Latest news with #not-E3
Metro
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
The Alters review - send in the clones
From the makers of This War Of Mine and Frostpunk comes a new sci-fi survival game, where you literally are your own worst enemy. Now that we've finally finished our Nintendo Switch 2 launch coverage, and the madness of not-E3 week is over, we have time to circle back and see what we might have missed from the beginning of the month. Normally, June isn't a busy time for new releases but for some reason this year was different and MindsEye proved to be such a baffling creation we were compelled to cover it as soon as possible. The Alters wasn't any more sensible in picking its release date, especially with the summer games drought now upon us, but it is a vastly superior experience. Technically, it's a survival game, but rather than a formless sandbox world to explore it has a tight narrative, very much in the vein of films such as Mickey 17, Moon, and Multiplicity (except that it doesn't begin with the letter M). The idea of a single person being cloned multiple times, to perform different or dangerous tasks is surprisingly common in movies (which is a little strange as companies would surely prefer to just use multiple, low paid workers) but relatively rare in games, as anything other than a throwaway excuse for getting an extra life. With The Alters though, the concept takes centre stage. Frostpunk and This War Of Mine would have been fine games in their own right but Polish developer 11 bit studios elevated them by using the gameplay to explore morality and the human condition. By constantly forcing you to choose between the lesser of two (or more) evils, you gained an often disturbing insight into how the real world works and how immoral or destructive acts can initially be driven by good intentions. In The Alters, you play as engineer Jan Dolski, an unremarkable everyman who finds himself stranded on alien planet, whose sun emits deadly radiation if you're caught out in the open when it rises above the horizon. This creates a tight time limit for the whole game but luckily you have access to a mobile base, which is presented like the bases from XCOM, with a side-on view where you can see everyone working away, like a sci-fi ant colony. The base is built inside a giant wheel, but there's no one except you to operate it, which is where the cloning comes in. Not only do you need more people to staff the base, but you also need to go outside and forage for resources, in order to craft tools and equipment, and grow food. The most precious commodity is something called rapidium, which has the ability to accelerate cell growth in any living thing. This is used for food but, just as importantly, to create clones – or alters as the game calls them. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Most alters can do most ordinary jobs but sometimes you need specialists, like a scientist, to work on something more specific. This may seem impossible, given the original Jan is just an ordinary engineer, but the conceit is that the central computer has all his memories stored and it's able to extrapolate from there different paths his life could've taken, in order to get alters with different abilities. We're not sure that makes much sense but it's why we mentioned Multiplicity, even though it's a comedy and not sent in space. In that film, Michael Keaton plays innumerable different clones, with very different personalities, and, in a rather less slapstick manner, that's how The Alters works too. The narrative is fascinating, in that the thing the alters are most interested in, is how and why your life didn't go down the path that would've led to them. They don't necessarily trust you or your decisions and they're fully aware that they're disposable and that while you might make it home okay, if everything works out, they're just as likely to be discarded or sacrificed. As a result, you're not just managing them in terms of telling them what to do but dealing with their personal concerns as well – which despite decades of strategy management games is not something any of them have ever really got into. You can't refer them to HR, so instead you have to tell them what you think will best motivate them and then make the decision as to whether you outright lie or not. There's a tendency for the script to rely on a single, cliched personality type for each alter, such as the nerdy scientist, but while some of the plot points, such as neglecting home life in favour of work, are equally predictable the alters do change over time, as a result of your input and their interactions with each other. Dealing with alters is when the game is at its best but some of the other elements don't work quite so well. Every major task takes time to complete and that means that sometimes you're not doing anything more than pressing a button and waiting for the day to end – although you could argue that makes it even more realistic. Unfortunately, the survival aspect is also not very engaging, as it literally seems to be designed to waste time. The graphics are surprisingly good – the whole game looks far better than its mid-budget price tag suggests, but the day-to-day exploration and tedious minigames are a slog and quickly become repetitive. More Trending The increasingly dangerous aliens are also an irritation, as they're almost invisible and they have time compression abilities that, you guessed it, are also designed to steal precious days away from you. These aren't ruinous problems but interacting with the alters, and the quandaries they throw up, is much more interesting than the okay-ish survival elements. The game is inventive and ambitious, but it really needed a second pass in order to get everything working at the same level. We'd very much welcome a sequel but, ironically, The Alters would also work really well as a movie. In Short: A management game where you have to handle people as well as just spreadsheets, but while its sci-fi elements add intrigue the survival gameplay isn't all it could be. Pros: A fantastic idea that attempts a clever mixture of narrative, management, and survival gameplay, with some very difficult moral decisions to make. Surprisingly good graphics. Cons: The survival gameplay is repetitive and rarely very interesting. Pacing can be knocked off course at times and some of the writing is a little basic. Score: 7/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £28.99*Publisher: 11 bit studiosDeveloper: 11 bit studiosRelease Date: 13th June 2025 Age Rating: 16 *available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The best Mario Kart World character is not who you'd expect MORE: Xbox to be hit by fourth wave of layoffs in 18 months says report MORE: Switch 2 has a secret feature that's perfect for an overlooked genre
Metro
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
MindsEye still has no reviews but plenty of bugs in 'disastrous' launch
One of the most important GTA developers has released a new third person action game, but its launch has been marred by performance issues and bugs. Launching a brand new IP at the same time as the Switch 2 launch and the not-E3 season of preview showcases was perhaps not the wisest choice for new third person action game MindsEye, but that's turned out to be only one problem amongst many for the troubled release. MindsEye, developed by Build A Rocket Boy, was released across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on Tuesday, June 10, and as you may have noticed, we don't have a review up yet. In fact, no outlets have published reviews at the time of writing, presumably because everyone is in the same boat and hasn't received a review copy yet. Publishers aren't required to give codes to publications but, as has been the case in the past, it can often suggest that they're not entirely confident in the final product and want to avoid negative press. While we'll hold our full judgement for now, the game's launch hasn't exactly gone down well with those that have already bought it. On Steam, the game has a 'mixed' average rating based on over 800 reviews, with some players calling out performance issues and 'extremely restricting' system requirements. Many of these issues have been encapsulated in video clips on social media, which show stuttering problems, glitches where you fall through the floor, distorted faces, characters floating in the air, and crash bugs. 'They really should have delayed MindsEye,' one user on X wrote. 'Was playing it and all of a sudden it crashed. Then my save data got corrupted.' Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. 'MindsEye is a complete technical DISASTER,' another wrote. 'Avoid this game right now at ALL COSTS.' Following the game's launch, Build A Rocket Boy has promised to improve performance across all platforms. 'We understand that the current minimum spec requirements are very high, but our engineering team are working around the clock to improve performance on mainstream hardware as well as consoles by integrating the performance improvements in Unreal Engine V5.6,' a statement reads. 'We will provide patch 3 update timing, including these improvements, within the next 24 hours.' In the run up to launch, MindsEye has had a weird vibe around it. When negative previews began circulating online last month, Build A Rocket Boy's co-CEO Mark Gerhard claimed all the people who reacted negatively to the game were being financed by an unnamed 'someone'. In a response on Discord, Gerhard wrote: 'I just said that there is a concerted effort by some people that don't want to see Leslie [Benzies] or Build A Rocket Boy to be successful that are making a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio. It's pretty easy to see the bots and the repeated replies to any content that we put out.' While he doesn't explicitly state who he is referring to, many have taken this to be a reference to Rockstar Games and/or Take-Two Interactive. Leslie Benzies, the co-founder of Build A Rocket Boy, was previously a lead developer on the GTA series and former president of Rockstar North. He left Rockstar in 2016 but, shortly afterwards, Benzies filed a lawsuit against the company claiming he was unlawfully dismissed and entitled to unpaid royalties. This case came to an end in February 2019 with an undisclosed settlement between Take-Two and Benzies. MindsEye is the studio's first game but Build A Rocket Boy previously announced a massively multiplayer online title called Everywhere, which has been compared to an adult version of Roblox. More Trending While MindsEye was originally going to be one experience within this wider Everywhere package, it has spun out into a separate entity with its own creation suite, called and However, as revealed in an interview with VGC, the developers have said Everywhere will be shown again at some point in the future. 'MindsEye is definitely the thing that people should be focusing on,' assistant game director, Adam Whiting, said. 'But we haven't forgotten about Everywhere, it will re-emerge.' It remains to be seen if MindsEye can overcome these initial launch issues, but for now, you can expect our full review in the coming weeks. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 officially breaks record for fastest-selling console ever MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 comparison: how do Switch 1 games play on the new console? MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 outsells Switch 1 launch by over 100% but fails to beat PS5
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sony Reveals Last-Minute PlayStation Showcase Ahead Of Summer Game Fest
Just when it seemed like Sony might be ditching the not-E3 festivities this year, it announced a new 40-minute State of Play will be airing tomorrow on June 4. The PlayStation showcase arrives in a packed week that includes the launch of the Switch 2, Summer Game Fest Live on Friday, and the Xbox summer showcase on Sunday. It feels like the gaming days of yore. Almost. What can we expect from this new State of Play livestream? Sony was cagier than usual. 'Watch live for news and updates on must-play games coming to PS5,' the PS Blog reads. 'The show highlights a selection of great games from creators across the globe.' Normally the company calls out VR games as well, so maybe this means the show will be strictly focused on upcoming PlayStation 5 releases. Despite Grand Theft Auto 6 being delayed until May 2026, it's becoming a decently packed fall for Sony between first-party exclusives like Ghost of Yotei and Marathon and third-party blockbusters like Borderlands 4. Mafia: The Old Country and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater also drop in August. Could there be a few more big fall releases that we haven't officially heard about yet? Resident Evil 9 is already heavily rumored to be appearing at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest. Maybe it'll get previewed first by Sony. The rest of Sony's first-party plans remain up in the air. Following the cancellation of a number of live-service projects, including games being worked on at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games, as well as the recent apparent setback of FairGame$, it's not clear what releases PlayStation Studios might have ready to go in the next 12 months. Insomniac'sWolverine game was first revealed back in 2021 but lost its creative director just last year. Maybe we'll see more of Housemarque's Saros, a new sci-fi roguelite in the vein of Returnal. The State of Play will begin streaming on YouTube and Twitch starting at 5:00 p.m. ET. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Metro
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Resident Evil 9 could be revealed at Summer Game Fest this week
The next instalment in Capcom's Resident Evil series will debut this week according to sources, with all signs pointing to a 2026 launch. Ahead of Summer Game Fest and the other showcases of this month's not-E3 season, one of the big questions is whether we'll see more on the future of Resident Evil. Capcom confirmed Resident Evil 9 was in development last July, with Koshi Nakanishi, the director of Resident Evil 7, at the helm. Since then, we've heard nothing official about the next entry, but rumours suggest it will sport an open world and star Leon S. Kennedy. Almost a year later, several insiders have claimed Capcom is preparing for a big reveal at Summer Game Fest on Friday, June 6. The rumour first appeared via YouTuber ScreenFire Germany last month, where they claimed the first trailer for Resident Evil 9 will be shown at the event, albeit with the caveat that the information is 'without guarantee' and could 'change'. The source, who was the first to claim remakes of Resident Evil Zero and Code Veronica are in development, also states that Resident Evil 9 is planned for the first quarter of 2026 – although it will likely come after March, according Capcom's recent financial projections. Resident Evil celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, on March 22, so it's very possible the ninth entry could land somewhere around this date. Following these claims, fellow Resident Evil insider AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem has now stated they are '95% positive' that Resident Evil 9 will show up at Summer Game Fest. (1/3) Again, not like I can give 100% confirmation, no one's directly told me or the like. But at this point I'm like 95% positive we're on the verge of RE9 being revealed at SGF. This is the first time behind the scenes there's a lot of buzz in the grapevine, lots of rumblings — AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) June 2, 2025 In a post on X, Dusk Golem wrote: 'Again, not like I can give 100% confirmation, no one's directly told me or the like. But at this point I'm like 95% positive we're on the verge of Resident Evil 9 being revealed at Summer Game Fest. 'This is the first time behind the scenes there's a lot of buzz in the grapevine, lots of rumblings and the sorta activity behind the scenes that usually are signs we're about to get a Resident Evil game announced.' While they don't go into specifics on these 'rumblings', Capcom recently appeared to tease Resident Evil 9 in a video promoting Resident Evil 4 remake. More Trending The past two mainline Resident Evil games, Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, were both announced during Sony events in 2016 and 2020, respectively. Sony hasn't announced a State Of Play presentation for this month, but one is rumoured. However, Capcom is a confirmed partner at Summer Game Fest, so it's possible Resident Evil 9 could show up at the latter instead. It's also true that publishers often change their mind about their reveals at the last minute and it may well be the case that Capcom hasn't 100% settled on an unveiling this month. Beyond the ninth entry, Capcom is also rumoured to be working on several Resident Evil remakes, with the next one expected to be Resident Evil Zero. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The Crew 3 and Assassin's Creed 4 remake in development at Ubisoft claims source MORE: Black Ops 6 players threaten to quit over new microtransaction ads MORE: Survival Kids hands-on preview – the biggest Switch 2 third party exclusive
