We talked about Alien: Isolation 2 earlier this year when its first teaser was released, and it left me cautiously optimistic.
I loved Alien: Isolation, and I’d love to see a sequel that lives up to it.
That’s what has me a little nervous. It was such a good horror game that it’s easy to imagine a sequel not hitting those same highs. On the other hand, it could be a sequel that keeps its strengths while improving on its low points.
Well, we should be able to better judge the sequel next week, because Creative Assembly announced that the prologue will be playable at Gamescom.
(I actually forgot Gamescom was this close.)
That should result in some good previews that give us an idea of what to expect.
Meanwhile, the Gamescom Opening Night Live stream will be on August 25 at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET, with a pre-show 30 minutes earlier, so I’ll be sure to tune in for that. Hoping for Ace Attorney news, of course.
I haven’t played Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, the remake of the first Trails game, because I’m not even caught up on the rest of the series yet.
But from all accounts, it sounds like a fantastic remake.
Not everyone likes everything about it, of course, but the only criticism I’ve seen consistently is that the translation changed some terminology used in the rest of the series, so a new player starting with the remakes would suddenly encounter different terms later on.
Well, not anymore!
GungHo announced a “Legacy Patch” that adjusts the terminology to match that of the other Trails games. On top of that, the update also fixed certain pronunciations (such as “Liberl”).
It’s interesting to see a patch like this come almost a year after the game’s release, but it’s probably because they had the voice actors back for the upcoming 2nd Chapter remake. The update notice mentions that a small number of lines were unable to be changed, which might be because of the few recast characters.
Meanwhile, a Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter demo is expected to be available soon (it’s already on the Japanese eShop).
What are your thoughts on the Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter update? Personally, I think it’s great that they took the time to make these adjustments eventually. As for my own Trails progress… well, I’ll surely get back to it any day now…
After the surprise Kingdom Hearts IV trailer released Friday evening, which revealed the Coco world, I wondered if they would announce more during the Kingdom Hearts panel the next day.
Well, they didn’t reveal another world… but they did have something to share.
It turns out that trailer was the shortened version. During the panel, they followed up by showing the full nearly 4-minute version, and it’s even more exciting.
Note: The trailer and my discussion of it will touch on some Kingdom Hearts 3 spoilers, so if you haven’t played Kingdom Hearts 3 yet, continue on at your own risk!
The extended version starts out the same with the introduction to the Coco world, but then we get to see a longer scene with Sora, Strelitzia, and the character now confirmed to be Vali. After a slightly longer look at gameplay in the Coco world, it then goes to an extended version of the scene with Mickey… and reveals gameplay.
Yes, Kingdom Hearts IV has sections where you will play as Mickey exploring the pages of a book, and it looks like this could be a really inventive part of the game. On top of that, we also see a gameplay section where the player is controlling Donald and Goofy, seemingly able to switch between them. I never counted on these characters getting their own playable sections.
Later on in the trailer, there’s also a new scene of Young Xehanort (although it could be Master Xehanort with his younger self’s appearance) being confronted by a hooded figure who is clearly Luxu/Xigbar. Keeping his face hidden feels suspicious, but it could just be for in-universe reasons.
Finally, Riku’s arrival in Quadratum is revealed at the very end.
This was an exciting trailer, and arguably more exciting was their adamancy that Kingdom Hearts IV will not be delayed past its late 2027 release window. Nomura said outright it will not be delayed, and co-director Tai Yasue doubled down on it by saying it’s not 80% or 90% but “a 100% thing.” That’s a lot of confidence, so it’s good to hear.
Now, I have a decision to make… will I continue to watch Kingdom Hearts IV trailers despite Square Enix’s tendency to include spoilers I’d rather not see ahead of time, or is this the point where I decide I’ve seen enough and stop watching? I’ll need to decide.
What are your thoughts on the full Kingdom Hearts IV trailer?
(And in sad news, it was revealed today that Hayden Panettiere tragically passed away. Since she was the original voice of Kairi, that’s cast a somber shadow over the otherwise upbeat Kingdom Hearts news.)
We talked about Alien: Isolation 2 earlier this year when its first teaser was released, and it left me cautiously optimistic.
