The Return of an Icon, Ice-cold Survival, Visceral Action and Dynasties: The Scope of Products on Display is unprecedented
Oberhaching, Germany, July 24, 2024 – The German-Austrian publisher Toplitz Productions proudly announces its participation at this year’s gamescom in Cologne.
When the doors open to the biggest global gaming event on August 21, 2024, Toplitz welcomes media, streamers and influencers to their booth in the business area, located in Hall 4.1 – D38 – C29 to show them the most diversified portfolio the publisher brought to gamescom yet.
From the all-out action of Unawake to the return of a true icon with management behemoth Industry Giant 4.0, Toplitz Productions has a varied lineup of unmissable games ready for you.
The moon has shattered and thrown the Earth into an ice-cold apocalypse. Try to survive against all odds in the frozen open world of Permafrost from SpacerocketGames, where humanity is on the brink of extinction. Help the opposing factions or try to fight off all the dangers of an unforgiving environment alone with your trusted dog, while you explore, scavenge and try to build a better future.
In terms of management games they don’t come much bigger than the Industry Giant franchise. Not daunted by the huge name, with Industry Giant 4.0 the development team Don VS Dodo is not only re-envisioning the classic series for a new audience. Vastly expanding on the legacy gameplay and putting their own unique spin on it, this is the next generation of management games.
Farmer’s Dynasty 2 from Umeo Studios builds on the foundation of its successful predecessor and delivers an open world farming simulation like no other. With two timelines set in the past and present, aspiring agronomists can experience both traditional as well as modern farming methods as they build, renovate and expand their properties.
A small team of two developers, big visions and even bigger talent: The bone-crunching hack&slash Unawake from RealityArts defies all odds and delivers a visual tour de force that has to be seen to be believed. Explore the dark fantasy that pits you in a relentless battle between demons and angels. Fight with various weapons against a neverending onslaught of enemies, develop your character and equip the best loot to gain the upper hand. Next to the most recent PC build, we are able to show the version for Xbox Series X|S for the very first time as an exclusive for all attendees.
Become one with the night, feast on blood and build a lasting legacy with Vampire Dynasty, the latest entry in the renowned franchise, developed by Mehuman Games. Experience what it means to be a vampire caught between destiny and the everlasting thirst for blood. Fight for your place in the society of fictitious Sangavia, expand your vampire family and build a castle as your center of eternal power.
Since its early access start, developer Superkami constantly improved Sengoku Dynasty with a stream of meaningful updates. At gamescom we can offer you a fresh look at the exciting mixture of survival game and city builder set in an open-world feudal Japan. Be the first to get a sneak peek at the new content that is coming to the game over the next few weeks and months.
About Toplitz Productions
The German-Austrian publisher, whose name originates from the mysterious Toplitz Lake in the heart of Austria, develops and publishes games with heart & soul for all platforms. The company consists of a healthy mix of experienced industry veterans and young talents, all of whom are passionate gamers. They enjoy working with creative developers on many exciting titles, such as those from the “Dynasty” and “Giant” series.
Stay up to date and learn everything worth knowing about Toplitz Productions by following the company on X (Twitter), Facebook, the official website and Instagram.
Sometimes there are barriers to entry with a franchise that can seem rather daunting. Trying to jump into the third game in a trilogy for example might make players feel a bit lost or miss out on plenty of references or sometimes developers try to ease things as much as possible for newcomers by not connecting their franchise titles at all. Then there’s The Legend of Heroes franchise that took an entire story arc and spanned it across eleven games from 2004 to 2020 and while sure, these arcs were broken into their own little separate stories, each contributing to the grander tale overall with character crossovers, plotline developments, and more.
So now that the massive arc that combined Crossbell and Cold Steel into one has mostly wrapped up, NIS America has brought the latest Nihon Falcom RPG to the West in the form of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak. Set after the events of the previous story arc and telling a nearly completely original storyline, albeit one still set in the grander world of Crossbell and Cold Steel, is this perhaps the best entry point for RPG fans?
Story
Trails Through Daybreak picks up about a year and a half after the events of Trails into Reverie and is set in Republic of Calvard, a country far to the east from the main locations featured in previous entries in the franchise. Over the past few years Calvard has flourished thanks to reparations they received following the war that took place in previous games and, while returning players will have all of the context they need already, the game does provide a brief glossary of broader events to help new players catch up.
This new location, small time skip, and a brand new protagonist helps wipe the slate nearly clean as players find themselves taking on the role of Van Arkride, a “Spriggan” that takes on jobs that the police and other investigators can’t or won’t. This means that while he might take on a job as simple as tracking down a missing item, it can also mean coming face to face with some of the worst the criminal underworld has to offer. One day an academy student by the name of Agnes Claudel comes to Van with a job for his business, Arkride Solutions, and that job is to track down a missing memento left to her by her grandfather.
Initially, Van seems disinterested in the job until he finds out not only just how resourceful she is, going through illegal channels of her own to track down clues, to just how willing she is to put in the effort to find this valuable item that turns out to be a Genesis, a keepsake with far more power than either of them could ever have imagined. Upon finally tracking down the Genesis, the pair learn that it is part of seven that must be reunited in order to avoid an unknown fate but this is far from their only problem as this special item has the eyes of numerous factions on it, including a mafia organization known as Almata, never mind the dangerous source of power dwelling within the item itself that sends this pair spiraling into an adventure that will embroil them in an adventure that will rock the region.
Besides serving as a fresher starting point Trails through Daybreak makes a strong start to a brand new storyline, even if it is one that takes a bit to get going as it once again features the franchise’s trademark issues of having a poorly paced beginning as well as some poorly paced middle-sections as well. That being said, the new characters added in this game happen to be some of the best with the main character Van Arkride easily being the best protagonist of the latest games. Perhaps this is because players join him as a veteran Spriggan with a morally gray outlook, willing to bend the rules of law to help those in need, and a no nonsense attitude. This isn’t a fresh faced officer or teacher here, and the way he interacts with the world and its characters are all the better for it.
The rest of the brand new characters are a bit more mixed. Agnes serves as the staple heroine that brings her own unique take to the world, especially since she’s far more than meets the eye, and a number of other party members that join along the way are similarly just as intriguing. While we won’t spoil it here, a few characters really stand out as special partially with the way they end up interacting with Van and the way they develop through the storyline. It is also worth noting that longtime players will find at least a few familiar faces popping in from time to time, including one that has never had a 3D model before, though these are relegated to guest characters only.
Outside of the main storyline and characters it must be said that Nihon Falcom has done an excellent job in making sure to craft a believable world filled with people who have issues they need solved. Rather than having generic or no-named NPCs, every interactable NPC has a name and many of the side-quests players can take on offer not only some solid variety but also happen to pack quite the emotional punch as well. The fact that some of these story developments can easily be missed should players not take on side-quests is surprising thanks to how well many of them are written. This means that, while not every side-quest or objective needs to be pursued, players should feel encouraged to delve into the world as much as possible as there are greater rewards than just the loot at the end. Especially when Van’s alignment comes into play with certain story developments, but we’ll let those be a surprise.
Gameplay
Exploration in The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak is mostly the same as before, with players being able to freely travel the larger areas of the towns, though now they no longer require any form of loading when traversing between buildings. Perhaps the biggest change that is implemented into the game is how combat is handled as it has been given a brand new way to be handled as well as some tweaks to an already familiar formula. Previously, whenever players encountered enemies in the field they could attack them for a turn advantage or maybe even dealing a little bit of damage at the start of the turn-based battle. Now Trails through Daybreak has implemented a combination of limited action combat with its familiar turn-based RPG style fighting. The “Shard” system allows players to deploy Shard Circular Linked Metafield at the press of a button and enter turn-based combat but the real change here is the action mode.
As mentioned before, the furthest previous The Legend of Heroes games took field combat was having “first strike” capabilities before entering turn-based mode. Now however every character in the party, as the player can swap their lead character freely early into the game and each character is capable of unleashing their own style of attacks. Some of these are magic oriented and deal extra damage to certain enemy types while others are physical and deal similar. This whole action combat allows players to fight against smaller groups of enemies and dish out some standard combo attacks, unleash “charged” heavy blows that can stun an enemy all while dodging out of the way of incoming attacks. Occasionally enemies can unleash powerful strikes that cannot be dodged and will instantly trigger combat, so players will need to balance the risk reward system here. It is worth noting that stunned enemies will receive extra starting damage, have their turns delayed, and be vulnerable should players deploy their Shards. Of course, enemies can be straight up slain in action combat if the player feels like it.
Once players deploy their shards and enter turn-based fighting, the game takes on a much more familiar feeling with allies and enemies taking turns depending on stats, what skills/Arts they are using, and more. There are a few new revisions to be found here though and one of which is that the link system has been removed entirely as characters can no longer be paired together to deal powerful linked attacks when certain conditions are met. Instead being in close proximity to an ally while attacking will make your ally either provide a buff or an additional follow-up attack to the targeted enemy. The more useful too is the limited S-Boost mechanic that allows players to use Shards to boost a character’s stats with powerful buffs and abilities momentarily to really lay out the damage. This is especially useful when players want to trigger a powerful skill, of which there are quite a few available to every character and unlock at a reasonable pace or especially the powerful returning S-Break maneuvers that can be triggered at any time once players have enough meter to use them.
Another rather noticeable change that also plays a role in combat is how the player’s Orbments are now upgraded. Daybreak‘s main equipment source comes from the latest generation of Orbment called the Xipha and features three main parts, the Holo Core, the Arts Driver, and the Quartz. The Holo Core serves as something of the Master Quartz for those familiar from past games and provides boosts to a character’s EP in battle, the strength of the Arts they can use, and even what bonuses they obtain when using an S-Boost. As players fight, their Holo Core will also level up providing additional bonuses. The quartz system feels like it takes more of a step back as it no longer is used to unlock additional Arts/skills for characters to use but now are inserted into a Xipha to provide extra stats to a character or add special effects to their attacks. This can include unlocking special skills called “Shard Skills” that have a certain chance to trigger during fights and unleash extra damage when triggered, reduce the casting time of an Art to near-instantly, and even offer exploration help. This level of customization is freely up to the player and can honestly be a bit overwhelming, especially compared to past entries in the franchise.
Where players actually obtain the Arts they can wield in combat come in the form of Arts Drivers. These little chips are slotted into a Xipha and come with a special set of Arts that are unlockable via various plugins that players obtain from completing side missions, main missions, and just raising their Spriggan Rank. These plugins are highly versatile and allow many characters to use a wide-variety of skills, making things feel all the more wide-open for player customization and that’s a good thing too as characters will need it. That’s because Daybreak isn’t afraid to play rough when it comes to its combat system and some bosses can be real killers if players aren’t properly prepared to face them down. There are multiple difficulty options available of course and these can be adjusted at any time, but those even playing on Normal might find their skills tested if they go in without making the best use of what Xipha’s new capabilities have to offer despite its complexities.
Audio & Visuals
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak sees a notable improvement with its character models and improved visuals overall even if it may still be lagging a bit behind your average JRPG. This is partially due to the wonderful art style that the company has chosen to retain throughout the franchise and that remains true here. The character models, especially in combat when unleashing powerful attacks, are wonderful to look at and there is a wide array of enemies to take down, providing plenty of variety. The same compliments can go out to exploration as the different environments players can explore and visit is quite special at times, even if the dungeons themselves can sometimes leave a lot to be desired with some lazy designs mixed in.
With this release of the game in the West NIS America has offered both the original Japanese voice track as well as a brand new English dub for those who wish to choose one or the other. The English voice cast handles their characters well but it is worth noting that, while we didn’t test between dubs, the game has a strange tendency to have one or two spoken lines followed by countless unvoiced lines, making for some rather strange feeling interactions. As for the soundtrack the title features a great collection of background music that varies well for the different dungeons that players explore and has some exceptional boss battle music.
Overall
Nihon Falcom and NIS America had quite the task ahead of them when it came to The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak. Not only was this their chance to make a new starting point for newcomers by offering a new storyline with almost entirely brand new characters set in an already established world, but it was a chance for them to change things up a bit mechanically as well and they have managed to succeed on both of those fronts. Sure, the combat is a bit more complicated when it comes to equipment than it feels like it should be and the story can drag more than usual, but the new changes made to the game don’t hold it back from being another great entry in The Legend of Heroes franchise, especially since Daybreak II is already on the way to potentially answer the many lingering questions left once the credits roll.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
Glasgow, Scotland — July 24, 2024 | Indie Publisher Those Awesome Guys and developers Tub Club are delighted to announce that Valley Peaks will be leaping onto Steam today! This first-person… pardon – this first-froggy platformer challenges players to embark on a cozy climbing adventure unlike any other.
Players will use their long, stretchy arms to climb mountains and complete routes by controlling each limb individually. They will ascend towering peaks and encounter obstacles ranging from crumbling rocks to moving minecarts. Risk life and lilypad in an effort to install radio towers atop the mountains, giving the froggy inhabitants internet and access to the world beyond the Valley!
But it’s worth the climb! Brave frogtaineers will discover a colourful and whimsical miniature open world where each mountain presents new daring puzzles, whilst evoking memories of their heartwarming past and their father who braved these climbs in years gone by. Even in his absence, his legacy will forever remain on every boulder players cling to and every peak they conquer.
No matter what path you choose, adventure awaits in Valley Peaks!
Climbing tadpoles won’t have to worry about routes being too difficult. Players can customize the game to suit their skillset and even check out Cozy Mode, a casual and relaxing gameplay style fit for even those with verti-frog. And, in the very worst case scenario, there are plenty of geese to pet!
Key Features:
Ribbiting perspective: A unique first-person parkour-lite adventure.
Adaptative frog: Choose between two different modes to help customize climbs.
Hoppier life: Escape the daily grind for a trip to the serene mountain landscape and unravel fond memories.
Unlock an array of gadgets: From gaining extra time with the slow-mo watch to using specialized tongues to reach hard to reach spots, there’s something to help every frog’s climbing adventure!
Pals and pads: Climbing is hard, so put up those amphi-beans and take a breather! Chill-out between climbing sessions with colourful froggy friends and relaxing minigames like Mortimer’s boat race or head to Bone Hill and partake in a Pumpkin Hunt!
“We’ve nurtured this game from a lil tadpole into a fully grown frog and we are so proud to see it hopping into the big wide world. We hope players can embrace the frog life as much as we loved creating it and enjoy the picturesque views of Valley Peaks.” – Tub Club founders.
About Those Awesome Guys
Based… online, Those Awesome Guys is a fiercely independent video game development and publishing studio formed out of people from all around the world. After the launch of hit success Move or Die, the studio branched out to publishing with the release of Monster Prom and Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom and now they are ready to launch Valley Peaks.
About Tub Club
Tub Club Games is a small and cozy 2-person development team based in Glasgow, Scotland. With a history in AAA, a young BAFTA nomination and a DARE Academy award under their belt, they are committed to crafting uniquely appealing gaming experiences, and excited to share their debut title, Valley Peaks, with players around the globe.
PlayStation Australia and Arrowhead Game Studios are excited to share Helldivers 2’s biggest update yet – Escalation of Freedom. Content will drop for all citizens of Super Earth on August 6th.
Welcome to the Escalation of Freedom, Helldivers. Arrowhead Game Studios has taken the time to gather feedback from players on the front lines, and is bringing a greater variety to content. From missions and objectives to enemies and planets, the team is delivering lots of new content for both veteran players and brand-new Helldivers on the battlefield. Get ready for the biggest update yet!
Watch the epic Escalation of Freedom trailer below.
The community continues to show how strong they are when united against the mindless Automatons and the scourge of the Terminid. On the eve of the Escalation of Freedom, reflecting on the 6 months since launch, we could never have predicted how far this game would go and how many Citizens would answer Super Earth’s call to arms!
It’s watched players expertly handle every conflict and challenge thrown their way, from flying enemies to the Terminid Control System, to saving the children of Super Citizen Anne’s Hospital. Now for this major update it’s time to give back something big to the community and welcome in even more players to the Helldivers universe. Helldivers, this is escalating quickly.
Go on a Super Helldive
Go up against the new supersized bot fortresses – Something that continues to amaze is players’ insatiable desire for more bugs, more bots, more liberation, and more destruction. The team thought nine levels of Helldiving difficulties would be enough, but in the Escalation of Freedom, it’s time to turn it up to 10…Combat Rating 10 that is.
CR 10: Super Helldive is Helldivers 2’s, most relentless dive difficulty level yet, and it’s hoped that this is going to give players the intensity they’re looking for on the battlefield. With a great challenge comes great rewards. The larva retrieval mission has the Helldivers babysitting a bug
But a new difficulty level isn’t the only thing the community wanted. There was also a desire for mission variation, which is why the team is bringing players new mission objectives and bigger enemy outposts for both bots and bugs that offer brand new Super Sample rewards. These outposts will be heavily fortified and require players to coordinate and strategise in order to take them out.
If you’re new to Helldivers 2, you don’t have to worry about missing out on all the fun until you unlock Super Helldive because many of the new mission objectives will be playable on other difficulty levels.
New Enemies & Dangerous Swamps
The Impaler returns! Escalation of Freedom is unleashing some new threats to players liberty that will take some serious strategising from the Helldivers to take down.
Back by popular demand: the Impaler! This big guy from the original Helldivers creates some new challenges. No longer can players run from the bugs when the Impaler is around-big, imposing, destructive, it demands to be dealt with.
Also new among the Terminid ranks is the Spore Charger. As if the regular old Charger wasn’t scary enough, the Spore Charger is shrouded in fog to obscure its location until it’s right up on you, Helldiver. The new Spore Charger in the fog.
Lastly, the Terminid Alpha Commander, which is a supercharged Brood Commander that’s bigger, meaner and doesn’t hesitate to call in other bugs for backup. You thought the regular Brood Commander was bad? Think again.
Don’t think the Automatons were forgotten. Their ranks are growing, too, within the addition of the formidable Rocket Tank, as well as some other bot surprises. The Automaton uprising continues.
Explore the swamps, but not as they’ve been known, with rolling fog and the untamed flora, the blackened trees obscure the light and the air itself feels haunted. Keep the flashlight handy, as visibility is limited and light is key. The enemy could be hiding anywhere amongst the undergrowth. Get spooked, Helldivers.
Under the Hood
The last addition to highlight about the Escalation of Freedom update is that changes are being made to mitigate the problem of grief kicking in Helldivers 2. While it’s our hope that players engage with the game in good faith and sportsmanship, it’s noted that some players are using the team kicking to grief others.
To help improve this the team have implemented a system where if a player is kicked, they will spawn into a new session as the host with all of the team’s loot from the previous session. All items can now be picked up by the player before extraction. The squad doing the kicking will see a message in the chat widget that a player has been kicked, yet their loot remains unchanged.
With these changes, all players have the opportunity to leave with all loot collected on mission, with no one Helldiver losing out. We’re committed to making changes that will improve the player experience and encourage healthy, cooperative gameplay.
Along with this, the team is also releasing other quality of life upgrades with Escalation of Freedom, including major fixes to the social menu to make diving with friends easier.
Overall, this escalation is going to be packed full of awesome additions, long-awaited improvements, and a ton of surprises to discover! Helldivers 2: Escalation of Freedom is launching on August 6!
Learn more about the Escalation of Freedom at the PlayStation Blog.
Fishing Break, an arcade fishing game with gameplay focused on relaxed fun and cartoonish visuals, is coming to Nintendo Switch on July 25. In Fishing Break, players will find more than 20 fishing spots located in 8 different worlds, as well as several hundred diverse fish.
Fishing Break is a game developed by Canadian studio Roofdog Games. The title previously appeared on Android and iOS mobile devices, where it gained more than one million players. Ultimate Games S.A. is responsible for developing and releasing the game on Nintendo Switch.
Debuting on the Nintendo Switch, the game is a title that focuses mainly on relaxing gameplay and offers hours of fun. The gameplay is based on purely arcade, relatively simple but engaging mechanics. Fishing Break also stands out for its charming cartoon-style 2D graphics.
The development system also plays an important role in Fishing Break, where you can, among other things, upgrade your fishing equipment and discover new opportunities.
The developers have prepared a total of more than 20 diverse fishing spots located in 8 unique worlds. In total, as many as several hundred types of fish await players, including special fish associated with various elements of nature.
Fishing Break – main features:
arcade fishing game;
simple and relaxing gameplay;
2D cartoon-style graphics;
hundreds of diverse fish;
more than 20 unique fisheries.
The release date for Fishing Break on Nintendo Switch has been set for July 25, 2024.
TOKYO, Japan – 23 July 2024 – Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable, the first-person action-adventure VR platformer based on the highly-acclaimed manga circulated around the world to more than 140 million fans, topples Titans on Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro via Meta Quest Store Early Access today. Early Access features the first two chapters, each offering 2-3 harrowing hours of action.
Titans have breached the outer wall, and the Scout Regiment serves as humanity’s final bastion. Swing into combat with Omni-Directional Mobility (ODM) Gear, soaring over buildings through the different districts. Storm the battlefield with regiment soldiers and defend civilians from the Titan invasion.
Choose from several distinct blade variants and fling forward into aerial combat. Race against the clock, dodging incoming threats while securing supply drops and defending command posts. Stack points to earn more stars, unlocking new weapons with unique abilities.
Traverse the world of Attack on Titan and its horrors through the eyes of a Scout Regiment recruit. Fly across the tops of buildings, deftly weaving through the onslaught of Titans accurately scaled for a terrifyingly authentic experience. Help save the human race alongside fan-favorite characters reprised by the original cast of English and Japanese voice actors.
“Launching the first part of Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable to anime and mangafans from around the world is a huge honor,” said Keigo Fujikawa, CEO of UNIVRS. “Production will move forward as we continue collecting and implementing feedback from the community to create a more polished gameplay experience.”
Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable is now available on Meta Quest 2, 3, and Provia Meta Quest Store Early Access for $4.99 USD. It supports Japanese and English voice acting alongside subtitles for both languages. To learn more, follow Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable’sofficial website and X, as well as UNIVRS’s official website, YouTube, and X. The UNIVRS team values your input and asks fans to join the official Discord, providing feedback and helping to perfect the ultimate Titan slaying experience.
About UNIVRS, Inc.
Founded by Keigo Fujikawa and Shun Fujikawa, known as the VR brothers in Japan, UNIVRS aims to create immersive worlds for audiences to experience. After the booming success of Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing, the UNIVRS team is eager to release more thrilling VR titles, with Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable being the next major project in their catalog.
Enter the arena in an online 4v4 competition and battle it out to see who can survive the longest using specially concocted dishes. Skirmish against random opponents or alongside friends through a delectable assortment of food-themed maps. Dish out damage in style, sliding across maps and bouncing away from adversaries. Cook up a spicy dish of agony, from tasty dumplings to pan-fried sausages, and launch it at foes’ faces.
Dash around in an eclectic array of messy food-based game modes. Compete in different locations around the globe with a weapon of choice, from slappin’ mackerel swords to rapid brat-ling guns. Participate in the Sudden Death mode where players can fight alone or with friends in an all-out brawl!
Get ready for Meatball mode, where you push giant meatballs through goalposts. In Claim Chowder, eat as much soup as possible before the end of the match. Or, fight in traditional deathmatches with tasty weapons in Broth Battle mode.
Keep cooking up wins to unlock access to charming culinary-inspired cosmetics. Pop those collars with all the latest shop accessories, from wacky tattoos to oversized meat mittens. Razzle and dazzle the arenas in stylish attires fit for a chef ready to serve a five-course meal. *Chefs’ Kiss*
RAWMEN: Food Fighter Arena is free to play and available exclusively on PC via Epic Games Store today.
ANIMAL is a multi-talented studio home to creative storytellers, artists, conceptual thinkers, and a crew that understands the meaning of a good joke. They take pride in providing stunningly designed worlds with well thought out animated content for the masses.
About tinyBuild
tinyBuild is a Seattle-based indie label behind the Hello Neighbor franchise and over 30 renowned titles, including Hello Neighbor, Graveyard Keeper, SpeedRunners, Happy’s Humble Burger Farm, and Party Hard. With additional development offices in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Riga, Latvia, tinyBuild is rapidly building a portfolio of fun, high-quality games across multiple platforms.
Break genre boundaries with your creations using the Tiled Map Editor
Kitsune Tails, the platformer styled after beloved classics and steeped in Japanese mythology, reveals details on the minigames and modding support available at launch.
Developer Kitsune Games and publisher MidBoss™ brings their platformer with queer relationships to PC (Steam), Linux and Steam Deck on Thursday, August 1.
Showcasing the flexibility of Kitsune Tails’ handmade engine, play minigames strewn throughout the world map to earn powerups or play minigames for coins at the arcade in town. Play Haunted Heist, a first-person maze-crawling experience inspired by early FPS games like Wolfenstein 3D with the chase-and-escape tactics of Pac-Man. Dodge ghosts with their own personalities, deploy a Yuzu decoy inspired by a community meme, and earn coins to buy helpful powerups for the main game. Other minigames include breaking bricks as a cute fox in the Barkanoid minigame, and a take on the classic Boulder Dash in Beetle Dash.
Expand the Kitsune Tails experience with powerful, simple-to-use modding tools to create custom minigames through an easy-to-use Lua script framework. Use built-in or custom images, sounds, and music, and create custom maps and levels with the free and open source Tiled Map Editor.
Kitsune Games is an inclusive indie video game development studio led by Emma ‘Eniko’ Maassen and James Yarrow. Set apart by its queer founder, the studio strives to make the world a better place by offering quality entertainment with representation of people from all walks of life.
Based out of San Francisco (although not the Neo kind), MidBoss aims to make the world better, safer and more inclusive for marginalized people, especially those across the gender and sexuality spectrum, by creating cool experiences through games and other forms of media which diversify representation, as well as becoming a platform for queer content around the world.
MidBoss expanded on the world it created in 2064: Read Only Memories with a Read Only Memories comic series in late 2019. The studio is also responsible for the creation and curation of Summer of Pride, an annual month-long celebration of diversity in games featuring titles with good LGBTQ+ representation and an array of queer and POC content creators.
Design, recruit and develop your way to the top of the sport in the quintessential F1® management experience
Cambridge, UK (23 July 2024) – Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV, ‘Frontier’) today invites players to create their own team and take total control of the big decisions as their career unfolds in F1® Manager 2024, which launches digitally today across PC, PlayStation® 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™, PlayStation® 4 and Xbox One for a suggested retail price of £29.99/$34.99/€34.99.
Fans can enhance their experience with F1® Manager 2024: Deluxe Edition, which expands their creative options with five additional classically inspired Create A Team livery patterns, whilst an additional five fictional Race Replay scenarios offer unique single-race challenges, all for a suggested retail price of £39.99/$44.99/€44.99.
F1® Manager 2024 turns F1® fantasy into reality with the new Create A Team mode, where players can experiment with detailed logo and livery creation tools, choosing their challenge level using editable Team Origins to live out their own story and set the starting parameters of their career. Taking their team to the top will require careful management of both talent and resources, from negotiating sponsorships to maintaining their driver and staff mentality, ensuring every aspect of their constructor is ready for race day.
With enhanced AI decision-making ensuring each team is always in the hunt for success, leaving a lasting legacy on Formula 1® requires effective decision making over multiple seasons. Players can cement their position by building a successful stable of up and coming affiliated drivers, or shake up the system by departing their team to take on their legacy with one of the established 10 constructors. The future of the sport is theirs to decide, with the option to simulate races bridging the gap between vital upgrade packages, or bringing tomorrow’s talents to the fore to see who will reign over the next chapter of F1®.
Race weekends place simulation and strategy at the fore, as players react to every moment of tension; from a sudden downpour of rain and a late safety car, to the managed risk of new mechanical failures. Team Principals are required to weigh the cost of every decision and instruct their drivers to deliver the best possible results. Using the new Heli-cam to strategise from the skies or immersing themselves in the action with broadcast style cameras and an impressive 70,000 lines of real team radio, F1® Manager 2024 brings the sport to life like never before.
Frontier is a leading independent developer and publisher of videos founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the iconic Elite game. Based in Cambridge, Frontier primarily uses its proprietary COBRA game development technology to create innovative genre-leading games for personal computers and videogame consoles.
About Formula 1
Formula 1® racing began in 1950 and is the world’s most prestigious motor racing competition, as well as the world’s most popular annual sporting series. Formula One World Championship Limited is part of Formula 1® and holds the exclusive commercial rights to the FIA Formula One World Championship™. Formula 1® is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LSXMA, LSXMB, LSXMK, FWONA, FWONK, LLYVA, LLVYK) attributed to the Formula One Group tracking stock. The F1 logo, F1 FORMULA 1 logo, FORMULA 1, F1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX, PADDOCK CLUB and related marks are trademarks of Formula One Licensing BV, a Formula 1 company. All rights reserved.
Fresh off the heels of participation in this year’s Guerilla Collective showcase and a highly successful June NextFest, colorful JRPG Ova Magica launches into Early Access on Steam today, July 23rd, at 10am EST / 3pm BST.
Billing itself as “Pokemon-meets-Harvest Moon”, the game has had a long history of development originating as far back as 2019. Developed by a primarily woman-led team, the game has received extensive hype online, and became the #6 most funded game campaign of 2021 on Kickstarter (as well as received the “Big K” community award from the site). The game has had significant attention directed toward it since then from multiple locations, including being spotlighted in an edition of the 2022 PC Gaming Show thanks to its publisher, Top Hat Studios, Inc. The game received significant attention in recent months thanks to its participation in the Steam Cozy Celebration, Guerilla Collective, Woman-led Games Showcase, Games Baked In Germany, and the most recent Steam NextFest.Players have given extremely positive feedback on the prior-available extensive demo, which showcased 4-5+ hours of content.
After much hard work and years of effort, the team is extremely proud to be able to present its initial early access. The early access version of the game is feature complete and features an estimated 20-30+ hours of gameplay, if not more. It is planned to feature the majority of content minus end-game content. The game will launch today at a price of 25 USD/EUR/GBP and maintain a 10% discount for 2 weeks. A trailer for the game’s early access launch can be viewed below:
The game features an extensive, highly interwoven mixture of Creature Collector,JRPG, and Simulation elements. You’re the new resident of Clover Town, and your new life awaits you! Befriend blobs, explore themed dungeons, and maybe meet the love of your life! When not battling fellow blob trainers or making friends with (or doing errands for) the other residents of the town, tend to your very own customizable farmstead, where you can grow and craft ingredients & materials to not only strengthen your blobs and make money but also unlock beautiful new worlds full of adventures.
The goal of Ova Magica is to combine the charm of classic genres with new, modern and intuitive twists on staple mechanics. After moving to take care of a farmstead in the aforementioned quaint little hamlet Clover Town, you’re introduced to something that changes your life forever: Blobs! Blobs are cute, wobbly, and rotund creatures which hatch from eggs. Treat them with care and they can become your greatest companions!
Coming in dozens of varieties (with all of them being cross-breedable, for hundreds if not thousands if not more results!), Blobs can face off against rival blob trainers and help you out around the farm and in the wider world with their unique abilities. As your relationship with the locals (some of whom you might choose to settle down with!) and the town increases, the secrets of Clover Town start to unlock in front of you. And by secrets, we mean hidden temples, dungeons, and portals to exotic dimensions!
These new worlds contain strange items and priceless artifacts that hold the key to the town’s – and your own – future. Tame and raise blobs, battle trainers or wild dungeon blobs, build your homestead, explore the secrets of the world, and win the hearts of the residents of the townfolk. What will you write in the history book of Clover Town?
Skinny Frog (formerly ClaudiaTheDev) is a small woman-lead German studio run by Claudia Gorsky, a programmer and mom from Germany dedicated to the creation of fun, colorful, and family-friendly games. Claudia started as a solo developer in 2019-2020 and established her studio, Skinny Frog, alongside several other diverse team members. After running a highly successful Kickstarter in 2021, Claudia went full-time through her studio, transitioning to a full time professional game developer.
About Top Hat Studios, Inc.
Top Hat Studios is your favorite publisher of fine indie delicacies, primarily supporting Japanese-inspired, retro-themed, and highly creative titles. As a company started by and working with grassroots developers and incubating developer talent, Top Hat Studios focuses on supporting games all the way from blockbuster productions through to niche and boutique experimentations.
Top Hat Studios’ diverse portfolio includes hits such as Athenian Rhapsody, Frogun, Ova Magica, SONZAI, Labyrinth of the Demon King, and many more. Unique in its relationship to its partnered developers, Top Hat Studios is more than just a publisher but rather a strategic long-term partner, and provides a suite of resources to its developers, which include publishing, business development, corporate advisory, product & long-term strategy, creative media, tools, co-development, and engineering & porting expertise working with all major engines and codebases.
