DualShockers - Features https://www.dualshockers.com DualShockers is the definitive destination for video game fans. From Gaming News to trending anime, we’ve got you covered. Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:31:24 GMT en-US hourly 60 <![CDATA[These Cyberpunk 2077 Patches Are Starting To Get A Bit Silly]]> Cyberpunk 2077 has just received what's supposed to be its final (or is it?) major update, version 2.1, alongside the Ultimate Edition. So has the game's redemption arc finally come to an end? Rolling out hefty updates for a non-live-service title consistently over three years isn't something you see too often, and it just underlines how far off the mark the game was back in December 2020 when CD Projekt Red unleashed it, trying to ride the hype train after all that massive marketing.

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Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:31:24 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/cyberpunk-2077-patch-2-1-starting-to-get-a-bit-silly/
<![CDATA[Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Is Shaping Up To Be Everything I Want]]> It’s rare for me to venture out of the realm of RPGs. These rare games do come around every so often, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora just may be what my Avatar fan heart needs.

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Wed, 06 Dec 2023 11:00:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-shaping-up-to-be-everything-i-want/
<![CDATA[This Digimon Game Is Like Pokemon With Swearing And Dark Side-Quests]]> There's a cardinal sin among us Digimon fans: never let anyone compare Digimon to Pokemon. Too many years of the public thinking it was a rip-off spoiled our mood. That said, even sins have exceptions, and I for one am happy to break the rule if it's to say "Hey, if you like Pokemon you should play Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth!"

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Tue, 05 Dec 2023 19:30:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/pokemon-digimon-story-cyber-sleuth-more-mature-game/
<![CDATA[Capcom Should Give The REmake Treatment To Dead Rising]]> Being a Dead Rising fan has been a weird experience for the past several years. Capcom has two unique survival-horror zombie franchises with dedicated fanbases, but Resident Evil has always been the golden boy. I wrote about the seemingly dead state of Dead Rising before, and I mentioned there that a full remake wouldn't be a bad way to revitalize the franchise.

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Tue, 05 Dec 2023 11:01:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dead-rising-deserves-resident-evil-remake-treatment-from-capcom/
<![CDATA[The Lead Pair In GTA 6 Look Like A Couple Worth Caring About]]> The GTA 6 trailer has dropped, and despite my recent wishes for the game to have been set in a time period a little removed from the modern day, I’m not going to sit here trying to suppress my hype sensors with bitterness over what could have been. The teaser was fantastic, deftly juxtaposing the drama of the two core characters with the absolute madness of the Floridian world around them.

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Tue, 05 Dec 2023 06:25:37 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/grand-theft-auto-6-protagonists-lucia-hope-for-mature-story/
<![CDATA[Starfield Lacks The Gravitas To Inspire A Skyrim-Like Modding Community]]> Bethesda games and mods, mods and Bethesda games. These two forces are inextricably linked, having enjoyed a powerful symbiotic relationship dating back to at least The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind in 2001, which was the first of Bethesda’s games to enjoy a huge modding community that persists all the way to this day (and with the whole game now ported to an open-source engine by modders, OpenMW, the possibilities are pretty much endless, to the point of the game getting a largely functional multiplayer mode).

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Mon, 04 Dec 2023 19:30:27 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/starfield-wont-have-modding-community-like-skyrim/
<![CDATA[Dragon's Dogma 2 Is Shaping To Be My Next Big RPG After Baldur's Gate 3]]> Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of my favorite games of all time, but as the months continue to pass by and the newness of the experience continues to dull into a golden shade of nostalgia, I know that the time is nigh to start looking ahead to that next big RPG. That RPG might well be Dragon’s Dogma 2.

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Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:00:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dragons-dogma-2-next-big-rpg-after-baldurs-gate-3/
<![CDATA[The Dancers From Just Dance Would Make Terrifying D&D Foes]]> Whenever I play Dungeons and Dragons one thing always happens: I become incredibly paranoid that any creature of any form is probably designed to defeat my character. I have learned the hard way that the adorably fuzzy and cute NPC that your DM has created will probably be your downfall in the end. Same applies to the NPC that just downright looks and roleplays as pure, undiluted evil. There’s pretty much no middle ground. But strangely enough, that’s what makes D&D such a unique gaming experience. As your trust in the world of D&D starts to dwindle, that’s when your imagination and fun with the game will start to grow.

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Sun, 03 Dec 2023 23:01:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/imagining-just-dance-dancers-as-terrifying-dd-foes/
<![CDATA[The Fallout TV Series Needs To Avoid This Pitfall]]> If you need evidence that video games have successfully broken the barrier between nice hobby and mainstream entertainment, just look at the other sources of entertainment out there. Mainly, I'm talking about television and movies, two entertainment media that you could have discussed with pretty much anyone around the water cooler for decades without anyone batting an eyelash.

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Sun, 03 Dec 2023 19:30:48 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/fallout-tv-series-avoid-major-pitfall/
<![CDATA[I'd Love To See Xenogears Get The Star Ocean Second Story R Treatment]]> Over the past decade, remasters and remakes have become integral to the video game industry, sparking debates on the appropriate ways to enhance the games we hold dear. Striking a balance between catering to the nostalgia of yesteryear, gamers and attracting new audiences is a common goal. Recently, Star Ocean Second Story R has exemplified an exceptional remake with its innovative HD-2D meets 3D graphics, successfully appealing to both classic gaming enthusiasts and those seeking modern high-definition landscapes. In my view, this remake sets a standard for what an excellent revitalization looks like, leaving me eager for more games to adopt a similar HD-2D meets 3D design. Next in line should be Xenogears.

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Sun, 03 Dec 2023 11:00:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/xenogears-should-get-star-ocean-second-story-r-treatment/
<![CDATA[After Persona 5 Tactia, I'm Still Not Tired Of The Phantom Thieves]]> Alert: This Article Contains Spoilers For Persona 5 Tactica's Story

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Sat, 02 Dec 2023 19:30:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/persona-5-tactia-still-not-tired-of-phantom-thieves/
<![CDATA[Wait, Does Anyone Actually Want A Resident Evil 5 Remake?]]> With Resident Evil 4 Remake landing with a bang this year, and delivering pretty much the reinvigoration and homage all of us had been hoping for (well, not all of us), something strange has been happening in the series’ fan community. There seems to be this assumption, among both fans and media outlets, that Resident Evil 5 is next up for the remake treatment, based purely on the evidence that the number ‘5’ comes after ‘4,’ and something tenuous about Wesker appearing in the Resident Evil Village DLC.

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Sat, 02 Dec 2023 19:30:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/who-actually-wants-resident-evil-5-remake/
<![CDATA[Live Arcade Was The Best Thing Xbox Ever Did For Gaming]]> In the world of entertainment, little lives forever anymore. Movies like Batgirl can be locked in a vault to never be seen again for tax reasons, changes in ownership of franchises can tie up legacy releases in limbo for years and, in July 2024, Microsoft will close down a brand from its storied home console history, which did immeasurable good for Xbox players, and independent game developers who used to be at the complete mercy of giant publishers in order to succeed.

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Sat, 02 Dec 2023 11:01:53 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/xbox-live-arcade-was-among-the-best-things-xbox-did-for-gaming/
<![CDATA[Blundering Through Robocop: Rogue City's Cool, Confusing Dialogue System]]> I have been consistently surprised by the quality of Robocop: Rogue City. My licensed game-loving heart could sniff out this was going to be a good game, but I was still floored by how much love and attention was put into the mechanics.

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Fri, 01 Dec 2023 19:30:25 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/robocop-rogue-city-dialogue-system-confusing/
<![CDATA[BioWare Shouldn't Abandon Anthem's Unique World]]> Of all the disastrous launches we've witnessed during the last few years, Anthem's story is the saddest to me. The first live-service game by a studio whose biggest strengths have been single-player RPGs, stitched together over the course of 18 months with substantial crunch, and project leads refusing to draw lessons from successful competitors like Destiny 2—I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

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Thu, 30 Nov 2023 19:30:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/i-hope-for-bioware-anthem-sequel-reboot/
<![CDATA[Epic Games Store Isn't Great, But It Does Have One Great Feature]]> The Epic Games Store is something of a failure, and the recent news from Epic that it’s yet to be profitable some five years after its inception paints a pretty clear picture of that. I’ve talked recently about the platform’s shortcomings, and how by now it really should’ve implemented far more community-friendly features if it was really serious about its ‘Steam competitor’ ambitions.

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Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:00:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/epic-games-store-great-feature-drm-free-games/
<![CDATA[I Love Smashing My Space Bar To Stomp Necromorphs In Dead Space]]> Have you ever stomped a cockroach? Not a nice opener, I know, but it's important, so just go there with me for a moment. When you do it, what's your method? Me, I like to do it with a shoe in my hand (due to an irrational fear that stomping it directly could cause it to burrow through the sole of my shoe and into my flesh like those evil beetles from the 1999 Brendan Fraser flick The Mummy).

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Wed, 29 Nov 2023 23:00:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dead-space-remake-stomping-necromorphs-with-keyboard-space-bar/
<![CDATA[Dragon’s Dogma 2 Needs An Improved Romance System]]> Dragon’s Dogma 2 has received a 15 minute stream that revealed both its release date and a little more information about the March 22, 2024 RPG. There’s a lot to enjoy here, especially if you’re a long-time DD fan like myself. Besides the impressive graphics, larger-than-life monster encounters, and the intriguing parallel universe storyline, Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks to be taking all of the things that made the original awesome, and buffing and shining them.

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Wed, 29 Nov 2023 19:42:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dragons-dogma-2-needs-improved-romance-system/
<![CDATA[Baldur’s Gate 3 Is Great, But It's Missing One Big Feature]]> Over the Thanksgiving break, I’ve been enjoying both a spot of tea (to calm my sniffles) and Baldur’s Gate 3 for the second time solo. (This doesn’t include my wild multiplayer playthroughs.) This time I’m a cleric, inspired by my white mage Final Fantasy 14 character.

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Wed, 29 Nov 2023 19:30:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/baldurs-gate-3-needs-a-glamour-system/
<![CDATA[Assassin's Creed's In-Game Ad "Error" Is A Sign Of Things To Come]]> Ubisoft is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons again, this time for injecting a Black Friday pop-up ad advertising their misfiring latest game Assassin’s Creed: Mirage within Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. Multiple players reported seeing the ad pop up when they’d go to the map screen, leading to well-deserved backlash from the game’s community condemning the practice.

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Wed, 29 Nov 2023 11:00:24 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/assassins-creeds-in-game-pop-up-ad-sign-of-things-to-come/
<![CDATA[Risk Of Rain Returns Is So Much More Than A Remake]]> Where exactly do we draw the line as far as remakes and remasters are concerned? I guess a remaster is pretty much just a graphical touch-up, but how far can you go before you've got a full-on remake on your hands?

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 23:00:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/risk-of-rain-returns-is-so-much-more-than-a-remake-or-remaster/
<![CDATA[My Plague-Ridden Run Through 2023's Most Overlooked RPG]]> Survival games and RPGs are probably two of the most immersive genres in gaming, replicating different parts of a distinctly ‘human’ experience through writing, systems, and other bits of game design. Survival games focus on the human needs, building tension through the desperation of having to look for food, supplies, medicines, you-name-it against constantly depleting meters in a world that’s uncaring, or even hostile, to your survival. RPGs, meanwhile, cater to the emotional side of the human experience, making you part of a narrative, and letting your choices and your personality shape the journey as it unfolds.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 19:30:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/wartales-most-overlooked-rpg-2023/
<![CDATA[Final Fantasy 14’s Trust System Needs An Update]]> One of the things that makes Final Fantasy 14 unique within the MMORPG landscape is its emphasis on storytelling. With a monthly subscription fee, you get access to almost ten years of updates, which can be quite overwhelming. There’s literally hundreds of hours of cutscenes and gameplay to get through. The goal was to create something akin to a single player experience within a greater MMORPG model.

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Tue, 28 Nov 2023 11:00:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/final-fantasy-14s-trust-system-needs-an-update/
<![CDATA[Bluey Is The Perfect Game To Show Kids How To Game]]> The television show Bluey has spread in popularity not just across multiple age groups, but even across multiple countries because of its masterful balance between entertainment and education. With that in mind, it came to no surprise to me that Bluey The Videogame created a gaming experience perfect for first-time gamers. Want to get your kids into gaming? Bluey’s perfect for giving an intro into how modern games work that makes for a better start than plonking them down with Mario.

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 23:00:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/bluey-the-videogame-rare-game-that-teaches-you-how-to-game/
<![CDATA[Remnant 2's Unique Structure Is A Great Fit For Even More DLC]]> Pre-orders are not really my thing, and grabbing Ultimate Editions right from the start is even rarer for me. After all, if I enjoy the base game, I can always snag the extra stuff later at a probably discounted price when I finally get around to playing it. Plus, I'm usually not in a rush to dive into the latest hot titles as soon as they hit the shelves; I prefer to experience my games in their definitive state.

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 19:30:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/remnant-2-unique-structure-great-fit-for-more-dlc/
<![CDATA[The Nitro Deck Reinvigorated My Love For Handheld Gaming]]> Back in the day, I loved handheld gaming. I would chill on the floor with headphones, a Gameboy Color, and Dragon Warrior 3. Yeah, those were the days. As I got older, I still enjoyed handheld gaming, but I moved on to PC and console games. I did, however, love the PSP.

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Mon, 27 Nov 2023 11:00:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/nitro-deck-handheld-gaming/
<![CDATA[I Survived One Of Starfield's Toughest Systems Right After The Intro]]> Starfield is a completionst's nightmare, or dream come true, depending on your perspective. I'm more than 192 hours into my main campaign, I'm nowhere near ready to enter The Unity and start my first New Game Plus (the system that the game's longevity is built around), and I've only been to about half of the solar systems in the galaxy. I just can't help myself. Criticize the game for its big, empty worlds all you want — and I know plenty of people do — but I just can't bring myself to fly by a new planet or moon without checking out just what it looks like down there.

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Sun, 26 Nov 2023 23:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/starfields-toughest-systems-right-after-intro/
<![CDATA[After Years Of Not Caring, I've Finally Become A Pokemon Shiny Hunter]]> I'm a completionist by nature, and genuinely can't help it. Even if I can't stand the game I'm playing I often run after the coveted Platinum trophy, and it's hard for me to turn down earning rare achievements on PC or Xbox.

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Sun, 26 Nov 2023 19:30:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/pokemon-legends-arceus-scarlet-violet-shiny-hunter/
<![CDATA[Why Team Fortress 2 Is Thriving While Overwatch 2 Is Dying]]> These days, Team Fortress 2 is synonymous with gaming culture. It has blossomed into this monolithic phenomenon that continues to age like fine wine, with a massive player base to this day. Then in the other corner you have Overwatch 2, which may still be up and running, but is experiencing a dwindling playerbase, as well as picking up the title of ‘most negatively reviewed game on Steam.’ Let's dive into why one game is thriving, while the other is dying.

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Sun, 26 Nov 2023 11:01:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/team-fortress-2-thriving-overwatch-2-dying/
<![CDATA[Has South Park: Snow Day Learned Nothing From South Park 64?]]> It’s been a hot minute since I last watched South Park (it was a good friend to me during the pandemic), but I have a lot of sentimentality for the show. We’ve had some good times together: from the early (and now woefully dated) early seasons of the show, through to its more biting, topical approach as the seasons entered double-figures. I also thought the recent RPG duology, the Obsidian-developed Fractured But Hole and Stick of Truth, were excellent, staying light on complexity, high on humour, and marking the first time where the quality bar of a South Park game actually matched an episode of the show.

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Sat, 25 Nov 2023 23:15:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/south-park-snow-day-learned-nothing-from-south-park-64/
<![CDATA[Who'd Win In A Fight Between Spyro The Dragon And Crash Bandicoot?]]> Platformers have brought us some of gaming's most iconic mascots and some big debates to boot. The classic example is, of course, Mario vs Sonic — a matchup old as the hills. However, today I'd like to discuss a different pair of platforming pals with kindred history, that pair being Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon. The two both started with a trilogy on PS1, had a weird spell for some years after, and then came back to the big time with remasters of those trilogies.

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Sat, 25 Nov 2023 19:30:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/spyro-the-dragon-vs-crash-bandicoot-who-would-win-fight/
<![CDATA[Sony's ‘We Believe In Generations’ Pledge Remains Unfulfilled]]> Back in 2020, before the PS5 hit the scene, Sony's Jim Ryan tossed out that famous "We believe in generations" line, which really stuck with me, especially since it was the complete opposite to Microsoft's policy of supporting Xbox One for as long as it takes. After all, isn't it great to channel all the energy into creating fresh games without being held back by old hardware, pushing the limits of what's possible?

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Sat, 25 Nov 2023 11:00:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/sony-we-believe-in-generations-pledge-unfulfilled/
<![CDATA[Who Would Win In A Fight: Fox McCloud or Miles "Tails" Prower? ]]> No matter what Aesop or the Grimm Brothers say, foxes don’t belong on nature’s “bad guy” list. OK, so they bump off a few chickens, but who doesn’t? In fact, I’d say that they’re relatively good when compared to their elder Lupus brothers, and so gosh-darn cuddly. Don’t be fooled though. Some vulpine characters have been known to throw down, like the daring space pilot Fox McCloud from Star Fox, or even Sonic the Hedgehog’s two-tailed teammate, Miles “Tails” Prower. Interesting pair, eh? Now let’s see what happens when we throw ‘em in the ring together.

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Fri, 24 Nov 2023 23:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/fox-mccloud-vs-miles-tails-prower-who-would-win-fight/
<![CDATA[Kratos vs Doom Slayer: Who Would Win In A Fight?]]> What happens when you get together an angry deity-destroying daddy against a mute and equally angry power-armoured marine who’s single-handedly been fending off the forces of hell against each other? Sparks will fly, planets will split like Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, while celestial and demonic beings will flee in terror.

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Fri, 24 Nov 2023 19:30:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/god-of-war-kratos-vs-doomslayer-doom/
<![CDATA[In A Great Year For Fighting Games, Don't Sleep On Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising]]> The year of fighting games continues to impress with huge releases like Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1, Tekken 8 looking more promising with each character reveal trailer, and even nontraditional fighters like Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl and Rivals Of Aether’s sequels looking to carve out a place for themselves on the scene. Now Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is on the horizon. Its second beta has just concluded (the first one being held in late July), and it left quite an impression on me. It’s a huge improvement upon the first. There's a lot that other fighting game developers could learn here.

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Fri, 24 Nov 2023 11:00:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/great-year-for-fighting-games-granblue-fantasy-versus-rising-beta-impressions/
<![CDATA[I Stalked 5 NPCs In Starfield To See What They Get Up To]]> Bethesda games a have a long history of immersing players in fantasy worlds, and a lot of the credit there needs to go to the NPCs. I was blown away the first time I picked up Oblivion and wandered through The Imperial City. Not only did every resident follow their own daily routines, they'd stop and talk to one another with truly inane — but at the time groundbreaking — five-sentence conversations. Sure, they were all lines pulled out of a hat, and the weird responses to each other weren't anything that real humans (or elves or khajit) would say if they were actually listening to one another, but it was one of the first times in an RPG that I felt like the world was really alive, and that it continued to exist even when I wasn't around.

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Thu, 23 Nov 2023 23:15:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/starfield-i-stalked-5-npcs-see-what-they-get-up-to/
<![CDATA[The Spirittea YouTube Controversy Sounds Like A Misunderstanding]]> Cosy Bath-house life sim Spirittea has hit the ground running. Our Josh loved it, and the game has already made over $1 million in revenue, attracting 150,000 players across the platforms. But just yesterday, publisher No More Robots’ founder Mike Rose landed himself in a spot of bother, when he said something that was construed as suggesting that YouTubers shouldn’t be paid for their work.

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Thu, 23 Nov 2023 19:30:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/spirittea-youtube-controversy-seems-like-misunderstanding/
<![CDATA[Dreadwolf Seriously Needs To Show Signs Of Life On Dragon Age Day]]> I’m a BioWare superfan. Since I played Mass Effect 1 back in 2007, I’ve been enraptured by their narratives, and how they make choice and inclusion an important part of their games. But it’s been a hot minute since they’ve had a good moment. I’d argue that their last really good day was with the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition in early 2021. And while I’ve continued to have a greater air of skepticism around my favorite developer because of the recent problems with recent releases like Anthem and upcoming ones like Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, this year’s celebration of Mass Effect on November 7 (known as N7 day) was quite the treat.

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Thu, 23 Nov 2023 11:00:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/mass-effect-n7-day-dragon-age-dreadwolf-signs-of-life/
<![CDATA[Apex Legends Vs Titanfall 2: Which Should You Play?]]> I've been playing Apex Legends since season 12, and I've enjoyed it immensely. However, its most recent season—which dropped In October 2023—hasn't really grabbed me or the friends I play it with. This led to us playing more Titanfall 2, a game set in the same universe and a title I was still very new to. If you're at all familiar with these two games, you'll know that there's something of a debate surrounding them (to put it mildly). Many fans of Titanfall 2 aren't happy with Apex as a direction for the franchise, especially since its success has led to the likelihood of a true Titanfall 3 being a pipe dream.

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Wed, 22 Nov 2023 23:16:16 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/apex-legends-vs-titanfall-2/
<![CDATA[Alan Wake 2's Cryptic Ending Is Actually Perfect ]]> It’s never a simple ending to a Remedy story, is it? Alan Wake 2 captivated me throughout its entire narrative (as it captivated our reviewer, Jeff). Like Agent Anderson, I questioned the reality of what was happening around me. Up until the very end, I wasn’t completely sold on Saga’s conception of the separation between real-life events and the Dark Place. If it had been revealed that Logan Anderson really had drowned, and Saga’s memories of an alternate timeline were the work of Scratch, I wouldn’t have been shocked.

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Wed, 22 Nov 2023 19:30:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/alan-wake-2-perfect-cryptic-ending/
<![CDATA[The Koskela Brothers Are The Unsung Heroes Of Alan Wake 2]]> This piece contains spoilers for key plot twists in Alan Wake 2

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Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:00:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/koskela-brothers-best-characters-alan-wake-2/
<![CDATA[I Really Hope GTA 6 Isn't Set In The Modern Day]]> With the GTA 6 trailer reveal looming, I’ve gotten to thinking about the things I want to see in the game, and more broadly the kind of game I want to see. Obviously it’s going to be a GTA game, with all the zany characters, robberies, gunplay, and online nonsense that comes with the territory, but something I’ve found strangely absent from GTA 6 conversations has been talk about the time period in which it will be set.

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Tue, 21 Nov 2023 19:30:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/gta-6-time-period-hopefully-not-modern-day/
<![CDATA[Playing Baten Kaitos Makes Me Miss Anti-Hero JRPG Jerks]]> When I started playing the first Baten Kaitos in the HD remastered duology that was released this past September, I knew that it would be a blast from the past. But I didn’t know specifically what kind of blast.

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Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:00:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/playing-baten-kaitos-makes-me-miss-anti-hero-jrpg-jerks/
<![CDATA[Half-Life's 'Uplink' Mini-Campaign Is A Wild Glimpse Into What The Game Could've Been]]> As Half-Life turns 25(!), plenty of us have been reflecting on why Valve’s seminal shooter was so important to gaming. Its ability to tell a story with almost no direct narrative exposition other than the crazy things you experience in the game, its fantastic level and sound design, phenomenal pacing, near-seamless level transitions creating the sense of a continuous game world, the list goes on. It was also an excellent shooter, but it had so much going for it that when I think about the game today, the actual shooting part is often the last thing on my mind.

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Mon, 20 Nov 2023 23:15:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/half-life-25th-anniversary-update-uplink-demo/
<![CDATA[Modern Warfare's Brutal Development Cycles Have Finally Caught Up With It]]> Modern Warfare 3 just dropped to whatever the opposite of applause is. Between low critic scores and collective irritation with Xbox trying to shill for on the homepage, the latest entry in the CoD franchise isn't exactly winning a lot of people over. The bigger story, however, is the flurry of accusations about the working conditions faced by those working on the game. According to GamesIndustry.biz, Modern Warfare 3 was developed "in just 16 months", half the time that a CoD game is usually made in. This squeeze led to "periods of crunch and communications issues" for those in the trenches.

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Mon, 20 Nov 2023 19:30:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/modern-warfares-brutal-development-cycle/
<![CDATA[Mio Was The True Main Character of Xenoblade 3]]> It’s been a little over a year since Xenoblade Chronicles 3 came out, and I still think about it a lot. It was my Game of the Year in 2022, and it remains one of the most immersive JRPGs I’ve ever experienced. I was enthralled by its narrative from July and well into late August, when I finally beat it. I took my time, and I was rewarded with so many memories.

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Mon, 20 Nov 2023 11:00:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/xenoblade-3-mio-true-main-character/
<![CDATA[This Bathhouse Life-Sim Is My Dream Combo Of Stardew Valley And Spirited Away]]> As a blatant Nipponophile (look it up), I get most of my kicks gobbling up all manner of Japanese content, whether via books, movies, music, or games. As such, I’ve spared no expense in investing in the Ghibli collection on DVD — yes, they’re still a thing— that my kiddos often enjoy, especially the quintessential entry, Spirited Away. There’s just something about the Japanese countryside and an otherworldly steaming bathhouse full of supernatural guests that’s so, what’s the word ... cozy.

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Sun, 19 Nov 2023 23:15:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/spirittea-managing-bathhouse-life-spirited-away-vibes/
<![CDATA[No One Cares About Assassin's Creed Mirage, And That's Bad For Gaming]]> ‘Is it me, or is no one talking about Assassin’s Creed Mirage?’ I thought to myself as I plicked away at my votes for DualShockers’ myriad GOTY categories (buckle up, folks. There’s gonna be a ton of them). The game reviewed reasonably well, with a decent 77 on Metacritic (though notably lower than the previous three iterations), and there seemed to be a vocal contingent of people celebrating the return to ‘old-school Assassin’s Creed’ in the leadup to release.

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Sun, 19 Nov 2023 19:30:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/assassins-creed-mirage-doesnt-bode-well/
<![CDATA[Nintendo Needs To Make Another Mainline Mario Game As Weird As Yoshi's Island]]> Yoshi’s Island is, I think, the first game that truly blew me away with what the SNES was capable of. It’s become clear over time that the 16-bit era is the cutoff point when it comes to graphics being able to still hold up today (let’s be honest: most 8-bit NES games are irredeemably ugly to go back to), but Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is still a pastel-coloured, punchy-tuned multisensory joy to behold. There’s nothing quite like it in mainline Mario games, and I’m not sure there ever will be.

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Sun, 19 Nov 2023 11:00:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/super-mario-world-2-yoshis-island-weirdest-mario-game/
<![CDATA[Half-Life Turns 25, So Let's Remind Ourselves Why It Matters]]> I still remember the first time I played Half-Life. It’s one of several flashbulb memories of games that I’ve absorbed over the years. I was at a friend’s house, and he had this PC without a chassis; basically a motherboard sitting on the desk, with cables and fans and what I believe was a Voodoo2 graphics stuck onto it. A quintessential late 90s setup, where PC gamers were experimenting with the new powers bestowed upon them by 3D-accelerated graphics.

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Sat, 18 Nov 2023 23:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/half-life-25th-anniversary-update-why-it-matters/
<![CDATA[I Want A Final Fantasy 7 Timeline Where Aerith And Zack Live]]> There are so many questions I have for the upcoming release of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth: how will combat feel compared to the previous game, Final Fantasy 7: Remake? Where will all the twists and turns in the new timeline lead? Most importantly, I want to know what will happen to Aerith and Zack. I want them to make it out alive.

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Sat, 18 Nov 2023 23:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/final-fantasy-7-timeline-aerith-and-zack-live/
<![CDATA[I Picked The Wrong Time To Step Away From Starfield]]> I've been taking a break from Starfield over the past few weeks. It's not that I've stopped appreciating Bethesda's most expansive game ever; it's just that for a while, I had been dumping all my gaming time into one specific title, and I like to keep my horizons a little more broad than that. Still, the itch to explore got to me, and I recently booted up the game again for the first time in a few weeks and loaded my last save file. Now let's see; where was I?

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Sat, 18 Nov 2023 19:30:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/starfield-wrong-time-to-step-away/
<![CDATA[Few Games Welcome Me Back After A Long Break Quite Like Final Fantasy 14]]> This year, Baldur’s Gate 3 became my all-consuming passion, filling a void in my gaming world. Unlike my typical RPG journey, which lasts a few weeks before moving on, I've been immersed in Faerun for months, exploring characters and narratives that have become unforgettable. While usually I cycle through games, the singular hold of Baldur’s Gate 3 has made it difficult to explore others, even as the latest patch of Final Fantasy 14, 6.5 Growing Light, beckons with its new adventures and stories.

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Sat, 18 Nov 2023 11:00:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/final-fantasy-14-ff14-returning-after-long-break-updates-patches/
<![CDATA[Resident Evil Remakes Are Some Of The Best Games To Replay]]> It’s no secret that Capcom has truly hit the mark with modern Resident Evil remakes. Despite being very different games, Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 share one common thread — they’re all immensely fun to play. The series has become my go-to for revisiting once in a while, and it never disappoints. Capcom has found a perfect rhythm, length, and blend of mechanics, resulting in games that are a sheer delight to replay over and over again.

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Fri, 17 Nov 2023 19:30:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/resident-evil-remakes-best-games-to-replay/
<![CDATA[Help! I'm Just Incapable Of Playing Evil Characters In RPGs]]> It’s a feeling that many RPG fans can relate to. You just completed a goodie two-shoes playthrough of your epic adventure, and are hungry for more, so you resolve to replay the game while making the opposite decisions this time around.

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Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:00:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/cant-be-evil-baldurs-gate-3-mass-effect-dragon-age/
<![CDATA[The Bosses Are The Best Part Of Sonic Superstars]]> Bosses pose a creative challenge for game developers. A great boss battle has to find common ground between familiarity and creating surprising challenges to keep us on our toes. If a boss battle only replicates obstacles from previous levels, there will be no new challenge, but if a boss battle throws too many curveballs, it can discourage us completely. These grueling encounters are supposed to get our heart rates going, keep us determined to try, try, try again, and offer the thrill of victory once we best them.

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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 23:16:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/sonic-superstars-boss-battles-are-the-best/
<![CDATA[I Love Baldur's Gate 3, But Its Ending Falls Flat For Me]]> The following article features ending spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3 as well as Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age Origins.

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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 19:31:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/baldurs-gate-3-ending-should-have-been-better/
<![CDATA[It's Time For Sword Art Online Games To Ditch Kirito]]> My relationship with Sword Art Online video games is love-hate. Apart from the still stagnant Dot Hack series, it is the only isekai-based pseudo-MMORPG video game series out there. I love Dot Hack. I have tried to settle for the SAO video games as a replacement, but it’s been a mostly terrible experience.

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Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:01:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/sword-art-online-games-ditch-kirito/
<![CDATA[Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Is Giving Me Dishonored Vibes, And That's Great]]> Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and Dishonored are two games-slash-series that I miss dearly. Sure, I can—and still do—go back and play the previous games whenever I want, but somehow the fact that both of them, to greater or lesser extents, never found the success they deserved nor went on to become established long-running IPs feels like one of gaming’s great injustices.

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Wed, 15 Nov 2023 23:15:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-dishonored-similarities/
<![CDATA[I Wish Sony Had Been More Creative With The PS5 Slim Design]]> Is it me, or has Sony’s customary mid-cycle ‘Slim’ console arrived without much fanfare this generation? It feels like in previous generations, those Slim models were pushed and marketed with the enthusiasm of entire new products, but this time round, the PS5 Slim has seemingly slinked in through the backdoor.

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Wed, 15 Nov 2023 19:30:57 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/ps5-slim-design-criticism/
<![CDATA[Return To Moria Fails To Capture The Hearty Joys Of Being A Dwarf]]> It’s not been a great year for Lord of the Rings games, has it? Lord of the Rings: Gollum from Daedalic Entertainment was an abject failure and a shallow, broken mess. The game was so poorly received that it started a brief trend of developers issuing public apologies to players. Before the release of Return to Moria, my hopes were higher. However, after playing Free Range Games’ survival crafting game, I am sorely disappointed.

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Wed, 15 Nov 2023 11:00:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-return-to-moria-not-dwarvish-enough/
<![CDATA[This Underrated Zelda Game Would Make A Great Movie Adaptation]]> Unless you’ve been living in a damp Hylian cave, then you’ve probably heard the news: decades after its debut on the NES in 1986, Nintendo has finally green-lit a live-action Legend of Zelda movie with Maze Runner director, Wes Ball, at the helm. Clearly, despite seemingly giving fans what they wanted, the news has folks feeling rattled, nervous and generally shocked, but not me.

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Tue, 14 Nov 2023 23:15:56 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/legend-of-zelda-movie-adaptation-majoras-mask/
<![CDATA[Remnant 2: The Awakened King Feels Like Another Bloodborne Homage ]]> Both the original Remnant: From The Ashes and its sequel, Remnant 2 have a few key inspirations behind them. Resident Evil 4 is a pretty clear influence, with the meaty, over-the-shoulder combat. There's also a little bit of Diablo and a little bit of Destiny in there too, with the emphasis on loot. Of course, the shadow of Dark Souls looms large, and I think it's fair to say that both games owe a lot to FromSoftware's groundbreaking RPG. Without it, we would probably have never had either of the Remnant games (and a whole load of others, but that's a story for another time),

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Tue, 14 Nov 2023 19:30:28 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/remnant-2-the-awakened-king-bloodborne-homage/
<![CDATA[Remember Hideo Kojima's Worst Ever Story Moment In Games?]]> I’m a huge fan of Hideo Kojima’s work. I even bought his semi-autobiography and read it twice! That being said, writing a book or creating a video game doesn’t make you impervious to fallibility. This visionary genius has made some questionable choices that are often backed up with meager explanations, or sometimes, none at all. Now, with the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection in the spotlight and MGS alumnae Stefanie Joosten’s retrospective thoughts on the whole “Quiet” thing, it may be fun to dive into some of Kojima’s lesser points.

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Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:01:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/remember-hideo-kojimas-worst-ever-story-moment-in-games/
<![CDATA[I Hope Hellblade 2 Can Match Alan Wake 2's Mastery Of FMV]]> Whether you liked Alan Wake 2 for what it is, or felt it was a bit too slow-paced and that its combat could have been executed better, there is no denying that Remedy really shook things up creatively. In particular, the devs totally nailed in-engine graphics with full-motion video (FMV) blending, weaving a dense, dreamlike and twisted vibe, especially in those episodes where Alan's stuck in the Dark Place.

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Mon, 13 Nov 2023 23:15:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/hellblade-2-match-alan-wake-2-mastery-of-fmv/
<![CDATA[Nearly One Year Later, Pokemon Scarlet And Violet Still Don't Have Shiny Sparkles]]> There are few Pokémon games that reach the level of controversy and contention that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet did. For all the great things that it had, there were just as many things that held it back, such as the technical performance and poorly executed mechanics, like Tera Raids and Let's Go. While this has caused a lot of discourse over the games' quality, there is one criticism that everyone can agree on, and that's the unfortunate absence of shiny sparkles.

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Mon, 13 Nov 2023 23:01:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/pokemon-scarlet-violet-one-year-later-still-no-shiny-sparkles/
<![CDATA[I'm Worried About The Zelda Movie Being Live Action]]> It shouldn't be a surprise that Nintendo is making a Legend of Zelda movie. Mario and FNAF made huge splashes with their movies this year, not to mention the TV success of The Last of Us and Twisted Metal. Moreover, the continued acclaim of the franchise has only reached new peaks with Tears of the Kingdom. It's a series gamers know intimately and one that casual audiences are increasingly familiar with, so it'd be more obscene for Nintendo not to capitalize on all these factors.

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Mon, 13 Nov 2023 19:31:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/worried-zelda-movie-live-action/
<![CDATA[I Seriously Hope This Trend Of Shorter Triple-A Games Continues]]> This year, the gaming industry seems to have rediscovered the perfect length for a single-player game of 20 or so hours, and what a delight it's been. Three of October’s biggest releases—Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, and Alan Wake 2—all take you about 16 hours to reach the end credits. The same goes for titles like Dead Island 2, RoboCop: Rogue City, Atomic Heart, Immortals of Aveum, Hi-Fi Rush, remakes like Dead Space and Resident Evil 4, open-world titles like Forspoken and Atlas Fallen, and even expansions like Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

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Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:01:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/shorter-triple-a-games-trend-should-continue/
<![CDATA[FNAF's Creator Is Protecting His Actors From AI, And I Say Bravo]]> As a light seems to be appearing at the end of the tunnel for striking actors, the creator of one of the most celebrated indie game series of all time is taking his own stand against one of the key issues leading to the SAG-AFTRA strike in the first place. The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which has been on strike since mid-July, seems like it might be reaching an agreement with studio heads in Hollywood, according to a recent article in The Verge, although the vote won't be coming until December 5. According to that story, the terms of the agreement include requiring studios to acquire "informed consent" before using AI to digitally replicate actors, whether living or dead, and to provide compensation for the use of those likenesses.

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Sun, 12 Nov 2023 23:45:23 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/fnafs-creator-protecting-actors-from-ai/
<![CDATA[Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Has The Best Opening I’ve Ever Played]]> Marvel's Spider-Man 2 blew me away, which is evident by my glowing review. What's so impressive about this sequel is that it goes from 0 to 100 faster than any sports car. One moment, we're in a classroom with Peter and Miles. The next minute, we're engaged in a set piece that would make Nathan Drake jealous. In fact, it opens with a boss fight. The struggle against Sandman has layers. Swinging to get to him introduces us to the basics of movement, while the fight against him prepares us for combat. PlayStation is no stranger to strong openings in its exclusives. In fact, more narrative games demand a strong first impression. It's the opening statement that grips you and primes you for the rest of the game. That's why Marvel's Spider-Man 2's opening works so well.

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Sun, 12 Nov 2023 19:30:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/spider-man-2-best-video-game-opening/
<![CDATA[Saga's Side Of The Alan Wake 2 Story Is Way More Compelling Than Alan's]]> Remedy's latest full-blown survival horror Alan Wake 2 is certainly much darker than its predecessor. The visuals alone made me pause the game many times just to soak in the extraordinary artistic approach that's honestly a technical treat for the eyes.

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Sun, 12 Nov 2023 15:15:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/alan-wake-2-needs-more-saga-anderson-less-alan-wake/
<![CDATA[Disney Dreamlight Valley's Microtransactions Have Only Gotten Stranger]]> In 2022, we saw the early access launch of Disney Dreamlight Valley. An Animal Crossing-style farming simulator with tons of Disney characters as village residents. I ate it up, as did countless other players. But I had some criticisms of the microtransactions just a few months back. To summarise: I was okay with some of the ideas, while plenty crossed a line, and a major fear gripped me over where they'd be going next.

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Sun, 12 Nov 2023 11:00:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/disney-dreamlight-valley-microtransactions-getting-worse/
<![CDATA[Does Anyone Actually Want Sony To Make 12 Service Games?]]> When I heard the news that Sony has put the brakes on six of the 12 service games it has in development, my first reaction was ‘Hang on a second. There were 12 of them?!?’ Seriously, I knew Sony had some big plans regarding multiplayer games in The Last of Us and Horizon universes, and that unexpected Marathon revival from Bungie actually looks quite interesting, but 12?!? Come on Sony, how much service spaghetti do you really need to throw at that wall?

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Sat, 11 Nov 2023 23:45:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/sony-playstation-5-service-games-delayed/
<![CDATA[For The King 2 Feels Like Baldur's Gate 3 And Mario Party Had A Baby]]> It's time we had the talk. You see, when a Dungeons & Dragons-based strategy RPG and an old computerized board game about plumbers and dinosaurs love each other very much, they may decide to put their gameplay elements together in a magical and wonderful way, and...

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Sat, 11 Nov 2023 19:30:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/for-the-king-2-baldurs-gate-3-mario-party-had-baby/
<![CDATA[Robocop: Rogue City Feels How Modern Halo Should]]> I've mentioned before that I'm a big defender of licensed games, going as far as to praise PlayStation Plus for loading its catalog with licensed kids' games, so from the first whisper of Robocop: Rogue City, it had my attention. And even as a defender of licensed games, Rogue City's instantly satisfying "game feel" was far beyond what I expected. Just check it out for yourself:

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Sat, 11 Nov 2023 15:15:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/robocop-rogue-city-feels-how-modern-halo-should/
<![CDATA[I Still Say Dark Souls 2 Is Better Than Dark Souls 3]]> I love Dark Souls 2, and I'm not ashamed to say it anymore. Yes, it was developed by FromSoftware's B-team, and yes it contains some of the worst level design and boss fights in the entire series, but I don't care. The odd one out Dark Souls 2 may be, but I just can't help myself. I've played through it dozens of times (both the original and Scholar of the First Sin) and I don't plan to stop anytime soon. In fact, I was just finishing my latest playthrough recently when I had a sudden epiphany.

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Sat, 11 Nov 2023 11:00:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dark-souls-2-vs-dark-souls-3-comparison/
<![CDATA[I Still Don't Know What To Make Of Alan Wake 2's Combat]]> Back in the distant days before I found my calling at DualShockers, around the time Alan Wake Remastered was announced, I was a tad confused. I probably should’ve guessed that the remaster was simply a prelude for a soon-to-be-announced sequel, but my main feeling was that the original game was fine as it was, and really there was no point remastering it because that wouldn’t fix its not-so-great combat (just remake it instead, I remember calling for). Obviously no one listened, the remaster happened, and people seemed to enjoy it, but then when the sequel was announced shortly thereafter, I became even more vocal about the need to fix the damn combat.

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Fri, 10 Nov 2023 23:46:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/alan-wake-2-combat-analysis/
<![CDATA[Stop Complaining About Alan Wake 2’s Slow Pace]]> I remember having a dream as a kid: whenever a game with impressive graphics was shown, I imagined playing it very slowly. I’d walk through its world the entire time instead of rushing, appreciating every detail poured into bringing it to life. Time after time, these games came out only for me to just sprint through, rarely taking the time to slow down and savor their beauty (a problem that Rockstar elegantly addressed with Red Dead Redemption 2).

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Fri, 10 Nov 2023 19:31:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/is-alan-wake-2-too-slow/
<![CDATA[With TimeSplitters Under Threat (Again), Xbox Could Be A Perfect Home For It]]> Some of the best nights of my early teenage years were spent huddled around my Sony Trinitron TV—an unsolvable mass of PS2 controller cables weaving their way between four sweaty pairs of hands and the official Sony MultiTap plugged into my PS2—playing split-screen TimeSplitters 2. Along with Future Perfect, it’s to this day the best split-screen shooter experience I’ve ever had, with its ridiculous plethora of game modes, characterful maps, and I recall over 100 bonkers characters to choose from, each with their own small sets of stats to vary up play.

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Fri, 10 Nov 2023 15:16:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/timesplitters-free-radical-closed-by-embracer-microsoft-acquisition/
<![CDATA[The Man With No Name Makes One Big Mistake That Stops It Short Of Greatness]]> For me, side content is always welcome within games. After all, it’s side content because you can choose whether you want to interact with it or not; it's choice, and choice is good. If you're not into it for whatever reason, you can simply stick to the main story and enjoy a more streamlined experience.

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Fri, 10 Nov 2023 11:01:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/like-a-dragon-ishin-man-with-no-name-merges-side-quests-content-with-main-quest-mistake/
<![CDATA[If GTA 6 Is To Be The Best Yet, It Needs These Features]]> We’ve known for a good little while that Grand Theft Auto 6 is happening, thanks to the sneaky schemings of hackers who leaked a substantial chunk of super-early game footage a little over a year ago, but now it looks like we have some form of timeline. Rockstar have now officially confirmed that they’ll be releasing a GTA 6 trailer next month.

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Thu, 09 Nov 2023 23:46:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/grand-theft-auto-gta-6-most-wanted-features/
<![CDATA[Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Cleverly Reworks The Series' Maddest Moment]]> There’s something so wonderfully subversive about fourth-wall breaks. Isn’t that right…reader? Yes, you there with the unmade bed behind you. It’s no secret that we here at DualShockers love this effect dearly. Sure, it can be used a gimmick to truly strike terror into a gamer’s heart, but it’s also an innovative way to switch things up a bit, especially when the grind gets old.

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Thu, 09 Nov 2023 19:30:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol-1-psycho-mantis-fight-reworked/
<![CDATA[Bringing Commander Shepard Back To Mass Effect Would Be A Mistake]]> Does anyone else get those post-N7-day blues? It’s a bit like having something you love thrust violently back into your mind after finally healing, only to have it ripped away again after remembering its existence. This is the reality for many Mass Effect fans, who only receive a morsel of information about the series every year, just enough to reignite their interest but not enough to keep them satiated.

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Thu, 09 Nov 2023 15:15:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/commander-shepard-mass-effect-a-mistake/
<![CDATA[Dot Hack Might Be Returning, And It's About Time Too]]> Based on a mysterious countdown featured on the game’s website, there seems to be a new project on the horizon related to the beloved franchise Dot Hack (often stylized as .hack). The timer is set to conclude on March 31, 2024, at 8 p.m. EST, and the website showcases a countdown that meticulously tracks days, hours, minutes, and even seconds against a backdrop of fading hexagons, which is a big tell for us Dot Hack fans, and the site's icon bears a striking resemblance to the classic series logo—a white hexagon with "DOT" inscribed within it.

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Thu, 09 Nov 2023 11:00:27 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dot-hack-returning-countdown-timer/
<![CDATA[Of All Baldur’s Gate 3’s Companion Quests, Shadowheart's Hit Me Hardest]]> This feature contains major plot spoilers for Shadowheart's companion quest in Baldur's Gate 3

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Wed, 08 Nov 2023 19:30:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/baldurs-gate-3-shadowheart-companion-quest-hit-me-hardest/
<![CDATA[Super Mario Wonder's Prince Florian Is Cappy 2.0, And That's Great]]> For a long time now, Nintendo has been utilizing the sidekick in its adventures, a common character that aids you throughout your journey with tutorial knowledge and constant companionship. In Kirby and The Forgotten World, this companion was Elfilin, who not only explained a lot of the setting lore, but whose kidnapping serves as an emotional motivator to get players to finish the game in its entirety.

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Wed, 08 Nov 2023 15:16:22 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/super-mario-bros-wonder-prince-florian-cappy/
<![CDATA[That Time Nintendo's Satanic Pac-Man Rip-Off Got Banned In America]]> Beelzebub. Mephistopheles. Ol’ Thorny. Whatever you label the Prince of Darkness, this guy has really carved out a name for himself in pop culture. His list of credits in film is impressive (do yourself a favor and watch Tim Curry in Legend), but as the ultimate token bad guy, its only natural that he play the Big Boss in quite a few video games.

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Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:00:24 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/devil-world-nintendo-pac-man-ripoff-switch-online/
<![CDATA[Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Continues Insomniac's Mastery Of 'Third Entry' Games]]> After the success of the previous two games, I can see why so many people were hyped for Marvel's Spider-Man 2. And yet, for me, there was this nagging problem. See, I love Spider-Man and its developer Insomniac, but neither Marvel's Spider-Man nor Miles Morales were quite the Godly games I had been hoping for.

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Tue, 07 Nov 2023 19:31:21 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/insomniac-marvels-spider-man-2-spyro-year-of-the-dragon-ratchet-clank-up-your-arsenal/
<![CDATA[This Found-Footage Horror Is The Best Jumpscare Sim I've Played In Ages]]> This isn't the first time I find myself dropped into a dark forest, with nothing but a flashlight to light my way. My screen is overlapped in a grainy 90s filter. There is no story or text wall explaining why I'm here. I only know I must go deeper into the woods.

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Tue, 07 Nov 2023 11:00:24 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/dont-scream-is-the-best-jumpscare-sim-ive-played-in-ages/
<![CDATA[The Next Spider-Man Won't Rely On Old Villains, And That's Great News]]> Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

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Mon, 06 Nov 2023 19:31:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/spider-man-2-old-villains-reformed-returning/
<![CDATA[There's A Much Better Way To Play OG Metal Gear Solid Than The Master Collection]]> The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 1 has left me with mixed feelings. As a PC player, it’s fantastic that these classic games are finally natively playable on PC at a reasonably high standard, though as I rambled about previously, those standards don’t feel quite high enough, what with the collection basically being a repackaged port of 2011’s Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (which was good for its time, but lacking the visual bells and whistles and 4K resolutions you might hope for in 2023).

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Mon, 06 Nov 2023 15:15:16 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/metal-gear-solid-master-collection-vol-1-mgs-better-on-retroarch-emulator/
<![CDATA[Silent Hill 2 Remake's "Special Origin Story" Can Only Mean One Thing, And It's Not Pyramid Head]]> Silent Hill has really been ramping up its headline presence lately, mostly due to the absolute debacle that’s been Silent Hill: Ascension (the less said about that, the better. I’ve said my pieces). So let’s just pretend that never happened and hope that they don’t make whatever crappery is going on there canon, shall we? Yep, moving on…

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Mon, 06 Nov 2023 10:46:56 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/silent-hill-2-remake-special-origin-story-pyramid-head-born-from-a-wish/
<![CDATA[Less Than 1% Of Netflix Users Play Its Games, And I Can See Why]]> Netflix is in a constant state of doing that bit from the finale of Blackadder where the eponymous character stuffs pencils up his nose and sticks a pair of knickers on his head. Between anti-consumer decisions (like cracking down on password sharing) to canceling great shows in their prime (like Inside Job—still mad about that not getting a third season), it's easy to see why I've been worried about gaming subscriptions potentially following its path.

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Sun, 05 Nov 2023 19:30:17 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/no-one-plays-netflix-games-i-can-see-why/
<![CDATA[Could Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Be The Suikoden 3 I've Been Waiting For?]]> I may have underestimated just how much JRPG fans still care about the Suikoden series. I wasn't kidding last month when I called Suikoden 3 my all-time favorite JRPG and begged Konami to announce a remaster, even though I acknowledge that it's not the most popular game in that particular series. But I was overwhelmed with the response I got to that article. Not only is it the most-read thing I've ever written (here or elsewhere), but it's a topic I genuinely care about, and I was expecting it to be met with a bit of a 'meh' response. Thanks for proving me wrong, fellow Suikoden fans!

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Sun, 05 Nov 2023 15:15:16 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes-suikoden-3/
<![CDATA[Sorry, Sonic, But You're Never Going To Be More Popular Than Mario]]> Suddenly, I'm standing on the blacktop at recess outside my middle school, a cool September breeze rustling my spiky Bart Simpson haircut and purple and neon green Body Glove windbreaker. It's 1992. I'm 9 years old, and this chump from some other class is in my face trying shouting at me about how Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is just sooooo superior to Super Mario World because it has Blast Processing. Blast Processing! The commercials said it, so it must be better, right? I smugly grin back, knowing I'm on the right side of the console wars and don't need fancy buzzwords to convince anyone of Mario's superiority.

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Sun, 05 Nov 2023 11:00:33 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/sorry-sonic-never-more-popular-than-mario/
<![CDATA[Fortnite OG Reminds Me That The Game Was Perfect In 2018]]> Fortnite OG has arrived at the famous island. The event runs through December 2 and offers up a plethora of nostalgic content to enjoy. It’s a rewind to 2018. The map, the graphics, the loot pool, the vehicles, and more are a throwback to Fortnite’s simpler time.

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Sat, 04 Nov 2023 18:30:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/fortnite-og-good-game-perfect-2018/
<![CDATA[This Crazy Musical Segment In Alan Wake 2 Is The Best Gaming Moment Of 2023]]> As I mulled over the freshly granted freedom I was given about whether to continue pursuing Alan’s or Saga’s story, I was at an impasse in Alan Wake 2. I was quite happy to get out of the Dark Place and all up for continuing Saga’s overworld adventures in the Cauldron Lake region, and yet something inexplicable, a dark presence if you will, compelled me to dive back into Alan’s neurotic nightmare of a story.

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Sat, 04 Nov 2023 14:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/alan-wake-2-we-sing-musical-best-gaming-moment-2023/
<![CDATA[It's Time For Naughty Dog To Leave The Last Of Us Behind And Make A New IP]]> Just last week marked the 18th anniversary of Jak X: Combat Racing. I’m not sure many people took the day off to celebrate it, or that a single social media account of a single gaming outlet decided to say ‘Happy 18th, Jak X: Combat Racing—now go off and get blind-drunk like the irresponsible late teen you are, because you’re now of age to do so.’ Has anyone even played Jak X: Combat Racing? I haven’t. Apparently it wasn’t too bad, but clearly it didn’t embed itself in the gaming vernacular quite like its predecessor Crash Team Racing did.

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Sat, 04 Nov 2023 10:00:18 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/naughty-dog-leave-the-last-of-us-behind-make-a-new-ip/
<![CDATA[This Strategy Game Immersed Me In Decision-Making Like No Other]]> Strategy and tactical games are generally not my cup of tea, as I mostly stick to the usual action-RPG titles prevalent on consoles. Sometimes, however, it feels good to step out of your comfort zone and try something non-typical for your tastes. After my recent venture into Marvel's Midnight Suns (which was a ton of fun), I felt an urge to check out some other titles by Firaxis Games. This is how my guerrilla war against alien invaders began in XCOM 2.

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Fri, 03 Nov 2023 14:15:19 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/xcom-2-strategy-game-immersive-decision-making/
<![CDATA[Please, Neil Druckmann, Make The Last of Us Part 3 Happen]]> This article contains major plot spoilers for The Last of Us Part IIThe very mention of The Last of Us: Part 2 sends waves of grief through my entire body. Not only due to the Naughty Dog sequel's hard-hitting narrative and emotional undercurrent, but it also brings to the boil the anxiety that I won't get to experience what happens next. Where did Ellie go when she left the empty farmhouse she shared with Dina? Where did Dina go, and what are Abby and Lev up to now?

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Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:00:20 GMT https://www.dualshockers.com/why-the-last-of-us-part-3-must-happen/