Speaking recently with Japanese outlet Young Jump, creative director and series mastermind Tetsuya Nomura explained that Kingdom Hearts 4 (as well as mobile title Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link) is being designed as a “reset” that will be easier for new players to get into.

“I do think of Missing Link and 4 as a reset,” Nomura said (via GamesRadar). “I wanted to end it with 3, or rather reset it, so I appointed new writers and even made a new logo to make it easier for new people to get into it.”

Nomura went on to say that the action RPG will still serve as a follow-up to Kingdom Hearts 3, but though existing fans will find the connective tissue, he says the hope is that more new players will be able to hop in this time.

“For those who know how Kingdom Hearts 3 ends, the reason why Sora ends up like that in the ending is because we wanted to reset the story in a way,” Nomura said (via @aitaikimochi on Twitter). “This should make it even easier for newcomers to join the story starting from Kingdom Hearts 4. Fans of the Kingdom Hearts series will also be able to feel like, ‘oh so it’s THIS’, but we’re making this game with the hopes that new players can enjoy it as well.”

Kingdom Hearts 4 was announced in 2022, though details on it have been scarce since then. Leaks have previously claimed that it is targeting a 2025 release.

Speaking in a recent interview with Wccftech, when asked about the same, game director Corinne Busche acknowledged that a pre-launch character creator demo was a “much-requested feature”, and added that though it “would be pretty cool”, EA and BioWare are still “TBD on that.”

The action RPG is, of course, still over a month away from release, so there’s time yet for EA to announce something along those lines. If it were to happen, however, you’d expect to not have to wait too long for something like that, so hopefully we’ll be hearing more soon.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on October 31 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Since then, however, it seems the CESA has updated said list. Spotted by a user on ResetEra, the unannounced supposed PS5 version of Palworld is no longer included in the aforementioned list. The title was seemingly removed from the list shortly after it was first discovered last week.

Whether that means the game was listed in error, or if Palworld is still coming to PS5 and the listing was removed because it was premature- that much remains to be seen. Pocketpair itself, however, has previously suggested that it intends to bring its game to PlayStation, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that does end up happening sooner rather than later.

In other Palworld-related news, earlier this week, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair for patent infringement, though Pocketpair says it will do everything to “ensure indie developers aren’t hindered from pursuing creative ideas.” Read more on that through here.

As per copyright and credits information spotted on the upcoming action-adventure title’s recently updated Switch eShop page in the wake of pre-loading going live, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom was developed by Grezzo in collaboration with Nintendo.

Grezzo previously developed 2019’s The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake, and also developed the Nintendo 3DS remasters of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Additionally, the studio was also responsible for The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is due out on September 26 for Nintendo Switch. Check out its recently released overview trailer through here for details on its world, abilities, dungeons, and more.

As per Last Stand Media founder Colin Moriarty, Concord had a budget of about $400 million, with “most” of it being spent by Sony, making it the biggest ever first-party PlayStation release in terms of budget. In comparison, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 had a budget of $315 million, while The Last of Us Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West both had $200 million budgets each. Moriarty claimed on a recent episode of the Sacred Symbols podcast that he was told about the same by a developer who worked on the game. 

Allegedly, by the time Concord entered the alpha stage of development, which was in early 2023, about $200 million had already been spent on the game. The game was, however, in “a laughable shape” at this point (around the time it was announced in May last year), with work not having been done on major elements of the game like onboarding and monetization.

Significant work also had to be outsourced to external studios. To get the game to an acceptable level of quality, Sony decided to spend another $200 million on it at this point. Moriarty goes on to claim that the total figure of $400 million also does not include the money that it cost for Sony to acquire Concord developer Firewalk Studios, which happened in April last year.

As per Moriarty, Concord’s development was plagued with issues of “toxic positivity”, which meant negative feedback on the game was ignored, with PlayStation higher-ups – specifically, current co-CEO of PlayStation, Hermen Hulst – believing the game had the potential to be a massive success for the company, maybe even on the level of something like Star Wars. Allegedly, the game was internally referred to as “the future of PlayStation”.

Prior to Concord being shut down, reports claimed that the game had managed to sell just 25,000 units upon release. Since the game was pulled offline, Sony has made no announcement regarding its future, or the future of Firewalk.

As per a recent report, Concord’s director, Ryan Ellis, has stepped down from his role following the game’s shuttering. Read more on that through here.

Henderson claims the next Battlefield is set in the late 2020s, with its campaign set to tell the story of a private military group’s conflict against NATO. The campaign will be set across multiple different locations, with Gibraltar being what was shown in the recently released concept art (which you can view above), and the US being where Ripple Effect Studios’ rumoured free-to-play battle royale experience will be set. The battle royale experience will allegedly be tied to the mainline game, similar to Call of Duty: Warzone.

Where the mainline title’s multiplayer is concerned, the report claims the next Battlefield will launch with 45 different weapon types, while DICE is also targeting “around 10” multiplayer maps. Additionally, though it’s unknown if Battlefield 4’s Levelotion will be returning, the report does claim that the game will feature a “significant overhaul” for the destruction mechanics.

As part of that overhaul, the game is allegedly also set to feature caliber-based destruction similar to Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege, which means different caliber weapons will cause different levels of environmental destruction. Meanwhile, new movement options are also reportedly being introduced, such as being able to pick up and move downed players.

Where the game’s name is concerned, the report claims the development team has been conduction “mass surveys” with the community for a year or so as it tries to decide whether to call the game Battlefield 6 or simply Battlefield.

As per prior reports, the next Battlefield is targeting an October 2025 release. Recently, EA’s Vince Zampella said the company “would love to see” the upcoming shooter on Nintendo’s currently unannounced next-gen console. Read more on that through here.

That’s as per GSD data shared on Twitter by GamesIndustry’s Christopher Dring, who says Space Marine 2 has already become the second biggest new game release of the year in Europe. The only new 2024 title to have sold more in the region is Helldivers 2, which means Space Marine 2 is tracking ahead of the likes of The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Tekken 8, F1 24, WWE 2K24, Star Wars Outlaws, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. 

Shortly after its release, publisher Focus Entertainment revealed Space Marine 2 had crossed 2 million players across all platforms. 

In our review of the game, we awarded it a score of 9/10, saying, “Brutal action, mind-boggling scale, spectacular set-pieces, and a bevy of content come together in what is one of the best action games in recent memory. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is unmissable.” Read the full review through here.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. 

STORY

Starfield’s base experience introduced several different factions across its interstellar setting, and though the mysterious House Va’ruun wasn’t as prominent a part of the game or the story as many other were, that’s set to change with Shattered Space. The expansion will begin with players coming across an abandoned space station dubbed The Oracle, with a message telling you to stay away and not board it. That, of course, means you will board it, from here players will be inadvertently led to the mysterious home planet of House Va’ruun.

SETTING

House Va’ruun’s home planet – Va’ruun’kai – was briefly referenced a few times in Starfield, but Shattered Space will be the first time we’ll get to see it ourselves. Upon arriving on the planet, players will find that the people of House Va’ruun – who have lived in voluntary seclusion from the rest of the human race for a long time – were experimenting with grav drive technology, with that experiment failed and led to disastrous consequences all over the planet- that you now have to deal with.

In fact, once you arrive at the planet, that’s where most of the expansion will take place, as per Bethesda. Much of Starfield’s base experience saw players hopping from planet to planet, which means that the organic exploration and emergent design that BGS RPGs are usually known for was much less prominent for many players’ tastes. With Shattered Space, however, Bethesda is looking to deliver a single, large, fully handcrafted location that will span the vast majority of the expansion and its content offerings.

OVER 50 NEW LOCATIONS

We don’t know exactly how large the planet of Va’ruun’kai is going to be compared to the other handcrafted planets found in Starfield, but based on everything that Bethesda is saying, it’s going to be quite sizeable. The developer has said that the expansion is set to open up over 50 new locations for players to seek out and explore on Va’ruun’kai. Throughout the planet, players will also find gravitational distortions known as Vortexes, which will bring their own unique challenges (more on this in a bit).

DAZRA

One of the main locations that players will be exploring in Shattered Space is Dazra, the city that serves as the capital of Va’ruun’kai, and, by extension, the seat of power for the entire faction. Players can expect to be spending quite a bit of time in the city, with Bethesda also promising plenty of room for exploration, secrets, and more. The land vehicle Rev-8 – which was added to Starfield for free in August – will also be usable throughout the city and the rest of the planet.

HORROR ELEMENTS

As you make your way through Shattered Space, you can also expect a tonal shift compared to the base game. Specifically, Bethesda is promising a more horror-tinged experience. Anytime you did have run-ins with House Va’ruun in the base game, Starfield definitely did sprinkle a little bit of horror into proceedings, and it looks like that’s going to be a much more prominent part of the experience from beginning to end in Shattered Space.

FILLING IN THE GAPS

House Va’ruun was a deliberately mysterious and ambiguous part of the setting and the backstory in Starfield’s base experience, but with the faction taking on a much more prominent role in the upcoming Shattered Space, you can expect a good number of those mysteries to be tackles. As per Bethesda and Microsoft, the expansion will fill in purposeful gaps in the base game’s lore, explaining why House Va’ruun cut itself off from the rest of humanity and what those decisions led to for the faction as a whole.

NEW ENEMIES

Starfield: Shattered Space is going to have players going up against plenty of smaller factions within House Va’ruun, with the larger group facing internal turmoil amidst its latest crisis, but they won’t be the only enemies you’ll be taking on. Bethesda has confirmed the expansion is set to add entirely new enemies to take on as well- such as monstrosities known as Redeemed and Vortex Horrors, who are among several extradimensional threats that have come pouring out on Va’ruun’kai after the faction’s aforementioned failed experiments.

NEW WEAPONS AND GEAR

As you may expect, Starfield: Shattered Space is also going to add new equipment and weapons for players to find and use- this is an RPG, after all. Further details on that front are somewhat scarce, so we don’t yet know what the extent of the additions here will be. One new addition in particular that has been mentioned is the Vortex Grenade, which potentially suggests that we’ll be using new weapons tied to House Va’ruun’s experiments with grav drive tech.

CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCE MECHANICS

Choice and consequence mechanics are a huge deal in any Bethesda RPG, and Starfield: Shattered Space isn’t going to buck that trend. Bethesda is promising a large number of choices for players to make as they make their way through the expansion, while an Xbox Wire preview has also teased decisions that can “affect the wider galaxy” once you are through with Shattered Space. Of course, Bethesda has also previously said that Shattered Space is supposed to be a largely standalone experience, which means its story is unlikely to affect the base game, and vice versa- so keep that in mind as you dive in.

LENGTH AND SCOPE

Let’s get to the question on everyone’s mind- exactly how large of an expansion is Shattered Space going to be? This being a Bethesda expansion, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that it is set to be a sizeable addendum to what was already quite a massive game. Speaking earlier this year in an interview with YouTuber MrMattyPlays, director Todd Howard revealed that Shattered Space is going to be similar in scope to Fallout 4’s acclaimed expansion, Far Harbor, which means we’re likely looking at a 10-20 hour expansion, depending on how extensively you engage with all of its optional content. “Content-wise, we’re looking at kind of like what we did with Far Harbor on Fallout 4,” Howard said. “This is a scope that works for our development in doing this kind of annual story expansion type of thing, so we’re really excited about that. And it lets us kind of do some things the way we would in previous games and give people not completely that experience, because it’s still Starfield, but this new kind of alien world that you’re able to explore.”

Now, a Kotaku report has claimed that Concord’s game director Ryan Ellis – who was previously creative director on Destiny 2 at Bungie before leaving in 2017 – has stepped down from his role. Though he remains at developer Firewalk Studios, he has now moved into a support role.

The report also claims, however, that the future of the game and the studio itself remains in limbo. When Concord was shut down, it was confirmed that Firewalk and Sony would be internally discussing options for the game’s future, though Kotaku’s report cites three anonymous sources who say Sony hasn’t yet said anything, and that Firewalk’s employees remain in the dark.

As per the report, some employees have left the studio, while others are expecting mass layoffs, or even a full studio closure- though it’s important to note that these are internal speculations, with nothing yet confirmed. Either way, some staff remain pessimistic that Concord will return, with speculation rife over whether the studio might develop something entirely new next, or perhaps be used as a co-development team on one of Sony’s many ongoing first-party projects.

PlayStation announced in April last year that it had acquired Firewalk Studios, adding it to its portfolio of first-party studios.

For starters, you can expect plenty of demo stations to allow players to go hands-on with a number of upcoming titles, including Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Monster Hunter Wilds, and more. The company will also have two booths for the PS5 Pro, where attendees will be able to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Gran Turismo 7’s PS5 Pro Enhanced versions.

Beyond its playable demo stations and booths, Sony also has three days of stage presentations. September 26 will see the company kicking things off by focusing on Astro Bot and then moving to an indie games focused presentation with PlayStation’s head of indies Shuhei Yoshida, while on September 28, Sony will showcase three major upcoming third-party titles in the form of Silent Hill 2, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Finally, on September 29, as confirmed previously, a one-hour live stage presentation is planned for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with game director Hideo Kojima showcasing the game, with several other guests also confirmed to appear. Later that day, Sony will also showcase Monster Hunter Wilds and Dynasty Warriors: Origins.