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Monetization is becoming a huge issue in Pokémon Go, with every event since the start of 2024 having some way to charge the player for extra benefits or items. Not only that, but plenty of events lock Pokémon or encounters behind Eggs, which, if you are trying to get a shiny version, might require you to spend dozens of dollars in hopes of RNG gracing you with what you were after. The community has been disgruntled by these constant monetization practices coming from Niantic, so when Dot Esports met Pokémon Go Director Michael Steranka, we were canid to ask him about fans’ concerns about over-monetization and Niantic’s current aggressive strategy. View the full article

Soccer fans are having the time of their lives with EURO 2024. While it’s one of the biggest sporting events this year, security clearly could be better since one YouTuber found a way to sneak into a game dressed as a mascot. ******* content creator Marvin tested security at the opening game of EURO 2024. He ordered a replica of the tournament’s mascot and forgeries of the employee passes to get into the game. Marvin then managed to ride into the Allianz Arena on June 14 and ended up being on the pitch for the game. View the full article

A fan of Diablo 4 was able to make their character look like Peacemaker from the HBO series. Many RPGs allow players to make custom avatars that they can use to navigate through the game. One such title is Diablo 4, which gives players freedom when it comes to making their own character. View the full article

The next The Legend of Zelda title from Nintendo, Echoes of Wisdom, will not feature Link as the main character, but Princess Zelda—and fans are losing it. They’re beyond excited to play as Zelda, who has finally found her independence. On June 18, Nintendo debuted the release date trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, which will launch on Sept. 26 on Nintendo Switch. Although getting another The Legend of Zelda game is exciting, fans are ecstatic they’ll finally get to play as Princess Zelda, making this the first The Legend of Zelda game by Nintendo with Princess Zelda as the heroine. View the full article

My Time at Sandrock has just been added to the Xbox Game Pass content library. This is the ninth title to reach Microsoft's subscription service in June 2024, and the 79th new Xbox Game Pass release since the turn of the year. View the full article

It’s June, which means it is time for the Counter-Strike 2 mid-season player break—a month for players to sit back, relax, rest their eyes, or prepare their resumes as all eyes turn to the back half of the calendar year and the all-important Shanghai Major in late November. It’s been a packed year so far with a few Counter-Strike squads finding consistency over the past few months, but for others, the highest of highs have been pockmarked by occasional slip-ups. Others still have ******* to meet the lofty expectations set by organizations or fans—and roster changes seem inevitable. View the full article

Smurfing and RR boosting affects all players across low and mid-Elo in VALORANT, leading to a very frustrating ranked experience. Solo-queuers are the biggest victims, and to mitigate the growing issues, players are calling on Riot Games to important a popular League of Legends ranked feature. Players have today called for VALORANT to have a special Competitive ****** only for the lone wolves added. The idea was first sparked on Reddit, where fans suggested a matchup featuring solo players only and no pre-made parties would reduce, if not eliminate, smurfing and rank boosting, as well as mitigate a crucial yet neglected comms issue. View the full article

League of Legends fans are afraid their fan-favorite ********* regional league the LEC is “losing its charm” and no longer giving even the most dedicated viewers enough reasons to tune in to livestreams every week. The biggest issues League fans identified in a Reddit conversation about the ********* competition on June 17 was that there’s fewer and fewer reasons to watch the lengthy regular seasons, especially after the format change—an issue that’s only been compounded by recent Riot Games layoffs. Things have gotten so bad, some said, that they’re beginning to see it as “the dark days of the LCS” returned again. View the full article

Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail studio HoYoverse’s newest upcoming title, Zenless Zone Zero, is a fusion of what you’d expect from HoYoverse games with totally new ideas. The game studio's development processes are largely a mystery, but in an interview with Zenless Zone Zero producer Zhenyu Li at a media event, IGN learned a little more about what goes into kicking off an entirely new game at HoYoverse, Zenless Zone Zero’s future, and at least this particular team’s position on generative AI. Zenless Zone Zero (also known as ZZZ) is an action game with a heavy emphasis on its flashy urban landscape set in an apocalyptic world. Players take their team of three into monster-infested roguelike zones, then bounce back to the city landscape to complete side quests, get to know characters better, and maybe grab a cup of coffee or bowl of ramen. Like the other HoYoverse games, its variety of stylish characters with combat specializations is arguably its biggest focal point. As the entertainment landscape has been in a tumult with the rush in the development of generative AI, we couldn't help but ask: is the Zenless Zone Zero team using generative AI in development, or is it planning to? "I think that the human touch is more meaningful right now and this is what our team is pursuing. "Today, no," Li said. "For the art part, we have not tried it, but we have tried a part of it to touch on the programming. As for the art aspect, I think that the human touch is more meaningful right now and this is what our team is pursuing." This approach seems to be in line with what the Honkai: Star Rail team explored in using AI for development as of last year. Li also explained that when developing ZZZ's characters, the aesthetics came first early on. However, that changed as development progressed. The planning team responsible for character mechanics and the art team now work closely together to create new characters. The Zenless Zone Zero Team and Collaboration The development team behind HoYoverse’s massive games has largely been a mystery, though Li offered some context on how the ZZZ team behind that handmade art came to be. Li said it began with only 12 people in its initial demo stages in 2020 before growing to around 60 people during its first closed beta. Now, it's ballooned to more than 400 team members. "Zenless Zone Zero’s development team is very young and a lot of us come from different backgrounds," Li said. "We have veterans from the gaming industry but also young talents who share the same values and are all passionate about getting involved in the creation of an interesting product. Indeed, some team members including myself had experiences working on HoYoverse's other projects before. Take me for instance: I used to take care of the CG, animation, and video for Honkai Impact 3rd." Li clarified that the ZZZ team only works on their project rather than swapping between other HoYoverse properties and that collaboration between the different game teams is "quite rare." "Not that it doesn't exist," Li said. "I'll check with the teams for an advisor such as [for] the technical aspects." Zenless Zone Zero Inspirations Li acknowledged that the ZZZ team received many comparisons to Persona 5 with both sharing a stylish city setting, though he said they're hoping to create something unique. And though there may be some visual and musical similarities, the heart of the game doesn't have its roots in Persona. Aside from the urban setting, one element that reminds Persona players like myself of Atlus' series is ZZZ's time system. Similar to Persona 5, ZZZ has four points in the day with different activities available as time passes with mission completion and other triggers. Li explained his inspiration for ZZZ's time mechanic was actually instead from a much older game important to his childhood: Digimon World. The 1999 game also features a clock with specific events that happen at particular times throughout the day. The other major inspiration was, surprisingly, Street Fighter 6. Though ZZZ is an action game more akin to DMC and not a fighting game, you can see the inspirations in its fast combat, emphasis on stunning enemies, and chaining combos. "Zenless Zone Zero’s development team is very young and a lot of us come from different backgrounds. Li mentioned he's spent thousands of hours in the Street Fighter series and learned a lot about the feedback of its action with "how [each] punch really feels that it’s on the flesh of only your own flesh." Li said the ZZZ team is trying to draw inspiration from their own combat and make each animation frame matter. Another major lesson Li took from Street Fighter 6 was how to pace tutorials for newcomers to action games. Pacing of all ZZZ's mechanics has changed quite a lot between each of its closed betas, and Li said the planning team has tried to make sure all important tutorials are more spread out to not be overwhelming. Potential Future of Zenless Zone Zero When ZZZ launches on July 4, it'll be available on PlayStation 5, mobile devices, and PC, but Li said they're not stopping development there. They're working to bring ZZZ to Nintendo Switch and Xbox too, though Li framed ZZZ's arrival on these platforms as a hope and not something quite set in stone. As a live service game, though, it is set in stone that ZZZ will get content updates. Li confirmed this will include things like expansions to the city with new neighborhoods, shops, and of course, characters. "We have a basic framework for the story timeline, but we're also a very flexible team," Li said when asked about how far they've planned ZZZ's story. "We constantly review what we've created in the past to see if we can continue to utilize it or if we have better ideas and solutions." "When designing these characters, we would always consider what players haven't seen before. One international HoYoverse fan request has been for better representation in characters, especially in the HoYoverse games that feature real-life inspirations of diverse cultures yet neglect to reflect the people who live there. Steps to reflect these international audiences have been taken to varying degrees, and ZZZ's amalgamation city provides fresh opportunity to do more. "In Zenless Zone Zero, we have created a wide range of characters. When designing these characters, we would always consider what players haven't seen before. We want to ensure characters of various types are included, so players can look forward to more imaginative designs that will surprise them in the future." "I think our team has added almost everything we wanted for the launch and the game is ready for players," Li said. "However, of course, we have plenty of interesting ideas and plans for the game in the future which we will share more at the right time. One thing that I particularly want to share is that the multiplayer battle mode is already under development. I hope players can look forward to this mode in future version updates." Miranda Sanchez is the Executive Editor of Guides at IGN. Her favorite Genshin Impact characters are Shenhe, Yae Miko, Albedo, and Kokomi. When she's not playing Genshin, she's probably journaling about it. Catch her on Twitter/X and Twitch. View the full article

Pokémon Go Fest Madrid saw as many as 190,000 players come together from all around the world this past weekend for the game’s biggest event of the year. After Sendai (May 30 to June 2), Pokémon Go Fest made its second stop in Madrid, Spain (June 14 to 16) to celebrate the debuts of rare Pokémon like Necrozma, Dusk Mane Necrozma, Dawn Wings Necrozma, and Marshadow, along with other cool perks. The three-day event drew in 190,000 players, with 70 percent of ticket holders coming from outside the country. For comparison, last year’s Go Fest had around 194,000 attendees in total between the events held in New York, London, and Osaka, according to Niantic. In other words, Madrid was just short of matching those three cities combined. View the full article

Metal Slug ******* Reloaded has just shadow dropped on multiple platforms. While many fans are already aware of the upcoming Metal Slug Tactics game coming out, a surprising announcement was unveiled by SNK that a different Metal Slug entry has been released without too much fanfare. The tower defense game was previously released on mobile in 2016 and was shut down in early 2023. View the full article

Zheyu Li, producer of the upcoming urban fantasy gacha RPG Zenless Zone Zero, has said he would eventually like to see his game released on "all platforms". The game is due to launch on July 4 for PC, PlayStation 5, and mobile devices. Zenless Zone Zero's devs have been coyly hinting at the possibility of a Switch port for a while, and indeed it's not the first HoYoverse game to generate rumours of further console releases down the line. Genshin Impact has been vaguely anticipated for other platforms ever since its massively successful launch on PC, mobile, and PS4 in 2020; the PlayStation 5 version arrived in 2021 after a comparatively short wait, but there's been very little word on the Switch port since the announcement that it'll be coming at some point. As with both Genshin and Honkai: Star Rail, nothing as firm as a release window for any further upcoming platforms Zenless Zone Zero might hit has materialised yet, with each new HoYo launch seemingly targeting mobile, PC, and PlayStation in roughly that order. And while the company's ongoing relationship with PlayStation has been clear for a long time - Genshin Impact even enjoyed an official crossover with Horizon Zero Dawn at one point - it's been far less apparent whether other consoles will ever really see a HoYoverse release. Read more View the full article

Given I've got the influenza—and can envision a stat debuff bar over my head, not unlike being poisoned in Elden Ring—I'll be intro brief. Shadow of the Erd Tree review embargo lifted in the wee hours this morning, and the verdict is more or less wall to wall 10s. If you're after a cheap copy, my preorder guide exists here. Otherwise, scroll on, dear reader, for the other best bargains you can bag today. In retro news, I'm celebrating the 23rd birthday of NBA Street, the progenitor of a small b-ball empire that launch PS2 owners like myself dug a little bit more than we ought to (because ******* all games to buy). While it was no NBA Jam TE, we sure did love doing triple-*****-up alley-oops, and dunking the ring into utter disrepair by match end. Also, unlike the aforementioned arcade darling, NBA Street held a pretty sweet Michael Jordan cameo. This Day in Gaming Aussie birthdays for notable games. - NBA Street (PS2) 2001. - Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (PSV) 2013. - Jak and Daxter Collection (PSV) 2013. - Outlast (XO) 2014. Table of ContentsNintendo SwitchPCXboxPlayStationNice Savings for Nintendo Switch Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch How much to make the switch to Switch? [/url] Back to top Purchase Cheaply for PC Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch Slay your pile of shame. [/url] Back to top Exciting Bargains for Xbox Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch How many bucks for a Box? [/url] Back to top Pure Scores for PlayStation Expiring Recent Deals Hardware Watch How much you'll pay to Station. [/url] Back to top Adam Mathew is our Aussie deals wrangler. He plays practically everything, often on YouTube. View the full article For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

The launch of Zenless Zone Zero looms large for gacha fans and invested players within the multiple HoYoverse offerings that dominate this space. As an "urban fantasy" game that focuses heavily on its presentation - that description came up fairly often while speaking to producer Zhenyu Li - it's taking a unique ****** to the way its developer often presents its games, which feels pretty story- and character-first. While those elements are certainly present within ZZZ based on its past closed betas, its city life and its environmental design are the standouts thus far. View the full article

Developer Marvelous has revealed the official release date for Farmagia, a new original hybrid of farming sim and fantasy action game. As detailed in the latest Nintendo Direct broadcast, Farmagia will arrive on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC on November 1, 2024. View the full article

Members of Kick’s leadership team have today denied allegations of misconduct within the company leveled by an ex-employee. Head of strategic partnerships Andrew Santamaria stated the recent claims from an alleged ex-staffer, specifically around plans to take advantage of a streamer’s medical condition, were “belittling the amazing work” done behind the scenes at Kick. View the full article

Video game publisher Bandai Namco has shadow-dropped Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster on Steam, and at a temporarily discounted price. Consisting of Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins, the pair of Monolith Soft and tri-Crescendo-developed RPGs - bundled together as Baten Kaitos 1 & 2 HD Remaster - were originally released in 2003 and 2006 exclusively for the Nintendo GameCube, are now available on PC for the very first time. Players can again step into the shoes of Kalas and Sagi on their respective journeys to stop the nefarious Alfard Empire. View the full article

Mizkif is the latest Twitch streamer to beat Elden Ring, naming it “probably the greatest game of all time” after a marathon broadcast and a staggering number of deaths. Many popular streamers, including Kai Cenat and Ludwig, have streamed themselves playing through the entire campaign of Elden Ring in the build-up to Shadow of the Erdtree, challenging every boss until they beat the game. Mizkif is the latest to take on this gaming gauntlet, streaming for 96 hours and staying awake for 40 hours at a time. View the full article

Older games in the Fallout series won’t be seeing remakes or console ports, Bethesda’s director Todd Howard has said this week, despite the franchise enjoying a huge revitalization with the release of Amazon’s TV adaptation. The company’s priority is to keep the games playable, but “anything is possible,” he explained in a June 16 interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, before adding his main idea is to keep Fallout 1 and 2 in their original states. Those games should be played with a mouse and keyboard, he went on to argue, with the setup of the games right now accurately capturing “the way it was” and their symbols from among the PC RPG craze of the ’90s. View the full article

BioWare has revealed the Mage specializations in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, in addition to showcasing some of the game's skill trees. Following this move, all of Dragon Age: The Veilguard's class specializations have now been confirmed. View the full article

Skate Story’s vibe gripped me right away. Its liminal, Vaporwave-inspired levels mix hyper-realistic concrete textures, lighting effects, and objects like a chain-link fence or The Moon with engrossingly impressionistic flourishes like The Skater’s body, which is made of kaleidoscopic glass, or the on-looking, ever-judgemental eyes whose disembodied voices screech in unison in disdain for your quest. It’s a lot to take in, but never too overwhelming. These levels felt just wild enough to imbue each moment with its own distinct sense of cool without distracting me from the mission at hand: skating. Skating might be the most normal thing about Skate Story. That’s not to say it’s bad or uninteresting, but it does feel exactly how you’d want a skating game to feel. It has a great sense of speed as you accelerate by holding down or mashing the A button to go as quickly as humanly possible. This game’s tight camera really emphasized that sense of speed too, focusing on your crystalline avatar as they lean into any momentum they can get a hold of. I saw a pretty early section of the game, so tricks and jumps—while fun—were pretty simple. Holding down a specific button controls one of The Skater’s feet, and hitting another button initiates the trick itself. Each trick and jump works on a timer, with a little notch sliding around the outline of an organic shape. Releasing the button for a trick or jump while the notch is floating around in the thicker part of said outline will ******** it perfectly, and reward you with better air time. Doing a trick with imperfect timing didn’t seem to cause that much of an issue, but I’m certain it will become increasingly important later on in Skate Story. It shot up to the top of my Steam wishlist after my hands-on demo at Summer Game Fest this year. The levels I played had me zooming down tight corridors, exploring a courtyard, jumping over deadly neon red nettles, and visiting museum gift shops at the behest of verbose statues. Although that speed demonic camera worked wonders for Skate Story’s feel, it sometimes betrayed its flexibility of movement and occasionally even fought against its own sense of speed and pace as it obscured certain objectives or obstacles in some levels. Obstacles are usually easy enough to vault over, even with a split-second’s notice. But The Skater is made out of glass, so even the slightest error can set you back a spell, making the camera problem a tad more frustrating than it would be otherwise. Unreliable camera aside, each level presented a satisfyingly diverse approach to design and pacing with repetition cleverly punctuating important moments while twisting what I’d already seen into something new and fresh thanks to its unexpectedly charming writing. Developer Sam Eng told me that this semi-autobiographical story is inspired by true events, but didn’t go much deeper than that. The chunk I saw was so strange and impressionistic that I can’t wait to see where Sam takes the story next. In my half hour with the demo, I watched as The Skater set out on their quest to shatter the moon. Culminating in a trial to prove their worth—and their skating chops—Skate Story’s writing and sense of humor stand in a league of their own. This isn’t just because its metaphorical approach is weird, but because it had me chuckling all the way through. With a promising story, absorbing vibe, and responsive skating controls, Skate Story has so much potential as both a distinct story and a ***** cool skating game. It shot up to the top of my Steam wishlist after my hands-on demo at Summer Game Fest this year, and I can’t wait to see the weird places this wildly expressive skating game goes. View the full article

With the blurb “Gear up, get in, and get out”, Exoborne elegantly sets out its stall as an extraction shooter. But they left out the most important part: “Get blown around by a massive tornado”. While Exoborne bears all the features you’d expect from the likes of Escape from Tarkov and Call of Duty: Warzone’s DMZ, the most exciting part of a presentation I saw at Play Days was when developer Sharkmob talked about the weather. Exoborne’s setting is not postapocalyptic, but rather midapocalyptic, with the world falling apart all around you – the result of mankind’s meddling with the climate. Project Rebirth’s attempts to provide limitless clean energy have backfired somewhat, and now Mother Nature is taking her revenge. Extraction shooters live or **** on emergent gameplay, and there’s nothing as emergent as a twister, flood or tsunami. The weather during a session of Exoborne can change from clement to hellscape in minutes – all of which has profound effects on gameplay, according to Sharkmob. A 10-minute walkthrough video based on a pre-Alpha build of the game began with a short cutscene where a group of teammates known as The Reborn assemble in a dropship and prepare to jump. The character models are based on whatever skins and loadouts each player has selected, so this is a nice chance to show off your flair before the action starts. The players then skydived from the dropship, parachuting in to the map below. Action kicked off immediately, as this area of Colton County in the Southeast USA was infested with ******* robotic machines and human enemies. Over a longer play session, you can expect a dynamic range of climates to impede your progress. The rain apparently gets so heavy you can no longer hear your teammates, their comms drowned out by the deluge, forcing players to rethink their strategies. *****, loot, equip – so far, so extraction shooter. Entering a base located nearby required some teamwork, and the destruction of some AT-ST-like ****** walkers, while at another point the squad clambered aboard a Warthog-style armored vehicle with open top/sides/back for ease of blasting. Maps are as vertical as they are wide, with towers connected by huge Rebirth Cables that snake through the environment, placed by the architects at Rebirth without regard for the scenery or the human residents; these industrial eyesores allow players to ascend with grappling hooks and ****** on higher ground. Burned-out school buses and a busted motel sign litter the deserted streets of what might long ago have been an idyllic rural town. Sinkholes offer the chance to explore underground. And then came the tornado warning. Once the weather hit, the squad cut their mission short, calling in the dropship and climbing aboard with the loot before things got hairy. But a Sharkmob developer explained that over a longer play session, you can expect a dynamic range of climates to impede your progress. The rain apparently gets so heavy you can no longer hear your teammates, their comms drowned out by the deluge, forcing players to rethink their strategies. While the risk may be high in any given session, Sharkmob has designed Exoborne to be more forgiving in the longer term. That is, extraction is not always guaranteed, and you may lose items in a given session if you don’t make it out alive – but the game makes it possible to rebuild your arsenal over future games, improving your character from game to game as you loot and progress. The idea is to make the game as approachable as possible for newcomers, who may find the high risk of other extraction shooters off-putting. Throw in a bunch of cool near-future weapons, tech gear and Exo-Rigs, and of course a mix of PVP and PVE scavenging action, and Exoborne is shaping up to be a cool addition to the genre. View the full article

Riot Games is adding another repeatable mission to the League of Legends Hall of Legends pass today to ensure even ARAM and League Arena-mode enthusiasts can earn experience twice as fast and complete the pass in less time. The League development team announced the significant update to the event pass mission addition on June 18 in a short post on X (formerly Twitter). This new repeatable mission, which has been designed to benefit all players, means everyone can earn experience twice as fast. As a result, you should be able to complete the pass a whole lot quicker than you usually would when compared to a standard pass from past League events. View the full article

Critter Cafe embodies coziness. From its rescue cafe premise to its no-holds-barred approach to customization and decoration that encourages players to express themselves, the brief demo I watched and played pointed to a consistent, refined vision that I have a feeling will be a big hit for fans of monster collecting games who are looking for something cozy to sink their teeth into. Blending monster collecting, management simulation, and puzzle-based dungeon crawling sounds a lot more overwhelming than it actually is in Critter Cafe. That’s not to say that this comfy game from Sumo Digital and Secret Mode is oversimplified, just that it’s chill and approachable. Like any sim worth its salt, customization is the name of the game here. With in-depth customization options (that can be changed at any time) for my chibi avatar and full-on cafe customization, the world is your aesthetic oyster in Critter Cafe. I was blown away at how much I could do to precisely mold the cafe to my liking. From wallpaper and floorboards to furniture—even the materials it was made from—I felt a sense of control and freedom over the cafe in a way that can often elude some games in this genre. To give you a proper sense of what I mean, let’s look at Animal Crossing: New Horizons, for example. It’s a stellar game to be sure, but one whose customization suite leaves a lot to be desired. Changing your island or house takes a lot of work. Beyond the steps to actually unlock the recipe for something, you’ll often need tons of resources to craft said piece, which can be gated based on the real-life passage of time. But even without the progressive aspect of unlocking new recipes, clothes, etc. the process of customizing a home gets really tedious really quickly. Not so in Critter Cafe, where customization options are available to you from the get-go. This allows for other mechanics and parts of the game to shine while still letting you express yourself to the fullest without jumping through extra hoops. Redecorating isn’t just for fun, though. Instead, you’ll often need to change the cafe at a customer’s request for special events. Indeed, these events are one of the ways you can grow and improve your cafe. Let’s say a customer wants to have a movie night. You can redecorate with movie theater-themed furniture to cater to your customer’s desires. They might also share other aesthetic preferences and even tell you what kind of critter they’d like to spend time with. If you hit a high enough mark for a customer, they might even tell you where to find a portal that will take you to a new critter to befriend. These adorable little beasties are mostly amalgamations of real-life and mythical animals with some kind of endearing twist or change. My favorite looks like a kit-bash between a dinosaur and a duck. But making a new feathered friend isn’t as simple as walking through a portal. Instead, you’ll need to complete a small block-pushing puzzle to find your new buddy at the end of a *****. Normal service is a little bit more complex than the special events, and will help you and your critter deepen your bond as your reputation grows. Growing your reputation is the other main way that you’ll progress in Critter Cafe, so it’s important to balance leveling up your reputation while also making sure to make new friends. These adorable little beasties are mostly amalgamations of real-life and mythical animals with some kind of endearing twist or change. My one gripe with what I saw of Critter Cafe was how simple those puzzles seemed. Yes, this is a cozy game first and foremost, so they’re probably not going to be Portal-level brain busters, but they seemed potentially lacking in diversity. That said, the puzzles I saw weren’t bad. In fact, they seemed like the perfect level of challenge to give me something to do in between running a cafe and hosting special events, but these same puzzles didn’t seem to promise much in the way of verticality or evolution based on what I’ve played and seen in trailers and screenshots. If in fact they don’t grow or change much, they could seriously undermine the wholesome creature-befriending scenes at the end of each puzzle. Part of what made this demo special was how exciting it was to meet a new critter. If that gets pulverized into something tedious or repetitive, that could very easily dampen Critter Cafe’s otherwise exuberant nature. I’m really interested in seeing what kinds of whimsical combinations Sumo Digital has in store for the rest of Critter Cafe. I hope the next time I hear about it brings more stuff to do while befriending critters and tells me a little bit more about its story, which seemed pretty light in the demo. But even if there’s no overarching plot to speak of, I’m certain its deep customization suite and critter designs will almost definitely appease the most rabid cozy gamers looking for their next obsession. View the full article

Much can be said about popular streamer Asmongold, but he’s never been one to shy away from speaking his mind. Recently, he went to bat for political streamer Destiny, railing against the Twitch moderation policies that resulted in Destiny’s ban from the platform. In a stream this week, Asmongold took a break from World of Warcraft to react to Destiny’s appearance on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast, where the YouTube streamer explained his own thoughts on his ban and the underlying reasons. View the full article