Author: Trafficblast

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Star Wars: Episode IX has wrapped filming, marking the end of what Disney has dubbed the “Skywalker saga.” In an emotional pair of tweets, director JJ Abrams and actor John Boyega shared a photo and thanked the cast and crew.

The photo in both tweets shows actors Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac having a good hug in costume on what appears to be a desert backdrop. The three play the principle characters of the new trilogy: Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron, respectively.

“It feels impossible, but today wrapped photography on Episode IX,” said Abrams. “There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast. I’m forever indebted to you all.”

Boyega expressed similar sentiments.

Abrams directed the first film of the new trilogy, The Force Awakens, and helped set the course for Disney’s ownership of the franchise. Rian Johnson directed the second film, The Last Jedi. Episode IX (title yet to be revealed) was set to be helmed by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, but that fell apart due to creative differences and Abrams returned to close out the trilogy.

With the end of the Skywalker saga coming later this year, it’s unclear exactly what direction Disney will move with the franchise afterward. The company has pumped the brakes on its spin-off anthology films, after Solo disappointed at the box office and Disney CEO Bob Iger has suggested fans got fatigued by too much Star Wars. The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is still preparing to direct his own trilogy of films, but we’re not sure where in the universe those take place.

Meanwhile, the company is preparing to launch its own streaming service, Disney+, which will have its own slate of original shows: The Mandalorian, a Rogue One prequel starring Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), and a new season of The Clone Wars.

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We’re giving away one (1) Metro Exodus Xbox One Bundle, and two (2) Metro Exodus Spartan Collector’s Edition games to (3) lucky fans. Entering into our Instagram giveaway below is easy — just like and follow for a chance to win!

Metro Exodus Console and Spartan Edition Giveaway

Official Sweepstakes Rules

NO PURCHASE OR WIRELESS DEVICE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. OPEN TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, WHO ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD OR AGE OF MAJORITY, WHICHEVER IS OLDER IN YOUR STATE OF RESIDENCE, AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. IF YOU ARE ACCESSING THIS SWEEPSTAKES VIA YOUR WIRELESS DEVICE, DATA RATES MAY APPLY.

Administrator & Sponsor: GameSpot, a Division of CBS Interactive, Inc. (“CBSI”), 235 Second Street, San Francisco, California 94105.

Prize Provider: Deep Silver Inc., 900 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 103, Larkspur, CA 94939

Sweepstakes Entities: CBSI and Deep Silver Inc.

THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS NOT SPONSORED, ENDORSED OR ADMINISTERED BY INSTAGRAM.

1. Acceptance of Rules. By entering the Metro Exodus Console and Spartan Edition Giveaway (the “Sweepstakes”) operated on the CBSI social web site accessible at the domain “instagram.com/GameSpot” (the “CBSI Service”), you hereby accept and agree to these official rules (the “Official Rules”) of this Sweepstakes and the decisions of the Administrator in connection with this Sweepstakes, whose decisions are final.

No purchase, entry fee or use of wireless device is necessary to enter or win. If you are a wireless service subscriber and have a smartphone, tablet or other wireless device that allows you access to the Internet, you may also enter the Sweepstakes via any of those devices during the Promotion Period (as defined below). If you chose to access this Sweepstakes via any of those wireless devices, you may be charged data rates according to the Terms and Conditions of the Service Agreement with your wireless carrier.

2. Eligibility. This Sweepstakes is offered and open to persons who are: (a) Registered Users (as defined below); (b) legal residents of the United States; and (c) at least 18 years old or age of majority, whichever is older in their state of residence, at the date of entry in this Sweepstakes. For purposes of these Official Rules, “Registered User(s)” means a person who has successfully completed the registration form, obtained a user identification, an associated password on the social website Instagram and follow GameSpot (@gamespot). There is no fee associated with becoming an Instagram Registered User. Employees, directors, and the immediate family members of the Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies, advertising and promotion agencies and legal and financial advisors are not eligible to participate in this Sweepstakes. For purpose of the foregoing, “immediate family” means parents, spouses, children, siblings or any members of the same households of such employees and directors. This Sweepstakes is void in all U.S. territories and possessions and where prohibited by law.

3. Entering the Sweepstakes: To enter the Sweepstakes, if not already, become a Registered User (as specified above), and enter, during the Promotion Period (as defined below), by following the instructions below:

1. Follow @deepsilver

2. Like the post related to the Sweepstakes on the CBSI Service

Participants can gain additional entries by Tagging their friends in separate comments on the CBSI Service. Participants may receive a maximum of five (5) additional entries to the Sweepstakes via this action; one (1) per each unique friend tagged.

Limit of six (6) entries per person during the Promotion Period.

4. Promotion Period. The Sweepstakes begins on February 15, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (“PT”) and ends at 12:00 p.m. PT on February 25, 2019 (the “Promotion Period”).

5. Prizes. The Sweepstakes will award one (1) grand prize (the “Grand Prize”) and two (2) runner-up prizes (the “Runner-up Prizes”). The Grand Prize consists of one (1) Metro Exodus Xbox One Bundle. The Grand Prize has an approximate retail value (“ARV”) of Five Hundred Dollars (US$500.00). The Runner-up Prize consists of one (1) Metro Exodus: Spartan Collector’s Edition game. The ARV of each Runner-up Prize is One Hundred Fifty Dollars (US$150.00). The Grand Prize, the Runner-up Prize, collectively, the “Prizes”). The ARV of Prizes to be awarded is Eight Hundred Dollars (US$800.00).

6. Prize Restrictions. No assignment, transfer, conversion to cash or cash redemption or substitution of a Prize is permitted, except Administrator reserves the right to substitute a Prize with a prize of comparable or greater value, should a Prize or part of a Prize become unavailable. Prize is solely for personal use and may not be used in conjunction with any other promotion. All Prize details are at the sole discretion of the Sweepstakes Entities.

7. Odds/Drawings/Winner Notification. Odds of winning a Prize depends on the number of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period. On or about February 25, 2019, after the conclusion of the Promotion Period, the Prize drawings will be conducted at random by Administrator, whose decisions are final and binding in all respects. The potential Prize winners (the “Winners”) will be notified by Administrator, via a message to their Instagram Service account. Potential Winners will be asked to provide their personal information, such as their name, physical address, date of birth and phone number in order to confirm eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules. For purposes of clarity, each Prize has its own standalone drawing. In the event a Winner does not respond within the allotted time frame, a new drawing will be conducted in attempt to fulfill that Prize and the Runner-up Prize Winner will not be eligible for the Grand Prize. Administrator will select up to two (2) alternate Winners per Prize. If no contact has been made with the alternates after a reasonable effort has been made during three (3) business days from the first notification attempt to the last alternate, such Prize shall not be awarded.

8. Prize Taxes. All federal, state, local and other tax liabilities arising from this Sweepstakes, including, without limitation, winning a Prize, will be the sole responsibility of each Winner.

9. Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability Release and Publicity Release. Winners may be required to complete, execute and return an Affidavit of Eligibility/Liability Release, and where lawful, a Publicity Release (collectively, the “Release Forms”), as well as a W-9 tax form within five (5) days of notification of winning. Failure to return Release Forms timely, or if a Prize notification or a Prize is returned as non-deliverable, or if a Winner is found not to be eligible or not in compliance with these Official Rules, may result in disqualification with an alternate Winner selected in accordance with these Official Rules.

10. Publicity Release Terms. Except where prohibited by law, a Winner’s acceptance of a Prize constitutes permission for the Sweepstakes Entities to use Winner’s name, photograph, likeness, statements, biographical information, voice, and address (city and state) worldwide and in all forms of media, in perpetuity, without further compensation.

11. Improper Conduct. Administrator, in its sole discretion, may disqualify any entrant from participation in or use of any or all portions of this Sweepstakes, and refuse to award a Prize, if a Winner engage(s) in any conduct Administrator deems to be improper, unfair or otherwise adverse to the operation of the Sweepstakes or detrimental to other entrants of the Sweepstakes. Such improper conduct includes, without limitation, falsifying personal information required during entrant registration or Prize claim, violating any term or condition stated herein, accumulating entries through methods such as automated computer scripts or any other programming techniques, allowing others to use entrant’s personal information for the purpose of accumulating entries, or intentionally trying to defraud, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise tamper with the computer programs in connection with this Sweepstakes. Winners agree that Administrator may void a Prize or any part of a Prize that a Winner may have won and/or require the return of a Prize or any part of a Prize that a Winner may have won as a result of such improper conduct. Winners further acknowledge that any forfeiture of a Prize and/or return of a Prize shall in no way prevent Administrator from pursuing other avenues of recourse, such as criminal or civil proceedings in connection with such conduct. WARNING: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THIS SWEEPSTAKES MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS, AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, EACH OF THE SWEEPSTAKES ENTITIES RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH ATTEMPT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

12. Integrity of Sweepstakes. If, for any reason, the Sweepstakes is not capable of running as planned by reason of infection by computer virus, worms, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which Administrator, in its sole opinion believes could corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Sweepstakes, Administrator reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this Sweepstakes and select the Winners from entries received prior to the action taken or in such other manner as Administrator may deem fair and appropriate.

13. Lost or Corrupted Entries. The Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies and advertising and promotion agencies, assume no liability and are not responsible for, and you hereby forever waive any rights to any claim in connection with, lost, late, incomplete, corrupted, stolen, misdirected, illegible or postage-due entries or mail, if applicable; or for any computer, telephone, cable, network, satellite, electronic or Internet hardware or software malfunctions, unauthorized human intervention, or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry or other information, or the failure to capture any such information. The Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies and advertising and promotion agencies, are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by registration information submitted by end users or tampering, hacking or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Sweepstakes, and assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to the Sweepstakes.

14. Damaged Property. The Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies and advertising and promotion agencies, assume no liability and are not responsible for, and you hereby forever waive any rights to any claim in connection with, injury or damage to any entrants or to any other person’s computer or property related to or resulting from participating in this Sweepstakes or downloading materials from this Sweepstakes.

15. Sweepstakes Errors. The Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies and advertising and promotion agencies, assume no liability and are not responsible for, and you hereby forever waive any rights to any claim in connection with errors and/or ambiguity: (a) in the Sweepstakes; (b) in any related advertising or promotions of this Sweepstakes; and/or (c) in these Official Rules. In the event of any ambiguity(s) or error(s) in these Official Rules, Administrator reserves the right to modify these Official Rules for clarification purposes or to correct any such ambiguity(s) or error(s) without materially affecting the terms and conditions of the Sweepstakes.

16. Prizes and Winners. The Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies and advertising and promotion agencies, assume no liability and are not responsible for, and you/entrant hereby forever waive any rights to any claim in connection with, the selection and announcement of the Winners, the distribution of the Prizes, the acceptance/possession and/or use/misuse of any part of a Prize and/or any injury or damage to any entrant’s or third person’s property related to or resulting from any part of a Prize or any part of this Sweepstakes.

17. Release and Indemnity. Each entrant in this Sweepstakes, including, without limitation, the Winners, hereby releases and agrees to hold harmless the Sweepstakes Entities and their parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies and their respective directors, officers, employees, representatives and agents from any and all liability for any injuries, loss or damage of any kind to person, including death, and property, arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, use or misuse of a Prize, participation in this Sweepstakes and participation in any activity related to this Sweepstakes.

18. Limitation of Liability. IN NO EVENT WILL THE SWEEPSTAKES ENTITIES, THEIR PARENTS, AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES AND RELATED COMPANIES, THEIR ADVERTISING OR PROMOTION AGENCIES OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SWEEPSTAKES OR THE DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTING MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM THE SWEEPSTAKES. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. CHECK YOUR LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.

19. Disclaimer of Warranties. THE SWEEPSTAKES AND PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT.

20. Identity Disputes. In the event of a dispute as to the identity of the winner based on an email address, the winning entry will be declared made by the Authorized Account Holder of the email address and/or wireless phone number submitted at time of registration into Instagram and/or entry into the Sweepstakes. For purposes of these Official Rules, “Authorized Account Holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an email address by an Internet access provider, online service provider or other organization (e.g., business, educational, institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning email addresses for the domain associated with the submitted email address.

21. Binding Arbitration. The parties waive all rights to trial in any action or proceeding instituted in connection with these Official Rules and/or this Sweepstakes. Any controversy or claim, arising out of, or relating to, these Official Rules and/or this Sweepstakes shall be settled by binding arbitration in accordance with the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association. Any such controversy or claim shall be arbitrated on an individual basis and shall not be consolidated in any arbitration with any claim or controversy of any other party. The arbitration shall be conducted in the State of New York, in the City of New York and judgment on the arbitration award may be entered into any court having jurisdiction thereof.

22. Governing Law and Jurisdiction. This promotion is governed by U.S. law and is subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited by law. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of these Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrant and Administrator in connection with this Sweepstakes, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without giving effect to the conflict of laws rules thereof, and any matters or proceedings which are not subject to arbitration, as set forth in Section 21 of these Official Rules and/or for entering any judgment on an arbitration award, shall take place in the State of New York, in the City of New York.

23. Winner’s List/Official Rules. For the name of the Winners, send a self-addressed stamped envelope for receipt by March 15, 2019 to “Winner List, Metro Exodus Console and Spartan Edition Giveaway” 1401 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 200, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309. For Official Rules, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the above address marked “Official Rules: Metro Exodus Console and Spartan Edition Giveaway” for receipt by March 15, 2019. Residents of VT may omit postage on the self-addressed envelope. The name of the Winners may be posted, and the Official Rules will be posted on GameSpot.com.

The annual toy convention, Toy Fair, is well underway at the Javits Center in New York City. Many of the reveals from the show have been action figures, but there are other interesting products tied into your favorite franchises. Hasbro has announced Star Wars Lightsaber Academy, which allows you to train to become a master of the light sword.

Available this fall, the Lightsaber Academy toys allow the user to interact with an app to learn official Star Wars moves and train with Jedi or Sith masters. Additionally, you can battle with your friends to prove who is the real Jedi master.

Pictured above is the top tier of the Lightsaber Academy toys, priced at $50. This lightsaber interacts with the app via Bluetooth and tracks your movement–and is the only one in the line that does so. In turn, you will be evaluated and scored based on your performance. The lightsaber features lights, sounds, app connectivity, and character voices from the movies.

On the lower-pricing tier are the Level 1 assortment lightsabers–pictured above. Priced at $8 each, the toys come with a code that accesses content in the Lightsaber Academy app. However, they do not have the motion tracking the $50 set has.

Finally, there are the Level 2 Lightsabers, and you can choose between Luke Skywalker’s or Darth Vader’s weapon. Priced at $20, these lightsabers light up and make sounds, and there is a button you can press to hear the characters speak. Additionally, it comes with codes to unlock content in the app. While you can still learn all the moves from the movie, it does not have the same interactivity as the $50 one.

All of the Lightsaber Academy toys will be available this fall.

Check out our other Toy Fair stories so far:

Stay tuned to GameSpot over the weekend for more Toy Fair reveals.

It’s All About The Ethanol

There are lots of things you need to gather in Far Cry: New Dawn to keep yourself going, including crafting materials of all sorts, but probably the most important thing is Ethanol. It’s the currency you’ll use to upgrade Prosperity, your base of operations. That makes it necessary for advancing the story, which is tied to your base enhancements. Upgrading different areas of your base is also how you unlock better guns, cars, and medkits, among other things. So Ethanol is a big deal, and you’re going to want to get it any time you can.

The trouble is, Ethanol sources are actually somewhat scarce. The main way you can get it is by attacking and liberating outposts. As in most Far Cry games, once you’ve cleared these locations of enemies, Prosperity will send your people there. You’ll claim whatever Ethanol is in the base for later. You can also “salvage” outposts to gain more Ethanol and the opportunity to retake them–more on that in a bit.

The second place to get Ethanol is in Highwaymen tanker trucks that you’ll encounter out in Hope County. Destroying them is good for the cause, but hijacking them and returning them to Prosperity or a captured outpost is even better.

Finally, you can get Ethanol from supply drops. You’ll see these in your area every now and again as a plane flies over, dropping a crate by parachute for the Highwaymen to pick up. Get there first, and you can loot the drop and steal the Ethanol and crafting materials inside. Be warned, though, that supply drops always attract enemies for you to dispatch. Should you fail to loot the drop, look for Highwaymen scavengers to reclaim it. These guys wander around the world looting bodies and drops and carrying the goods back to Highwaymen bases. They’re marked by red wolf icons. Approach them carefully, though–they can be tough to bring down, and if they spot you, they’ll drop smoke grenades to guard their getaways.

Anthem is live for those with early access through one of EA’s paid services, which means you may have some of your pre-order or special edition loot there for the taking already. This only goes for those who have full access to the game through Origin Access Premier, though, so other services will have to wait.

An EA help page details the steps for claiming various rewards. For the time being, only Legion of Dawn rewards are available, and only to Origin Access Premier members. In a tweet, EA explained that this is because the 10-hour trial available through Origin’s basic tier or EA Access on Xbox One can be played without owning the game.

The process for unlocking your Legion of Dawn loot seems simply enough. It’s just a matter of gaining access to Prospero’s store and then claiming your loot from the helpfully named “Rewards” tab. To reach that point you just need to complete the tutorials, followed by Prospero’s mission. You’ll have to go to the Forge to equip them, or to the Squad screen to equip your banner.

Pre-order bonuses won’t be available until the official launch day, February 22, on all platforms. Those can be equipped in the Forge (for equipment) or the Squad menu (for banners). The digital soundtrack CD on Origin should download automatically, but if not, you can find it under Extra Content in your Game Library.

The rolling access to Anthem is a bit more complex than you might expect. Right now, Origin Access Premier members on PC can play the entire game. The basic tier of Origin Access PC and EA Access on Xbox One instead offers a ten-hour trial that can carry over progress to the main game. If you’re on PS4, there is no Access program. The game will release widely for everyone on February 22.

While you’re waiting for launch, check out the original Anthem short film from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. You can also read up on BioWare’s roadmap for endgame content and check out our pre-order guide.

If you had to explain Yo-kai Watch in a nutshell to someone who’s never heard of or played it, you might boil it down to “Pokemon but with Japanese ghosts” or “Baby’s first Shin Megami Tensei.” Anything grim or distressing about a kid who can talk to ghosts goes by the wayside when the ghosts are comical entities like a missing left sock or a possessed police car. In this third expansive and quirky outing for the Yo-kai Watch series, our hero Nate has to take on a quest far more daunting than anything he’s faced so far: moving to America.

Specifically, Nate’s family ends up moving to BBQ, an over-the-top caricature of Texas, for his dad’s job, and finds that the U.S. has supernatural problems all its own that he and his best yokai buddies, a cat named Jibanyan and an uber-effete ghost butler named Whisper, have to handle. Meanwhile, back in Nate’s hometown of Springdale (which is located in Japan), a bubbly ball of nerdy energy named Hailey-Anne is enticed into buying a Yo-kai Watch of her own, which ties her to Usapyon, a ghost astronaut rabbit. Stuck with each other, they form a detective agency.

That’s really over-the-top as far as a game aimed squarely at a younger audience goes, and that’s largely a result of how it’s been localized. Yo-kai Watch 3 was originally two games in Japan, with Nate and Hailey-Anne’s stories comprising a game each. The version released in the West has combined the two, allowing players to switch to the other campaign at will, before the two stories converge in the later hours. It’s a daring choice that allows you a ton of control over how you experience the sprawling narrative, but it also highlights just how much the narrative didn’t need to sprawl to begin with. The first major plot points of both stories–Nate meeting a boy in BBQ who can see yokai as well, and Hailey-Anne starting the detective agency–are a good five or six hours in. Having both stories in the same package is a positive, but having to manually thread together two stories that could already stand to be a little more concise is less so.

On the plus side, that does give you ample reason to slow down and really take in your surroundings, which is really one of the greater joys in this game. Despite the aesthetic, the interpretations of Japan and Texas are surprisingly intricate places full of people worth speaking to and places to wander off to. As the game went on, one of my favorite things to do in it was to ride the trains in Springdale, missing stops just to look around. In addition, Nate’s story has the compelling element of him trying to get accustomed to American culture, and on occasion, work you do in one of the towns–unlocking an app, or asking someone for a favor–affects the story in the other. But by and large, much of the first half of the game has both Nate and Hailey-Anne doing random fetch quests or being distracted with the game’s numerous side missions, which are fun but wholly tangential from the main game. That creates a major problem with pacing early on.

Yo-kai Watch has always been an accessible series, and this third entry is no different. The cycle of gameplay usually boils down to Nate finding a possessed human doing something unusual, using the watch to reveal the yokai controlling them, and getting into a simple showdown with it. After these battles, there’s a strong chance it joins your menagerie of friendly yokai who can be used to fight other yokai–of which there are a whopping 600-plus. There are very few of what seasoned RPG veterans might consider a dungeon, and when there are, as long as you’ve found at least six yokai you like, you can blow through nearly all of them in mere minutes, with no real pressing need to collect more except for the sheer joy of collecting them.

Combat does ostensibly have some measure of depth compared to the series’ predecessors, with the addition of a 3×3 grid system that allows you to move yokai around to dodge attacks and pick up special items. There’s also plenty of information about each yokai which you can put to good use, such as elemental weaknesses and their preferred food. That’s all alongside familiar mechanics like quirky mini-games used to heal yokai that have been afflicted with status effects or to charge up ultimate (or more accurately, Soultimate) attacks. But with the exception of the occasional boss fight and the rather welcome difficulty spike of the final third of the game, it’s rare that you actually have to utilize any of these mechanics. So much of the game’s combat is a passive experience, but neglecting to have a full grasp of it when the game finally expects you to be proactive in battle will eventually get you in serious trouble.

These are the things that make Yo-kai Watch excellent as an introductory RPG for beginners. For everyone else, however, the game has to endear itself in between major plot points on sheer charm which, thankfully, it’s more than capable of delivering. On the Hailey-Anne side, what comes off as grating over-enthusiasm at the start settles down over time to become unflappable optimism and curiosity. The girl fears absolutely nothing, even when giant demons start showing up that send her running through the streets. Her alliance with Usapyon evolves from one of convenience to a genuinely sweet elementary school partnership over time, especially as the details of Usapyon’s origins become clearer.

Having both stories in the same package is a positive, but having to manually thread together two stories that could already stand to be a little more concise is less so.

As mentioned, Nate’s side has an even more intriguing angle. For some reason, the localization obscures the fact that Nate’s hometown of Springdale is in Japan, but the touchstones of a kid dealing with severe culture shock are still here. Even when American culture is as hilariously exaggerated as it is, there’s something subtly poignant about an ostensibly Japanese kid exploring an all-American city for the first time. And as his circle of friends expands to include Buck, a wild-haired kid with a deep southern drawl, so too does his experience with American yokai and all the loud and proud aspects of such.

It’s still a game aimed at a young crowd, though, and the game’s poignancy is undercut a bit by wild reactions, non-sequitur humor, and impromptu j-pop musicals. Most of the scarier aspects of the game dealing with the existence and management of the afterlife have been softened to the absolute extreme. The game was only ever going to get so serious, and the winking nods to more adult fare like The Godfather, Fist of the North Star, The X-Files, and Twin Peaks are indeed just that: playful winks. It’s less the competitive Growlithe-eat-Growlithe world of Pokemon than a cheerful, wacky playground where Pokemon-like creatures happen to live.

There’s not much to Yo-kai Watch 3, but there’s still a lot of charm to be found. The towns of Springdale and BBQ are both bright, pleasant places to be; the people in it are even more so. Visiting the world of Yo-kai Watch for the third time is a fun time, even though you’ll end up staying a lot longer than perhaps necessary.

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