Kalakshar US

Silent Hill is back, and sooner than you might have expected. Sony and Konami teamed up to create a brand new title in the series as a PlayStation 5 exclusive. Best of all, Silent Hill: The Short Message is free and you can play it today.

The game brings the series bang up to date. For one thing, we see protagonist Anita using a smartphone. She ventures inside a crumbling apartment block after receiving messages from her friend. But this is no ordinary building. There have been rumors of suicides there, and it won’t be long until Anita discovers “bizarre, otherworldly spaces, haunted by a twisted monster.”

This is the first of several new Silent Hill games that are in the pipeline. Producer Motoi Okamoto wrote on the PlayStation Blog that The Short Message started as an experimental project that helped newer developers who are Silent Hill fans get some hands-on experience with the franchise. The team also wanted to explore how social media could fit into a psychological horror game. Konami and Sony decided to release it for free to help newcomers to the series get a sense of what it’s all about (hint: scary stuff).

Meanwhile, Sony and Konami also offered a fresh look at the Silent Hill 2 remake Bloober Team is developing. There’s still no timeline for that project’s arrival just yet, unfortunately. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/silent-hill-the-short-message-is-free-bite-sized-and-available-now-for-ps5-224022321.html?src=rss 

Stellar Blade, Shift Up’s action RPG initially scheduled to launch in 2023, is coming soon. Sony announced at its first State of Play of 2024 that the futuristic game will launch on April 26 as a PS5 exclusive.

The game, developed under the working title “Project Eve,” puts you in the role of Eve, a warrior from the seventh airborne squad. She returns to Earth to battle the Naytibas, humanity’s mysterious (and horrific-looking) enemies. Eve joins with fellow survivors Adam and Lily to try to exterminate the Naytibas and save the last human city, Xion, from ruin.

Xion is connected to a “semi-open world” setting called the Wasteland and the Great Desert. There, you’ll meet new characters, help the citizens of Xion and gather energy cells to sustain the city.

You can pre-order Stellar Blade beginning on February 7 at 10AM ET through the PlayStation Store and retail partners. The standard version costs $70, and a Digital Deluxe variant ($80) adds extra costumes, experience points and in-game currency. It arrives on April 26. You can watch the game’s pre-order trailer below.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/futuristic-action-rpg-stellar-blade-arrives-on-april-26-224619987.html?src=rss 

As expected, the PlayStation State of Play today featured an in-depth look at the latest from famed developer Hideo Kojima, in the form of an exceedingly creepy and cinematic preview of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Sam, played by Norman Reedus, is back in a trailer that makes very little sense if you haven’t played the first game — and even if you did, the contents of this preview might not make a ton of sense. Rest assured, you’ll still be running around wildly impressive landscapes with your giant yellow backpack. 

But it sounds like you won’t actually have to run around delivering things, because bots are able to do that in this world. The real surprise is when Sam gets captured and runs across his brother, played by the ubiquitous Troy Baker… who pulls out a guitar/gun and starts shredding to take on some enemies? Sure. It’ll still be a bit before we see what this all amounts to, as it doesn’t arrive until sometime in 2025.

At the end of the stream, though, Kojima teased an all-new project in the works, though it won’t be entering full production until after Death Stranding 2 is complete.

Correction, 1/31/24, 6PM ET: This post originally stated this was our first look at Death Stranding 2. We’ve updated it to say this is our first in-depth look, as the game was first announced in December of 2022.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/death-stranding-2-on-the-beach-looks-even-more-baffling-than-the-original-game-224806034.html?src=rss 

Hideo Kojima is a busy, busy man. Not only does he have Death Stranding 2, a movie based on the first game and Xbox horror title OD on his plate, he’s developing a brand new game for PlayStation. He’ll be going back to his roots, as it’s an action-espionage title codenamed PHYSINT.

Head of PlayStation Studios Hermen Hulst said during today’s State of Play stream that the project is in a genre he’s been encouraging Kojima to “reinvent for years.” Kojima, of course, found fame as the creator of the Metal Gear series. This upcoming endeavor won’t be a Metal Gear Solid game, however. Kojima says this will be a “brand new, original IP.”

According to Kojima Productions, the game will feature “cutting-edge technology and a stellar cast to deliver an experience like no other. Blurring the boundaries between film and games, offering near life-like graphics and a new take on interactive entertainment.”

Kojima Productions has started early work on the project, but it won’t go into full production until the team finishes Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, which is set to arrive next year. Kojima noted that Sony makes music and movies, hinting that it could be a transmedia project. He added that he’s “confident that this title will be the culmination of my work” after four decades of working in games. 

It’ll likely be a few years until we learn exactly what he means by that, but fans will likely have two more games from the auteur to enjoy/be perplexed by in the meantime. (Seriously, the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer is something else.)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hideo-kojima-teases-a-new-action-espionage-game-for-playstation-230846022.html?src=rss 

Dave the Diver is coming to PS5 and PS4. The 2023 breakout hit won Indie Game of the Year at The Game Awards — stretching the definition of “indie” — and was included in Engadget’s Best Games of 2023. It arrives on Sony’s consoles in April, and a Godzilla crossover DLC (sure, why not!) follows it in May.

The game has you exploring a vast underwater world full of mysteries during the day, and helming a sushi restaurant at night. As Engadget’s Lawrence Bonk wrote, “The daytime adventures are sort of like an underwater Metroidvania while the nighttime restaurant management is a combination of a Kairosoft sim and the arcade classic Tapper.” It doesn’t sound like it would work, but it does.

Dave the Diver launched on PC in June and arrived on Switch in late October.

Sony touts the game’s DualSense support. “The controller’s haptics offer the realistic feeling of a hooked fish tugging the line,” the company wrote in an announcement blog post. “The adaptive triggers respond differently depending on which weapon you’re using, making the combat and fishing experience even more immersive.”

As for the Godzilla DLC, we don’t know much yet other than it will introduce “even more enormous threats lurking in the depths” as you “prepare to meet the King of the Monsters in the Blue Hole.”

You can watch the trailer for Dave the Diver on PlayStation below, including a peek at Godzilla near the end.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/dave-the-diver-is-bringing-godzilla-with-him-to-ps5-this-spring-233136441.html?src=rss