The Sims 4 continues to get new expansions, the latest of which is called Cottage Living. The new expansion launches for PC and consoles on July 22, taking players to the sleepy town of Henford-on-Bagley, which sounds like a very chill and cozy place.
In Henford-on-Bagley, players can plant their own garden, raise farm animals like chickens, and become one with nature. The town also has a pub called The Gnome’s Arm where players can enjoy a drink or two after putting in some work in their gardens.
“This pack enables Sims to live their garden-to-table lifestyle, and we look forward to players living out their fantasies of building a charming cottage in the new world, Henford-on-Bagley,” The Sims 4 producer Antonio Romeo said.
The cows you raise give you milk, while your chickens supply you with eggs, and llamas have wool that you can obtain. Players need to be on the lookout for foxes, however, who can get into your henhouse and steal eggs. Like any good farming experience, Cottage Living expansion lets you take your best cows, chickens, and crops to a fair for grading.
Cottage Living launches on July 22 for $40 USD across PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
JRPG fans, take note: Tales of Arise is set to release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 10, 2021. The latest in a long-running series of JRPGs, Tales of Arise keeps the classic real-time combat of its predecessors, but looks better than ever.
The game is now available to preorder at a variety of retailers. Below, we have full details about where you can get it and what preorder bonuses to expect.
Tunic, the Zelda-like adventure starring a fox, has resurfaced at the Summer Game Fest with a new gameplay trailer and announcement of an imminent demo. The game, first revealed at E3 2017, has been absent from the public eye for a long time, making its surprise inclusion in today’s event a welcome one.
The gameplay demo is brief but does show off some of the improvements the game has undergone since last it was shown off. Tunic is an isometric adventure game with elements familiar to classic Legend of Zelda titles, meaning you’ll come across an assortment of weapons all with unique abilities that help you overcome foes and solve dungeon-based puzzles. The game’s foxy protagonist is just incredibly cute, too.
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While many games generally have something at least somewhat meaningful to say about the world we live in (advertently or no), I often find myself a bit disconnected from the monumental settings so many protagonists are dropped into. Plenty of amazing games tell impactful stories about love, loss, hope, revenge, and so forth, but it’s rare for something to dig at me in the small, deeply personal way that Chicory: A Colorful Tale has. And it’s perhaps even rarer for that personal impact to be accompanied by the kind of fun, concise, self-aware, and encouraging little adventure that indie developer Greg Lobanov and his colleagues present.
Chicory is best-described as a top-down Zelda-like adventure sans combat where the entire game is a giant coloring book. It follows a protagonist that you name after your favorite food who is the janitor and number-one fan of Chicory, the sole “wielder” of a magical brush used to color in the otherwise black-and-white world. But Chicory vanishes, and all the world’s color goes with her. The protagonist, stumbling upon her brush, takes it up themself and begins filling the world’s color back in. It’s fun and games initially, but things quickly take a turn as you discover a growing darkness troubling your friends and neighbors which seemingly has ties to Chicory, and the brush itself.
Your adventure takes you across a world full of charming, food-named locales (towns of Luncheon and Brekkie, the Appie Foothills, Supper Woods, etc), progressing by solving puzzles connected to coloring in the black-and-white world. At the start, you’ll only have basic draw/erase functions and four different colors pre-selected by the area you’re in. But over time you’ll get access to more tools via collectible “brush styles,” most of which are stamps (like stars or hearts) or patterns (dots, stripes) that will enhance your otherwise straightforward line drawing. The most important of these, a fill tool, is mercifully available early on. The rest of the brush styles are scattered around the world, serving as one of a handful of optional collectible challenges alongside a robust closet of hidden clothing options to find, decorative items you can set up anywhere, and a sidequest involving lost cat children.
Pleasant as the world is to uncover, the paint tool of Chicory is more the core of its gameplay than its exploration is. The world reacts to your paint, with puzzles requiring you to color thoughtfully to overcome obstacles, complete sidequests, and access hidden areas. Plants might grow into crossable platforms with paint applied, or shrink when erased so as not to block your path. Geysers of paint will shoot you across the map, color-filled mushrooms can be used as springboards, and bubbles filled with paint will explode, breaking flimsy rocks standing in your way. As you progress, you’ll gain more powers, like the ability to paint flowing water and swim in it, climb paint-covered walls, or light up dark caves with glow-in-the-dark paint.
What this ultimately results in is a very clever new layer to what would otherwise be pleasant but familiar top-down adventure puzzle-solving. Your paint is persistent; you’ll always know where you’ve been and what you did there based on the splatters you left behind, making Chicory’s world stressless and inviting to explore and fill in. It’s worth revisiting areas, too, as in typical top-down adventure fashion you’ll have powers later on that will unlock more hidden areas you couldn’t access before, each containing treasures or little subplots that add further color and personality to Chicory’s cast. What’s more, characters will frequently ask you to paint or decorate things for them: houses, donuts, logos, furniture, and so forth. Some will have specific color requests, but for the most part they just want the thing done however you like it, and will react with delight to your work whether you’re an auteur or amateur.
This is emblematic of all of Chicory: it is not a stressful or fast-paced game (apart from a few brief boss encounters). It’s a thoughtful game that wants you to walk along with it at a pace that feels pleasant, with puzzles that require consideration but never strain, sidequests in measured but not overwhelming amounts, and plenty of fun things to discover or stumble upon that never feel mandatory or guilt-inducing if you miss them. It recognizes that its audience, me included, may think they are objectively god-awful at art. But then it offers the tools and encouragement to try anyway, and goes farther to challenge those self-effacing beliefs by rejoicing in thoughtful effort without judgment. Chicory does this in large ways through story scenes, but also in small ways, like having its funny and adorable NPCs pop up unexpectedly in areas you’ve been through before to admire the art you did there.
Furthermore, rarely do I encounter games that have so expertly grasped the precise amount of everything they need to have. All of Chicory, from its length (10 to 20 hours, depending on how much you paint and explore) to its quantity of sidequests and collectibles to the length and difficulty of its puzzles to the amount of dialogue and discovery is just right. Chicory never overstays its welcome, concludes all its moments in a satisfactory way, and offers more for those who wish it without guilting or pressuring you into pushing past natural stopping points. It is impressive in its exactness.
All this alone would make for a very good game. It’s difficult for me to explain why Chicory affected me so personally without getting into spoiler territory, but I think it’s critical to highlight the story and character-centered reasons why it is elevated beyond being just a well-made Zelda-like with a clever paint tool. Chicory tells an earnest story about people who create things, and the ways in which being a creator impacts them. Though it’s specifically about visual art, anyone who “makes” — whether that’s artists of any school, or those like myself who fall more into the territory of “craft” rather than art — could easily find that something personal resonates with them here.
Chicory is about characters who are intrinsically wedded to their work, and who also have their work constantly on public display, subject to the critique of absolutely everyone in the world at all times. Most of its citizens are kind and encouraging of your efforts, recognizing that you’re in a tricky and unexpected situation. But that doesn’t stop many of them from pointing out the flaws of past wielders, or even expressing nervous doubt in your own abilities as the implications of your job for everyone else get scarier. And as Chicory herself points out – and the story illustrates more pointedly later – while the pressure others put on you to do your job well is stressful on its own, it can be nothing compared to the pressure people put on themselves. Especially when they are following in the footsteps of someone they deeply admire.
There’s a lot of close-to-home reflection in Chicory on imposter syndrome, the relationship between mentors and mentees, how mental health struggles particularly impact creators, and how we are all so often our own worst critics. But there are also supporting characters with brief, sharp at times, but always kind commentary on topics like grief, workaholism, and the struggles of reckoning with sexuality and identity. It is at all times sensitive and empathetic, but doesn’t sugar-coat or present a cheesy solution that magically erases the problems of all its protagonists, even in its conclusion.
And critically, its story is beautifully suited to its gameplay, with its paint mechanics both subtly and overtly highlighting its themes at every moment. For instance, Chicory has “boss battles” of a sort, where the painted darkness the protagonist faces not only takes the explicit forms of those it represents, but also more subtly reflects their actual art styles. In another example, the world remembers not just the paint you throw on the environment, but your more deliberate creations as well, resulting in emotional callbacks to your past work when you visit characters you’ve seen before and are clued into what your art has meant to them. Chicory is at all times illustrating exactly what it is fundamentally about in a way that I feel few games manage to fully express without veering into the far excesses of either lengthy cutscenes or gameplay challenges that kill story momentum and feeling.
For all these reasons, on top of which I’ll add Lena Raine’s absolutely incredible soundtrack, I can enthusiastically recommend Chicory whether you consider yourself a “maker” or not. Chicory constantly asks its audience for understanding and empathy toward those whose work they consume. I’ve had a lot of complex feelings lately related to seeing those I admire most in my profession as human beings with flaws as well as virtues, and Chicory helped me process those while encouraging me to give them grace. But Chicory also wants me to give that same grace to myself. It was a reminder (without resorting to the overdone self-care language those with this flavor of anxiety have heard a hundred times before) that I am not defined by my work despite my constant insistence on treating myself as though I am. I can and should be kinder to myself. I needed to hear that.
We’re almost at the end of Netflix’s first ever Geeked Week. and today’s presentation was all about anime and animation.
I suspect that a few IGN readers will be interested in pretty much everything that follows.
Between show announcements, new trailers, and exclusive clips from highly anticipated installments in the Godzilla and Resident Evil franchises, day four proved to be one of the best so far. Remember: tomorrow is all gaming, and IGN will be covering everything from a first look at The Witcher’s second season (hopefully!) to updates on all the adaptations they have in the works.
Without further ado, here’s the biggest and best announcements from Netflix Geeked Week’s fourth day.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness — Capcom and Netflix’s animated series, which unites Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield after the events of Resident Evil 4, is nearly here. To celebrate the quickly approaching premiere, Netflix has released the first few opening minutes. Check it out on Netflix’s YouTube page.
Godzilla: Singular Point: The animated series based in the Godzilla universe is almost here (June 24th globally!), and a new clip gives us a brand new look at a menacing Rodan.
Masters of the Universe: Revelation: Between Mark Hamill as Skeletor and Kevin Smith as, well, Kevin Smith, what more could people want from Masters of the Universe: Revelation? A trailer maybe? Netflix came through.
Bright: Samurai Sword: Remember Bright, the 2017 movie from Netflix? Well! There’s a new anime based on the movie, directed by Kyohei Ishiguro. “Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north,” according to Netflix.
Announcing Bright: Samurai Soul.
Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north.
Make My Day: A new anime film coming to Netflix this year. Here’s the official description from the company: “On a cold planet of ice and snow, mysterious creatures suddenly have appeared from the dark underground and have begun to attack the inhabitants. Can humanity survive the terror lurking beyond the horizon?”
Introducing Make My Day, a new anime film coming to Netflix.
On a cold planet of ice and snow, mysterious creatures suddenly have appeared from the dark underground and have begun to attack the inhabitants. Can humanity survive the terror lurking beyond the horizon? #GeekedWeekpic.twitter.com/lep9gLOexk
Exception: It’s described as a futuristic horror anime and the thumbnail alone is enough to make my cowardly self “nope!” right out of it, but horror fans should be pleased.
Here’s your first glimpse at Exception.
The new space horror anime series is based on a new story by Hirotaka Adachi (aka “Otsuichi”), with character designs by Final Fantasy’s Yoshitaka Amano. #GeekedWeekpic.twitter.com/7CWhmNu9O6
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway has been in development for a minute, and I’m so excited we got this brand new look at it today.
Twilight of the Gods: Zack Snyder is making an anime based on the Greek mythological gods. What more is there to say? No look at it just yet, but the cast has been announced. The full lineup is below.
Time to grab your boomstick, as Evil Dead: The Game’s first-ever gameplay trailer debuted during the Summer Game Fest Kickoff Show hosted by Geoff Keighley.
The trailer shows many different Evil Dead characters that players will be able to use in the game, including Ash Williams, his younger sister Cheryl, Lord Arthur, and more. Over 25 weapons can be found throughout the game, including Ash’s trademark Gauntlet, Boomstick, and chainsaw.
Also highlighted during the gameplay debut were some of the game’s light RPG elements, as characters will level up via skill trees that boost speed, strength, and defense throughout the course of a match. Finally the trailer gave us our first glimpse of its PvP element, where one player becomes the Kandarian Demon who can possess
Evil Dead: The Game is a online co-op shooter from Saber Interactive featuring characters and locations from the popular horror movie franchise. It is scheduled to launch this fall for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
At long last, a new teaser trailer for Elden Ring has released, and it featured a surprising amount of gameplay. In a stunning turn of events after it had been MIA for so long, Bandai Namco and FromSoftware released the new video as part of the Summer Game Fest Kickoff show. You can watch it below. The video is capped off with a release date of January 21, 2022. Yes, Elden Ring is coming sooner than just about any of us expected, and it’ll feature some kind of multiplayer component.
The trailer featured much more acrobatic combat than we’re used to in the Souls series or Bloodborne, with characters leaping up into the air and slamming down their swords to deal massive damage. There will be a mix of sword, magic, and gadgets as we saw in Sekiro, but the huge bosses seem to harken more to From’s earlier games than the duel-like bosses in its latest title. One boss appeared to be made up of multiple corpses, which is a FromSoftware trope that seems to make its way into nearly every game the studio touches.
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Now Playing: Elden Ring Gameplay Premiere Trailer | Summer Game Fest 2021
There will also be mounted combat, which we haven’t seen from the studio’s other games, and FromSoftware previously said it will have a more open structure than its past games–but the walking pots and other grotesque beings make it very clear this is still From at heart.
It appears there will also be more cooperative elements than in past From Software games, though it’s unclear if this will just take the spirit-based form we’re familiar with or something more substantial. (A press release mentions traversing the world “alone or online with friends.” It will also feature stealth elements, and “seamlessly” connected dungeons to explore.
It was unclear in advance of E3 whether the game would be making any sort of appearance. Publisher Bandai Namco’s E3 showcase is scheduled for Tuesday, June 15, but it’s made no promises about what we’ll see there–be it Elden Ring or otherwise. That a new Elden Ring teaser has emerged is an exciting development, as Bandai Namco and From have been exceedingly quiet about the project since it was first revealed back at E3 2019. Leaked videos did make their way online earlier this year, but they were very low quality and said to be from older versions that were no longer representative of the game.
Elden Ring represents a collaboration between From Software and A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin, who consulted with From on the game’s lore. Xbox boss Phil Spencer told us last year that he had already been playing Elden Ring, describing it as director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s “most ambitious game.” It’s set for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. A free upgrade will be available for PS4 players to the PS5 version, while the Xbox versions will offer Smart Delivery support. For more, check out our Elden Ring preorder guide.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
Sky: Children Of The Light is coming to Nintendo Switch on June 29. Thatgamecompany’s Jenova Chen announced the release date as part of the Summer Game Fest kickoff event. The release will soon be followed by a limited time event based on the literary character The Little Prince (aka Le Petit Prince) on July 6.
Sky: Children Of The Light is the spiritual successor to Thatgamecompany’s Flower and Journey. It originally came out in summer 2019, but this is the first version of the game for a traditional game console. Sky features social gaming elements and encourages players to interact with both strangers and friends alike.
Thank you for your patience! #thatskygame will release for the Nintendo Switch on June 29 or June 30, depending on where you live. ⏰ Use the chart below to find your region’s release time. pic.twitter.com/deTVa4cEoG
— Sky: Children of the Light (@thatskygame) June 10, 2021
Season of the Little Prince will be the 10th seasonal event in Sky since the game’s release. However, to experience all of Season of the Little Prince, players must purchase a DLC pass known as the Adventure Pass in order to get all of the cosmetic items offered by the event.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
A TV series based on Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s 2012 movie Ted is in the works for the streaming service Peacock. The network has ordered a full season.
According to Deadline, MacFarlane is in talks to voice Ted the teddy bear again, but the site reported that Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis are not expected to appear in the show. The TV series is a prequel to the 2012 film.
MacFarlane wrote and directed 2012’s Ted, which marked his directorial debut. A sequel was released, and combined, the two movies made more than $750 million globally at the box office.
There is no word yet on the plot for the Ted TV series, apart from the fact that it’s believed to be a prequel to the original movie. The series is about a talking teddy bear, so it could conceivably go in any number of directions.
As for the main Ted movie series, MacFarlane told Collider ahead of Ted 2’s release in 2015 that a third movie might happen if the sequel did as well as the first one. It did not perform as well commercially, which might explain why Ted 3 didn’t happen, but fans are at least getting a new TV show. As of yet, however, the TV series doesn’t have a release date.
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
The Summer Game Fest kickoff event didn’t just announce a number of new games. Industry veterans Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell also appeared on stage to announce a new studio called Deviation Games, which is currently working on a “groundbreaking” new IP exclusively for PlayStation.
Anthony and Blundell both previously worked on the Call of Duty series at Treyarch and spent the last year building a team that now boasts over 100 employees. Development on the new IP is in the very early stages, so there’s nothing to show so far. However, Blundell promises that it will “leave an indelible mark on the industry” when it launches. “We’re not afraid to say that our ambitions are super high: we’re setting out to make a huge, content-rich game with a focus on a lot of action and a lot of energy,” Anthony says on the PlayStation Blog.
“We call ourselves Deviators,” he says. “And as Jason describes it, ‘Another way of saying Deviator is Renaissance mindset. Deviators are not only passionate about their own discipline, but they love others too. We believe that is what is unique and special about our studio, the culture, the team, and this project. From experience, young determined studios need rock-solid support to thrive. That’s why it means so much that PlayStation is partnering with us on our first game. As you all know–having enjoyed the amazing PlayStation Studios portfolio–they know what it takes to make great games. To have a partner like that behind us makes the road ahead simply breathtaking.'”
Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out
