Author: Trafficblast

Anime Souls-like Code Vein is slated to launch on consoles and PC later this month, and fans eagerly awaiting to wander the vampiric open-world will get the chance with a free demo that’s available now on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

The free Code Vein demo lets you create a Revenant and dive into the game’s beginning area. If you’re looking for a challenge, the Code Vein demo also grants you access to a dungeon called The Depths. Bandai Namco shared an announcement video showcasing a variety of dark, gothic landscapes available to explore in the free demo. The video, below, also gives a look at some characters you can create and enemies you can face before Code Vein’s launch.

A network test for Code Vein went live back in May. The test provided access to the game’s opening chapter and multiplayer. In an intriguing change for Souls-like multiplayer experiences, Code Vein features entirely supportive cooperative play. We chatted with producer Keita Iizuka at a preview event about the other changes Code Vein makes to the Souls-like formula, including respec-ing your character with ease, grouping up with other players, and more.

Code Vein is publisher Bandai Namco’s take on From Software’s iconic Dark Souls formula with a very distinct anime twist. As a Revenant–a chosen undead–you’ll battle against enemies called the Lost–husk-like remnants of Revenants–in a post-apocalyptic dystopia overrun with the scent of blood and the sight of death. The open-world action-RPG will land on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on September 27.

At PAX West 2019, we had the opportunity to play The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, the remake of the Game Boy classic. It’s a reimagining of the game that came out 26 years ago and maintains the original top-down 2D gameplay but with a new, vivid (and adorable) art style. You can get some of the highlights and our thoughts on Zelda: Link’s Awakening in the video above.

After 20 minutes with the game, it was clear that the game executes on the tried-and-true gameplay from the 2D Zelda games as we played through the third dungeon called Key Cavern. There were clever puzzles to solve, varied enemies that presented different challenges, and several rooms to explore to collect keys. We even made to the end of Key Cavern and fought the huge slime boss that had some neat mechanics to defeat. Every dungeon is a 1-to-1 recreation of their originals; those who still remember those layouts will feel right at home when you explore these dungeons.

You’ll soon be able to relive one of Link’s old adventures, or experience it for the fist time, when The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening comes to the Nintendo Switch exclusively on September 20, 2019.

Nintendo is offering Switch Online subscribers another exclusive freebie for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The second Spirit Board Challenge Pack is live on the Switch Eshop, and it comes with an assortment of helpful items for the game’s Spirit Board mode.

Much like the previous Spirit Board Challenge Pack, you can only download this freebie if you have a paid NSO subscription; those trying the service via a free trial are ineligible to claim it. This pack contains a variety of items that should make it a bit easier to challenge some of the game’s tougher Spirits. You’ll get the following:

• 1,500 Spirit Points
• 5 Rematch
• 5 Damage 50%
• 5 Weaken Minions
• 5 Health Drain

To download the pack, select the Eshop icon from Smash Bros. Ultimate’s main menu and you’ll see it listed beneath the game’s other downloadable content. Alternatively, you can go straight into the Eshop and click on the Nintendo Switch Online option on the left sidebar; you’ll see the Spirit Board Challenge Pack listed under exclusive offers.

Switch Online subscriptions are available for US $4 / £3.49 / AU $6 for one month, US $8 / £7 / AU $12 for three months, and US $20 / £18 / AU $30 for one year. Nintendo also offers an annual Family Membership that costs US $35 / £31.49 / AU $55 and covers up to eight Nintendo Accounts across multiple systems. The service gives you access to online play, cloud saves, and other exclusive perks, such as Tetris 99 and a library of classic NES games.

The first Spirit Board Challenge pack launched alongside Smash Ultimate’s 4.0 update, which added the Hero from Dragon Quest to the roster. The game’s next playable character is the bear and bird duo Banjo-Kazooie, who are slated to arrive sometime this fall. We may hear more about the new DLC character’s during this week’s Nintendo Direct, which airs Wednesday, September 4 at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET.

Before I sat down to play several hours of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, community developer Grace Orlady set the stage: “We want to make the player live the life of an elite special forces hunter,” she said. Well, I’m pretty sure real special forces don’t stare down former allies turned maniacal supervillains on private islands overrun by weaponized drones, but…well, if they did I suppose we’d never know about it. So sure, let’s go with it!

Let’s get this out of the way so we can move on to more important stuff: Breakpoint’s story, based on what I’ve seen so far, is going to be laughably bad. Ex-Punisher Jon Bernthal is an ex-Ghost-turned-Wolf, and it seems chock full of all the usual cliches: good guys turning bad, friends turning against each other, etc. But forget about that because it’s not why you’re going to play Breakpoint: the super chill, open-ended structure of the game is.

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There’s a recurring joke in It Chapter Two that lead protagonist Bill Denborough — played as an adult by James McAvoy and once again as a kid by Jaeden Martel — can’t write a satisfactory ending to any of his horror-thriller novels. That gag is almost a metaphor for the film itself, which can’t quite stick the landing after the high expectations set by its blockbuster 2017 predecessor. Although marred by pacing issues and some shoddy CGI, It Chapter Two still has enough creepy set-pieces and solid performances to bring the saga to an effective, albeit formulaic, conclusion.

By employing flashbacks at various points throughout, It Chapter Two has a more fragmented structure and jerkier rhythm than the preceding film. The first half rushes along as it introduces and unites all the adult incarnations of the Losers’ Club — Bill, Beverly (Jessica Chastain), Richie (Bill Hader), Mike (Isaiah Mustafa), Ben (Jay Ryan), Eddie (James Ransone), and Stanley (Andy Bean) — in order to get on with their mission to kill Pennywise (Bill Skarsgård) once and for all.

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All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today, we’re delving into the gritty world of Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, co-created by RZA and Alex Tse. The historical crime drama is inspired by The Wu-Tang Manual and Tao of Wu, and based on the true story of the Wu-Tang Clan. Set in early ’90s New York at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, the show tracks the Clan’s formation, a vision of Bobby Diggs aka The RZA, who strives to unite a dozen young, black men that are torn between music and crime but eventually rise to become the unlikeliest of American success stories. The series premieres on Hulu on Wednesday, September 4, 2019.

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Madden NFL 20 was released a little over a month ago, introducing X-Factor abilities and the new Face of the Franchise: QB1 mode to the series’ gridiron action. Now, the popular football game is receiving an injection of fast and furious fun in the shape of another new mode: Superstar KO.

This new co-op elimination mode lets you team up with friends, choose between eight premade teams (including ones with celebrity coaches and unique playbooks), and play truncated 3v3 Madden games in the singular Superstar KO Stadium. The basic idea behind Superstar KO is to get you in and out of games in around five minutes by raising the pace of Madden with a looser and more streamlined style of football. You can hop into matchmaking on your own, but there’s no option to play against the CPU.

The playbooks for all eight teams are condensed, with each one having a different play style depending on the coach and their strengths and weaknesses. Cleveland Brown’s wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. coaches Dot City, so his team can throw the ball and defend against the pass very well, but suffers when it comes to rushing offense and defense. There are also celebrity coaches, such as musicians DJ Khaled and Lil Yachty, who double up as playable quarterbacks called “Icons.”

The roster consists of 50 current NFL players, the two aforementioned musicians, and eight NFL Hall of Famers. At the beginning of each game, both teams draft their squad from a pool of available players. Each of the current NFL players has an X-Factor ability which is activated at all times, differing from regular Madden 20 games where you need to complete a certain condition in order to activate it.

All of this makes for a mode that’s faster and more explosive than anything else in Madden 20. The new Superstar KO Stadium brings a festival-like atmosphere to proceedings, with the usual commentary team replaced by a DJ hypeman complete with a soundboard and dynamic music. It’s an exciting spin on Madden’s traditional football simulation, offering abbreviated games, eccentric uniforms, and DJ Khaled as a gunslinging quarterback. It might be worth playing it just for that alone.

In celebration of Superstar KO, Madden NFL 20 is free to play this weekend, September 5-8 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

“Madden NFL 20 is an improved version of the annualized professional football series that excels in some areas and leaves something to be desired in others,” GameSpot’s Madden 20 review concludes. “The new QB1 career mode–which includes a barebones NCAA football experience–overall feels like a half-baked idea that doesn’t deliver anything meaningful or interesting. When it comes to the on-the-field action, however, the new X-Factor and Superstar abilities shake up the familiar gameplay formula to give seasoned players and newcomers alike a fresh way to scheme plays and orchestrate strategy on both sides of the ball.”