LONDON, UK – October 23, 2024 – With the evenings drawing in and spooky season approaching, it’s the perfect time to check out REKA and discover a witchcraft adventure ideal for cozy autumnal gaming.
Coming just in time for Halloween, uncover new Halloween-themed content on October 28th with ‘The Witching Hour’ content update, a free update introducing a range of eerie items and ghostly goings-on deep within REKA’s woodlands…
With strange sightings spotted deep in the forest, speak with the villagers for clues on where to discover a mysterious new point of interest. Decorate your cottage with ghostly new ornaments, including floating candles, a pumpkin bowl and more. Befriend a black cat and unlock new items to customise your character, including a new witches cape, dress, shoes, headwear and long witchy nails.
From October 28th, REKA will also be included in the Steam Scream Event, offering a discount on the game until November 4th.
Available now on Steam Early Access, REKA is a cottage-building third-person adventure that tells the tale of a Slavic with travelling the countryside with their walking chicken-legged home.
Experience an unforgettable story of witchcraft and wonder, penned in collaboration with Lead Writer Rhianna Pratchett. Build, customise, and expand your walking cottage, designing and decorating your home with complete creative freedom, while taking on quests to unlock new furniture, decorations, and keepsakes in an atmospheric house-building adventure.
About Emberstorm Entertainment
REKA is the debut title of Berlin-based indie game studio Emberstorm Entertainment. Founded in 2020, the team’s goal is to make unique and immersive games with a focus on atmosphere and artistic craftsmanship.
About Fireshine Games
Fireshine Games is a global publisher of digital and physical video games based in London, England, with a focus on finding fun and bringing innovative indie gems to players around the world. Originally established in 2014, Fireshine Games has built a portfolio of digital titles and indie sensations, including award-winning titles Core Keeper and Shadows of Doubt, while partnering with studio giants to bring digital hits to physical release, including Lies of P from Neowiz, Balatro from Playstack, and Planet Zoo: Console Edition from Frontier Developments. Fireshine Games is part of the EG7 group of companies.
Shanghai, China– October 23, 2024 | Today, the team behind RO: Idle Poring is proud to announce that the closed beta of adorable MMORPG Go Go Muffin opens its doors today and promises players a plethora of exclusive rewards!
It is time for the mightiest players to gather around the campfire and take a first look at the comfy cosy world of Go Go Muffin. With a collection of five unique character classes, players can not only create their own customised team, they can also evolve their fighters into the perfect battling machine.
And they won’t be alone. Party mode allows four to six teammates to work together to slay the mighty dragon and return home victorious. Alternatively, if they’re looking for others to play with they can join a guild because, as the saying goes, those who camp together slay together.
The closed beta will run for 10 days and finish on November 1st, 9PM BST. Click the link here to join the closed beta test now: https://muffin.xdg.com/en/
For keen battlers, players can now pre-register their interest and guarantee themselves the best possible start with a treasure of powerful launch rewards. The more players register, the better the rewards:
Founded in 2003, XD Games. is a global video games developer and publisher with extensive experience across development, publishing and operations. As of 2022, XD has 38 free-to-play and paid games with over 50 million monthly active users worldwide. In addition, TapTap — a mobile games community and app store — was launched by XD in 2016 and is estimated to currently have 44 million monthly active users. XD’s mission is to assemble like-minded talented games industry craftspeople with a common goal of touching the hearts of players around the world. XD produces games of the finest quality with passion, offering a pure gaming experience, and encouraging players of all ages to embrace the unique joy of video gaming.
Experience the ultimate off-road automotive challenge, now featuring full VR locomotion on both Steam & Meta Quest
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Oct. 23, 2024 –Saber Interactive has announced that MudRunner VR is now available on SteamVR for $19.99|14.99 GBP|19.99 EUR. A special Steam bundle featuring both the original MudRunner game and the new MudRunner VR is also available on Steam with a 10% discount. Today’s launch introduces a tremendous milestone update for MudRunner VR, adding full locomotion to both the SteamVR and Meta Quest versions of the game. Jump into the driver’s seat and take on the ultimate off-road expedition with truly immersive visuals and controls. Watch out, adventure is up ahead!
MudRunner VR evolves the beloved classic MudRunner experience into an all-new, VR-exclusive adventure. With redesigned 3D vehicle and environment models, players can use a variety of tools and equipment to tackle wild, muck-filled challenges, even stepping outside the vehicle’s cabin to handle extra tasks.
A free update available today for all players on both SteamVR and Meta Quest adds full locomotion to MudRunner VR for an even deeper level of immersion, allowing drivers to experience continual movement outside of the vehicle cabin. With nothing but the untamed wilderness ahead, are you ready to explore the expansive VR world of MudRunner VR?
Key Features
The Ultimate Off-Road Experience Comes to VR: Enjoy the classic MudRunner experience with the unmatched feel and immersion of VR, including full locomotion.
Master Eight Powerful All-Terrain Vehicles: Get behind the wheel of eight unique vehicles, each with their own distinct attributes and equipment as well as cosmetic variations.
Explore Vast, Untamed Environments: Adventure across immense sandbox landscapes while battling the harshest terrain and forces of nature.
Overcome Extreme Conditions & Get the Job Done: Complete a variety of perilous objectives and deliveries while fighting off the wild’s most hazardous dangers.
MudRunner VR is available now for $19.99|14.99 GBP|19.99 EUR on Steam, as well as on Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2, and Meta Quest Pro via the Meta Store. Steam users can grab a bundle featuring both the original MudRunner and MudRunner VR with a 10% discount.
Additionally, a MudRunner VR Meta Quest bundle featuring PowerWash Simulator VR will be on sale with a 20% discount from October 24 until November 3 via the Meta Store.
About Saber Interactive
Saber Interactive is a worldwide publisher and developer consisting of 13 studios in the Americas and Europe. Creating games for all major platforms based on original and licensed IPs, Saber’s titles include Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando, Jurassic Park: Survival, World War Z, RoadCraft, SnowRunner, and Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. Founded in 2001, Saber is known for two decades of development partnerships with AAA publishers, producing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for Nintendo Switch, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Crysis Remastered, and many others. Learn more at https://saber.games.
Scheduled to release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X on November 6th, SlavicPunk: Oldtimer is a fast paced, isometric, twin-stick shooter set in a gritty world of SibirPunk – a darker and grimmer look at a cyberpunk world, as imagined from a Slavic perspective.
Cyberpunk as a literary genre has always been about the struggle of ordinary people versus the all-powerful corporations, gripping whole societies by their throats. But it was also about style, colorful neons and chrome. What if we would take that flashiness away, what would be left?
This city is your home, your shelter, your prison. Some whisper it even had a name once… though now it hardly matters. Witness the harsh reality of filthy streets, where blood, booze, and cash hold more value than a human life. Embrace the contrast of cutting-edge technology and widespread poverty, where those in power thrive on opportunities while despair grips those beneath them. This is SlavicPunk – a world where everyone lives and dies by a gun… and you are no exception.
Game features:
Action-packed combat, where having an itchy trigger finger and fast feet is the key to survival
Transparent isometric view and intuitive twin-stick controls
Harsh yet absolutely addictive Eastern-European cyberpunk setting based on Michał Gołkowski books series
Fight your foes in melee, upgrade your guns, hack your enemies and unravel the compelling story of Yanus, a private investigator with a troubled past
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer invites players to step into the shoes of Yanus, a private investigator with a troubled past, whose task is to uncover the truth behind a stolen data carrier while facing urban gangs, corrupt corporations, and his inner demons.
Known for its unique mix of fast-paced combat, modular weapon customization, and immersive storytelling, the game blends elements of a good old shoot-’em-up with battle-hacking and puzzle-solving, into a gritty, dark future with a distinctly Slavic twist. With its console debut, Xbox and PlayStation players will experience the game’s deep narrative, post-soviet architecture, and biting humor, offering a fresh perspective on the cyberpunk genre.
SlavicPunk: Oldtimer is scheduled to launch on the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store on November 6th, 2024. Don’t miss out on your chance to uncover the dark secrets hidden beneath the neon glow and concrete streets of this one-of-a-kind cyberpunk adventure.
Red Square Games is responsible for developing SlavicPunk: Oldtimer. Gaming Factory S.A. and Red Square Games areresponsible for the release of the game on consoles. More information about the game can be found on the Xbox Store and PlayStation Store.
Red Square Games
Polish company founded in 2020 by developers and investors. The main pillar of the company is the creation of indie games set in interesting universes, with the assumption of creating more and more ambitious titles. In addition, the studio’s ambitions go beyond video games, creating board games and role-playing games as well.
Gaming Factory
The company was founded in 2017. Its main goal is to find unique game ideas, support creative indie developers, and help them at every production stage. Gaming Factory is a game publisher for gamers. https://gamingfactory.pl
Piece together a cursed family album in this chilling, tactile narrative-puzzler
Auckland, New Zealand – 23 October 2024 – Cold Out Interactive is today thrilled to officially announce its debut title CORPOREAL – a narratively-driven, paranormal-mystery puzzle game – is now in development for PC and available to wishlist now via Steam.
Set in New Zealand during the late 1990s, CORPOREAL is a haunting, photographic puzzle game which sees players piece together a cursed photo-album as they unravel the mystery of the unexplained events that left them as the sole surviving member of their family tree.
Players will search for answers in an archive of photographs rescued from the ruins of their childhood home; only by using the album to manipulate the past will they be able to chart their ill-fated family history – encountering a number of tragic, doomed spectres in the process.
CORPOREAL will envelop players in a dark and enigmatic narrative with its tactile analog-inspired puzzles and interactions, while naturalistic live-action photography brings a stunning degree of documentarian verisimilitude to the chillingly atmospheric presentation.
CORPOREAL Features
Unravel a mystery set in late-90s New Zealand captured with live-action photography.
Navigate a series of immersive retro analog interfaces.
Manipulate photographs in tactile, minimalist puzzles, where you combine images of the past to create new scenes.
Solve nonlinear puzzles, alter the narrative and discover hidden secrets and spectres.
Cold Out is an indie developer based in Auckland, New Zealand led by designer/artist Max Quy and a small team of collaborators from around NZ. It is currently developing its debut title CORPOREAL, a paranormal-mystery narrative game, with funding support from the NZ Film Commission and NZ Centre of Digital Excellence.
Gaijin Entertainment announces the release of the “Steel Troopers” major content update and the beginning of Halloween celebrations in the post-apocalyptic online action game Crossout. The update brings a set of special modes where players can earn “tricky treats” and spend them on cosmetic items and parts for armored vehicles.
During the festive season players will be treated to a new team “Steel Troopers” PvE brawl, where walking robots will face a horde of mechanical Ravager spiders. While small maneuverable drones crawl underfoot, larger ones try to harpoon combat vehicles and make them easy prey. For success in destroying arachnids, players receive unique cosmetic items. “Steel Troopers” will be available from October 24th to October 30th.
In addition, other festive brawls will take place in Crossout in the coming month: for example, in the “Feathered Mayhem” players fight in pre-installed armored vehicles in the form of pigeons, and in “Big Races” they try to reach the finish line alive and preferably first. The exact schedule of events is available on the official website.
Finally, a new “The Flaming One” pack that includes a hellish muscle car is available for purchase in the Crossout store. Surrounded by enemies, this monster literally overheats with rage and begins to move faster and inflict even more damage.
About Crossout
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Crossout is an MMO vehicle combat game available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S offering players complete customisation in building and upgrading deadly armored vehicles to destroy enemies in open PvP and PvE battles. Crossout gives players thousands of possibilities to design their vehicle, including shape, armor, weapons, support systems and, of course, cosmetic enhancements. Official website: http://crossout.net
About Gaijin Entertainment
Gaijin Entertainment is the developer and publisher of the online games War Thunder, Crossout, Enlisted, CRSED: F.O.A.D. and Star Conflict as well as other PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, iOS and Android titles across several genres. The company’s diverse portfolio has received a range of mass media and game industry awards including such as Gamescom Award and many more. Official website: http://gaijinent.com/
Maru VR took home the prize during the annual MängudeÖÖ event.
Tallinn, Estonia, 22nd October 2024 – During the 26th annual MängudeÖÖ event in Estonia, the video game festival awarded its very first Estonian Game of the Year award to Maru VR’s Bootstrap Island!
Held in the Apollo Cinema Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, MängudeÖÖ was a gaming celebration, featuring the latest titles as well as home-grown achievements. The Game of the Year award featured nine nominations, with Bootstrap Island and Into the Radius 2 by CM Games representing the VR industry. The win netted Maru VR a 2,000 EUR grand prize.
Estonian Game of the Year Nominations
1st Place – Bootstrap Island
2nd Place – Into the Radius 2 & Untraveled Lands: Chantico
3rd Place Rusty’s Retirement
Buckshot Roulette
Speedollama
Redneck Magic
Monster Run: Downfall of the Empire
Adventures of Deliveryman
“The award for Game of the Year came as a complete surprise to me, and it is a tremendous honour for the Maru VR team,” said Rein Zobel, Creative Director at Maru VR. Especially considering that this year, the competition among great Estonian games was incredibly fierce, which is already a piece of very positive news.”
Alongside an assortment of games for attendees to play, there were also a multitude of tournaments taking place. These included competitions on Tekken 8 and EA FC 25. Risto Kappet, an Estonian e-racer, won the Red Bull Gaming Ground-Gran Turismo 7 tournament.
Bootstrap Island launched for PCVR headsets on Steam Early Access in February 2024. The island survival adventure quickly became a VR fan favourite thanks to its immersive gameplay mechanics and top-tier graphics.
Bootstrap Island is preparing for its next major update “Overlord” set for release this October. Players will encounter the mysterious island’s first boss, hidden deep within the jungle. Maru VR will continue to update Bootstrap Island as it prepares for a full release in late 2025.
Bootstrap Island is a Robinson Crusoe-style roguelike survival game set in the 17th century. Once a merchant travelling the treacherous seas, you now find yourself washed ashore a mysterious, sun-soaked island. Shipwrecked, your only choice is to explore this new land and survive the challenges it brings. Explore the pristine beaches and dense jungle in search of food, water, weapons and other resources. Collect materials to make fire and try to survive the long dark nights as hungry beasts prowl.
About Maru VR:
Maru VR is a small indie studio that is leading VR development in Estonia. Since 2016 they have produced more than 40 location-based VR games and experiences.
Bootstrap Island is Maru VR`s first full-featured premium VR game. Their goal is to push the boundaries of VR with new approaches to storytelling, interactive design, and gameplay in order to reach the medium’s full potential.
World of Warcraft is approaching its official 20th Anniversary on 23 November and players can take part in a myriad of in-game activities commemorating two decades of adventure, as the first content update for The War Within (11.0.5) is now live!
The Champions of Azeroth, past and present, are invited to the Caverns of Time tucked away in the wastelands of Tanaris for a special celebration and opportunities to earn a plethora of rewards. Here’s a glimpse of what players can look forward to in the 20th Anniversary update:
NEW CLASSIC RAID: Blackrock Depths
This classic era dungeon has been refashioned into a 10-15 player, 8-boss raid available in LFR, Normal and Heroic difficulties.
NEW TIMEWALKING: Classic Dungeons
Classic dungeons will be offered in the LFD group finder and will officially enter the Timewalking rotation beyond the anniversary event.
Deadmines (original classic version)
Dire Maul (east and west wings)
Stratholme (living and undead wings)
NEW WORLD BOSSES
Additional raid bosses are making a return with updated rewards in addition to previous anniversary raid bosses:
Sha of Anger (from Mists of Pandaria)
Archavon the Stonewatcher (from Wrath of the Lich King)
LEGENDARY REWARDS
New mounts, pets, and classic transmog sets will be available to earn using a new currency, Bronze Celebration Tokens.
Additionally, updated modern versions of the Tier 2 armor sets will be purchasable with Bronze Celebration Tokens, available for all classes with new ones created for classes that were not available in the classic Tier 2 era!
Content update 11.0.5 will also bring additional changes and features for players to enjoy, including class balance updates, new quests and the expansion of the Dracthyr race into six new combat classes including rogue, mage and priest.
For more information on the anniversary update in The War Within, check out our blog on the World of Warcraft website.
LOS ANGELES – OCTOBER 22, 2024 – Netmarble, a leading developer and publisher of high-quality mobile games, has announced a new update for its idle RPG The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure. Players can now experience a new hero and content updates, as well as various events celebrating Halloween.
Starting today, players can add Estarossa of Love to the roster of playable characters. He is a VIT-attribute Tank whose special skill, ‘Full Counter’, taunts enemies and grants a Reflect buff on himself. This skill allows him to mirror a portion of the damage cast back at the attacker upon being hit. Estarossa of Love is obtainable by using Rate Up Summon Tickets or Diamonds through November 5.
A brand-new PvP content, ‘Brawl’, has been introduced in this update. Players will create three separate decks, each with its own strategy, to compete against other players. Those who win two out of three matches will be victororius. Participants will earn Brawl Coins, which can be exchanged for various in-game items at the Brawl Shop.
Several events have launched to celebrate Halloween, offering valuable rewards. In the Spooky Haunted House Event, players will use the event currency, ‘Old Lantern’, to acquire various rewards such as a Legendary Hero Summon Ticket and Diamonds hidden in silhouettes. Players can also challenge the Halloween Event Boss, ‘Little Ghost Tori’, while Ban’s Delicacies, Tavern Plunder and Tavern will be transformed into Halloween-themed designs.
Other updates include an expansion of stages to 4000 with new story content, as well as a Rate Up Summon for Guardian of Istal Zaneri, a DEX-attribute support.
Based on the global hit manga and anime ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’, the game welcomes players to an idle RPG world overflowing with epic adventures and fan-favorite characters from the franchise. Inspired by The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, the mobile RPG enjoyed by 60 million players around the globe, The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure offers an enjoyable gameplay experience featuring a variety of content, an easy-to-play One-Tap Draw system, as well the opportunity to collect and nurture beloved characters.
For more information on The Seven Deadly Sins: IDLE Adventure, please be sure to stay tuned to the official website and official social channels (Facebook, Discord) for future updates.
Established in Korea in 2000, Netmarble Corporation is a leading developer and publisher of top-grossing mobile games worldwide. Through powerful franchises and collaborations with acclaimed IP holders, Netmarble strives to elevate the gaming experience and entertain audiences globally. As a parent company of Kabam and SpinX Games, and a major shareholder of Jam City and HYBE (formerly Big Hit Entertainment), Netmarble’s diverse portfolio includes Solo Leveling: ARISE, Seven Knights Idle Adventure, Tower of God: New World, Lineage 2: Revolution, MARVEL Future Fight, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross. More information can be found athttp://company.netmarble.com.
I have a weird love of The Smurfs. While I haven’t paid much attention to the cinematic adaptations in the past decade, I have always found it to be an odd comfort to watch the old cartoon, which still holds up today. Microids are bringing that charm and heart to consoles with The Smurfs: Dreams, a 3D platformer that ties in a narrative to appeal to a younger audience. Does it prove to be a welcome in a genre that needs some love, or is this another licensed title worth skipping? Let’s find out.
The Smurfs Dreams – Gameplay
Story
Gargamel is at it again and has found a way to put almost all of Smurf Village to sleep by tampering with the food supply. Luckily, Papa Smurf is left unharmed and puts you in control of this adventure, where you must enter the dreams of the villagers and attempt to wake them up before the evil force comes to wreak havoc. The plot itself here is fine, but the execution is a bit dry. Without voice acting, or even music, there is a void of personality here and that really makes the whole adventure feel bland. Sure, there are little cutscenes, but most don’t really tie together the plot well enough to make it memorable, and while I admire the effort, the story ultimately is flat here.
Gameplay
The gameplay was probably what I was most excited about here. If you grew up in the days when platformers were a dime a dozen, you know it was rare for there to be a “bad” one as most, while generic – still had the same mechanics to give us something playable. That is really what The Smurfs: Dreams is. A playable, yet simplistic take on the genre that plays it a bit too safe for its own good. Your character can jump and has the ability to grab most items (though they don’t physically grab, it’s more of a float above your head kind of thing) in order to progress forward. There are puzzles, but they never feel involved enough for intrigue, instead feeling like a minor roadblock that is cleared without much issue or problem.
Honestly, the controls are fine and the game’s controls feel tight enough. The worlds here are also varied and have a good number of places to explore. The player has items to collect as well as berries, which act as the game’s currency system. On paper, it sounds just like it is, a bare-bones platformer that gets the job done. The issues with Dreams come more from how vacant these worlds are. While some lands are impressive, others feel barren and empty, as if there was a rush to build specific stages. This is a 3D platformer through and through, and while I don’t think many will have issues with exploring, they might have a bit of a boring time due to how easy and lacking the environments are overall.
Stages also go on way too long. Each “constellation” of the dream world acts as a stage which is made up of three chapters. When you beat one, you simply go right into the next. These chapters are long though and mainly repeat the same gimmicks over and over, such as puzzles and ways to defeat enemies. Boss battles act as a brief refresher, but don’t come up with anything inventive to keep the player motivated and entertained either. Dodge this, jump on that, repeat. I think kids will be fine with this and this game does remind me a lot of those PlayStation 2/Gamecube platformers from years ago, but The Smurfs: Dreams needs a gimmick as unlocking costumes occasionally was really the only excitement I had during my time with the experience.
Audio
This may be the biggest issue within the whole product. The soundtrack is there, but it’s boring and doesn’t capture the environment whatsoever. It’s almost like elevator music, never adding to such wonderfully created stages. The Smurfs also groan and grunt, but do not talk, which is another lost opportunity. Even if it was a random cast, it could have added something more to bring the story alive if Microids would have dug in a bit here, but what we are left with is a rather uninspired set of tunes that don’t represent the property in any way. There were moments when little chimes would occur and I thought it was coming around to at least delivering something familiar, but those were over so quickly that it never made up for the lack of spirit.
Visuals
This I can compliment. The character models look fantastic and the worlds are bright and vivid. This may be one of the best-looking licensed platformers from a graphical standpoint I have seen in some time, but without sound to match, it’s just kind of hollow. There were no hiccups or glitches, just my little smurf, roaming around in a muted world. While some themed stages are great, others are literally empty. You’re just trying to get to the end with not a lot of design added to the environments.
Overall
I get it, I am way out of the target audience for this game, but I love platformers. The Smurfs: Dreams is a competent platformer that lacks the soul and heart of the actual property it’s named after. The mechanics are basic, the music is stale, and there is so much to be desired. That said, this is a pretty game and it is well-designed when it comes to the characters themselves. It’s just unfortunate that the adventure feels half-baked and commits the sin of being “boring”. Microids seem like they have a lot of potential to create something special, but this licensed romp is just a little too basic for its own good.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
