Push Square News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

We hope your calendars are clear over the next few months, because the games industry is pretending E3 is still alive with numerous showcase events this summer. The latest publisher hopping on the bandwagon is THQ Nordic, as it's bringing back the THQ Nordic Showcase this August.

Final Fantasy 16 released on the 22nd June 2023, offering up an action-heavy RPG that greatly deviates from the more traditional blueprints of past Final Fantasy titles. Initially, Square Enix had no plans to expand the game with DLC, but several months after its launch, in September 2023, the publisher confirmed that it was working on not one, but two expansions, both of which would be part of an upcoming 'Expansion Pass'. What a twist!

The physical 'Deluxe Edition' of Baldur's Gate 3 was scheduled to ship this month, but it's been hit with an unfortunate delay. As outlined by developer Larian on social media, the delay will specifically impact PS5 and Xbox buyers in North America, and it's down to «production issues» which are apparently out of the studio's control.

In case you forgot, EA studio Full Circle is beavering away at a brand new entry in the Skate series. Announced what feels like eons ago (read: 2020), the skateboarding sim is making steady progress, and the team is ready to provide another update in its latest video.

The recently released TopSpin 2K25 is a fantastic tennis title, but the game's currently being blasted for its always online requirement. Yep, this is one of those games where you need a connection to the servers before you can actually play it — even if you just want to grind through career mode or enjoy a local match.

Star Wars and Fortnite have always enjoyed a fruitful partnership, but now Disney’s put its sizeable bank balance behind Epic Games, there was always the possibility of a greater collaboration. And after weeks of teasing, that’s exactly what’s been announced. Beginning from 3rd May, the eve of Star Wars Day, you can expect an epic collaboration with George Lucas’ sci-fi series which will extend to virtually all aspects of the culturally colossal video game platform.

Runaway waifu horse racing sensation Umamusume: Pretty Derby will make its PlayStation debut on 30th August, when minigame spin-off Party Dash gallops to PS4 in Japan and around the world. Unlike the main mobile game – which isn’t available in the west yet – this console outing centres on the Slapdash Grand Prix, which features four different sporting events, each with unique gameplay mechanics.

Looking for an Eidos 7 walkthrough in Stellar Blade? This page will demonstrate how to discover every collectible and resource in the abandoned city location, which represents the first level in Shift Up's console debut. As part of our Stellar Blade guide, our Eidos 7 walkthrough will detail the locations of Cans, Design Patterns, Beta Cores, Body Cores, Exospines, Passcodes, Camps, and more.

March was a good month for new games, as a number of fresh releases walked straight into the USA software charts. As per Circana (formerly NPD) analyst Mat Piscatella, it was Dragon's Dogma 2 that caught fire in March, claiming the crown as the month's best-selling title. The action RPG sequel is also the third best-selling game of the year, which is quite impressive.

The PS Store listing for Horizon Zero Dawn has been updated to state it's leaving PS Plus Extra on 21st May 2024. As a first-party title published by Sony and internally developed at Guerrilla Games, the move comes as a surprise as it was thought all the titles Sony holds the rights to would remain on the service in perpetuity.

We don't know about you, but anytime we've ever played Jackbox Party Pack, it's only ever been with people in their late 20s or older. While the successful series of party titles are typically aimed at a broad audience, featuring games suitable for all ages, it seems as though a lot of players are treating it like a game purely for adults. That's the feedback developer Jackbox Games was getting, anyway, and thus we end up here: Jackbox Naughty Pack.

A new gameplay trailer for Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter has dropped, and those who are already familiar with the first game will be happy to know that it looks great. This is one of those sequels that's more about evolution than revolution — but we're not complaining when Tails of Iron got so much right to begin with.

Stellar Blade was the best-selling physical game in the UK last week, with its launch sales on PS5 being enough to see it top sales charts in the region. Sony and Shift Up haven't shared any official sales data just yet, but this marks a good start for the title, which holds the potential to sell well long-term. TopSpin 2K25 was another new entry in the UK sales chart last week, debuting in third place.

We're still patiently waiting for that PlayStation port of PixelJunk Eden 2 to arrive, but it's good to see that Q-Games is keeping itself busy with multiple projects. While we wait for the zen gardening platformer to turn up, take a look at All You Need Is Help, a brand new co-op game from the PixelJunk team.

Today marks a momentous occasion for Sea of Thieves: it expands to all-new platforms with a PS5 release, Season 12 content expands the game for all players (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC), and developer Rare makes its debut on a PlayStation console. Early access players have been testing the PS5 version for the past five days now, but in just a short amount of time, the standard edition releases and opens the floodgates for all.

This author thought Helldivers 2 was going to be a colossal flop, so it just goes to show how unpredictable this industry can be. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, it currently sits behind a trio of Spider-Man titles, a couple of God of War games, and Ghost of Tsushima as Sony’s seventh highest grossing game in the United States to date. It’s been out less than three months, and isn’t even being sold at full-price.

Now this is the kind of crazy gaming scheme that we can get behind. Over the last few days, a Twitch channel called JimMashima (very good) has been attracting thousands of viewers to its Tekken 8 livestreams — but a real person isn't behind the action. Indeed, this is a bot with a singular purpose: to mash just one button and see how far it can climb through the game's online rankings.

Lucy's already iconic backpack from Amazon's Fallout adaptation is now up for pre-order at UK retailer Game (thanks VGC), and for just £200, you can proudly proclaim your Vault-Dweller status to the world. The bag, which is a replica of the in-show prop, sports the Vault 33 logo and comes equipped with a thick yellow fleece blanket «to complete the authentic look of the bag as seen in the show”.

Atlus has shared another Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance trailer focusing entirely on the new story branch featured in the expanded PS5, PS4 re-release. Also releasing for Xbox systems and Nintendo Switch, you can see exactly what the fresh content has to offer over the original release in the trailer above. An expanded plot and new allies are teased, all of which are set to feature in reportedly «75 hours» of new content.

Looking for all outfits and how to get them in Stellar Blade? Costumes, or Nano Suits, are a big part of Shift Up's console debut, with over 30 outfits to unlock. Many of the outfits are discovered within the world as Design Patterns which need to be crafted, although you'll also unlock others by completing quests or purchasing them from in-game retailers. On this page, as part of our Stellar Blade guide, we're going to reveal all outfits and how to get them.

If you’re not familiar with the Playdate, it’s the dinky yellow handheld with a crank that’s actively coveting a hobbyist, indie game development crowd. It’s home to a number of unique experiences already, but for PlayStation fans, this may be the most intriguing outing yet: Psygnosis’ legendary PS1 racer WipEout, rendered in beautiful black-and-white polygons.

It feels like it's been a while since we've had an exciting new single-player FPS on PS5. Sure, there've been a few releases here and there, like last year's Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, but nothing has really had the same impact as when DOOM Eternal or Metro Exodus released. However, Luna Abyss could be that next game with its rock-solid gunplay and breakneck pace.

Take-Two will shut down OlliOlli World and Rollerdrome studio Roll7 as well as Kerbal Space Program team Intercept Games as it looks to cut five per cent of its workforce. The news was revealed by Bloomberg after the outlet obtained documentation indicating Roll7 will close and offer severance agreements to staff. Meanwhile, a notice has been filed with the Washington State Employment Security Department to close a Seattle office, where Intercept Games is based.

Update: Sucker Punch says it's put a stop to the freezing problem that's been plaguing Ghost of Tsushima since the release of its latest update. Patch 2.19 adds support for crossplay, but after installing it, players were quick to report a stuttering and hitching issue that occurred frequently during gameplay. For some, it was so bad that the title basically became unplayable, across both the single-player adventure and the Legends co-op mode.

Sony has today confirmed the three PS5, PS4 games PS Plus Essential members can look forward to playing as part of their subscription for May 2024. Available to download from Tuesday, 7th May 2024, they are:

On the hunt for some shiny new games for your PS5? Well, you're certainly in the right place!

Looking for a Great Desert walkthrough in Stellar Blade? This page will demonstrate how to discover every collectible and resource in the colossal area, which represents another sandbox-style location in Shift Up's console debut. As part of our Stellar Blade guide, our Great Desert walkthrough will detail the locations of Cans, Design Patterns, Beta Cores, Body Cores, Exospines, Passcodes, Camps, and more.

Helldivers 2's latest patch, 01.000.300, dropped yesterday. It introduced sweeping balancing changes to the game and announced in-universe that the previously placid Terminids had broken free of their humane enclosures. While these once-captive sources of E-710 (which Socialists will suggest is just «oil» spelt backwards) run rampant, the Helldivers community debates whether developer Arrowhead may have introduced a fun nerf.

You're either utterly obsessed with Funko Pops or you can't stand the sight of them, and there's no in-between. As such, newly announced PS5, PS4 game Funko Fusion is already facing an uphill battle with some console owners. Using what appears to be a similar structure and approach to the LEGO games, this is a title playable alone or in four-player online co-op, and it's out on 13th September 2024. Check it out in the above reveal trailer.

For all you democracy dealers out there, a brand new Warbond is soon to join Helldivers 2, giving you yet more rewards to earn. Launching on 9th May, Polar Patriots is its name, and this snowy-themed Warbond is frozen over with cool new stuff.

PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida and Greg Rice will present the headlining keynote at the Develop: Brighton gaming expo in July, it's been confirmed. A conference designed for game developers, the two indie experts will host the «Supporting Indies and Creativity in Game Development» keynote in Brighton, UK on 11th July 2024.

Whether exploring the irradiated monuments of Washington D.C. in Fallout 3 or gambling away your last couple of Caps on The Strip in Fallout: New Vegas, the series' North American setting is an essential piece of the puzzle. And while players have previously been given tantalising glimpses of how the rest of Bethesda's bleak world might be faring, studio head Todd Howard says the plan is to keep the series set in the US.

The highly rated co-op adventure that is Sea of Thieves has arrived on PS5, marking developer Rare's first ever release on PlayStation platforms, if you can believe it. The game first launched for Xbox One and PC back in 2018, and it's been heavily updated over the years, to the point where it's managed to maintain a very healthy community.

Microsoft has announced that it'll be hosting its 'Xbox Games Showcase 2024' on the 9th June, which, under previous circumstances, wouldn't necessarily be a huge deal for us here on the PlayStation side of the fence. However, with Microsoft's now obvious push towards more and more multiplatform titles, it's all but guaranteed that we'll see some games that will inevitably end up on PlayStation platforms.

Sony will add a new feature to PS5 later this year, allowing users to invite others to a multiplayer game by generating a shareable link on the console or via the PlayStation App. This link can then be shared on social media or via direct message, allowing AFK, offline, or even players you aren't friends with (yet) to secure a spot.

C-Smash VRS is easily one of the best-supported PSVR2 games on the platform. We already know it's due to get a flat-screen version for PS5 later in the year, but the game as we know it is also due a major update — and it's coming very soon. Tomorrow, 1st May, the futuristic racket sports arcade title will get yet another free major update, the headline addition being Time Attack mode.

Despite the love it received from core gamers and critics alike, Remedy's recent effort, Alan Wake 2, has yet to make back its development and marketing budget. This surprising situation has plenty of contributing factors, which we first covered in December, but the reality is that sales are soft. No doubt striking while the irons are hot, Chinese multinational holding company Tencent, the largest video game company in the world, has increased its stake in the Finnish developer from 5% to 15%, securing additional shares and voting rights.

Revolutionary RPG Baldur's Gate 3 was the surpise hit of 2023; a confluence of contributing factors that led to Larian's creating a once-in-a-generation level experience. But Larian has left the building, moving onwards and upwards, and ultimate IP holder Hasbro has already made a $1 billion bet on internal game development.

Square Enix appears to have cancelled or at least rescoped the size of multiple unannounced games as a result of an internal review into its development process, with a «content disposal» loss totalling 22.1 billion yen, or $141 million. As a result of the investigation, the publisher shall «revise the Group’s approach to the development of high-definition (HD) games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources».

Another gameplay trailer for upcoming fighter Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero has arrived, showcasing a further glut of characters. The theme of this video is 'Master and Apprentice', so we've got the likes of Piccolo and Kid Gohan putting in an appearance, as well as Master Roshi and his Turtle School pupils Krillin and Yamcha.

After the disappointment that was Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, wouldn't an entirely new entry in the Batman: Arkham series go over nicely? Well, that wish has come true, but you won't find it on any PlayStation hardware. Batman: Arkham Shadow is a VR title exclusive to Meta Quest 3, releasing at the end of 2024. Catch it in the teaser trailer above, with more details set to be shared next month at Summer Game Fest.

PS Stars, or PlayStation Stars, is a free loyalty program for PS5 and PS4 which enables you to earn PS Store credit, free games, and Digital Collectibles. If you're a PS Plus subscriber, then you'll earn additional Points based on each PS Store purchase you make.

Square Enix has revealed the bugs stopping Final Fantasy XVI players from starting New Game+ and unlocking specific Trophies will be fixed in a PS5 patch slated to arrive at the end of next week. When beginning a second playthrough and deciding to skip the prologue, some users are not seeing essential party members spawn, making it impossible to push the main quest forward. The publisher came up with a workaround, but the PS5 update landing on 9th May 2024 should fix it for good.

Koei Tecmo has shared a brief sales update for recent PS5 exclusive Rise of the Ronin, revealing «sales are surpassing the Nioh series». Without posting any hard numbers, it goes on to say the game has a «high valuation» amongst players and the company is now looking at «mid to long-term growth» for the title.

Well, it's been quite some time since we wrote about Ghost of Tsushima updates, but the open world action game has a new patch on PS5 and PS4. As outlined by developer Sucker Punch, update 2.19 tweaks the title for crossplay support, ahead of the PC version's release on the 16th May. PlayStation users will be able to team up with PC players in the game's co-op Legends mode.

There's been a lot of discussion surrounding the commercial success of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The PS5 exclusive launched on the 29th February, but despite garnering near universal acclaim from critics, questions were quickly raised regarding sales numbers, with Square Enix yet to provide any official statistics (which usually isn't a great sign).

After almost seven years at the studio, Alex Barnes, director of PSVR2 spinoff Horizon: Call of the Mountain, has been made redundant by Liverpoool-based developer Firesprite. In March, a report from Eurogamer alleged that a toxic work culture had been allowed to develop at the PlayStation first-party developer.

It sounds like Korean developer Shift Up may revert its controversial Stellar Blade outfit changes, as it’s told fans to “stay tuned for updates” and thanked players for their “passion and feedback”. For those out of the loop, a petition went viral this weekend after gamers noticed some alterations to a couple of the release’s costumes, incorporated by the release’s day one patch.

The Helldivers 2 community isn't entirely impressed with developer Arrowhead's latest patch, 01.000.300, which, according to some, significantly nerfed players' fun. In the patch notes, a fix for the seemingly busted way shrapnel ricochets was alleged, but the community has since proved the problem still exists, although it's actually the Eruptor that's to blame.

The PS5 version of Fallout 4 should now be available to all PS Plus members no matter how you first claimed the game, as Bethesda has confirmed the edition provided by the now defunct PS Plus Collection will offer the free upgrade. There were some initial issues surrounding PS Plus Extra users gaining access, which were the first to be resolved, and now it won't block those who redeemed the RPG through the PS Plus Collection either.

Skyrim was 2011. Fallout 4 was 2015. Starfield was 2023. Development cycles are growing longer all across the industry, but for Bethesda in particular, it's felt like the company has really struggled to create a consistent pipeline — especially in the last decade or so. This is even more apparent when you factor in projects like The Elder Scrolls 6, which was barely a concept when it was first announced in 2018.

There are a lot of things to discover in Stellar Blade, but the primary type of collectible is cans. As you explore the PS5 console exclusive’s Naytiba-inhabited world, you’ll discover all sorts of tins, ranging from iced coffee to soda. All of these brands, however, are fictional – because Korean developer Shift Up wasn’t able to secure a partnership with a real-life manufacturer like Pepsi or Coca-Cola.

Housemarque is celebrating the third anniversary of PS5, PC title Returnal by revealing a new artbook and graphic novel called Fallen Asteria. 88 pages in length, the latter can be previewed above in an animated version of the first issue. The graphic novel goes on sale from 22nd October 2024 and will cost $19.99.

Following yesterday's launch of Sea of Thieves on PS5, Microsoft has now delivered on its initial multi-platform promise to bring some of its exclusive Xbox experiences to new consoles. Having made the surprise announcement in February, the firm has brought Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, and the aforementioned seafaring adventure to PS5, PS4 boxes as well as Nintendo Switch. During the presentation that revealed Microsoft's multi-platform plans, Phil Spencer and his team refused to discuss any efforts beyond those four titles. Is that it, then? Will Microsoft now return to releasing first-party titles exclusively for Xbox Series X|S and PC? Those questions can't be answered definitively yet, but probably not.

D3 has confirmed it'll be bringing Earth Defense Force 6 to Western shores on PS5, PS4 from 24th July 2024, just shy of two years after its original Japanese release. A tongue-in-cheek news bulletin trailer has been posted online to mark the update and pre-orders are live on the PS Store now. The release date means EDF fans are in for quite the summer since Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is also slated to arrive on PS5, PS4 on 26th September 2024.

Diablo IV's upcoming Season 4 promises to be transformative. Blizzard has decided to forgo the usual swathe of service content, instead using the opportunity to rework how itemisation builds crafting work and introduce improvements and fixes requested by the player base.

Deliver Us the Moon, Deliver Us Mars developer KeokeN Interactive has laid off its entire team due to a lack of publishing options — a worrying sign of things to come. Co-founder and CEO Koen Deetman warned last month that this might be the case following the frosty reception many smaller studios seeking funding received at this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC).

Update: Since publishing this article earlier in the week, Stellar Blade's user score rating has increased another point, up to 9.3 from the Metacritic community. That makes it one of the highest rated PS5 games of all time.

Stellar Blade’s boss battles are among its most memorable moments, so it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that developer Shift Up is plotting a kind of boss rush mode for its PS5 debut. Teased by director Hyung-Tae Kim in an interview with Korean publication Nate, he revealed that some kind of arcade-style back-to-back boss challenge option is currently in the early stages of production.

The Fallout TV adaptation continues to go from strength to strength as Amazon has revealed the series has received 65 million viewers, making it the second most-watched show in the streaming service's history. It's also the most popular series on the platform since The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuted in 2022.

Bandai Namco has spiled the beans on what's next for Tekken 8. Throughout the rest of 2024, players can expect a bunch of free updates, and Lidia has been confirmed as the game's second DLC character. She arrives at some point this summer.

Slayer is one of those fighting game characters who's always oozed cool, and the wizards at Arc System Works have somehow made him cooler than ever in Guilty Gear Strive. His debut trailer is a feast for the eyes, as we get to gawk at his fresh design and new moves. He's the fourth and final DLC character for Season 3, with Season 4 confirmed to be in development.

EA Sports F1 24 is fast on the approach, launching on PS5 and PS4 in a little over a month. To give players a glimpse at what the sim racer looks like in motion, we have the just-premiered video above, offering about 14 minutes of raw gameplay.

The worlds of PS5’s hot new console exclusive Stellar Blade and gacha mobile sensation NIKKE: Goddess of Victory will collide in the near future. Director Hyung-Tae Kim already teased the possibility of a collaboration in an interview with Push Square earlier in the year, but now he’s confirmed to Gamer Braves that “a very high-quality crossover” will launch later down the line. He added: “It’s something you can definitely look forward to.”