As self-proclaimed detective Benedict Fox, you will have to sort your way through a world of secret organizations, forbidden rituals, and cold-blooded murders. To find clues to untimely deaths, you will dive into the victims’ consciousness to explore their memories. You won’t be going it alone, as you will have a companion along for the ride. Unlike a typical sidekick or a Dr. Watson, your ally is a demon to which you are bound....

As is the case with any big game today, a few of the scenes and characters in The Last of Us: Part 2 appear differently in the final game than they were originally envisioned. Some got moved to a different part of the story, and others were cut entirely. In an interview with The Washington Post, co-writer and director Neil Druckmann and co-writer Halley Gross shared a little bit about what was left on the cutting room floor, and what needed to change for the storytelling to be more effective....

But it’s not realistic, is it? When was the last time you spent upwards of 20 minutes, in the pissing rain, hunkered down on your haunches, waiting for your opportunity to garrote some harder-than-nails security guard? Probably never. Even a quick skirmish in a paintball arena – or some cheap, local run-down laser tag set-up in a forgotten industrial estate nearby – will show you that crouching and moving like that for even a few seconds is murder on the legs....

The aftermath of the release of Mass Effect 3 is primarily memorable because of how much the internet lost its collective mind over the game’s ending. Such was the backlash that petitions raged and FTC complaints were filed - and eventually, EA and BioWare altered the ending through the release of a DLC ‘Extended Cut’ expansion. The new Mass Effect: Legendary Edition remaster of the trilogy unifies all downloadable content from across the series into a new package - and as part of that, players won’t have an opportunity to experience that original, controversial ending - instead, the Extended Cut is the new default, canon experience....

The fact that ray tracing is ‘the future’, whatever that really means, isn’t really up for debate any longer, as far as I’m concerned. The first time I saw Nvidia’s real-time ray tracing demonstrations I was blown away, but assumed it was a workstation type demo that wouldn’t be implemented in real-time gaming for many years. A short time later it was available in video games, however - albeit in a less effective form, and only on the most powerful graphics cards....

Although the Halo Infinite trailer looked relatively promising at the Xbox first-party games reveal, it appeared to suffer from stuttering and poor performance. Fans have also criticized the game’s official art online, noting that it’s not necessarily indicative of the power of next-gen. Fortunately, the official Halo YouTube channel posted a new video shortly after the Xbox event, which is significantly better than what we saw during the livestream. Check out the much, much better Halo Infinite trailer below....

The Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart had one of of the more impressive demos at Sony’s PS5 games event. Although the visuals and particle effects were ramped up compared to previous entries, the dimension-jumping gameplay is what had everyone talking. In a new video, creative director Marcus Smith explained that the PS5’s advanced SSD is what enabled developer Insomniac to create this style of gameplay. In Rift Apart, players will be able to jump between completely different universes through dimensional rifts, at near instantaneous speeds....

World Update7: Australia is free for all players across Xbox Series X/S with Xbox Game Pass, Windows 10 and 11 with Xbox Game Pass for PC, and Steam. With the update, you can expect four airports and high-resolution detail to over 100 others. The update also includes 94 custom crafted points of interest, and there are 16 new activities, including five bush trips, six discovery flights, and five landing challenges....

The first big Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay demo from August 2018, showed off a whopping 48 minutes of footage. Among its many amazing moments, one in particular we won’t be able to recreate in the final game. That being: wall running. In the original demo, V wall runs to reach an elevated position, and latches onto the wall using her mantis blade, giving her a neat height advantage. This is sadly no longer possible, as CD Projekt Red took out wall running....

Along with the first look at The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf a premiere date of August 23 was provided. The prequel to The Witcher Netflix series was developed by the team who brought us the live-action series. Back in March last year, the film’s producers said they went the animated route because there are certain aspects they wanted to include that could only be accomplished through animation. According to what scriptwriter Beau DeMayo said at the time, the story could not have been told in live-action“in any way, shape or form” without imposing an “incredible burden” on production....

The three game bundle normally costs $160, but in honour of Cyber Monday, Microsoft have knocked the whole thing down to $80 for the next three days. Not bad, eh? Of course, this being Microsoft, these downloads will only work for Xbox. Minimum requirements are a 64-bit Xbox One, though the games have supposedly been ‘optimised’ for Series X and S. You can read more about how Valhalla performs on the new consoles here....

The model is created in line with Akali’s classic skin, totally in 3D and with a shader (created by user AerthasVeras) that’s as close to the actual game’s model as you could reasonably expect. It’s borderline uncanny how much it looks like a genuine Project L character, so much so that Project L head Tom Cannon himself complimented the work. It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from the Project L team, having left us with a longform blog post about Illaoi that took us through the design philosophy of the champion....

Despite an easter egg in SpellForce 3: Fallen God, THQ Nordic says that a TimeSplitters 2 remake is not coming. Timesplitters fans are a patient group. The classic FPS was prominent during the early 2000s, charming players with its wacky characters and too-cool-for-school attitude. It was a game from many of the creative forces behind the N64’s Goldeneye and was one of the best shooter franchises on the PS2. There hasn’t been another game in the franchise since 2005....

You can expect more than 10 PC games covering FPS and RPG titles as well as a sale on select titles. Coming today with PC Game Pass are Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake 4, Wolfenstein 3D, An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire, and The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard. You can also unlock all Champions in Quake Champions via a Game Pass Perk. There are also some games available for free today on the Microsoft Store....

Tony Hawk, Mike Pondsmith, Sid Meier and more will be attending the virtual conference that takes place from September 12 until September 20. The digital event, which is being hosted to replace PAX West, PAX AUS, and EGX events in the US, UK and Australia, will be free to attend for anyone that wants to join and watch the panels. Creator of the Cyberpunk franchise, Mike Pondsmith, will be delivering the storytime keynote to open the show on Saturday, September 12 at 6:15pm BST / 13:15 ET / 10:15 PT....

The Sharpshooter class has been detailed for Torchlight 3, the third installment in the RPG series. Featured in the closed alpha on Steam, this new class combines precision skills with ranged weapons and magical trinkets to strike down enemies from afar. Armed with a bow, the Sharpshooter can fire off a barrage of ranged shots. Like others, the class can be leveled up with more powerful skills to pull off “dirty tricks and regenerate precious ammo....

On PS5, the game will feature three graphics options: Fidelity Mode for native 4K and 30fps; Performance Mode which targets 60fps; and Performance+ Mode which targets 120fps in 1080p. You will enjoy instant load times, Spatial 3D Audio, haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, and fine-tuned rumble and resistance. The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection will be available physically and digitally for the PS5 console for $49.99/€49.99, and those who purchased Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, or Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End & Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Digital Bundle have the option to pay $10/€10 to upgrade to Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Digital Version....

Thankfully, this particular feature has been heavily nerfed according to recently released Warzone patch notes. For those who don’t know, weapon bloom refers to the random spread of bullets coming out of a gun when fired consistently. If you were to aim at a target and shoot one bullet at a time, it will always hit exactly where you are aiming. However, if you hold down the trigger, consecutive bullets may shift slights away from your reticle....

Welcome to VG247’s Best Games Ever Podcast: Episode 25 - The best game with a welsh actor in it. Check out VG247’s The Best Games Ever Podcast on Apple Podcasts and subscribe. Or listen on Spotify. It’s even on YouTube if that’s your thing. Please do let us know what you think of the show – and if this is your first time listening, do go back to listen to the previous episodes....

As promised, the return of Vikendi highlights the launch of PUBG’s Season seven. The first patch in the new season, 7.1 (7GB), is now live on the game’s live servers on PC after a week of testing. The all-new Vikendi was previously available as part of limited tests with community creators, but anyone can now try it out on the game’s test servers. Vikendi has seen a big overhaul to its terrain and landmarks, with nine running trains being the biggest addition....