A new post to cover the world of video games and what occurred during the week on May 12th to the 18th, of 2024. I’m going to be talking about the gaming releases, gaming news, and some entertainment news that caught my interest. Please be aware I’m not covering all that has gone on since it would take longer than I have to track it all down and to have an opinion on it. So, let’s get this blog post going.
Game Releases:
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes –
A surreal puzzling adventure that takes place in 1963 in Italy. You play as a young woman who is visiting an old mansion in Siracuse, Italy where things get very weird quickly. It’s up to your wits and puzzle solving abilities to figure out this adventure which gets dangerous. Released on PC and Switch on May 16th, 2024. The game was developed by Simogo and published by Annapurna Interactive.
Read Only Memories: Neurodiver –
You play as the ESPer, ES88, who is tasked with tracking and stopping the golden butterfly. This creature is hiding out in the memories of creatures fracturing and ruining them which must be fixed. Once those are healed, in this visual novel adventure, you’ll get a better idea of where the golden butterfly is hiding out to take them on. Released on May 16th, 2024, by developer Midboss LLC and published by Chorus Worldwide Games. It came out on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and One, PC, and Switch.
Braid: Anniversary Edition –
An award winning puzzle platformer that now gets revamped for modern consoles. You play as Tim as he tries to solve the world around him using his ability to stop time. Figure out what’s going on in this strange place so that you can save the princess who was snatched by an evil monster. The release includes revamped pixel art along with new levels, and some insight into Jonathan Blow’s thought processes while making the game. The version was done by Thelka Inc who also published it on Xbox Series X/S and One, PS5 and 4, PC, and Switch. It came out on digital stores on May 14th, 2024.
Game News:
The CEO role over at PlayStation is being split into two. Hermen Hulst will be looking after the game side of the division, while Hideaki Nishino will be taking care of the console side of the business dealing with UI, console specs, and so on. They duo will be taking over on June 1st, 2024. Check out the details from Gamesindustry.biz if you’re looking for more information.
It makes sense to split this role up as the last CEO, Jim Ryan, saying it was difficult to have to travel from Japan, to North America, to Europe and all in a week. If this gives them a bit more flexibility in how they do their jobs that’s great. It will be interesting to see how this changes the way Sony operates and if the games become more user friendly in say countries where PSN isn’t a thing?
The next Assassin’s Creed got a title and trailer to bring to life the new game. Called Assassin’s Creed Shadows it is set in Japan and involves a male and a female character. If you choose to play the male, you’ll be playing the historical samurai figure Yasuke, the female character will be a shinobi called Naoe. The game is coming out on November 15th, 2024.
It looks like a pretty typical Assassin’s Creed game, with lots of action and sneaking around to pull of kills. There isn’t much to say about it other then it will be fun to see how their take differs or comes close to other samurai games that have come out recently.
Developer Double Eleven and publisher Paradox Interactive are parting ways after working together for nine years on Prison Architect downloadable content, console ports, and its upcoming sequel. The sequel will now be worked on by Kokku who has been working with Double Eleven since autumn of 2023 on the game. The two amicably split when they could not come to an agreement once their contract had been completed by finishing their development of Prison Architect 2. This was announced on the steam page for Prison Architect 2 where you will find all the information.
That does not bode well for the sequel when a developer decides to move on. The game is reportedly finished content wise but needs to be ironed out before its release. We will see how it goes but my interest and fears over the sequel have increased a lot that it won’t be able to live up to expectations. My own expectations had been for a fun if different experience that captured some of the magic of the original, now I’m not sure it will manage that. Hopefully it does, but I’m keeping my hopes in check on that.
There is some reorganization going on at Square Enix that will affect European Union and the U.S. branches of the company. Layoffs will be happening with publishing, IT, and the indie games division expected to take the brunt of the firings. For more information on this news, please check out Videogameschronicle.com and their report.
The onslaught of layoffs continues with even Japan now getting in on it. A sad day for indie games, publishing, and IT workers who were just trying to make their dreams happen. I hope they land on their feet and can carry on or find some employment in another industry if they decide gaming is no longer for them.
Ubisoft announced that they’re canceling The Division Heartland the upcoming free to play shooter. They will be moving resources towards games like XDefiant and other Tom Clancy Rainbow Six games to entertain fans. The game was originally announced in 2021 but little has been heard from it since then. This news comes from IGN.com so please go check out their news story.
Unfortunate news for fans of the series who were looking for something new. It’s said that they’d even done some closed testing on the game, and it was received fairly well, but it wasn’t enough to save this game apparently. It is a business after all and there are times where projects looked good and great but, in the end, didn’t make enough financial sense to release, which is terrible, but it is a thing across many art forms.
Another IP franchise is joining in on the Total War game series. This time Star Wars has a game in development from Creative Assembly. The developers have three games in the works at the studio and the rumors are that Star Wars is among those being worked on. This was reported by Dualshockers.com so check out their news story on the news.
Interesting that they’re getting a bit away from the Warhammer games and doing something different. I’m sure they have a plan for factions because there are only two big ones in Star Wars that most people care about. It would be good to see more of an expanded world and what that means and if we get space travel and space units in this game.
Entertainment News:
A TV adaptation of Tomb Raider is moving forward at Amazon. The project is being run by show runner Phoebe Waller-Bridge who is known for her shows Fleabag and Killing Eve will write and executive produce the project. It’s being worked on by Amazon MGM, Crystal Dynamics who made the games, and production company Legendary Television. It will be a while before shooting or casting begins as the project is still in the writing phase. Check out the news from Amazon where they released a press release.
It could certainly be a fun project depending on what they decide to do with it. If they go the more mature and grittier route that the newer games have done that could make for an interesting path. Or they could keep it simpler and all about finding tombs to see the hidden artifacts to record them for history. I look forward to seeing what they decide to make if the project continues to advance and get made.
The long in the works film Megalopolis has had its first teaser trailer. It is a film about the metropolis New Rome when a disaster strikes the city. Two factions emerge trying to push their vision for the city and its future. The project is directed by Francis Ford Coppola who has been working on it in some form since the idea came to him in 1977. The movie is set to be released on May 16th, 2024, at Cannes the movie does not yet have a distributor.
This is quite the weird trailer that feels like it has so much going on and yet nothing at all going on. It’s flashy and interesting but in such a way that I’m not sure what to make of it. I kind of want to see the movie but the trailer didn’t really show me what it was about, so I felt confused about it. I just don’t know what to say about this trailer other than it is intriguing for the right or wrong reasons and which it is, tends to be based on what you like.
And that is all for this week. Thank you for stopping by to take a look at what is going on and what I’ve written. It is much appreciated. For those with questions, or suggestions, or comments on things please feel free to leave them in the comment section. You can also get in touch with me via email: Lostvideogamesblog@gmail.com. Or if you prefer social media, you’ll find me under the name Snipehockey on: Twitter/Universeodon on Mastodon/or on Bluesky. I’d love to hear from you. Please also take a moment and check out my podcast Running Sentences which is available on YouTube and on Spotify. I narrate weird fun stories that I’ve written and well it is a bit of fun and free to listen to. Please do check it out. And with that, goodbye for this week and stay safe out there.
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