survival horror title, which represents a natural progression of our creative vision and our studio’s strategy. By merging the eerie atmosphere of horror with the boundless potential of science fiction, Cronos promises to deliver a fresh survival experience. We can’t wait to share it with the world in 2025.”
Cronos: The New Dawn is available to Wishlist now. Check it out on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and on the PlayStation store. The game is anticipated to have a rating of M for Mature by the ESRB.
Founded in 2008, Bloober Team is a game development studio specializing in crafting deeply immersive psychological horror experiences. Based in Krakow, Poland, our team of over 250 creative professionals is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of interactive storytelling, delivering unforgettable, spine-chilling narratives that resonate with players worldwide. Our award-winning portfolio includes titles such as the Layers of Fear franchise, Blair Witch, Observer: System Redux, and The Medium. Recently, Bloober Team partnered with KONAMI on the highly anticipated remake of SILENT HILL 2.
Build creative multi-object obelisks with quirky tools, master clever puzzles, conquer online scoreboards and more!
Antwerp, Belgium – October 17th, 2024 – Independent game developer Cybernetic Walrus, in collaboration with Meta, is proud to announce that their hotly anticipated physic-based tower-building game Does it Stack? is available now on Meta Quest 2 & 3, for £12.99/$14.99/€14.99. Explore new ways to play in mixed reality with innovative gameplay features, local co-op, online leaderboards, daily challenges and more!
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of Does it Stack?, the first game in our expanding Does it…? brand”, said Mike Coeck, CEO of Cybernetic Walrus. “Working in partnership with Meta to create this game has been pertinent in creating a fun and engaging game for VR and MR lovers. We cannot wait to see the colossal creations that the community crafts in Does it Stack?!”
Does It Stack? lets players create ridiculous towers by stacking an assortment of items atop one another. Can you build a tower of toy cars with a bicycle on top? Can you balance a fish on a bowling ball? Maybe this is the moment where you should put the fork in the toaster? But watch out! If two objects of the same color touch each other, they go BOOM! Be careful, or you might get a heart a-stack!
Play in mixed-reality AR Mode. This allows players to start stacking anywhere in the real world. You can even throw virtual objects around your real-world environment, so feel free to make a mess without having to clean up! Turn your living room into a game arena where you can host a game night for your family and friends.
Does It Stack? offers multiplayer support in VR and local co-op in AR, so you can integrate with Meta’s People app and play with your friends using voice chat. Take on the Daily Challenge mode, where players around the world are all given the same objects and tasked with competing on a level playing field! Want a less punishing experience? Then try Sandbox Mode, where you can pick your favorite objects from a robust catalog and get creative in both solo and co-op play!
Does It Stack? Features include:
60 levels, with 3 challenges each, making for 180 challenges;
150 unlockable objects;
Mixed reality AR support;
Play in local co-op and multiplayer with friends and family;
Online leaderboards to beat your friends’ height scores;
Daily challenges for the avid puzzler.
Tools include:
Recolor – repaint objects in different colors
Glue – sticks objects together
Squeezer – stretch and squeeze objects
Hat Gun – spawns a hat on other props
Clone Gun – it clones objects
Stretcher – stretch and pull objects
…and more tools to discover!
About Cybernetic Walrus
Founded in 2017, Cybernetic Walrus is a Belgian studio that moved from racing blockbusters such as Antigraviator to fun and quirky XR games. Does It Stack is the first game in the Does It series.
