Enotria: The Last Song – not available on Xbox (Jyamma Games)
Indie game Enotria: The Last Song has been indefinitely delayed on Xbox and the game developer claims that Microsoft purposefully ignored it.
Soulslike game Enotria: The Last Song, from indie developer Jyamma Games, may not be the most high profile release this autumn but it’s already built up an enthusiastic community that was looking forward to its launch on September 19 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Unfortunately, though, it seems that the Xbox version has been indefinitely delayed and Jyamma Games has made it very clear that they blame Microsoft, who they claim ‘decided to ignore us’. This has led to them delaying the game on Xbox, while the PlayStation version is still set to go ahead this month.
In a situation reminiscent of the much more high profile Black Myth: Wukong, fans initially suspected that this was due to it being a PlayStation paid exclusive but Jyamma Games has insisted that the delay is Microsoft’s fault, as they’ve failed to authorise the game for release and have not replied to them for two months.
On Discord, Jyamma CEO Jacky Greco was clearly very angry, as he wrote: ‘You can ask Xbox why they haven’t answered us for two months. Obviously they don’t care about Enotria and they don’t care about you.’
‘We’ve Xbox Series X/S version ready, but we can’t proceed with submission and release, I spent a lot of money for porting and they decided to ignore us.’
On Twitter, Jyamma gain insisted that communication with Xbox was the problem, with the revelation that ‘the game works fine on Series S and X but we cannot go through the submission process and they can take even two months to reply to us.’
‘We really want to release the game on Xbox ASAP, but with lack of communication on their side it is a hard task indeed,’ added a later post.
If the game is essentially complete, and just needs a bit of administrative work, then it’s possible it might still make it out for release this month, or at least not long after. Since this negative publicity is sure to reach Microsoft’s ears.
The game has already been delayed once though, from August to September, and now Jyamma are insisting that they’re concentrating solely on making a ‘superior experience for PC and PS5 players.’
This is not the first time Xbox, or indeed Sony, has been accused of ignoring indie developers but there has been a rash of multiformat games missing out on an Xbox release lately and it’s still unclear to what degree that’s due to technical issues, poor organisation, or simple apathy.
Enotria: The Last Song – the game does look pretty good (Jyamma Games)
Take on a spider cyborg Margaret Thatcher in Thatcher’s Techbase (Github)
Thatcher’s Techbase has been taken down from Bethesda’s mod browser after one month, but can still play it on PC.
There are countless modifications for video games out there, ranging from small ones that add new minor features to huge ones that are new games all in their own right – like the fan-made Fallout London expansion that took five years to complete.
Another is the Doom mod that has you fighting former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the final boss in the tenth circle of Hell.
It’s called Thatcher’s Techbase but has now been removed from Bethesda’s mod browser, meaning it’s now impossible to play on consoles.
Creator Jim Purvis was made aware of the removal by a Bethesda takedown notice, which states, without much explanation:
‘The Creation Thatcher’s Techbase has been reported for real-world politics and has been removed.’
The message goes on to say that even though the mod is not violating the company’s Terms of Service or Code of Conduct, it encourages Purvis to ‘educate yourself on the Modding Guidelines and Community Rules’.
While Thatcher’s Techbase launched back in 2021, Purvis added it to Bethesda’s community-published mod support in August this year, which meant that it became available on consoles as well as PC.
After the removal, however, it’s no longer playable on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Nintendo Switch, and can only be accessed via third party sites – such as Purvis’ own website – for the PC version of the mod.
Thatcher’s Techbase is a four-map game with the former Prime Minister’s replacing some of the evil bosses. It includes lots of custom art and designs, including a map based on the House of Commons.
Purvis describes the plot as, ‘Faced with the return of one of humanity’s greatest threats, you have no choice but to head to The Tenth Circle of Hell: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.’
Bethesda’s takedown notice is vague, and it’s not clear who has reported the mod, but it’s certainly taken a while for anyone to take offence to it.
Former leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, was seen playing the mod back in 2022, at a festival for radical politics, art, and music, called The World Transformed.
Thatcher’s Techbase is still available to play on PC (Twitter)
What’s the rush? It still seems crazy to me that anyone is contemplating a PlayStation 6 this soon. What exactly is it going to do that’s better? Make human faces appear even more realistic but still not quite there? I see absolutely no reason for there to be a new generation if the only difference is going to be 20% better graphics.
We’ve not had nearly enough time to take advantage of the PlayStation 5 to its full extent and nobody wants to spend all that money again, especially with the PS5 Pro apparently being released this year.
Why is this happening? Even if the PlayStation 6 rumours aren’t true Microsoft has already announced its next gen Xbox, so presumably that’s not more than two years away. I’ve never owned a Nintendo console but even I’m beginning to think they’re the only ones with common sense in this business.
A new Switch I can absolutely see the need for, a new Xbox or PlayStation? Not at all. Maybe I’ll end up giving Nintendo my money after all, especially if it has good third party support. Bentley
Little grey man I’d feel bad about saying this if he wasn’t a multi-millionaire exec in the process of destroying the games industry, but I just don’t understand why Phil Spencer still has a job. Satya Nadella clearly doesn’t know anything about video games but surely he’s a competent businessman and he can see that nothing Spencer does ever works out?
He’s been in charge of Xbox for a decade and despite always seeming to say the right things everything always gets his worse, to the point where they’ve all but run themselves out of the hardware business.
I don’t trust any of his cronies either. The whole of Xbox needs new management. Not someone that wants to be your gaming pal, and played Destiny once but didn’t like it, but a boring accountant who’s just good at business.
Sounds like it would stifle creativity? Well, that’s the kind of person Nintendo has in charge and since Phil is the opposite to that it makes it seem even more like what we need. Wotan
Loose connection It makes me laugh how little Nintendo cares about canon or even storytelling in general in Zelda. I’m surprised they even acknowledged the whole timeline thing, as they’re clearly happy to retcon it whenever they feel like it, with no regrets.
I have to say though, that even though I agree with that attitude, my one complaint for Tears Of The Kingdom would be that it really doesn’t seem like a sequel to Breath Of The Wild, even though it’s supposed to be.
Nobody seems to recognise Link, there’s very little reference to what happened previously, and other than reusing the same map there’s basically no connection. There’s so little connecting tissue it comes across as a bit weird and distracting. Tacle
Risky business Given that quite a few industry insiders have now pointed to employee wages being the main driver of increased game development costs, the scale of the issue facing developers is clear. How do they make great games, in less time and with fewer people, and have them turn a profit when gaming market growth has stagnated and existing gamers continue to reject an increase in the price of games (even what I’d consider fairly sensible ones, i.e. Sony’s approach)?
I think we know what will happen: less risks taken, only make what’s guaranteed to sell, etc., etc. People like Nintendo will probably be fine, as pretty much every major game is guaranteed to sell 10+ million, but generally I think convincing people (including those young ne’er-do-wells who’d chat to their friends on Bebo) of the value of games in a period of prolonged economic downturn is the biggest challenge right now. Godspeed. Magnumstache PS: Finished Bioshock Remastered on Steam Deck. Phenomenal game, don’t think there’s a modern equivalent? Crashing issue was due to Performance Overlay on Deck, ran perfectly with that off (but at what frame rate people?).
Second chances To be brutally honest I think Rocksteady should feel lucky that they’re only losing staff and aren’t being shut down entirely. $200 million in the red is a huge amount of money when thousands are being laid off for no good reason.
I just hope that whatever their new game is, Warner has the sense to ensure it’s a single-player game that plays to their strengths. Suicide Squad was an absolute disaster on every level and the quicker it’s forgotten the better, including in terms of its story connections to Arkham.
I’m surprised to hear the VR game is so good but to be honest that’s not great news for Rocksteady, if Warner realises that other people can make those games just as good as them. Rocky
Pro tips I must admit, I’m struggling to see the benefit of a new generation of consoles, or even Pro versions that focus on power. Basically:
The diminishing returns on increased performance have meant that more console owners have stuck with their existing consoles. This proportion will only increase with a new generation, splitting demographics still further and making console development harder.
The increased fidelity is part of the current issue with AAA games taking longer and costing more. Doubling down on the problem by upping the power seems like a real bad idea.
There’s not much profit in console sales (for Sony and Microsoft), at least as I understand it. I can see why Microsoft might want to try to hit ‘reset’ though.
I could see new Pro versions of current consoles being smaller, quieter, more environmentally friendly, more mobile or cheaper to develop for (somehow? No idea if there’s a realistic way of doing that?) but beyond that it’s hard to see how more powerful consoles are a good idea for anyone right now. Matt (he_who_runs_away – PSN ID) PS: I hear Tactical Breach Wizards is excellent – and a very GC style of game. Any chance of a review?
GC: We do have a copy in but haven’t had a chance to play it yet, it wasn’t a very advantageous time for them to release it. We’ll see if we can come back to it later.
Had your Phil A very fair article on Phil Spencer. GC appear slightly more forgiving than Xbox fans right now. ‘You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.’
That line from Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight perfectly sums up Phil Spencer. He did well to convince Microsoft to continue with Xbox. But I feel it’s time for him to go. Once you lose trust of the fans, it’s game over. Si
Business attitude RE: Focus. I’m old enough to remember Nintendo’s business practices which enabled Sony to capture the attention of developers at the time when their joint venture with Nintendo fell apart, and led to the birth of the PlayStation.
They were no doubt very interested in making money and to take developers for everything they could, to ensure they made good profits.
However, we have seen enough from Nintendo to see that they share that Japanese business mentality in both the negative and positive ways.
They are perfectionists, they demand a lot from employees, and they look to dominate a market and make as much money as possible through their success.
However, they also look after their employees, they take great pride in what they do as a business, and that’s provide great quality products and look to be creative and push boundaries gameplay-wise.
If you have ever looked into the philosophy of Toyota and their vehicles, it’s really fascinating.
Whereas most Western car companies attempt to sell you a luxury brand car based on lifestyle aspirations, they look to sell you a car on basis that you’re buying a car that’s almost infallible.
They look to refine their vehicles to within almost a zero failure rate.
Naturally that’s impossible, but that’s their aim.
You buy a Toyota for the luxury of their dedication to their craft.
Similarly with Nintendo, you can’t question their dedication to the art of making great games, even if they want to make money along the way. They are a business after all. Kiran
Inbox also-rans I don’t want to be ageist, but isn’t Tony Hawk getting on a bit? Surely he wouldn’t be the main character in a new game? Ractop
What was the name of that other live service game Sony teased, alongside Concord? It seemed to involve bank heists I think? Concord may not change their mind on anything but if that’s a flop as well it might. Does it have a release date? Danson
GC: That was Fairgame$ but it has no release date or year.
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Atomfall – a quintessential British scene (Rebellion)
The makers of Sniper Elite and Zombie Army turn their hand to a post-apocalypse game set in the UK, in a cross between Fallout and The Wicker Man.
At the rate things are going we could end up getting at least one obviously British video game every year. In 2024 we had Thank Goodness You’re Here! and next year there’s Rebellion’s Atomfall to look forward to – a post-apocalyptic survival adventure game set in the Lake District. One per year might not sound like a lot, but it’s a great improvement over none at all, so we’ll take it.
We got 20 minutes or so hands-on with Atomfall at Gamescom but prior to that all we knew about it was the brief announcement trailer during the Xbox Summer Showcase, where it gave the impression of being a British version of Fallout. Not as literally as the fan-made Fallout London, but still a game that is inspired by Bethesda’s first person open world games, as well as the likes of Metro 2033 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
In talking with Ben Fisher, Rebellion’s Associate Head of Design, it became clear that the game’s inspirations extend beyond just games to classic British movies and TV shows, such as The Wicker Man and The Quartermass Experiment. 20 minutes wasn’t long enough to get much of a handle on the game but the subsequent talk with Fisher was very encouraging, with a game that feels genuinely British in terms of setting, tone, and gameplay.
We were given very little backstory before we started playing, only that our character has recently woken up from a coma and in the meantime the UK, or at least most of Cumbria, had been devastated by a nuclear accident. Although seemingly one closer to the high strangeness of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., rather than the more straightforward destruction of Fallout.
The game is set in an alternative history where the Sellafield nuclear power station fire in 1957 (when the plant was called Windscale) proved more disastrous than in real-life and… something happened. We’re not sure what and the character you’re playing as doesn’t either, but there’s weird atmospheric distortions coming from the plant and most people have been evacuated.
What’s left are scavengers and a cosy looking village called Wyndham, which is protected from the scavengers, and perhaps other things, by the army. As a result, everyone seems to have gone a little stir crazy and there’s a hokey looking 50s robot wandering around town, so it’s not just the nuclear accident that makes it an alternate history.
The demo started out on in the, very pretty, wilds of Cumbria, with a lone telephone box ringing incessantly. Naturally, we answered and were told, by a weirdly distorted voice, that ‘Oberon must die’. There was no indication of who Oberon was but that was it, in terms of instructions. That’s a positive in our book, especially as it was faintly reminiscent of being told to just get out there and defeat Ganondorf in Zelda: Breath Of The Wild.
Atomfall – we never got to shoot anyone, which is good because we didn’t have a gun (Rebellion)
There were a few different paths we could have followed at this point, but we could see the concrete walls of the village not far off, so made for that. We never actually saw any scavengers, and didn’t get into any fights, but we could hear them and see vague movement in the distance, so we did the sensible thing and ducked into the thick grass and made our way carefully between cover until we got to the village.
The welcome was not exactly ecstatic, with grumbling soldiers and locals wary of outsiders, but we were allowed to roam freely, ducking into the pub to pick up on gossip and exploring the limits of the wall, beyond which, so the locals whispered, lay a sect of druids.
Our session ended with the discovery that someone had been murdered in the church, with the vicar acting in a very suspicious way and fretting about how and if the news should be announced. We’re not sure where that was going but it all seemed interestingly weird and different, and according to Fisher that’s exactly what Rebellion is aiming for.
Formats: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC Publisher: Rebellion Developer: Rebellion Release Date: March 2025
*available on Xbox Game Pass day one
GC: I do feel proud of myself, that I said to the other guy, before I started playing, that I bet John Wyndham comes up in conversation, when I speak to you. And then I find out the village is called Wyndham. So I get it, I see what you’re doing here.
BF: [laughs]
GC: So where did this come from? What were you wanting to do?
BF: So the original gestation point of this project was Jason Kingsley, one of the owners and founders of Rebellion. He noticed that there are games in that kind of post-apocalypse survival genre – Fallout, Metro, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – lots of games that are about surviving a nuclear disaster but none set in the UK. And yet the world’s first major nuclear disaster was Sellafield.
GC: There’s something to be proud of, a world first for Britain!
BF: [laughs] But because we make games that often have a pulpy, British slant the question was what would a Rebellion style post-atomic survival game… what would that look like?
GC: Is it possible for a British developer to do anything like this and not make it comedic? I’m not saying it should be otherwise, but I’m not sure we’re capable of taking ourselves seriously in the way Americans, or certainly Russians, would in this sort of situation.
BF: [laughs] Well, if it didn’t seem to quite fit that tone range of…
GC: Seeing the soldiers in the Dad’s Army outfits, it’s very hard to take it seriously. Even though it would be in that context, as Dad’s Army was in its.
BF: Yeah, yeah. So, the characters take themselves seriously but what we wanted to do was reflect the storytelling style of classic British sci-fi. So, we went back to The Quatermass Experiment as an early reference point and The Prisoner’s in there, early Doctor Who, also things like The Wicker Man and a general folk horror tone.
There’s lots of influences that came in but we found that as we were writing that we wanted to write the characters in an honest fashion, a believable fashion. So, our principal writer is a fantastic writer, and really good at characters that have a dry, humorous texture to them.
GC: When I was playing someone started talking about druids, so it sounds like there is a strong horror element too?
Atomfall – what has happened while you were asleep? (Rebellion)
GC: I’m getting an inkling as to what your DVD collection looks like.
BF: [laugh] Yes, it’s very Hammer Horror. So, looking at those retro storytelling style, there’s a humour to it but it’s earnestly portrayed and that was a good, natural match for us. Finding those storytelling props and combining them in a way that seems to blend naturally with part of our own development process. Also, what we found is that folk horror storytelling and Cold War storytelling have lots of thematic resonance. So there’s even an element of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in there.
The idea of characters who are fighting with the difference between their personal identity and their allegiance to a particular group. The recurring theme of fear of the outside group and tensions between political leanings as well as rural and urban outlooks, old-fashioned and modern ways of looking at things.
Once we started matching up the storytelling tropes of these sort of themes, we got lots of resonances and used that in the game world. Also, if you look at something like Quatermass, those stories were early enough in the process of developing the language of sci-fi and speculative fiction that there isn’t a clear distinction between genres, like there typically is nowadays.
GC: I remember back then people like Arthur C. Clarke seemed open to the idea of the supernatural being real and that wasn’t seen as an outlandish concept at the time.
BF: Yeah, I think the quote from him was that any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic. And there’s an element of that as well. So, typically, in the Quartermass Experiment and other things that Nigel Kneale did, and a lot of stories of that era, it was fashionable to explore the idea that something might seem supernatural or mystical but there’s a rational explanation for it.
And in our game you don’t start aligned to any particular faction and you operate as a detective, uncovering what’s happened and different people’s perspectives on it. There’s never good guys and bad guys, there’s always different perspectives and you just choose what you trust the most, what you believe the most.
GC: I’m unclear how serious the game gets; how nasty it becomes?
BF: As you start the story, the characters in the game world have found a kind of unstable equilibrium, where they tolerate one another. But as you poke your way into the mystery you destabilise things and things get a bit more desperate and nasty. So, it’s like a classic detective story, in that there’s a state of stability at the start of the story and the detective destabilises things over time. So, the truth gets out eventually, but the question is, is the world actually better for that truth being uncovered?
GC: I think of something like The Wicker Man, where it’s quite whimsical at the start and then absolutely horrific at the end. Is that the angle you’re going for?
BF: Exactly that sort of thing. And Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, similarly, once you learn all of the secrets, or The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, you feel worse by the end of the story. Like you say, it’s horrific. But there’s definitely an element of that in this.
And The Wicker Man’s a great example because the ending is horrific but there’s no value judgement in that ending. What makes it horrific is the disparity in views and the fact that it’s kind of left ambiguous. It’s not confirmed…
Atomfall – The Wicker Man references aren’t subtle (Rebellion)
GC: It’s interesting because you get the feeling he would’ve been happy with the end he met, it was merely the process of getting there that was uncomfortable.
BF: [laughs] Exactly that. There’s always a good and a bad side to each event in the game. You found the vicar and the murder?
GC: Yes, I just got to that when I had to stop.
BF: As you investigate that, there’s no good guys and bad guys in that story. It’s a murky story and by the end of uncovering all of the leads associated with that murder… no one comes out as a good guy at the end of it. And then you’ve got to decide what to do about that.
There’s an occupying military force in the village and you can report what’s happened or you can decide to side with any one of the people who remains from the investigation. You can encourage some to flee the village, if you think they’re responsible, but then, by the end of that little vignette story, you come away with a handful of leads that take you to other parts of the story.
So, it’s all a giant interconnected web. But by the end, the more you learn the murkier it gets. You just have to decide for yourself, by your own moral compass, who to side with.
GC: The demo seemed very unguided, is there a golden path through the game? There didn’t seem to be any waypoints on maps or anything. That’s quite an extreme amount of freedom, which can put some people off.
BF: Yes, yes. So, at the start of the game, where you would typically have your difficulty selection, we’ve got what we call play styles instead. So, you can tune how intense combat is. We think the game is the most interesting when the combat’s very intense, when the guidance is minimal, and when scavenging for materials is difficult.
But we want as many different people to play the game as possible, so you can tune the intensity of combat, the level of resources available, and the level of guidance. We want to create it for people who wanted no guidance at all, as well as people who wanted to be guided through the experience. So, you can choose to highlight some of the clues as moving you towards the heart of mystery. But still, there’s not a correct path. There’s not a golden path and there’s not a true ending.
GC: Oh really?
BF: No, there’s multiple different endings to the game. The way that we structured it is like a Sniper Elite mission. So, we’ve done a lot of learning from what we’ve done internally and in one mission in a Sniper Elite game, you’ve got an objective and as you explore the mission you’ll find methods around you to achieve that objective, and then depending on how you approach the objective you might find different exfiltration points in the mission.
So, we asked ourselves the question: what if we structured the whole game like that? So that’s why you find different characters with different perspectives. Some of them might offer you escape from this quarantine zone – it’s up to you whether you trust them or not – and different people will want different things and might contradict one another.
So there’s multiple ways out of the quarantine zone and it really, structurally begins to emerge… it feels like it emerges spontaneously from seeing what happens when there’s no quest system. How do we guide a player a character through a sandbox?
A lot of the iteration process in Atomfall is taking away creative scaffolding that can help you choreograph the experience. So, it’s non-linear, there’s not a main story, there’s not choreographed combat encounters; they’re slightly procedural, slightly random – situational, it’s up to you whether you engage or not. And it wildly changed our design philosophy over the course of production.
GC: I didn’t get the sense that there was much of a survival element? There was no Geiger counter going off or a hunger meter or anything. That must have been a thought at one point, so why did you decide against that?
BF: We tried lots of different models of that over the course of production, for sure. You have health, obviously, but you can’t take many hits. And that’s just because combat is most interesting when it’s high stakes on both sides. As you push into the mystery and into other areas in the game there are things like radiation leaks and other things that are spoilers… damage types which you have to learn to avoid or mitigate.
We’ve not got anything that’s like hunger or thirst or sleep meters, because it’s one sustained investigation and we wanted to keep the intensity high on that, and focus on that, and having the hunger and thirst felt almost like an administrative layer.
Oh, and we don’t have stamina but we do have a heart rate meter. That’s how Sniper Elite games tackle the same thing. Effectively, it’s the reverse of a stamina meter. The more activity you perform, your heart rate spikes, and that means things like your gun aim will be less accurate.
GC: The thing I’m most interested in is that it’s British, which is so rare nowadays. It’s rare for any game to indicate its country of origin, unless it’s America or Japan. Has that been a problem? Because you’re already taking a risk here, with this being a new IP.
BF: I don’t know if you would start with a piece of paper and end up with Atomfall. So much of it… we followed the fun essentially, we found what was interesting in the idea. Rebellion is very British and… it’s in the name. Jason and Chris Kingsley want to do what they find interesting. We have a house style and tonally, if you think about 2000 AD [Rebellion owns the comic and all the rights – GC] as well, there’s a very British slant to it.
What has been an advantage is the art director on Atomfall, who’s American. And that helps in that he could point out things that are unique to Britain that we don’t even notice. Even like dry stone walls… if I drive home to Scotland there are dry stone walls that are older than America. And that idea of layers of history seems to fit naturally with the environment and it seems counterproductive to resist the Britishness of the environment.
Asking what would happen if you had one of these pulpy atomic stories but set in a British environment… so much of the game emerged from trusting the testing and putting in things that were British because they would be appropriate to the area.
A quick example would be, very early on you come across a phone box with a ringing phone in it. Iconically British but also, it’s based on something that actually happened to Jason while he was rambling. He walked past a real red phone box, in the middle of nowhere, and it just started ringing. He looked at it and he thought, ‘I’m not gonna answer that.’
GC: He didn’t?! Oh, man! It was probably God or someone.
BF: [laughs] But the moment stuck with him and then we’ve been part of the story, we’ve been able to coax some interesting mystery out of it.
Atomfall – nobody seems pleased to see you (Rebellion)
GC: There’s also a proud history of British open world games, I wonder if that’s had any influence on the game? Things like Elite and Damocles and Starglider 2 were so far ahead of their time and yet largely unknown to the rest of the world.
BF: A lot of those games, that’s what I grew up on. You have to trust the player a lot to make a sandbox game, particularly one with not a lot of guidance, like we have. And there’s a philosophy that comes from that, giving you that freedom and not wanting to choreograph your experience.
They’re both perfectly valid, but choreographed experiences leads to a more Hollywood style experience. I worked on Strange Brigade and Zombie Army 4 and they had more linear structure to them, so they had choreographed highpoints. And this is philosophically very different, it’s more open and it’s up to you to make those points happen.
But yeah, that kind of retro, open world atmosphere for sure… a lot of it is subconsciously bubbling up. And in the tone of the game as well, lots of… when I was growing up a lot of the kids’ shows had a weird pagan edge to them. So if you think of Moondial?
GC: I don’t remember that?
BF: It was a kid’s show about a girl who could maybe travel back in time or maybe travel into a kind of faerie realm by visiting a sundial in a garden at night. There’s an occult weirdness that just permeates retro British culture.
GC: [laughs] On the flipside of that you must have looked at things like Fallout and Metro. But were you looking at that for inspiration or for things not to do? Not because you thought they were bad but because you wanted to do your own thing.
BF: We really started with a set of creative pillars, of a tone that we wanted the game to have, like freedom and openness. But we started with the pillars, we didn’t start with other reference. It was never ‘Fallout, but…’ And that changes your philosophy.
So we ended up looking at dozens of different games and picking and choosing different elements. There have been times where we’ve looked at how does Fallout: New Vegas give you a sense of freedom as well as give you a sense of overall objective.
And we look at that and then places where they’ve done something that’s not tonally appropriate for us, we know we have to solve this a different way. Part of the process has been looking at dozens of reference points, choosing small bits from all of them, and then going through the hard work of manipulating them until they stick together.
GC: We haven’t got time to get into the current woes of the industry but one of the obvious ways to get out of it is lower budget titles. I’m not saying you’re not AAA, but I don’t think you cost $300 million either.
BF: Sure. Yeah, yeah.
GC: It seems the only sensible way to go forward, which means it probably won’t happen. But if it does do you think that will help to ensure more British games and games from other countries of the world. Just to be selfish, if a game is from somewhere not traditionally known for making games then there’s a good chance it’ll be unusual and interesting, and that’s a good thing for everyone.
BF: I get you. Yeah, I would hope that happens. The bigger the budgets you get, the higher the risks. The higher the risks the more safe you have to play it and that can choke out interesting ideas. When we were producing Atomfall there was always five times as many ideas as you have time.
So, we had to be very, very sensible about the order in which we tackle ideas. You have to be grown-up about knowing when to stop. And whether adding more time and adding more ideas is actually to the benefit of the game or it’s just interesting to do.
So, during this production of Atomfall we did extend the time once, because we thought, ‘We’ve got these ideas and the whole thing would become so much richer for it.’ But we still try and be disciplined about it, because Rebellion’s definitely punching above its weight.
We work with agile teams that aren’t as big as you might expect, but we work hard as a team of experts to make pulpy genre games that I don’t think a bigger publisher could or would.
GC: How many people are working on the game?
BF: It’s changed over the course of production because it started as a kind of skunkworks experiment. It might not have worked but it showed so much promise as we developed that over the last couple of years we’ve scaled up to… it depends how you count but something like 150.
GC: That’s a fair size. That’s AA½ at the very least.
BF: [laughs] Yeah, but that also includes shared resources between multiple teams, and support teams, and things like that. That’s why it’s hard to count, because we all share at Rebellion!
GC: Well, that’s been very interesting, thanks for your time.
BF: No problem at all, I enjoyed it.
Atomfall – wherever this is, we didn’t get that far (Rebellion)
The head of Xbox has revealed that he passed on exclusivity deals for both Destiny and Guitar Hero, but claims he has no regrets.
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has been in charge of Xbox for a decade now and while he remains a popular figure amongst fans, since he’s clearly a gamer himself, many have started to question his record, especially in light of the confused messaging surrounding the format’s exclusivity policies.
Last year, he admitted that he was ‘upset with myself’, over the failure of Xbox console exclusive Redfall, which later saw the closure of developer Arkane Austin.
Now, in a new interview, he’s revealed he passed on the chance to make both Destiny and Guitar Hero Xbox exclusives, admitting, ‘I’ve passed on some of the worst… made some of the worst game choice decisions.’
Destiny developer Bungie was at one point owned by Xbox before returning to being an independent studio, which is presumably when they approached Spencer with Destiny, circa 2013.
Spencer revealed that Destiny ‘didn’t really click’ when he was first shown the game and that it didn’t ‘land’ with him until the release of DLC expansion House Of Wolves in 2015.
As a result, Activision ended up publishing the game instead. After that, Bungie ended up leaving them as well and were eventually bought by Sony, with the future of the developer currently feared to be in considerable peril.
Speaking at the PAX West 2024 event, Spencer also revealed that he passed on rhythm action series Guitar Hero, because he was convinced it wasn’t going to work. This was long before he was head of Xbox and must’ve been some time before 2005.
Again, Activision ended up as the publisher, enjoying great success with the series – and the general concept of bespoke peripherals – until they oversaturated the market and killed the franchise; although there have been occasional rumours of its return.
‘I’m not a regrets type person,’ said Spencer. ‘Maybe that’s a fault of mine, but I passed on so many games. I could look back and say… but no, I try to look forward and be positive about the things that we are doing.’
It’s not clear exactly what the deal was for, but since Sony’s first Spider-Man game didn’t come out until 2018, there’s a good chance it was that.
All executives will have made similar mistakes in their time, and it’s brave of Spencer to admit these examples, but at the same time it won’t silence critics who feel it’s time for new management at Xbox.
Guitar Hero – Phil Spencer didn’t see the appeal (Activision)
Rocksteady is facing layoffs in the wake of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, with reports citing its poor performance as the reason behind ‘restructuring’ at the studio.
After earning critical and commercial acclaim for its Batman: Arkham games, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League became one of the most high-profile flops of the year.
Warner Bros. itself admitted sales for the live service shooter had ‘fallen short of our expectations’ back in February, with concerns that it could lead to layoffs at the studio – in what’s become a recurring trend for big budget failures in the current gaming landscape.
Seven months after the game launched, reports of layoffs at the studio have emerged, with the team’s QA (Quality Assurance) department being the worst affected.
According to a report, the QA team has been cut by almost half over the past month, from 33 team members to 15. It’s said the layoffs have impacted other departments too, with one team member stating they were told about their redundancy in the middle of their paternity leave.
As reported by Eurogamer, Rocksteady staff said Suicide Squad’s poor sales were cited as the reason behind the ‘restructuring’. At the time of writing, neither Warner Bros. or Rocksteady Studios have released a statement.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is said to have lost Warner Bros. $200 million, but despite its failure and a 41% drop in gaming revenue this year, the company has said it’s still planning on making more free-to-play live service games in the future.
It’s unclear if Rocksteady will be doing so though, instead of focusing on a new single-player title. Just recently, the LinkedIn page for senior systems programmer, Tae Ho Kang, revealed that he was on the ‘tech team’ for an unannounced project as of June 2024 (a comment which has since been removed), so it seems like the team is working on something new.
Whatever Rocksteady’s next project is, it won’t be set in Robert Pattinson’s The Batman universe. After the rumour spread online last week, DC boss James Gunn denied it was happening, writing: ‘Sadly there is no truth to this whatsoever.’
The next Batman Arkham project will be Batman: Arkham Shadow in VR, which is set to be released on Meta Quest 3 in October and is shaping up to be extremely impressive.
TimTheTatman is one of the biggest Call Of Duty streamers (Twitch)
Several big streamers have returned to Twitch following an exclusive stint with YouTube, and it’s clear which platform viewers prefer.
While Twitch was the pioneering platform for making streaming a legitimate career option, many rivals have emerged since to try and emulate its success, including YouTube Gaming, Kick, and Microsoft’s now-defunct Mixer.
The growing competition caused a bidding war between companies to nab the biggest streamers, with some, like Tim ‘TimTheTatman’ Betar, Benjamin ‘DrLupo’ Lupo, and FaZe Clan streamer Kris ‘Swagg’ Lamberson, signing lucrative deals to exclusively stream on YouTube.
Many of these deals, which date back to 2021, are just now expiring. Although it appears to be YouTube that decided not to renew them, most streamers seem fine with the idea that the exclusivity deals are over and are now opting to broadcast across both platforms, or even abandon YouTube altogether.
In a DrLupo stream on September 2, a day after his official return, the gulf in popularity between the two platforms is clear to see. At the time of writing, there re roughly 2,651 concurrent viewers through YouTube, while around 13,815 people are watching on Twitch.
In his first stream back, DrLupo explained the reason behind his return to Twitch, stating that ‘nobody’s doing exclusivity deals anymore’.
‘It was a chance for me now to go multi-platform to try and alleviate some of the, ‘we’ve got to support a streamer’, because the more viewers we have on more platforms, the better we can push deals for ads and stuff like that,’ he said.
As reported by Dexerto, there’s a similar, if not quite as sizeable, split for TimTheTatman. On Sunday, he had around 30,000 viewers on Twitch and just 19,000 on YouTube.
Swagg, who was signed with YouTube Gaming for two years, has decided to largely drop his YouTube stream in favour of Twitch moving forward. Which implies he thinks he won’t make much money from it if he’s not being paid to be exclusive.
In a video announcing why he’s ‘leaving’ YouTube, Swagg said his decision to not re-sign with the company was because it now largely prioritises short-form content, in an attempt to compete with TikTok.
He hasn’t ruled out streaming on YouTube Gaming entirely, with Swagg stating he’ll multi-stream (i.e. stream on more than one service at once) across different platforms for big tournament events, but his ‘daily streaming’ will only be on Twitch.
Not everyone is sold on the idea of multi-streaming across different platforms though. Ludwig ‘Ludwig’ Ahgren, who is still signed to YouTube as a content creator, recently explained why he ‘hates’ multi-streaming.
‘Feels like every YouTube livestreamer instantly swaps back over to Twitch, or starts multi-streaming, the moment their contract ends,’ he wrote on Twitter.
feels like every youtube livestreamer instantly swaps back over to twitch, or starts multistreaming, the moment their contract ends🤔
He added: ‘I’m personally a multi-streaming hater based off my goals. I find the benefit of added overall viewership isn’t worth fracturing the audience. I also find streamers have a bias towards their preferred platform leaving one of the chats as the ‘step-child’.
‘The next Kai Cenat won’t be a multi-streamer who has 50K average viewers on two platforms it’ll be a streamer who dominates with 80L viewers on one IMO [in my opinion].’
Ludwig, however, does clarify that ‘you shouldn’t marry yourself to one platform’ if you’re a smaller streamer, and if you want to ‘make more money’ through increased viewership.
While it isn’t surprising to hear this, considering these streamers built their audiences on Twitch, it’s clear the majority of the audience still prefer the platform when it comes to the viewing experience today.
DrLupo is streaming across both platforms (Twitch)
If you want to try out Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 before it launches in October, several beta tests are taking place this month.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 looks likely to be a return to form for the series, with its new omnidirectional movement mechanics and a suitably bombastic campaign.
For the majority, the success of Black Ops 6 will hinge on its multiplayer, which is set to come with 16 new maps at launch. Developer Treyarch is also bringing back the traditional Prestige levelling system, allowing players to reset your level up to 10 times once it’s maxed out to earn more rewards.
If you want to try out the new maps, along with a handful of modes, Activision is making them playable in beta form across two weekends in September. You can check out details on the start times and maps available below.
What time does the Black Ops 6 beta start and end?
The first open beta weekend, which is only available to those who have pre-ordered Black Ops 6 (on any platform) began on Friday, August 30 at 6pm BST in the UK. This early access beta ends on Wednesday, September 4 at 6pm BST.
The second open beta is accessible to anyone and runs from Friday, September 6 at 6pm BST to Monday, September 9 at 6pm BST. The beta is available across all platforms, namely Xbox, PC, PlayStation consoles.
Early access is only available to those who pre-order (Activision)
What maps and modes are in the Black Ops beta?
There are six maps available in the first weekend, split between four core maps and two Strike maps, with the latter being smaller in size.
For the second weekend, Treyarch is adding several extra new maps and modes (highlighted with an asterisk). You can check out the full list across both weekends below.
Black Ops 6 beta weekend one maps and modes
Maps
Derelict
Scud
Skyline
Rewind
Pit (Strike)
Gala (Strike)
Modes
Team Deathmatch
Domination
Hardpoint
Kill Order
Face Off Team Deathmatch
Face Off Kill Confirmed
Black Ops 6 beta weekend two maps and modes
Maps
Babylon*
Derelict
Scud
Skyline
Rewind
Pit (Strike)
Gala (Strike)
Stakeout (Strike)*
Modes
Team Deathmatch
Domination
Gunfight*
Hardpoint
Kill Order
Face Off Team Deathmatch
Face Off Kill Confirmed
Face Off Kill Order*
When is the release date for Black Ops 6?
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is slated to launch on October 25 across Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. It will also be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one.
Ahead of the beta, Activision debuted the first look at Zombies mode which is set across two locations and continues the Dark Aether storyline.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater has a big birthday coming up (Activision/Twitter)
New artwork to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater has ignited hopes for a new game or another remake.
Despite being a critical and commercial success, there hasn’t been any word on the future of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater since the 2021 remake of the first two games.
Developer Vicarious Visions, who revamped the first two entries, was planning a remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 before the studio merged with Blizzard in April 2022. According to Tony Hawk himself, Activision looked at hiring another developer for the third and fourth games, but the company ‘didn’t like anything they heard’ in the pitches.
Now, a few years later, there’s renewed hope that some sort of announcement for the series might be imminent following an update on the game’s social media channels.
Over the weekend, the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube shared new artwork to celebrate the original game’s 25th anniversary.
On Instagram and Threads specifically, there’s a caption alongside the artwork, which reads: ‘Celebrating 25 years of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater all month long.’
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater has updated its social media accounts for its 25th anniversary pic.twitter.com/WtiIHG2dla
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater first came out September 29, 1999 on the original PlayStation in the US, before it arrived in Europe on October 18.
While there’s no indication that this is tied to a new game announcement, it seems like a strange amount of effort if it isn’t.
In what might not be a coincidence, Sony is rumoured to be airing a State Of Play presentation at some point this month too. Although Activision Blizzard is now owned by Microsoft, it seems unlikely any future Pro Skater game would be exclusive.
Most fans will probably be satisfied with a remake of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, but there’s a chance this could lead to a brand new game. The last mainline entry was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 in 2015, which was widely panned as the worst in the series.
If you’re just after a new skateboarding game, your next safe bet is Skate from EA. The fourth entry in the series was originally announced in 2020, but there’s still no sign of a release date despite the lengthy beta period.
An updated version of the Zelda timeline has been spotted at a Nintendo event, but where does Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom fit in?
The Legend Of Zelda series isn’t exactly celebrated for its storytelling but Nintendo has tried to apply some narrative logic to tie all the games together, over the past 37 years.
This comes in the form of the Zelda timeline, which was first published publicly in 2011’s Hyrule Historia book for the franchise’s 25th anniversary. Zelda: Skyward Sword is officially the first game chronologically, but things get more complicated following Ocarina Of Time, as things branch off into separate ‘Hero Is Defeated’ and ‘Hero Is Triumphant’ timelines (which itself splits into two separate branches).
The placement of the latest instalments, Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom, has never been acknowledged, but now Nintendo has officially confirmed they are both entirely divorced from past Zelda titles.
In a graphic spotted at Nintendo Live 2024 in Sydney, Australia, Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom are placed in a separate timeline disconnected from the ‘Hero Is Defeated’ and ‘Hero Is Triumphant’ branches.
Weirdly, unlike the rest of the timeline, there’s no line connecting Breath Of The Wild and Tears Of The Kingdom despite the latter being a direct sequel. It’s probably an oversight, but then Nintendo has never treated the timeline with the same importance as some fans do.
Last year, Nintendo said it only considers the timeline ‘to an extent’ when creating new games in the series. ‘We realised that fans have a great time theorising and enjoy thinking about where things fit on the timeline,’ director Hidemaro Fujibayashi told Game Informer.
‘That’s something that the development team recognises and it considers, but to an extent. And I say ‘to an extent’ because if we get too into the weeds or too detailed in that placement, it results in kind of creating restraints for our creativity; the process of creating new ideas becomes restricted because we’re so tied up and trying to make this fit into a very specific spot in the timeline.’
What this timeline (which can also be viewed on the Zelda website) doesn’t answer is where the next Zelda game, Echoes Of Wisdom, fits in. The obvious assumption is somewhere around Link’s Awakening, considering it shares the same art style as the remake, but the presence of Ganon in the trailer muddies the waters somewhat.
Zelda fans have speculated it could be a Link’s Awakening sequel or a prequel to A Link To The Past, but it’s likely we won’t know officially until Echoes Of Wisdom comes out on September 26. And probably not even then.
