This week’s rough and tumble gaming news comes quick and fast since not much went on. This is of course the blog that covers the gaming releases, gaming news, and entertainment news that caught my interest. This go around covers April 21st to the 27th of 2024 and what it had to offer. Let’s get to it?
Game Releases:
Tales of Kenzera: Zau –
A side scrolling metroidvania adventure game where you play as a young shaman named Zau. You begin a quest to collect three spirits so that the god of death will return your father to the land of the living. Developed by Surgent Studios and published under EA Originals on April 23rd, 2024. It came out on Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Stellar Blade –
This action adventure game is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. It’s set in the third person with lots of brawling enemies to take care of as Eve tries to reconnect with what’s left of humanity. Her mission starts off terribly when her ship crashes on entering into the atmosphere of Earth killing her companions. The game hit stores on April 26th, 2024, on PS5. The development of the game was done by Shift Up and XDEV while Sony Interactive Entertainment handled publishing.
Sand Land –
Based on the famous manga, this game follows the adventures of Beelzebub, Rao, Ann, and Thief as they make their way across the desert to the Legendary Springs. It’s an action adventure RPG where you mainly play as Beelzebub in the third person perspective battling it out with whatever creatures you come across in your quest. Released on Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PS5 & 4 from developer ILCA and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment. It found its way across the desert to stores on April 25th in Japan and April 26th, 2024, everywhere else.
Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes –
A modern take on the classic JRPG where several nations have settled into an uneasy peace where war may crop up at any time. The Golden Empire has discovered a technology that will help them harness their rune-lenses weapons even more and began to encroach on others in search of more. All this as the drums of war come crashing down. The game was developed by Rabbit & Bear Studios who ran a successful Kickstarter for the game and published by 505 Games. It came out after man delays on April 23rd, 2024 for PC, Switch, PS5 & 4, and Xbox Series X/S & One.
Gaming News:
Embracer Group is changing how they operate the company. Instead of one big company it will now be three divisions working on making games. They will be known as Middle-earth Enterprises, Asmodee Group, and Coffee Stain & Friends. Each group will be handling different things, Middle-earth will be focused on big AAA style games, Asmodee will be about table-top games and publishing, while Coffee Stain handles smaller indie games as well as mid-tier games. Check out the press release via Embracer on their website.
An interesting change though it does feel like a needed one with how many companies they owned and how all over the place things felt. This gives them a little more organization even though everything still is still directly under them, and it will easier for the company to track where products are going and so on.
A new game based on The Lord of the Rings is coming out but not exactly what most people would expect. No this is all about being a hobbit and living in the shire. It is in fact a life simulation game called Tales of the Shire which is coming out sometime in the remainder of 2024. It will be coming to Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The game is being worked on by WETA Workshop and Private Division.
This is a bit weird also it is certainly not what anyone would believe was a Lord of the Rings game. I kind of like that they’re doing something different though, showing a side of this franchise that one doesn’t normally get to experience. My only issue is that I’m not sure I’d ever play this game unless it showed up on Gamepass or was given away. Still, I hope the best for it and the developers to make something interesting.
A small update via the Steam Refund policy is going into effect. For those that pre-purchase a game and are allowed to play it before launch those hours you play it will now count against the two hour refund limit. This is about games like Battlefield where people who pay a higher price are granted access to the game a week earlier than the release date. For more information hurry over to the Steam blog for the facts.
It makes sense to do this since it seems like a loophole that people may have been taking advantage of. Even if they weren’t better to close it off so that people don’t abuse it once they learned of it. We want an industry that can make money and not have to worry about players playing the full game and returning it. Of course, these titles are often from bigger developers so it probably won’t hurt their bottom line as much, but it will still affect the workers who pour their heart and soul into the games.
Any Nintendo sort of characters or levels that are on Garry’s Mod are being taken down. This is because Nintendo has sent a request for their removal from the game.
Not surprising since it is Nintendo, and they don’t like their IP touching anything they don’t approve of. There is not much to do or say about this other than maybe Nintendo will come to their senses that it isn’t so bad to have player created creations that look like your IP. I doubt they ever will, but maybe someday they’ll get the message.
Developer Sarepta Studio has unveiled its new game, Thalassa Edge of the Abyss, a mysterious thriller set aboard a sunken ship. It’s 1905 with you playing as diver trying to discover what happened to the ship and its crew. The game is coming to PC on June 18th, 2024.
I like a good mystery game, and this certainly looks like it would appeal to that part of my mind. Though I’m also questioning how things look so pristine in the trailer despite being underwater which likes to destroy most artifacts. Hopefully there is a good explanation for that little detail that makes sense to the game.
Entertainment News:
The rights to the board game Clue have landed at Sony Pictures who now have both TV and film rights to it. There have been several attempts to make the game into a new movie, but all other than the 1985 movie have failed to get far. Sony can also make a scripted or unscripted TV show out of this should they so choose. You can check out the story on TheHollywoodReporter.com for a little more information.
It is an interesting concept to try and conquer though so many have failed to get far with the project. It’s hard to live up to the original film despite the fact that it was a flop when it released. The creative team will have a fine line to walk with drama and comedy though the recent Fallout adaptation did it pretty well. If they can create a lore and a world there are plenty of directions it could go, though perhaps it would be better as a TV show. Sony does better TV shows than movies recently so it would be better to go with what they’re stronger at.
That is all that needed to be written for this week. Thank you for stopping by and taking a look at what I found interesting. For those with comments, suggestions, or questions please feel free to get in touch with me. You can do so via email: Lostvideogamesblog@gmail.com, on via social media where I’m known as Snipehockey on Bluesky, Twitter, or on Mastodon on the Universeodon server. Or you can leave a comment in the comment section below. If you have some time, please check out my podcast Running Sentences where I narrate fiction I’ve written. I generally tell weird little stories and the current one is about a group of adventurers trying to get home, it’s available to listen to on Spotify or on YouTube if you prefer to listen there. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work, it is appreciated. Stay safe out there.
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