It’s been one year since our launch. To celebrate, we’re thrilled to share our biggest update yet – the Anniversary Update! As a thank you for your amazing support we’ve expanded the Kena experience with many new features, including: New Game+, Charmstones, Spirit Guide Trials, Kena Outfits, accessibility features, and more.

The Anniversary Update will be a free update available to all PS4 and PS5 players, new and old, on September 27.

During development, we aimed to take fans’ comments into consideration while also adding more unique features and gameplay to expand the experience. New Game+ has been a big one! Once players have completed the game, they will have the opportunity to convert their save file into a New Game+ game. From there, they will restart Kena’s journey with all of their previously unlocked Abilities, Upgrades, Outfits, Rot, etc. as they face redesigned and more challenging combat encounters. Combat encounters adjustments even include new enemy types unique to NG+. Many bosses even have some additional phases.

Charmstones are another big addition coming in our September 27 update. Individually equipable – these unique collectibles each provide different adjustments to Kena’s stats and abilities. Some Charmstones contain a benefit and a drawback, encouraging players to strategize about how they want to take on certain enemies and challenges. Rare Cursed Charmstones are aimed at players who want a serious challenge by attacking the game with reduced abilities. Players will find most Charmstones hidden around Kena’s world, with a few connected to another big addition: Spirit Guide Trials.

In a whole new game mode accessed from the Mask Shrine, the Spirit Guide Trials will challenge players’ skills. By building a variety of replayable challenges, we wanted to encourage all players to test out different combinations of their upgrades and deepen their combat experience. The Spirit Guide Trials fall into three different categories: Obstacle Courses, Wave Defenses, and Boss Reflects. 

Each Trial can be played as many times as players want and include various objectives to complete within that particular Trial. In the Obstacle Courses for example, players focus on Kena’s primary abilities: the Bow, Bomb, and Dash as they navigate through courses

Hey, I’m Goldie, the art director for Wayward Strand, coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on September 15 (that’s so soon!!)

For the first time in the six years since Ghost Pattern was formed, me and the team are sharing a deep dive into the making of our real-time, simultaneously told story, Wayward Strand, starring Casey, a 14-year-old aspiring journalist, as she follows her curiosity wherever it takes her.

Early artwork of how the ship might be loaded up with supplies, by me! Goldie Bartlett

From the start, the game was heavily inspired by immersive theater, slice-of-life comics, and graphic novels. Something I love about this format is that there’s a lot of space and area to tuck moments in amongst the larger plot points and knots of storylines.

Cast away! Creating our characters

Our team created Wayward Strand’s characters based on personal experiences and stories from people in our lives, particularly older people. We wanted our characters to be active within the story, as opposed to waiting around for the player to come by before they do anything. Georgia Symons, one of Wayward Strand’s writers, remembers that “the goal was to give each character the potential to ‘move the story forward’, through whatever actions they take.”

In early demos we were excited by how simultaneous storylines give the player the opportunity to happen upon scenes or storylines in mid-flow. It helps the player both understand and feel that there is a world of activity going on outside of their character.

Ghost Pattern’s earliest mock-up of the Day 1 schedule in 2016/2017. Each row, a different character and each column a time of day.

Wayward Strand’s other writer, Jason Bakker, feels like telling many storylines at the same time means we can really round out our characters. “It allows each character to have quiet moments, time to themselves. Each character can be the centre of attention for a bit, then the player can follow them as they return to their rooms, and be with them as they process what just happened.”

Screenshot of the current build, at the front of the ship overlooking the coast.

We’ve challenged ourselves to make every character as interesting as possible over the course of three in-game days, and that’s a part of making Wayward Strand I’ve absolutely loved. Often I’d have a conversation with someone — my mum or an aunty or a friend — they’d tell me some story about someone they once knew and I’d think, “that is SUCH an Esther thing to do” or ‘that’s exactly how Joe (one of the nurses) must be feeling about Dr. Bouchard’. Over the past six years, little nuances that relate to people we know have been added to the characters piece by piece.

By the sea-nery

An early rendering of Casey visiting Ida using 3D modeling.

We’ve gone through many generations of the visuals for our liv

Sega’s Yakuza is one of the most distinct and charming story-driven action-adventure franchises out there. The series is unassuming at first, mostly seeming like a straightforward action-crime drama. However, each game betrays this first impression, weaving a masterful blend of beat ‘em up combat, intriguing stories full of twists, memorable characters, absurdist humor, and a living world to explore.

Yakuza comes from the mind of Toshihiro Nagoshi, who wanted to create a game telling a story based on Japanese crime syndicates. While the project struggled to be greenlit due to a perceived limited appeal, it eventually got a 2005 release on the PlayStation 2 with its debut entry.

While the series has long garnered a cult following, it achieved Western success in 2017 with Yakuza 0, an inviting new prequel set at the beginning of the series’ timeline. Years later, thanks to continued localization from Sega, the help of memes, and the love of its established cult audience, Yakuza has earned popularity and become one of Sega’s most successful IPs.

With multiple games in the series coming to PlayStation Plus*, now is the best time to become a Yakuza fan. Join us as we highlight each game and how it evolved the series. 

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Yakuza

Yakuza | U.S. Release: 2006 | PlayStation 2

Yakuza Kiwami | U.S. Release: 2016 | PlayStation 4

Yakuza debuted on the PlayStation 2 and introduced us to the longest-running protagonist of the series, Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza lieutenant that makes it his mission to protect an orphan targeted by a criminal organization called the Tojo Clan. The story that unfolds is gripping, emotional, and exciting, setting the stage for the franchise’s decades-spanning crime saga.

As expected, the first game laid the early groundwork for what makes the series’s gameplay so memorable and iconic now. It takes place in a fictionalized version of Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, known in-game as Kamurocho. At the time, critics praised Yakuza for its authentic depiction of Japanese culture within its setting. While Kamurocho is a relatively small space to explore, it’s densely packed with side quests and activities that offer experience points upon completion, tying into the game’s role-playing mechanics. Everything in the world feeds into the growth of Kazuma Kiryu, allowing you to unlock more perks for the hero.

Yakuza marked an exciting beginning for the then-fledgling series, undoubtedly leaving a mark on those fortunate to play it. The game

Fallout 76 players are about to venture into new territory. This September, the Expeditions update whisks players to a perilous location outside the wild reaches of Appalachia: The Pitt!

Built on what’s left of Pre-War Pittsburgh, The Pitt is a rough place. The local Union faction is beset on all sides as bloodthirsty Raiders and once-human Trog beasts close in, so grab your friends, pack your best gear and steel yourself…it’s time to go on an Expedition.

Gear up and head out

“Expedition missions are randomized and repeatable story-based missions on the scale of our most epic end-of-line quests, such as the Vault 79 raid at the end of Wastelanders,” explains Steve Massey, Lead Designer on Fallout 76’s Expeditions. “We developed a new Quest Module system which allows us to easily randomize and retheme quest objectives in order to make each mission playthrough feel truly unique and blend seamlessly into the overarching mission story.”

Players can tackle missions either solo or in a group with up to four people – either with friends or by using the new Expedition Public Teams feature included in the update. Players can earn a unique item plan once per week upon completing an Expedition, as well as collect Stamps in order to claim specific items from the reward pool. Players can also earn repeatable rewards including legendary items, Scrip, Treasury Notes and even an all-new method for gaining Legendary Modules.

Legends never die. Last Stand, the fifth and final season of Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone, gathers Call of Duty’s most infamous villains for an epic finale. In Warzone, Caldera’s Peak rumbles; in Multiplayer, deploy to two new fast-paced maps, Beheaded and Fortress; in Zombies, continue the Dark Aether saga in Vanguard’s round-based finale, “The Archon.”

Last Stand launches on PlayStation on August 24. Read on for the highlights.

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Wreak havoc or defend Caldera

A new era of Warzone is upon us, with a major content update along with weather and lighting changes on both Caldera and Rebirth Island.

Peak — Volcanic POI

There are reports of heightened volcanic activity at Caldera. Navigate the transformed Peak as lava pours down its slopes in all modes and blasts into the sky during Operation: Last Call. 

New Gulag

Fight for redeployment in the new volcanic-themed Gulag. Best your opponent in this map inspired by an old favorite and get another shot at securing victory.

Beware the Doomsday Station

Discover this seismic device found within Caldera’s primary Battle Royale game mode. Trigger the device and defend against the incoming soldiers to get rewarded with powerful items and a unique Watch cosmetic for your Operator.

Supply Box UAV

Activate the new Supply Box UAV Killstreak to mark nearby unopened Supply Boxes on the Map for around 15 seconds. Find the Supply Box UAV in Supply Boxes or purchase one at a Buy Station.

Personal Supply Box

Track down this extremely rare crate with the assistance of the Supply Box UAV to acquire a massive XP boost and your favorite Loadout weapons in Warzone.

Rage Serum

This Field Upgrade allows you to become violently unstable, resulting in a viciously effective boost to your close-quarters fighting. Test subjects were shown to have superior melee damage, increased lunge distance, and enhanced stun power while fighting with melee weapons or fists. However, defensive forces have confirmed that while affected by Rage Serum, an Operator becomes louder, and seems to recoil with more confusion while stunned or flashed.

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The time has finally come, Cursed to Golf is out TODAY on PS5 and PS4. It’s been 2 years of hard work and passion to get here. The team and I are immensely proud of our game, and we hope you all take our virtual trip to the afterlife to live out your days in Golf Purgatory. Last time I was here I spoke about the general rules of supernatural golf, the incredible power of the Ace Cards and some of the shenanigans you can get down to in between holes. Today, let’s get down and dirty with some of the more perilous elements of Cursed to Golf. After all, if you want to make it out of Golf Purgatory, it pays to take some risks.

Who’s the Boss?

At the end of each biome lies its ultimate challenge – the Legendary Caddie that oversees that part of the course. In Purgatory you’ll find The Scotsman, in the Desert you’ll face The Explorer, and the Caves are home to The Forgotten. These golf battles mix up the gameplay slightly and offer up a few differences to the traditional purgatorial golf gameplay you’ll encounter on the rest of the course. Not only do you have to keep tabs on your shot counter, but you also need to beat the boss by sinking your ball before them. However, in addition to Shot Idols that replenish your shot count, these battles include Stun Idols. Smashing through one of these will knock the boss down, making them miss a turn.

These golfers don’t play around, hitting incredible shots that defy the laws of physics! If you want to take down a Legendary Caddie, you’ll need to master your Ace Cards, make use of the best shortcuts, and ensure to smash through a load of totems on your way to the flagpole. Luckily, the boss hole will always stay the same, so you can learn it as you play and experiment to find the best strategy to complete it.

The High Road or the Low Road?

The Scotsman’s hole is designed for his characteristic long drives. It’s also peppered with both hazards and shortcuts both up high and down low, so don’t forget to use your Birdie Eye to get a true lay of the land and plan which road you want to take. Beating The Scotsman will unlock the “Comeback” boon, giving you the chance to place a checkpoint flag once per run. Upon your (almost certain) death, instead of being booted back to the beginning of the course, you’ll be transported back to your flag. Not only that, but you’ll have all the Ace Cards and cash you had when you placed it originally, ready for another swing at the course!

The Dune Sea

The Explorer’s hole is a sand dune filled nightmare, expect to be perfecting your wedge game over there, because you’ll be landing in the bunker constantly. On top of that, The Explorer has a special ability – she can alter the hole right in the middle of it being played. You may land on a suspiciously flat and safe area, only to find a towering dune erupt ou

Them’s Fightin’ Herds (more lovingly called “TFH”) is a 2D fighting game developed by Mane6, a small team working hard to create an experience both newcomers and veterans of the genre will enjoy together. On October 18, players from around the world can finally join the stampede and play the game on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 for the first time.

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Welcome to the World of Foenum

In the mysterious and magical world of Fœnum, all manner of four-legged hooved creatures form societies, develop culture, and train for battle. Different regions and species in Foenum have elected champions to quest for a magical key with the power to lock the Predators away, all while earning glory and prestige for themselves and their own kind. Only one will be found worthy enough to wield this key, and the competition is fierce! 

Gameplay

Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a four-button fighter with Light, Medium, and Heavy attack buttons plus a Magic button to access a character’s unique abilities. Multiple attacks in sequence form combos, which are typically done by going from Light to Heavy then from Ground to Air. 

Special Moves are executed by performing an attack after a complex directional motion, like in traditional fighting games. Similarly, Super Meter builds during a fight, which can be spent to perform powerful Super Attacks.

Chain together normal attacks, extend your combos with special moves, and finish off your opponent with highly damaging Super Attacks to win the round!

Meet the Characters

Every character approaches combat in their own way, representing a mixture of archetypes familiar to fans of fighting games.

Arizona

Playstyle: Rushdown // Grounded
Difficulty: Easy

Arizo

Hi everybody, I’m Danilo from JoyMasher and I’m super excited to tell you more about Vengeful Guardian Moonrider, our next big game! And believe me, it’s quite a ride.

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After tackling the run ‘n’ gun genre with our previous game Blazing Chrome (inspired by timeless classics like Contra), I wanted with Vengeful Guardian Moonrider to keep the retro goodness of ‘90s action-platformers while updating the experience in fun new ways.

For that, I dug deep into the territory of 16-bit games and even some early CD games, and tried to craft an authentic experience, just as if you just found in your basement an unreleased MegaDrive/Genesis game. For that, I for example used redbook style audio and even recorded speech in order to give Vengeful Guardian Moonrider an authentic feel of this era.

But games were not our only inspiration for Vengeful Guardian Moonrider and I also tried to mix many different cultural influences I had during my childhood, playing amazing Japanese action games, watching dark anime and reading speculative and questionable pulp science-fiction novels. Genocyber, Cybernetic Guardians, Kamen Rider Black, and Hakaider were all rewatched to help chisel the type of universe in which Vengeful Guardian Moonrider takes place. Rewatching all those amazing shows was of course very serious work and not at all an excuse to spend some great quality time, hehe… 

All the character designs in Vengeful Guardian Moonrider, and general art direction of the game, were heavily inspired by Japanese artist Keita Amemiya, the designer behind lots of video games, anime, and tokusatsu from that era. I also took a lot of inspiration from H.R. Giger, the artist behind the otherworldly visuals of the Alien series.

Most of the enemies have lots of biomechanical parts and have a very creepy feeling to them. The boss rooms’ backgrounds also have their share of body horror and organic elements, giving another good layer of that creepy feeling I was looking for while keeping a very cool look to them! I was also very much influenced by yokais (japanese demons) and their depiction in traditional Japanese art.

As you must have guessed by now, references are very important to me and a great source of inspiration, and I think they were mandatory to get me to the proper mindset for creating a horrific sci-fi atmosphere

Hi everyone! Kevin Choteau here, Game Director at Asobo and very excited about everything we’ve been working on to bring you A Plague Tale: Requiem! The game releases on October 18 on PlayStation 5, three years after its prequel, Innocence. So time has passed, and so has it for our two heroes, Amicia and Hugo, who we’ll meet in Requiem six months after we said goodbye to them in Innocence. They’re both children, subject to constant evolution, so you can expect them to have changed! And that’ll impact how you play with them… Let’s look a bit into it right now.

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The End of Innocence

Hugo and Amicia have had to evolve a great deal, and to evolve fast to face the trials that life puts in front of them. They’re confronted with the extreme cruelty of their time, and experience atrocities and events that are far bigger than them. So their personalities and their abilities evolve in the process. Amicia learns to fight and to kill, and Hugo learns to use his power. And that does not strictly involve physical skills, it also means to deal with the morality of their actions and the trauma such amount of violence may cause. 

Following the events of Innocence, Amicia’s more hardened in combat. This is made clear by looking at her new set of weapons, which not only includes an improved version of the sling she was using in Innocence, but also a crossbow—a weapon of war.

Hugo was really just a spectator at the start of Innocence, discovering the world and marvelling at everything. But he becomes active as he becomes aware of the danger: he has an extraordinary power that he started using at the end of Innocence, and he continues down that path in Requiem.

So our two heroes have matured, and they are prepared for action. But it’s a lot to ask two children, and assuming these roles means developing a sense of darkness. That will be part of how they can use their abilities: weighing their actions and how much darkness they let in will be key to making it through.

Amicia’s Abilities 

Learning to control herself will be one of Amicia’s main challenges. Her trauma resurfaces and she has to deal with how far she can go to protect her brother. Her struggle to learn and accept to use force and to kill can lead her to develop a taste for it. Requiem constantly puts her in the position to question the limits of survival and protection instincts. She&

Speculative fiction often turns the lens back on the reader, making the previously unknown become knowable by turning it into story.

It’s long been used as a vehicle for representation, from Star Trek exploring new frontiers of romance, to Octavia Butler positioning a Black woman at the forefront of humanity’s escape to space in Parable of the Sower, to dystopian YA like The Hunger Games tapping into every young woman’s desire to change the world by burning it down.

I’m Lindsay Ishihiro, and as the narrative designer of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, I’d like to tell you about the ways our game follows in this tradition, breaking new ground in how players represent themselves and their gender, sexuality, and relationships in a video game.

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a genre-spanning game about growing up on an extrasolar colony: part life simulator, deck builder, roleplaying game, and dating simulator. You play Sol, a child whose parents – unhappy with their life on a dying Earth – flung themselves into space intending to create a new human culture from the ground up on the planet Vertumna IV.

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Given absolute freedom, what do a group of idealists preserve from human cultures, and what do they reject? And what do they accidentally bring with them, despite their best intentions?

Exocolonist’s simple character creation system hits far above its weight class. There are only two questions: what are Sol’s pronouns, and will they grow to appear masculine, androgynous, or feminine?

Even the UI to select Sol’s appearance is a slider instead of three buttons, giving the player a chance to say their Sol is ‘just a little’ masculine or feminine.

They/them is included in the standard pronoun selection, but players who prefer a more bespoke experience can teach it to use their correct pronouns and other gendered terms. In space, anyone can be fae/faeself.

You can even change their pronouns and appearance at any time, no gender-changing items or cursed springs required.

Sol’s anatomy is set later, during puberty – but there’s even an option for Sol having no reproductive anatomy at all, thanks to futuristic medical technology. Anatomy being separate from appearance and pronouns allows for a huge spectrum of possible genders, encompassing cis bodies, binary and non-