Eurogamer

Last week, Sony announced it had signed a deal with Deviation Games to make a brand new PlayStation IP - the second such deal Sony has announced in recent months.

Deviation Games was set up in November 2019 by former Treyarch Studios developers Dave Anthony and Jason Blundell, both of whom played a key role in the success of the Call of Duty: Black Ops series.

Blundell, one of the chief creators of Call of Duty's popular zombies mode, left Treyarch after 13 years at the developer.

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Eurogamer

Somerville has been teased with a number of trailers over the past few years, but during yesterday's Xbox-Bethesda showcase we got another look at the game - and now have some idea of what the main characters will look like.

The sci-fi adventure is being made by Jumpship, an independent studio founded by animator Chris Olsen in collaboration with Playdead co-founder and former CEO Dino Patti. (Playdead created Limbo and its spiritual successor Inside, two very unsettling puzzle-platformers.)

As you can see from the trailer, Somerville set in a sci-fi world and focuses on the struggles of a family trying to survive a major disaster. "In the wake of catastrophe you must find the means to make your family whole again," says the official description. "Somerville is a sci-fi adventure grounded in the intimate repercussions of large-scale conflict.

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IMMORTALITY

Her Story and Telling Lies director Sam Barlow has announced a new game, and this one is all about a mysterious disappearing film star.

Titled Immortality, the game follows the story of Marissa Marcel, an actress who "made three movies" that were never actually released. Oh, and she vanished without a trace, of course.

Here's a look at the teaser trailer that was shown during the Future Games showcase last night:

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Eurogamer

Tinykin may be the closest thing we get to a Pikmin 4 at this year's E3, but that's no bad thing.

This dinky puzzle platformer has you controlling a miniature alien astronaut as he explores our world. He's aided in his travels by a swarm of mini creatures, named tinykin.

Sound familiar? While clearly inspired by Nintendo's Pikmin, what impressed me here was how snappy and fluid the movement and exploration looks, with tinykin used to create ladders or skate around.

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Minute of Islands Demo


Thinking about Minute of Islands, I'm at a crossroads with myself. This is the kind of game I'd usually enjoy, but when it comes down to it, I'm not sure I did. Instead, I find that a mere day after playing, it's already starting to slip my mind.

Minute of Island's first impression certainly is striking, because it's altogether more gloomy than what you'd expect based on its art style. As the narrator tells it, as a young woman named Mo, you wake up one morning to silence where there really should be noise - the noise of machines humming underground, powering the fans that keep the islands free of lethally toxic spores.

The first view you get of what's powering the fan is a special moment, as you come face to face with a hulking giant, living underground, his only purpose seemingly that of running a crank like a hamster in a wheel. But the giant, one of a group of brothers, has tired, causing a toxic chain reaction of machine failures. Mo's task as bearer of the omni switch, a sort of part mechanical, part magical admin master key, is to reroute emergency power to a number of different fans across her small archipelago and thus restore order.

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Eurogamer

If yesterday's big Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase wasn't enough for you, Microsoft has a little more to come.

Xbox Games Showcase: Extended will be broadcast at 6pm UK time this Thursday, 17th June and feature conversations with some of Microsoft's internal studios.

Psychonauts 2 team Double Fine, The Outer Worlds 2 studio Obsidian, Hellblade 2 maker Ninja Theory and Sea of Thieves outfit Rare will all be included, alongside others.

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Eurogamer

UPDATE 15/6/21 10.30am UK: A mere 15 minutes after its previous message promising a fix "soon", Square Enix has now confirmed its Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Oranges demo is now working. Chaos moves quickly!

You'll need to download a quick patch upon loading the demo, but we've verified that this does indeed sort the unspecified issue and allow you to play.

Finally, Square Enix has apologised for keeping fans waiting.

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Orcs Must Die! 2

Tower defense title Orcs Must Die 3 will launch for PC via Steam, PlayStation and Xbox on 23rd July.

That's almost exactly a year on from its original release as a timed-exclusive for Stadia, back in July 2020. The news was confirmed this evening, as part of the PC Gaming Show.

The latest game in the Orcs Must Die series features solo and co-op play, and a campaign set 25 years after that of Orcs Must Die 2. Clearly, you were not successful enough at getting rid of all those orcs last time around.

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Life is Strange 2


Tonight brought us a first look at Life is Strange: True Colors' new special power of empathy, in fresh gameplay shown during the Square Enix Presents E3 showcase.

True Colors protagonist Alex Chen has had this power for some time - unlike in previous Life is Strange games - but is only learning to control it now as she uses it to uncover the true story of her brother's mysterious death.

You'll hear people's inner thoughts, and use this to learn secrets - though what you do with this information is up to you. Powerful emotions will let Alex experience someone's emotional state, and see a changed version of her surroundings, but also put Alex in a place where she's experiencing that emotion too.

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Eurogamer

Back in May, rumours began circulating that Square Enix was collaborating with Nioh developer Team Ninja on an action-focussed Final Fantasy spin-off titled Final Fantasy Origin. Well, it turns out those rumours weren't far off at all! Square has now officially unveiled Team Ninja's action-RPG Final Fantasy spin-off, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins.

Stranger of Paradise follows a band of adventurers who, as the trailer repeatedly reminds us, want to kill chaos. Or at least stab it in the face a few times until its head pops off. "Jack and his allies, Ash and Jed, burn with resolve to defeat Chaos as they throw open the gates to the Chaos Shrine," Square elaborates in its announcement, "Yet doubts remain-are they truly the Warriors of Light the prophecy foretold?".

May's rumours suggested the game would slot into the action sub-genre occupied by the likes of Team Ninja's Nioh games and From Software's Souls series, albeit with a more accessible focus, and today's reveal appears to support that. Square is promising "exhilarating, action-packed battles" against iconic Final Fantasy monsters in a "world of dark fantasy".

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