Developer Sloclap has revealed that Sifu is now scheduled to launch on February 22, 2022. Yes, that means you can technically write the date as 22/02/2022. Everyone give a slow clap to Sloclap for its cleverness.
Sloclap also revealed a new trailer for Sifu at Gamescom Opening Night Live. The trailer shows off additional gameplay for the upcoming action game, revealing several cool-looking combos across Sifu’s diverse environments.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Sifu Gameplay Trailer | Gamescom ONL 2021
The trailer also gives us another look at Sifu’s aging mechanic, one of the defining features of the game. In Sifu, you play as a warrior who grows more skilled with every death, but this comes at the cost of your youth. Die enough times and you’ll become a highly skilled master fighter, but you’ll inch ever closer to just dying forever.
Combat in Sifu seems to be inspired by Sloclap’s previous game, Absolver, which heavily focuses on a mixture of martial arts and melee weapons within enclosed spaces. If the trailers are anything to go on, this encourages you to use the environment to your advantage–you could shove someone so that they trip over a discarded bottle, for example.
In GameSpot’s Absolver review, Richard Wakeling wrote, “There’s a significant challenge involved in learning Absolver’s combat intricacies, but it’s the kind of struggle that rarely frustrates. Defeat is part and parcel of the experience, but your demise always teaches you something new that you can take with you into the next battle–and Absolver’s deep, nuanced combat always finds ways of enticing you back for one more fight.”
Saints Row has had quite a journey from an off-brand Grand Theft Auto to a pure silly spectacle, as its parody grew more and more outrageous with each passing entry. By the time the story wrapped up, the 3rd Street Saints crew had become the President of the United States and staff, gained superpowers, fought aliens, watched the Earth explode, took over the universe, and met a time-kidnapped Jane Austin. The question hanging over the series since has been: How the hell do you follow that?
The answer is, you don’t.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Saints Row Cinematic Trailer | Gamescom ONL 2021
The new Saints Row, announced at Gamescom as part of the Opening Night Live event, is a total reboot for the series–not just in setting and characters but in tone. While it looks primed to carry forward the same playfully zany spirit as its predecessors, the new game–simply called Saints Row–is clearly taking a step back and allowing developer Volition some breathing room without having to constantly top itself with ever-expanding wacky hijinks.
The tagline of the new Saints Row is “Self Made,” a reference to the new story direction in this entry. Instead of experienced gang members, you’re a spunky set of wannabe crooks in the fictional southwest city of Santo Ileso. The main story revolves around building up your gang from nothing, establishing dominance among the other Santo Ileso gangs, and generally building up your criminal empire. These are young punks with something to prove, and Volition says they decided to make their own “criminal startup” after feeling pushed around by the world. This is a distinct continuity that doesn’t fit anywhere into the story of the others–Johnny Gat isn’t off doing his own thing in Stilwater while your gang takes root in Santo Ileso–but Volition did note that fans can expect a handful of Easter eggs.
Saints Row also sports an entirely new engine, as the studio acknowledges that the older entries were definitely games of their time. While the studio isn’t talking about the current-gen versions yet, it did hint that it will be talking about the features unique to those platforms soon.
One thing that hasn’t changed is “the Boss.” The create-a-character protagonist has been the mainstay of the Saints Row series, offering a great deal of flexibility in who you want to spend your time playing as. You’ll have the customization options to make your Boss look the way you want them to look, but in the marketing so far the Boss has been a young woman of color with a shock of brightly-dyed hair. Her misfit companions are set characters–Neenah, Kevin, and Eli–and the foursome trade quips and wisecracks like a fast-moving action-comedy. To that end, Volition says it was inspired by movies like Baby Driver and Hobbs & Shaw.
Your rival gangs add some color and personality to the world with different specialties. One favors big, wild arsenals to overpower the competition, while another wears helmets like an EDM artist. As you take over turf and suppress the gangs, you’ll be able to determine how you want to build up your own gang, leaning into different illicit activities like drug-running out of a fast food chain a la Breaking Bad, stealing cars, or dealing illegal arms.
Though it’s toned down, Volition says it is still aiming to make it an identifiable Saints Row experience. The presentation teased the return of the Insurance Fraud minigame, in which players rack up cash by intentionally jumping in front of moving vehicles and ragdolling around the street, bouncing between cars. The studio also teased that you can get up to mischief in multiplayer with a “pranking” mechanic in co-op, but didn’t go into further detail. Co-op works similarly to how it did in past games, letting you play alongside a partner Boss throughout the entire game.
And of course, as an open-world game, you’ll need to get from place to place quickly. That usually will mean driving cars around the city, but you have a few other options. For one, you can upgrade any vehicle to go off-road, so if you want to take a garbage truck out to the desert and spin donuts, knock yourself out. More significantly, you’ll have access to more unconventional modes of transportation like wingsuits, VTOLs, and hoverboards. It’s not super-speed, but it’ll do in a pinch.
Like the Santo Ileso Saints, Volition is building something new, but it’s not entirely from scratch. The studio is clearly borrowing some tonal cues and mechanics from the existing franchise, and picking and choosing which parts to keep as it starts over. The result looks like Saints Row, but somewhere on the continuum between the crime drama Saints Row 2 and the more gonzo Saints Row: The Third. That may just be the sweet spot for making a whole new criminal empire.
That a new Saints Row game is in development isn’t a surprise. And after last week’s blatant tease, neither is the fact that it’s a total reboot of the decade-and-a-half-old open-world crime saga. I got a look at a gameplay demo of Volition’s freshly announced, co-op-enabled project, which is due out relatively soon on February 25, 2022 for PC as well as both current- and last-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles. And speaking as someone whose favorite game in the series is Saints Row The Third, I was pleased to see that Volition seems to be aiming for a similar tone for the reboot, rather than the more GTA-clone feel of the first two and the over-the-top ridiculousness of the most recent two.
Saints Row recasts the purple-clad gang as a group of young friends in the southwest USA-inspired city of Santo Ileso who’ve seen their ambitions in life stifled, and so they bind together with the aim of not starting a mere street gang, but instead building an entire criminal empire. You’ll play The Boss, and you’ll be able to customize your avatar, just as you could in the previous games. This includes eight voice options. Rounding out your crew are Eli, the planner and financial guru in the group (more on this shortly); Nina, your ace driver/mechanic with a background in art history and anthropology; and Kevin, the people-pleasing DJ who’s also a thrill-seeker.
Yes, that means no Johnny Gat, no Pierce, etc. This is a new Saints Row – though Volition did hint at some Easter eggs that will call back to the original games, though we don’t yet know what form they’ll take.
One thing definitely returning, however, is the Insurance Fraud minigame activity. Volition chief creative officer Jim Boone said it wouldn’t be a Saints Row game without it, and said a few other fan-favorite activities would also come back, though he didn’t name-check any others.
It’s still very much an over-the-top, arcade-y crime sandbox.
Santo Ileso certainly feels fresh compared to Stilwater just on the back of its desert theme. Volition describes it as “one of” the largest cities it’s ever built, and it’ll feature nine unique districts – from El Dorado’s “grime meets glitz” to the Los Panteros gang’s home turf of Rancho Providencia – as well as the ability to buy plots of land and build specific fronts on them that will each unlock new gameplay opportunities.
This seems to be a big focus for Saints Row in addition to the usual driving and shooting, which, rest assured, there will be plenty of. The demo I saw showcased plenty of cars, motorcycles, helicopters, bulldozers, wingsuits, huge stunt jumps, off-road driving, and a ton more. Saints Row may be walking the series back from the crazy corner it had painted itself into, but it’s still very much an over-the-top, arcade-y crime sandbox. Volition cites John Wick, Baby Driver, and Hobbs & Shaw as its creative inspirations.
On the subject of gangs, three of them control the city: Los Panteros, who are the physically imposing melee combat enthusiasts; the Marshalls, a private military conglomerate that favors an abundance of tech; and the anarchistic Idols, who are motivated by fame and notoriety and tend to attack in huge numbers.
The entire campaign is playable in two-player co-op, though when directly asked whether or not the Saints Row reboot supports cross-play either across consoles or across generations (or both), Volition completely avoided the question, so I take that as a “no.”
If Saints Row turns out to essentially be a follow-up to Saints Row 3 with all-new characters in a whole new world, I’ll be plenty happy with that. But at the very least, it’s walking back from a “pure crazy” tone to a more grounded “over the top” tone, and I’m eager to see how that translates into the final game.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Sifu, the new kung-fu game from Sloclap, is coming out on February 22 on consoles and PC. A new release date trailer premiered during Opening Night Live.
As announced during Gamescom, the kung-fu game Sifu gets a February release date. Preorders on PlayStation Store and Epic Games Store are available now.
Also announced at Gamescom, Sifu is getting a special Deluxe edition which includes the base game, 48-hour early access, a digital artbook, and the original soundtrack from Beijing-based composer Howie Lee.
Sifu is a new martial arts game from the developers of Absolver. Sifu features a unique gameplay mechanic where each time the player “dies” they will revive as a slightly older version. In IGN’s interview with the developers, the aging mechanic is a metaphor for the wisdom martial artists gain with age.
Of course, this is on top of the bone-crunching martial arts gameplay and combat.
For more from Gamescom and Opening Night Live, check out IGN’s full coverage for news, trailers, and announcements.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.
Aloy is coming to Genshin Impact for PS4 and PS5 players on September 1, but MiHoYo and PlayStation have shared a gameplay trailer. Aloy uses a bow and an ice grenade to fight enemies in the trailer that premiered at Gamescom Opening Night Live.
At Gamescom Opening Night Live, Valheim developer Iron Gate revealed that the game’s Hearth & Home update will launch on September 16. The first major update for Valheim, Hearth & Home adds a bunch of new features and reworks existing systems such as health and stamina.
To celebrate the launch date reveal, a new animated trailer for Valheim also debuted at Opening Night Live, which you can see below:
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Valheim: Hearth & Home Update Trailer | Gamescom ONL 2021
Iron Gate had previously mentioned in an update that Hearth & Home will have some big changes for how food works in the game. While the current build allows for health and stamina to be restored after food has been eaten, the update will make most food items restore only one of these gameplay elements. Some food items will restore both stamina and health, but with mixed results. The food bar will be replaced with timers to provide a more accurate indicator of how empty your avatar’s stomach is, as the food icons will still start blinking when they’re halfway depleted.
Stamina is of course needed for survival tasks and building, while health serves a traditional role of ensuring that players will know exactly how close to death they are if they take too much damage during combat.
To compensate for these changes, players will be able to prioritize one of the stats during gameplay, as either a stamina-focused combat style that allows for more attacks on enemies can be used, or a health-focused combat style allows for more defensive options. Blocking power will now be based on maximum health, and a new stagger mechanic to topple enemies is being introduced.
Valheim is currently available right now on PC through Steam Early Access.
Another key cast member has been added to the Interview with the Vampire TV show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jacob Anderson will play the ancient vampire Louis in the upcoming adaptation of Ann Rice’s classic 1976 novel.
Anderson is best known for playing the Unsullied commander Grey Worm on Game of Thrones, from Season 3 through to Season 8. He also appeared in the JJ Abrams-produced World War II horror movie Overlord and as a musician has released two albums under the name Raleigh Ritchie.
Jacob Anderson in Game of Thrones
Interview with the Vampire focuses on Louis, as he tells a writer about his experiences with the fearsome vampire Lestat over the course of several centuries. The role of Louis was previously played by Brad Pitt in the 1994 movie adaptation. Anderson’s casting follows the announcement that Australian actor Sam Reid will play Lestat in the show, the character Tom Cruise portrayed in the film.
Interview with the Vampire will premiere in 2022 and was first announced in June. It will be produced by AMC and will be an eight-episode show. The series will be produced by Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) with Rolin Jones (Perry Mason) as the showrunner and veteran TV director Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Mad Men) helming the first two episodes. AMC acquired the rights to 18 of Rice’s works back in May 2020, which includes the popular Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches series.
When the show was announced, AMC Studios Co-President Dan McDermott stated, “[Interview with a Vampire] already has millions of fans in the U.S. and around the world. We can’t wait to share this new interpretation of the classic brought to life by Rolin and Mark, as we continue to work on developing the entire collection.”
Awards presenter Natascha Becker was sprinkled throughout to announce the winners for various categories, including Best Action Adventure, Indie, and Simulation Game. Elden Ring was nominated for five of the 22 categories, and it walked away with the award for Best Sony PlayStation Game–despite not revealing any new details or gameplay.
Click To Unmute
Size:
Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?
Now Playing: Elden Ring – Everything We Know So Far
It’s puzzling given how little we’ve seen of Elden Ring, though industry events often feature awards going to as-of-yet-unreleased games. And when the dust settled, the only glimpse we got of From Software’s action-RPG was a brief five-second clip during each nomination. Even the two other titles nominated for Best Sony PlayStation Game, Tales of Arise and The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes, had dedicated segments.
Yasuhiro Kitao, promotion, marketing and production head for From Software, videoed in to accept the award on behalf of the Elden Ring development team, thanking fans for their support.
“All of us on the development team are thrilled and deeply honored to receive this fantastic award,” Kitao said. “As our latest title, Elden Ring represents a culmination of the knowledge we’ve gained over the last 10 or so years. Everyone here is working to ensure the game provides a fresh experience for all our players. We know those familiar with our games have high expectations of us, but we hope to give new players something to look forward to as well. Thank you so much for all your continued support.”
Elden Ring is scheduled to launch on January 21, 2022 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Hit up our Elden Ring preorder guide to learn about the various editions.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
The newly announced Halo Infinite-themed Xbox Series X console went up for preorder and quickly sold out at the Xbox Store and Target, but you’ll have another opportunity to order it at 5:30 PM PT / 8:30 PM ET at Walmart. A listing is live at Best Buy, but preorders aren’t available yet. The limited-edition console costs $550 and releases on November 15.
The Halo Infinite-themed Xbox Series X has a pretty cool design that’s instantly recognizable as a Halo product. It has metallic panels resembling armor and a star pattern. It comes with a matching controller and a digital copy of Halo Infinite, which unlocks when Halo Infinite releases on December 8.
Note: The Walmart link below isn’t live yet, but this is where you’ll find it.
The console was announced alongside a few other Halo-themed products, including a limited-edition Elite Series 2 controller that sold out in minutes. Make sure to check out our Halo Infinite preorder guide for details on picking up your copy of the game and information about the other Halo products that are releasing later this year.
If you’re looking for an Xbox Series X and don’t necessarily want the Halo Infinite-themed console, Walmart will be restocking the regular Series X at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET.
Coffee Stain Publishing and Iron Gate Studio have annouced that the Hearth & Home update for Valheim will release this September.
Revealed as part of Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, the first major update for Valheim will launch on September 16. The Hearth & Home update is focused on improving Valheim’s core base building and survival mechanics. Players can expect a reworked food and cooking system, which includes spice racks, butcher tables, pots and pans, and new recipes. Specific foods can be prepared that tie into the newly improved health and stamina system, providing player with further interesting choices.
Alongside new food changes are updates to the building mechanics, including a range of new build pieces, such as a treasure chest to store gold in, new window hatches, and darkwood materials.
