Separate Ways was always just a tacked-on bonus for the PS2 version of Resident Evil 4, a mode that gave that port something to call its own. It made its way to almost every rerelease after, but never stood out and, unlike the base game, was merely a one-off distraction. A disposable and forgettable extra campaign like this wouldn’t make a worthy expansion. This remake of Separate Ways is not at all a haphazard collection of recycled scenarios, but is instead a complete reimagining that addresses its past failures and now stands right alongside the base campaign. 

Separate Ways is able to escape the notion of being an unnecessary extra by having its own story with cutscenes and new areas. Ada’s journey overlaps with Leon’s in some ways — which is natural for a parallel plotline — but being able to run through slightly different stages gives Separate Ways its own identity. These new places also build out the world and show how Ada could keep an eye on Leon without him seeing. 

Capcom, more importantly, uses these original places to set up original encounters. Like the base game, there are very few straightforward battles; there’s almost always some sort of hook. One section may have players blasting bugs hiding under the water, while another has them shooting infected armor sets in a cramped room as errant crossbow shots pour in. 

Some are scary, a few are packed with action, and others find a happy medium, all of which demonstrate Resident Evil 4’s incredible variety. A few of them are even remixed sections from the 2005 game that didn’t make their way into the remake, once again showing Capcom’s ability to cleverly subvert expectations. Many of these callbacks fit more naturally here, too, and give Ada some of the climactic fights she lacked in the original Separate Ways.

Ada moves and shoots just as fluidly as Leon, but has one advantage over him: her grapple gun. This tool gives players the means to zoom over to a faraway enemy and fan kick them and their nearby buddies or zip to designated grappling points. The added utility makes Ada a little more agile, but doesn’t ratchet up the intensity too much or make Separate Ways too easy. Not every encounter is littered with grappling points, either, so it’s a novel mechanic that doesn’t get overused or skew the game’s delicate balance. 

Separate Ways is also able to have a more clean difficulty curve because it’s now possible to upgrade Ada’s arsenal. It’s seemingly a small touch, but it gives players reasons to explore and seek treasure and lets them grow in power alongside their foes. Resident Evil 4’s upgrade economy has always been one of its strengths, so its absence in the first Separate Ways contributed to its shallow nature. Combined with its own set of unlockables, Separate Ways is now a more complete experience that thoroughly understands that simply putting Ada in the same levels as Leon is not enough. Emulating Resident Evil 4’s success is much more complex, and the upgrade loop and suite of unlockables are vital pieces of that puzzle.

A more complete narrative presentation is yet another way this remade expansion excels over its source material. Whereas boring voiceover narration and jarring cuts attempted to stitch together a separate story out of existing content in the original, Separate Ways now has its own set of cutscenes that organically lead from one place to another. It’s a more cohesive tale that uses these additional scenes to further explore Ada’s relationship with Wesker and Luis. And even though Ada’s monotone voice acting still drags it down, her added personal stakes to the story give it more nuance and also efficiently set up its most tense boss fight that has multiple thrilling phases.

Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC Review: Final Verdict

Separate Ways is no longer a superfluous extra because of all of these astute changes. With its focus on replayability, upgrades, and unique encounters, this expansion more deeply understands what makes Resident Evil 4 Resident Evil 4 and has all the unpredictability of the remake. But unlike the remake, Capcom couldn’t just maintain the essence of what was already there because the original Separate Ways was so underwhelming. Instead, it deftly rebuilt Ada’s side story and turned it into an integral part of the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Disclaimer: This Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways DLC review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.100.000.

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Attempting to walk back controversial changes made to its fee structure, Unity clarified new runtime fees for titles using the popular game engine. The changes to the Unity Runtime Fee come on the heels of a new pricing structure that some developers claimed could force them out of business.

Unity announces changes to its controversial Runtime Fee policy for creators using the engine

As spotted by Wario64 on Twitter, Unity has issued a public statement on its blog outlining changes coming to the Unity Runtime Fee in response to the recent backlash.

The statement, written by Unity Create head Marc Whitten and posted on the official Unity blog, begins with an apology to the development community. Stating that it “should have spoken with more of you” and incorporated user feedback before implementing the new Runtime Fee, Whitten claims that the company wants to continue supporting creators who use the Unity engine in their titles.

Under the new terms, developers using Unity Personal will no longer be subjected to a Runtime Fee and will see the revenue and funding limits raised from $100,000 to $200,000. They will also no longer be required to use the “Made With Unity” splash screen on their titles and won’t be subject to fees unless their game earns over $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue. This is likely to come as welcome new to smaller developers, over a dozen of which led a protest against Unity last week by shutting off Unity Ads in their titles.

Users of Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise will also see changes to the Runtime Fee for their projects. Under the new rules, the Runtime Fee policy will only apply to projects made with the next LTS version of Unity, expected to arrive in 2024. Games that are already shipped or are still in development won’t be required to pay the new Runtime Fee unless they upgrade the title to a newer version of the engine.

Unity’s FAQ page for the new licensing rules also reveals that the company has abandoned changes that would have seen developers charged for each install of their game. Developers will now self-report their user numbers and can decide between paying a 2.5% revenue share to Unity or an amount “based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month.”

While these changes may not diffuse all of the anger directed towards Unity CEO John Riccitiello in recent weeks, they represent a significant improvement from the earlier Runtime Fee policy.     

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Arc System Works announced the Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes release date during their appearance at 2023’s Tokyo Game Show.

When does Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes release?

The Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes release date has been set for January 25, 2024, where the game will release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Alongside the release date, a new trailer for the game was also shown off, teasing some of the gameplay.

Check out the new trailer for the upcoming fighting game below:

According to Arc System Works’ announcement, 21 returning characters will be in the new installment. New characters will also be revealed in the future. It will also feature “a unique battle system brought to life by revamped, high-quality pixel art visuals and dynamically detailed facial expressions.”

New character abilities and the addition of rollback netcode — a technique to mitigate lag in online fighting games — were also confirmed to be in the game.

The Under Night In-Birth series originally began with Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late, which was released in 2014 (after a year of being available in arcades). Since then, the series has had two sequels, with the most recent being 2020’s Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r].

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A new Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance trailer has been released to celebrate the launch of the Nickelodeon and GameMill Entertainment game.

What do you do in Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance?

“Relive unforgettable moments from the Avatar series while navigating fun and challenging puzzles based on the four elements,” reads the game‘s description. “Explore key locations across the four nations as you interact with iconic characters, complete side quests, upgrade your abilities, and defeat the adversaries from the Fire Nation. Made with family play in mind, journey solo or together in exciting two-player local and online co-op as nine different characters.”

You can watch the Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance trailer on YouTube below:

According to a recent press release, the game’s key features include:

• Embrace Your Destiny and experience Aang’s original adventure. Replay any of the 18 thrilling chapters whenever you choose to relive your favorite moments from the series.
• Explore the World of Avatar as you travel to the four corners of the elemental lands solo, or in local and online co-op, as nine different playable characters, including Aang, Toph, Sokka, and Katara.
• Master the Elements by completing complex puzzles utilizing bending and the unique abilities of water, earth, fire, and air.
• Restore Balance to the World by using your upgradable elemental abilities and a mix of bending-based combos to defeat the adversarial soldiers of the Fire Nation.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance is now available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC

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Just a day after launch, Payday 3 servers are down as player demand has caused them to crash on all platforms. Since yesterday’s launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, the game has been riddled with matchmaking issues that have seen many players left sitting in their safehouse.

The Payday 3 team is “working hard” to restore server functionality

Earlier this afternoon, developer PLAION reported another increase in matchmaking issues. A few minutes later, it became clear that all platforms were unable to matchmake and they were “working hard to restore functionality.”

Matchmaking issues began shortly after Payday 3 launched. After the developer deployed some fixes for the initial issues, the team declared the game open for business earlier this morning. Unfortunately, the issues have reared their ugly heads again. As Payday 3 doesn’t have an offline mode, it leaves everyone unable to rob banks and art galleries, although the most frustrated players are those who were able to start heists but have found themselves unable to escape as the servers disconnected, as demonstrated by Reddit user b1sakher.

The server issues have reopened the debate about online-only games. Despite also being a live service game, the game’s predecessor, Payday 2, had an offline mode that allowed players to take on the heists single-handedly and many players are calling for a return of that option. In fact, one PC player is already working on a mod that will add an offline mode for players on that platform, but there’s no ETA on its arrival and PS5 players will miss out, of course.

It’s too early to tell whether the matchmaking issues will be a short or long term problem, and even whether they will get in the way of the planned schedule of post-launch content. Starting later this year, there are four add-ons planned to be released through Fall 2024.

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Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick recently addressed the British Competition and Markets Authority’s preliminary approval of the company’s merger with Microsoft. Chief Commercial Officer Lulu Cheng Meservey and Microsoft President Brad Smith also commented separately on the CMA’s decision.

Activision Blizzard’s CEO is confident about the merger

Kotick recently sent an email to Activision Blizzard staff about the decision, the text of which Activision shared with the public. “Microsoft recognizes the commitment to excellence and creative independence that has served us well for the last 30 years,” he wrote. “I am confident that their resources, technology, and tools will provide us even greater opportunities to create even better games.”

While the CMA still needs to gather third-party feedback and make a final decision, Kotick stressed the importance of this milestone. He credited the company’s “solutions-oriented work with regulators” and expressed optimism that the merger will continue to go forward. The Activision Blizzard CEO also thanked employees for their dedication and focus.

In addition to Kotick’s formal statement, Activision Blizzard’s Lulu Cheng Meservey and Microsoft’s Brad Smith made their own comments on X. “The CMA’s preliminary approval is great news for Activision Blizzard’s future with Microsoft,” said Activision Blizzard’s CCO. She said the company is glad to see the CMA’s positive response to Microsoft’s proposed solutions.

Smith made similar comments. Speaking for Microsoft, he wrote, “We are encouraged by this positive development in the CMA’s review process.” He believes that Microsoft has fully addressed the CMA’s concerns regarding cloud gaming. The company will move forward with the Activision Blizzard merger. Smith said Microsoft will continue its efforts to close the deal before the October 18 deadline.

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A new NHL 24 trailer is out, this time detailing some of the bigger changes coming to Hockey Ultimate Team, or HUT, the card-collecting game within the game.

What’s new in NHL 24’s HUT?

The latest NHL 24 trailer is another deep dive from developer EA Sports and details some of the biggest changes to the mode, including the inclusion of HUT Moments. Much like their name suggests, HUT Moments will allow players to play through some of the most historic moments in hockey. The mode replaces HUT Challenges, which was the previous mode in HUT.

Similar to HUT Challenges, HUT Moments will let players earn rewards for their team by playing through them. Alongside the new moments mode, EA Sports is also tweaking how players can track objectives thanks to the Objectives 2.0 system.

This new tracking system helps make it easier to know what objectives might need to be completed in a game or for any other progress, and will be displayed in game when progress is made.

Another big change to the game comes in its shared economy. Thanks to NHL 24 featuring cross-platform play, EA Sports has also decided to make HUT’s marketplace cross-platform as well. This means that players on any platform will have access to the same in-game marketplace for cards, which theoretically should make finding fairly priced players easier.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 actor Yuri Lowenthal has had it with players complaining about Peter Parker’s (now-not-so) new face. The character was recast while remastering Spider-Man PS4, which ended up being quite an unpopular change.

Yuri Lowenthal on his performance as Peter Parker in Spider-Man 2

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Lowenthal said that the new visual didn’t impact his performance, and he personally wouldn’t have cared if his character looked like a “goblin” instead. While he understood why the change didn’t go down well with some fans, Lowenthal says it’s time to move on.

“The one positive thing I take away from this experience is that people connected emotionally so hard and so deeply in the first game that they’re mad when they feel that person changes,” Lowenthal said. “I can only be so mad about that because it worked, not the change thing, but you connected with the character which is great. Now, get over it!”

Lowenthal previously told ComingSoon.net that his character’s visual is just one piece of the puzzle. While seeing what his character looks like does somewhat influence how he performs, there’s a lot more to it than that. “So I think that visual part is an important part to creating the character, but it’s only one piece, and one piece that I sometimes don’t get,” Lowenthal said.

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Saints Row studio Volition was the first developer shut down by Embracer Group in its ongoing restructuring exercise, but it won’t be the last. The company has warned of more closures in what is perhaps one of the most egregious cases of serial acquisitions in recent years, followed by months of layoffs.

Embracer Group now wants to downsize

In a recent annual general meeting, Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors told stakeholders that the company will continue to restructure and downsize until it achieves its financial targets. Embracer has been bleeding cash due to a number of high-profile studio and IP acquisitions over the recent years — all while failing to attract financial partners.

“Preferably, we would like to find new opportunities for the employees, even if it’s outside of Embracer,” Wingefors said. “Sometimes it’ll be a divestment, or that we are working with partners to finance some projects, but ultimately, we are making decisions to either restructure or to downsize some teams, and there will be a few cases of closures.”

Wingefors said that he’s “confident” that Embracer will be able to deliver on its targets by the end of the fiscal year. Its most recent studio hit by layoffs is Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics.

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Microsoft has almost cleared the final hurdle in its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) — the only regulator holding the deal back from closing — has provisionally approved the merger following a number of remedies proposed by Microsoft.

Microsoft-Activision deal all set to close in October

CMA had raised concerns about the nascent cloud market, which it felt that Microsoft would be able to monopolize if the merger went through. As a result, Microsoft sold Activision Blizzard’s game streaming rights to Ubisoft.

“In contrast to the original deal, Microsoft will no longer control cloud gaming rights for Activision’s content, so would not be in a position to limit access to Activision’s key content to its own cloud gaming service or to withhold those games from rivals,” the CMA has concluded. “The deal with Ubisoft also requires Microsoft to port Activision games to operating systems other than Windows and support game emulators when requested, addressing the other main shortcoming with the previous remedies package.”

Although the acquisition has not been approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft can close the deal in October after a recent court ruling in its favor that denied the regulator’s request for a preliminary injunction.

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