Steam’s Deals Are Fantastic This Week: Yakuza Bundle, Visual Novels, And More

Steam has kicked off a new sale this week highlighting Sonic publisher Sega, and while the blue blur isn’t featured in this particular sale, many of the company’s best games are. The sale focuses specifically on Sega’s Japanese-developed PC games, though there are a couple of Western-made titles as well. If you’ve wanted to get into the Yakuza series, then now is the perfect time. Sega’s Best of Japan sale runs through March 10, but there are a ton of other deals and discounts on Steam for a wide variety of games, including the best shooters, survival games, and visual novels.

Yakuza 0 is $5, Yakuza Kiwami is $10, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 is $15–however, you can grab them all in a bundle for $27. Yakuza 0 tells the story of Kazuma Kiryu before the events of the first Yakuza game. Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2, on the other hand, are remakes of the first two in the series–the word “kiwami” translates to ultimate or extreme, meaning these are the definitive versions. All three games received great 8/10 scores in their respective reviews.

Another series featured in Sega’s Best of Japan sale is Valkyria Chronicles. The first Valkyria Chronicles is $10, while Valkyria Chronicles 4: Complete Edition is $17–you can get both games for $24.28 in a bundle. GameSpot’s Valkyria Chronicles review scored it an 8.5/10 when it launched on PS3 in 2008, while our Valkyria Chronicles 4 review awarded the game an 8/10. Critic Ginny Woo called the latter “a return to form for the Valkyria Chronicles series as a whole” after some disappointing entries in the franchise.

The story-focused, third-person shooter Binary Domain is also discounted. It’s set in a world where robots have become so life-like and realistic that not even the robots themselves know that they’re robots. It’s an incredible game where you’ll build relationships with your squadmates, opening up new possibilities in combat and the story. On top of that, Condemned: Criminal Origins is an excellent horror game, while Renegade Ops is a great co-op vehicle-combat game. All three games are discounted to less than $4 on Steam right now.

There are plenty of other games on sale as well, including tense co-op shooters Deep Rock Galactic and Remnant: From the Ashes, as well as Ark: Survival Evolved and a great selection of visual novels. We’ve collected some of the best deals below, but be sure to check out Steam for the full selection.

Best Steam deals this week

Now Playing: Yakuza 0 – PC Launch Trailer

Details of Fox’s Unproduced X-Force Movie Trilogy Revealed

Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow was set to lead 20th Century Fox’s X-Force trilogy, but Disney’s purchase of the company put all those plans on hold. Now, details of what could have been have been revealed.

As reported by Collider, CBM spoke to Wadlow about his X-Force project and he discussed how Tim Miller’s take on Deadpool and David Leitch’s Deadpool 2’s introduction of Cable made his original plans for X-Force irrelevant.

“What I can share about my take on the property (as it’s not really relevant any more since Deadpool 2 introduced Cable, and I wrote X-Force before Deadpool 1 even came out), is that it asked if X-Men was about mutants who get to go to private school with Wolverine and Professor X, and have the Blackbird swooping down to pick them up, what about the mutants that have to go to public school? What about the ones who don’t have the benefactor looking out for them, and what about the kids who have to figure it out on their own? We then would have introduced that darker, more militant mentor in the form of Cable.”

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CBM followed up by asking who Cable would be teaching.

“I plotted out this three-movie arc that took X-Force from what it was in the 90s with Rob Liefeld with a band of kids fighting for what they believe in, and then by the third film, the group would have grown and changed and lost and picked up some new members, and basically turned into Rick Remender’s version of the X-Force in the early 2000s. That was a much darker hit squad and black ops team who had lost their way over the course of the three films.”

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Liefeld’s team included Boom Boom, Cannonball, Domino (who appeared in Deadpool 2!), Feral, Shatterstar (Deadpool 2!), Warpath, and Siryn. In 2010, Remender and Jeremy Opena had a team with Wolverine, Psylocke, Deadpool, Archangel, Fantomex, and E.V.A.

Wadlow stated that he was “super grateful” to have written the script for the film, even if it has yet to move forward. However, he isn’t giving up hope.

“Kevin Feige, if you’re reading this, I will do anything at all to work on your version of the X-Men and X-Force,” Wadlow said. “I’m a filmmaker because of 90s comics, so I obviously love them dearly, and it was actually a dream come true for me to write X-Force and meet Rob Liefeld. I loved doing it and would of course do anything to be part of whatever new iteration they have planned.”

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For more on X-Force, check out our explainer feature on the militant mutant team, a breakdown of Deadpool’s X-Force teammates from Deadpool 2, and five reasons why an X-Force film could work.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Eat Baby Yoda For Breakfast With This Adorable Waffle Maker

Baby Yoda merchandise reveals have been ramping up in recent weeks. At Toy Fair 2020, we got our first look at an animatronic doll, Lego sets, new plushies, action figures, the Baby Yoda Build-A-Bear, and more. I’m pretty excited about practically all of the Baby Yoda merch, but an upcoming GameStop-exclusive waffle maker is the only Mandalorian product that will let you look upon his adorable face before covering the unsuspecting 50-year-old baby with syrup and devouring him.

The Mandalorian's greatest hero, Baby Yoda, is now a breakfast hero, too.
The Mandalorian’s greatest hero, Baby Yoda, is now a breakfast hero, too.

Available to pre-order now for $40 with free shipping, The Child Waffle Maker is expected to release September 5. The non-stick waffle maker has five temperature settings to help you cook Baby Yoda just right. If you don’t like waffles for some reason, you can make use of it as a sandwich press to make Baby Yoda sandwiches or quesadillas. It’s also good for eggs, though I think he would look weird imprinted on an egg white. The Child has a sweet tooth for frogs, but you can make more conventional deserts like brownies and cakes.

Naturally, there’s a moral dilemma here. Is it wrong to eat a waffle that features an image of the galaxy’s best baby? I reason that this is actually the way, as it allows you to take Baby Yoda with you wherever you go. If eating Baby Yoda waffles doesn’t bother you, then you might as well go all in and pick up this Baby Groot waffle maker, too.

Some may think Baby Yoda is only meant for cuddling, and I can’t argue with that logic, either. If that’s you, the animatronic Baby Yoda doll ($60), talking Baby Yoda plush ($25), and regular, completely silent Baby Yoda plush ($25) are still available to pre-order. Meanwhile, the Baby Yoda Build-A-Bear arrives this spring.

Now Playing: Baby Yoda’s Best Moments In The Mandalorian

There’s A Tamagotchi In Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare’s New Update

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is known for its cosmetic items, usually in the form of militaristic or cool-looking skins for your operators and their gear. Infinity Ward has now introduced a more playful item, which imitates the Tamagotchi fad of the late ’90s.

The “Tomogunchi” is available from the in-game item shop for 1,000 CoD Points. The bundle includes a charm, emblem, calling card, sticker, and spray. The real star of the bundle is the Tomogunchi toy itself, which is represented as a wristwatch-like item. The tweet suggests that you can check on your little virtual pet, feed it, monitor its mood, and help it evolve.

Modern Warfare has been careful not to sell game-changing items through its shop, so it’s doubtful the Tomogunchi will do anything to help up your game. In fact, if you get too distracted with checking on your pet it might actually be a detriment to the firefights around you. A guide on the Activision blog looks as if the Tomogunchi responds to your in-game play, making it something of a real-time performance tracker.

The new addition joins the rest of the recent patch notes, which makes some balance changes and other adjustments. We’re also expecting the much-rumored and partially leaked Warzone battle royale mode to drop sometime soon. If you haven’t picked up Modern Warfare yet and the Tomogunchi was the thing you needed to push you over the edge into purchasing it, you can get a pretty good discount through GameStop’s tax refund sale.

Now Playing: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare Finally Won Me Over

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Apex Legends’ New Update Has A Very Big File Size

If you’re an Apex Legends fan, you might want to clear some space on your hard drive, because the game’s new 6.2 patch is a hefty one. Coming in at 32.5 GB on PC, 33 GB on Xbox One, and 18.5 GB on PS4, it’s one of the bigger game updates in recent memory. According to the patch announcement, this large size is intended to allow developer Respawn to ensure that future patches are smaller.

“As an FYI, players will notice this patch size is larger than most,” Respawn explained in a tweet. “This was done so that future patch sizes will be significantly smaller than what they’ve traditionally been.”

This event introduces a new limited-time mode called Déjà Loot, where all the loot spawns in the same location for the duration of the event, with the plane path and circle locations will shift on a daily basis. According to developer Respawn, this is intended to reward players for learning the map in the short-term. Tweaks have also been made to how Bloodhound plays and to make Wattson less of a must-have.

The event also includes a new item, the Evo Shield, a body shield that increases in strength as its wearer does damage to non-downed players throughout the match. Furthermore, it introduces 24 themed, limited-time cosmetic items that are available through Apex Packs (i.e. loot boxes) or through direct purchase. There are more changes in the patch notes.

Apex isn’t the only game that’s caught flak for large patch sizes recently. In February, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s Season 2 update clocked in at 94 GB on PC and 51 GB on PS4.

Now Playing: Apex Legends | Best Games Of 2019

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Three High-Profile Games Are Departing Xbox Game Pass Soon

Games come and go, that’s the nature of Xbox Game Pass. The popular games-on-demand service will witness three high-profile departures in the next two weeks, as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Shenmue I & II will be leaving Game Pass on Xbox One according to a recent update on the Microsoft Store.

Deux Ex: Mankind Divided is the sequel to 2011’s excellent Deux Ex: Human Revolution. The cyberpunk RPG follow-up puts you back in the augmented boots of Adam Jensen, as you explore dense sandbox environments with the freedom to approach objectives in myriad ways. Edmond Tran gave it a score of 8/10 in GameSpot’s review, saying, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided refines and reinforces the defining foundations of the series. It creates challenging situations and gives players the tools and flexibility to deal with them in a multitude of ways, all within an absorbing cyberpunk world. Although not a significant departure from Human Revolution, Mankind Divided is still a uniquely fulfilling experience, one which feels rare in games today.”

Shenmue I & II, meanwhile, is a 2018 remastered collection of the classic games. Shenmue was originally released back in 1999 and is widely regarded as one of the best games of all time. It might be showing its age now, even with all of the remastered trimmings, but its open-world map was incredible for the time. You play as teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he seeks revenge for his father’s death by talking to lots of people and occasionally punching them. The narrative and exploratory elements set it apart from your regular action title, and its sequel is equally well regarded. Released in 2001, Shenmue II continues Ryo’s revenge mission in a story that leads into 2019’s belated release of Shenmue III. Both games will be leaving Game Pass on Xbox One but there’s no word on whether they’ll also be leaving the service on PC.

Thimbleweed Park and Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition are departing Game Pass on both Xbox One and PC in the next couple of weeks, too. You can, of course, still purchase any of these games before they go, and your Game Pass membership will give you a 20% discount. You’ll need to be quick if you want to play them before they depart the service, though, but it’s not all bad news. As with any departures come new arrivals, and Game Pass recently added the likes of Yakuza 0, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy XV, and World of Horror.

Now Playing: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review

Outrageous Horror Comedy Psycho Goreman Gets Wild And Gory First Trailer

Astron-6 is a Canadian horror production company which specialises in over-the-top gore effects and affectionate homages to low-budget ’70s and ’80s horror. Its previous movies include the sci-fi horror Man-Borg and the Italian slasher parody The Editor, while Astron-6 member Steven Kostanski directed the acclaimed 2017 film The Void, which toned down the laughs but still delivered plenty of goo and gore. Kostanski’s new movie is titled PG: Psycho Goreman, and the first trailer has been released.

PG: Psycho Goreman takes Kostanski back to his comedic roots and mixes family comedy, superhero hijinks, and splattery horror. The trailer is edited and voiced like something you might have found on a VHS tape back in 1986, and the film tells the story of two kids who befriend a huge, terrifying creature named PG. They get to play baseball with him, but unfortunately, he’s also partial to tearing people’s heads off. There’s a load of other weird monsters and robots in there too, plus some heart-warming family drama. It looks like exactly the sort of movie that will be enjoyed with other like-minded horror fans and a few liquid refreshments. Check it out below:

In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Kostanski spoke about the influences on the movie. “The core concept of PG is something I’ve carried with me for as long as I can remember,” he said. “What would it be like to have your own monster? As a kid, I was mesmerized by the relationship between John Connor and the T-800 in Terminator 2 and the way this relatable kid could suddenly have a badass villain as his pal. I would fantasize about hanging out with the likes of Skeletor, Megatron, Cobra Commander, and every other Saturday morning cartoon villain. These characters always interested me more than the traditional heroes.”

“I love contrasting operatic space fantasy with suburban banality,” Kostanski continued. “This developed out of my love for low budget genre films from the ’80s and ’90s like Masters of the Universe and Beastmaster 2 where budget constraints forced the filmmakers to set their epic stories in accessible real-world locations. I enjoy subverting the safe space of the ‘kids movie’ genre with shocking violence and real world consequences.”

PG: Psycho Goreman doesn’t have a confirmed US release date yet, but it will premiere at the SXSW festival on Friday, March 13. For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to the biggest upcoming horror movies of 2020.

10 Minutes of Steampunk Retro Action Platformer Gestalt: Steam & Cinder | PAX East 2020 Gameplay

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder is a retro-styled Metroidvania with a stylish Steampunk world and equally fashionable protagonist in the trenchcoat-clad Aletheia. The pixel art and responsive platforming is reminiscent of the classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, though the linear stage progression capped off with a massive boss battle gave the sense of a different kind of classic: Mega Man.

That could be in part because the enemies are largely mechanized enemies, but this being Steampunk, they’re rickety brass contraptions instead of high-tech with a steel sheen. And it leans into the “punk” part of Steampunk, with human enemies who look like they could have stepped out of Mad Max. The combat can be skill-testing, but the combination of influences help it feel unique.

5 Awesome Games You May Not Know About

While many high-profile developers opted to sit PAX East 2020 out this year, there were still numerous games that made their mark at North America’s largest gaming convention. PAX East 2020 showcased some of the latest games, both indie and AAA, that aim leave an impression on fans in the months and years ahead, and we got a chance to try out many of them for the first time.

In this video, the team at GameSpot came together during PAX East 2020 to talk about their favorite games of the show. In addition to anticipated picks like Streets of Rage 4, we also spent some time giving a shout out to up and coming indie games like She Dreams Elsewhere and Recompile. Along with that, we also got first hands-on with the recently announced Alien Hominid: Invasion and Magic: Legends, which offer a noticeably different flavor on established franchises.

If you want to see more of GameSpot’s coverage of PAX East 2020, check out our gallery highlighting the games that made the show so exciting this year. In addition to the games mentioned in this video, we also got some time with Harmonix’s new DJ game Fuser, along with some hands-on time with Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons.