Games Inbox: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl remake reaction, Dragon Age 4 single-player, and Project Triangle

Pokémon Legends: Arceus – are you impressed? (pic: The Pokémon Company)

The Monday Inbox wonders about celebrity video game fans, as one reader is upset that EA has given up on Anthem.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

Anniversary spread
The Pokémon Diamond/Pearl remake looks pretty terrible – I have no idea what they’re thinking with those overworld graphics, but the open world game… that could have potential. I would’ve been a lot happier though if Game Freak were the ones sticking to the remake and someone else was doing the Pokémon Legends.

I just don’t think Game Freak have it in them to do a proper open world game, not when they’re so far behind Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – a game that’s four years old and by the same parent company. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for now though, if only because it is them trying something different.

Given the problems the pandemic causes it’s a decent 25th anniversary show though: three games, if you count New Pokémon Snap, that fans have been calling for for years and other celebration stuff that I don’t care about but at least shows some effort.

It’s a real shame so many important anniversaries are happening this year though, because I’m sure the companies would’ve liked to have done more. Resident Evil is getting a bunch of games in the future, but I don’t get the impression anything is going to happen on the actual anniversary this March.
Colgan

Singular improvement
Excellent news about Dragon Age 4 being single-player only. I have to say, credit where it’s due, but EA really seems to have turned a corner recently. Star Wars: Battlefront 2 blowing up the way it did really put a fire under them and now they seem to… care whether their games are good or not?

Madness I know, but I can’t fault anything they’ve done lately. With the rather large caveat that I don’t know or care anything about FIFA. A few years ago EA was all about microtransactions and live service games, now they seem to have abandoned that for all of their non-sports or paid-for games.

Compared to the other big two, Ubisoft and Activision, I’d now be automatically more interested in an EA game than either of their. Single-player sells, if it’s good and it’s great they’ve realised that. Hopefully the rest of the industry takes note too.
Korbie

Giving up
I can’t help feeling a little annoyed at EA for shutting down the team who were re-working Anthem. I accept the game had major issues, but you have a choice to dig in and try to sort it out or run away. Now we have seen what they are made of.

Whilst some may say I should let it go, Anthem was a dud, un-salvageable, etc. I point to Ubisoft as an example of a publisher/developer who have a history of sticking with a game after its released. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is one such example. I can’t say I’ve played it but I’m aware of its history. What it says to me is that if you invest in one of their games you are likely to get your money’s worth down the line.

Look at Rainbow Six Siege. OK, it released in a much better state than Breakpoint or Anthem, but it’s now in a position where legions of players are eagerly awaiting the next update.

EA saw the writing on the wall with Anthem perhaps, but I’ll think twice about buying their games in future and I absolutely won’t be buying one of their games in the first few months to ascertain if it’s going to be a ‘dropper’ or not.
r-s-w

GC: As you yourself say, both of your two examples were in a much better position at launch than Anthem was at any point in its existence. The reviews were unambiguous too, so there really shouldn’t have been any opportunity to be caught out by it.

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Console preference
With the weekend feature about PCs being the better option, in a way I agree but in some ways I disagree. I agree that, yes, it’s cheaper in some ways and you can go back through years of games, but when I play a game and have had my money’s worth out of it I don’t, 20 years later, wish I could play that game again. I’m looking forward, thinking, ‘I wonder how the next game is going to push it more?’ And I’m dumb when a game comes out on PC saying you need this RAM and this GPU or CPU and this much power to play.

With a console you plug it in, turn it on, load the game, and boom you’re playing it. And as for Sony bringing out some games from the PlayStation 4 days, like Days Gone, on to PC that don’t bother me. I played it in 2019, not 2021. Also a few of my mates went to PC only gaming and they soon came back to console and the reason was the cheats.

Whenever I play a game cross-play is turned off. If I could just play with Xbox players I’d be happy but you can’t. Like they say, each to their own but for me, my brain doesn’t understand PC software so for now I’ll stick with a console.
David

Default response
It’s a shame Bravely Default 2 turned out to be more default than brave. I really loved the original on the 3DS and put over 250 hours into it. But part of the original’s appeal was that it brought some fresh new elements into the well-trodden genre. I don’t really just want to play the exact same game all over again, especially as I just recently played Octopath Traveler. The Octopath team’s approach to their follow up is much more interesting, using the same graphical style for a different genre. I will be keeping my fingers crossed for Project Triangle.

Oh well, at least Monster Hunter Rise is looking good. I currently have it pre-ordered off the back of your preview, subject to it being reviewed well too. I’ve been thinking about getting Monster Hunter: World for a while now as my first title in the series and was tempted to plump for it as the cheaper game. But I figure the online community for World has probably diminished by now and I actually prefer the art style of Rise more. Capcom have been on a real roll for me in recent years so I’m very much hoping it continues with Rise.
Ryan O’D

GC: We agree, Project Triangle seems much more promising. We’re also very optimistic about Monster Hunter Rise.

The real remake
Did you see the Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis trailer? It looked fantastic, and aesthetically far closer to what I wanted from a Final Fantasy 7 remake than the proper one. It also has turn-based battles!

Reading into it, it seems like it’ll just be a collection of scenarios (so I suspect no world map, etc.), but I’m hoping they end up with enough art assets from them that they decide to make a full game out of them. Would probably work well for something like the Switch which can’t handle the proper Final Fantasy 7 Remake anyway.
Lord Darkstorm

GC: That’s a good idea and relatively likely.

Famous fans
In regards to Mick’s email on Friday, he may be interested to know that Vin Diesel is very much into Dungeons & Dragons, and World Of Warcraft (as is Jonathan Ross in the latter). If anything, I get the feeling that there’ll be many celebrities who have geeky hobbies (hell, if you’ve ever tried weight training you’ll know exactly how maths-intensive it can be!)

On another note, I wonder if Sylvester Stallone knits (à la Demolition Man)?
Joseph Dowland

More: Games Inbox

Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: the best Legend of Zelda games

Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: the best Legend of Zelda games

Games Inbox: Was the new State of Play a disappointment?

Cephalopod racer
It’s 5am on Saturday morning, and I’ve just had an interesting idea for a game. Had anyone made a game where you control an octopus? They seem such a good fit!

For those who haven’t seen much of these amazing creatures, they’re highly intelligent, able to swim, walk (both in and out of water, although less gracefully out, and only for limited time) change colour, disguise themselves with colour and/or by picking up objects and holding them over themselves (shells, etc.), change shape (fit through small gaps, make themselves spiny or smooth), squirt water (both for propulsion and, again, out of water too at times, like a water pistol) and they even have three hearts, which seems ready made for gaming!

In my head, it’d be a beautiful, hand-drawn Ecco The Dolphin style game (also thinking a little of Limbo, for some reason) set both in and out of the sea. You could start off in a tank and have to escape! In the book Other Minds, they talk about some real-life escape from tanks that have happened in lab settings (it’s a while since I read this so may get the detail slightly wrong, forgive me) – one where the octopus shot water at a light switch, shorting the power to the lab, and then crawled out of the pipe which was used to supply clean water… It couldn’t do this when the power was on as there was a fan in said pipe. I mean, if that isn’t a ready-made game, I don’t know what is! It then (they think) hid in a mop bucket to get some water.

Other things that occurred to me – their arms work sort of independently from their brain. If you were stuck, they could show you where to go, like a hint system. They have a beak which could be used for attack. They can squirt ink. They are venomous. They’ve can do things like get inside a jam jar and screw the lid on. They are strong. They have suckers all over their arms, and any lost arms can be regrown! Metroidvania could even work!

I am not at all creative, but please, if anyone out there could do this incredible creature justice in video game form, please do! Would highly recommend Other Minds to anyone interested in knowing a bit more, or even just look at some videos of them changing colours or using camouflage – given the amount of press chameleons get, you won’t believe how much more versatile the octopus is when they put their mind(s) to it!
codename8ball (PSN ID)

GC: There’s always Octodad, by the makers of Bugsnax. And we agree, octopuses are fascinating – we’ve read Other Minds and would second your recommendation.

Inbox also-rans
According to the PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale wiki the official Sony mascot (in Japan) is a little cat dude called Toro Inoue. Read all about it here. Hope that helps. Do I win a prize?
Stuart N(ot) Hardy, Sheffield

GC: Yes, a copy of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. Oh.

I’m certain those rumours about Deck Nine working on new Life Is Strange games must be true, they did such a good job on Before The Storm. I’d be surprised if they weren’t making a direct sequel with Max and Chloe first though. I thought the sequel proved that changing the cast each time wasn’t such a good idea.
Musty

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was inspired by reader David, and asks what is your experience with PC gaming and do you think it’s better or worse than consoles?

Do you own a gaming PC and if so how much did you pay for it and how well does it run modern games? What do you see as the pros and cons of PC gaming and do you feel either option has got more or less appealing in the last few years?

If you don’t own a gaming PC what would make you consider it and what has put you off so far? Overall, do you think PC gaming will become more popular in the future or less?

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: the best Legend of Zelda games

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: the best Legend of Zelda games

MORE : Games Inbox: State of Play review, Pokémon Black and White remakes, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Yuffie

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Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: the best Legend of Zelda games

The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D – time for a remake? (pic: Nintendo)

Readers celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend Of Zelda, by naming their favourite entries and their hopes for the future.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic is something Nintendo didn’t mention themselves during the recent Nintendo Direct but which readers certainly had something to say about, as we asked to hear your memories of the series and its games.

Most people hadn’t started with the original NES game but instead reminisced about A Link To the Past, Ocarina Of Time, and the other classics of Nintendo’s iconic franchise.

The magic of Zelda
There is no question in my mind that Zelda is the greatest video game franchise of all time. What series has had more influence or can boast so many games that have been named the best ever made? (Okay, Mario comes close.)

The first one I ever played was Ocarina Of Time on the N64 and I’d literally never seen anything like it. It had me hooked for weeks and to this day I consider it to be essentially perfect. How they managed to do all that on such basic hardware I’ll never know but until Breath Of the Wild I’d say it was still unbeaten.

The magic of Zelda is how it get so many really difficult things right and manages to make them seem effortless. The huge overworld, the intricately designed dungeons, the 3D combat, the boss battles, the exploration, it’s all done so well and fits together perfectly.

What Breath Of The Wild 2 will do I don’t know but I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t one of the best games ever, I mean… they usually are.
Wrangler

Exploring Hyrule
I’ll shock you all by saying that until Breath Of The Wild I hadn’t played any Zelda game so I really didn’t have any preconceptions, and didn’t get all the stuff about no proper dungeons. What I did get though was an amazing open world adventure the likes of which I’ve never seen before.

Open world is just a style of level, if can be anything, but of course we all associate it with the Ubisoft formula and all the PlayStation exclusives, but Zelda is different. It’s huge and there’s very little signposting, so it feels like you’re exploring something that’s never been seen before. You can barely feel the hand of the designers at all, and given how carefully designed it actually is that’s amazing.

A work of art as far as I’m concerned and while I have tried to play the earlier games for me they don’t compare, so I’m hoping the sequel will live up to the legacy.
Thomas

The forgotten Zelda
I just want to be the oddball that says I really like Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link. For those that don’t know (it is on the NES Virtual Console if you have Nintendo Switch Online) it’s very different to the first game and uses a side-on view for all the combat. It’s a proper role-player too, with stats, so completely unlike the others. It’s a bit like Super Mario Bros. 2, except at least that had the excuse of being a different game renamed for Mario.

I always felt that if you were going to do a spin-off that something in the same style could work out really well. I could imagine someone like FromGames doing a real good job on it. Maybe it could even be a remake like Link’s Awakening. It must be the least played Zelda ever so it seems ripe for going back to.
SugarSniper

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

Name that tune
It was 1990 something and I was a youngish teen. I had a SNES and Zelda: A Link To The Past, where/when did I get Zelda? Was it with the SNES? Did I get it for Christmas? I don’t know… I’m old! What I do know is that from the very first instance, with that rousing orchestral score, bom, bom, bom bom bom bom BOMMMMMM I was pretty much sold on the Zelda franchise. An epic start to a 30 odd year love/hate affair (I hate Skyward Sword, it should be burned at the stake, hung, drawn and quartered, then burned again – did you see that trailer? They had lips… lips!) with the series.

As mentioned, Skyward Sword is coming nowhere near my Switch and Spirit Tracks and the Minish Cap can ‘get out of my pub’, but for the most part games like A Link To The Past, Ocarina Of Time, and Breath Of The Wild have left nothing but a swelling pride and love in my heart for this enduring, epic series of games – nay, experiences. Long may it continue.

For the future, well the near future at least, I would like to see Breath Of The Wild’s sequel incorporate some REAL actual Zelda dungeons. But how would it keep from being un-linear I hear you cry? Well, as I’ve mentioned before, you simply have a character lend out the items you need when you enter a dungeon and give them back when you’re finished. Magic, I should really apply to Nintendo.
big boy bent
PS: Oh and fixable weapons would be a bonus!

They get you in the end
The first Zelda game I played was Ocarina Of Time. It was a complete revelation to me and easily the greatest game I had ever played. I absolutely loved it and collected all of the heart pieces, although I think one gold skulltula eluded me.

Since then I have played nearly all of the Zelda games. My favourite title was always Ocarina, which I think was helped by it being my first Zelda. Although oddly when I played it and Majora’s Mask again on the 3DS I much preferred Majora’s Mask to Ocarina. This is even stranger as I did not like Majora’s Mask on the N64 and never finished it back then.

Majora’s Mask is not the only Zelda I stopped playing and I also gave up on Minish Cap, only to return to it many years later and love it. I also parked Breath Of The Wild for about 18 months before it finally clicked. I am hoping this pattern continues with Skyward Sword as that is another Zelda I failed to finish on my first attempt.

As for the 35th anniversary I am actually expecting Nintendo to release two Zelda collections:

1. A Toon Link Collection with The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Sprit Tracks
2. A Traditional Link Collection with Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Twilight Princess
Similar to the 3D Mario collection I am not expecting HD remakes of the non-HD games.

In terms of Breath Of The Wild 2 I would like to see stronger characters. If Zelda does travel with Link then it would be nice if they would have natural conversations during the gameplay, akin to Joel and Ellie from The Last Of Us. Of course, that will not happen though as Link is mute and therefore Zelda will just end up being yet another female character nagging him.

I would also like to see more involved side stories. But again, this probably will not work if Link does not speak. At least Zelda could do the speaking to progress the story, I guess.
PazJohnMitch

Museum pieces
I’ve just seen The Micro Museum in Ramsgate, who did the Sir Clive Sinclair 80th birthday anniversary, has made a brief history of Zelda video.

Really interesting.
Cassius2K

More: Games Inbox

Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: the best Legend of Zelda games

Games Inbox: Was the new State of Play a disappointment?

Games Inbox: Who is the PlayStation mascot?

Belated sequel
My very first experience of the legendary Zelda series was being at a friend’s house, when another friend came over and brought a golden boxed SNES game! He then put the game into the console and switched the power on and proceeded to play this rather intriguing title.

The spinning Triforce doing their little dance until forming to become one. Then the famous Hyrulian Zelda theme and logo which appeared, surrounding the Triforce symbol, and that was just the epic introduction. Then the game began!

Take in mind that I had never seen a top-down angled view of a game before and all this was very new to my young eyes. The start was very mysterious, as a tale is explained of past events, filling out the very epic tragedy that has hit the kingdom. You then wake after a dream or premonition about a certain Princess Zelda, explaining she is being held prisoner! You find that your uncle is just about to go out into the stormy night with a foreboding tune playing in the background. ‘Link, I’m going out for a while. I’ll be back by morning. Don’t leave the house.’

And that was that. I was intrigued and amazed at how well this game gripped me so quickly ,with wanting to find out what happens next. And that was before the first twist! Complete the light world and the dark world was then revealed, the main part of the game really! A bit like leaving Midgar in Final Fantasy 7 after over six or more (or a lot more) hours, to then find you have only just begun your journey!

To be honest though, the most disappointing thing was no SNES sequels to A Link To The Past! Having to wait Until the Ocarina Of Time, which is an awesome game, but still gutted about no SNES sequel which I had dreamt about for ages! Luckily, we had Link’s Awakening for the Game Boy but as good as it was, another SNES game would have fulfilled my immediate dreams perfectly.

So Alundra for the PlayStation 1 was my unofficial Zelda 3 sequel, and the characters even looked like Hylians! But what an amazing series of games with Twilight Princess and Majora’s Mask being my next favourites, respectively. So a happy 35th anniversary Legend Of Zelda, and long may you continue to bring magic, adventure and great soaring tunes, to keep us going in these uncertain times.
Alucard

GC: A Link Between Worlds on 3DS is a direct sequel to A Link To The Past on the SNES.

E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday mornin, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: the best Legend of Zelda games

MORE : Games Inbox: State of Play review, Pokémon Black and White remakes, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s Yuffie

MORE : Games Inbox: PlayStation mascot, Astro Bot on Oculus Quest, and Ghouls ‘N Ghosts difficulty

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My 35 years of playing The Legend Of Zelda – Reader’s Feature

A lifetime of Zelda (pic: Nintendo)

A reader who was there from the beginning celebrates 35 years of Zelda and reveals how he and his friend pre-empted Breath Of The Wild 2.

I consider myself lucky to have been able to experience pretty much the entire Legend Of Zelda series from the beginning. Whilst I wasn’t able to buy a SNES, and my own copy of A Link To The Past, until the mid 90s, in the 80s I was fortunate enough to live next door to someone with not only an NES but also parents willing and able to spring for the £50, gold cartridge versions of the first two titles. He was also lucky enough to own the Zelda Game & Watch too! Many of the happiest childhood memories I have are of the times spent with my then best friend, trying to crack the intricacies of Hyrule and its many fiendish dungeons in those early titles.

Oh, how I felt like a god-level genius when I worked out how to upgrade the Tempered Master Sword to the Gold Master Sword in A Link To The Past…

Sure, there were other games and other systems we’d play (I had a 48k ZX Spectrum and he owned a C64), but something about Nintendo and Zelda kept us both enchanted above all others. So much so that, in the aftermath of us finishing the SNES game, we even set about attempting to design our own direct sequel, drawing maps, dreaming up new enemies, weapons and items. He was particularly artistic, and even went so far as to start designing some of the sprites on graph paper to give them a pixel-perfect look.

Strangely enough, part of the concept was that the game would tell an immediate aftermath story and retain and expand upon elements of the Link To The Past game world, including (I wish I could lay claim that it was my idea, but it was all his) that at a certain point in the story, Hyrule Castle would rise up out of the ground, borne aloft by a sinister, dark mountain of evil power, which would erupt out of the ground and become the game’s final dungeon location.

Fast forward nearly 30 years to the Breath Of The Wild direct sequel trailer and if I’m not very much mistaken, isn’t that Hyrule Castle looking suspiciously like it’s about to rise up out of the ground in some seismic, landscape-changing event? Once that game is out, I’m definitely going to be checking to see if I see his name pops up in the post-game credits somewhere…

So, anyway, it’s fair to say that I’ve loved the Zelda franchise, in some way, shape or form since the start. Sure, I’ve not played every last one of them, most notably some of the latter-day handheld entries, due to financial and time constraints meaning I never owned a DS or a 3DS. However, I’ve owned and completed all of the mainline, home console versions except Majora’s Mask, which I just couldn’t get on with (much to my regret), as well as Link’s Awakening on the Game Boy Color.

Some of them I rate more highly than others, but I can only think of two that I found outright disappointing. Sure, it’s a cliché to hate on The Adventure Of Link for being an odd one out, but whilst it wasn’t what I wanted at the time, I can at least appreciate that they were trying to do something different with it. I actually think it works quite well, as it’s own thing. It’s just not very Zelda-ery.

Sadly, I cannot say the same for Skyward Sword.

Although it was also trying to do something different, I’m not at all keen on the direction that particular entry took. Other than the concepts of it being a (sort of) origin story for both Ganondorf and the Master Sword, and that Ghirahim and Fi are the dueling spirits of their respective sides manifested as weapons, there’s almost nothing I can recall that I liked about it.

This could be due to the fact that I’ve only played it through once, but I can vividly remember quite a few things about it I didn’t like, including the art style, the cramped, dull, repetitive environments and the dowsing mechanic – without question my most hated Zelda gameplay feature ever.

I don’t even remember rating any of the much-feted dungeons, and one YouTube boss rush video was all it took to remind me that I thought they were almost all stinkers too.

However, I get that every other mainline game has had the remaster/re-release treatment, so Skyward Sword is probably due it’s time again. I also understand that a lot of people did actually love it, so putting it on Switch is a no-brainer/relatively easy cash grab for Nintendo. Unless it’s been overhauled and reworked beyond all recognition there’s zero chance I’ll be shelling out for it again though. Especially since I still have it for the Wii and could replay it with my gold, Zelda-themed Wiimote Plus any time I wanted.

Thankfully, just like The Adventure Of Link, Skyward Sword got a follow up that redefined awesome to me.

It’s no secret I love Breath Of The Wild. I know it’s got flaws, but taken as a whole, it’s by far and away my favourite 3D Zelda. If Eiji Aonuma’s name wasn’t on the credits for both, there’s no way I’d believe it was the brainchild of the same guy behind the swansong Wii entry. Yet as good as Breath Of The Wild is, to this day, I still hold A Link To The Past about as highly as any game I can think of.

Everything, from the time in my life when I first experienced it to the quantum step up in graphics, gameplay and level design it represented over those early 8-bit games combined to make it something truly special for me. As I see it, until Breath Of The Wild came along, it was the perfect mould into which the hearts of almost all other subsequent entries, be they 2D or 3D, have been poured. A while back there were rumours that Nintendo were thinking of giving it a big budget, 3D remake. I almost don’t want them to, partly because I think it would be too similar to its N64 successor…

I realize my opinion on this makes me a heretic, but even though I can appreciate its historical legacy, I’ve never felt the same love and attachment to Ocarina Of Time as many fellow franchise devotees seem to hold. I’m not saying it’s bad. Far from it. But as I’ve said here before, I’ve always found it to be a game hampered by the technology that hosted it. Almost as if their own hardware couldn’t rise to the challenge of Nintendo’s ambition.

Though Ocarina was undoubtedly visually revolutionary and groundbreaking for it’s time, I’ve always had something of a mental block on almost all games from the first 3D generation of consoles. Even in the late 90s I thought they looked ugly. I also didn’t much like the way they felt to play, either. Of all the bygone generations now enshrined as retro, I feel it’s the N64/PS1 era which has aged the worst. I also find the fact that much of that game’s structure and underlying gameplay ideas were first established in A Link To The Past robs it of some of the sense of originality and scale others see in it.

I know both Ocarina Of Time and Majora’s Mask have already had shiny remasters on the 3DS, but inspired by the glorious job Capcom did with the Resident Evil 2 remake (another classic from the same era) what I’d prefer over another trip to Skyloft, is for Nintendo to produce an all singing, all dancing, from the ground up remake of Ocarina for Switch.

Amongst other things, I’d like to see a free roaming, fully controllable camera, a mute button for Navi [you monster – GC], totally reworked character models (those fairies were abominations for starters), and ideally some beefed-up/redone boss encounters. For instance, the water blob/amoeba fight from the Water Temple was so… limp. Just imagine a battle against some kind of fearsome water dragon on the scale of the mid-game Nemesis fights from the Resident Evil 3 remake or something instead.

But whilst remasters and remakes are all very well and good for padding out release schedules or celebrating ‘milestone’ anniversaries, what I really want is the Breath Of The Wild sequel. I’d be as happy as anyone to see it released this year, but however long it takes, I’m ready.

As for what I’d like to see in it, other than a return of Midna somehow, I’d probably just enjoy seeing the story links to previous Zelda game lore strengthened.

One of my favourite aspects of Breath Of The Wild was all the geographical locations which made reference to previous entries. Eventide Island is clearly Koholint. The Leviathan bone finding sub quest is a screaming hint to this game world once having been submerged beneath a great ocean, just as it would have been in the time of The Wind Waker.

The great stone statue ring in the desert bears an uncanny similarity to the mirror portal shrine where Ganondorf was ultimately banished by the sages in Twilight Princess. There’s the great ruins of the Temple Of Time. The Valley Of The Imprisoned, with the rock formations like the beast’s bulbous toes. Not to mention perpetual old favourites like Death Mountain and Spectacle Rock. The list goes on.

It would be fantastic if Zelda and Link’s subterranean escapade in the trailer saw them uncover further evidence of the cyclical nature of Ganon’s power and their eternal roles in his downfall. I just hope that whatever direction they decide to take it in, they aren’t inspired by any of the gameplay or level design elements from Skyward Sword. Even if the reanimating, evil corpse in the trailer turns out to be Demise or something, that’s fine, just please Nintendo, no more dowsing. Not now. Not ever. Just no.

Anyways, just before I go, I have one more fond Zelda memory… A few years ago, for various reasons, I took a brief holiday in the south-eastern coastal town of Rye. It’s a quaint little place, and I’ve been again since as I found it so relaxing, but one of my most heart-warming moments there was when I was just out and about, walking around the town, and I spied a pair of 16-bit era Link and Zelda stickers in the window of one of the houses.

I’ve no idea where they came from, or if perhaps they were home-made, but seeing those Link To The Past characters so proudly displayed out in the wild gave me such a happy nostalgia rush. I can’t think of any other game franchises that would be able to achieve that just from the sight of a couple of sprites.

By reader yourhomeisatrisk

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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MORE : How I went from hating Zelda: Breath Of The Wild to loving it – Reader’s Feature

MORE : Why Zelda: A Link To the Past is still the best game ever – Reader’s Feature

MORE : The Legend Of Zelda 35th anniversary: a tribute to the best video game franchise ever – Reader’s Feature

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What’s the point of PlayStation when you have a PC? – Reader’s Feature

Days Gone – coming soon to PC (pic: Sony)

A reader reacts to the news that Sony is bringing more of its exclusives to PC and asks why anyone needs to buy a console anymore.

The news this year seems to have been dominated by people trying and failing to buy a PlayStation 5. As far as I understand they’re still going to be hard to get hold of for at least the rest of the spring, although I haven’t looked into it much as I’m not interested myself, because I have a gaming PC. The second after I type that and I already know it looks like I’m trying to brag or acting like one of these terrible ‘master race’ fans but I don’t mean that in a dismissive way. I mean it in the sense that, as someone that is not that well off, it is by far the most cost effective way for me to be a gamer.

Go back 10 years or so and the PC was in a bad place as a games format. No exclusives, constantly overlooked for console ports, especially from Japan, and those that did make it out often ran terribly and needed fan mods for them to even work properly. Now though, it seems like all roads lead to the PC. The indie scene is the healthiest it’s ever been, multiformat games run well and are usually much better than their console counterparts, and Xbox Game Pass means there is absolutely no need to own an actual Xbox.

But that brings me to the inspiration for this feature, in that now there doesn’t seem to be any point in owning a PlayStation either. Sony has announced that Days Gone is coming to PC and apparently many more are following after it. For me that is all I need to know to give up any thought of buying a PlayStation 5 or any other console in the future (with the possible exception of Nintendo ones but since they’re not really my thing, that doesn’t really count for me).

The way I see it there are three reasons to buy a console: the relatively inexpensive cost compared to a PC, the exclusive games, and the confidence that games will work as intended. It’s clear to me that all three of those reasons have been broken down over the last few years, to the point where none of them are really true anymore.

A console is less expensive than a good quality PC gaming rig, which is around twice the price (at most I’d say, you can get some very good deals if you’re frugal). However, games for a PC are much less expensive than on a console, to the point where anyone trying to charge you £70 would be laughed out of the house. Plus, a PC can last much longer, with backwards compatibility that stretches back decades and upgradeable parts that can be replaced as and when you’re ready.

On the point of working as intended, which to me was always the most appealing part of consoles, that has almost entirely disappeared over the course of the last generation. For a start the appalling state companies release games in, as exemplified by Cyberpunk 2077, means there’s barely any point buying them for the first six months anymore – and Cyberpunk worked better on PC from the start.

Then there’s the mid-generation upgrades of the PS4 Pro and Xbox Series X that added very little, cost a fortune, and completely ruined the idea that when you buy a console and a game you know they’re going to run exactly the same for everyone. Something which is muddled even further with the PC style graphics and performance modes that are so common now.

These options were added because a PC developer doesn’t know exactly what hardware you’ll have, so you have to have options for compromises. That shouldn’t be the case for consoles, as to my mind it completely misses the point of having consoles in the first place.

And then there’s the exclusives. Xbox Game Pass means it’s a complete non-issue when it comes to Microsoft, as they’re barely even trying to convince people to buy their console anymore – and that’s before streaming becomes mainstream. What Sony’s going to do in regards to that I don’t think we know but, for whatever reason, they’re now releasing their games on PC.

I really don’t know why though. Sure, they’ll make more money from a bigger audience, but if that’s the logic why not release them on Xbox as well? When Microsoft started to break down the need to buy their consoles they did it because they’re pushing Xbox as a service and one you can play regardless of what device you own. But Sony don’t have that. To play a PlayStation game you either buy a console or a PC, but that second option is so much better you suddenly ask yourself what’s the point of PlayStation?

Are Sony to become just another third party publisher like EA or Activision? I’m sure that’s not how they see things but it’s certainly what I predict now that they’ve opened the genie’s bottle and embraced the far more consumer friendly world of PC gaming.

By reader Jay

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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MORE : My 35 years of playing The Legend Of Zelda - Reader's Feature

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Kemono Friends Cellien May Cry

An action-adventure from Sakamoto Ryuu in Japan. Play as Serval, a Friend whose animal has become a human figure, as she fights Cellien invading Japari Park. With help from lot of Friends, Lucky Beasts and weapons left by humans.

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Sony closing down Japan Studio is the beginning of the end for PlayStation – Reader’s Feature

Japan Studio’s offices are going to stay empty (pic: Sony)

A reader is upset at the news that Sony is downsizing Japan Studio and worries that they’ve thrown away one of their key advantages against Xbox.

I generally view myself as a Nintendo fan first and foremost. Not in an angry, internet fanboy kind of way but I tend to like the majority of their games and generally find they’re very in tune with my taste in games. But a gamer cannot live on Nintendo alone, not when so many great games are only released on PlayStation or Xbox.

No doubt thanks to my love of Nintendo I also tend to have an affinity for Japanese games in general and so my preference has always been for the PlayStation, since the Xbox has next to no Japanese exclusives of note. But I fear the same could soon be true of Sony as well.

Many people probably ignored the news this week, that Sony is essentially shutting down Japan Studio, except for the team that makes Astro Bot games – probably because their name is not well known or promoted. But they’re Sony’s oldest first party studio and have helped hundreds of games by other companies to be made.

In the last few years many people (including analysts, not just random people on the internet) have been accusing Sony of side-lining Japanese game development and instead focusing on America and almost nothing else – not even Europe. This has been worrying me for a long while, but the news now that Sony is all but pulling out of making its own games in Japan is, as far as I’m concerned disastrous news.

Sony has two major advantages over Microsoft when it comes to consoles, firstly the fact that they have multiple highly experienced first party developers, who are highly consistent at churning out critically acclaimed games. Their second advantage is that, being a Japanese company, they have a huge head start in terms of relationships with Japanese developers and in the PlayStation itself being popular in Japan – where the Xbox is a complete non-entity.

The problem is that Sony has now lost that second advantage. Not even lost it but given it away needlessly, in a completely unforced error. Apart from Astro Boy, Sony no longer makes Japanese games and while there’s nothing stopping them signing up third party Japanese developers they’ll soon no longer have the infrastructure to nurture and support them.

If Microsoft are sensible, they’ll swoop in and sign up new deals and perhaps even buy up some of the new studios that are being formed by ex-Japan Studio developers, such as Keiichiro Toyama’s Bokeh Game Studio. An opportunity they would never have had if Sony hadn’t let him go.

Sony has given no indication that Japan Studio was losing them money, merely that they weren’t making enough profit as they wanted. Which apparently is reason enough to just shut it all down and instead focus on nothing but American-made third person open world adventures – most of which have you playing as angry middle-aged fathers.

PlayStation used to be about more than just that. Sony’s always had its AAA blockbusters but it’s also encouraged indie games, weird Japanese games, and everything in between. There was a sense of variety, and playfulness, and unpredictability to Sony’s output that was completely unlike Xbox and also very different to Nintendo. Now I fear they’re homogenising their output so that it suits American tastes first and foremost, with everyone else a secondary consideration.

Obviously America is an important market, the most important, but Japan is the second biggest and they’re being thrown to the wolves, while Europe is being ignored even more than usual. It makes no sense, it’s literally shooting yourself in the foot as they’re losing an asset they did have – that their main competitor doesn’t – and gaining nothing in return.

I already suspected that Microsoft would win this generation simply by outspending Sony but now it seems they’ve been gifted another advantage out of the blue. For me this is the beginning of the end for PlayStation and I think Sony will come to see it as that too, when they look back at the history books in a few years’ time. They’re not just losing a major studio, they’re losing their identity and that is going to be very hard to get back.

By reader Onibee

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

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How I went from hating Zelda: Breath Of The Wild to loving it – Reader’s Feature

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – first impressions don’t always count (pic: Nintendo)

A reader explains why he initially traded in his copy of Breath Of The Wild and later came to see it as one of his favourite games ever.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic is Zelda games. I’d planned to write a Reader’s Feature to profess my love for Breath Of The Wild for a little while now, so this seems the most fitting time.

I absolutely adore Breath Of The Wild now, but it wasn’t always the case. My journey to getting the most from this game wasn’t all plain sailing.

When I was younger, I never used to be much into gaming and Zelda games had never interested me. I played a little Link’s Awakening for the Game Boy, after I once borrowed it from a friend, but that had been the sum total of my experience of Zelda up until 2017.

Then in 2017 the Nintendo Switch launched alongside rave reviews for Breath Of The Wild. Later that year I managed to snag myself this shiny new machine and, well, I can’t say I was thrilled with Breath Of The Wild. I initially was enjoying it, I fumbled through the Great Plateau and started to explore Hyrule. However it wasn’t long before I became confused and frustrated by some of the mechanics and the lack of signposting.

In 2017 I was used to more linear games where it was more obvious what the next mission/objective is and how to locate it. I therefore found Breath Of The Wild mighty confusing, since the only thing the game tells you is to vanquish Calamity Ganon. I knew I needed to find shrines but that’s about it, I knew nothing of the four divine beasts.

To be fair, I didn’t pay much attention to online screen dialogue or cut scenes so might have missed some vital information. Even to this day I can’t say the game’s narrative or storytelling is particularly engaging. I also found the mechanics irritating. Climbing in the rain and breakable weapons are two of the gripes but one particular annoyance was trekking somewhere on horseback only to come across either cliffs or some kind of rocky incline, knowing that you would either have to make a sometimes lengthy detour or abandon your horse until you next find some stables.

So after trying and failing to grasp what the game was about, I gave up on it and traded it in, dismissing it as overrated. That was until last year when after I’d pretty much exhausted all my other options in terms of Switch games I was interested in, so decided to give it another shot. Safe to say this time round things clicked. I’d say it’s a contender for the best game I’ve ever played.

This time round I started from a new save file. In the few years between playing the game, my experiences with other single-player games, and especially those with a more open world setting gave me more confidence in how to play Breath Of The Wild. Also, I had a better understanding of how these types of games are structured. I think simply put; I was better prepared. When things really started to fall into place was though was when I encountered my first divine beast.

My first battle with a divine beast happened purely by chance. I believe it was the Vah Ruta beast. I basically stumbled into the Zora region unintentionally, whilst exploring. I probably would have turned back if I knew what was ahead, being woefully unprepared with few hearts and only basic weaponry. I was still getting my ass handed to me by mid or high-level enemies. But to my surprise I managed to get through the dungeon (with some help from the internet) with not too much fuss and then the subsequent boss fight also wasn’t too bad.

Not long after I somehow stumbled across a second divine beast, Vah Medoh. This was a little trickier since I didn’t factor in that I’d need cold resistance items, but again I managed to get through the challenge despite having to scoff all my food items, since my health kept depleting as I was lacking in any warm clothes or spicy food recipes. Before I knew it, and without the really trying, I was almost halfway through the game. That’s when I knew I could beat it.

This time round I had a completely new appreciation for the game. Things that I found irritating before, I now didn’t seem to mind. Breakable weapons could be frustrating if you found a real gem but it also encourages experimentation. The weapons are so varied. Most games are small gun, big gun, bigger gun. Breath Of The Wild has swords, spears, hammers and bows. Add into the mix elemental weapons and there’s a great amount of weaponry at your disposal. Nothing beats attacking a foe with an elemental weapon and seeing them explode in flames or turn to ice. Climbing can still be irritating in the rain but climbing gear and Revali’s gale helps greatly.

Even though I’ve finished the main game and vanquished Calamity Ganon, and made a sizeable dent in completing the shrines, there’s still so much I have yet to discover. I bought the DLC and the hero’s path shows large swathes of the map I am yet to discover. I only recently learnt that collecting Korok seeds can increase the size of Link’s inventory. I also stumbled across a shrine quest which involved stealing an orb from three different Hinox, in an area I hadn’t previously found.

The game isn’t perfect. Sometimes I think the difficulty veers towards frustrating rather than challenging. For example, I managed to beat the Champions Ballad DLC without much trouble, the Sword Trials on the other hand I have yet to beat. It took me so many attempts just to get past the first part that I’ve pretty much resigned myself that I’ll never have the skill or patience to advance further. In my view having to fight multiple Lynels with potentially limited resources is a far more daunting task than any divine beast (cue many ‘git gud’ responses). However, despite this, the game is magnificent in many other ways.

The shrine puzzles are for me possibly the best part of the game. It’s so satisfying when you figure out how to complete one and they really showcase the unique mechanics of the game. There’s nothing like the feeling of excitement when you find a new shrine (or the crushing disappointment when it’s a test of strength shrine). The music is also impeccable. Not only does it seem to capture the moment perfectly, the music changing for certain areas of the map and from day to night, but it even assists the player, as even if you can’t see any enemies the soundtrack alerts you not only to their presence but the type of enemy they are.

The game looks beautiful, which is even more impressive when you consider the game was also launched on the Wii U. To me a large part of this is due to the style of the game. Many games may be superior in terms of their graphical capabilities but Breath Of The Wild still manages to impress, I don’t think I recall a game that looks like it. But mainly the reason I love this game is its uniqueness and the sheer joy it brings. Paragliding from a height over vast mountains or dense woodlands always feels epic. Or discovering something new, like that you can use metal blocks to conduct electricity and use an enemy’s own weapon against them.

One final point. After my initial reluctance to embrace Breath Of The Wild’s open world I’m now fully on board. I love the fact that after the initial tutorial/great plateau area the only mandatory objective is to defeat Ganon. You could if you wish, go straight to this objective and complete the game, though it wouldn’t be wise and you’d miss some of the best the game has to offer.

You could then say everything else in the game is an optional side quest. On this basis I’d argue Breath Of The Wild is therefore the most pure open world game ever made. Writing this has made me want to jump right back in, I can’t wait to see the sequel. More of the same please, Nintendo.
By reader Matc7884

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. As always, email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk and follow us on Twitter.

MORE : Why Zelda: A Link To the Past is still the best game ever – Reader’s Feature

MORE : The Legend Of Zelda 35th anniversary: a tribute to the best video game franchise ever – Reader’s Feature

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Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: the best Legend of Zelda games

Zelda: A Link To The Past – was it your first encounter? (pic: Nintendo)

Readers celebrate the 35th anniversary of The Legend Of Zelda, by naming their favourite entries and their hopes for the future.

The subject for this week’s Hot Topic is something Nintendo didn’t mention themselves during the recent Nintendo Direct but which readers certainly had something to say about, as we asked to hear your memories of the series and its games.

Most people hadn’t started with the original NES game but instead reminisced about A Link To the Past, Ocarina Of Time, and the other classics of Nintendo’s iconic franchise.

Start of an affair
The first Zelda title I ever played was the SNES title, A Link To The Past.

It was just after Christmas, I stood in Our Price (remember them?) with gift vouchers in hand, looking at the rack of games wondering which SNES title to pick. Zelda had been well reviewed in Mean Machines magazine and I held it in my hand’ something was putting me off, probably the memory of countless ZX Spectrum arcade adventures, as they called them back then. Whenever I’d played them they were really not great and it was enough to convince me the genre wasn’t for me.

For whatever reason I decided to take a chance and fell in love with the game, it led me to moving onto SNES role-playing games, like the Final Fantasy titles on US import. I think it was the start of my love of games with an involving story over lightning fast arcade action.
Dsb

I am error
Zelda was released the year I was born and I’ve played and completed most of them… except for Link’s Awakening on Game Boy. I got to the last dungeon and couldn’t find a key to unlock a door or something. I remember phoning up the Nintendo helpline and reporting what I thought must be an error.

A helpful American told me that ‘there are no known bugs’. My parents were probably upset with the international call on the phone bill and I was never able to find that key as my little brother ‘accidentally’ deleted my save file.
TommyFatFingers
PS: I didn’t like Breath Of The Wild and having to change weapons every two seconds.

Top three
My first Zelda was A Link To The Past. I bought it on the strength of a great review (probably in Mean Machines) but I really didn’t know if it would be my cup of tea as I was more into arcade fighting games at the time.

As soon as I started playing it I was instantly hooked. When your uncle says don’t go out but you do anyway and then find him in the dungeon, amazing. I know Zelda games aren’t necessarily renowned for their stories but I thought A Link To The Past was great in that respect.
I have played every Zelda game since and enjoyed them all to varying extents.

I think the only one I haven’t finished is Skyward Sword, that’s probably not a reflection on the game itself but just my priorities at the time.

Personal top three, in no particular order, are probably A Link To The Past, Majora’s Mask, and Breath Of The Wild.
John Atkinson

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In comparison
First, I must say VLTRFTW.

Zelda is my favourite series and I first fell in love with Ocarina Of Time and I still believe this game to be the best of all time and still holds up as a masterpiece today.

I sometimes despair that people are missing out on Zelda due to it being a platform exclusive and Nintendo wrongly being perceived as being uncool or for kids.

I have seen harsh comments recently from GC and others on how The Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, and Twilight Princess are a bit lacking and time has not been kind on them. They are a victim of their own success, as they are better than the vast majority of games but don’t live up to others in the series.

I would like the Breath Of The Wild sequel to have more extensive dungeons, similar to earlier titles. I thought the divine beasts were too easy, short and boss fights were forgettable.

Keep up the good work GC.
AJB

Zelda’s Awakening
The first Zelda game I played was Link’s Awakening on the Game Boy in the early 90s. As it was the first I thought the character you played was Zelda, until I started playing and realised it was Link! I really enjoyed it at the time, with the overworld and the dungeons and various tools/gadgets you got from each dungeon and the fact you could save your progress.

Most games I had played in the early 90s and 80s did not have an option to save, you just loaded the game up and tried to get from the beginning of the game to the end of the game in one go and they were quite hard. I got stuck really early in the game, at the forest, for ages and as there was no internet to find out the solution I eventually worked it out and got to play the rest of the game.

I did get a guide eventually, from the Game Boy Action magazine, so I could know which characters to trade items in the game to in return for another item. I completed most of the game on my own but got a little bit of help from a friend at school who was playing it too. I didn’t play Zelda: A Link To The Past until I got a Game Boy Advance and although I liked it, Link’s Awakening had been my first Zelda game and Ocarina of Time was my second game, so although I could appreciate A Link To The Past as a good game it was not my favourite.

I absolutely loved the sequel A Link Between Worlds and I also enjoyed the DS game Phantom Hourglass. I got some enjoyment from Spirit Tracks but it was the worst Zelda I have ever played. It was the only Zelda I had to get a friend to defeat the boss for me as there was a rhythm action part to the final boss where you had to play an instrument and I just couldn’t do it.
Andrew J.

Kooky suggestion
My first Zelda game was A Link To The Past on the SNES, although I didn’t get to play it until a few years after release thanks to borrowing it from a neighbour.

As it happens, my parents were going to buy it for me from Comet on release but when they asked for advice from another man buying games for his children there at the time he told them that ‘There wasn’t much replayability in it’ and recommended The Addams Family instead – it wasn’t a bad game per se but I now feel sorry for this man and his kids.
Sven

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First impressions
Zelda is my favourite gaming franchise. Despite owning a NES and SNES, my first Zelda game was Ocarina Of Time on the N64, which is probably my favourite game of all time. Part of that is due to it being my first Zelda; I always think the first one you play in the series often makes the biggest impact.

I can close my eyes and still see the Ocarina of Time intro, I can hear the soft ocarina melody as Link rides Epona around Hyrule Field. Magic!

Post N64, I think Nintendo really struggled with Zelda for a while. The Wind Waker seems to be genuinely adored by the internet these days, but at release I know many were disappointed with it, myself included. This was the true follow-up to Ocarina (in a development sense), the next big step in the Zelda franchise, and it turned out that sailing isn’t anywhere near as fun as riding a horse.

Twilight Princess was Nintendo folding to fan demand for a Zelda that looked like that E3 GameCube demo, not the cartoony The Wind Waker (though The Wind Waker’s graphics are beautiful) and Nintendo should never create something to please fans – they excel at creating experiences that you didn’t know you wanted. At least Skyward Sword saw them trying some new mechanics, though overall it still paled next to Ocarina.

Then came Breath Of The Wild and blew everyone away. I really cannot wait for the sequel. I hope they bring back some dungeons and epic boss battles. I’m predicting some time travel mechanics, or certainly two versions of Hyrule. If I’m being adventurous, perhaps it will feature both Link and Zelda as playable characters – Nintendo seem to be adding second player mechanics to most games.

I’m ashamed to say that I’ve barely touched the portable versions of Zelda. I played Link’s Awakening on Switch and did make a dent on Phantom Hourglass on the DS before I lost interest. So, I’m planning on playing through the Oracle games and Minish Cap this year. I would love to play A Link Between Worlds as well, so might invest in a 3DS at some point.

My ultimate wish? Just let me play Ocarina on my Switch! It’s baffling that I can’t do this but could on the Wii in 2007.
Matt

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday mornin, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

You can also leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

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When is LoL Worlds 2021 and where is it taking place?

Riot Games believes LoL Worlds 2021 will be the biggest esports tournament ever (Picture: Getty Images)

Although the coronavirus pandemic halted Riot Games from hosting its multi-city tournament last year, the publisher is determined to make up for it with League of Legends Worlds 2021.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, with most face-to-face experiences banned, the world of esports has given those at home a community to be a part of, adding countless more followers to its fanbase.

Now, Riot is inviting that community to come together and experience the biggest League of Legends esports athletes go head to head.

But when does it all take place?

When is LoL Worlds 2021?

Riot has not yet confirmed an official start date for LoL Worlds 2021.

However, we can assume that it will begin around September since that’s typically when the event takes place.

Riot is likely to reveal more information about the exact date in the upcoming months.

The LoL Worlds 2021 event is set to be a multi-city tournament. (Picture: Rex Features)

The League of Legends European Championship kicked off on January 22, followed by North America’s Lol Championship Series on February 5.

The publisher’s Global Head of Esports, John Needham, was excited to announce LoL Worlds 2021 in January, saying: ‘After a year full of unexpected challenges, amazing competition, and major milestones for our sport, we’re looking forward to a season that should be even more thrilling.’

Where is LoL Worlds 2021 taking place?

The 2021 League of Legends World Chamionship Finals will take place in Shenzhen, China.

This will be the second year in a row, as Riot Games had also held the 2020 Worlds Finals in Shanghai, China.

Riot’s John Needham explained their reasoning saying: ‘It’s only fitting that we return to China, home to our biggest league and tens of millions of longtime fans, to produce the world’s highest-calibre esports event in one of China’s most innovative cities.’

Due to the pandemic, in 2020, the championship was held through mostly virtual tournaments.

The organisers had to deal will changing quarantine rules, problems with getting visas for players, and plenty of uncertainty.

But, this year, Riot Games wants to take the fans ‘on a massive tour of multiple cities across China’.

The publisher believes LoL Worlds 2021 will be the biggest esports tournament and sporting event ever.

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Life Is Strange 3 rumours claims two new games and a Nintendo Switch port

Do you want Max and Chloe to come back? (Pic: Dontnod Entertainment)

A new rumour claims that two more Life Is Strange games are in development, with the first one set to be ported to the Switch.

When Dontnod Entertainment said it was focusing its efforts on a new franchise for the time being, it felt like the wait for a new Life Is Strange got that much longer.

However, a recent ResetEra post popped up claiming that not one, but two Life Is Strange games are in the works. They offered no public proof but provided supporting evidence to the site’s moderators, that seemed to convince them that the rumour had substance.

According to the rumour, the first of the two games is currently in production and will be another episodic title consisting of five episodes. It will once again feature a completely new cast, with the main character being an Asian-American woman who can read minds.

As for who is making it, it’s Deck Nine, the studio behind prequel Life Is Strange: Before The Storm. Even though it wasn’t handled by the original team, Before The Storm was a solid experience on par with the original game, so an entirely new entry would certainly be in safe hands if this is accurate.

The second game, however, is a bit wilder. It’s apparently still in pre-production and a few years from releasing and is described as a direct sequel to the first game, once again focusing on the duo of Max and Chloe.

Considering the first game had multiple endings, it would be interesting to see how a direct sequel would be handled, especially as the rumour suggests the characters would be significantly older.

The rumour adds that both of these games are being made using Unreal Engine and that the first game will be ported to the Nintendo Switch, which will be announced alongside the first rumoured game.

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This all sounds perfectly believable but, as always, take the rumours with a grain of salt. That’s especially true given the original poster asked for the forum thread to be closed, albeit not before outlets like GamesRadar were able to report on it.

‘I no longer feel comfortable with having this information posted so I am going to ask that this thread be closed,’ wrote the poster. ‘I have no direct connections to Square Enix or Deck Nine so my comments here were simply based on rumours that I have heard that I thought were credible. Again, keep in mind that much of what I said may be false.’

‘I apologise if I got anyone’s hopes up! Please stay tuned to official channels for more information.’

Whether the poster is admitting their sources are weak or is under pressure because what they’ve said is true is unclear but at this point it would be more surprising if Deck Nine weren’t working on a new Life Is Strange.

Their work on Before The Storm was very good and given Dontnod will not be returning to the franchise, which Square Enix owns, any time soon it makes perfect sense that Deck Nine would be used in the meantime.

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