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Ghost of Yōtei's big gameplay showcase had new weapons, smoother exploration, and a 'lo-fi beats' mode from Samurai Champloo director Shinichirō Watanabe

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After watching the Ghost of Yōtei State of Play stream, I'm convinced it'll be the sort of sequel that's more interested in refinement than reinvention. The 30-minute presentation showed off a lot of gameplay, particularly focusing on Atsu's expanded arsenal of blades and a new interrogation-based exploration system that looks really neat.

Oh, also there's a lo-fi beats to murder to mode with original tracks by legendary anime director Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop), because Sucker Punch can't help but be corny about the whole "playable samurai film" thing. Kurosawa mode also returns, this time elevated by optional Japanese voices and lip syncing (something the first game ought to have had at launch, but didn't).

But honestly, I'll be flipping those gimmicky modes off after two minutes. I'm playing Ghost of Yōtei for some exploratory slice-and-dice, something that we're not exactly starved for after Assassin's Creed Shadows dropped just a few months ago.

The similarities between the two western-developed, Japan-set games are hard to ignore, especially now that we know Ghost of Yōtei's new protagonist, Atsu, is on a vengeance quest to kill a band of evil bastards who killed her father… just like AC Shadows' Naoe. I suppose overlap is inevitable when you go with a cliche.

One big difference: Sucker Punch describes Atsu as neither a samurai or a ninja. She's a mercenary willing to use any weapon or "dirty trick" to get by. The big gameplay implication of that is that Atsu roams Japan armed with a variety of blades—katanas, spears, kusarigama (chain blades), odachi (long katanas), and dual swords. The five weapon types seem to replace the role of Ghost of Tsushima's katana stances. Atsu can swap weapons in the middle of combat, and each weapon counters different enemy types. Sucker Punch showed one example: The odachi long katana will slice up heavy enemies quickest.

We also saw the return of bows, plus that rifle from the reveal trailer last year. Judging by the way one bullet took down an enemy, I'm guessing Atsu's guns will be used sparingly.

Weapon swapping looks fun, but I'm a little sad Ghost of Yōtei is downplaying the katana. I liked having one signature weapon that carried me through the whole game—Jin's sword had real story significance behind it, and I don't think Atsu will be as precious about equipment.

My biggest highlight of the presentation was Ghost of Yōtei's updated flow for finding quests. Instead of a traditional quest screen, Atsu picks up leads by talking to her friends and interrogating baddies. At one point, we see this interrogation interpreted as a screen that lets you choose between a handful of quests the source could reveal, and what loot they lead to. On one hand, that's a cool way to find stuff, but it also looks very gamey to choose what quest info to extract instead of following a traditional, authored questline.

The show concluded with an ad for a Yōtei-ified PS5 console and controller, if you're into that sort of thing. Ghost of Yōtei is out October 2 on PS5. There's no PC date yet, but hopefully a port will come quicker than the first, which only arrived last year.



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Jagmas
12 minutes ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Kai Cenat Describes Having 'PTSD' After Streaming For 30 Days With No Break

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On a recent episode of the popular web series Hot Ones, famous streamer Kai Cenat claimed he went through “PTSD” in the aftermath of being in front of a massive audience for 30 days straight on Twitch. He also ate some hot wings covered in very hot sauce and screamed about it, because that’s what you do on that show.

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Jagmas
5 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Elder Scrolls Online celebrates last April’s birthday by selling you a $10 anniversary pack

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It’s tradition in MMORPGs for developers to grant players gifts on the occasion of its birthday, but Elder Scrolls Online would prefer you give it some money to kit yourself for the festivities, which actually happened back in April when the anniversary actually happened. Perhaps that’s an uncharitable read, but it’s not inaccurate: ZeniMax Online […]
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Jagmas
5 hours ago
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Subnautica 2 Publisher Denies Sabotaging $250 Million Developer Payout As Fans Rebel: 'Subnautica's Soul Has Just Been Ripped Out'

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Subnautica 2 maker Unknown Worlds was set for a massive $250 million payout this year if it hit certain revenue targets, Bloomberg reported yesterday. But a fresh delay of one of the most wish-listed games on Steam makes that almost impossible. Publisher Krafton, which changed the release schedule against the…

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Jagmas
5 hours ago
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With Fallout Season 2 Waiting in the Wings, Fallout 76 Creative Director Says Bethesda Has Plans for Tie-Ins With the Amazon Show

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With anticipation for Fallout Season 2, fans are wondering if Bethesda will capitalize on the smash hit Amazon show in a more significant way this time around.

Fallout Season 1 hit Prime Video in April 2024 and was an instant breakout hit. While the show’s popularity sparked a flood of new players across all Fallout games, Bethesda — and by extension parent company Microsoft — failed to make the most of it with, for example, the release of a new Fallout game.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer ended up insisting that everyone involved benefited from the show’s success, and that not having a new game lined up for the launch “gave us some creative liberty that [we] wouldn't have had if we tried to coordinate production of two very different creative processes to land at the same time.”

That mention of “creative liberty” is a reference to the Fallout TV show’s canon status within the Fallout timeline, and the fact it takes place after all the existing Fallout games. While this has meant Fallout lore fans have analyzed the TV show to within an inch of its life, its creators were able to move on from what’s gone before and tell a brand new story. If a new post-Fallout 4 video game had come out at the same time, Bethesda and the TV showrunners would have faced a tricky job ensuring all their Fallout timeline ducks were in a row.

But will Microsoft and Bethesda fail to capitalize on Season 2 of the Fallout show? When it comes to Fallout 76, at least, it sounds like tie-in content is indeed planned.

Speaking to Variety, Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush said the development team is “always focused on the game,” but confirmed the two teams (TV show and video games) do talk to each other about “lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show.”

“I think a distinct trait of the Fallout 76 game is that we’re the furthest back in time,” he said. “And it’s kind of funny, because the show’s the furthest into the future. So there’s a lot of room where we don’t necessarily need to overlap. There are some things that we could overlap the stories, that could exist, but we largely try to keep those pretty simple.

“So the show is very effective storytelling, great storytelling, very Fallout, being made by folks that are big fans of the game and the series, and so are we. The two go together really well. So folks see the show and want more of that same kind of story, and they’re going to come into 76, they’re going to come into Fallout 4, or come into Fallout 3.

“Lining things up with the seasonal releases of the show, it’s stuff that we talk about all the time, and we do have plans for things here and there. I’m not going to go into detail on any of those now, but the two teams do talk to one another.”

So, we don’t know what exactly Bethesda is planning for the launch of Fallout Season 2, but we do know something is in the works for Fallout 76. There are still a lot of unanswered questions. For one, we don’t have a Fallout Season 2 release date yet. Could Bethesda have a new Fallout video game in the works to go alongside the show? There is about as much anticipation for a new Fallout game as there is for Fallout Season 2 — and the speculation to go along with it as remaster and remake rumors swirl.

But perhaps we shouldn’t hold our breath. In June last year, Bethesda development chief Todd Howard said he wasn't interested in rushing the next Fallout game out the door.

"For other Fallout games in the future, you know, obviously I can’t talk about those right now, but I would say, sort of rushing through them, or we kind of need to get stuff out that is different than the work we’re doing in 76... we don’t feel like we need to rush any of that," he said. "The Fallout TV show fills a certain niche in terms of the franchise and storytelling."

Of course, a brand new Fallout game is coming down the pipe, with Howard confirming Fallout 5 is in the long-term plan, potentially after The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out. As for Fallout Season 2, it's off to New Vegas, the setting of Obsidian's much-loved Fallout: New Vegas.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Jagmas
6 hours ago
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Round Rock, Texas
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Hailee Steinfeld To Star Opposite Miles Teller In Olympic Pic ‘Winter Games’ From Paramount And Star Thrower

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EXCLUSIVE: After battling vampires in the box office smash hit Sinners, Hailee Steinfeld now has her sights set on a gold medal for her follow-up project as sources tell Deadline she is set to star opposite Miles Teller in Paramount’s Olympics film Winter Games. Paul Downs Colaizzo is directing. Pat Cunnane and Colaizzo penned the script.  […]

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Jagmas
6 hours ago
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