The Digital Insider | Month: March 2024

Final Fantasy XVI – The Rising Tide DLC Trailer Promises A Reason To Return

Square Enix today revealed a new look at Final XVI: The Rising Tide, the upcoming piece of DLC scheduled to launch as part of the game’s expansion pass. The new story content opens the door to an entirely new area to explore in Valisthea, but the big draw is the appearance of the Eikon Leviathan.

Back in December, Final Fantasy XVI players were treated to the Echoes of the Fallen expansion, which took Clive and his companions to a long-abandoned tower created by the Fallen precursor civilization. The Rising Tide will further expand on the game’s story, but in a new direction, focusing on Leviathan. In the new story sequence, a letter arrives to the hideaway with a request for help from the Dominant of that long-lost Eikon of Water, and the party must set out to face a new threat. We detailed some of what we learned in a preview earlier this month.

The new trailer puts a big focus on combat sequences, giving us a good look at several fights, including Clive acting as Ifrit to battle against Leviathan as they each coast over a massive body of water. The new sights and characters offer a convincing reason to redownload that massive RPG and take Clive for one more big adventure.

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Are you planning to jump back into Final Fantasy XVI for this Leviathan-themed DLC? Let us know in the comments below.

Get Another Dose Of Roguelike Deckbuilder Acolyte Of The Altar In New Launch Trailer

Acolyte of the Altar, the roguelike deckbuilder with a wasteland twist from developer Black Kite Games, hits PC via Steam on March 25. Ahead of the game’s launch next week, Game Informer can exclusively reveal the Acolyte of the Altar launch trailer, which features plenty of deckbuilder action and another taste of this Magic: The Gathering and Shadow of the Colossus-inspired game.

“Journey through desolate wastelands and hunt down colossal Beasts to grow stronger and serve your chosen Patron deity,” the game’s description reads.

Check out the Acolyte of the Altar launch trailer for yourself below:

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As you can see, Acolyte of the Altar continues to look great (and spooky), and we’re excited to try our hands at its unique style of deckbuilder.

“Beware,” the game’s Steam page reads. “Beasts grow stronger during battle, allowing them to consume your creatures or counter your spells. Carve profane Gifts from these behemoths and grow stronger to serve your Patron. But serve them to what end?”

That is the question players will answer when Acolyte of the Altar hits PC via Steam on March 25, 2024. If you’re interested, you can play a demo of the game on Steam right now.

Here are some Acolyte of the Altar screenshots to enjoy in the meantime:

Are you going to check out Acolyte of the Altar? Let us know in the comments below!

Stellar Blade Gets A Free Demo This Friday

Stellar Blade, the flashy action game from ShiftUp, isn’t officially out until late April, but eager players can get their hands on the game as soon as this week. A free demo hits the PlayStation Store this Friday, March 29, and will throw players headfirst into the game’s opening moments. To get an idea of what that gameplay looks like, check out the demo trailer below.

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Game director Hyung Tae Kim gave a deeper explanation on the PlayStation Blog. He writes, “This first stage will include the tutorial phase to help you familiarize yourself with basic combat features as you explore post-war Eidos 7, a human city now infested by the Naytiba, giving you an early grasp of gameplay mechanics that will serve you throughout the game’s story.”

Stellar Blade was quietly in development over the past few years (originally known as Project EVE) before its in-depth feature during January’s State of Play event. The game follows Eve, the wielder of the titular Stellar Blade, as she journeys back down to Earth to save the people there from alien and robot attacks. For more on the game, you can take a look at our four-page feature in issue 364 of Game Informer magazine.

Stellar Blade is a PS5 exclusive that launches on April 26. Its demo launches on March 29 at 7 AM PDT / 2 PM GMT.

Will you be checking out Stellar Blade? Let us know in the comments!

Ender Magnolia: Bloom In The Mist | New Gameplay Today

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is the sequel to the 2021 dark fantasy Metroidvania Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knight. Now playable in Steam Early Access, the game stars a young girl with the power to cleanse corrupted homunculi, who grants them the power to save the world. Join editors Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard as they see how this promising work-in-progress is shaping up thus far.

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Head over to Game Informer’s YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Today right here.

The Power of :has() in CSS

Hey all you wonderful developers out there! In this post we are going to explore the use of :has() in your next web project. :has() is relatively newish but has gained popularity in the front end community by delivering control …

The Power of :has() in CSS…

Stellar Blade | New Gameplay Today

Ahead of Stellar Blade’s launch on PlayStation 5 on April 26, a demo for the game will be made available that lets players play through approximately the game’s opening hour. And ahead of the demo’s release on Friday, March 29, we got to go hands-on with it early. Join Marcus Stewart and me for a look at the game’s combat, boss fights, traversal, visuals, and more.

And for a whole lot more on Stellar Blade, you can read this feature where I spoke with Stellar Blade’s game director, Hyung-Tae Kim, and its technical director, Dong-Gi Lee, about the game’s development, how the team was inspired by Nier: Automata, and why it wanted to make a game with an ending.

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Head over to Game Informer’s YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Today right here.

Blasting Through Cardamo Ruins’ Boss Fight In Sand Land | New Gameplay Today

Sand Land comes from the mind of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, and despite the manga existing for over 20 years, it’s never received a video game until now. Its epoynomous video game debut is a open world action RPG featuring an original story, and after fans got to try a recent public demo, we traveled to Bandai Namco to check out never-before-seen sections of the game. Join Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard as they show off a new dungeon and boss fight from Sand Land, along with peeks at Forest Land and the game’s deep vehicle customization.

If you’d like to know more about what you watched, be sure to read our in-depth hands-on preview about this content and more right here.

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Head over to Game Informer’s YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Today right here.

Open Roads | New Gameplay Today

We’re taking a road trip! Open Roads comes from an internal team, dubbed The Open Roads Team, within Fullbright (Gone Home, Tacoma) and tells a tale of a teenage girl and her mother embarking on a road trip to solve a tantalizing family mystery. The narrative adventure sports a unique mixed media art direction and the studio’s trademark narrative-focused design. Join Marcus Stewart and Kyle Hilliard as they show off a slice of this long-awaited journey.

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Head over to Game Informer’s YouTube channel for more previews, reviews, and discussions of new and upcoming games. Watch other episodes of New Gameplay Today right here.

Nine Sols, A Hand-Drawn Action Game By The Makers Of Detention, Arrives In May

Red Candle Games made its name developing psychological horror titles such as Detention and Devotion, but its third game, Nine Sols, sees the studio veer into the action genre. First revealed in 2021, the Sekiro-inspired title is coming on May 29.

Nine Sols sports a hand-drawn art direction and an aesthetic that blends sci-fi, cyberpunk, Eastern mythology (the legend of Hou Yi in particular), and Taoism. Players control a cat-like warrior named Yi, who is awakened after years of slumber in New Kunlun, a city for humans created by nine god-like rulers. New Kunlun may appear to be a utopia, but a secret surrounds it as Yi embarks on a vengeful quest to take down all nine rulers.

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The 2D Metroidvania features fast-paced combat and a parry system directly inspired by Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. In addition to a sword, Yi is armed with a divine bow and uses Taoist talismans to make enemies explode. A sprawling, interconnected map features numerous NPCs to assist, secrets, and challenging boss battles.

Nine Sols is coming to PC via Steam (it also has a demo). You can learn more about Nine Sols’ creation and the history of Red Candle Games by reading our studio profile.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Gets Four-Part Series Detailing Its Creation

If you finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and are curious to learn more about how it came to be, Sony and Square Enix have released a new making-of series called Inside Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. The four-part series features interviews with thirty of the game’s lead designers, such as director Naoki Hamaguchi, creative director Tetsuya Nomura, and producer Yoshinori Kitase, who discuss how Square brought Rebirth to life.

Each episode tackles different aspects of Rebirth. Episode 1 focuses on world-building, Episode 2 covers the story/cutscenes, Episode 3 is all about the characters and combat, and Episode 4 tackles the English voice actors. Each episode runs between 15-18 minutes. You can watch the first episode below.

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out now for PlayStation 5. Be sure to read our review of the game here, as well as helpful guides such as watching every date at the Gold Saucer, Queen’s Blood tips and tricks, our ranking of every mini-game, and our list of the best side quests to look out for.