Yesterday during the Konami Press Start showcase, developer NeoBards Entertainment and writer Ryukishi07 offered an in-depth looking at the upcoming psychological horror game, Silent Hill F. During the breakdown of the game, series producer Motoi Okamoto stated that the team wanted to “find beauty in the terror”, looking towards the style and aesthetics of Japanese horror to give the title its eerie, distinct atmosphere and tone. One of the biggest changes that Silent Hill F will introduce is its shift from the titular American town to 1960s Japan. However, Okamoto claimed that the game will still feel like a Silent Hill game in every other aspect, including the dense fog constantly looming around its small Japanese town. The fog masks new nightmares that are, frankly, some of the most disturbing monster designs we’ve seen in a Silent Hill game yet. Speaking more about the strong focus on Japanese horror, Okamoto explained: “The setting of Silent Hill F has shifted from the town of Silent Hill to Japan. But it remains a psychological horror experience where one confronts themselves within a mental world. Taking into account that it is psychological horror, we sought to enhance the essence of Japanese-style horror. The hallmark of Japanese horror is not simply grotesqueness, but the coexistence of beauty and the disturbing. We are creating this title with the concept: ‘Find the beauty in terror.’” In case you missed it, check out the terrifying new gameplay for Silent Hill F that debuted at the PlayStation State of Play last week. From what we’ve seen, it might be shaping up to be one of the scariest entries in the franchise yet. Silent Hill F launches on 25 September 2025 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The PC system requirements can be found right here. Watch the full presentation from Konami and NeoBards Entertainment below. Original article on GLITCHED

If you think you’ve played everything there was to play in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, think again. Four years after its PS5 launch, Insomniac Games has revealed that there’s a hidden mini-game in the game which no one was able to find. Now accessing this mini-game isn’t easy, so I can’t blame anyone for missing it. Senior Game Designer Grant Parker revealed the special process players need to follow in order to unlock it. He says that when you reach Zurkie’s and go through the entrance, players will find a “no weapons” sign on either side of the door. You’ll need to shoot the left sign five times, the right sign four times, and then the left sign again 13 times. After doing so, the game won’t tell you that anything has happened. However, when you enter Zurkie’s, you’ll be able to go to the mechanical and hold L2 to trigger the mini-game. The mini-game is essentially just a mechanical bull ride where players will need to keep their balance on the bull using the right stick. If you fall off, the game doesn’t play any animation to show you that you’ve failed; you’ll just teleport back to the side of the bull. Parker says that the mini-game isn’t really meant for players as part of the game package. It was a prototype that was implemented into the game structure and even coded to work with Ratchet. However, instead of removing the game from the final build, the team decided to leave it in but lock the experience behind a cheat code that no one would ever figure out. He says that four years later, he had the opportunity to show the game to the public and decided to finally share the secret. Whether you want to experience this is completely up to you. If you don’t want to download the game again and go through the whole process of accessing it, you can just watch the video right here. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart released back in 2021 for PS5 as the game that was marketed as only being possible on PS5 due to the SSD tech. The game then launched on PC a few years later and even worked with a mechanical HDD. Original article on GLITCHED Written by Marco Cocomello

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe marked the pinnacle of Nintendo’s acclaimed kart racing franchise. Everything that could’ve been done, had been done and I imagine the development team had a tough time trying to figure out the natural evolution of that winning, lightning-in-a-bottle formula. Mario Kart World had a solution: take it open world. Well, kinda. At its foundation, Mario Kart World retains a crucial element of what makes this franchise so lovably excellent: pure fun. More than that, the foundation is particularly strong to build upon. Mario Kart World doesn’t really have a story. Instead, the game immediately offers you several modes to play around in. Grand Prix is the one most players will likely gravitate towards, competing in four-race tournaments for points as you climb up a ladder or fight to keep your top position. Broken down into 50cc, 100cc and 150cc races (more or less the difficulty and speed in which races play out), you have some options to tinker your racing experience as you steadily progress over several lengthy, interconnected courses and tracks. Essentially, the world map of Mario Kart World is split up into several different tracks all interconnected by an overworld sandbox that you can freely roam around in. I was initially hesitant about the semi-open world implementation here as the trailers and gameplay demos didn’t do it enough justice. For the most part, what you see is what you get. The “open world” purely serves the purpose of linking tracks back and forth in clever ways. This allowed Nintendo to link and interweave courses in admittedly very cool ways, from intersections that can be sectioned off and spun into a different course or highways that literally stretch from one zone to the next. It’s nothing particularly novel but it’s a great attempt at making the world of Mario Kart World feel more open-ended and refreshing. The “open world” purely serves the purpose of linking tracks back and forth in clever ways. That also comes with a few caveats. The world doesn’t really have anything to do in other than complete random short mini-games and challenges sprinkled around the zones. There aren’t any NPCs to encounter or reasons for a sandbox to even exist. Completing those smaller challenges, which are gracefully quick bursts of fun, unlocks you cosmetics for your characters or vehicles. Beyond that, it feels like Nintendo has yet to actually unlock the full potential of an open world Mario Kart game. World lays the building blocks but constructs an empty building on top of it. Hopefully with future updates, Nintendo will be able to flesh out the “world” element of the game – a pretty crucial miss, since it’s literally in the title. However, it more than makes up for its shortcomings with the game’s overall charm and fun factor. There are dozens upon dozens of characters and vehicles to unlock, and different combinations to try out. Characters are lively and expressive during races and it’s pretty wholesome. Nintendo has never had any problems delivering charming, quirky and endearing characters, and thankfully, Mario Kart World is the best example of that. Thanks to the hardware improvements of the Switch 2 that boosts its visuals, Mario’s assortment of eccentric racers has never felt more alive and expressive. That charm carries over to the sheer entertainment factor of Mario Kart World. Drawing much of the same energy from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the races are colourful, intense and really creative in some aspects, with some wild environmental hazards harkening back to Nintendo’s golden era of video games that I won’t spoil. Hitting those levitating power blocks randomises a selection of items and power-ups that you can use during races to gain an upper hand, from the terrifying blue shell to banana peels, coins to boost your speed, and ticking bombs that can be thrown in front of other racers, it’s all textbook Mario Kart and incredibly addictive once you get going. If you’ve played any Mario Kart game before, you more or less know what you’re getting into with Mario Kart World. There’s a lot of content on offer here – characters to unlock, events to complete, tournaments to participate in, and vehicles to add to your collection. You’ll eventually fall into a comfortable rhythm of unlocking new content while honing your skills in races. If you’re solely playing it as a single-player game, it also offers just enough challenge to make each race feel interesting with AI that adapts (and annoys) as you progress. The races are colourful, intense and really creative in some aspects, with some wild environmental hazards harkening back to Nintendo’s golden era of video games... Knockout Tour is by far the most entertaining mode available in the game. It’s a challenging elimination-type mode where up to 24 players race towards new checkpoints. The last racer to reach the next checkpoint gets eliminated from the race until it’s the last four racers left to dash to the finish line. It’s simple but very effective at getting your blood pumping. Against other players, Knockout Tour is an absolute blast with races turning chaotic very quickly as other players scramble and use whatever means necessary to get ahead. There are also two Battle Modes available. In Balloon Battle, players get five balloons attached to their vehicle. Others have to then zip around and use items to pop them until all five balloons are taken out while avoiding taking damage. Coin Runners is a simple time-based mode where players must collect as many coins as possible before a timer runs out. I didn’t spend too much time in these Battle Modes but as a fun distraction from the high-energy racing, it’s a refreshing detour. Mario Kart World’s online races were, to my everlasting surprise, very straight-forward. Hopping in and out of races was quick – it didn’t take long for all 24 slots in a race to fill up – almost as quickly as offline modes. I didn’t encounter a single hitch or connectivity issue while playing online; it all ran flawlessly. Nintendo really wanted to stress the improvements made to online play with the Switch 2 and they’ve made an extremely compelling case here. As far as visuals and performance goes, Mario Kart World’s character models and animations look fantastic. Thanks to the Switch 2’s added power, the game runs at a buttery smooth 60FPS in both single-player and multiplayer with barely any frame rate drops worth mentioning. It’s easily the best-looking Mario Kart game yet. However, the environments can feel a little bland at times with textures looking a bit shoddy but for the most part, the courses are all well-designed and eye-catching. The audio design is especially great in handheld mode. Hopping in and out of races was quick – it didn’t take long for all 24 slots in a race to fill up – almost as quickly as offline modes. To address the elephant in the room: is Mario Kart World actually worth the $80 price tag? That's a tough one. There’s a wealth of content here but charging above the standard industry price is a very tough pill to swallow that not everyone can financially get behind. It’s clear that a lot of love and effort went into making Mario Kart World as wildly fun and entertaining as it is but that $80 price stings a lot of players that actually enjoy these games, creating a barrier that’s not easy for some – especially overseas where inflation twists your arm – to get over. That aside, Mario Kart World is some of the most fun I’ve had playing a video game all year. It’s addictive, creative, and so easy to pick up and play, either for long sessions or quick bursts. Playing in couch multiplayer with friends is obviously the jolly and preferred way for me, but Nintendo have really surprised me with how much effort went into making its online play as seamless and breezy as possible. It lays a strong foundation that I hope gets expanded upon over the generation, even if the sandbox isn’t very compelling right now. I'm glad Mario Kart is back because I missed games where its sole purpose is just to deliver unhinged fun. *Review code provided by Nintendo

Code Vein 2, the sequel to Bandai Namco’s 2019 Soulslike action-RPG Code Vein, was announced recently during Summer Game Fest. The reveal trailer provided glimpses of gameplay and a bit of story but thanks to new information, we now know more details about the upcoming action-RPG set to launch sometime in 2026. In an interview with GameSpot, Keita Iizuka, producer of Code Vein and its sequel, shed some light on Code Vein 2’s aspirations, particularly when it comes to From Software comparisons. “Yes, games like Elden Ring are very praised,” said Iizuka. “But I like to consider those games our rivals.” Iizuka talked about expanding the scope of Code Vein 2 beyond its predecessor. The first game mostly had a clear path forward (like most Soulslike titles) but it gave players enough room to explore and discover intertwining paths and hidden areas. However, the sequel will greatly expand upon that idea, letting players loose in an open environment – but not necessarily open-world – to allow them to freely discover bosses and dungeons at their own pace. You can see where the Elden Ring inspiration comes into play. To help keep exploration moving at a brisk pace, the game will give players a motorcycle to get around faster. Of course, like the first game, the player character will be fully customisable too. Iizuka also dropped the bombshell that the sequel will have no narrative connection to the first game, which is a bit surprising considering the implications of the first title’s cliffhanger ending. Perhaps the twists are being saved for the final product. “It is a new world, new characters, and a new story,” said Iizuka. Code Vein 2 will feature a time-travel mechanic where actions and quests in the past can impact the future. That’s quite unique for the Soulslike genre and it will be interesting to see how the sequel bakes it into the role-playing aspects. Iizuka provided an example where saving a bridge repairman in the past will give them access to a new dungeon in the present (that would otherwise be inaccessible). This will tie into the game’s overall narrative. As a revenant hunter, you must travel between the past and the present to better a world that has been threatened by a “world-destroying force.” Humans and revenants (this game’s version of vampires) must work together to achieve this goal. However, the producer also stressed that Code Vein 2 isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel but rather refine the best elements of the Soulslike genre. To achieve this, the partner system, which was introduced in the first game, will also be improved in certain ways. Players will able to recruit a number of NPCs to accompany them on their adventures, some of which could have story implications. Code Vein 2 launches in 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Source: GameSpot Original article on GLITCHED