Welcome to Urgent Fury

You decide the difficulty on your replay with the free Challenge Mode patch, out today! This patch includes 40+ hours of replayability with all new outfits and upgraded abilities, a level modifier to challenge your skills, and 15 new Trophies. Play Video Playing Tomb Raider I-III Remastered gives us that classic 90s vibe but leaves us craving more, so we created this strategy guide for Lara’s new wardrobe to scratch that nostalgic itch. Her new outfits are earned through a series of challenges in each game using the new Challenge Mode to modify level difficulty. They’re more than new skins, outfits add unique enhancements to Lara’s abilities. Refer back to this guide whenever you’re ready to unlock another new fit. Lara’s new wardrobe Paragon of Peace She may look deadly but Lara’s look is less gladiator and more Pax Romana. Established Explorer No mountain tall enough, no valley low enough for a Croft to overcome. Atlantean Bio-Armour Pain is gain. Forget the first aid, only fighting makes her stronger. Master-Mobster From one mobster to another, the shotgun is the only gun you’ll need. Ahab Approved Smell blood in the water? Forget the crocodiles, there’s something deadlier swimming in the deep. Dragon Warrior More fire power, less fire damage. Exactly what you’d expect from a dragon… warrior. Speed Demon Too fast to care if that was a mobster or a mutant. Even if they catch up, they won’t last long. Flying High A super soldier like this only comes out of one highly-classified government facility. Honorary Damned The harder the run the better. Lara went through a dark and undead phase, just like the rest of us. Cooler than Cool Ever been so cold you can’t be burned? Yeah, same for Lara. Challenge Mode Fend off a hoard of apes and velociraptors, sprinkle in some mummies, a couple bats, and you’ve only got a pair of pistols and -5 hp/s regen rate to hold them off. Time to lock and load. Dial in the difficulty on any level you’ve already completed with modifiers in the new Challenge Mode. Don’t want to play hard? Set Lara to 500% health and take a nature walk instead. 15 New Trophies When most people start the first Tomb Raider game they think wow, this is really hard. Not you though. You want the game to be even harder. You want to beat it with higher risks and loftier rewards. Increase your CR (challenge rating) with mods like downgraded weapons, less health, and even more enemies to earn up to 15 new trophies. Share your toughest challenges with #ChallengeMode Challenge Mode is a free patch for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. Thanks to the community for supporting us at Aspyr, on our journey with Crystal Dynamics, to bring these classics to modern consoles and to celebrate the 30 year legacy that is Lara Croft. View the full article

It’s not long before the monsters come back out to play. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is swooping in for its March 13 launch on PlayStation 5, with a tale of warring kingdoms and a world on the brink of destruction. Play Video But if you’re unfamiliar with what came before, don’t worry. We’ve got the perfect primer – and with Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin available to play from PlayStation Plus Game Catalog,* you’ll be a monstrous lore master in no time. Monster Hunter Stories – the basics Spinning off the hugely popular main series, Monster Hunter, Stories’ goal was to offer a refreshing new approach to the role-playing game franchise. The focus on more tactical turn-based combat over the original’s more action driven style was joined by another big change: the chance to play as a monster Rider instead of a Hunter. This helped develop the concept of ‘Monsties’. Instead of being captured in the wild, Monsties are hatched monsters stolen from dens, raised, given names, and form a bond with their riders. Monsties possess specific abilities, which are either useful during exploration – such as breaking through rocks or traversing the environment – or more combat related. On the subject of combat, the battle system uses a rock-paper-scissors mechanic via three attack types: Power beats Technical, which beats Speed (and so Speed beats Power).‘Reading’ their patterns and movements is key, so you can pick the most effective approach. Although with monsters openly roaming the landscape, you can sometimes choose when to engage, and even initiate sneak attacks. Okay, now let’s really get into it… Monster Hunter Stories – the hunt begins The series wastes no time in introducing the player to its core concept of Monstie bonding, as it begins with the protagonist finding a monster nest and hatching a Rathalos egg. That auspicious first act is a primer to a wider adventure set by the dark events that follow (no spoilers, here). Monster Hunter Stories delivered on its promise to change the way players interact with its fabled beasts. Despite its colourful visuals and youthful characters, it’s not afraid to dip into some of the bleaker topics of its parent series. What you do in the game: Create your character and roam the world, seeking out dens to grow your team of Monsties. Collect eggs to hatch, create a bond with your Monsties and build your party. Battle alongside your Monsties, fighting wild monsters, earning experience points and collecting or buying more equipment and items which can be used in battle. The Rite of Channelling also lets you move a Monstie’s genes between them to unlock new powers. Forge new equipment from subquest rewards, and earn new weapons and armour from completing special Forge Quests offered by blacksmiths. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin – the series takes flight With its concept now established, Wings of Ruin pushed to amplify everything from the first game. The mass disappearance of Rathalos sets the stage, followed by the emergence of unnaturally enraged monsters. And in the middle of all this chaos, the player character – descended from a legendary Rider – is entrusted with a now precious Rathalos egg, its hatching heralding a world-destroying prophecy. What’s expanded from Monster Hunter Stories: More weapon types, with the Great Sword, Hammer, Sword and Shield, and Hunting Horn from the first game joined by the Bow and Gunlance. Independent computer-controlled buddies and their Monsties accompany you in battle, meaning up to four characters can fight on your side during combat, and damage heavy Double Attacks can be inflicted more frequently. Larger monsters have breakable parts that can be targeted to prevent them from performing certain actions, as well as providing materials to forge or upgrade equipment. Instead of just PvP battles, up to two online players can jump into co-op quests, including trials and expeditions. Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection – what we know Everything leads us to here, the most current addition to the series. As with the previous game, Monster Hunter Stories 3 doesn’t require intimate knowledge of the franchise to dive in. But while Wings of Ruin took the near extinction of the Rathalos to one direction, Twisted Reflection changes things up with the unusual birth of twin Rathalos, arriving during a time of savage conflict. With its customisable protagonist being more experienced than in previous games, Twisted Reflection aims to deliver a slightly more mature story while maintaining the series’ anime aesthetic. Among other enhancements, we can also expect a larger, more accessible semi-open world to explore, more complex side stories, and aggressive Invasive monsters which cannot be beaten with regular battle tactics. But if you’re engaging in more traditional fights, the Wyvernsoul Gauge introduces a system that lets you stagger monsters, making their attacks easier to dodge and leaving them open to your new and hugely damaging Synchro Rush attack. And for the more nurturing among you, the Habitat Restoration system lets you release a hatched monster into the wild to improve the conservation of each region and restore the species. Ready to ride? Now that you have the armour of knowledge, it’s time to put it to the test. Play Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin in the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog to sharpen your skills, then jump into Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection on PS5 March 13. *Requires active PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium subscription View the full article

Silent Hill f is a part of a new generation for the legendary horror franchise, one that sees the ethereal and eerie titular setting extending its horrific manifestations into different places around the world. This title was an opportunity for us at NeoBards to harness what makes Silent Hill the psychological horror staple it is and shape a fresh new experience that brings the terror in both familiar and new ways. I’m Al Yang, studio creative director at NeoBards and game director for Silent Hill f. I’m excited to share a slice of my Game Developers Conference (GDC) Festival of Gaming session for the PlayStation community, giving you all a behind-the-scenes look into the systems behind the first melee-only Silent Hill title. ​​ Creating a different Silent Hill In Silent Hill f, the secluded town of Ebisugaoka is consumed by a sudden fog in 1960s Japan, transforming lead character Shimizu Hinako’s home into a haunting nightmare. We initially spent some time considering what types of weapons we wanted to use from Showa-era Japan, doing some prototyping work along the way. With many horror games that emphasize action, there’s gunplay and other ranged combat in the majority of them. What if we flip the script here? It isn’t something horror players are entirely unfamiliar with, but not quite to the extent we’re proposing. When players say they want to play a horror game and that they want to be scared, I think what they really mean is they want to feel tense. Jump scares are scary, but if you’re giving nonstop jump scares, players become numb, and it detracts from the atmosphere. The real fear lives in the anticipation and build-up, which became a guiding philosophy for how we built story and combat in Silent Hill f. Injecting tension into combat There’s intentional design that yields crucial tension for the typical survival horror experience. Slower rhythms with things like aiming and reloading, resource management and scarcity, and pacing. How do we translate these things into our game? There is a lot of data across the history of survival horror on how to create tension despite the power of guns. For example, let’s look at resources when you encounter a monster in your path. Having 4 bullets in this situation creates a very different feeling from seeing that creature and having 100 bullets. The player’s fear and approach change entirely. There are no bullets in Silent Hill f, so we showcase resource management with weapons breaking. Every time you hit a monster, you see the durability bar go down. But you don’t know exactly how much damage you’re doing. It isn’t like an RPG where you see numbers or a bar above the enemy’s head. Having concrete values shown significantly decreases the tension, as a large part of the tension of horror games relies on giving the player incomplete information. How enemies behave is key as well. With guns, monsters will take shots to different body parts and keep shambling unless you hit them in the head or another critical spot, causing them to react differently. We deliver this with the Focus system. With patience and the right timing, you can do a counter or focus attack. It is like aiming down the sights with a gun, so you can hit those vulnerable spots. If you get in a really meaty hit, you’ll see it in how the creature reacts. You’re not quite sure how close you are to defeating the enemy, but you know that your attacks are having an effect. A delicate, horrific balancing act Just as important as building tension, it is important to have a period of release. A way to impact pace and inject those moments of tension release in combat is something we call a master key. It is a system breaker, entirely subverting the gameplay rhythm the player has been engaging with thus far. Many combat systems can be distilled down to a rock, paper, scissors design, where certain weapons work better against certain monsters. That rhythm builds tension and, to release it, we have the master key. In a horror game with ranged combat, a master key could be a grenade or rocket launcher—a weapon or item that doesn’t care about balanced design and just damages your enemy no matter what. You don’t have to think; you turn your brain off and get this thing out of your way. Players are diverse and are challenged by different situations, so it’s important to have systems where they can choose when they want to break out on their own terms. In Silent Hill f, that is the fox arm, which is a part of Hinako’s transformation throughout the game. The focus hit system I mentioned before is also a much lighter sample of that master key experience. Thanks from NeoBards GDC is a major knowledge-sharing hub where developers and other industry professionals share insights into the many different things that bring your favorite games to life, and I appreciate this opportunity to give some insight into how the NeoBards team crafted a new survival horror title while respecting and engaging with the long history of horror gaming that has come before us. For those who have played or those who have yet to play, I hope you enjoyed getting some new insight into this game that we’re very proud of. Silent Hill f is available now on PlayStation 5. View the full article

I’m Tom Guillermin, co-founder and CTO of Sandfall Interactive, and I’m excited to share some insight into how our team created the community and critically acclaimed RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. This blog draws on our session at the GDC (Game Developers Conference) Festival of Gaming, where video game professionals from across a range of disciplines come together to share knowledge and experiences. Our talk, which was delivered alongside our senior gameplay programmer, Florian Torres, explores how our small technical team aimed to give designers maximum creative freedom by enabling them to create and combine gameplay elements. Here, we will highlight examples that we believe this great community will appreciate. The team and our reality Creating video games is a marriage of many disciplines, and the skill set available changes as the team changes. From the bombastic abilities you see in combat to the assets that make up the game’s world map and beyond, efficient and smart structuring and planning put us in the best position to bring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to life. The earliest versions of the game were made by Guillaume Broche, CEO of Sandfall Interactive, alone in his bedroom, with occasional help from me. Then we moved on to more advanced prototypes, growing the team with the ultimate goal of creating a vertical slice. Suddenly, there were twelve of us, and in 2022, we went to GDC in hopes of finding a publisher to help us continue development. There, we met Kepler Interactive, whose support meant we could develop an Alpha build and continue adding necessary roles: artists and programmers, especially. Now for an important confession: We’re not much for coding. Our development philosophy at Sandfall is based on the reality that we have limited programming bandwidth, so we focus on what’s most important to delivering a good player experience and helping the creative team achieve their aims. For that reason, we’re big fans of the Unreal Engine for its many core features. It also offers many additional benefits, such as bug fixes and performance optimizations. You have to do some integration work on each update, but as a small team, you try to keep the engine as-is to keep the process straightforward. During production, we also used quite a few external plugins for engine features not native to Unreal, as well as to prototype gameplay features. Unreal Engine Blueprints Because not everybody on the team is a programmer and we needed everyone to be able to contribute to the logic of the game, we used Blueprint visual scripting instead of C++ programming language: it’s a system in Unreal Engine that uses a node-based interface to script gameplay elements directly in the Unreal Editor. Essentially, you have a collection of recipes made of code that you can creatively deploy to get the results you want. It gives designers the ability to use many concepts and tools generally restricted to programmers. With the team able to engage with this shared language, Blueprints allowed us to craft everything that goes into showcasing a skill in-game—character movement, visual effects, camera movement, etc. It’s really similar to any 3D software. You control the camera’s location and rotation, as well as the focal length, which can be animated. We have camera shakes, visual effects, and time dilation… All this contributes to a feeling of intensity over the course of the skill activation. Creative solutions There’s a lot of work that goes into the assets your team makes for these engaging and exciting experiences. You can deploy them multiple times and get very creative in different situations. A different perspective, visual deployment, detailed changes, etc. The world map is a great example of this for us, and it was a major focus in development. It was one of the last levels we created, but it is also the biggest, with the most features. We used elements from other levels to create this one, even if it doesn’t appear that way. Technically, everything related to enemies and battles is the same—interaction, looting, NPCs, dialogues, and so on. We also repurposed art elements from the other levels, in keeping with our emphasis on efficiency. Coding is an incredibly important part of video game development, and Blueprints, which are themselves a different way of coding, are one of the modern ways for aspiring developers or the infinitely curious within the PlayStation community to start creating their own projects. At Sandfall Interactive, programmers create the building blocks—like the Blueprints nodes—and we let the designers play with them. Usually, that means using them in a way different from how the programmers imagined, which is exactly what we wanted. As programmers, our job is to make designers’ lives simpler. There’s truth in many cliches, and we certainly stress this one: Teamwork makes the dream work. It sounds simple, but you need to truly need to lean on each other and create workflows that recognize, encourage, and benefit from that teamwork. We chose an engine that gave us a lot to work with in its base form, grabbed a few external enhancements, simplified the set of tools in our toolbox, reused elements we crafted, and more, all to achieve our goal of realizing our shared creative vision. That’s game development. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now on PlayStation 5, and there’s also a two-hour trial for PlayStation Plus subscribers. View the full article

This month, purge Tyranid swarms in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, run the show on the gridiron in EA Sports Madden NFL 26, slip back into stylish heists with Persona 5 Royal, or brave a nightmarish pilgrimage in Blasphemous 2. All these titles and more are available in March’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup*. And as announced in the latest State of Play, PlayStation Plus Premium welcomes classic arcade fighting in the form of Tekken Dark Resurrection. The full lineup will be available to play on March 17. *Digital PS5 games available to stream from your library will vary over time, region, and country. PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 | PS5 Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity. Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions supporting up to three players. Pick from six classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics as you progress. Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image EA Sports Madden NFL 26 | PS5 Step into the All-Madden legacy this season. Experience generational playmakers, unlock rewards, and celebrate football’s greatest coach. EA Sports Madden NFL 26 leverages a new AI-powered machine learning system trained on thousands of plays from nearly a decade of real NFL data to deliver more explosive gameplay – with new player-specific traits, authentic playstyles, and adaptive counters that match on-field tendencies and strategies of NFL quarterbacks and coaches. Burst upfield like Saquon with updated player movement to reflect the explosive athleticism only the NFL can deliver. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Persona 5 Royal | PS5, PS4 Re-join the Phantom Thieves in a massively expanded and reworked version of the critically-lauded RPG. Expanding on the original 2017 release, Persona 5 Royal comes packed with new characters, confidants, story and locations, and a new grappling hook mechanic for stealthy access to never-before-seen areas. Explore Tokyo, unlock new Personas – demons from within the dream-like dungeons that will fight for you – customise your personal Thieves Den, discover a newly added story arc, cutscenes, alternate endings, and more. Persona 5 Royal retains its signature visual style, while award-nominated composer Shoji Meguro also returns with an all-new soundtrack. Wear the mask. Reveal your truth. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Persona 5 Royal – Ultimate Edition | PS4 Persona 5 Royal Ultimate Edition includes the game and the Persona 5 Royal DLC Pack, including the costume, battle, and persona DLC found in the Persona 5 Royal Kasumi Costume Bundle, as well as the Persona 5 Royal Battle Bundle, and the Persona 5 Royal Persona Bundle. Prepare for an all-new RPG experience in Persona 5 Royal based in the universe of the award-winning series. Don the mask of Joker and join the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Break free from the chains of modern society and stage grand heists to infiltrate the minds of the corrupt and make them change their ways. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Blasphemous 2 | PS5, PS4 The second scripture in the Blasphemous series portends the return of The Penitent One. Awakened in a strange new land, and displaced from his final resting place, The Penitent One is thrust back into the endless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, with no other option than to explore this perilous new world and uncover its long-forgotten secrets. Hordes of grotesque enemies stand in your way, awaiting final judgement by the brutal hand of the Penitent One, with titanic twisted bosses also lurking in the darkness, waiting for their chance to return you to the grave from whence you came. How you tackle the labyrinthian world remains at your discretion, there is no wrong turn to be made, only scores to settle. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Metal Eden | PS5 Metal Eden is an adrenaline-rush sci-fi FPS. The advanced Hyper Unit Aska is sent on a suicide mission to rescue the citizens’ Cores from the vast monolithic city Moebius once a hopeful new home for humanity now turned into a deadly trap. Blast your way through the Internal Defence Corps in cybernetic warfare, confront the Engineers and uncover the mysteries of the project Eden. Dive into cybernetic warfare against the machine forces that protect the secrets of an artificial world. Fight a diverse roster of tough, agile mecha troops and elemental forces. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria | PS5 The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria follows the Dwarves as they embark on a new adventure to reclaim their legendary home beneath the Misty Mountains. Summoned by Lord Gimli Lockbearer, players take control of a company of Dwarves tasked to reclaim the lost spoils from the Dwarven homeland of Moria, known as Khazad-dûm or Dwarrowdelf, in the depths below their very feet. Players will join forces to survive, craft, build and explore the iconic, sprawling mines. Courageous expeditioners will need to be vigilant as mysterious dangers await. Set in a procedurally generated Dwarven realm of Moria, no two adventures will be alike, and every expedition is traversable either solo or online with companions. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Astroneer | PS5, PS4 Reshape the ground under your feet as though it were made of clay. In Astroneer, players use their deform tool to dig, collect, shape and build anything they wish. Survive on and explore carefully crafted planets that can be entirely deformed and traversed. Our vast solar system includes 7 wondrous planets that players can travel between and explore every inch of, from the entire spherical surface, through treacherous layers of caves, all the way down to the mysterious core. Astroneer is better with friends. Group up with other players and work together to create massive industrial bases or to create fun games in the extensive creative sandbox. PlayStation Plus Premium View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Tekken Dark Resurrection | PS5, PS4 The popular 3D fighting game Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection breaks out of the arcade with all new systems and features! Experience the captivating stories of Armor King and newcomers Lili and Dragunov, unique openings and endings for each character, and even an all-new opening CG movie. Story Battle, Quick Battle, Arcade Battle, and Practice: all the modes you’ve come to expect from the series are here. Fight your way to the top of the leaderboards in Tekken Dojo, deal big damage to strike it rich in Gold Rush, or kick back with your favorite characters in a nice round of Tekken Bowl. Whether you’re in the mood for a hardcore challenge or just some casual mini-games, the options are endless. The highly acclaimed character customization features from the previous game are also included, so use the fight money you earn to purchase items and show off your own unique style! *PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day. View the full article