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HyperParasite is an 80s-set overhead shooter where you play as a body-snatching alien
If cinema has taught us anything, it’s that the body-snatching alien is always the bad guy. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about John Carpenter’s The Thing, Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty, or dozens of other films, the slimy alien must be destroyed.
But what if we’re all wrong? What if this body snatcher is actually just fighting to survive? That’s the premise behind Troglobytes Games’s HyperParasite, an overhead shooter that drops an alien who can jump bodies into a punk-infused version of the 1980s.
In addition to giving the President an eye patch, HyperParasite will feature more than 60 playable characters, as well as a procedurally-generated world spread out over five Acts:
A rogue-lite twin-stick shooter/brawler that never plays the same twice. Collect and control 60 different characters as the body-snatching alien Parasite with a grudge against humanity. Fight to the top of the food chain: possess the President, push the Big Red Button and one-up the human race.
OK, so the Parasite doesn’t exactly sound like a good guy, but it is the star of HyperParasite, which is now available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. And you can sneak a peek at its neon-infused visuals in the brand new Launch Trailer embedded above.
The Outer Worlds is coming to the Switch on June 5
The Switch debut of Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds was one of the first games whose development was disrupted by the pandemic currently gripping the globe. Publisher Private Division had recruited Virtuous to bring the game to Nintendo’s console, but back in February, they temporarily shut down operations to protect their employees from possible exposure.
That brings us to today, and Obsidian has announced (via their official website) that The Outer Worlds will be released for the Switch on June 5:
We wanted to share an exciting update that we plan on launching The Outer Worlds for the Nintendo Switch on June 5th, 2020. As we prepare for another arrival of new colonists, we have some very important information for those making this journey, specifically for you colonists who prefer your goods in physical form: The retail version The Outer Worlds comes on a physical cartridge, and it will be accompanied by a day one patch that could be up to 6 GB. This patch will optimize gameplay, provide additional hi-res textures, and include other fixes to provide the employees of Halcyon with the best gameplay experience. Please ensure you have planned accordingly and have available space necessary for the patch.
In the same announcement, it appears that players who opt to purchase the Retail Edition of The Outer Worlds will need to download an additional patch to optimize the game on the Switch.
Posted in News
Tagged Switch, The Outer Worlds
Minecraft Dungeons will launch a little later than expected on May 26
Mojang has announced (via Twitter) that Minecraft Dungeons will miss its previously-announced April 2020 release date. But fans won’t have to wait too much longer to play it, as the developer later penciled the dungeon-crawler in for a May 26th launch on the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Minecraft Dungeons will be available in a game-only edition ($19.99), as well as a special Hero Edition ($29.99) that includes a few extra in-game goodies (a Hero Cape, two additional Player Skins, a and Chicken Pet). The Hero Edition will also come packed with the Hero Pass, which will give players access to two post-launch expansions when they’re ready.
Fight your way through an all-new action-adventure game, inspired by classic dungeon crawlers and set in the Minecraft universe! Brave the dungeons alone, or team up with friends! Up to four players can battle together through action-packed, treasure-stuffed, wildly varied levels – all in an epic quest to save the villagers and take down the evil Arch-Illager!
Minecraft Dungeons will also be available to download through Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription on both the PC and Xbox One at launch.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards
The cancellation of this year’s South By Southwest feels like a distant memory, but in the weeks since the announcement was made, a few people have started to wonder if the winning envelopes from the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards would also remain locked away forever. Thankfully, the festival’s organizers recently fired off a press release that revealed all the winners.
Drumroll, please…
From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice won “Video Game of the Year,” and the one-armed ninja also snuck away with a win for “Excellence in Visual Achievement.” Only ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium (the “Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award” and “Excellence in Narrative”) and Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding (“Excellence in Musical Score” and “Excellence in Technical Achievement”) were able to earn more than a single award from this year’s voters.
“Gaming is a key part of the creative ecosystem that brings us together, and now more than ever it provides us with a unique sense of escape and adventure in uncertain times,” said Hugh Forrest, the Chief Programming Officer for South By Southwest. “We were devastated that we weren’t able to celebrate our honorees in person with the cancellation of our event, but glad that we’re still able to share their achievements and creative works with our community.”
A complete list of winners from the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards can be found at Video Game Canon.
Copyright notice seemingly confirms Evil Dead’s Ash will be included in Mortal Kombat 11’s next Kombat Pack
Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up!
Even though Bruce Campbell told the Twitterverse that Ash from The Evil Dead wouldn’t be appearing in Mortal Kombat 11, it appears that NetherRealm Studios has other plans. IGN is reporting that a recent email newsletter from the developer included a copyright notice for Ash in the footer, alongside similar copyright information for The Terminator, The Joker, and Spawn:
You’ll notice that the notice specifically mentions the inclusion of “Ash from Army of Darkness,” so we can look forward to seeing the character in his S-Mart garb while gassing up a chainsaw. However, Campbell’s earlier denial could mean that we’re also looking at a soundalike, similar to how Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t provide the vocal performance for the T-800.
NetherRealm Studios concluded Mortal Kombat 11’s first Kombat Pack earlier this month with the launch of Spawn, and while they’ve hinted at a desire to release more characters, Kombat Pack 2 remains unannounced as of today.
Mortal Kombat 11 is currently available for the PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, and Google Stadia. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing more about NetherRealm’s future plans for the game very soon.
Nightdive will release Shadow Man Remastered in 2021
Shadow Man was a wild voodoo-themed action game that definitely found its niche after it launched for the Nintendo 64 in the Spring of 1999 (and later that year for the PC, PSone, and Dreamcast). But Acclaim squandered all that goodwill a few years later with a bizarre advertising campaign for Shadow Man 2 that asked “poorer” families to put tiny billboards for the sequel on the headstones of family members.
Acclaim declared bankruptcy not too long after Shadow Man 2’s disastrous release.
The rights to the franchise eventually reverted to Valiant Entertainment, who published the comic that the game was based on, and in 2013 they tapped Nightdive Studios to bring Shadow Man back to the PC. Today, the two companies teamed once again to announce that Shadow Man Remastered will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One in 2021.
In Shadow Man, which is based on Valiant’s SHADOWMAN comics, you alternatingly travel through Liveside, the land of the living as mortal man, and explore Deadside, the place where lost souls spend an eternity in torment, as the voodoo warrior Shadow Man. Take a ride into the unexplored territories of the human psyche as you try to stop a marauding band of villains from unleashing unspeakable horrors upon the world as we know it.
Shadow Man Remastered will feature a hefty visual upgrade, including lighting and particle effects, as well as upgraded art assets, and widescreen support for up to 4K resolution. The will also add a “refined gameplay experience” along with the “reintroduction of missing content cut from the original game” to this Remastered re-release.
More details about Shadow Man Remastered will be announced at a later date. For now, be sure to stare into the soulless eyes of the new logo embedded above.
An expanded version of Exit the Gungeon is now available for the Switch and PC
Fans of Dodge Roll’s Gungeonverse will be pleased to know that they can finally Exit the Gungeon on the PC and Switch.
Announced today as part of Nintendo’s latest Indie World Showcase, the side-scrolling shooter is now available for both platforms in an expanded version that includes new weapons, items, and enemies, a revamped Gungeon, and rebalanced gameplay:
New Weapons, Items, Enemies, and Bosses – Jump into battle with dozens of upgraded weapons and new items like the Spiked Boots, while striking down new Gundead foes including the Minecart Shotgun Kin, Bullet Cardinal, and Flying Fungun. Watch out for the return of the legendary Jammed enemy variants…
Revamped Gungeon with New Rooms and Elevators – Square off in a dramatically redesigned Gungeon with improved room variety, increased room size, and many updated and devious elevators. With this increased variety, we’ve expanded Exit the Gungeon runs to more closely match Enter the Gungeon’s playtimes.
Rebalanced and Reloaded Gameplay – Massive changes to how the game spawns and places enemies, and an increased challenge level to match what veteran Gungeoneers have come to expect. An overhauled combo system yields better guns faster and throws down more money to reward Gungeoneers for fantastic combo runs.
Hats, Minigames, and Gungeon Dwellers – Look sharp with new character-specific hats as you tackle redesigned minigames and chat up a host of NPCs with new interactions and quests.
And don’t worry, Apple Arcade subscribers will also be able to download this new update for Exit the Gungeon beginning today.
Finally, a charming new trailer for Exit the Gungeon has been embedded above.
Posted in News
Tagged Exit the Gungeon, Mobile, PC, Switch
No new releases were able to break into The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from February 2020
Aside from Airship Syndicate’s Darksiders Genesis and Media Molecule’s Dreams, there were few new releases of note last month. And while both have garnered decent reviews, they’re also fairly niche titles, so it’s not too surprising that neither broke into The NPD Group’s list of best-selling titles from February 2020.
According to The NPD Group’s Mat Piscatella (via Twitter), you had to reach all the way down to #33 to find the best-selling new release of the month, which was Sega’s The Yakuza Remastered Collection.
That means that a lot of games from 2019 (and January’s Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot) continued to find new homes during the month. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took the top spot in February, followed by 2K’s NBA 2K20 at #2 and Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V #3. A little further down the list, Nintendo’s Ring Fit Adventure had it’s best showing yet, peaking at #7 during the month.
You can find the full list of best-selling games from February 2020 after the break. (more…)