Today marks the end of Epic Games’ fundraising initiative for Ukraine within Fortnite. Between March 20th and April 3rd, the publisher raised $144 million USD (about $179 million CAD) in proceeds to donate to humanitarian efforts. This fundraiser began in a response to the ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia.
As Fortnite kicked off its most recent season, Epic Games announced that the total of all in-game purchases made across two weeks will be donated to Ukraine relief efforts. As the two-week period of the charity concludes, Epic Games will begin donating the full $144 million.
Rather than donate the accumulative amount to a single group, Epic Games is donating to a series of different Ukraine relief efforts. These include Direct Relief, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and the World Food Programme.
Our deepest thanks to everyone who joined us in
supporting humanitarian relief efforts for people affected by the war in Ukraine.
Given the anticipation of Fornite Chapter 3 Season 2, the game saw a staggering $36 million raised during its first day. The new season introduced beloved character skins for Doctor Strange as well as Prowler. A brand new mode where the building is removed was initially tested and is now a permanent mode for the battle royale.
The momentum hardly waivered with players all contributing to the grand total but purchasing V-bucks for in-game skins and accessories. Epic Games confirms that V-bucks and cosmetic purchases from retail cards are donated to Ukraine efforts as well.
In addition to Epic Games, Microsoft has pledged to donate its net proceeds. All purchases of Fortnite content on the Microsoft Store over the last two weeks are also being donated.
Epic Games joins a growing list of companies striving to contribute to Ukraine relief funds. Riot Games, Humble Bundle, and more have raised money for charity.
One of the most iconic point-and-click adventure games ever will return in 2022.
Return to Monkey Island, a new entry in the log running Monkey Island series from original creator Ron Gilbert, has been announced. Gilbert left Lucasfilm Games after the release of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge in 1991, but is credited as working on 2009’s Tales of Monkey Island from Telltale Games.
With Return to Monkey Island, Gilbert is back alongside Monkey Island series veteran Dave Grossman as one of the key creative minds behind the upcoming title. Michael Land, Peter McConnell and Clint Bajakian, other key names that have worked on the franchise in the past, are also back, according to the brief reveal trailer (seen above).
The game is currently in development by Gilbert’s development studio Terrible Toybox alongside Developer Digital and Disney-owned Lucasfilm Games. Little is known about Return to Monkey Island beyond the fact that it seems to — as you may have guessed — involve a return to Monkey Island. It also seems that Return is a “follow-up” to the first two entries in the series.
If I ever get to make another Monkey Island, I'm going to announce it on April 1st.
Gilbert has tried for years to get the rights to Monkey Island from Lucasfilm Games, and it appears he was finally successful.
I haven’t enjoyed a classic point-and-click adventure title in a long time, but the Monkey Island series is special to me. It’s one of the first video games I’ve ever played, and I credit it with encouraging my interest in pirates and boats as a child. I’ll also never forget the puzzle with the giant Q-Tip and a concrete monkey head or that stupid magnetic compass.
More details about Return to Monkey Island will likely be revealed in the coming months. It’s unclear when the game will release in 2022 or what platforms it’s coming to.
When he’s not sucking up entire cars, Kirby’s been busy taking home a shiny statue. Or, rather, musicians are earning that gold in his name.
That’s what happened during the 64th annual Grammy Awards on April 3rd, where musicians Charlie Rosen and Jake Silverman won a Grammy for Best Arrangement, Instrumental, or Acapella for their cover of Meta Knight’s Revenge from Kirby Superstar.
This isn’t the first time that video music has popped up at the Grammys. In 2011, Civilization IV took home Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists, making it the first win (and even nomination) for a video game song in any category. One year later, Austin Wintory’s score for Journey won Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.
It’s rather fitting, however, that Rosen and Silverman have now won for Kirby, given that the pink hero is celebrating his 30th anniversary this year. As part of that milestone, Nintendo recently released Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the Switch and is also planning a special free virtual Kirby concert in August.
PlayStation has revealed the new batch of games coming to its PlayStation Now streaming service in April.
Leading this month’s lineup is Outer Wilds, developer Mobius Digital’s critically-acclaimed time loop, open-world mystery game. The other three games are racer WRC 10 FIA World MediaChampionship, adventure game Journey to the Savage Planet (made by the now-defunct Montreal studio Typhoon) and the action-RPG Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood.
These four games, which are all PS4 titles, will join the PS Now catalogue on April 5th.
The visuals looked awful, the dialogue seemed like it was written by an über-edgy teenager and the characters’ Hot Topic-esque designs were ridiculous, to name but a few common talking points. The memes, largely focused on protagonist Jack’s obsession with killing the demon known as Chaos, were also plentiful.
All of that, coupled with a final trailer that bafflingly featured Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” led gamers to assume this had to be a “so-good-it’s-bad” sort of experience. As for me? Well, as someone whose all-time favourite gaming series is Final Fantasy, I really didn’t know what to think outside of awkwardly laughing at the trailers.
Having finally beaten the game, though, I’ve come away downright obsessed with it. To be clear: all of the aforementioned issues, plus several more that I’ll get into, are heavily prevalent in the final product. I wouldn’t ever say that Strange of Paradise is by any means a great game. However, it is, undoubtedly, a fascinating one.
I’m only good at being bad, bad
In case you’re unfamiliar, Stranger of Paradise is an action-RPG by Team Ninja, the developer of Ninja Gaiden and Nioh. Notably, it’s actually set in the world of the original Final Fantasy from 1987 follows a group of warriors who set out to stop the villainous Chaos. On top of that, Square Enix has been very clear going into the game about who Jack, surname Garland, really is: the villain of the original Final Fantasy.
That’s the most interesting thing about Stranger of Paradise, and it’s something that differentiates it from a lot of games. Stranger of Paradise, as conceived by Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy veteran Tetsuya Nomura and written by Final Fantasy VII scribe Kazushige Nojima, is a villain’s origin story. But not just any bad guy. While we’ve had prequels like Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Square Enix’s own Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII that flesh out villains, I can’t think of a game that does this to such a degree as Stranger of Paradise.
After all, Garland was a villain who maybe had five lines in the original Final Fantasy, which, as a whole, had a rather barebones narrative. To take that same generic antagonist and lean into the wild time travel plot elements to give him a full-blown, complex backstory for him 35 years later? It’s nuts, and I love the game for that. Yes, there are still unintentionally hilarious moments like Jack listening to Limp Bizkit or interrupting a long-winded monologue to shout “I don’t give a f*** who you are!” Without question, there’s some hard tonal whiplash in this game, brought on in no small part due to a fair share of clunky dialogue. The pacing also feels off, with large stretches focused more on monster-slaying than story development.
But looking past all that, Stranger of Paradise has also got a surprising amount of heart. There’s an undeniable layer of tragedy to Jack once you learn more about him, and it proves to be genuinely compelling. The relationships between his comrades, particularly the Dark Elf Astos (another minor character from the original FF), also unravel in some shockingly emotional ways. And the final few hours, in particular, somehow bring everything together in a largely cohesive and satisfying way. So many stories — in gaming or otherwise — are about the hero, so I adore getting a thorough, albeit uneven, exploration of a villain’s journey.
A love letter to the past
On top of recontextualizing one of the most important games in history, Stranger of Paradise pays tribute to the long-running series that sprung out from it. The coolest way it does this is through 27 different playable jobs pulled from several Final Fantasy games, as well as a few new ones. This means that on top of classics like the sword-based Warrior, restorative magic-focused White Mage or offensive spells-centric Black Mage, you can assume the role of a Samurai, Dragoon and Paladin.
On a visual level, it’s neat to have such stylistically different classes available, but Team Ninja has also done a stellar job in fleshing out their respective abilities to keep gameplay fresh. While there’s some overlap between jobs and their more advanced counterparts (like “Sage” being an amalgamation of White Mage and Black Mage), the majority each have their own satisfying feel. As a Dragoon, my melee attacks become slower in exchange for more range, including the ever-slick ‘Jump’ ability to launch myself towards an enemy. The Samurai, meanwhile, is all about up-close-and-personal sword combos. There are even some tantalizing “gimmick” jobs, like the new Breaker (uses the “Zantestsuken” move from classic FF summon Odin to potentially one-shot enemies) or Dark Knight (deals significantly more damage when HP is low). You can only ever have two jobs equipped at a given point, which constantly encourages you to experiment for delightfully fun combinations.
“Terra Tortura,” a stage inspired by Final Fantasy VI’s Floating Continent.
As a nice touch, Team Ninja also draws from all 15 mainline Final Fantasy games for Stranger of Paradise‘s stages. This includes a floating landmass inspired by Final Fantasy VI‘s Floating Continent, a factory akin to Final Fantasy VII‘s Mako Reactors and a jungle based on Final Fantasy IX‘s Evil Forest. What’s more, remixes of FF tunes from previous games — many originally composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu — can be heard throughout. Admittedly, this is all hindered somewhat by Team Ninja’s notoriously bad level design, with Stranger of Paradise featuring remarkably bland and uninspired areas that feel ripped from a PS2 game. Still, I dig the fan service, especially when it’s done in such a neat way; running through some of the “greatest hits” of a series I hold dear offered a lovely dose of nostalgia.
A breath of fresh air
Stranger of Paradise is quite the beguiling game.
On the one hand, all of the internet chatter was completely justified — the game is an occasionally cringe-worthy and often ugly affair. But it’s also got a deceptive amount of heart — both in the tragic story it ultimately tells, and the reverence it shows for what came before it. In an industry that often doesn’t meaningfully honour its own history, I can’t help but appreciate something like Stranger of Paradise. It’s an experiment that’s equal parts bizarre, hilarious, frustrating and bold, but it’s rarely dull, and I wish more companies would take such wild swings with their own iconic properties.
For context, a big reason I gravitated towards RPGs like Final Fantasy as I got older is that the ones I grew up with, Pokémon, remained frustratingly stuck in the past. It was only this year that we got an actually meaningful spin on that formula with Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Final Fantasy, by contrast, has constantly evolved with its mainline entries, and expanded into new genres with spin-offs like Stranger of Paradise. Hell, in the last six months alone, we’ve gotten that (an action-RPG), Chocobo GP (a racing game) and Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier (a mobile battle royale). While all have their own respective flaws, their variety at least keeps things interesting as we wait for Final Fantasy XVI.
Now, I’m not saying that every franchise should follow Stranger of Paradise to a tee, but that broader willingness to take a chance on a crazy concept is undeniably appealing. While I liked Far Cry 6 a fair bit, the game’s small-scale, roguelike-inspired DLC was arguably more interesting for its departure from series conventions. Respawn had the brilliant idea of taking the Dark Souls and Metroidvania frameworks to create Star Wars Jedi: FallenOrder, something we’d never seen from Star Wars. Omega Force made arguably its best non-Dynasty Warriors game ever when it made the action spin-off Persona 5: Strikers. Hell, Square Enix’s own mega-popular Kingdom Hearts came about because of an outlandish Final Fantasy crossover with Disney.
Admittedly, Stranger of Paradise is seemingly not selling well at the moment, so who knows what the future will bring. I sure hope it doesn’t dissuade Square or other companies from making similar sorts of crazy ventures. Because after all, who doesn’t love a little Chaos?
This week, Sony finally unveiled its often-rumoured Xbox Game Pass competitor, called the “all-new PlayStationPlus.” The three-tier subscription platform, which merges PS Plus with PS Now, includes up to 700 games and access to select retro titles when you subscribe to specific tiers. The all-new PlayStation Plus launches in some countries in June, and is coming worldwide at a later date.
We don’t have Canadian pricing yet, but we know how much the service costs in the United States.
U.S. pricing for PlayStation Plus Extra is $14.99 USD (about $18 CAD) monthly/$39.99 USD (roughly $50 CAD) quarterly/$99.99 USD (about $125 CAD) yearly. Plus Extra offers around 400 PS4 and PS5 games with “some blockbuster hits.”
U.S. pricing for Plus Premium is $17.99 USD monthly (about $22 CAD)/$49.99 quarterly (roughly $62 CAD)/ $119.99 yearly (about $148 CAD). This tier includes 340 more games with PS3 titles available via cloud streaming, and some classic titles from the PlayStation, PS2 and PSP era.
Plus Premium will also offer time-limited game trials, allowing you to try out select games before buying them, sort of like the good old days when you could rent titles.
There’s also PlayStation Plus Essential, but this tier is identical to the original PlayStation Plus.
Are you planning to buy PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium? And if you are getting Premium, what retro games are you most excited to see return? Personally, I want to see Tenchu, but let us know your choices in the comments below.
Nvidia’s cloud gaming service offers three membership options. The first is the free route that will give you standard access to the platform with a one-hour gaming limit per session. Once the hour passes, you can queue again to get another hour of free gaming in, although you may have to wait a while.
Nvidia also offers a paid membership option that gives you priority access to gaming servers without any session length limit. This subscription will cost you $12.99/month or $64.99 for six months.
Lastly, the company’s recently-released RTX 3080 tier provides a low ‘click-to-pixel’ latency of 56 milliseconds, and a boost in framerates and overall performance. The subscription is available for $24.99/month or $129.99 for six months.
Learn more about Nvidia GeForce and its subscription options here.
Tunic reminds me of my own journey and the adoption of video games into my life.
I reminisced about when cartridges and accompanying manuals were the norm. Canadian indie developer Andrew Shouldice has a lot of love for that golden age of video games and Tunic wears its fondness for era on its sleeve.
The game is an adorable and colourful love letter to top-down 2D dungeon crawlers. More specifically, Tunic is inspired by The Legend of Zelda series. This is evident not only by the Tunic name, a nod to the Hyruelian’s garb, but also its central items being a blue-and-red-emblazoned shield and sword. Being a product of the early ’90s, Tunic speaks to me on a deep level. Bringing Tunic into a more contemporary light, the game incorporates a lot of Dark Souls elements into its gameplay.
Tunic takes a minimalist approach to its storytelling. Much like many games of the NES era, a lot of the story is interpreted by the player. We see the central anthropomorphic fox character — who, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll call “Tunic” — wake up on the shores of an island. Here, the journey of piecing together the mysteries on this isle begins in this isometric game.
Due to Tunic taking a hands-off approach to storytelling, the game mainly pulls you through the paces by way of collecting manual pages. Just like how I poured hours over the Super Mario World manual back in the day, everything you need to know about Tunic can be found by collecting these pages in the Overworld. The first few pages you find walk you through the controls and tutorial phase of the game. I eventually navigated my way to find a sword and shield, thus establishing myself as a fighting force on the island.
“Tunic isn’t afraid to put the responsibility in the hands of the player. Once you understand the toybox, it’s easier to progress and solve the many brilliant puzzles.”
Tunic’s objectives hinge around a central temple located in the middle of the island. First, you must open the doors by ringing two belltowers on the island. Next, players must locate three keys being guarded by bosses deep within the game’s dungeons. I explored a range of diverse areas including a forest temple, beach-side ruins, and snowy hilltops. The game never actively directs the player via exposition or dialogue. It’s all discovered by parsing through the recovered pages of the manual. Tunic isn’t afraid to put the responsibility in the hands of the player. Once you understand the toybox, it’s easier to progress and solve the many brilliant puzzles.
Tunic features several puzzles to piece together as you make your way across each of the various hubs featured in its Overworld. There are two common puzzles throughout the game. The first is the obelisk puzzle, which connects these vibrant power rails to one another. Praying at these obelisks will activate them and oftentimes open up a fast travel portal or a door to progress. The other is line puzzles. Throughout the world, I came across patterns that I traced using the D-Pad on Xbox Series X. Sometimes these would spawn a collectible treasure, a faerie, or open up secret passages.
One of the most novel aspects of Tunic is its fictional undecipherable language that is commonly used throughout the world and in the manuals. This leads to some required critical thinking from the player. Some pages have scribbles and notes made, akin to my own as a kid. This led to me playing connect the dots across the pages. In many ways, this genius puzzle design was my favourite aspect of playing Tunic. In fact, I was so invested in this 10-hour tale, I fully completed the game and all its achievements.
“Exploration is key in Tunic and the game rewards the curious. Even after completion, I’m certain that there are still little routes I’ve yet to take…”
With this hands-off approach in mind, some of the navigation and objectives of Tunic can be a bit obtuse. There’s no waypoint or traditional compass on-screen, so finding your way to the various dungeons and back again can become a bit frustrating. A lot hinges on memorizing the map and learning about the game’s shortcuts. Often, hitting a wall would open up invisible paths. Paths even snake their way behind waterfalls. Exploration is key in Tunic and the game rewards the curious. Even after completion, I’m certain that there are still little routes I’ve yet to take as I may not have organically come across them throughout my journey. The lack of direction can lead to some irritating moments. There were a couple of moments when I felt stonewalled by the game when the solution was staring me in the face.
Where Tunic’s diversions from the NES-era are the most apparent is its gameplay. While maintaining a somewhat simplistic approach to defeating skeletons, and other mobs, the game takes a lot of inspiration from the ‘Soulsborne’ genre. Enemies hit hard and Tunic only has a set amount of health and potions. Tunic can dodge out of the way of enemy attacks or use his shield to protect himself. Similar to Elden Ring’s health regenerating Sacred Flasks, once depleted I had to scurry back to one of the many prayer statues. This regenerates health, mana, and potions but also the mobs. While certainly challenging at times, Tunic is more accessible by virtue. Plus the game offers a ‘No-Fail’ mode and the option to get rid of stamina restrictions.
It’s been an interesting period for me as I distracted myself from Elden Ring with Tunic and found myself enamoured by how similar the two games are. Both games offer little instructions and rely on astute problem-solving and fortitude. Tunic puts difficulty in the back seat but still offers its own unique challenges. This is apparent in some of the later boss battles. Though, thanks to some of the additional weaponry like the Magic Staff, Magic Orb, and bombs, victory is feasible.
Tunic features a wonderfully crafted world and art style. While maintaining the familiar look of a game I’d play on an old CRT, Tunic is more refined in its appearance. The Quarry, a later area in the game, does feature some on-screen effects that aren’t that pleasant to look at. Thankfully, there is an in-game item to negate those effects.
The soundtrack in Tunic is also whimsical and soothing. I don’t have a standout track in mind, though the music reinforces the lighthearted and curious nature of our central fox character. It ramps up when needed but otherwise provides a calming audible treat in the backdrop during exploration and puzzle-solving.
As a ’90s kid, Tunic hits on so many levels. The game celebrates the pre-internet days of gaming. Where manuals were the Bible and sole resource to reach the credits. It creates a meta-level of gaming that pays off in many ways. Though, the hands-off approach does come at a cost at times when you lose direction in the overworld. While providing a solid challenge throughout, Tunic is an accessible and caring game for players young and old. Those weary of the Soulsborne comparisons can rest assured that the climax is obtainable. With this in mind, Tunic is a game that you shouldn’t miss.
Tunic is available on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S for $34.99. The game can also be played via Xbox Game Pass.
It appears as though the ESA has cancelled any form of E3 this year. According to recent reports, E3 2022, both digitally and in-person, is officially cancelled.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the ESA cancelled its week-long E3 event. Previously, E3 has been held annually at the Los Angeles Convention Center in June. At the time, rumours swirled about whether the digital version would be held. It appears as though the ESA will not be moving forward with any version of E3 this year.
Will Powers, a notable PR lead at Razer, tweeted that he received official confirmation from the ESA directly regarding the cancellation of E3 2022. “It’s official, E3 digital is official cancelled for 2022,” Powers writes. In a response to an inquiry about whether it was only the in-person event, Powers states E3 is “officially cancelled cancelled.”
Just got an email… It’s official, E3 digital is official cancelled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about this…
IGN independently confirms the news. Its report states that rather than focus on a digital show, the ESA is regrouping “for a larger comeback in 2023.”
Last year, the ESA held a virtual substitute for E3. The end result saw mixed reactions, largely from media and those who held virtual passes. Aside from the strange avatar creations and focus on outdated chatrooms for networking, organization and publisher involvement was lacking.
Geoff Keighley and his Summer Game Fest programming have been slowly picking up the torch dropped by the ESA over the past few years. The Summer Game Fest has been an all-digital annual outing for the industry and has gained a lot of support.
Following Powers’ tweet, Keighley tweeted a single, yet cheeky winking emoji.
News of this comes at a time when many believe publishers have the ability to reach their target audience on their own by hosting virtual conferences. Last year, we saw the likes of Microsoft, Ubisoft, PlayStation, and others host their own “Direct” style shows via Twitch and YouTube.
Without the ESA and E3 this year, it will be interesting to see how publishers align their announcements and reveal next to each other throughout the June and summer months.
Microsoft is reportedly working towards introducing new family plan options for Xbox Game Pass.
According to Windows Central, multiple sources have confirmed the company is looking into options to launch an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan. The report claims that the new plan will arrive sometime later this year.
“According to trusted sources familiar with Microsoft‘s efforts, we can now confirm that Xbox is moving ahead with an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan, which should be set to launch sometime this year,” the report states.
The report claims that the highest tier of the Xbox Game Pass Family Plan will grant access to five players for games across the entire Xbox Game Pass library. Pricing and availability for the family plan has not been revealed. However, it’s likely that subscribing to the family plan will be cheaper than paying the subscription of five individual accounts.
It also still remains to be seen if Microsoft will launch the family plan globally or if it will receive a regional rollout. Additionally, it’s not yet known if the new plan covers access to both PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass. The other unknown is how it will integrate into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Xbox Game Pass currently grants access to a library of over 100 games in a Netflix-style subscription service. Additionally, the service also enables access to online services, cloud saves, and Xbox Games with Gold titles each month. Xbox Game Pass is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Android and iOS. Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass cost $11.99/month, respectively.
Nintendo currently offers a family plan for its Switch Online subscription service. A 12-month subscription of the family membership costs $44.99 and supports eight Nintendo Accounts.
